Well it is another week of goodness at the video store and without a doubt James Cameron films headline this week’s cinema input. Oddly enough even Titanic and Avatar 1/2 are his highest grossing films I never have the urge to ever revisit them. I still love his earlier much better and two of his beauties that are finally coming back into print are 1989’s THE ABYSS and 1994’s TRUE LIES. About time! Anyways let’s see what else is coming shall we…
Kubrick triple feature back in stock!
Starring, Nicolas Cage, Joaquin Phoenix, James Gandolfini, a private investigator is hired to discover if a “snuff film” is authentic or not. Joel Schumacher (1999)
Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio are formerly married petroleum engineers who still have some issues to work out. They are drafted to assist a gung-ho Navy SEAL (Michael Biehn) with a top-secret recovery operation: a nuclear sub has been ambushed and sunk, under mysterious circumstances, in some of the deepest waters on Earth.
Jabez Stone is a hardworking farmer trying to make an honest living, but a streak of bad luck tempts him to do the unthinkable: bargain with the devil himself. In exchange for seven years of good fortune, Stone promises “Mr. Scratch” his soul. But when the troubled farmer begins to realize the error of his choice, he enlists the aid of the one man who might save him: the legendary orator and politician Daniel Webster. Directed with stylish flair by William Dieterle, All That Money Can Buy brings the classic short story by Stephen Vincent Benét to life with inspired visuals, an unforgettable, Oscar-winning score by Bernard Herrmann, and a truly diabolical performance from Walter Huston as the devil.
Fearless documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras’s career-long pursuit of truth and justice finds powerful expression in an epic story of art, activism, and survival. Made in collaboration with renowned artist Nan Goldin, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed entwines the mission of PAIN—an advocacy group she founded to raise awareness about the billionaire Sackler family’s integral role in the ongoing crisis of opioid overdoses—with an intimate journey through Goldin’s life, from her rebellious adolescence and immersion in New York City’s thriving underground arts scene to her personal experiences of addiction and the AIDS epidemic. Through it all, her indelible photographs and candid reflections on memory and trauma reveal her unyielding solidarity with marginalized communities that refuse to remain silent.
Greek drama, A group of people start a business where they impersonate the recently deceased in order to help their clients through the grieving process. Yorgos Lanthimos (2011)
Four high school teachers start an experiment and drink alcohol throughout the workday to see how it affects their social and professional lives.
Lane Meyer (John Cusack) is a teen with a peculiar family and a bizarre fixation with his girlfriend, Beth (Amanda Wyss). When Beth dumps Lane, he decides to kill himself, making bumbling attempts at suicide. Outside of his morbid endeavors, Lane spends time with his oddball buddy, Charles (Curtis Armstrong), and befriends Monique (Diane Franklin), a visiting French student. Eventually, Lane resolves to race Beth’s obnoxious new beau on the ski slopes, with unexpected results.
A group of a run-down Tokyo high school students face the struggles of growing up, growing apart from their friends and worrying about their future, while living in a highly violent environment.
6 disc repackaging of Mondo Macabro’s set of classic Indian horror films from the 80s: BANDH DARWAZA/BRIDE OF THE VAMPIRE (1990) / VEERANA – VENGEANCE OF THE VAMPIRE (1988) / TAHKHANA – THE DUNGEON (1989) / PURANI HAVELI – THE MONSTER WALKS (1989) / AATMA
After losing his position as a minor-league pitcher, Montgomery Brewster (Richard Pryor) learns his great-uncle has left him $300 million. To inherit it, Brewster must spend $30 million in 30 days under a complicated set of rules that forbid him from donating too much to charity or retaining any new assets when the period is up. Unable to share details about the will’s odd conditions with anyone, Brewster sets out to spend his money under the stern eye of paralegal Angela Drake (Lonette McKee).
A surreal French horror about a traveling singer who’s car breaks down in a creepy village where the residents have sinister intentions. Laurent Lucas, Brigitte Lahaie, Fabrice Du Welz, 2004
orean crime thriller about a Filipino – Korean boxer who returns to Korea to find his father and become a successful boxer. Park Hoon-jung, 2023.
In a desperate attempt to secure funds for his mother’s surgery, an amateur boxer searches for the wealthy estranged father he’s never met. But after a lead takes him from the Philippines to Korea, he is relentlessly pursued by a quirky yet highly dangerous man. The chase is on!
“The Cell” takes a shocking, riveting mind trip into the dark and dangerous corridors of a serial killer’s psyche — a psyche that holds the key to saving the killer’s final, trapped victim who remains alive. Making this journey into the recesses of a killer’s nightmarish fantasy world is Catherine Deane, a psychologist who has been experimenting with a radical new therapy. Through a new transcendental science, Catherine can experience what is happening in another person’s unconscious mind.
Ripped from the pages of Robert E. Howard’s beloved pulp stories, 1982’s Conan the Barbarian and its sequel, 1984’s Conan the Destroyer, not only popularized a new subgenre – the sword-and-sorcery film – but also made a cinematic icon of the star playing the titular hero, former bodybuilding sensation Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Cocky Spike Spiegel and the crew of his spaceship, Bebop, an intrepid band of bounty hunters, land on Mars in the year 2071 chasing an enormous cash reward. The four-person team, also including looming cyborg Jet Black, fearless Faye Valentine and tech expert Edward, are in search of ex-military officer Vincent. The former hero has become a biological terrorist with an arsenal of devastating nano-bots that he’ll let loose on Alba City on the night before Halloween if his demands aren’t met.
A German submarine patrols the Atlantic Ocean during World War II, manned by a crew that must contend with tense conflicts and long stretches of confined boredom. While war correspondent Werner (Herbert Grönemeyer) observes day-to-day life aboard the U-boat, the grizzled captain (Jürgen Prochnow) struggles to maintain his own motivation as he attempts to keep the ship’s morale up in the face of fierce battles, intense storms and dwindling supplies.
In late 20th century Britain, a spectacular meteor shower unexpectedly renders most of humanity blind, leading to the collapse of society overnight. Unaware of this, Bill Masen (John Duttine) has retained his sight by virtue of being in hospital with his eyes bandaged at the time of the shower.
Fantastic Sly Stallone Triple Pack!
Something is causing the dead to rise from their graves as flesh-eating zombies, and cemetery custodian Francesco Dellamorte (Rupert Everett) grows tired of killing them all for the second time. However, the town politicians won’t listen to him, so Francesco is on his own. One day, he falls for a beautiful woman (Anna Falchi) whose husband has recently died — but their affair is tragically interrupted by zombies, sending Francesco into a tailspin of madness and woe.
Double feature of erotic 90’s thrillers – DIFFERENT STROKES [1998] (infamous film starring Dana Plato of the Diff’rent Strokes TV show) / ULTIMATE TABOO [1995] (featuring porn star Ginger Lynn)
An old house a mysterious locked room a terrifying secret. Elements that make a horror movie memorably chilling get a taut, spooky reworking in Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. Kim Darby (True Grit) and Jim Hutton (The Green Berets) star as Sally and Alex, young marrieds who inherit a crumbling mansion. Despite warnings to leave well enough alone in her new home, Sally unlocks the mysterious room, opens a bricked-up fireplace ‘ and unleashes a horde of hideous, whispering, murdering mini-demons only she can see and hear. Alex thinks she’s imagining things. We know she isn’t. And we know Sally should be very, very afraid of the dark! Now REMASTERED and with added SPECIAL FEATURES!
Outré road movie about a trio of polyamorous delinquents looking to reclaim their innocence from an America that ignores them. Rose McGowan, from noted gay director Gregg Araki, 1995.
The ultimate mausoleum of movie madness unleashing a stupefying serving of delightfully depraved and garishly gory trailer trash from the defining decade of Decadence! Erupting with almost 4 hours of a non-stop body and breast count.
Cronenberg’s obtuse and low-key spoof of the addictive nature of immersive computer games. Willem Dafoe, Jude Law, Ian Holm. 1999.
Single mother Carla Moran (Barbara Hershey) is raped and attacked by an invisible force. She begins therapy with Dr. Phil Sneiderman (Ron Silver), a psychiatrist who believes Carla’s traumatic past is motivating her to commit self-induced injuries, rather than anything supernatural. When the attacks continue, Carla invites two college students with an interest in the paranormal to visit her house. After seeing the ghost in action, they agree to help Carla defeat her invisible attacker.
Italian Road Warrior rip off. Giuliano Carnimeo, 1983.
At his secluded chateau in the French countryside, a brilliant, obsessive doctor (Children of Paradise’s Pierre Brasseur) attempts a radical plastic surgery to restore the beauty of his daughter’s disfigured countenance—at a horrifying price. Eyes Without a Face, directed by the supremely talented Georges Franju (Judex), is rare in horror cinema for its odd mixture of the ghastly and the lyrical, and it has been a major influence on the genre in the decades since its release. There are images here—of terror, of gore, of inexplicable beauty—that once seen are never forgotten.
Julie Christie stars as a beautiful and fiercely independent Englishwoman of the 19th century in this lush and moving adaptation of Thomas Hardys classic romantic novel.When proud, headstrong and unmarried Bathsheba Everdene (Christie) inherits a farm, she becomes a woman of independent means. Although three men court her, Bathsheba refuses to settle for less than a perfect suitor … which she will never find. But after she does agree to marry, Bathsheba realizes the mistakes she has made–and the damage her actions have caused. Nicholas Roeg (The Witches) serves as cinematographer for director John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy).
In 1975, a group of five men are driving home after working in a forest when they see a mysterious light. Intrigued, Travis Walton (D.B. Sweeney) leaves the truck — only to be sucked up by a flying saucer. The other four men report the strange event, but they are skeptically interrogated by Lt. Frank Watters (James Garner), who suspects that murder is behind Walton’s disappearance. When Walton reappears five days later, his story of alien abduction is met with disbelief.
Two Movie Collection of girls setting shit on fire. Hell ya!
All three Ginger Snaps on Blu Ray on One sweet set.
Patrick Stewart features in this horror thriller where, after witnessing a murder, a punk rock band is forced into a vicious fight for survival against a group of maniacal skinheads. Jeremy Saulnier (2015)
Starring Daniel Radcliffe. A guy relies on his newly-acquired gladiator skills to save his ex-girlfriend from kidnappers. Jason Lei Howden (2019)
Beautiful Boxset of the theatrical Hellraiser films on 4K!
While transporting a car from Chicago to San Diego, Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell) picks up a hitchhiker named John Ryder (Rutger Hauer), who claims to be a serial killer. After a daring escape, Jim hopes to never see Ryder again. But when he witnesses the hitchhiker murdering an entire family, Jim pursues Ryder with the help of truck-stop waitress Nash (Jennifer Jason Leigh), pitting the rivals against each other in a deadly series of car chases and brutal murders.
Starring Sam Neill and Jürgen Prochnow, an insurance investigator begins discovering that the impact a horror writer’s books have on his fans is more than inspirational. John Carpenter (1994)
Tells the story of the Von Erich brothers as they make history in the highly competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s. Through tragedy and triumph, the brothers seek larger-than-life immortality on the biggest stage in sports.
Mourning his dead child, a haunted Vietnam war veteran attempts to discover his past while suffering from a severe case of dissociation. To do so, he must decipher reality and life from his own dreams, delusion, and perception of death. Tim Robbins, 1990.
Jojo is a lonely German boy who discovers that his single mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their attic. Aided only by his imaginary friend — Adolf Hitler — Jojo must confront his blind nationalism as World War II continues to rage on.
Mankind can no longer reproduce because of gene manipulation aimed at making life longer. The clones ruling the bottomless underworld may have become fertile. Parton is selected to go on a mission through a subterranean labyrinth crawling with monsters to secure humanity’s future.
The work of international superstar Stephen Chow, Kung Fu Hustle is a humorous, special-effects-filled, action-packed martial arts epic set in early ’40s China. A bumbling thief named Sing (Stephen Chow) desires to be the toughest member of the dreaded gangster hit squad known as The Axe Gang, but to completely join the gang he has to commit murder. When Sing attempts to rob a crowded run-down apartment complex known as Pig Sty Alley, the locals begin to defend themselves with some high-flying kung fu skills, and a tiny war erupts between the local masters and the axe-wielding gang. After the gang busts the ancient kung fu king known as The Beast (Leung Siu Lung) out of jail, tensions reach a boiling point as Pig Sty Alley’s landlady (Yuen Qiu) leads an all-out attack against the gang and Sing discovers his true heroic fate. Kung Fu Hustle, which set box-office records across Asia during its December 2004 release, also stars Yuen Wah and Xing Yu, and features fight choreography by legendary masters of martial arts cinema Yuen Woo Ping and Sammo Hung.
The themes, images, and cultural vernacular of Victor Fleming’s The Wizard of Oz continue to haunt David Lynch’s filmography—from his early short The Alphabet to his recent television series Twin Peaks: The Return. Arguably, no filmmaker has so consistently drawn inspiration—consciously or unconsciously—from a single work. Is Lynch trapped in the Land of Oz? If so, what can we learn about his body of work by taking a closer look at how it intersects and communicates with that legendary fantasy? In turn, what do Lynch’s films have to say about the enduring resonance of one of America’s most beloved classics? Through six distinct perspectives, Alexandre O. Philippe’s Lynch/Oz helps us reexperience and reinterpret The Wizard of Oz by way of David Lynch, delivering new appreciations of both.
A photographer’s obsessive pursuit of dark subject matter leads him into the path of a serial killer who stalks late night commuters, ultimately butchering them in the most gruesome ways.
Cult homage to the Universal monster matinees of the 1940s. Duncan Regehr, Tom Noonan, Fred Dekker, 1987.
MOON GARDEN is a fantastical odyssey and a visionary, handcrafted, and fully practical work of art that shows how a child can shine light even in the darkest places. When a little girl has a terrible accident and slips into a coma, she finds herself thrust into a darkly surreal industrial dreamworld. Haunted by a nightmarish spectre that feeds off her tears, she must follow her mother’s radio-static voice to find her way back to consciousness.
Two mysterious siblings find themselves at odds over care for their frail and sickly younger brother. Patrick Fugit, Ingrid Sophie Schram, Owen Campbell, Jonathan Cuartas, 2020.
Director Gregg Araki’s adaption of Scott Heim’s acclaimed novel, is an intensely powerful chronicle of childhood abuse and sexual awakening. Joseph Gordon-Levitt , Brady Corbet.
As Australian cinema broke through to international audiences in the 1970s through respected art house films like Peter Weir’s “Picnic At Hanging Rock,” a new underground of low-budget exploitation filmmakers were turning out considerably less highbrow fare. Documentary filmmaker Mark Hartley explores this unbridled era of sex and violence, complete with clips from some of the scene’s most outrageous flicks and interviews with the renegade filmmakers themselves.
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.
Dr. Atsuko Chiba works as a scientist by day and, under the code name “Paprika,” is a dream detective at night. Atsuko and her colleagues are working on a device called the DC Mini, which is intended to help psychiatric patients, but in the wrong hands it could destroy people’s minds. When a prototype is stolen, Atsuko/Paprika springs into action to recover it before damage is done.
Cult Ozploitation classic about a comatose murderer who controls a pretty nurse to kill! Richard Franklin, 1978.
Having brought British cinema into exalted realms of fantasy and imagination, Michael Powell took a dark detour into obsession, voyeurism, and violence with this groundbreaking metacinematic investigation into the mechanics of fear. Armed with his killer camera, photographer and filmmaker Mark Lewis (Carl Boehm) unleashes the traumas of his childhood by murdering women and recording their deaths—until he falls for his downstairs neighbor, and finds himself struggling against his dark compulsions. Received with revulsion upon its release only to be reclaimed as a masterpiece, the endlessly analyzed, still-shocking Peeping Tom dares viewers to confront their own relationship to the violence on-screen.
Pitted against rival gangs and corrupt cops, an ER nurse and a career criminal must work together to survive the fight of their lives.
Brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist, a young woman runs off with a lawyer on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, she grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.
In the treacherous frontier city of Samurai Town, a ruthless bank robber gets sprung from jail by a wealthy warlord whose adopted granddaughter has gone missing. He offers the prisoner his freedom in exchange for retrieving the runaway. Strapped into a leather suit that will self-destruct in five days, the bandit sets off on a journey to find the young woman — and his own path to redemption.
Power-hungry Queen Gedren (Sandahl Bergman) captures the priestesses guarding the Talisman, a mystical orb that created and can destroy the world. But one of the priestesses escapes and seeks out her warrior sister, Red Sonja (Brigitte Nielsen), to warn her about Gedren’s plan for world domination. Lord Kalidor (Arnold Schwarzenegger), the Talisman’s keeper, insists on helping Sonja, and though she scorns the assistance of any man, she soon gains respect for Kalidor’s fighting prowess.
Starring Viggo Mortensen. In the 1950’s, a young boy living with his troublesome family in rural USA fantasizes that a neighboring widow is actually a vampire, responsible for a number of disappearances in the area. Philip Ridley (1990)
What could possibly go wrong when three buddies (Tye Sheridan, Logan Miller, Joey Morgan) decide to join the Boy Scouts? When bloodthirsty, undead ghouls invade their once-peaceful town, it’s up to kindhearted Ben, quick-witted Carter and class clown Augie to save the day. With help from Denise (Sarah Dumont), a beautiful but tough cocktail waitress, the boys must put their scouting skills to the ultimate test to save mankind and earn their zombie-killing badges.
With the lacerating love story Sid & Nancy, Alex Cox reimagines the crash-and-burn affair between punk’s most notorious self-destructive poster children: Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen-brought to visceral life by brilliant performances from Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb. Cox turns his anarchic filmmaking style on the explosive energy of the London punk scene and the degenerate streets of seventies New York, making for an eviscerating depiction of excess and addiction. Through the lens of cinematographer Roger Deakins, the imagery goes from swooning to grimy, and the film’s bleakness is balanced with surreal humor and genuine tenderness, making for an affecting, music-fueled vision of doomed love.
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 woman is being watched in her apartment by a stranger, who also calls and torments her. A cat-and-mouse game begins. John Carpenter (1978)
Trio of criminally-underseen Spanish gialli: NIGHT OF THE SKULL (1974) / VIOLENT BLOOD BATH (1974) / THE FISH WITH THE EYES OF GOLD (1974)
Italian western. A chain mail-clad gunfighter contends with a pacifist sheriff, a seductive banker, a one-armed Mexican bandit, corrupt businessmen and hippies to learn the secret of money allegedly stolen by his lynched brother. Sergio Corbucci (1969)
The Spice Girls perform their song “Too Much” on Top of the Pops, but are dissatisfied with the burdens of fame and fortune. Meanwhile, the sinister newspaper owner, Kevin McMaxford, is trying to ruin the girls’ reputation for his ratings.
Double Feature of late night 90s erotic thrillers!
This tale of child abuse and and its deep psychological scars, based on a true story, follows Sybil (Sally Field), an introverted student living alone in New York City who suffers from multiple personality disorder. Haunted by nightmares of her past, Sybil starts seeing a psychiatrist named Dr. Cornelia B.
To become the greatest band of all time, two slacker, wannabe-rockers set out on a quest to steal a legendary guitar pick that gives its holders incredible guitar skills, from a maximum security Rock and Roll museum. Jack Black, Kyle Gass, 2006.
The contemporary American auteur Michael Mann’s bold artistic sensibility was already fully formed when he burst out of the gate with Thief, his debut feature. James Caan (The Godfather) stars, in one of his most riveting performances, as a no-nonsense ex-con safecracker planning to leave the criminal world behind after one final diamond heist-but he discovers that escape is not as simple as he’d hoped. Finding hypnotic beauty in neon and rain-slick streets, sparks and steel, Thief effortlessly established the moody stylishness and tactile approach to action that would also define such later iconic entertainments from Mann as Miami Vice, Manhunter, and Heat.
Secretly a spy but thought by his family to be a dull salesman, Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is tracking down nuclear missiles in the possession of Islamic jihadist Aziz (Art Malik). Harry’s mission is complicated when he realizes his neglected wife, Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), is contemplating an affair with Simon (Bill Paxton), a used-car salesman who claims he’s a spy. When Aziz kidnaps Harry and Helen, the secret agent must save the world and patch up his marriage at the same time.
Hoping to find the perfect place to live, a couple travel to a suburban neighbourhood in which all the houses look identical. But when they try to leave the labyrinth-like development, each road mysteriously takes them back to where they started.
In an alternate 1985 America, costumed superheroes are part of everyday life. When one of his former comrades is murdered, masked vigilante Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) uncovers a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his retired associates, only one of which has true powers, Rorschach glimpses a far-reaching conspiracy involving their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the world’s future.
Follows Wednesday Addams’ years as a student, when she attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a killing spree, and solve the mystery that embroiled her parents. A sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery charting Wednesday Addams’ years as a student at Nevermore Academy.
Starring Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, and Willem Dafoe, Young lovers Sailor and Lula run from the variety of weirdos that Lula’s mom has hired to kill Sailor. David Lynch (1990)
And there we go guys. Lots of goodies coming this week. Titles subject to change on arrival but this is what I am expecting to show up. Cheers!
