Let’s not waste time…here is what arrives this week!
Five carnival workers are kidnapped the night before Halloween and held hostage in a large compound. At the mercy of their captors, they are forced to play a twisted game of life or death called 31. For the next 12 hours, they must fight for their lives against an endless parade of homicidal maniacs.
Autobiographical story of a nerdy sci-fi fan in small town Illinois who dreams of going to Hollywood and making movies, a dream he fosters in his own big back yard by shooting sequels to his favourite films. Patrick Read Johnson, 2022.
Includes The Child (1977) / Dark August (1976) / Dream No Evil (1970)
Continuing its mission to unearth the very best in weird and wonderful horror obscura from the golden age of US independent genre moviemaking, Arrow Video is proud to present the long-awaited second volume in its American Horror Project series co-curated by author Stephen Thrower (Nightmare USA: The Untold Story of the Exploitation Independents).
Medical student Mary Mason is lured into a world of performing freakish surgeries to earn money for school.
A former Army intelligence operative takes on a secret organisation who hunt humans in this follow up to the beloved 80’s cult movie American Ninja. Michael Dudikoff, Steve James, James Booth, 1986.
The feature debut of director Frank Henenlotter (Brain Damage, Frankenhooker), 1982’s Basket Case is perhaps his most revered – a riotous and blood-spattered midnight movie experience, now immortalized in a lavish new 4K restoration by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
Late period Hammer film about an eccentric millionaire who has invited a group of eight colleagues to his island estate to hunt the deadliest game of all – one of the guests is a werewolf & is to be stalked and slaughtered for sport! Peter Cushing, 1974.
Below the Belt is a gritty and humorous drama about life on the road as a female professional wrestler, in the tradition of Rocky (1976) and Fat City (1972). Based on the memoir To Smithereens by Rosalyn Drexler (who wrestled as the “Mexican Spitfire”), it is a realistic and moving take on the highs and lows of life on the mat. Rosa Rubinsky (Regina Baff, Excape from Alcatraz) is a natural at fending off unwanted sexual advances while working at a sports arena concession stand. So when she’s discovered by promoter Bobby Fox (John C. Becher, Gremlins) and trained by real-life legend Mildred Burke, Rosa soon finds herself competing in the turbulent world of pro wrestling.
A group of six scientists have assembled to test the apparent abundance of supernatural goings-on at the secluded Headstone Manor. No sooner have they set up all of their ghost-catching gadgetry than the hauntings begin: from randy spirits to unexplained manifestations, all the signs of the afterlife incarnate are present. But when members of their party start winding up deceased, it becomes clear that these undead souls aren’t very friendly, and all the while the foggy grounds of the manor are being traversed by another mysterious figure…
A tough female ex con and her lover concoct an elaborate scheme to steal millions of stashed mob money and pin the blame on a crooked boyfriend. Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon, Joe Pantoliano, Wachowskis, 1996.
This four-film collection brings together some of Brigitte Bardot most memorable performances: Naughty Girl(1956) / Please, Not Now! (1961) / Two Weeks in September (1967) / Les Femmes (1969)
Haunted by the patients he failed to save, a monumentally burned-out Manhattan ambulance paramedic fights to maintain his sanity over three increasingly turbulent nights. Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, John Goodman, Martin Scorsese, 1999.
C.I.A. Agent Billy Brown (Vincent Gallo) brings his wife home to meet his absurdly dysfunctional family. Only Billy’s not really in the C.I.A., and his “wife,” Layla (Christina Ricci), is actually a young tap dancer he just kidnapped to impress his ridiculous and unloving parents (Anjelica Huston, Ben Gazzara). In reality, Billy’s whole life is an empty lie. He’s fresh out of prison and now on a deadly mission to hunt down and kill the Buffalo Bills kicker whose botched field goal he believes ruined his life. However, Billy’s new hostage may ruin everything. Their crazy attachment blossoms into a desperate and oddly beautiful romance that may or may not be a sweet enough substitute for revenge. Vincent Gallo composed and performed the original music and also wrote, directed and stars in the film that THE NEW YORK TIMES calls, “…a deadpan original.”
As Bobby Kent lay bleeding on July 14, 1993, he called out for help, and then mercy from his friends. Their response was quick and deliberate. Larry Clark’s “Bully” chronicles the incident that would leave a community stunned, parents nonplussed and heartbroken and a group of defendants convicted of a brutal crime for which they never repented.
During a rescue mission into the Amazon rainforest, a professor stumbles across lost film shot by a missing documentary crew whose goal was to study the region’s indigenous cannibalistic tribes.
For his second feature film – and first full collaboration with co-writer/producer/mentor Dario Argento – writer/director Michele Soavi unleashes a “mind-blowing” (Bloody Disgusting), “breathtaking” (Slant) “masterwork” (DVD Drive-In), now ON Blu-ray: In a Gothic cathedral built on the mass grave of a Teutonic purge, an ancient discovery by the new librarian will release an unholy maelstrom of madness, violence and demonic vengeance. Tomas Arana (THE SECT), Feodor Chaliapin (INFERNO), Hugh Quarshie (NIGHTBREED), Barbara Cupisti (CEMETERY MAN) and Asia Argento co-star in this Italian horror milestone co-written by Franco Ferrini (PHENOMENA), with a Soavi-approved 4K scan from the original negative and presented in 1080p HD on Blu-ray with over 3 hours of Special Features – including new interviews with Soavi and Argento.
A mysterious virus hits an isolated elementary school, transforming the kids into a feral swarm of mass savages. An unlikely hero must lead a motley band of teachers in the fight of their lives. Elijah Wood, Rainn Wilson, Alison Pill, 2014.
After a heartbreaking miscarriage, a couple (Goya Award winners Ana Belén and Juan Diego) adopts a stray male dog in hopes of saving their rocky marriage. But as the wife develops an obsessive bond with her new companion, it will trigger jealousies and rivalries that may lead to the most inconceivable act of all.
Classic Czech New Wave film about a pair of hedonistic young women embark on a gleefully debauched odyssey of gluttony, giddy destruction, and anti patriarchal resistance, in which nothing is safe from their nihilistic pursuit of pleasure. Věra Chytilová
A small group of military officers and scientists dwell in an underground bunker as the world above is overrun by zombies. George A. Romero, 1985.
Julie, her boyfriend Rick and a number of other guests have assembled at the chalet of her wealthy father, nestled deep in the snowy surroundings of Lake Arrowhead. Their laid-back boozing and petty arguments are upended by the unexpected arrival of a group of five mysterious children who claim to have become stranded after their bus broke down. Taking pity on the youngsters, the group offers to let them stay at the house until help arrives. Unbeknownst to the adults, these tots are in fact on the run from an asylum, and they waste no time in getting down to manipulating and then viciously killing their unsuspecting hosts.
Raucous British horror comedy about a trio of friends who find themselves in a town infected by a bio-weapon that has turned all the women into the man-hating monsters. Danny Dyer, Stephen Graham, 2009.
Alejandro Jodorowsky’s legendary surreal, biblical spaghetti “eastern” midnight movie follows a gunfighter as he reaches the top and becomes a holy man. 1970.
With this poignant second feature, David Lynch brought his atmospheric visual and sonic palette to a notorious true story set in Victorian England. When the London surgeon Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins) meets the freak-show performer John Merrick (John Hurt), who has severe skeletal and soft tissue deformities, he assumes that he must be intellectually disabled as well. As the two men spend more time together, though, Merrick reveals the intelligence, gentle nature, and profound sense of dignity that lie beneath his shocking appearance, and he and Treves develop a friendship. Shot in gorgeous black and white and boasting a stellar supporting cast that includes Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, and Wendy Hiller, The Elephant Man was nominated for eight Academy Awards, cementing Lynch’s reputation as one of American cinema’s most visionary talents.
A documentary about the rise and challenges of a punk rock label, Fat Wreck founded by legendary punk band NOFX frontman Fat Mike, blending inspiration with humor and puppet-driven antics.
Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XXI [Cloak and Dagger / Shack Out on 101 / Short Cut to Hell
In the distant future, a federation marshal arrives at a research lab on a remote planet where a genetic experiment has gotten lose and begins feeding on the dwindling scientific group. Roger Corman produces. 1982.
Working New Year’s Eve at a hotel in Hollywood, Calif., the new bellhop, Ted (Tim Roth), has no idea what’s in store for him. Left alone to tend to the guests, Ted soon finds himself in completely over his head. Between a domestic dispute and a demented entourage, spell-casting witches and destructive children, Ted has little hope of making it through the night in one piece. As he tries to maintain order and save his own life, the unlucky bellhop encounters one deranged guest after another.
When Jeffrey Franken’s fiancée is chopped to pieces by the blades of a remote-controlled lawnmower, he uses his dubious medical knowledge to try to bring her back to life. He reassembles his beloved Elizabeth using the body parts of New York City’s finest prostitutes, and resurrects her during a heavy lightning storm.
Today the pond…Tomorrow the world! A shocker reminiscent of Hitchcock’s The Birds, this amphibious horror flick is teeming with thousands of nasty-tempered creatures that are hopping mad—and murderous. Jumping with action, suspense, revenge and Southern Gothic charm, Frogs’ stars Ray Milland (The Thing with Two Heads), Sam Elliott (The Legacy) and Joan Van Ark (The Last Dinosaur) are constantly a lily pad away from croaking! Jason Crockett (Milland) is an aging, physically disabled millionaire who invites his family to his island estate for his birthday party. The old man is more than crotchety…he’s crazy! Hating nature, Crockett poisons anything that crawls on his property. But on the night of his shindig, it’s nature’s payback time, and thousands of frogs whip up every bug and slimy thing into a toxic frenzy until the entire environment goes environ-mental. Directed by George McCowan (H.G. Wells’ The Shape of Things to Come).
Cult 80s horror comedy about a college kid who inherits dead father’s mansion and the parental obsession with black magic and the desire to control puppety demons who wobble about & snarl. Mariska Hargitay, Jack Nance, Luca Bercovici, 1984.
When Big Ronnie and his son Brayden meet female tourist Janet on Big Ronnie’s Disco Walking Tour – the best and only disco walking tour in the city – a fight for Janet’s heart erupts between father and son, and the infamous “Greasy Strangler” is unleashed.
Includes Gregg Araki’s Teen Apocalypse Trilogy: TOTALLY FUCKED UP / DOOM GENERATION / NOWHERE
Take the conventions of the American teen movie, transpose them to Los Angeles’s freaky fringes, anchor them in an unapologetic vision of sexual fluidity, and top it all off with heavy doses of Gen X disillusionment, gonzo violence, and hallucinogenic surrealism, and you’ll end up with something like these audacious transgressions from New Queer Cinema renegade Gregg Araki. Gleefully mixing slacker irony with raw sincerity, Godardian cool with punk scuzz, the savagely subversive, hormone-fueled films that make up the Teen Apocalypse Trilogy pushed 1990s indie cinema into bold new aesthetic realms, while giving blistering expression to adolescent rage and libidinal desire.
Five-disc set includes: Re-Animator (1985) / Bride of Re-Animator (1990) / Beyond Re-Animator (2003) / Dagon (2001) / Color Out of Space (2019)
Todd Solondz’s controversial “Happiness” unveils the dark underbelly of suburban life, following a cast of damaged souls—from pedophiles to phone-sex addicts—as they desperately seek love amidst their existential despair. Philip Seymour Hoffman, 1998.
In this Mexican horror slasher, two friends’ competitive bet to hunt a deadly beast turns into a fight for survival against a more sinister force. Pedro Galindo III, 1989.
Without warning, happy, successful Parisian couple Georges (Daniel Auteuil) and Anne Laurent (Juliette Binoche) receive anonymous videos suggesting that they are being stalked. The tapes are followed by disturbingly violent, if childish, drawings. Georges, a well-known literary talk show host, shrugs off the mysterious messages, but Anne grows increasingly distressed and fearful for their teenage son. She grows to suspect that an incident in Georges’ past is behind the increasing torment.
A witty, disgusting, eye-popping, and incomprehensible scabrous satire of organized religion that follows a Christ figure, his disciples, and their bloody quest for the home of the gods, whom they plan to depose. Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1973.
What would happen if Canadian proto slasher Black Christmas was made in 1983 instead of 1974? This movie! A rare 80s slasher with a female focus from Brian DePalma protegé Mark Rosman.
A young woman stumbles upon a mysterious diary that reveals the secrets of “The Three Mothers” and unleashes a nightmare world of demonic evil. As the unstoppable horror spreads from Rome to New York City, this unholy trinity must be stopped
A reclusive gym manager falls hard for an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Las Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of crime. Anna Baryshnikov, Kristen Stewart, Dave Franco, Rose Glass,
Anthony Eisley (THE NAKED KISS, DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN) stars and the legendary John Carradine (THE GRAPES OF WRATH, HOUSE OF DRACULA) co-stars in this brain-melting mash-up of dubious Egyptology, risible werewolf transformations, H.G. Lewis-level gore, cut-rate psychedelia and an oven-mitted mummy on a Las Vegas rampage, all set to a swinging soundtrack of lounge and surf instrumentals.
Cowboy Caleb Colton (Adrian Pasdar) meets gorgeous Mae (Jenny Wright) at a bar, and the two have an immediate attraction. But when Mae turns out to be a vampire and bites Caleb on the neck, their relationship gets complicated. Wracked with a craving for human blood, Caleb is forced to leave his family and ride with Mae and her gang of vampires, including the evil Severen. Along the way Caleb must decide between his new love of Mae and the love of his family.
In this Stephen King adaptation, a mysterious new shop opens in a small town which always seems to stock the deepest desires of each shopper, with a price far heavier than expected. Max von Sydow, Ed Harris, Bonnie Bedelia, Fraser C. Heston, 1993.
The series follows the development and production of Francis Ford Coppola’s landmark gangster film The Godfather (1972) for Paramount Pictures.
Ocean-going tale with ecological overtones in which a ruthless profiteering fisherman accidentally kills the pregnant mate of a canny killer whale. It’s `Jaws’ meets `Moby Dick’ as the bounty hunter becomes the target of the enraged, grief-stricken creature’s craving for vengeance.
A quintessential piece of early 80’s trash newly restored from the original camera negative and on blu-ray for the first time! Just look at the cover! Cameron Mitchell and Vic Diaz star!
In this modern monster tale of Dracula’s loyal servant, Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road, X-Men franchise) stars as Renfield, the tortured aide to history’s most narcissistic boss, Dracula (Oscar® winner Nicolas Cage). Renfield is forced to procure his master’s prey and do his every bidding, no matter how debased. But now, after centuries of servitude, Renfield is ready to see if there’s a life outside the shadow of The Prince of Darkness. If only he can figure out how to end his codependency.
French thriller, never take your mistress on an annual guys’ getaway, especially one devoted to hunting – a violent lesson for three wealthy married men. Coralie Fargeat (2017)
Sequel to Enter the Ninja! After ninjas kill his family, a martial artist and his son move to America and open am Japanese doll business, all the while being used by a mafia-killing ninja drug-dealer smuggling heroin through the dolls. Shô Kosugi, 1982
A truck driver plays a cat-and-mouse game with a mysterious serial killer on a desolate Australian highway. Richard Franklin (1981)
A truck driver builds a special, eight-ton truck to help get revenge against the rednecks who killed his family and raped his girlfriend. Don Michael Paul, Lawrence Dane, Ned Beatty, Lisa Howard, Steven Hilliard Stern, 1987.
Cult classic action comedy following a sexually insatiable cop with the skills of a samurai, including fluent Japanese. He’ll need it to stop a renegade Yakuza gang who want to lead the drug trade in Los Angeles. Amir Shervan (1991)
Gonzo arthouse exploitation film from about an aging porn star who is roped into making an “art” film which proceeds to have him commit increasingly demented and depraved acts. Srdjan Spasojevic, 2010.
Classic Canuxploitation film set during the actual 1981 Halifax Police strike about a gang of hoodlums who accidentally kill the owner of a gay bar. Paul Donovan, Maura O’Connell, 1983.
Inspired by cliffhanger serials, this pulpy Ozploitation adventure packs time warps, UFOs, and exotic locales in 4K! John Hargreaves, Meredith Phillips, Max Phipps, Colin Eggleston, 1986.
The credits dub this “the maddest story ever told”, a promise that’s well on the way to being fulfilled in the opening scene alone, when Virginia traps and kills a hapless deliveryman in her makeshift web. She’s one of three siblings who suffer from a unique genetic disorder that causes them to regress back to childhood, while retaining the physical strength and sexual maturity of adults.
While a group of young actors rehearse a new musical about a mass murderer, a notorious psychopath escapes from a nearby insane asylum. But when the show’s director locks his cast in the theater overnight, the madman is accidentally locked inside as well.
Let’s get w-i-i-ild! SUPER SOUL BROTHER AND THE FILMS OF RENE MARTINEZ, JR. collects the anti-dimensional filmography of enigmatic, Miami-based DIY filmmaker Martinez for the first time on home video. In SUPER SOUL BROTHER (1978), naive wino Steve (“Wildman” Steve Gallon, PETEY WHEATSTRAW) is injected with a serum that gives him superhuman strength, a catch phrase (“I’m w-i-i-ild!”), and a quest to battle the mad scientists and crooks who made it all possible. THE GUY FROM HARLEM (1977) finds gritty private investigator Al Connors (Loye Hawkins) locked in mortal combat with crime kingpin Big Daddy in an explosion of cocaine, kung-fu, and funk jams. Finally, ROAD OF DEATH (1973) follows local rockers the Joe Banana Band and friends (including Carol Conners and Jack Birch, future parents of Thora “GHOST WORLD” Birch) as they seek revenge against a biker gang for their hideous crimes—complete with a shocking climax that predicts the final scene in Quentin Tarantino’s DEATH PROOF. Only in Florida. • SUPER SOUL BROTHER (1978, 74 mins)
Back In Stock! The Classic!
In 1984, it was aired on the BBC and shocked tens of millions of UK viewers. Four months later, it was broadcast in America and became the most watched basic cable program in history. It remains one of the most acclaimed made-for-television movies ever. THREADS is a docudrama about the effects of a nuclear attack on the working-class city of Sheffield, England as the fabric of society unravels.
One of the most beloved and widely-quoted films of the decade directed by Tony Scott and written by Quentin Taratino – newly remastered. Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, Christopher Walken, 1993.
Starring Jeff bridges, The story of Preston Tucker, the maverick car designer and his ill-fated challenge to the auto industry with his revolutionary car concept. Francis Ford Coppola (1988)
Starring Fred Savage. A boy and his brother run away from home and hitch cross country with the help of a girl they meet to compete in the ultimate video game championship. Todd Holland (1989)
After the death of his mother, the evil mutant wizard Blackwolf (Steve Gravers) discovers some long-lost military technologies. Full of ego and ambition, Blackwolf claims his mother’s throne, assembles an army and sets out to brainwash and conquer Earth. Meanwhile, Blackwolf’s gentle twin brother, the bearded and sage Avatar (Bob Holt), calls upon his own magical abilities to foil Blackwolf’s plans for world domination — even if it means destroying his own flesh and blood.
Meredith Tanning, a local museum curator, is dipping her toe back into the dating pool, only to be targeted by a charming serial killer. When a fateful romantic getaway between the two becomes a tense game of cat and mouse, both must confront the madness within him.
New Stuff should be in on Thursday. Cheers!
