This week we’ve got space aliens in the tummy, a vintage 3D western, a documentary about Black horror films and filmmakers, a classic conspiracy thriller, a body-swapping slasher comedy, and tons more.

ALL CREATURES GREAT & SMALL: SEASON 1 (2020) (2 DISKS)

Fresh out of Glasgow Veterinary College, James Herriot (Nicholas Ralph) follows his dream to become a vet in the magnificent Yorkshire Dales. He soon discovers that treating the animals is as much about treating their owners, and the Dales farmers are a tough crowd to please. (DVD)

 

ATWOOD, MARGARET: A WORD AFTER A WORD AFTER A WORD IS POWER (2019)

Poet and novelist, Margaret Atwood is a household name. Yet few know the private Margaret Atwood. Who is the woman and writer behind these stories? The film crew keeps pace with Atwood as she jets to speaking engagements around the world, visits the set of The Handmaid’s Tale and takes a family holiday. The film explores Atwood’s early days in the Canadian wilderness and as a shining star of the CanLit scene. Atwood’s novels will be explored, including her latest, The Testaments, the highly anticipated sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. Personal stories will be shared by friends, family and by the author herself. (DVD)

 

BILLIE (2019)

Billie Holiday had one of the greatest voices of all time. She was a woman of breathtaking talent and global popularity who was unafraid of stirring controversy. She started a notable rebellion singing “Strange Fruit,” which exposed the realities of Black life in America and earned her powerful enemies. Raw, emotional and brutally honest, Billie is filled with incredible unheard testimonies from musical greats like Charles Mingus, Tony Bennett, Sylvia Syms and Count Basie. Billie showcases an American legend, capturing her depth and complexity through the voices of those who knew her best. It is an arresting and powerful tale of one of the greatest singers who ever lived. (DVD)

 

BIRDS WITHOUT FEATHERS (2018)

 

BURNS, KEN: HERE & THERE (2020)

A rare look at the over four decade intimate relationship Ken Burns has with his America and beloved community of Walpole, NH and the importance that a “sense of place” and belonging has in ones life. That the essential American fabric of patriotism and goodness are woven through each of us and often, the road less traveled is a good decision (DVD)

 

COME PLAY WITH ME (1977)

Mary Millington, Britain’s undisputed 70’s sex queen, stars as the leader of a horde of horny girls who take over the running of a remote health farm. Their naughty fitness treatments certainly give new meaning to being in ‘rude’ health. When a pair of bungling forgers hide out at their country house of ill-repute to escape the police, the movie climaxes (pun intended)! The ensuing no-holds-barred orgy would make Caligula blush! (BLU-RAY from the box set THE MARY MILLINGTON MOVIE COLLECTION)

 

CONFESSIONS FROM THE DAVID GALAXY AFFAIR (1979)

Alan Lake is David Galaxy, the playboy astrologer who beds beautiful young women as easily as he reads fortunes. His glamorous conquests include a high society debutante (sex superstar Mary Millington) and a busty beauty queen (real-life Miss Bournemouth Rosemary England), but he soon finds himself on the wrong side of the law and not even his own horoscope can predict the future! First released at the Eros cinema on Piccadilly Circus in June 1979, this saucy sex comedy follows in the footsteps of Come Play with Me and The Playbirds. Featuring a supporting cast of classic British actors including Bernie Winters, Anthony Booth, Kenny Lynch and the legendary Diana Dors. (BLU-RAY from the box set THE MARY MILLINGTON MOVIE COLLECTION)

 

DEEP IN VOGUE (2019)

Celebrates the colorful, queer, emotional and political stories of Northern Vogue and its people. (DVD)

 

EL DUCE TAPES (2019)

In the early 90s, aspiring filmmaker (and General Hospital co-star) Ryan Sexton lugged a giant camcorder into some of the seediest clubs and the filthiest apartments in Hollywood. There he filmed hour upon hour of VHS footage of the jaw-droppingly offensive Shock Rock band The Mentors, focusing on their infamous lead singer, El Duce.

30 years later, the team behind The Nightmare and Room 237 and the editor of Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist uncover this dusty stockpile of long forgotten and unseen footage. They begin to piece together a picture of the man under the black executioner s hood and what his wilfully offensive act and controversial views might tell us about 21st century America. (BLU-RAY)

 

FREAKY (2020)

Prepare for a Freaky take on the body-swap movie which only Blumhouse (makers of Happy Death Day & The Purge Franchises) could bring: a teenage girl switches bodies with a relentless serial killer! High school senior Millie (Kathryn Newton, Blockers, HBO’s Big Little Lies) is just trying to survive being the unpopular kid when she becomes The Butcher’s (Vince Vaughn) next target. Their fateful encounter gets twisted and they wake up in each other’s bodies. Now looking like a towering psychopath, Millie learns she only has 24 hours to reverse the curse and get her body back before the switch becomes permanent and she’s trapped in the form of a middle-aged maniac forever. (BLU-RAY and DVD)

 

FRENCH SEX MURDERS (1972)

Parisian call girls murdered… Send for Inspector Bogart! This gory sex thriller stars a galaxy of Eurocult acting talent. Anita Ekberg (the killer nun); Howard Vernon (Awfull Dr Orloff); Rosalba Neri (Lady Frankenstein)… not to mention hunky Gordon Mitchell, sexy Barbara Bouchet and glamorous Evelyn Kraft. Oh – and professional Humphrey Bogart lookalike Robert Sacchi! (BLU-RAY)

 

GIRL IN ROOM 2A (1973)

The terrifying tale of a young girl who moves into a boarding house run by a kindly older woman, only to discover that the place has a dark and sinister past. Young girls and pretty girls seem to disappear without trace. Where they go and what happens to them is the dreadful secret of The Girl in Room 2A. (BLU-RAY)

 

GREENLAND (2020)

A family fights for survival as a planet-killing comet races to Earth. John Garrity (Gerard Butler), his estranged wife Allison (Morena Baccarin), and young son Nathan make a perilous journey to their only hope for sanctuary. Amid terrifying news accounts of cities around the world being leveled by the comet’s fragments, the Garritys experience the best and worst in humanity while they battle the increasing panic and lawlessness surrounding them. As the countdown to global apocalypse approaches zero, their incredible trek culminates in a desperate and last-minute flight to a possible safe haven. (BLU-RAY and DVD)

 

HILL OF FREEDOM / WOMAN ON THE BEACH (2014)

Kwon (Seo Young-hwa) returns to Seoul from a restorative stay in the mountains. She is given a packet of letters left by Mori (Ryo Kase, Like Someone In Love), who has come back from Japan to propose to her. As she walks down a flight of stairs, Kwon drops and scatters the letters, all of which are undated. When she reads them, she has to make sense of the chronology… and so must we. Shot in the narrow alleys, petite cafes and beautiful hanok inns of Seoul’s historic Jong-ro district, a favorite Hong location, Hill of Freedom is a masterful, alternately funny and haunting, tale of love and longing from the great director. (DVD)

 

HILLS RUN RED (1967)

From Carlo Lizzani (under pseudonym Lee W. Beaver), the acclaimed director of Wake Up and Die, The Violent Four and Crazy Joe, comes this thrilling spaghetti western starring Henry Silva (Code of Silence), Thomas Hunter (Death Walks in Laredo), Dan Duryea (Scarlet Street) and Nicoletta Machiavelli (Navajo Joe). Revenge is never easy and in this slam-bang western full of fast-paced action and mounting suspense, revenge is never sweeter, either! At the end of the Civil War, a Confederate soldier is jailed for a heist engineered by his buddy, who escapes with the loot and builds himself a life of leisure. While suffering behind bars, he realizes he was double-crossed… and vows revenge. Upon his release five years later, he teams up with a stranger to brawl and shoot his way through his old buddy’s henchmen and finally settle the score with his old partner-in-crime. The Hills Run Red is a gripping and powerful tale of retribution, western style! (BLU-RAY)

 

HORROR NOIRE: A HISTORY OF BLACK HORROR (2019)

 

HOUSE OF USHER (1989)

Molly and her fiancé Ryan are vacationing in England. But while driving to visit Ryan’s elderly uncle Roderick Usher at his secluded country manor, they have an accident and Ryan is left critically injured. After being rescued by Roderick’s strange butler, Molly finds herself a prisoner in the crumbling mansion and slave to its diabolical staff. Even worse, it soon emerges that Roderick is a crazed madman determined to extend his family’s dying bloodline, and will stop at nothing, including torture and murder, to make Molly into his ‘bride.’

A fiendish contemporary re-imagining of Edgar Allan Poe’s gothic classic, Alan Birkinshaw’s (Killer’s Moon) THE HOUSE OF USHER stars acclaimed thespian Oliver Reed (Tommy) alongside horror icon Donald Pleasence (Halloween). Produced by Harry Alan Towers (99 Women) and filled with perverse and gruesome twists. (BLU_RAY)

 

INSTANT DREAMS (2017)

 

JAZZ ON A SUMMER’S DAY (1959)

JIANG ZIYA (2020)

To earn his place amongst the gods, celestial army commander Jiang Ziya must vanquish a terrifying fox demon threatening the very existence of the mortal realm. After learning the creature s fate is tied to that of a young girl, Jiang Ziya disobeys Heaven s edict and spares the demon, resulting in his banishment to the mortal realm. Ten years later, he is given one more chance to complete the task, and Jiang Ziya must decide: is joining the ranks of the heavens worth the price of one innocent life? (DVD)

 

MADAME (2019)

 

MADAME CLAUDE (1977)

Following the worldwide smashes EMMANUELLE (1974) and THE STORY OF O (1975), influential French filmmaker Just Jaeckin returned in 1977 with the sensual real-life drama MADAME CLAUDE. Starring French New Wave icon Françoise Fabian in the title role along with a sinister Klaus Kinski and the lovely Dayle Haddon, MADAME CLAUDE is an incredibly timeless look at one of the most controversial figures in recent French history. Originally released as THE FRENCH WOMAN in the United States, MADAME CLAUDE is a mesmerizing mixture of elegant eroticism and potent political thriller powered by Jaeckin’s inventive direction and an unforgettable score by legendary French composer Serge Gainsbourg. (DVD)

 

MAN OF THE EAST (1973)

From Enzo Barboni (under pseudonym E.B. Clucher), the acclaimed director of The Unholy Four, They Call Me Trinity, Trinity Is Still My Name and Crime Busters, comes this classic western-comedy starring screen icon Terence Hill (My Name Is Nobody). To claim his father’s ranch, Sir Thomas Fitzpatrick Phillip Moore (Hill) has come to the west. Unbeknownst to him, his father’s dying wish was that his friends and fellow highwaymen teach the lad how to be a real man. Abiding by his last request, the three remaining members of his troupe, Bull (Gregory Walcott, The Eiger Sanction), Monkey (Dominic Barto, Charleston) and Holy Joe (Harry Carey Jr., Cherry 2000), are set for a lofty challenge. Thomas is as green as they come and prefers bicycles and poetry over horses and guns. Ill-equipped to deal with his new surroundings, he finally knuckles down when a whirlwind romance forces him to take action against a jealous town marshal. (BLU-RAY and DVD)

 

MARTIAL LAW (1990)

Sean Thompson (Chad McQueen) is a tough as nails, martial arts master, LA street cop with the appropriate nickname of “Martial Law.” After a body is discovered bearing telltale signs of “Dim-Mak,” or ‘death touch,’ Sean and his female partner Billie Blake (Cynthia Rothrock) take on the case, which soon leads them to ruthless crime lord Dalton Rhodes (David Carradine) whose kung fu fighting band of thugs is preparing to unleash bloody mayhem on the city. All the while, and unknown to Sean, his younger brother Michael has become one of Dalton’s henchman… (BLU-RAY)

 

MARTIAL LAW 2: UNDERCOVER (1991)

The saga continues in MARTIAL LAW UNDERCOVER when the body of a cop is found dead in a park, Sean Thompson and his kickboxing, crime fighting partner Billie Blake are hot on the trail of suspects, which leads them to a high-end nightclub where rich and powerful men are entertained by beautiful women and high-stakes martial arts fighting. Billie decides to go undercover in order to expose the shocking truth about the club and its patrons before more bodies turn up… (BLU-RAY)

 

MY DEAR KILLER (1972)

A mysterious decapitation leads Inspector Peretti into a case of blackmail, deceit and the unsolved kidnapping of a young girl. (BLU-RAY)

 

NATIONTIME (1972)

Best known for his genre-bending movie Symbiopsychotaxiplasm, William Greaves (1926–2014) was the director of over 100 documentary films, the majority focused on African American history, politics, and culture. Nationtime is his vivid account of the National Black Political Convention held in Gary, Indiana, in 1972, a historic event that gathered Black delegates from across the political spectrum, among them Jesse Jackson, Dick Gregory, Coretta Scott King, Dr. Betty Shabazz, Richard Hatcher, Amiri Baraka, Charles Diggs, Isaac Hayes, Richard Roundtree and H. Carl McCall. Narrated by Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte, the film was considered too militant for television broadcast at the time and has since circulated only in a truncated 58-minute version. This new 4K restoration from IndieCollect, with funding from Jane Fonda and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, returns the film to its original 80-minute length and visual quality. (DVD)

 

NECROMANCER (1988)

Julie Johnson, a young college coed, is savagely assaulted by a trio of men who then attempt to blackmail her into staying silent. As Julie attempts to put her life back together and deal with her now suspicious boyfriend, she learns of a strange fortune teller who professes to have the ability to exact revenge through supernatural means. After visiting the woman, who senses her trauma, Julie is possessed by a demonic force that punishes her attackers in the most fitting way possible: castration…and death. (BLU-RAY)

 

NIGHT SHIFT (2020)

Three French police officers are tasked with escorting an illegal immigrant to Charles de Gaulle airport, where he will be forced onto a plane and sent back to his homeland. But when they find out about the truth they have to do a difficult choice. (DVD)

 

PARALLAX VIEW (1974) (CRITERION COLLECTION)

Perhaps no director tapped into the pervasive sense of dread and mistrust that defined the 1970s more effectively than Alan J. Pakula, who, in the second installment of his celebrated Paranoia Trilogy, offers a chilling vision of America in the wake of the assassinations of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King Jr. and about to be shocked by Watergate.

Three years after witnessing the murder of a leading senator atop Seattle’s Space Needle, reporter Joseph Frady (Warren Beatty) begins digging into the mysterious circumstances surrounding the event—and stumbles into a labyrinthine conspiracy far more sinister than he could have imagined. (BLU-RAY and DVD)

 

PLAYBIRDS, THE (1978)

The legendary Mary Millington plays a sexy policewoman secretly infiltrating the seedy world of pornography. In order to unmask a pathological killer who s targeting the beautiful centrefolds of Playbirds magazine, Mary puts her life and reputation on the line by sleeping with millionaire publisher Harry Dougan (Alan Lake). (BLU-RAY from the box set THE MARY MILLINGTON MOVIE COLLECTION)

 

QUEEN OF THE BLUES / TRUE BLUE CONFESSIONS (1979)

A seedy striptease club in London’s West End becomes the target for unpleasant crooks. The club’s owners are blackmailed into paying out large wads of cash, but star attraction Mary Millington saves the day with her energetic stripping. Also includes the short True Blue Confessions, a tawdry tribute to Millington. The film (made only a year after her tragic suicide) is a mixture of archive footage, interviews and new scenes. (BLU-RAY from the box set THE MARY MILLINGTON MOVIE COLLECTION)

 

RESPECTABLE: THE MARY MILLINGTON STORY (2015)

In the 1970s there was a pretty English girl-next-door whose rise to the top was meteoric, controversial and scandalous. Her name was Mary Millington Britain s only genuine sex superstar. She became the star of ‘Come Play with Me’, which ran continuously at one London cinema for four years, and is still the longest-running movie in British cinema history. But Mary s sexual bravado hid a darker side. She fought crippling insecurity and struggled to find her voice in a tumultuous decade of social change. Persecuted by the authorities and threatened with a spell in prison, Mary found herself addicted to drugs. Tortured by self-doubt, she died at the height of her fame in August 1979. She was just 33. For the very first time, Simon Sheridan s enthralling documentary ‘Respectable The Mary Millington Story’ reveals the truth behind a British icon and speaks to those who knew her best, including her family, former lovers and co-stars. (BLU-RAY from the box set THE MARY MILLINGTON MOVIE COLLECTION)

 

RIGHT ONE (2021)

In this heartfelt and hilarious rom-com, Sara, a novelist struggling with writer’s block, needs inspiration—and finds it when she serendipitously meets Godfrey, a down-on-his-luck oddball who constantly changes personas and alter egos in order to cope with his past and avoid reality. (DVD)

 

SANTO IN THE TREASURE OF DRACULA (SEXY VAMPIRE VERSION) (1969)

 

SO EVIL MY LOVE (1948)

From Lewis Allen, the acclaimed director of The Uninvited, The Unseen, Desert Fury and A Bullet for Joey, comes this classic film noir starring screen great Ray Milland (The Lost Weekend). An innocent woman falls under a villain’s spell in So Evil My Love, a captivating thriller of obsession and deceit. In the late 19th century, English widow Olivia Harwood (Ann Todd, The Paradine Case) meets Mark Bellis (Milland), a charming-but-dangerous criminal who’s renting a room in her boarding house. Hopelessly in love with a man who is playing her for a fool, Olivia soon descends into a life of crime as Mark persuades her to steal from her friend Susan Courtney (Geraldine Fitzgerald, O.S.S.), the wife of a wealthy peer. Discovering a packet of scandalous letters that could ruin the Courtneys socially, Olivia blindly follows the scoundrel’s biddings, leading down a path of blackmail and murder. (BLU-RAY)

 

SPELLCASTER (1990)

A group of strangers have been invited to partake in a promotional, televised treasure hunt at a remote Italian castle, with the winner walking away with a million dollar fortune. But the old gothic building has some diabolical tricks up its sleeve and it’s not long before the guests begin to fall victim to its demonic secrets, all while the surviving guests begin to come up with creative – and deadly – ways to try and locate the hidden treasure…

One of the series of ‘castle’ films made in the mid 80s by notorious exploitation producer Charles Band (Puppet Master), Rafal Zielinski’s SPELLCASTER is a creature effect filled supernatural horror film starring 80s new wave music icon, Adam Ant. (BLU-RAY)

 

SPUTNIK (2020)

Due to her controversial methods, Tatyana (Oksana Akinshina), a young doctor, is on the precipice of losing her medical license. Her career may not be over, though. After she’s recruited by the military, she is brought to a secure science research facility to assess a very special case, that of a cosmonaut who survived a mysterious space accident and has returned to Earth with a unique condition: there’s something living inside of him that only shows itself late at night. The military has nefarious plans for it. Tatyana wants to stop it from killing. And the creature itself thrives on destruction. Combining the palpable fear of the unknown with the horror of bodily invasion, this hair-raising thriller turns the interstellar terror of Alien on its head, delivering something fresh to the interplanetary monster movie canon. And with its massive scale and brutal carnage, this sci-fi gem signals the arrival of a major new voice: first-time director Egor Abramenko. (BLU-RAY and DVD)

 

STATE OF TEXAS VS MELISSA (2020)

Melissa Lucio was the first Hispanic woman sentenced to death in Texas. For ten years she has been awaiting her fate, and she now faces her last appeal. (DVD)

 

SURVIVAL SKILLS (2020)

Survival Skills is a lost training video from the 1980s. In it, Jim, the perfect policeman, gets in over his head when he tries to resolve a domestic violence case outside the law. (DVD)

 

SUSPECT, THE (1944)

From Robert Siodmak, the legendary director of The Spiral Staircase, The Killers, Cry of the City, Criss Cross and The Crimson Pirate, comes this classic film noir starring acting great Charles Laughton (Witness for the Prosecution). Philip Marshall (Laughton) is a kind, henpecked accountant who strikes up a friendship with Mary Gray (Ella Raines, Phantom Lady), a young unemployed stenographer who had approached him for work. He gradually finds himself falling in love with her, but keeps the relationship platonic. With his wife suspecting him of having an affair, Philip asks her for a divorce, but she refuses and threatens him with exposure and scandal. When his wife is found dead of an apparent accident, Inspector Huxley (Stanley Ridges, An Act of Murder) of Scotland Yard suspects Marshall of murder, but is unable to prove it or establish a motive. (BLU-RAY and DVD)

 

THINGS TO COME/DIRTY DOLLS (1973)

A future dystopia dream-epic shot in San Antonio, THINGS TO COME finds Julie leaving her marriage to investigate a mysterious sci-fi cult on behalf of frustrated women everywhere. With a soundtrack that feels like it was cribbed from A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, ambitious sets that look like leftovers from STAR TREK, and no lack of robots, computers, and bloody violence, THINGS TO COME is a truly unique Texploitation headtrip. Coasting on the fumes of the Manson murders, THE DIRTY DOLLS follows psychopath Johnny and his cultish gang of women as they embark on a bizarro crime spree filled with stolen diamonds, senior citizen drag, grimy sex, and cold-blooded murder. Directed by Stu Segall (DRIVE-IN MASSACRE) under his adult-movie nom de plume “Godfrey Daniels,” this is a sleazy summer-bummer from the wilds of California. (BLU-RAY)

 

WANDER DARKLY (2020)

New parents Adrienne and Matteo are forced to reckon with trauma amidst their troubled relationship. They must revisit the memories of their past and unravel haunting truths in order to face their uncertain future. (BLU-RAY and DVD)

 

WANTING MARE (2020)

 

WILD WEST DAYS (1937)

This action-packed serial presents the dangers, hardships, and glorious triumphs of the early western pioneers. Kentucky Wade and his two buddies ride to help a couple who are being threatened by outlaws. Kentucky and his pals also keep busy fighting their way across the plains and mountains to battle a tribe of Indians led by Red Hatchet. Shortly they also contend with false reports of a strike, which starts a gold rush and exciting hair-trigger action. (DVD)

 

WINGS OF THE HAWK (1953)

3-D Restoration from 2K Scans of the Left and Right Eye InterPositives! From Budd Boetticher, the outstanding director of Red Ball Express, Horizons West, Seminole, 7 Men from Now and Ride Lonesome, comes this exciting western adventure starring Van Heflin (3:10 to Yuma, Shane) and Julie Adams (Bend of the River). Gringo miner Irish Gallager (Heflin) is caught up in the Mexican revolution of 1910-11 when corrupt administrator Colonel Paco Ruiz (George Dolenz, Scared Stiff) unjustly seizes his gold mine. Gallager saves the life of guerrilla leader Raquel Noriega (Adams), then finds there’s a price on his head; he becomes romantically involved with her in the course of a series of rescues and ambushes, leading up to Pascual Orozco’s (Noah Beery, The Spikes Gang) march on Ciudad Juárez. This special edition includes both the 3-D and 2-D versions of the film and the 3-D Woody Woodpecker cartoon, Hypnotic Hick. (3D BLU-RAY and DVD)

 

YOU CANNOT KILL DAVID ARQUETTE (2020)