by Malakie Peters

 

New Release Tuesday! This week we’ve got vintage 80’s horror in 4K, a contemporary Nigerian classic on Criterion, multiple box sets of unseen treasures, and, of course, the Moon is coming.

BACKWOODS MARCY (1999) (BLU-RAY)

A wrong turn during a business trip leads an unsuspecting yuppie down a perilous road of terror after he foolishly runs afoul of Marcy: a psychotic, redneck, homeless woman who dwells deep in the ominous swamplands of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. After capturing him and caging him like an animal, the depraved Marcy methodically tortures her helpless male captive. Upon his escape, a savage fight to the death ensues where only the most cunning of the two will survive! One of the few shot on video movies in history to be helmed by a woman, Backwoods Marcy was written, produced, scored, and directed by actress turned filmmaker Dawn Murphy, who also turns in a tour de force acting performance in a dual role that earned her a Best Actress nomination at the 1999 B-Movie Awards. 

THE BEAST MUST DIE: SEASON 1 (2021) (DVD)

Following the death of her son in a hit and run, all Frances Cairnes wants is to hunt down and kill the man she believes is responsible. When she finally tracks him down, she tricks her way into his house and plots his murder from within.

CALIGULA AND MESSALINA (1981) (BLU-RAY, DVD)

When the deranged emperor falls for an insatiable gladiatrix, their reign will launch a mind-bending bacchanal of torture, sodomy, incest, castration, borrowed footage, and aroused livestock.

CALIGULA: THE UNTOLD STORY (1982) (BLU-RAY, DVD)

David Brandon stars as the insane young emperor whose love of brutality and degradation is surpassed only by his hunger for enslaved virgins, cruel vengeance, extreme acts of ‘horseplay’ and beyond.

FILM NOIR: THE DARK SIDE OF CINEMA VI (1947-49, 1951) (BLU-RAY)

This collection features three film noir classics!

• SINGAPORE (1947)

Adventure and romance in the city of intrigue! The irresistible duo of Fred MacMurray and Ava Gardner star in this exotic film noir from director John Brahm. In pre-war Singapore, Matt Gordon (MacMurray) falls in love with the beautiful Linda Grahame (Gardner), but loses contact with her when the Japanese attack. Five years later, he returns to Singapore to retrieve a fortune in smuggled pearls and accidentally reconnects with Linda, now married to rich planter Van Leyden (Roland Culver) and suffering from amnesia. Meanwhile, the sinister Mauribus (Thomas Gomez) schemes to steal Matt’s pearls.

• JOHNNY STOOL PIGEON (1949)

They cracked the back of the world’s blackest racket! A cop! A dame! A killer! Howard Duff is San Francisco-based Treasury agent George Morton, who goes undercover to break up a narcotics ring. Dan Duryea is Johnny Evans, a convict in Alcatraz who makes a deal with George, becoming the titular “stool pigeon.” Shelley Winters is the ringleader’s feisty moll who gets involved in the sting. It’s cops versus smugglers in William Castle’s hardboiled film noir!

• THE RAGING TIDE (1951)

Not even the fury of the lashing sea could match the raging passions that bound them! A San Francisco gangster is rubbed out by rival Bruno Felkin (Richard Conte), who himself reports the crime to Homicide Lieutenant Kelsey (Stephen McNally) in an alibi scheme which fails. To escape, he stows away on a fishing boat, where skipper Hamil Linder (Charles Bickford) receives Bruno kindly. Later, Bruno enlists Hamil’s son Carl (Alex Nicol) to do his dirty work offshore, but things turn sour when Carl takes an interest in Bruno’s girl Connie (Shelley Winters).

THE DIVIDED BRAIN (2019) (DVD)

Dr. Iain McGilchrist is a prominent British psychiatrist and neuroscientist who may have uncovered an insidious problem with the way our brains function. He believes that one half of our brain―the left hemisphere― is slowly taking power, and that we in the Western world are simultaneously feeding its ambitions. This half of the brain is proficient at creating technologies, procedures and systems, but it cannot understand the implications of these on the people and the world around it. McGilchrist knows that if he is right, we may be creating the technologies and the conditions that will spell our own downfall. With the clock ticking on critical issues, he must make his case and help us all to find ways to restore balance before it’s too late.

DRAGUSE / LE BIJOU D’AMOUR (1976-78) (BLU-RAY)

In Draguse, David Leger is a successful author who has run out of ideas. When his publisher asks him to deliver an erotic novel, David begins to look for creative inspiration in unusual places, deciding to rent an old mansion. But not long after hes settled in, a mysterious woman begins to visit him each night, sharing increasingly fantastic and horrifying tales of sex and death, which begin to feel ever more real… Combining gothic horror with explicit sex and a macabre sense of humor, Draguse is an unjustly forgotten hardcore/Euro-Horror treasure.

Then in Le Bijou D’Amour, Adrien is a journalist specializing in occult phenomena. After purchasing a mysterious ring rumored to have belonged to Casanova, Adrien discovers that he can make his erotic fantasies come true. But all good things come at a cost, and his sexual good luck charm might have a deadly price… 

EXPIRED (2021) (DVD)

As Jack (Ryan Kwanten) works as a hitman, his lonely life is altered by two strangers – one a club singer, the other a scientist (Hugo Weaving). Jack and the singer fall in love, but as their relationship grows stronger, Jack grows physically weaker, unable to assassinate the targets he seeks… and it doesn’t take long for the scientist to discover the shocking reasons behind Jack’s deadly affliction.

EYIMOFE (THIS IS MY DESIRE) (2020) (BLU-RAY, DVD)

Eyimofe (This Is My Desire) traces the journeys of two distantly connected strangers – Mofe (Jude Akuwudike), an electrician dealing with the fallout of a family tragedy, and Rosa (Temi Ami-Williams), a hairdresser supporting her pregnant teenage sister – as they each pursue their dream of starting a new life in Europe while bumping up against the harsh economic realities of a world in which every interaction is a transaction. From these intimate stories emerges a vivid snapshot of life in contemporary Lagos, whose social fabric is captured in all its vibrancy and complexity.

FOR ALL MANKIND (1989) (4K + BLU-RAY)

Twenty years after Apollo 11’s lunar landing, Al Reinert constructed a documentary that imparts the unforgettable story of the twenty-four astronauts who traveled to the moon as part of NASA’s Apollo program—told in their words and in their voices, using the images they captured. With its awe-inspiring, otherworldly footage and a haunting atmospheric soundtrack by Brian Eno, For All Mankind stirs us with a profound sense of compassion for the “pale blue dot” that is our home, and it remains the most radical, visually dazzling work of cinema that has been made about this earthshaking event.

GRAND SLAM (1967) (BLU-RAY, DVD)

A quiet yet cunning schoolteacher recruits an elite team of international criminals for the ultimate caper: robbing $10 million in diamonds from an impenetrable Rio de Janeiro vault at the frenzied peak of the city’s Carnival. The planning is meticulous. The crime must run like clockwork. But even if they can pull off the most daring theft in criminal history, are the wildest surprises of all yet to come? 

HARD ROCK ZOMBIES / SLAUGHTERHOUSE ROCK (1985-87) (BLU-RAY)

In Hard Rock Zombies, a heavy metal band has been invited to appear in a conservative small town. What they dont know is that their hosts are in fact a family of horrific and murderous mutants, whose patriarch is none other than Hitler! After the band is swiftly murdered, Cassie, the only non-violent member of this depraved clan, wills them back to life. Soon the stuffy townspeople are faced with an unwelcome reckoning as the zombified musicians thrash and maim their way through the community, in the name of grisly revenge and love!

In Slaughterhouse Rock, Alex, a college student, is plagued by strange dreams in which a grotesque man commits heinous acts of torture and murder. With the help of his friends, Alex discovers that he has an unexplained telepathic link to a notorious killer who once lived on Alcatraz Island and whose bloodlust extends beyond the grave. When his supernatural experiences begin taking on real life manifestations, Alex and his friends sneak into the abandoned prison to put an end to their reign of terror, only to unwittingly walk into a bloodbath.

HELLAWARE (2013) (BLU-RAY)

After becoming frustrated with the New York art scene, Nate ventures on a quest for a more authentic brand of contemporary art. He soon thinks he’s found a perfect subject with a Delawarean goth rap group, Young Torture Killers, but as his relationship with group develops, he becomes increasingly aware that, while you can take the boy out of the art world, you cant take the art world out of the boy.

JIGSAW (1962) (DVD)

Two detectives (Jack Warner, Ronald Lewis) try to solve a woman’s brutal murder by reconstructing her past.

KING DAVID (1985) (BLU-RAY)

Richard Gere gives a bravura performance as the lowly shepherd boy who ascends to the throne of ancient Israel in this compelling, thrilling biblical saga directed by acclaimed filmmaker Bruce Beresford. This panoramic drama brings David and his legendary Old Testament adventures to life, from his confrontation with Goliath to his self-destructive desire for Bathsheba. An exceptional supporting cast includes Edward Woodward as Saul, whose complex relationship with David is the catalyst for strife and conflict that threatens both kingdom and crown in this sweeping, exciting screen epic!

LOCKED DOWN (2021) (DVD)

Recently split Linda (Anne Hathaway) and Paxton (Chiwetel Ejiofor) are at a distressing crossroads when London’s mandatory COVID-19 lockdown forces them to stay under the same roof. While high-flying marketing exec Linda’s new responsibilities leave her disillusioned by the corporate world, Paxton, a creative with a criminal past, winds up furloughed. Fueled by poetry and copious amounts of wine, their efforts to peacefully cohabitate find them rediscovering the free spirits they once were – and becoming intoxicated by a serendipitous opportunity to attempt a high-stakes jewelry heist.

THE LONG WALK (2019) (DVD)

An elderly man who has the power to time travel decides to trespass into his own past and set in motion a plan to prevent his mother’s suffering and appease his soul.

MADMAN (1981) (4K UHD + BLU-RAY 2 DISC SET)

Many terrifying legends are shared around campfires, but very few of them are true. That’s what teenage Richie thought about the story of Madman Marz, a hulking brute who, as the story goes, murdered his entire family decades earlier and who can be summoned from the dead by calling his name. Unfortunately for Richie and his fellow teenage summer camp counselors, the legend is very true, and Madman Marz is back, freshly sharpened ax in hand, to continue the killing spree he began many years ago.

MOONFALL (2022) (BD/DVD)

A mysterious force knocks the moon from its orbit around Earth and sends it hurtling on a collision course with life as we know it. With mere weeks before impact and the world on the brink of annihilation, NASA executive and former astronaut Jo Fowler (Halle Berry) is convinced she has the key to saving us all, but only an astronaut from her past (Patrick Wilson) and a conspiracy theorist (John Bradley) believe her. These unlikely heroes will mount an impossible last-ditch mission into space, leaving behind everyone they love, only to find out that our moon is not what we think it is.

MY BEST PART (2020) (DVD)

When his love life and career seem to be headed toward a cliff edge, an actor decides to go back to his mother to figure things out.

ODE TO NOTHING (2018) (BLU-RAY)

Sonya, an old maid, is about to give up on herself until she meets a corpse in her family’s embalming business that changes her life.

ONE FOR THE ROAD (2003) (BLU-RAY)

Four men who meet at a compulsory rehabilitation class after being sentenced for drunk driving bond over their love of booze at a nearby pub between sessions.

ORANGE COUNTY (2002) (BLU-RAY)

Shaun Brumder (Colin Hanks) is a bright, talented, but somewhat unfocused Southern California surf slacker – until the day he discovers a novel by acclaimed author Martin Skinner. Inspired, he suddenly realizes his life’s ambition: to leave behind mind-numbing Orange County and study creative writing with Skinner at Stanford University. But after being denied enrollment, Shaun is forced to seek help from his hopelessly dysfunctional parents (Catherine O’Hara & John Lithgow) and his stoner brother Lance (Jack Black), despite a series of hilarious circumstances that will make his dream of escaping his hometown nightmare a reality.

THE OTHER FRENCH NEW WAVE: VOLUME 1 (1964-66) (BLU-RAY)

Three trailblazing classics from the dawn of Quebec’s cinematic revolution!

• THE CAT IN THE BAG (1964)

On the cusp of adulthood, Claude loses faith in society and commits to a state of revolt, which strains his relationship with Barbara and leads him on a path to isolation. 

• THE MERRY WORLD OF LEOPOLD Z (1965)

On Christmas Eve, snowplow driver Leo races to clear the streets of Montreal and complete his holiday shopping in time for midnight mass.

• YUL 871 (1966)

During a weekend visit to Montreal, a Parisian engineer has a romantic fling, befriends a young girl, and rethinks his war-fractured past while navigating an unfamiliar new world. 

PATHOGEN (2006) (BLU-RAY)

Conceived when filmmaker Emily Hagins was 12 and released when she was 15, Pathogen is one of the most accomplished horror movies ever made by a person before they could legally drive a car. A mysterious technology has transformed the residents of Austin, TX into flesh-craving zombies. Armed with a knife, an ax, and many pairs of flip-flops, middle schooler Dannie and her pee-wee zombie squad take to the streets to battle undead parents, teens, and even a toddler! With an impressive devotion to editing and storytelling, Pathogen delivers eyeball gouging, decapitations, and knife fights, along with an endearing perspective that could only originate from a teenager. 

REFORM SCHOOL GIRLS (1986) (BLU-RAY)

They’re sexy, they’re beautiful, and they’re bad. Bad enough to be locked up in Pridemore Juvenile Facility, where there are no windows, no possibility of escape, and no hope. But things are about to change when a new arrival dares to oppose the perverts in charge.

ROCCO SCHIAVONE: ICE COLD MURDERS: SEASON 1 (2016) (DVD)

Based on the best-selling series of novels by Antonio Manzini, Rocco Schiavone: Ice

Cold Murders is a devilishly entertaining Italian crime series that follows the idiosyncratic

adventures of cranky and unorthodox detective Rocco Schiavone (Marco Giallini). In Season 1, Deputy Police Chief Rocco Schiavone is exiled to Aosta, a touristy snowbound Alpine town far from his beloved home city of Rome, where he is immediately confronted with a series of bizarre cases.

‘ROUND MIDNIGHT (1986) (BLU-RAY, DVD)

Legendary saxophonist Dexter Gordon plays Dale Turner, a brilliant New York jazz veteran whose music aches with beauty but whose personal life is ravaged by addiction. Searching for a fresh start in Paris, Turner strikes up an unlikely friendship with a struggling single father and ardent jazz fan (François Cluzet) who finds his life transformed as he attempts to help the self-destructive musician. 

SCHIZOID / X-RAY (1980-81) (4K UHD + BLU-RAY 3 DISC SET)

In Schizoid, Pieter Fales is a renowned psychiatrist who is unable to reconcile his relationship with his teenage daughter, Alison. Julie, one of Pieter’s patients, is a successful advice columnist in the midst of a messy divorce, who has also started receiving threatening letters. When a black clad, scissors wielding killer begins murdering people in Julie’s life, she begins to suspect that her unknown writer and this mystery assailant might be one and the same… In X-Ray we meet Susan who, as a little girl, rejected the valentine of a lovestruck classmate. Decades later, she’s come to the hospital for a routine medical examination. But when her x-rays seem to show something unusual, Susan finds herself trapped in a bizarre medical nightmare, made all the worse as her vengeful childhood valentine, disguised among the hospital staff, begins murdering everyone in his path as a means of proving his undying ‘romantic’ obsession…

SCREAM, QUEEN! MY NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (2019) (BLU-RAY)

Scream Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street sets the record straight about the controversial sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street, which ended Mark Patton’s acting career just as it was about to begin. The documentary follows Patton as he travels to horror conventions across the U.S. Each new city unwraps a chapter from his life that is met with equal parts joyful and bittersweet detail, as he attempts to make peace with his past and embrace his legacy as cinema’s first male scream queen.

SIBYL (2019) (BLU-RAY)

Sibyl follows a psychotherapist (Virginie Efira) who decides to quit her practice and return to writing instead. As Sibyl starts dropping patients, she begins to struggle with excess time and a lack of inspiration–until she gets a call from Margot (Adle Exarchopoulos), a young actress wrapped up in a dramatic affair with her costar, Igor (Gaspard Ulliel), who happens to be married to the films director (Sandra Hüller). Sibyl starts to blur past and present, fiction with reality, and the personal with the professional as she begins to use Margot’s life as source material for her novel.

SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1952) (4K + BLU-RAY)

A silent film star loves a chorus girl who dubs his squeaky-voiced co-star in a 1927 Hollywood talkie.

SLASH DANCE (1989) (BLU-RAY)

Beautiful dancers are being brutally murdered at the Van Slake theatre. Is it the weird brothers who run the theater? The perverted stage manager? A vengeful ghost? Bombshell Detective Tori Raines must go undercover as a dancer to find the killer… or become his next victim!

STANLEY LONG’S ADVENTURES: A SEVENTIES SEX COMEDY THREESOME (1976-78) (BLU-RAY)

Stanley Long’s hugely successful series of raucous X-certificate British sex comedies starring a wealth of British film, tv, and comedy talents. Adventures of a Taxi Driver, starring sitcom actor Barry Evans, set the template with the antics of a cabbie who ‘gets more than his fare share’. Securing international distribution – as well as becoming the most successful comedy at the British box office in 1976 – it prompted two sequels, Adventures of a Private Eye and Adventures of a Plumber’s Mate, each featuring more of the same but with a different lead actor.

STONE (1974) (BLU-RAY)

When an undercover cop infiltrates an outlaw motorcycle gang, he’ll straddle 7000 RPM of screaming steel for a full-throttle hell ride through sex, violence, and Down Under vengeance! This Ozploitation classic is uncut in HD for the first time in America.

STOP-ZEMLIA (2021) (DVD)

Introvert Masha sees herself as an outsider unless she’s hanging out with her two best friends, Yana and Senia, who share her non-conformist status. While trying to navigate through her last year of school, Masha falls in love in a way that forces her out of her comfort zone.

SUPERINTELLIGENCE (2020) (DVD)

When an all-powerful Superintelligence chooses to study average Carol Peters (Melissa McCarthy), the fate of the world hangs in the balance. As the A.I. decides to enslave, save or destroy humanity, it’s up to Carol to prove that people are worth saving.

TAKE BACK THE NIGHT (2021) (DVD) 

Finding herself the victim of a violent monster attack, Jane launches a vigilante campaign to hunt the beast that tried to kill her. Jane’s efforts intensify, but her troubling history of drug use and mental illness bubbles to the surface causing her family, community, and authorities to question the authenticity of her account. Suddenly alone in her fight, Jane starts to doubt her own memory of the attack… to doubt if the monster exists at all.​

A TASTE OF HUNGER (2021) (DVD) 

A couple sacrifice everything to get a coveted Michelin star for their popular restaurant in Copenhagen, Denmark.

THE TRICK (2021) (DVD) 

This conspiracy thriller and cautionary tale tells the story of the real-life 2009 Climategate scandal, when a media storm undermined confidence in the science of climate change.

TWISTING THE KNIFE: FOUR FILMS BY CLAUDE CHABROL (BLU-RAY)

• THE SWINDLE (1997) 

A pair of scam artists (Isabelle Huppert and Michel Serrault) get in over their heads. But who is scamming who and who do you trust in a life built on so many lies? 

• THE COLOR OF LIES (1999)

The murder of a 10-year-old girl sparks rumors and gossip as suspicion falls on René, the dour once famous painter, now art teacher, who was the last person to see her alive. 

• NIGHTCAP (2000) 

After hearing the story of how she was almost exchanged as a baby, Jeanne visits Andre, who she suspects is her father. Strange things come to light when she starts spending time with his family.

• THE FLOWER OF EVIL (2003)

Incest, old money, and intergenerational guilt come under the scalpel as an outwardly perfect bourgeois family begins to unravel when the wife involves herself in politics.

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT COSBY (2022) (DVD)

A revealing four-part documentary series from writer/director W. Kamau Bell offering a deeply personal exploration of Bill Cosby’s descent from “America’s Dad” to alleged sexual predator. Exploring the complex story of Cosby’s life and work, Bell invites comedians, educators, journalists, and Cosby survivors to have a refreshingly candid, first of its kind conversation about the man, his career, and his crimes. Bell takes an unfiltered look at his legacy and the unexpected ramifications for an industry that enabled him.

WHERE ARE YOU, JAY BENNET? (2021) (BD/DVD) 

A feature-length documentary on Jay Bennett, a legendary musician and recording studio savant, who as a member of Wilco, was a large part of the genius behind their three seminal albums, as well as the Mermaid Avenue/Woody Guthrie sessions with Billy Bragg. Bennett went on to a critically acclaimed solo career, before dying tragically at the age of 45.

WIN A DATE WITH TAD HAMILTON (2004) (BLU-RAY) 

Famous Hollywood actor Tad Hamilton is trying to promote his new movie. His manager and his agent both convince him to participate in a dating contest in order to improve his bad boy image. When the contest is won by a small-town girl Rosalee Futch, Tad ends up falling in love with her. He’s willing to give up big-city life and move to small-town America, but her best friend and coworker Pete has finally worked up the courage to reveal his secret crush on her. Rosalee finds herself in the middle of a love triangle between her closest friend and a dream date.

WRITING WITH FIRE (2021) (DVD)

In a cluttered news landscape dominated by men emerges India’s only newspaper run by Dalit women. Chief reporter Meera and her journalists break traditions, redefining what it means to be powerful.

YOU’RE WATCHING VIDEO MUSIC BOX (2021) (DVD) 

The untold story of the world’s longest running video show, Video Music Box. A hip hop mainstay since 1983, VMB gave a platform to artists like Jay-Z, Nas and Mary J. Blige before they hit it big. Host Ralph McDaniels’ archives — amassed over 40 nearly years — reveal the show’s importance to numerous big-name musicians, as well as to the kids that grew up watching.