by Malakie Peters

Hi we’re Scarecrow Video and welcome to New Release Tuesday!

THE ART OF CRIME: THE FIRST FIVE SEASONS (2017-2022) (DVD)

Police officer Antoine Verlay and art historian Florence Chassagne investigate crimes in Paris related to art and cultural property. Their contradictions cause turbulence, but also success.

BEVERLY OF GRAUSTARK (1926) (DVD)

In this gender-bender comedy, Marion Davies is an American co-ed whose cousin Oscar (Creighton Hale) is a Prince and heir to the throne of Graustark. In a twist of fate, she must switch places with him in order to prevent the conniving General Marlanax (Roy D’Arcy) from becoming King. Along the way, Beverly (as Oscar) meets goat-herd Dantan (Antonio Moreno), hires him as her bodyguard… and winds up falling for him. There are mistaken identities, intrigue, clothing swaps, a chase, a swordfight and more!

BLEED WITH ME (2020) (DVD)

During a winter getaway at an isolated cabin, a self-destructive young woman becomes convinced that her best friend is stealing her blood.

CYRANO (2021) (BD/DVD)

A man ahead of his time, Cyrano de Bergerac (Peter Dinklage) dazzles whether with ferocious wordplay at a verbal joust or with brilliant swordplay in a duel. But, convinced that his appearance renders him unworthy of the love of a devoted friend, the luminous Roxanne (Haley Bennett), Cyrano has yet to declare his feelings for her and Roxanne has fallen in love at first sight with Christian (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.).

DATING & NEW YORK (2021) (DVD)

After an electric one-night stand, two dating-app-matched New York millennials draw up a “Best Friends with Benefits” contract to avoid the pitfalls of their past relationships – what could possibly go wrong?

DE GAULLE (2020) (DVD)

As World War II intensifies, the French army collapses and the Germans will soon be in Paris. The government panics and considers accepting defeat. Charles de Gaulle, newly promoted, wants to change the course of history.

THE DESPERATE HOUR (2021) (BLU-RAY, DVD)

Recently widowed mother Amy Carr (Naomi Watts) is doing her best to restore normalcy to the lives of her young daughter and teenage son in their small town. While on a jog in the woods, she finds her town thrown into chaos as a shooting takes place at her son’s school. Miles away, on foot in the dense forest, Amy desperately races against time to save her son.

DOWN IN PARIS (2021) (DVD)

A beautifully evocative ‘night-in-the-life’ gay fever dream, the film follows Richard Barlow, a filmmaker, who, after experiencing an unexplained anxiety attack on the set of his latest film, wanders in to the Parisian night looking for answers, comfort and inspiration. As encounters with strange characters and a series of sexy and thought-provoking events ensue, Richard is forced to finally confront his innermost fears and desires.

THE EXORCISM OF GOD (2021) (DVD)

Peter Williams is an American priest in Mexico who is considered a saint by many local parishioners. However, due to a botched exorcism, he carries a dark secret that’s eating him alive until he gets an opportunity to face his own demon one last time.

FABIAN: GOING TO THE DOGS (2021) (DVD)

In 1931 Berlin, Jakob Fabian works in a cigarette factory by day and drifts through bars, brothels, and art studios by night. When Fabian meets the beautiful and confident Cornelia, he manages to shed his pessimistic attitude and fall in love. Not long after, he loses his job and plunges back into a depression while Cornelia’s career as an actress begins to take off thanks to her wealthy boss and admirer.

FALLING FOR FIGARO (2020) (DVD)

A brilliant young fund manager leaves her unfulfilling job and long-term boyfriend to chase her lifelong dream of becoming an opera singer. She meets a fellow opera student while in training, and what begins as a rivalry develops into something more.

FAMILY SQUARES (2022) (DVD)

The Worths are a family portrait of dysfunction, but when their matriarch, Grandma Mabel, dies suddenly, they must set aside their differences and come together. Chaos ensues as they soon discover that not only did Grandma Mabel keep secrets, but so did everyone else. As they begin to find their way back to each other, they realize that while you can’t choose your family, you can choose to be friends with them.

THE FORBIDDEN DOOR (2009) (DVD)

As a successful young sculptor increasingly loses his grip on sanity, he imagines his wife, friends, and family are all conspiring against him, begins filling his best-selling works with unspeakable human matter, becomes obsessed with brutal hidden-camera abuse videos, and inches inescapably closer towards the most horrific final act of all.

FROM THE JOURNALS OF JEAN SEBERG (1995) (DVD)

From the Journals of Jean Seberg is a 1995 docudrama found footage film on the life of actress Jean Seberg. Seberg’s story, from her Cinderella-like rise to celebrity status in Otto Preminger’s Saint Joan to her equally precipitous fall after the movie was released, through her resurrection as a star in Godard’s Breathless to her death in 1979, is examined through a wide range of her films and others of the period. 

FURY OF THE DEMON (2016) (DVD)

A documentary investigation that traces violent riots said to be caused by a rare and dangerous French film named Fury of the Demon, which was allegedly helmed by French filmmaker Georges Méliès. Through conversations with filmmakers, producers, journalists, historians and psychologists, this documentary slowly uncovers the truth about the most cursed and disturbing movie ever made.

GHOSTS OF THE OZARKS (2021) (DVD)

In post-Civil War Arkansas, a young doctor is mysteriously summoned to a remote town in the Ozarks only to discover that the utopian paradise is filled with secrets and surrounded by a menacing, supernatural presence.

THE GIRL CAN’T HELP IT (1956) (BLU-RAY, DVD)

This blissfully bonkers jukebox musical tells the story of a mobster’s bombshell girlfriend—the one and only Jayne Mansfield, in a showstopping first major film role—and the washed-up talent agent (Tom Ewell) who seeks to revive his career by turning her into a musical sensation. The question is: Can she actually sing?

GIRL ON A CHAIN GANG (1966) [THE FILM DETECTIVE SPECIAL EDITION] (BLU-RAY)

William Watson, Julie Ange, and Ron Charles star in this shocker about three young people who are framed, arrested, and tossed into jail by corrupt Southern police.

HEAVY METAL (1981) (4K UHD + BLU-RAY) + HEAVY METAL 2000 (2000) (BLU-RAY)

The landmark animated adult musical cult favorite celebrates its 40th anniversary, with a debut on 4K Ultra HD! Based on the sexy science fiction cult comic, Heavy Metal combines extraordinarily stunning visuals, new wave music, and a series of mind bending stories in a unique motion picture experience. Heavy Metal 2000 is a high-octane science fiction adventure concerning a beautiful young woman named Julie who vows vengeance on a ruthless tyrant after he destroys her planet. As with the first film, the stunning visuals are backed by a stellar soundtrack.

THE HUMANS (2021) (BLU-RAY, DVD)

Erik Blake has gathered three generations of his Pennsylvania family to celebrate Thanksgiving at his daughter’s apartment in lower Manhattan. As darkness falls outside and eerie things start to go bump in the night, the group’s deepest fears are laid bare. The piercingly funny and haunting debut film from writer-director Stephen Karam, adapted from his Tony Award-winning play, The Humans explores the hidden dread of a family and the love that binds them together.

IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967) (4K + BLU-RAY) 

This undisputed masterpiece from director Norman Jewison is one of the most radical and acclaimed movies of its generation. Rod Steiger gives an Oscar-winning performance as a sheriff from small-town Mississippi who finds himself in an uneasy alliance with a Black homicide detective from Philadelphia—strikingly portrayed by Sidney Poitier. In the course of investigating the crime, the two strong-willed men must reconcile their inherent prejudice towards each other. The final result is justice—and an unlikely but touching mutual respect. 

THE INDIAN TOMB (1921) (BLU-RAY) 

Conrad Veidt stars as the vengeance-crazed Maharajah of Bengal, who seeks to build an imposing temple in which to entomb his former wife. But his diabolical plans are thwarted upon the arrival of two adventurers: a British architect (Olaf Fönss) and his fiancée Irene (Mia May).

JACKASS FOREVER (2022) (BLU-RAY, DVD) 

Older but not wiser, Johnny Knoxville and the crew are back for the most unbelievably outrageous Jackass yet. Brace yourself as they reach new levels of immaturity, and with a little help from some brave new friends and guest stars, their wildly outrageous pranks and dangerously bone-crunching stunts will have you laughing until it really, really hurts. Some people never learn…

KING KNIGHT (2021) (DVD) 

Thorn (Matthew Gray Gubler) and Willow (Angela Sarafyan) appear to have it all as the revered high priest and priestess of a coven of new age witches. But a secret from Thorn’s past throws their lives into turmoil and sends them on a trippy, hilarious journey. 

THE KING’S DAUGHTER (2022) (BLU-RAY, DVD)

King Louis XIV’s (Pierce Brosnan in a stunning wig) quest for immortality leads him to capture a mermaid’s (Fan Bingbing) life force, but his immovable will is challenged when his long-hidden illegitimate daughter (Kaya Scodelario) forms a bond with the magical creature.

THE MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE (1935) (BLU-RAY)

An unlucky memory expert has a loyal daughter, a nagging wife, and a great thirst.

MARGRETE: QUEEN OF THE NORTH (2021) (DVD)

The year is 1402, and a woman is at the head of a new Nordic empire. Margarete I has united Denmark, Norway, and Sweden in a union that she rules single-handedly through her adopted son, King Erik. However, a conspiracy is afoot.

MIRACLE IN MILAN (1951) (BLU-RAY, DVD)

On the outskirts of Milan, a band of vagabonds work together to form a shantytown. When it is discovered that the land they occupy contains oil, however, it’s up to the cherubic orphan Totò (Francesco Golisano)—with some divine help—to save their community from greedy developers. Tipping their hats to the imaginative whimsy of Charles Chaplin and René Clair, Vittorio De Sica and screenwriter Cesare Zavattini, adapting his own novel, craft a bighearted ode to the nobility of everyday people.

NIGHT CREATURES (1962) (BLU-RAY)

When a captain arrives on an English coastal town to investigate reports of smuggling, he ends up with much more to deal with, including marsh phantoms and a suspicious vicar.

THE OLIVE TREES OF JUSTICE (1962) (BLU-RAY)

A man returns to his native Algeria to visit his dying father there, at a time when the French colonial hold on that country is coming to its end.

ROGUE COPS AND RACKETEERS: TWO CRIME THRILLERS BY ENZO G. CASTELLARI [LIMITED EDITION] (1976) (BLU-RAY)

Buckle up for a heart-stopping thrill ride through the seedy underbelly of Italian society in two of Enzo G. Castellari’s most celebrated thrillers! In 1976’s The Big Racket, Inspector Nico Palmieri (Fabio Testi) is hot on the heels of a gang of ruthless racketeers. Realizing he’s not going to get anywhere within the confines of the law, Nico recruits a crack squad of civilians to dole out their own brand of justice. Then, in 1977’s The Heroin Busters, rule-flouting cop Fabio (Testi) goes deep undercover, chasing a globe-trotting ring of drug-smugglers suspected to be operating out of Rome. But can he and Mike Hamilton (David Hemmings), an Interpol agent with a hair-trigger temper, stay one step ahead of the criminals long enough to bring them down from the inside?

SLOW MACHINE (2020) (DVD)

Stephanie, a vibrant actress, meets Gerard, an NYPD counter-terrorism specialist who’s an aficionado of experimental theater.

THE TIGER RISING (2022) (DVD) 

Queen Latifah and Dennis Quaid star in this beloved tale based on the New York Times best-selling book by Kate DiCamillo. When 10-year-old Rob Horton (Christian Convery) discovers a caged tiger in the woods near his home, his imagination runs wild and life begins to change in the most unexpected ways. With the help of a wise and mysterious maid, Willie May (Queen Latifah) and the stubborn new girl in school (Madalen Mills), he navigates through childhood memories, heartache, and wondrous adventures in this heartwarming adaptation.

TWO HANDS (1999) (BLU-RAY)

A classic Aussie crime tale about a young man coming of age in a tough world of crooks and villains. When young struggling go-getter Jimmy (Heath Ledger) is offered the shot of a lifetime working for local crime boss Pando (Bryan Brown), he grabs it with both hands. But not everything goes to plan and when his special delivery goes missing, a package of $10,000, he finds himself in a whole lot of trouble with the boss and in desperate need of help. Against the odds and with time running out to repay the loss, it will take every trick in Jimmy’s book to save him and his girlfriend Alex (Rose Byrne) from the nefarious ways of Pando and his gang.

UNDER THE VINES: SERIES ONE (2021) (DVD)

Rebecca Gibney and Charles Edwards star in this delightful dramedy about two city slickers who inherit a failing vineyard in New Zealand and try to make it a success.

V/H/S/94 (2021) (BLU-RAY, DVD) 

A police S.W.A.T. team investigates a mysterious VHS tape and discovers a sinister cult that has pre-recorded material which uncovers a nightmarish conspiracy.

THE WHISTLE AT EATON FALLS (1951) (BLU-RAY) 

A newly promoted plant supervisor finds himself in the position of having to announce a layoff of his fellow workers.

YOU CAN’T CHEAT AN HONEST MAN (1939) (BLU-RAY) 

In one of his most immortal roles, comedy legend W.C. Fields plays Larson E. Whipsnade, raconteur and ringmaster of the Circus Giganticus. On the run from the law and on the lam from creditors, Whipsnade pauses only long enough to crack his whiplike wit on the brilliant ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his wooden pals Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. Directed by Hollywood great George Marshall and co-starring Eddie “Rochester” Anderson and Constance Moore, it’s a three-ring circus of madness, mayhem and Ping-Pong—a side-splitting spectacle any honest man can enjoy. And as Whipsnade’s dear old grandfather used to say: You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man.

YOU’RE TELLING ME! (1934) (BLU-RAY) 

Comedy legend W.C. Fields plays an inventor with a taste for drink in You’re Telling Me!, a rough-and-tumble Pre-Code. Having failed to sell his latest invention, Sam Bisbee (Fields) meets Marie Lescaboura (Adrienne Ames) on the train back to Crystal Springs, unaware that she is a foreign princess traveling incognito. Deciding to help make her new friend a success, Marie pays a visit to Sam’s hometown where she attempts to turn an uncouth eccentric into the darling of the country club set.