Another week of cinema is coming to the old video store…little bit of this and a little bit of that…let us take a look shall we…
The Critters return to the shop…
All Quiet on the Western Front tells the gripping story of a young German soldier on the Western Front of World War I. Paul and his comrades experience first-hand how the initial euphoria of war turns into desperation and fear as they fight for their lives, and each other, in the trenches. The film from director Edward Berger is based on the world-renowned bestseller of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque.
Harry Angel (Mickey Rourke) is a private detective contracted by Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro) to track down the iconic singer Johnny Favorite. However, everybody that Angel questions about Favorite seems to meet a tragic demise. Eventually the trail leads Angel to New Orleans where he learns that Favorite had dabbled in the black arts. As Favorite’s whereabouts and true identity become clear, Angel learns that being hired by Cyphre was not a random choice.
42 9th graders are sent to a deserted island. They are given a map, food, and various weapons. An explosive collar is fitted around their neck. If they break a rule, the collar explodes. Their mission: kill each other and be the last one standing. The last survivor is allowed to leave the island. If there is more than one survivor, the collars explode and kill them all.
Sexually provocative film based on the true story of a 17th-century nun who was chastised for her religious visions and lesbian affairs. Virginie Efira, Charlotte Rampling, Daphne Patakia, Paul Verhoeven, 2021.
Director Mario Bava’s Giallo Masterpiece! The black shadow of drug dealing falls upon a high-fashion salon when a beautiful model is murdered. Her boyfriend is suspected of the crime. He is an addict to whom the model was supplying dope, but is he guilty’
Vanessa Redgrave stars in this stylish crime thriller classic where a mod London photographer may have found evidence of murder in the shots he has taken of a mysterious beauty in a desolate park. Michelangelo Antonioni (1966)
Alex (Rich George) is suffering from a terminal bone disease. When traditional methods fail to improve his condition, his devoted wife Kristen (Darya Zabinski) resorts to some rather ghoulish means of alternative medicine. She enlists Alex’s morgue attendant best friend Thomas (Brian Paulin) to procure skeletal remains from the local cemetery and grind up the rotting corpse marrow to feed to Alex for nourishment. Unfortunately this misguided scheme soon leads to a rash of dire consequences as Alex slowly transforms into homicidal, worm spewing “necro junkie”, putrefied zombies rise from their graves to devour the flesh of the living, and a hideous race of goblins emerge from the darkness to punish the impudent human race.
Cult monster movie about mysterious turtle creatures who emerge from an abandoned mine. John Crawford, Rebecca Balding, James L. Conway, 1981
When a Mexican land baron puts a million dollars on the head of the man who seduced and impregnated his daughter, two money-hungry hired killers recruit a small-town bartender to help them do their dirty work. Kris Kristofferson, Sam Peckinpah, 1974.
A former summer camp caretaker, horribly burned from a prank gone wrong, lurks around an Upstate New York summer camp bent on killing the teenagers responsible for his disfigurement. Written by Harvey Weinstein. Jason Alexander, Holly Hunter, Tony Maylam.
Fasten your seatbelts for the terrifying thrill ride that has become a cult classic – The Car! The peaceful tranquility of a small Western town is disturbed when a murderous car wreaks havoc by viciously mowing down innocent victims. New sheriff, Wade Parent (James Brolin), may be the only one who can stop this menace in its tracks until he realizes that the driver of this indestructible vehicle is far more dangerous than any man… it is driven by pure evil.
Two robbers hold up a bank and its employees demanding 3 million marks for their ransom. The police plot to storm the bank but are unaware the robbers have an accomplice on the outside, anticipating their every move.
Tashi, a tennis player turned coach, has transformed her husband from a mediocre player into a world-famous grand slam champion. To jolt him out of his recent losing streak, she makes him play a challenger event — close to the lowest level of tournament on the pro tour. Tensions soon run high when he finds himself standing across the net from the once-promising, now burnt-out Patrick, his former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfriend.
In this darkly comedic horror from Spain, new parents argue over the purchase of a hideous coffee table which leads them on a breathtakingly sick journey. Caye Casas, 2022.
A breathtaking fusion of poetry, ethnography, and cinema, Sergei Parajanov’s masterwork overflows with images and sounds that burn into the memory.
Set in an eerie future where developments in medicine & analgesia have made pain a thing of the past, surgery has become the new sex. Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux, Scott Speedman, Kristen Stewart, David Cronenberg, 2022.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s arresting new wave Japanese horror and international breakthrough hit. Koji Yakusho, Masato Hagiwara, 1997.
In Jim Jarmusch’s first period piece he has imagined the nineteenth-century American West as an existential wasteland, delivering a surreal reckoning with the ravages of industrialization, the country’s legacy of violence and prejudice. Johnny Depp.
New Zealand horror where metalheads Brodie and Zakk’s resentment of the suburban wasteland leads them to a mysterious piece of music said to grant Ultimate Power, but the music also summons an ancient evil who possess their classmates and family. Jason Lei Howden
Deep Blue Sea: Searching for a cure to Alzheimer’s disease, a group of scientists on an isolated research facility become the prey, as a trio of intelligent sharks fight back.; The Long Kiss Goodnight: An amnesiac schoolteacher (Davs) sets out to recover her identity with the help of a private detective (Jackson) and uncovers a dark conspiracy; Snakes on a Plane: Nuff Said.
At a small college, psychology major Stephen Grace meets fellow student Quaid, who reveals his plan to conduct a “fear study” as a school project and record people as they talk about their greatest fears. Quaid, however, is mentally unstable and nearly obsessed with fear.
In the year 10191, a spice called melange is the most valuable substance known in the universe, and its only source is the desert planet Arrakis. A royal decree awards Arrakis to Duke Leto Atreides and ousts his bitter enemies, the Harkonnens. However, when the Harkonnens violently seize back their fiefdom, it is up to Paul (Kyle MacLachlan), Leto’s son, to lead the Fremen, the natives of Arrakis, in a battle for control of the planet and its spice. Based on Frank Herbert’s epic novel.
After serving time in prison for murdering his unfaithful wife, Yamashita (Koji Yakusho, Perfect Days, Cure) is released on parole, accompanied only by his pet eel. Hoping to stay out of trouble, he takes over a rural barber shop that quickly becomes a gathering point for the eccentric locals.
A famous writer-cum-archaeologist whisks herself off to Egypt in search of a mummified doctor who, she hopes, once resurrected by her friend professeur Espérandieu, will be able to revive her sister (comatose after a grisly tennis accident). As misadventure stacks upon misadventure, will our heroine succeed in her original mission, and can she evade her nemesis, archaeologist Dieuleveult?
This 2-disc set includes the 1986 smash hit and it’s 1991 sequel featuring Bryan Brown and Brian Dennehy as special effects wizards who use their skills to help the Department of Justice.
Solid 4 Pack Of Cinema
Two death-obsessed sisters, outcasts in their suburban neighborhood, must deal with the tragic consequences when one of them is bitten by a deadly werewolf. Emily Perkins, Katharine Isabelle, Kris Lemche, 2000.
Aida (Claudia Cardinale) has fallen for a rich playboy and arrives at his door to find it firmly shut and herself ignored. His younger, more sensitive brother, Lorenzo (Jacques Perrin) helps her and finds himself quickly besotted.
THE GO-GO BOYS: THE INSIDE STORY OF CANNON FILMS is a documentary about two Israeli-born cousins, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, who in pursuit of the American Dream, turned the Hollywood power structure upside down, producing over 300 films and becoming the most powerful independent film company in the world. Directed by Sundance Grand Jury Price nominee Hilla Medalia (After the Storm), The Go-Go Boys is an up close and personal documentary that examines the complex relationship between two contradictory personalities whose combined force fueled their success and eventual collapse. Featuring interviews with Jean Claude Van Damme, Michael Dudikoff, Eli Roth, Boaz Davidson along with Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus themselves, as well as archive footage of Sylvester Stallone, Charles Bronson and Chuck Norris in the definitive documentary about Cannon Films.
Widely recognized as the source of the Frankenstein myth, the ancient Hebrew legend of the Golem provided actor/director Paul Wegener with the substance for one of the most adventurous films of the German silent cinema. Suffering under the tyrannical rule of Rudolf II in 16th-century Prague, a Talmudic rabbi (Albert Steinruck) creates a giant warrior (Paul Wegener) to protect the safety of his people.
Tsidi, a single mother, is forced to move in with her estranged mother Mavis, a live-in domestic worker caring obsessively for her catatonic white ‘Madam’. As Tsidi tries to heal her family however, a sinister spectre begins to stir.
King Arthur’s headstrong nephew embarks on a daring quest to confront the Green Knight, a mysterious giant who appears at Camelot. Risking his head, he sets off on an epic adventure to prove himself before his family and court.
U.S. agents send a gymnastic martial artist (Kurt Thomas) to secure a missile-base site by the Caspian Sea.
A sequel to the Finnish comedy “Heavy Trip,” has the metal band Impaled Rektum as they escape jail to save their family home from demolition defying snow, booze, and self-doubt to crash a music fest in style. Johannes Holopainen, Max Ovaska, Samuli Jaskio
It recounts the murders Manson committed, the investigation, and the 1970-71 trial, in which prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi attempted to draw connections between the Manson family and his violent convictions. The 1976 film, directed by Tom Gries, stars Steve Railsback as Manson and George DiCenzo as Bugliosi.
Undeniably one of the most harrowing American films of the 20th century, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer hits Blu-ray with a restoration that cements its reputation as a shocking, thought-provoking nightmare-plunge into the depths of the human soul.
Indescribable psychedelic Japanse ghost tale that’s equal parts absurd and nightmarish, Scooby Doo and Mario Bava. Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1977.
Warner Bros. proudly presents the most successful 3D movie of the 1950s and the first produced by a major Hollywood studio. Now, in Blu-ray 3D , screen legend Vincent Price is at his terrifying best as he takes murderous vengeance on those who’ve wronged him in this horror classic. SPECIAL FEATURE: 1933 Warner Bros. Feature Mystery of the Wax Museum
Cult werewolf from Joe Dante. Written by John Sayles. Music score is composed by Pino Donaggio. Dee Wallace, Patrick Macnee, Kevin McCarthy, John Carradine, 1981.
In this deadpan coming-of-age horror-comedy from Quebec a young vampire has a serious problem: she’s too sensitive to kill. She befriends a lonely teenager with suicidal tendencies that helps her find herself. Sara Montpetit, Ariane Louis-Seize, 2023.
Gruesome, amphibious, sexually depraved creatures rise from the ocean depths to impregnate human women and destroy terrified men. Produced by Roger Corman. 1980.
A terrifying tale of a body that just won’t stay dead. Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze, Jr., Ryan Phillippe and Johnny Galecki.
It’s 10 pm and the employees of Michigan’s Walnut Lake Supermarket are in for a really bad night. The night crew has a long shift ahead of them… longer than they think! The lovely check-out girl has a deranged ex-boyfriend, the store’s phone lines are cut, and the employees start dying in the most stomach-churning ways imaginable (courtesy of Academy Award®-winning KNB EFX Group).
John Carpenter mines Rio Bravo again for this ridiculous B-movie about human colonists on Mars who must be rescued after becoming possessed by vengeful Martian ghosts. Jason Statham, Natasha Henstridge, Ice Cube, Pam Grier, 2011.
Composer Stephen Sondheim (Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods) and actor Anthony Perkins (Psycho) wrote this witty, complex thriller directed by Herbert Ross (Steel Magnolias, The Goodbye Girl). A movie kingpin (James Coburn), whose wife, Sheila, was killed by a hit-and-run driver a year before, hosts a cruise aboard his sleek yacht. His guests (James Mason, Raquel Welch, Dyan Cannon, Richard Benjamin, Joan Hackett, and Ian McShane) are all friends (and some lovers) who may know more about Sheila’s death than they’re letting on. An elaborate murder game with Mediterranean ports of call is the itinerary. What unfolds is a mystery so intriguing, so cleverly plotted, even the title is a clue!
When the glittering Las Vegas revue she has headlined for decades announces it will soon close, showgirl Shelly sets out to plan her next act. Reconciling the decisions she’s made, Shelly decides to repair her complicated relationship with her daughter.
Starring Terence Stamp, Elisabeth Shue. A young zoology student is invited to assist an anthropologist with his experiments involving chimpanzees, mysterious events occur that all centre around the simian servant, Link. Richard Franklin (1986)
Banger triple feature!
3 pack of Hong Kong Category III films – THE DEMON’S BABY / EROTIC NIGHTMARE / THE DEADLY CAMP (1999)
Many countries have their own signature style when it comes to making genre films…and Hong Kong is no exception. “Category III” or “Cat III” films, (a ratings classification denoting a film’s more extreme content) are unique films that push the boundaries of what is considered “acceptable content.” Beyond just the more extreme content, what sets these genre films apart from others is that they are made with the support of major studios, star popular actors, and are more accepted by the mainstream public. Contained in this set are three great examples of the types of genre films Hong Kong has become known for. While not technically all “Cat III,” they are excellent representations of the lines that Hong Kong genre films are willing to cross.
A young girl finds a strange diary, capable of arousing hallucinations, kept by two of her senior fellow-students who seem to have an unusually close bond.
After a car wreck on the winding Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a perky Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality. Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, David Lynch.
A marvelously inventive Japanese horror-comedy that’s equally a well executed zombie film, a satire of low-budget genre filmmaking and weirdly a charming family comedy. Shinichiro Ueda, 2018.
Mario Bava’s influential horror-sci fi film about a team of astronauts who begin to turn on each other, swayed by the uncertain influence of the planet and its strange inhabitants. Barry Sullivan, Norma Bengell, Ángel Aranda, 1965.
Texas, 2007: Emo-kid Raphael is in jail following an arrest for graffiti. He’s a good guy. It’s just graffiti. So you can’t blame him for the events after his arrest. He’s not responsible for the sting operation, the severed hands, the FBI, Larry the pig, the plutonium deal gone wrong, or anyone who may die due to that deal turning sour. None of it is Raphael’s fault, but it is his problem.
Lifelong vegetarian Justine begins her first semester at veterinary school, the same one her older sister Alexia is attending and where their parents met. On her first night, she meets her gay roommate Adrien, and they are forced to partake in a week-long hazing ritual, welcoming the new students.
90s American neo-noir from John Dahl about a discharged marine turned drifter who gets mixed up with the trashy denizens of a small Wyoming town. Nicolas Cage, J.T. Walsh, Dennis Hopper.
Sequel to Enter the Ninja! After ninjas kill his family, a martial artist and his son move to America and open am Japanese doll business, all the while being used by a mafia-killing ninja drug-dealer smuggling heroin through the dolls. Shô Kosugi, 1982
A teenager (Rachael Kelly) thinks her stepfather (David Brooks) plans to kill her mother (Marie Masters) ; no one believes her until it is too late.
In a time of social and political unrest in Haiti, anthropologist Dennis Alan (Bill Pullman) travels to the torn country to study a Voodoo drug used in religious practices to turn victims into living zombies. With the help of a witch doctor (Brent Jennings) and a fellow researcher (Cathy Tyson), Dennis pieces together the deadly mystery. But as Dennis uncovers the secrets behind the mysterious powder, he must evade the Haitian authorities who view his research as a potential threat.
One of the most thrilling movie epics of all time – seamlessly weaves philosophy and entertainment, delicate human emotions and relentless action, into a rich, evocative, and unforgettable tale of courage and hope.Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Akira Ku
A coach lurches out of the hustle and bustle of Budapest and heads towards the mountainous border. Aboard are seven employees of the international weapons manufacturer Palisade Defence, global suppliers of innovative weaponry for the past 75 war-torn years. The lucky group are being treated to a team-building weekend at the company’s newly built luxury spa lodge by their president, George Cinders.
Sheena grew up in the African wild, raised by a mystical witch woman. When her foster mother is framed for a murder Sheena is forced to flee, helped by her ability to talk to animals and her knowledge of the jungle. John Guillermin (1984)
After the accidental death of a human during battle, Ultraman takes on the man’s appearance and his place at the S-Class Species Suppression Protocol to protect Earth from further threats.
Santa with a Flamethrower!
A true champion among sports movies, the hilarious comedy Slap Shot stars the one and only Paul Newman as Reggie Dunlop, the player/coach of the Charlestown Chiefs, a minor league hockey team. Struggling with an abysmal season and a dwindling fanbase, Dunlop switches up his game plan in order to beef up attendance: unleashing new team acquisitions the Hanson Brothers on the competition! The Chiefs’ more aggressive and violent style of play reignites the fans and the team’s win/loss record, making them championship contenders.
A college student takes an adorable creature out of the jungle to gain popularity, only to discover it goes on a rampant killing spree. Will Emily and her sorority sisters escape the house with their lives? Or is this death-sloth too quick for them?
A villainous carnival owner, Mr. Dark, preys upon unsuspecting Midwestern townsfolk by granting wishes, but for a price.
Apt Pupil / Secret Window / Bag of Bones (Mini-Series) / Christine (1983) / Sleepwalkers (1992) / Stand by Me – Set (Bilingual)
Based on the best-seller,Stephen King’sThinner stars Robert John Burke (RoboCop 3, Tombstone) and Joe Mantegna (Bugsy, The Godfather III) in a story of supernatural terror and account down to the ultimate payback. A 109-year-old gypsy,hell-bent on revenge, exacts a curse so shocking it compels its victim to gorge himself in an effort to avoid shrinking away to nothingness. With time running out and a torture so bizarre and powerful, even death seems a more likely option.
In the sleazy, foreboding world of winos, derelicts and drifters in lower Manhattan, two young runaways – eighteen-year-old Fred (Mike Lackey) and his younger brother, Kevin (Mark Sferrazza) – live in a tire hut in the back of an auto wrecking yard. Life is hard, but the most lethal threat to the boys is the mysterious case of “Tenafly Viper” wine in Ed’s liquor store window.
In this reimagining / sequel to the 1987 grotesque cult classic, a group of homeless misfits must fight for survival when they discover a plot to exterminate every homeless person in the city. Ryan Kruger, 2024.
Brooklyn plumbers Mario and Luigi get the shock of their lives when they discover a parallel world populated by the intelligent descendants of dinosaurs. It seems they weren’t destroyed by a meteor millions of years ago but hurled into another dimension and, now, they have plans to rule our world. It’s up to our unlikely heroes to battle the evil King Koopa and his Goomba guards, free the beautiful Princess Daisy and save mankind in this adventure of a lifetime.
Wonderfully nuts pulp Turkish film about a boy raised by lions who grows claws and leads rebels against a mad king. Cüneyt Arkin, Kaan Cakir, Muharrem Gürses, Natuk Baytan, 1975.
In his explosive directorial debut Japanese renaissance man-cum-comedian-extraordinaire Takeshi “Beat” Kitano plays vicious rogue homicide Detective Azuma who takes on a sadistic crime syndicate only to discover widespread internal corruption in the police force. Facing criminal charges for his unorthodox “Dirty Harry” type methods, Azuma finds himself caught in a web of betrayal and intrigue that sends him on a bloody trail of vengeance. But when his sister is kidnapped by a sadistic drug lord, Azuma’s tactics escalate towards an apocalyptic climax.
In enfant terrible Takeshi Kitano’s explosive second feature film, Masaki (Yûrei Yanagi) is an unassuming gas station attendant and amateur baseball player for underdog team The Eagles. After he enrages a local yakuza, setting off a feud between the gangsters and his coach, Masaki heads to Okinawa on a haphazard quest for guns with his friend Kazuo (Dancan). There they are befriended by the uber-eccentric yakuza boss Uehara (played by Kitano), who initiates them into the strange and brutal world of organized crime.
For the first time in the history of the universe, all 4 films of the world famous Toxic Avenger franchise have been brought together into one Tromarific HD package! Michael Herz, Lloyd Kaufman (1984, 1989, 1989, 2000)
Cult remake of the William Castle original populated with effects enhanced 13 ghosts. Tony Shalhoub, Embeth Davidtz, Matthew Lillard, 2001.
Roman Polanski’s cult classic about a bureaucrat who rents a Paris apartment where he finds himself drawn into a rabbit hole of dangerous paranoia. Isabelle Adjani, Melvyn Douglas, 1976.
Rock ‘n’ roll will never die, in this 1980s cult favorite that stars Marc Price (Family Ties) as Eddie Weinbauer, a teenage outcast who idolizes Sammi Curr (Tony Fields), a heavy metal superstar. After Sammi dies a violent death, his spirit returns to help Eddie get even with his high school tormentors. When Eddie realizes that he has become the tool of Sammi’s vengeance, he attempts to stop him.
A U.S. podcaster (Justin Long) ventures into the Canadian wilderness to interview an old man (Michael Parks) who has an extraordinary past, and the American learns the man has a dark secret involving a walrus.
All The Underworlds!
An unorthodox love story and a truly unsettling thriller, Dutch filmmaker George Sluizer’s The Vanishing unfolds with meticulous intensity, leading to an unforgettable finale that has unnerved audiences around the world. Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, 1988.
Horror comedy about a caustic 1980s film critic for a national horror magazine, finds himself unwittingly trapped in a self-help group for serial killers. With no other choice, Joel attempts to blend in or risk becoming the next victim. Cody Calahan, 2020
A young babysitter, all alone in the house with two children asleep above, is bothered by a stranger. Unfortunately, the phone’s dead… Fred Walton (1993)
A shocking tale of obsession and voyeurism, long unavailable this film exposes a twisted world where desire, danger, and madness collide in a relentless pursuit of a deadly secret. Sal Mineo, Juliet Prowse, Joseph Cates, 1965.
In this animated feature, after a fall on a childhood trail, a lost woman and a talking cat navigate a forest that might know more about her past than she does. Eric Power, 2023.
Corrosively funny, semi autobiographical account by writer-director Bruce Robinson about a couple of destitute roommates, young actors living in drunken squalor in 1969, the twilight days of swingin’ London. Richard E. Grant, 1987.
In the late 1960s and 1970s, fear grips the city of San Francisco as a serial killer called Zodiac stalks its residents. Investigators (Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards) and reporters (Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr.) become obsessed with learning the killer’s identity and bringing him to justice. Meanwhile, Zodiac claims victim after victim and taunts the authorities with cryptic messages, cyphers and menacing phone calls.
And there we go…Movies should be here Thursday/ Friday. Cheers!
