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Friday, November 30, 2018

Found Footage Appears at Another Hole in the Head Film Festival in San Francisco



Yes, it's that time again! For the next two weeks, the New People Cinema will be teaming with horror, sci-fi, and indie film nerds, all excited to catch the programming of the 15th annual Another Hole in the Head Film Festival. As usual, it's an eclectic lineup with a lot of horror, but the screenings I'm especially excited for are more specific than that. And one of them is tonight...



Friday 30th @ 7pm (1hr 22min)
Mystery/ Sci-Fi/ Thriller (IMDB)
On March 13, 1997 thousands of people claimed to have simultaneously witnessed unexplainable lights in the Phoenix, Arizona night sky. What were the lights? To this day it remains a mystery and footage of the incidents has been used in documentaries on the subject of UFOs. The Phoenix Incident is a fictionalized heart-pounding thriller based on this real-life event. Written and directed by gaming talent director Keith Arem (Call of Duty, Titanfall) and starring Troy Baker (famed gaming actor) this one-night event uses whistleblower testimony, recovered military footage and eyewitness accounts to create a sci-fi thriller that examines the US military's alleged engagement of alien spacecrafts. In addition to being able to experience this exciting film, event attendees will be exposed to an exclusive 5-minute documentary about UFO sightings and government cover ups and a special panel discussion previously captured at this year's UFO congress.




We are currently congregating the found footage faithfuls and will be dispatching to see this momentarily. Next weekend, it will be followed up by a film we had the pleasure of scaring our audience with earlier this year...



Saturday 8th @ 9pm (1hr 11min)
Horror (IMDB)
On April 19th, 2016, Deputy Leo Cole vanished. The next morning, his body camera was found.

You can check out the full review HERE



As I said in my review, this is a total creeper. The less you know about it the better, but one thing I can confirm is that it's a found footage horror anthology. I waited months to watch it and I'm pretty excited to see it again. And this time, the an unidentified Overlook creature will be introducing the film. So you guys better come out! 


-Huntress

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Bluray Tuesday Featuring: Searching, The Critters Collection & What Keeps You Alive

November 27th 2018


The last Bluray Tuesday of November is here. This week is filled with thrillers, foreign horror and a few titles released for the first time on Bluray. First up from Scream Factory is my favorite release of the day, The Critters Collection. This boxset includes all 4 films released from 1986 - 1992 with new scans and bonus material. Also from Scream Factory, indie thriller What Keeps You Alive and the Munchies / Munchie double feature are released today. Searching finally arrives on Bluray this week, I felt like I saw this a really long time ago. It's definitely thrilling and keeps you guessing to the very end. The Little Stranger is a slow burn mystery as well, it wasn't too bad of a film but I'd recommend a rent on this one. And pay attention to everything. Rounding out the week is mini series Picnic at Hanging Rock, Lucio Fulci's Zombie with 3 covers and HBO's Sharp Objects. So what will you buy, rent or skip this week? Let us know in the comments. Until next week!

Searching: Amazon - $19.99

After his 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a desperate father breaks into her laptop to look for clues to find her. A thriller that unfolds entirely on computer screens.

Searching (Blu-ray) 

What Keeps You Alive: Amazon - $14.99

Majestic mountains, a still lake and venomous betrayals engulf a female married couple attempting to celebrate their one-year anniversary.

What Keeps You Alive (Blu-ray) 

The Critters Collection: Amazon - $57.99

They're back and ready to devour your Blu-ray player The terrifying and tiny menaces are out in full force with this four-film collection packed with enough Special Features to make any fan's mouth water! In Critters, the terrified Brown family are trapped in a deadly nightmare and must fight for their lives against a litter of extraterrestrial, bloodthirsty monsters. But it's a losing battle until two intergalactic bounty hunters arrive, determined to blow the creatures off the planet! In Critters 2: The Main Course, some eggs have survived and are popping open, bringing another horde of the little creatures! Brad Brown (Scott Grimes) returns to fight them along with three bounty hunters. Critters 3 stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Josh, a beleaguered Angelino who must lead the fight against the little monsters as they invade an L.A. apartment building. In the final film, Critters 4, a super strain of genetically engineered monsters are designed to take over the universe. This time, Brad Dourif and Angela Bassett must battle the little bloodthirsty hairballs.

The Critters Collection (Blu-ray) 

Picnic at Hanging Rock: Amazon - $27.99

Three schoolgirls and their governesses mysteriously disappear on Valentines Day in 1900.

 Picnic at Hanging Rock (Blu-ray) 

Zombie (1979): Amazon - $33.99

Strangers looking for a woman's father arrive at a tropical island where a doctor desperately searches for the cause and cure of a recent epidemic of the undead.
Cover 1

Zombie (Blu-ray)
Temporary cover art 

Cover 2

Zombie (Blu-ray)
Temporary cover art 

Cover 3
Zombie (Blu-ray)
Temporary cover art 

Gosford Park: Amazon - $20.99

The lives of upstairs guest and downstairs servants at a party in 1932 in a country house in England as they investigate a murder involving one of them.

Gosford Park (Blu-ray) 

Almost Human: Amazon - $18.99

A psychotic small-time criminal realizes that the everyday robberies, rapes and murders he commits aren't making him all that much money, so he figures to hit the "big time" by kidnapping the daughter of a rich man.

Almost Human (Blu-ray) 

Sharp Objects (Season One): Amazon - $34.99

A reporter confronts the psychological demons from her past when she returns to her hometown to cover a violent murder.

Sharp Objects (Blu-ray) 

Munchies / Munchie: Amazon - $24.99

Simon Watterman, a space archaeologist, discovers the "Munchies" in a cave in Peru. Cecil Watterman, Simon's evil twin brother and snack food entrepreneur, kidnaps the creature. What Cecil does not know is that the creature, when chopped up, regenerates into many new creatures -- and are they mean!
Munchies / Munchie (Blu-ray) 

The Little Stranger: Amazon - $22.99

Tells the story of Dr Faraday, the son of a housemaid, who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country doctor. During the long hot summer of 1947, he is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall, where his mother once worked. The Hall has been home to the Ayres family for more than two centuries. But it is now in decline and its inhabitants - mother, son and daughter - are haunted by something more ominous than a dying way of life. When he takes on his new patient, Faraday has no idea how closely, and how terrifyingly, the family's story is about to become entwined with his own.

The Little Stranger (Blu-ray) 

Basic Instinct 2: Amazon - $22.99

She captivated moviegoers with her raw sensuality and steel heart. Now Sharon Stone is back as the notorious crime novelist, Catherine Tramell. This time she proves to be respected criminal psychologist Dr. Michael Glass' (David Morrissey) deadliest challenge. With professional boundaries blurred by obsession, Dr. Glass is lured into a murderous web of lies and deceit and begins a torrid affair with Tramell that takes him to the point of no return. As their passions rise, so does the body count - and Dr. Glass faces a choice that will change his life forever.

Basic Instinct 2 (Blu-ray) 


- The Impostor

Monday, November 26, 2018

Screenings in the Bay (Monday to Sunday): The House That Jack Built, The Possession of Hannah Grace, Another Hole in the Head Film Festival


Looks like the smoke is gone and we're about to get all the rain we've been asking for in the bay area. And that's great! Both for the state and because you could basically spend this whole week at the movies. There are several long awaited things taking place over the next six days: The Possession of Hannah Grace opens in theatres everywhere, The House That Jack Built screens is all of it's director's cut glory for one special day, and ...



Another Hole in the Head Film Festival returns to the New People Cinema for its fifteenth year! Opening night is this Wednesday the 28th, so if you're not interested in a two and a half hour long serial killer film, you should check out what they have on their calendar.

This Saturday, the Castro Theatre hosts A Day of Silents, the Alamo Drafthouse presents the 4K restoration of Zombi 2, and Perfect Blue returns the the big screen at the Clay Theatre's Midnight Madness at the end of the week!


Opening This Week


Early Screeings Thursday 29th (1hr 25min)
Opens Friday 30th
Horror/ Mystery/ Suspense (Rotten Tomatoes)
A shocking exorcism spirals out of control, claiming the life of a young woman. Months later, Megan Reed (Shay Mitchell) is working the graveyard shift in the morgue when she takes delivery of a disfigured cadaver. Locked alone inside the basement corridors, Megan begins to experience horrifying visions and starts to suspect that the body may be possessed by a ruthless demonic force.


Special Event


Wednesday 28th ONLY (2hrs 32min)
Drama/ Horror/ Suspense (Rotten Tomatoes)
Boundary-pushing cinematic visionary Lars von Trier (Antichrist) returns with one of his most daring, masterfully provocative works yet. In five audacious episodes, failed architect and arch-sociopath Jack (Matt Dillon) recounts the elaborately orchestrated murders-each, as he views them, a towering work of art-that define his "career" as a serial killer. Mixing pitch black humor, transcendent surrealism, and renegade musings on everything from history to architecture to cinema, von Trier fashions a radical, blazingly personal inquiry into violence, art, and the twin acts of creation and destruction. With Uma Thurman, Riley Keough, and Bruno Ganz.

Director's Cut will ONLY be screening on Wednesday 28 in select theatres!



Screening All Week (1hr 59min)
Drama (Rotten Tomatoes)
Early 18th century. England is at war with the French. Nevertheless, duck racing and pineapple eating are thriving. A frail Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) occupies the throne and her close friend Lady Sarah Churchill (Rachel Weisz) governs the country in her stead while tending to Anne's ill health and mercurial temper. When a new servant Abigail Masham (Emma Stone) arrives, her charm endears her to Sarah. Sarah takes Abigail under her wing and Abigail sees a chance at a return to her aristocratic roots. As the politics of war become quite time consuming for Sarah, Abigail steps into the breach to fill in as the Queen's companion. Their burgeoning friendship gives her a chance to fulfill her ambitions and she will not let woman, man, politics or rabbit stand in her way.




Terror Tuesday

Tuesday 27th @ 10:05pm (1hr 31min)
Horror (Rotten Tomatoes)
This audaciously disgusting spectacle from the late master of gruesome horror, Lucio Fulci, was posited as a semi-sequel to George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, which was released in Italy as Zombi. Tisa Farrow and a group of vacationing tourists travel to an island where they find a doctor (Richard Johnson) who is attempting to cure a condition that reanimates the dead. Things quickly get out of control as undead Spanish conquistadors crawl from their graves hungry for human flesh.


Weird Wednesday


Wednesday 28th @ 10pm (1hr 20min)
Comedy/ Horror/ Sci-Fi (IMDB)
Southern California is being terrorized by a mysterious murderous monster living in a cave. As the bodies pile up -- with incriminating banana peels always near by the crime scene -- a group of teens stumble on the guilty party: a 20-million-year-old Schlockthropus, an ape-like creature with a sense of the absurd. Schlocky moves easily through a strangely stupid suburban society, the members of which don't seem to see him as a hairy menace. Young Mindy Binermen (Eliza Garrett), blind for the last three years, falls in love with him thinking he's a dog. When an operation to restore her eyesight proves successful, she discovers her pet is a lovesick gorilla being chased by the National Guard.




SF Silent Film Festival Presents

Saturday 1st @ 10am 
One glorious full day of live cinema (six programs!) at San Francisco's landmark movie palace Castro Theatre. Beautiful images from the silent era set to superb live musical accompaniment—you won't want to miss it!




Midnight Madness

Friday 30th & Saturday 1st @ 11:55pm (1hr 21min)
Horror/ Anime (IMDB)
Mima was a pop idol, worshiped by the masses until fashion dictated otherwise. In order to salvage her career, she is advised to drop music and pursue acting. A soap opera role is offered but Mima's character is less clean cut than desired. Regardless, she agrees and events take a turn for the worse. She begins to feel reality slip, that her life is not her own. She discovers (imagines) her identical twin, a mirror image that hasn't given up singing. Internet sites appear describing every intimate detail of her life and a figure stalks her from the shadows. Her friends and associates are threatened (and killed) as Mima descends into a dangerous world of paranoid delusion. She fears for her life and must unravel fact from illusion in order to stay alive. Perfect Blue represents a major change from traditional anime subject matter, analyzing the pop icon phenomenon, fame and its psychological impact on the performer.





Wednesday 28th @ 6:30pm (
The 8th Annual Festival of the Moving Image highlights emerging talent from City College of San Francisco’s Cinema, Visual Media Design and Broadcast Electronic Media Arts Departments in a combined festival program.


Staff Picks

Sunday 2nd @ 4pm (1hr 37min)
Comedy/ Drama/ Romance (IMDB)
A philosophical comedy about a Greek prostitute who agrees to spend two weeks with an American intellectual improving her mind. The conservative American tries to educate the harlot, much to the dismay of family and friends. The bouzouki music of the instrumental title track was an international hit.


-Huntress

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Screenings in the Bay (Monday to Sunday): Burning, The Manitou, Pan's Labyrinth



Happy Thanksgiving week! I hope that means a short workweek for you guys, if nothing more. Although this week is a little bare, we are on the cusp of some very cool events that will be happening in San Francisco. One of them is opening night of the 15th annual Another Hole in the Head Film Festival, which returns to the New People Cinema next week! The second, which lands on the same day, is the one time screening of Lars von Trier's new film The House That Jack Built in its director's cut glory on the big screen!

But before I get ahead of myself, this week still has several days left, and in that time we're getting a 35mm print of The Manitou, the ritualistic midnight screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and a sporadic of Pan's Labyrinth. And if you're in the mood for a mystery, Burning opens this Friday and it stars a familiar face...


Opening This Week


Opens Friday 23rd (2hrs 28min)
Screening All Weekend
Drama/ Mystery (IMDB)
BURNING tells the story of three individuals and a mysterious incident they experience. Jongsu bumps into an old friend, Haemi, on a part-time delivery job. Haemi asks Jongsu to take care of her cat while she leaves on a trip to Africa. When she returns, Haemi introduces Jongsu to Ben, a man she met in Africa. One day, Ben and Haemi pay Jongsu a visit, and Ben reveals his secret interests to Jongsu.




Terror Tuesday

Tuesday 20th @ 9:45pm (1hr 44min)
Horror/ Sci-Fi (IMDB)
A psychic's girlfriend finds out that a lump on her back is a growing reincarnation of a 400 year-old demonic Native American spirit.


Weird Wednesday

Wednesday 21st @ 10:10pm (1hr 23min)
Action/ Crime/ Thriller (IMDB)
"A martial arts rock band goes up against a band of motorcycle ninjas who have tightened their grip on Florida's narcotics trade."




Midnight Madness

Saturday 24th @ 11:55pm (1hr 41 min)
Comedy/ Scifi/ Horror/ Musical (Rotten Tomatoes)
This low-budget freak show/cult classic/cultural institution concerns the misadventures of Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) inside a strange mansion that they come across on a rainy night. After the wholesome pair profess their love through an opening song, their car breaks down in the woods, and they seek refuge in a towering castle nearby. Greeting them at the door is a ghoulish butler named Riff Raff (Richard O'Brien), who introduces them to a bacchanalian collection of partygoers dressed in outfits from some sort of interplanetary thrift shop. The host of this gathering is a transvestite clad in lingerie, Dr. Frank N. Furter (Tim Curry), a mad scientist who claims to be from another planet.





Saturday 24th @ 9pm (1hr 59min)
Drama/ Horror/ SciFi (Rotten Tomatoes)
Set against the backdrop of the a post-Civil War Spain, PAN’S LABYRINTH is a visually stunning Spanish-language fairy tale with a dark heart. In 1944, a young girl named Ofelia avoids a bleak home life–including an ill, pregnant mother and a new, murderous military step-father–by retreating into an imaginative world of fairies and monsters. After ignoring a warning against entering the mysterious labyrinth near her new home, Ofelia meets a faun who sends her off on a wonderfully eerie journey. According to the faun, Ofelia must complete three tasks to resume her position as the long-lost Princess Moanna, a seemingly perfect offer in contrast with Ofelia’s grim waking life. When tragedy strikes and Ofelia finds her way deeper into a dark fantasy world, del Toro’s mesmerizing production and a haunting score by Javier Navarette take over, culminating in an unforgettable conclusion.



-Huntress

Bluray Tuesday Featuring: Candyman, Urban Legend & Luciferina


November 20th 2018


This weeks ends with Black Friday, which has many cool deals on Bluray's but there are still some cool collection worthy titles released today to potentially add to our growing collections. First up is Scream Factory's releases of Candyman and Urban Legend both with new scans, bonus material and artwork as the most recent editions to their collector's edition lines. Urban Legends Final Cut is also released for the first time on bluray from Scream Factory to go along with the original. I'm looking forward to owning all three of these after the Black Friday madness because I love these films. Next up is a newer release from Artsploitation Films, Luciferina. This title seems really interesting and screened at PUFF 3 just a couple of months ago, so several Overlook creatures got to see it on the big screen then. Rounding out the week is sci-fi action film Kin, comedy box office success Crazy Rich Asians, and well reviewed Blindspotting. So what will you buy, rent or skip this week? Let us know in the comments. Have a great Thanksgiving week!

Candyman: Amazon - $34.99

A children's story comes to terrifying life in this gut-wrenching thriller about a graduate student whose research into modern folklore summons the spirit of the dead. Helen Lyle scoffs at superstition, but when she hears about Candyman, a slave spirit with a hook hand said to haunt a notorious housing project, she has a new twist for her thesis. To prove Candyman doesn't exist, Helen heads to the site of a brutal murder to call for him by saying his name five times. To her horror, he appears, igniting a string of gruesome murders. But the police don't believe in monsters, and Helen is charged with the grisly crimes. Only one person can set her free: Candyman.

Candyman (Blu-ray)
Temporary cover art 

Urban Legend: Amazon - $34.99

When a series of strange deaths occurs on campus, beautiful and assertive student Natalie suspects that they are murders based on urban legends. Her classmates, loyal Brenda, ambitious journalism major Paul, and school practical joker Damon, insist the deaths are just coincidences. When Natalie gets too close to discovering how the deaths are connected, she realizes she's the killer's next victim.

Urban Legend (Blu-ray) 

Urban Legends: Final Cut: Amazon - $29.99

At Alpine University, one senior student will be awarded the prestigious Hitchcock Award for best thesis film, virtually guaranteeing the winner a film career in Hollywood. Amy, Travis and Graham are student filmmakers who would love to make it big in Hollywood. But first they've got to survive their last semester at Alpine, a renowned film school where the competition is killer -- and someone is killing the competition.

Urban Legends (Blu-ray) 

Luciferina: Amazon - $10.99

Natalia is a nineteen-year-old novice who reluctantly returns home to say goodbye to her dying father. However, when she meets up with her sister and her friends, she decides instead to travel the jungle in search of a mystical plant.

Luciferina (Blu-ray) 

The Last Supper: Amazon - $24.99

In the heartland of Iowa, five grad school liberals share a house, a left wing outlook, and Sunday suppers filled with conversation and social criticism. But when a redneck trucker threatens one of their own, he inadvertently puts them on the radical road to serial murder.

The Last Supper (Blu-ray) 

Kin: Amazon - $14.99
4K: Amazon - $17.99

While scavenging for copper wire, Detroit teenager Eli Solinski stumbles upon a high-tech gun that holds special powers. When his brother, Jimmy, lands in trouble with a local crime boss, the two siblings take the mysterious weapon and go on the run. Eli and Jimmy now find themselves in a life-and-death battle against an army of thugs and two heavily armored, futuristic soldiers who want their gun back.

Kin (Blu-ray) 

Steelbook: Best Buy - $19.99 

Kin 4K (Blu-ray)

 Orgies of Edo: Amazon - $22.99

A collection of stories dealing with punishment towards women.
 
Orgies of Edo (Blu-ray) 

Blindspotting: Amazon - $14.99

Collin must make it through his final three days of probation for a chance at a new beginning. He and his troublemaking childhood best friend, Miles, work as movers and are forced to watch their old neighborhood become a trendy spot in the rapidly gentrifying Bay Area. When a life-altering event causes Collin to miss his mandatory curfew, the two men struggle to maintain their friendship as the changing social landscape exposes their differences.

Blindspotting (Blu-ray) 

Crazy Rich Asians: Amazon - $22.99
4K: Amazon - $29.99

American-born Chinese economics professor Rachel Chu accompanies her boyfriend to Singapore for his best friend's wedding only to get thrust into the lives of Asia's rich and famous. She discovers that her boyfriend comes from a wealthy family with a dark past and that every woman wants him. Based on the novel by Kevin Kwan.
 
Crazy Rich Asians (Blu-ray) 

Crazy Rich Asians 4K (Blu-ray)
Temporary cover art 

The Last Seduction: Amazon - $19.99

A devious sexpot steals her husband's drug money and hides out in a small town where she meets the perfect dupe for her next scheme. 

The Last Seduction (Blu-ray) 

2001 Space Odyssey (4K Steelbook): Best Buy - $29.99 

A mysterious black monolith appears on Earth in prehistoric times, changing the course of human evolution. When it reappears on the Moon in 2001, astronauts embark on an ill-fated interplanetary voyage to discover.
 
2001: A Space Odyssey 4K (Blu-ray) 

Some Like It Hot: Amazon - $22.99

Two down on their luck jazz musicians find themselves on the run after the police raid the speakeasy they perform in. With nowhere to hide, a gig with Sweet Sue and her Society Syncopators at a beach resort seems like the perfect getaway. There's just one problem: the Syncopators are an all-female band, and Joe and Jerry aren't women — yet. Armed with some dodgy wigs and wobbly falsettos, they manage to join the Syncopators and meet Sugar Kane: a hooch-swilling, ukulele-playing knockout with a soft spot for saxophone players. Things start to go off the rails when they begin to attract unwanted attention from lecherous millionaires and some familiar faces show up at their hotel for a gathering of the country's most dangerous criminals.

Some Like It Hot (Blu-ray) 


-The Impostor