by Malakie Peters

New Release Tuesday! This week we’ve got the new West Side Story, two (2) Coreys, zoot suits, swords and sorcerers, an American werewolf in 4K, and more.

THE ACCUSED (1988) (BLU-RAY)

After an assault in the back of a neighborhood bar, Sarah Tobias (Jodie Foster) finds herself battling the legal system with her attorney. As they go after both her attackers and the onlookers whose cheering fueled and encouraged the assault, the limits of justice and social responsibility are examined and tested.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: RIVETED: THE HISTORY OF JEANS (2022) (DVD)

The fascinating and surprising story of the iconic American garment. Worn by everyone from presidents to supermodels, farmers to rock stars, they’re more than just a pair of pants ―America’s tangled past is woven deeply into the indigo fabric. 

AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981) (4K UHD) 

American tourists David and Jack are savaged by an unidentified vicious animal whilst hiking on the Yorkshire Moors. David awakes in a London hospital to find his friend dead and his life in disarray. Retiring to the home of a beautiful nurse to recuperate, he soon experiences disturbing changes to his mind and body, undergoing a full-moon transformation that will unleash terror on the streets of the capital… Now newly restored and presented with an abundance of extra features, this big beast of horror can be devoured as never before…

BEANS (2020) (DVD)

Twelve-year-old Beans is on the edge. Torn between innocent childhood and delinquent adolescence, she is forced to grow up fast to become the tough Mohawk warrior that she needs to be during the Indigenous uprising known as The Oka Crisis, which tore Quebec and Canada apart for 78 tense days in the summer of 1990.

BEFORE THE REVOLUTION (1964) (BLU-RAY, DVD)

Semi-autobiographical, partly inspired by Stendhal’s The Charterhouse of Parma, and set in 1962 in his native Parma, Bertolucci captures the passions and the ideology of the 1960s. Fabrizio is passionate, idealistic, influenced by Cesare, a teacher and Marxist, engaged to the lovely but bourgeois Clelia. He struggles to come to terms with these contradictions and master an incestuous affair with his attractive youg aunt, Gina. 

BORREGO (2022) (DVD)

Elly is a young botanist on a research mission gone awry. After witnessing a drug mule’s plane crash in the Borrego desert, she is kidnapped and forced on a dangerous journey to a remote drop off point. With limited essentials and alone in the desert with her captor, desperation for survival takes hold as Elly risks her life to escape from his clutches before the trip turns deadly.

THE BOY BEHIND THE DOOR (2021) (DVD)

Bobby tries to save himself and his best friend when they are kidnapped on their way home from school.

THE CANTERVILLE GHOST (2021) (DVD)

A witty and modern remake of Oscar Wilde’s novella about an American family who move into a haunted English country house. Sir Simon de Canterville is the premier ghost in the British Isles, and exquisitely proud of his dastardly reputation. So when the Otis family leave America and move into Canterville’s abandoned family estate, Sir Simon prepares to give them the fright of their life. There’s just one problem. The Otises aren’t scared of ghosts. Pranks, prophecies, and frightfully plummy accents abound in this romantic and spine-tingling adventure about love, loss and family.

DELIRIUM (1979) (DVD)

When a series of savage murders rocks St. Louis, the police investigation will lead to a deranged Vietnam vet, an underground organization of white-collar vigilantes, gratuitous nudity, graphic violence, and an absolute masterclass in low-budget regional filmmaking.

DEMONIC (2021) (BLU-RAY)

A young woman unleashes terrifying demons when supernatural forces at the root of a decades old rift between mother and daughter are revealed. 

DREAM A LITTLE DREAM (1989) (BLU-RAY)

An accident swaps the minds of a married older man and a teenager (Corey Feldman, one of two Coreys) chasing his dream girl.

ENEMIES OF THE STATE (2020) (DVD) 

An average American family becomes entangled in a bizarre web of espionage and corporate secrets when the U.S. government targets the family’s hacker son.

FAST CHARLIE… THE MOONBEAM RIDER (1979) (BLU-RAY, DVD) 

During the 1920s, World War I veteran and con man Charlie Swattle (David Carradine) dreams of being the first person to win a transnational motorcycle race and enlists his comrades from the war to help. Romance and adventure ensue as Charlie meets sassy waitress Grace and her son as he pursues the big win on his classic Moonbeam motorbike. 

JOHN AND THE HOLE (2021) (DVD)

A desperate game of survival unfolds after 13 year old John traps his family in a hole in the ground in this unsettling psychological thriller. 

JOSEP (2020) (DVD)

During the Spanish civil war, Republican fighters fleeing Franco’s dictatorship are imprisoned in concentration camps once they arrive in France. Forced to live in appalling conditions, these refugees barely have access to hygiene, water, and food. Josep tells the story of how Josep Bartolí, an artist born in Barcelona and Serge, a sympathetic French camp guard, become friends after Serge slips him some paper to use for his art.

LE CERCLE ROUGE (1970) (4K + BLU-RAY)

Alain Delon plays a master thief, fresh out of prison, who crosses paths with a notorious escapee (Gian Maria Volontè) and an alcoholic ex-cop (Yves Montand). The unlikely trio plot a heist, against impossible odds, until a relentless inspector and their own pasts seal their fates.

NIGHT OF THE DEMON (1980) (DVD)

When a group of Anthropology students heads into the forest to investigate a series of Sasquatch attacks, they’ll discover a brain-blast of crazy hermits, mutilated Girl Scouts, interspecies copulation, and more! Amid the gush of early ’80s low-budget backwoods horror, only one lost classic brought together softcore sex, hardcore violence, Satanic sex cults, and a limb-tearing, gut-slinging, dick-ripping beast, now restored uncut for the first time ever.

NIGHTMARE [COLLECTOR’S EDITION] (1964) (BLU-RAY)

As a child, Janet witnessed an unbearable horror — her insane mother stabbing her father to death. Now a young woman, Janet suffers from recurring nightmares that have her convinced that she’ll follow her mother to the asylum. Accompanied by her schoolteacher, Janet retreats to the home of her guardian who has hired lovely Grace as a companion to help calm his troubled ward. But Janet’s nightly terrors, magnified by the eerie, creaky old house, bring all her fears chillingly to life. Are Janet’s problems all in her head…or is there a sinister force at work?

PUBERTY BLUES (1981) (BLU-RAY)

Two inseparable friends from the southern suburbs of Sydney try to make their mark in the surfing community, seeking experience and acceptance.

RED ROCKET (2021) (BLU-RAY, DVD)

Finding himself down and out in Los Angeles, ex porn star Mikey Saber decides to crawl back to his hometown of Texas City, Texas, where his estranged wife and mother-in-law are living. Just as this dysfunctional family seems to be making things work, Mikey meets a young woman named Strawberry working the cash register at a local doughnut shop and falls right back into his old habits.

RIFKIN’S FESTIVAL (2020) (BLU-RAY, DVD)

Cinema devotee Mort Rifkin (Wallace Shawn) accompanies his publicist wife Sue (Gina Gershon) to the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain, worried that her fascination with her young film director client, Philippe (Louis Garrel), might be more than professional. In addition, Mort hopes the change of scenery will provide a respite from his struggle to write a first novel that lives up to his impossibly exacting standards.

SIGNAL: THE MOVIE COLD CASE INVESTIGATION UNIT (2021) (BD/DVD)

Continuing from the Japanese drama series, when officer Kento Saegusa (Kentaro Sakaguchi) picks up a dusty old police radio that’s about to be scrapped, it brings him into contact with Takeshi Oyama (Kazuki Kitamura). The two detectives, one from the past and one from the present, have worked together to solve countless cold cases. Now they’re back together once more! BTS did the theme song!

THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER (1982) (4K + BLU-RAY)

Meet Talon, a daring mercenary who conquers castles and dungeons alike with his lethal three-bladed sword. But when Talon learns that he is the prince of a kingdom controlled by an evil sorcerer, he is thrust into the wildest fight of his life. Can Talon rescue the beautiful princess and slay the warlock, or will he fall prey to the black magic of medieval mayhem? 

TUFTLAND (2017) (BLU-RAY)

Irina, a headstrong textile student, tries to overcome her day-to-day problems by accepting a summer job in the isolated and offbeat village of Kyrsyä. As Irina begins to get a grip of herself in the middle of the endless Finnish forest, the seemingly harmless and oddball villagers begin to reveal their true, darker nature – and it soon becomes clear that Irina is in danger with nowhere to escape!

VIKINGS: SEASON 6 VOLUME 2 (2020) (DVD)

The sixth and final season of the historical drama series focuses on King Bjorn’s reign over Kattegat, Ivar’s adventures in Rus’ and Wessex, and Ubbe’s expeditions to Iceland and North America.

WEST SIDE STORY (2021) (4K UHD + BLU-RAY, BLU-RAY, DVD)

Love at first sight strikes in Steven Spielberg’s rendition of the award winning musical when young Tony (Ansel Elgort) spots Maria (Rachel Zegler) at a high school dance in 1957 New York City. Their burgeoning romance helps to fuel the fire between the warring Jets and Sharks — two rival gangs vying for control of the streets.

THE WHALER BOY (2020) (DVD)

Fifteen-year-old Leshka lives in an isolated village on the Bering Strait. Like most men where he lives, he is a whale hunter. When internet arrives in the village, Leshka becomes infatuated with a webcam model from America – so far away and yet almost close enough to see across the waters of the Strait. Coming of age in the male-dominated whaling community, Leshka’s encounter with this mysterious woman awakens in him a desire to find love outside of the confines of his tiny world. He becomes determined to meet her in real life, setting forth on a dangerous adventure across the raging waters of the sea.

ZOOT SUIT (1981) (BLU-RAY)

Part fascinating fact, part dazzling fiction, Zoot Suit is Luis Valdez’s blistering film adaptation of his own critically acclaimed stage drama based on the “zoot suit riots” that rocked 1940s Los Angeles. When barrio leader Henry Reyna and a group of his friends are unjustly convicted on circumstantial evidence and sent to San Quentin, activist lawyers Alice Bloomfield and George Shearer fight the blatant racially motivated miscarriage of justice to win Henry and his friends their freedom.