REWIND NEWS FOR 2024

RADIANCE'S DECEMBER RELEASES GATHER 3 FILMS BY BUÑUEL AND DEBUT A UK BLU-RAY PREMIERE AND A WORLD-EXCLUSIVE BLU-RAY RELEASE

Wednesday 11th September 2024

Coming to the UK and US on December 16th/17th: A world exclusive Blu-ray release, Yokohama BJ Blues from acclaimed samurai movie director Eiichi Kudo (The Fort of Death), this urban neo-noir captures the mood of urban Japan, in a time of peak 1980s decadence.

When his police detective best friend is killed, down-at-heel private eye and part-time blues singer BJ (Yusaku Matsuda, The Game Trilogy) gets the blame. He must start his own investigation to clear his name, but what he uncovers is a tangled web involving crooked cops, drug-dealing gangsters, the city's underground gay and biker scenes, and even his own past. A loose remake of Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye that also draws from Visconti's Death in Venice, this was Matsuda's break with his action hero image.

The Limited Edition Blu-ray features a High-Definition digital transfer, uncompressed mono PCM audio, an interview with star Mari Hemmi, an interview with screenwriter Shoichi Maruyama, an interview with writer and Yokohama expert Toru Sano, a trailer and a newly improved English subtitle translation, along with a reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters and a booklet featuring new writing by Dimitri Ianni on Toei Central Film - a subsidiary of Toei studios famed for releasing Pink Films and independent productions such as Yokohama BJ Blues - and an archival review of the film, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings.

PREORDER LINKS:
- Amazon UK (coming soon)
- Amazon US (coming soon)
- Radiance (direct)


Coming to the UK on December 16th: Nothing Is Sacred, a box set containing three of Buñuel's most provocative works from his late-period collaborations with producer Gustavo Alatriste and actress Silvia Pinal: Viridiana (1961), The Exterminating Angel (1962), and Simon of the Desert (1965).

From 1946 to 1965, Luis Buñuel directed 21 films in Mexico, the country that became his naturalised home. Towards the end of this period, the great master of surrealism would meet two of his most important collaborators - the husband-and-wife duo of producer Gustavo Alatriste and actress Silvia Pinal - and together they would create three of his most provocative and enduring works: Viridiana (1961), The Exterminating Angel (1962), and Simon of the Desert (1965). Presented here in new restorations, all three films are frequently hailed as some of the greatest of all time. All of what makes Buñuel one of the greatest of directors can be found within them: the startling imagery, the uncompromising surrealism, the wicked humour, the unapologetic eroticism, and the overwhelming disdain for contemporary boundaries of good taste.

The Limited Edition Blu-ray box set features new 4K restorations of Viridiana and Simon of the Desert from the original negatives, a new restoration of The Exterminating Angel from a 4K scan by Radiance Films, uncompressed mono PCM audio for each film, newly filmed appreciations for each film and Buñuel by filmmakers Richard Ayoade, Alex Cox, Guillermo del Toro, and Lulu Wang, "The Life and Times of Don Luis Buñuel" BBC Arena documentary on Buñuel featuring contributions from Bunuel and collaborators including Catherine Deneuve, presented on Blu-ray for the first time (1983, 98 mins), "A Mexican Buñuel" documentary directed by Emilio Maille on Buñuel's Mexican period (1995, 50 minutes), "Buñuel: A Surrealist Filmmaker" feature-length documentary directed by Javier Estpada on Buñuel's life and career, presented on Blu-ray for the first time (2021, 83 mins), an interview with Buñuel from 1964 recorded for French TV's Cinéastes de notre temps (1964, 43 mins), "The Other Trinity: Alatriste, Buñuel and Pinal" visual essay on Buñuel in Mexico by Abraham Castillo Flores, "Dinner and Other Rituals" visual essay on The Exterminating Angel and the dinner party on film by critic and writer Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, an audio commentary on Viridiana by critic Michael Brooke, an audio commentary on Simon of the Desert by critic and filmmaker Kat Ellinger, a gallery of stills and a trailer, along with optional English subtitles, reversible sleeves featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sister Hyde, and an 80-page book featuring new writing by Glenn Kenny, Justine Smith, Lindsay Hallam and David Hering, as well as archive material, presented in a rigid box with full-height Scanavo cases and removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings.

PREORDER LINKS:
- Amazon UK (coming soon)
- Radiance (direct)


Coming to the UK on December 16th: The UK Blu-ray premiere of 1984's The Man from Majorca.

Following a slick post office robbery, two police officers see their investigation turn into one of high-level corruption and institutional intrigue. Bo Widerberg follows his earlier investigative thriller The Man on the Roof with a focus on realism and procedural detail. Adapted from a novel by Leif Persson and starring Sven Wollter (The 13th Warrior), Widerberg's film channels the style of his earlier crime masterpiece but presents a new world. Gritty and often intense, The Man from Majorca is another classic of Nordic noir.

The Limited Edition Blu-ray features a High-Definition digital transfer by Svensk Filmindustri, uncompressed mono PCM audio, on-set reportage including behind-the-scenes images and comments from Widerberg (1984, 2 mins), a TV featurette featuring Widerberg (1984, 3 mins), an interview with assistant director Harald Hamrell (2022, 24 mins), an interview with Barry Forshaw, author of Nordic Noir (2024), a teaser trailer, a gallery and a newly improved English subtitle translation, along with a reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters and a booklet featuring new writing, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings.


PREORDER LINKS:
- Amazon UK (coming soon)
- Radiance (direct)

RADIANCE'S NOVEMBER RELEASES DEBUT FOUR BLU-RAY PREMIERES

Monday 19th August 2024

Coming to the UK and US on November 18th/19th: Kinji Fukasaku makes his third entry in the Radiance collection with his proto Battles Without Honour classic Japan Organised Crime Boss.

Two major yakuza factions from Tokyo and Osaka battle over control of Yokohama, using local gangs as their proxies. Amid this violent struggle, Tsukamoto (Koji Tsuruta, Big Time Gambling Boss), the head of one of the local gangs, is released from an eight-year prison sentence. The feud forces him into action, but he learns that those pulling the strings have political connections and that he is up against overwhelming forces. A predecessor to and blueprint for Fukasaku's Sympathy for the Underdog, Japan Organised Crime Boss also signals the director's first collaboration with Bunta Sugawara, the later star of Battles Without Honour and Humanity as well as with Tomisaburo Wakayama (The Bounty Hunter Trilogy) and gangster-turned-movie star Noboru Ando (Eighteen Years in Prison).

The Limited Edition Blu-ray features a new 4K restoration by Toei Company, uncompressed mono PCM audio, an archival interview with Kinji Fukasaku, an interview with yakuza film historian Akihiko Ito (2024), a visual essay on Koji Tsuruta's collaborations with Fukasaku by yakuza cinema expert Nathan Stuart (2024), a trailer and a newly improved English subtitle translation, along with a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow and a booklet featuring new writing by Stuart Galbraith IV and an archival review of the film, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings.

PREORDER LINKS:
- Amazon UK
- Amazon US
- Radiance (direct)


Coming to the UK and US on November 18th/19th: Fresh from its Cannes premiere, Marco Bellocchio's powerful Years of Lead political thriller Slap the Monster on Page One makes its world Blu-ray debut from a new 4K restoration.

Days before a general election a young girl is raped and murdered. Bizanti (Gian Maria Volonté, The Working Class Goes to Heaven), the editor of a right-wing newspaper uses the story to help the conservative candidate his paper supports. The tumultuous time of Italy's 'Years of Lead' are captured in Marco Bellocchio's powerful political drama which directly addressed topics of its day and even prefigured the creation of the right-wing paper Il giornale, which came into being two years after this film. In an age of media manipulation Slap the Monster on Page One has never been more relevant and stands proudly alongside such Italian activist classics as We Still Kill the Old Way and The Mattei Affair.

The Limited Edition Blu-ray features a 4K restoration of the film from the original negative by Cineteca di Bologna in collaboration with Surf Film and Kavac Film, under the supervision of director Marco Bellocchio, uncompressed mono PCM audio, an archival interview with Marco Bellocchio (21 mins), a newly filmed interview with critic and author Mario Sesti (2024, 25 mins), an appreciation by filmmaker Alex Cox (2024, 10 mins) and a newly improved English subtitle translation, along with a reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters and a booklet featuring new writing by Wesley Sharer, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings.

PREORDER LINKS:
- Amazon UK
- Amazon US
- Radiance (direct)


Coming to the UK on November 18th: Ray Milland directs and stars in Panic in Year Zero, an apocalyptic sci-fi thriller featuring teen idol Frankie Avalon.

When Harry Baldwin (Ray Milland, The Lost Weekend) takes his family on a fishing trip, their holiday is brutally interrupted as a catastrophic atomic war breaks out, destroying their suburban Los Angeles home. What remains of the United Nations announces on the radio that society has broken down, and the Baldwins realise that they must quickly learn how to navigate this new 'year zero', and do whatever it takes in order to survive. Milland stars alongside teen idol Frankie Avalon as well as directing this bleak and visceral apocalypse thriller, described as 'the most expressive on-the-ground nightmare of the cold-war era' (Village Voice).

Mastered in HD from the 35mm fine grain positive by MGM, the Limited Edition Blu-ray features uncompressed mono PCM audio, an audio commentary by critic Richard Harland Smith (2016), a new interview with Kim Newman (2024), an archival interview with Ray Milland (1972), "Atomic Shock!" - an interview with filmmaker Joe Dante (2016, 9 mins), a trailer and optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, along with a reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters and a booklet featuring new writing by film critic Christina Newland, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings.

PREORDER LINKS:
- Amazon UK
- Radiance (direct)


Coming to the UK on November 18th: Francois Truffaut makes his third entry in the Radiance collection with dark costume drama The Story of Adele H., featuring a stunning performance from Isabelle Adjani and co-starring Bruce Robinson.

The year is 1863. Adele Hugo (Isabelle Adjani, Possession) is the daughter of the legendary poet and novelist Victor Hugo. After falling in love with the British soldier Lt. Pinson (Bruce Robinson), Adele sails by herself to Nova Scotia, intending to persuade Pinson to marry her. Pinson callously rejects her advances; unperturbed, she continues to pursue him, and her obsession becomes wilder and more desperate, leading her to become increasingly outcast from society. The Story of Adele H. is a handsomely mounted costume drama that is nevertheless one of Francois Truffaut's darkest and most psychologically complex works, with a legendary, Oscar-nominated central performance from the then 20-year-old Adjani.

The Limited Edition Blu-ray features a High-Definition digital transfer, uncompressed mono PCM audio, an interview with Francois Truffaut (1975), an interview with Isabelle Adjani (1980), footage of the premiere in Lyon with Truffaut and Isabelle Adjani (1975), an interview with cinematographer Nestor Almendros (1986), an interview with critic Phuong Le (2024), a trailer and optional English subtitles, along with a reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters and a booklet featuring archival writing, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings.

PREORDER LINKS:
- Amazon UK
- Radiance (direct)

AKIRA KUROSAWA'S SEVEN SAMURAI ON 4K UHD / BLU-RAY FROM BFI

Thursday 1st August 2024

Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece newly restored in 4K is released on UHD & Blu-ray on 21 October 2024


Akira Kurosawa’s SEVEN SAMURAI, one of the greatest action films ever made, and the BFI’s best-selling Blu-ray/DVD/VHS release of all time, is released on 4K UHD (Ultra High Definition) for the first time in the UK on 21 October 2024 along with a Blu-ray release. The BFI’s new presentation will have its UK premiere at BFI IMAX on 26 September as part of the BFI’s forthcoming UK-wide season ART OF ACTION and will be screened in selected cinemas in the UK and Ireland from 27 September.

The 1954 film, nominated for two Oscars and three BAFTAs, has influenced the work of directors from George Lucas to Steven Spielberg, and spawned remakes, most notably John Sturges’ acclaimed THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960). Newly restored in 4K by Toho, Japan, it had a world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival 2024.

Each home entertainment format will be available as a Limited Edition 2-disc set with a perfect-bound book, a set of four postcards and a double-sided poster. Special features include a newly recorded commentary and the English subtitles have been updated and improved.

When 16th-century farmers whose village is repeatedly attacked by merciless bandits ask an elderly masterless samurai (Takashi Shimura) for help, offering nothing but food in return, he hesitantly agrees, and assembles a band of warriors to defend and train the villagers. Boasting terrific performances, particularly from Shimura and Toshirô Mifune as a peasant masquerading as a samurai, the film has superb camerawork and expertly mounted battle sequences.

Special Features
4K (2160p) presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) for the UHD release, HD (1080p) presentation for the standard Blu-ray release
Newly recorded audio commentary by film critic Adrian Martin
Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create – Seven Samurai (2002, 50 mins)
The Art of Akira Kurosawa (2013, 49 mins): Asian-cinema expert Tony Rayns discusses Kurosawa's career and influence
Original trailer
BFI rerelease trailer
Double-sided poster featuring artwork by Matt Needle and the BFI’s poster designed for the film’s rerelease
A set of four postcards featuring iconic scenes from the film
Perfect-bound book featuring new and archival writing on the film
Updated and improved English subtitles
Other extras TBC

BFI Shop link (4K UHD + bonus features Blu-ray)

Amazon UK link (4K UHD + bonus features Blu-ray)

BFI Shop link (Blu-ray + bonus features Blu-ray)

Amazon UK link (Blu-ray + bonus features Blu-ray)

AKIRA KUROSAWA'S IKIRU ON BLU-RAY FROM BFI

Tuesday 30th July 2024

Released on BFI 2-disc Blu-ray on 19 August 2024


With a beautifully nuanced performance by Takashi Shimura (who starred in 21 of Kurosawa’s films) as the dying bureaucrat, IKIRU is an intensely lyrical and moving film that explores the nature of existence and how we find meaning in our lives. This classic of world cinema and of Kurosawa’s non-Samurai films, was re-made in 2022 as the Oscar-nominated LIVING, starring Bill Nighy. It comes to Blu-ray for the first time in the UK, restored in 4K and presented in High Definition. Extras include an audio commentary.

Opening with a simple shot of an X-ray, IKIRU proceeds to tell the tale of Watanabe (Takashi Shimura), a dedicated, downtrodden civil servant now diagnosed with terminal cancer. After a bout of self-pity, he determines to change his unfulfilling existence and discover a zest for life, plunging into hedonistic pleasure-seeking on the frenetic streets of post-war Tokyo. But Watanabe is soon driven to give lasting meaning to his life, and lights upon a plan to construct an urban children’s playground.

Special features
Restored in 4K and presented in High Definition
Audio commentary by film critic Adrian Martin
Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create – Ikiru (2002, 42 mins): made as part of the Toho Masterworks series and featuring interviews with Kurosawa, script supervisor Teruyo Nogami, writer Hideo Oguni, actor Takashi Shimura and others
Introduction by Alex Cox (2003, 15 mins)
It’s Ours Whatever They Say (1972, 39 mins): a community action film by Jenny Barraclough telling of the battle fought by a group of mothers against a London council to establish a playground for children on a derelict site
The People People (1970, 22 mins): intended for school leavers, this COI film shows the vast range and variety of jobs available within the civil service, highlighting the ways in which civil servants help individuals, the community in general and Parliament
Original theatrical trailer
Image gallery
***First pressing only*** Illustrated booklet with essays by Tony Rayns and James-Masaki Ryan, a review originally published in Monthly Film Bulletin in 1959, notes on the special features and film credits

Product details
RRP: £24.99 / Cat. no. BFIB1521 / PG
Japan / 1952 / black and white / 143 minutes / Japanese language with optional English subtitles / original aspect ratio 1.37:1 // Disc One: BD50, 1080p, 23.98fps, LPCM 1.0 mono audio (48kHz/24-bit) Disc Two: BD25, 1080i, 29.97fps, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo audio (192kbps)

BFI Shop link

Amazon UK link

ARROW VIDEO HEATS UP IN AUGUST WITH GREEK GODS, MARIACHIS, AND FERAL CANNIBALS IN DELUXE BOX SET EDITIONS!

Saturday 27th July 2024

On August 13th, Arrow Video release WHEN TITANS RULED THE EARTH: CLASH OF THE TITANS AND WRATH OF THE TITANS in Limited Edition 4K UHD and Blu-ray 2-Disc box sets.

Release the Kraken! Sam Worthington (Avatar) leads an all-star cast in the fantasy adventure classic, CLASH OF THE TITANS. Follow Perseus (Worthington) as he fights for humanity's survival against Hades (Ralph Fiennes, No Time To Die) as the God of the Underworld attempts to seize control from Zeus (Liam Neeson, Schindler's List), who holds Perseus's true origins and destiny in the balance. Director Louis Leterrier (Fast X) helms this modern update of the original 80s classic.

In WRATH OF THE TITANS, Hades has returned to complete his plan to create hell on earth. Picking up ten years after the events of CLASH OF THE TITANS, Perseus is called into action after his half-brother Ares (Édgar Ramírez, The Bourne Ultimatum) helps Hades overthrow Zeus. Perseus must now traverse the underworld to free his father and save the world. The demi-god is aided on his dangerous quest by the Queen Andromeda (Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl), fellow demi-god Agenor (Toby Kebbell, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) and Hephaestus (Bill Nighy, Pirates of the Caribbean). Director Jonathan Liebesman (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning) leads this fast-paced sequel filled with action and adventure.

The box sets feature an illustrated collector's book containing new writing, double-sided fold-out posters for each film, six postcard sized art cards, and reversible sleeves for each film.

On August 27th, THE MEXICO TRILOGY: EL MARIACHI, DESPERADO & ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO arrives as a Limited Edition 4K UHD + Blu-ray 4-disc box set. The set features an illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing, reversible sleeves for all three films, double-sided posters for each film, and a collectible poster featuring Robert Rodriguez's original poster concept for El Mariachi.

Wunderkind Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, From Dusk Til Dawn) burst onto the scene in 1993 with his $7,000 action spectacular EL MARIACHI, the tale of a lowly musician (Carlos Gallardo) who is mistaken for a deadly assassin that uses his guitar case to hide an arsenal of weapons. Music, action, car chases, and a finale you won't soon forget all swirl in this visually stunning debut of one of the masters of action cinema.

The special features on the EL MARIACHI Blu-ray include an audio commentary, new interviews with the director and star, a new interview on the music of the film, a featurette on the making of the film, a short film by the director, the theatrical trailer and a TV spot.

DESPERADO picks up where the previous story left off, with the guitar case-toting avenger (now played by Antonio Banderas, The Mask of Zorro) in search of Bucho (Joaquim de Almeida, Fast Five), the drug dealer who injured him and the woman he loved. In his blood-soaked search for vengeance, he is aided by a lovely bookstore owner (Salma Hayek, Frida) and an in-over-his-head con man (Steve Buscemi, Reservoir Dogs). Armed with a $7 million budget, the do-it-all Rodriguez created the sequel to top all sequels with his John Woo-inspired south of the border action epic.

The special features on the DESPERADO 4K UHD and Blu-ray editions include a new 4K restoration from the original camera negative by Sony Pictures, an audio commentary, new interviews with the director, producer, stunt coordinator, and special effects coordinator, an appreciation by Welsh filmmaker Gareth Evans (The Raid), a featurette on making the film, textless opening, and theatrical trailers.

Rodriguez concludes his epic trilogy with ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO, with the Mariachi (Banderas) returning to help Mexico as its democracy stands in the balance. When CIA agent Sands (Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean) hires Mariachi to kill the Army General that murdered Carolina (Salma Hayek), he never thought it would put him in the middle of a military coup and assassination of the President of Mexico. Using digital cameras, Rodriguez creates a clever, and cost-effective, epic ending to his Mexico trilogy. Featuring an all-star cast that includes Banderas, Depp, Hayek, ACADEMY AWARD® nominee Mickey Rourke, Eva Mendes, Danny Trejo, Enrique Iglesias, Cheech Marin, Rubén Blades, and quadruple ACADEMY AWARD® nominee Willem Dafoe.

The special features on the ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO Blu-ray edition include an audio commentary, new interviews with director and visual effects editor, deleted scenes with director's commentary, multiple archival featurettes on all aspects of the director's filmmaking process, a featurette showing how to cook the famous dish featured in the film, a director's Q&A about digital photography from 2003, archival featurette on the hero's journey through the trilogy, and theatrical trailers.

On August 27th, THE WOMAN and OFFSPRING is released in a Limited Edition 4K UHD two-disc set featuring an illustrated collector's booklet featuring writing on each film, and a reversible sleeve featuring artwork for both films.

"Master of Horror" Lucky McKee (May) and cult horror author Jack Ketchum (The Girl Next Door) join forces to bring the one-of-a-kind, brutal tale of family values gone awry in The Woman. Chris (Sean Bridgers, Deadwood), a lawyer, husband, and father of three, hides a dark secret – he's captured a feral cannibal woman (Pollyanna McIntosh, The Walking Dead) and chained her in his cellar for the purpose of "civilizing" her. His twisted and violent methods soon infect his young son and the entire family. McKee's unblinking look at the toxicity of men left to their own devices caused a stir when it premiered at Sundance in 2011. The Woman remains one of the most searing horror films of the last twenty years.

The special features on THE WOMAN 4K UHD edition includes a 4K restoration supervised and approved by Lucky McKee, multiple commentary tracks featuring the director, editor sound designer, the film's star, and film critic, a feature-length making of documentary, an interview with actor, multiple featurettes on the making of the film, deleted scenes, a short film by the editor, a music video, a Frightfest discussion panel from 2011, theatrical trailers, and image galleries.

Also included in this set is director Andrew van den Houten's 2009 adaptation of Ketchum's prequel to THE WOMAN, OFFSPRING. Pollyanna McIntosh, in the role that she would later reprise in The Woman, stars as the matriarch of a feral cannibal pack that has terrorized the Northeast coast for two centuries. When the pack kidnaps the family's baby, it becomes a race against time for the family to find the cannibal's lair. van den Houten's prequel is as harrowing as McKee's sequel and as insightful.

The special features on the OFFSPRING 4K UHD include a 4K restoration supervised and approved by Andrew van den Houten, multiple audio commentary tracks featuring the director/producer, the digital colorist, the writer, and the cinematographer, multiple interviews with the cast and crew, a restoration comparison, an audition comparison, webisodes, easter eggs, the theatrical trailer, and image gallery.

IMPRINT FILMS - JULY NEW RELEASES

Monday 29th April 2024

Eleven incredible pieces of cinema from the 90’s – five releases jam-packed with iconic actors and unforgettable performances.

Film Focus: Harvey Keitel (1992 - 1999) - Imprint Collection #333 - 338

With a career spanning almost sixty years, Hollywood’s favourite tough guy Harvey Keitel is one of the most beloved and iconic actors of all time.

These six classic 90’s films celebrate his remarkable career and feature performances from Madonna, Elisabeth Moss, John Wood, Kate Winslet, Iain Glen, James Russo, Kelly Lynch, and John Turturro.
- Bad Lieutenant (1992)
- The Young Americans (1993)
- Dangerous Game (1993)
- Imaginary Crimes (1994)
- Clockers (1995)
- Holy Smoke (1999)

Limited Edition 6-Disc Hardbox packed with brand NEW special features including audio commentaries and interviews, plus an exclusive booklet featuring essays on Bad Lieutenant by film critic Sean Burns, Holy Smoke by film critic/podcast producer Blake Howard, and Harvey Keitel by filmmaker Scout Tafoya.

Smoke/Blue In The Face (1995) - Imprint Collection #339 - 340

Harvey Keitel stars as Augustus “Auggie” Wren, a Brooklyn Cigar Store manager, in the hilarious independent comedy Smoke, plus its sequel Blue in the Face.

Limited Edition 2-Disc Hardbox, strictly limited to 1500 copies only.

Men Of Respect (1990) - Imprint Collection #341

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth receives the mobster treatment in this 1990 crime drama, starring John Turturro (The Big Lebowski) as a Mafia hitman killing his way to the top.

8mm (1999) - Imprint Collection #342

8mm is the box office smash that stars Nicolas Cage as a private investigator who falls deep into the world of snuff films. Directed by Joel Schumacher (The Lost Boys), and written by Andrew Kevin Walker (Seven), this crime thriller also stars Joaquin Phoenix and James Gandolfini.

The Juror (1996) - Imprint Collection #343

Demi Moore and Alec Baldwin light up the screen in this thrilling crime drama from the Academy Award winning screenwriter of The Silence of the Lambs, Ted Tally.

All of the titles can be ordered in a special bundle HERE.

BLUE UNDERGROUND ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF DEATHDREAM TOM ON 4K/BLU-RAY!

Thursday 25th April 2024

In honor of its 50th anniversary, director Bob Clark’s Deathdream (aka Dead of Night) makes its world-wide debut on 4K UHD and Remastered Blu-ray on May 21st from a brand new 4K restoration, overflowing with exclusive new and archival extras.

Charles and Christine (Academy Award® nominees John Marley and Lynn Carlin) receive the tragic news that their son Andy (Richard Backus) has died in Vietnam. As Charles and their daughter (Anya Ormsby) begin to process their grief, Christine refuses to believe her son has been killed. Indeed, when Andy shows up at the front door soon thereafter, the family joyfully welcomes him home and chalks the whole thing up to a clerical error. As the days go by, Andy’s behavior becomes stranger and more erratic and when his true violent nature is revealed, sides are drawn in the family – setting up an unforgettable ending.

Inspired by the W. W. Jacobs short story The Monkey’s Paw, screenwriter Alan Ormsby and director Bob Clark created one of the first Vietnam vet parables, a film that Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called, "a potent and compelling thriller!"

The 4K UHD and Blu-ray special features include audio commentaries with co producer/director Bob Clark, writer/make-up artist Alan Ormsby, and others; cast and crew retrospective interviews; restored theatrical trailer; extensive still galleries; and more.

Pre-order 4K UltraHD/Blu-ray Combo HERE!

Pre-order Blu-ray HERE!

SEVERIN’S MARCH UHD MADNESS BRINGS FOUR WORLDWIDE UHD PREMIERES

Saturday 9th March 2024

Feast your glowing eyes on our four worldwide UHD premieres, including the 1981 psychosexual shocker BUTCHER BAKER NIGHTMARE MAKER starring Jimmy McNichol, Bo Svenson and Oscar® nominee Susan Tyrrell; Sergio Martino’s 1979 behemoth reptile chomp-a-thon THE GREAT ALLIGATOR starring Mel Ferrer and Barbara Bach; the 1977 Canadian supernatural classic CATHY’S CURSE, featuring both the Director’s Cut and U.S. Release Version; and Lucio Fulci’s infamous 1986 erotic thriller THE DEVIL’S HONEY. Each film has been scanned in 4K with hours of Special Features. BUTCHER BAKER NIGHTMARE MAKER and THE GREAT ALLIGATOR will also be available on Blu-ray.

In addition, Severin will release Standard Editions of two ‘80s horror classics from Italian genre director Michele Soavi: THE CHURCH and THE SECT, both recently released for the first time on UHD in North America.

BUTCHER BAKER NIGHTMARE MAKER

It remains the most joltingly violent, psychosexual grindhouse shocker of the ‘80s, directed by a veteran of I Love Lucy and starring a frequently shirtless former teen idol with an epically demented performance by an Oscar® nominee. And now it can be experienced for the first time ever in UHD: Jimmy McNichol stars as an orphaned high-school student raised by his strangely overprotective aunt (Susan Tyrrell of FAT CITY fame) who becomes implicated in a grisly murder investigated by a psychotic police detective (an equally unhinged Bo Svenson of INGLORIOUS BASTARDS). 7x Emmy® nominee Julia Duffy (Newhart) and Bill Paxton (in one of his first film roles) co-star in this “jaw-dropping hunk of genre insanity” (Pop Culture Beast) and former DPP 39 Video Nasty – also known as NIGHT WARNING – now scanned in 4K from the original camera negative with 6 hours of new and archival Special Features.

  *Webstore Exclusive Slipcover *Reversible Wrap
BUTCHER BAKER NIGHTMARE MAKER Special Features:

DISC 1: Region ABC UHD (Feature + Special Features)
- Audio Commentary by actor Jimmy McNichol
- Audio Commentary by co-writer/producer Steve Breimer and co-writer Alan Jay Glueckman, moderated By Mondo Digital’s Nathaniel Thompson
- Audio Commentary by co-producer and unit production manager Eugene Mazzola
- Theatrical Trailer

DISC 2: Region ABC Blu-ray (Feature + Special Features) - Audio Commentary by actor Jimmy McNichol
- Audio Commentary by co-writer/producer Steve Breimer and co-writer Alan Jay Glueckman, moderated By Mondo Digital’s Nathaniel Thompson
- Audio Commentary by co-producer and unit production manager Eugene Mazzola
- "Extreme Prejudice" interview with actor Bo Svenson
-"Point and Shoot" interview with director of photography Robbie Greenberg
- "Family Dynamics" interview with editor Ted Nicolaou
- Cast and Crew Interviews with actors Jimmy McNichol, Susan Tyrrell, and Steve Eastin, make-up artist Allan A. Apone and producer Steve Breimer
- Theatrical Trailer
-TV Spot

*Also available on Blu-ray

THE GREAT ALLIGATOR

Director Sergio Martino (ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK) combines a monster reptile with an all-star EuroCult cast for one of the most outrageously entertaining Italian Jungle Carnage movies of them all, now in UHD for the first time ever: At the opening of a tropical resort, a photographer (Claudio Cassinelli of SLAVE OF THE CANNIBAL GOD), an anthropologist (Barbara Bach of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME) and an arrogant hotelier (Mel Ferrer of EATEN ALIVE!) are besieged by hostile natives, obnoxious tourists and a gargantuan river beast that intends to devour them all. Romano Puppo (ROBOWAR), Richard Johnson (ZOMBIE) and Silvia Collatina (THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY) co-star in this “top ten killer alligator/crocodile movie” (JoBlo), co-written by George Eastman (ANTHROPOPHAGOUS), Cesare Frugoni (SPIDER LABYRINTH) and Ernesto Gastaldi (ALMOST HUMAN), newly scanned in 4K from the original negative.
 
*Webstore Exclusive Slipcover
*Reversible Wrap

THE GREAT ALLIGATOR Special Features:

Disc 1: Region ABC UHD (Feature + Special Features)
- Theatrical Trailer
Disc 2: Region A Blu-ray (Feature + Special Features)
- "Down by the River" interview with director Sergio Martino
- "Minou" interview with actress Silvia Collatina
- "Beware of the Gator" interview with camera operator Claudio Morabito
- "Later Alligator" interview with production designer Antonello Geleng
- "Underwater" interview with underwater camera operator Gianlorenzo Battaglia
- "3 Friends and an Alligator" discussion with cinematographer Giancarlo Ferrando, production designer Antonello Geleng and special effects supervisor Paolo Ricci
- "Paradise House: Christianity and the Natural World in THE GREAT ALLIGATOR" video essay by Lee Gambin, author of "Massacred by Mother Nature"
- "Alligator Land" Antonello Geleng Shares Original Production Drawings
- Theatrical Trailer

*Also available on Blu-ray

CATHY'S CURSE

It’s been called “chilling and disturbing” (Film Fracture), “an absolute revelation” (Kindertrauma) and “unlike anything you’ve ever seen” (Bloody Disgusting). Now experience The Director’s Cut and American R-Rated Release Version in UHD for the first time ever: In 1947, a young girl is roasted alive in a car accident. Thirty years later, her grown brother returns to their childhood home with his mentally unstable wife and sweet daughter Cathy. But when the dead aunt’s vengeful spirit possesses the child, it will unleash an unnerving nightmare of creepy mediums, demonic dolls and plenty of sick ‘70s foul-mouthed moppet mayhem. In an unprecedented source upgrade, both versions are scanned in 4K from the recently discovered negatives with 2+ hours of Special Features.
 
*Limited Edition Webstore Exclusive Slipcase With Glowing LED Eyes Available Separately
*Reversible Wrap

CATHY'S CURSE Special Features:

Disc 1: Region ABC UHD (Feature + Special Features)
- Audio Commentary by Fangoria contributor Brian Collins and filmmakerSimon Barrett (U.S. Cut Only)
- Theatrical Trailers

Disc 2: Region ABC Blu-ray (Feature + Special Features)
- Audio Commentary by Fangoria contributor Brian Collins and filmmaker Simon Barrett (U.S. Cut Only)
- "Tricks and Treats" interview with director Eddy Matalon
- "Cathy's Daddy" Alan Scarfe remembers CATHY'S CURSE
- "Cathy & Mum" interview with actress Randi Allen and costume designer Joyce Allen
- Introduction to Cinematic Void/American Cinematheque Screening by Brian Collins
- Theatrical Trailers
- Booklet by Simon Barrett and Brian Collins

THE DEVIL'S HONEY

In one of the most twistedly intense films of his career, Lucio Fulci takes on the erotic thriller genre and unleashes an onslaught of glossy depravity in UHD for the first time ever: Brett Halsey (DEMONIA), Corinne Cléry (THE STORY OF O) and Blanca Marsillach (FLESH+BLOOD) star in this insane S&M saga complete with torrid romance, rampant nudity, woodwind-induced orgasms and a cavalcade of kink to deliver what The Digital Bits calls “one of the sleazier films Fulci ever made.” Stefano Madia (BODY COUNT), Bernard Seray (HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD) and Fulci himself co-star in this psychosexual sickie – also known as DANGEROUS OBSESSION – now scanned in 4K from the original negative with Special Features that include an all-new interview with Blanca Marsillach and a newly-discovered audio interview with Lucio Fulci.

  *Webstore Exclusive Slipcover
*Reversible Wrap

THE DEVIL'S HONEY Special Features:

Disc 1: Region ABC UHD (Feature + Special Features)
- Theatrical Trailer

Disc 2: Region A Blu-ray (Feature + Special Features)
- "Sax, Lies and Videotape" interview with actress Blanca Marsillach
- Archival Audio Interview with director Lucio Fulci by Michele Romagnoli
- "The Devil's Halsey" interview with actor Brett Halsey
- "Wild Flower" interview with actress Corinne Cléry
- "Producing Honey" interview with producer Vincenzo Salviani
- "The Devil's Sax" interview with composer Claudio Natili
- Stephen Thrower, author of "Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci", on THE DEVIL'S HONEY
- "Fulci's Honey" audio essay by Troy Howarth, author of "Splintered Visions: Lucio Fulci and His Films"
- Alternate Opening
- Theatrical Trailer

CULT EPICS PRE-ORDER – ALL LADIES DO IT 4K UHD + BLU-RAY & TINTO BRASS HARDCOVER BOOK LIMITED EDITIONS!

Wednesday 24th January 2024

World Premiere on 4K UHD & North American Premiere on Blu-ray of ALL LADIES DO IT (1992)

After five years of marriage, Diana discovers the joys of adultery, claiming that she can save her failing relationship with her husband through betrayal.

From the director of Caligula and Salon Kitty comes the stylish, erotic comedy drama All Ladies Do It, starring the sexy Claudia Koll. Cult Epics presents the Uncut & Uncensored Director’s Cut with new and vintage bonus features.

Italy / 1992 / Color / 97 Mins / 1.85:1 / DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo / English & Italian Languages / Optional English Subtitles

Special Features:
4K UHD Blu-ray:
- 4K Transfer (from the original negative) & Restoration + HDR
- Audio Commentary by Eugenio Ercolani & Troy Howarth
- 4K Theatrical Trailers
Blu-ray:
- 4K Transfer (from the original negative) & Restoration
- Audio Commentary by Eugenio Ercolani & Troy Howarth
- Theatrical Trailers
- Interview with Director Tinto Brass (2001)
- Outtakes
- Photo Gallery
- Dual-layered Disc
Limited Edition Collectibles:
- Exclusive Slipcase
- Reversible Sleeve with Original Uncensored Italian Poster Art
- 20-Page Illustrated Booklet with Essay by Eugenio Ercolani & Domenico Monetti

WEB EXCLUSIVE: 4K UHD+Blu-ray/Exclusive Slipcase Art/Booklet/4 Lobby Card Postcards $49.95.

2-DISC TRADE EDITION: 4K UHD+Blu-ray/Standard Slipcase Art/Reversible Sleeve/Booklet/4 Lobby Card Postcards: $49.95.

1-DISC BLU-RAY EDITION: Blu-ray/Standard Slipcase Art/Reversible Sleeve/Booklet: $34.95.

PRE-ORDER SIGNED HARDCOVER BOOK with Exclusive Dust-Jacket, Fold-out Poster & Tinto Brass DVD Trailer Reel

Tinto Brass (1933), whose long-life career includes 30 films, is the Italian director best known for the soft adult films he shot in the 1970s and 1980s—his most famous being Salon Kitty (1976), The Key (1983) with Stefania Sandrelli, and the notorious Caligula (1979) which film producer Bob Guccioni, founder of Penthouse, took away from Brass and cut himself. This homage to his fascinating career includes his earliest avant-garde films like Who Works is Lost (1963); the western Yankee (1966) and the giallo Deadly Sweet (1967); experimental arthouse films Attraction (1968), The Howl (1969), including the hard-to-be-seen Dropout (1970) and Vacation (1971) with Franco Nero and Vanessa Redgrave; and the decidedly derrière-obsessed fetishism of his later work, including Paprika (1991), All Ladies Do It (1992), The Voyeur (1994), Frivolous Lola (1998), and Cheeky! (2000). The Films of Tinto Brass: From the Avant-Garde to Erotica is a film-by-film guide to one of the most interesting and uncompromising Italian film directors.

Limited Hardcover Edition of 1500 copies: Approx. 9"x11" / 244 pages / 200+ images / Color+B&W / Edited by Nico B

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Hardcover Book + Exclusive Dust-jacket + Fold-out Poster + Signed by Nico B + Tinto Brass DVD Trailer Reel: $69.95.

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Hardcover Book + Exclusive Dust-jacket + Fold-out Poster + Signed by Nico B + Tinto Brass DVD Trailer Reel + All Ladies Do It (2-Disc Edition) 4K UHD+Blu-ray + Exclusive Slipcase + Reversible Sleeve + 20-page Booklet + 4 Lobby Card Postcards: $119.95.

SHIPPING (UHD+Blu-ray/Blu-ray Only)
US: $5.00
Canada: $14.50
Worldwide: $17.50

SHIPPING (Hardcover Book + UHD+Blu-ray)
US: $10.00
Canada: $50.00
Worldwide: $80.00

THE CRITERION COLLECTION - APRIL 2024 - NEW RELEASES

Friday 19th January 2024

LA HAINE: Mathieu Kassovitz took the film world by storm with La haine, a gritty, unsettling, and visually explosive look at the racial and cultural volatility in modern-day France, specifically the low-income banlieue districts on Paris’s outskirts. Aimlessly passing their days in the concrete environs of their dead-end suburbia, Vinz (Vincent Cassel), Hubert (Hubert Koundé), and Saïd (Saïd Taghmaoui)—Jewish, African, and Arab, respectively—give human faces to France’s immigrant populations, their bristling resentment at their marginalization slowly simmering until it reaches a climactic boiling point. A work of tough beauty, La haine is a landmark of 1990s French cinema and a gripping reflection of its country’s ongoing identity crisis.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
- New 4K digital master, supervised by director of photography Pierre Aïm and approved by director Mathieu Kassovitz, with 2.0 and 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- Audio commentary by Kassovitz
- Introduction by actor Jodie Foster
- Ten Years of "La haine" a documentary featuring cast and crew members
- Featurette on the film’s banlieue setting
- Production footage
- Deleted and extended scenes, with an afterword by Kassovitz
- Behind-the-scenes photos
- Trailers
- An essay by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau and a 2006 appreciation by filmmaker Costa-Gavras

PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK: This sensual and striking chronicle of a disappearance and its aftermath put director Peter Weir on the map and helped usher in a new era of Australian cinema. Based on an acclaimed 1967 novel by Joan Lindsay, Picnic at Hanging Rock is set at the turn of the twentieth century and concerns a small group of students from an all-female college who vanish, along with a chaperone, while on a St. Valentine’s Day outing. Less a mystery than a journey into the mystic, as well as an inquiry into issues of class and sexual repression in Australian society, Weir’s gorgeous, disquieting film is a work of poetic horror whose secrets haunt viewers to this day.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
- New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Peter Weir and director of photography Russell Boyd, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- Interview with Weir
- Program on the making of the film, featuring interviews with executive producer Patricia Lovell, producers Hal McElroy and Jim McElroy, and cast members
- Introduction by film scholar David Thomson, author of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film
- On-set documentary hosted by Lovell and featuring interviews with Weir, actor Rachel Roberts, and source-novel author Joan Lindsay
- "Homesdale" (1971), a black comedy by Weir
- Theatrical Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
An essay by author Megan Abbott and an excerpt from film scholar Marek Haltof’s 1996 book "Peter Weir: When Cultures Collide"

WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES: This mesmeric parable of societal collapse is an enigma of transcendent visual, philosophical, and mystical resonance. Adapted from a novel by László Krasznahorkai, Werckmeister Harmonies unfolds in an unknown time in an unnamed village, where, one day, a mysterious circus—complete with an enormous stuffed whale and a shadowy, demagogue-like figure known as the Prince—arrives and appears to awaken a kind of madness in the citizens that builds inexorably toward violence. In thirty-nine hypnotic long takes engraved in ghostly black and white, auteur Béla Tarr and codirector-editor Ágnes Hranitzky conjure an apocalyptic vision of dreamlike dread and fathomless beauty.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
- New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Béla Tarr, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the 4K UHD disc and the Blu-ray
- In the 4K UHD edition: One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- "Family Nest" (1979), Tarr’s first feature film
- New interview with Tarr by film critic Scott Foundas
- New English subtitle translation
- An essay by film programmer and critic Dennis Lim

I AM CUBA: Both a landmark of radical political cinema and one of the most visually ravishing films ever made, this legendary hymn to revolution shimmers across the screen like a fever dream of rebellion. The result of an extraordinarily ambitious collaboration between the Soviet and Cuban film industries, director Mikhail Kalatozov’s I Am Cuba unfolds in four explosive vignettes that capture Cuban life on the brink of transformation, as crushing economic exploitation and inequality give way to a working-class uprising. Backed by Carlos Fariñas’s stirring score, the dazzling camera work by Sergei Urusevsky—an inspiration for generations of filmmakers to follow—gives flight to the movie’s message of liberation.

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- In the 4K UHD edition: One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
"I Am Cuba: The Siberian Mammoth" a 2004 documentary on the making of the film featuring key participants
- Interview from 2003 with filmmaker Martin Scorsese
- New appreciation of the film by cinematographer Bradford Young
- Trailer
- Alternate Russian-dubbed soundtrack
- New English subtitle translation
- An essay by film critic Juan Antonio García Borrero

DOGFIGHT: An ineffably bittersweet portrait of youth in the 1960s, Nancy Savoca’s funny, sensitive tale of love and war etches two vividly alive characters: aspiring San Francisco folk singer Rose (Lili Taylor) and hotheaded, Vietnam-bound marine Eddie (River Phoenix), who meet on the occasion of a cruelly misogynistic party where men compete to bring the most unattractive dates they can find. But what begins as a night to forget unexpectedly develops into something far more meaningful. Featuring music by folk legends Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and Pete Seeger, Dogfight captures the miracle of human connection while gracefully subverting ideas surrounding machismo, patriotic duty, and the very meaning of America itself.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
- New 2K digital restoration, supervised by director Nancy Savoca, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- Audio commentary featuring Savoca and producer Richard Guay
- New interview with Savoca and actor Lili Taylor conducted by filmmaker Mary Harron
- New interviews with cinematographer Bobby Bukowski, production designer Lester Cohen, script supervisor Mary Cybulski, music supervisor Jeff Kimball, supervising sound editor Tim Squyres, and editor John Tintori
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
-An essay by film critic Christina Newland

ARROW VIDEO CELEBRATES VALENTINE’S DAY WITH A RIVETING CRIME THRILLER AND AN ACTION-PACKED MARTIAL ARTS MASTERPIECE!

Friday 19th January 2024

Arriving on February 13th is the unique action/crime thriller Fear is the Key, based on a novel by Alistair MacLean (The Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare), and featuring car-chase choreography by the legendary Carey Loftin (French Connection, Vanishing Point, Bullitt). The story offers surprising twists at every turn, including an assassination, an unexpected witness, a kidnapping, and an intricate conspiracy with millions of dollars at its center. Director Michael Tuchner brings MacLean’s complex international espionage bestseller to life. The film stars Barry Newman, Suzy Kendall, John Vernon, Dolph Sweet, and Sir Ben Kingsley in his feature film debut.

The Blu-ray special features include a new audio commentary by filmmaker and critic Howard S. Berger; a visual essay, featurettes and interviews; the theatrical trailer; a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Nathanael Marsh; a double-sided foldout poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Nathanael Marsh; and an illustrated collector’s booklet with new writing by filmmaker and critic Sean Hogan.

The Shaolin Plot kicks Valentine’s Day into high gear with a 2K restoration from the original film elements. The film stars Sammo Hung in his final collaboration with directing legend and mentor Huang Feng. With only the Shaolin and Wu-Tang missing from his collection of martial arts manuals, Prince Daglen (Chan Sing) concocts a plan to steal both with the aid of a vicious agent (Hung). But Daglen didn’t count on the heroics of the surviving Shaolin and Wu-Tang warriors (Casanova Wong, Kwan Yung Moon, and James Tien) to thwart his plot. Intrigue, double-crossing, and feats of heroism all culminate in one of the greatest action film finales ever. Filmmaker Huang Feng is one of the most influential martial arts filmmakers in the world and was instrumental in the careers of John Woo (Hardboiled, Face/Off) and Stanley Tong (Supercop, Rumble in the Bronx).

The Blu-ray special features include a commentary by martial arts film experts Frank Djeng & Michael Worth; commentary by action cinema experts Mike Leeder & Arne Venema; alternate English credits; the original theatrical trailers; a double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ilan Sheady; a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ilan Sheady; and an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Peter Glagowski.