Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Screenings in the Bay (Monday 28th to Sunday 3rd): Piercing, Braid, My Friend the Polish Girl, SF Indie Fest



There is so much going on in the city this week it took me an extra day to collect myself! We've still got four days of Noir City at the Castro Theatre, and the lineup has yet to reach the David Goodis screenplay double feature. This pair includes Nightfall, which was directed by Jacques Tourneur, whose film Cat People just screened earlier this month at the Super Shangri-La's double feature. When it was raining cats and dogs... ;) 
Parooze the full schedule at NoirCity.com.

We're also in the eve of two things, one of which is the next installation of 16 Millimurder at the Balboa Theatre. The film this time around is the classic and doubly bloody Carrie, which will be accompanied by some amazing trivia prizes!





This Wednesday is also opening night of the 21st annual SF Indiefest! There are so many great looking films in this lineup, you would be doing yourself a disservice by not looking through the calendar. This Saturday (with an encore screening Tuesday) the fest will be screening the first film that grabbed my attention, My Friend the Polish Girl. Not only is there a Cat Sick Blues style mask on the calendar, but it's also a faux documentary, which is perfect considering Found Footage February is only two days away! 

As for single film releases this week, we have two highly stylized pieces of art: Piercing and Braid. I recommend both. And Terror Tuesday tonight will be the 4K restoration of William Lustig's Maniac, followed by a Skype Q&A with the director himself!


Opening This Week


Opens Friday 1st (1hr 20min)
Horror/ Thriller (IMDB)
A man kisses his wife and baby goodbye and seemingly heads away on business, with a plan to check into a hotel, call an escort service, and kill an unsuspecting prostitute.


Screening at the Landmark Clay Theatre



Limited Theatres/VOD Friday 1st (1hr 22min)
Horror/ Mystery/ Suspense (Rotten Tomatoes)
Two wanted women decide to rob their wealthy yet mentally unstable friend who lives in a fantasy world they all created as children. To take her money, the girls must take part in a deadly and perverse game of make believe throughout a sprawling yet decaying estate. As things become increasingly violent and hallucinatory, they realize that obtaining the money may be the least of their concerns.





Opens Friday 1st (2hrs 9min)
Drama/ Fantasy/ Horror (IMDB)
LEGEND OF THE DEMON CAT is set over a thousand years ago during the Tang Dynasty. A Chinese poet and a Japanese monk join forces to investigate a demonic cat who has possessed a general's wife and wreaked havoc on the imperial court. The investigation takes gruesome and unexpected twists, resulting in the monk and the poet unraveling the mystery behind the death decades earlier of legendary, beautiful concubine Yang Guifei.




Terror Tuesday

Tuesday 29th @ 9:30pm (1hr 27min)
Drama/ Slasher (Google)
Maniac, given an X-rating for extreme violence and gore, is the story of a New York psycho (Joe Spinell) who kills females and scalps them for his mannequin collection at home.

Q&A with Director William Lustig before the 4K screening!


Weird Wednesday

Wednesday 30th @ 10:30pm (1hr 30min)
Animation/ Adventure/ Crime (IMDB)
When a machine that allows therapists to enter their patients' dreams is stolen, all Hell breaks loose. Only a young female therapist, Paprika, can stop it.




16 Millimurder

Tuesday 16th @ 7:30pm (1hr 38min)
Horror (IMDB)
Carrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom.

Screened in 16mm





Opens Friday 1st (1hr 13min)
Animation/ Action/ Drama (IMDB)
Tito and the Birds is a film about a little boy and his journey to save the world. Tito, a shy 10-year-old boy, lives in a world on the brink of pandemic. Fear is crippling people, making them sick and transforming them. Tito realizes, based on his father's past research, that there may be a way to utilize the local pigeon population and their songs to create a cure for the disease. His father was forced to leave when Tito was only six and the struggle to find a cure becomes linked with the search to find his father again, along with his own identity. Part action part drama, Tito's journey is at once an uplifting and insightful adventure about a boy fighting to find out what is right and to learn how to overcome his own fear.




Thursday 1st @ 7pm (1hr 38min)
Adventure/ Drama (IMDB)
THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIGFOOT follows the epic adventures of an American legend that no one has ever heard of. Since WWII, Calvin Barr (Elliott) has lived with the secret that he was responsible for the assassination of Adolf Hitler. Now, decades later, the US government has called on him again for a new top-secret mission. Bigfoot has been living deep in the Canadian wilderness and is carrying a deadly plague that is now threatening to spread to the general population. Relying on the same skills that he honed during the war, Calvin must set out to save the free world yet again.



Saturday 2nd @ 7:15pm (1hr 27min)
Faux Documentary
MY FRIEND THE POLISH GIRL borrows from cinéma vérité and video bloggers to create a rare naturalism in style and performance. The fiction film watches as an experimental documentary told through the eyes (and lens) of amateur filmmaker Katie: an American rich kid following Alicja, an erratic unemployed Polish actress. Set in a post-Brexit-vote London, Katie's colonizing, disruptive presence in Alicja's life mirrors the treatment of migrants in the UK: Welcomed, used, then discarded. A raw, sexual, and visually brash fiction documentary exploring the abusive power and control over someone's intimacy.



-Huntress

Bluray Tuesday Featuring: Suspiria (2018), Splatter University & Uninvited

January 29th 2019


The last Bluray Tuesday of January has arrived and it's a big one! There is something for everyone in the lineup this week. First up is 2018's Suspiria a film that's creepy, dark and confusing... I definitely need to see this one again. This one's a number one pick up for me. Vinegar Syndrome is releasing many titles this week, all with new scans and for the first time on bluray: Splatter University, Uninvited, Cutting Class, Pets and There's Nothing Out There. All of these I look forward to seeing especially the slashers. Disney releases their latest live action film, The Nutcracker and The Four Realms. Best Buy will carry an exclusive steelbook case for this as well. DC's new original animated feature hits shelves this week titled Reign of The Supermen. This is a sequel to The Death of Superman animated film. Target will have an exclusive steelbook for both the Bluray and 4K editions. Rounding out the week is 90's film Screamers from Scream Factory as well as action drama film Hunter Killer. What are you looking forward to buying, renting or skipping this week? Let us know in the comments. Until next week!

Suspiria (2018): Amazon - $18.99

A young ballet dancer travels to a prestigious dance academy in Berlin in 1977, only to discover it is a front for something far more sinister and supernatural amidst a series of increasingly grisly murders.

Suspiria (Blu-ray) 

Splatter University: Amazon - $20.00

A patient escapes from a mental hospital, killing one of his keepers and then a University professor after he makes his way to the local college. Next semester, the late prof's replacement and a new group of students have to deal with a new batch of killings.

Splatter University (Blu-ray) 

Uninvited: Amazon - $20.00

A sinister corporation loses control of a house cat infected with a genetically engineered virus. The death toll rises during the mutant feline's rampage and, eventually, it finds its way on board the yacht of a criminal kingpin.

Uninvited (Blu-ray) 

 Screamers: Amazon - $23.99

(SIRIUS 6B, Year 2078) On a distant mining planet ravaged by a decade of war, scientists have created the perfect weapon: a blade-wielding, self-replicating race of killing devices known as Screamers designed for one purpose only -- to hunt down and destroy all enemy life forms.

Screamers (Blu-ray)
Temporary cover art 

There's Nothing Out There: Amazon - $20.00

When a horror film buff tries to warn his friends of impending danger during March Break, they scoff at him, that is, until sinister things begin to happen.  

There’s Nothing Out There (Blu-ray) 

Willow: Amazon - $19.99

When young Willow Ufgood finds an abandoned baby, he is suddenly thrust into an adventure filled with magic and danger. According to an ancient prophecy, the sacred child is destined to end the reign of the evil sorceress Queen Bavmorda. Now, with only a single swordsman at his side, Willow must overcome the forces of darkness that threaten to destroy anyone who stands in the Queen's way!

Willow (Blu-ray) 

All The Colors of The Dark: Amazon - $26.99

Jane is a housewife plagued by nightmarish visions of her own bloody murder. To cure her hellish fantasies her bewitching neighbor, Mary, initiates Jane into a Satanic coven, but there the price for this brand of diabolical cure is murder — committed as a ritual sacrifice during an orgiastic black mass! Jane's chilling, repulsive nightmares have become true. Who is the blue-eyed, knife-wielding phantom stalking her and has she already witnessed her own death?

All the Colors of the Dark (Blu-ray) 

All The Colors of Giallo: Amazon - $25.99

3-Disc collection featuring over 5 1/2 hours of classic trailers plus bonus CD of legendary Giallo themes!

All the Colors of Giallo (Blu-ray) 

 Reign of the Supermen: Amazon - $14.99
4K: Amazon - $24.99

As the world mourns the death of the Man of Steel, new heroes emerge, each claiming to be the true Superman reborn. But when a deadly threat uses Superman's absence to target Earth, their powers are put to the ultimate test.

Reign of the Supermen (Blu-ray) 

Reign of the Supermen 4K (Blu-ray) 

Steelbook: Target - $19.99
4K: Target - $29.99

Reign of the Supermen 4K (Blu-ray) 

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: Best Buy - $22.99
4K: Best Buy - $29.99

Young Clara needs a magical, one-of-a-kind key to unlock a box that contains a priceless gift. A golden thread leads her to the coveted key, but it soon disappears into a strange and mysterious parallel world. In that world, she meets a soldier named Phillip, a group of mice and the regents who preside over three realms. Clara and Phillip must now enter a fourth realm to retrieve the key and restore harmony to the unstable land.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (Blu-ray) 

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms 4K (Blu-ray) 

Steelbook: Best Buy - $34.99

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms 4K (Blu-ray)
Temporary cover art 

 Hunter Killer: Amazon - $19.99
4K: Amazon - $24.99

An untested American submarine captain teams with U.S. Navy Seals to rescue the Russian president, who has been kidnapped by a rogue general.
 
Hunter Killer (Blu-ray) 

Hunter Killer 4K (Blu-ray) 

Steelbook: Best Buy - $32.99

Hunter Killer 4K (Blu-ray) 

Boy Erased: Amazon - $19.99

The son of a baptist preacher is forced to participate in a church-supported gay conversion program.
 
Boy Erased (Blu-ray) 

Cutting Class: Amazon - $20.00

A murderer is loose in a high school in this 'whodunit' movie.

Cutting Class (Blu-ray) 

Suburbia: Amazon - $26.99

When household tensions and a sense of worthlessness overcome Evan, he finds escape when he clings with the orphans of a throw-away society. The runaways hold on to each other like a family until a tragedy tears them apart.

Suburbia (Blu-ray) 

The Night is Short, Walk On Girl: Amazon - $19.99

Gracefully yet violently, The Girl with Black Hair swirls through the abstract Kyoto night a joyful tempest. Blowing through pub crawls, festivals and book fairs, her youthful glee infects parties of increasingly eccentric characters, but amongst the debtors, existentialists and the God of the Old Book Market, can she be convinced "coincidental" encounters are fate and will she notice the Senpai in pursuit of her love?

The Night is Short, Walk on Girl (Blu-ray) 

Sarah T, Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic: Amazon - $22.99

Sarah Travis (Linda Blair) is an average teenager who is introduced to drinking alcohol at local parties. As a means to cope with problems in her life, most notably her parents' divorce, Sarah starts to drink regularly and tries to keep her addiction a secret, even from her boyfriend (Mark Hamill). Eventually, Sarah's increasingly severe drinking almost leads to tragedy, and she enters Alcoholics Anonymous, beginning an ongoing struggle to get sober and stay that way.

Sarah T. – Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic (Blu-ray) 

The Wife: Amazon - $22.99

Joan Castleman is a highly intelligent and still-striking beauty – the perfect devoted wife. Forty years spent sacrificing her own talent, dreams and ambitions to fan the flames of her charismatic husband Joe and his skyrocketing literary career. Ignoring his infidelities and excuses because of his "art" with grace and humor. Their fateful pact has built a marriage upon uneven compromises and Joan's reached her breaking point. On the eve of Joe's Nobel Prize for Literature, the crown jewel in a spectacular body of work, Joan's coup de grace is to confront the biggest sacrifice of her life and secret of his career. 
 
The Wife (Blu-ray) 

Pets: Amazon - $20.00

A despicable, whip-wielding villain lords over a harem of imprisoned young beauties in this sleazy exploitation drama. At least the cruel master gets what's coming to him when his "Pets" band together and develop a plan to fight for their freedom.

Pets (Blu-ray) 

Dead Silence (1989): Amazon - $29.99

Justice is served when mass murderer Sam Mason is put to death in the electric chair... or is it? Would be victim Terri is still haunted by Mason and soon finds death is no deterrent for Mason's spirit as he is hellbent on nailing the final nail in Terri's coffin. On a desperate run for her life Mason's spirit latches onto any unsuspecting soul in order to fulfill his quest to kill Terri. She may have put him in the chair, but he will put her through hell!
 
Dead Silence (Blu-ray) 


  
 -The Impostor

Friday, January 25, 2019

You Have 7 Days...



This March Hideo Nakata's J-horror classic RING returns to select theatres with a new restoration. Later that month, you'll be able to bring the entire collection home, courtesy of Arrow Video, who are releasing RING, RING 2, RING 0, and SPIRAL on Blu-ray March 18.




And the list of extras this limited edition collection comes with is mouth watering:

  • Brand new 4K restoration of Ring from the original camera negative, approved by director of photography Junichiro Hayashi
  • High definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations
  • Lossless Japanese DTS-HD master audio 5.1 and PCM 2.0 soundtracks
  • Optional English subtitles
  • Bonus feature: Spiral, George Iida’s 1998 sequel to Ring
  • New audio commentary on Ring by film historian David Kalat
  • New audio commentary on Ring 0 by author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
  • The Ring Legacy, a series of new interviews from critics and filmmakers on their memories of the Ring series and its enduring legacy
  • A Vicious Circle, a new video interview with author and critic Kat Ellinger on the career of Hideo Nakata
  • Circumnavigating Ring, a new video essay by author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas on the evolution of the Ring series
  • Spooks, Sighs and Videotape, a new video essay by critic Jasper Sharp on the J-horror phenomenon
  • The Psychology of Fear, a newly edited archival interview with author Koji Suzuki
  • Archival behind-the-scenes featurette on Ring 0
  • Ring 0 deleted scenes
  • Sadako’s Video
  • Multiple theatrical trailers for the Ring series
  • Limited edition 60-page booklet containing new writing by Violet Lucca, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Jasper Sharp, Kieran Fisher and Kat Ellinger
  • Limited edition packaging featuring original and newly commissioned artwork

You also have the option of buying the single RING on Blu-ray in either a regular case or limited steelbook with alternate art by Matt Griffin. There's no wrong answer here, except for waiting too long to decide. Pre-orders are already up at ArrowFilms.com.








Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Bluray Tuesday Featuring: Best F(r)iends: Vol. 1 and 2, Sheborg & First Man

January 22nd 2019


New week and new Bluray's are released to potentially add to our growing collections. First up is Tommy Wiseau's newest film, written by Greg Sestero, Best F(r)iends Volume 1 and 2. I'm very interested in checking these out this week. Next up is sci-fi comedy film from Wild Eye Releasing, Sheborg. I haven't heard anything about this film but may be a fun drinking movie with friends. Ryan Gosling led biography film about Neil Armstrong, First Man, hits shelves today in both Bluray and 4K. This one has gotten good reviews, and I may check out in the near future. Scream Factory is releasing 10 to Midnight for the first time on bluray this week, with a new scan and bonus material. Another highlight this week is from MVD Visual, Double Dragon. This film I really liked as a kid and look forward to re watching for the first time on Bluray. Rounding out the week is The Hate U Give, Johnny English Strikes Again, Dis and 4K releases of the How To Train Your Dragon films just in time for the third film releasing this year. What are you looking forward to buying, renting or just skipping this week? Let us know in the comments. Until next week!

Best F(r)iends: Vol 1 & 2: Amazon - $17.99

A drifter and a quirky mortician both learn a lesson about friendship and loyalty when they form an unlikely business partnership that becomes complicated by paranoia.

Best F(r)iends: Volume 1 and 2 (Blu-ray)
Temporary cover art 

Sheborg: Amazon - $24.99

When an alien fugitive crash lands into a local puppy farm and begins turning people into machines that feed on puppy flesh, Dylan and her BFF Eddie have to decide whether or not to take on the SheBorg menace, and save the world.

Sheborg (Blu-ray) 

First Man: Amazon - $19.99
4K: Amazon - $24.99

A look at the life of astronaut, Neil A. Armstrong, and the legendary space mission that led him to become the first man to walk on the moon. Based on the book, "First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong".

First Man (Blu-ray) 

First Man 4K (Blu-ray) 

10 to Midnight: Amazon - $27.99

Veteran Los Angeles Det. Leo Kessler faces off against a wily serial killer, briefly going down for the count before rising to take vengeance.

10 to Midnight (Blu-ray) 

Cobra: Amazon - $26.99

A tough-on-crime street cop must protect the only surviving witness to a strange murderous cult with far reaching plans.

Cobra (Blu-ray) 

Waterworld: Amazon - $34.99

Centuries of global warming have caused the polar ice caps to melt, flooding the earth as civilization is left adrift. The inhabitants of this once-flourishing planet cling to life on incredible floating cities, their existence constantly threatened by Smokers — bands of marauding pirates who roam the featureless surface of Waterworld. For the survivors, one chance remains: a solitary hero, known only as the Mariner. Battling the Smokers and their ruthless leader, the Deacon, the Mariner sets out with a beautiful woman and a mysterious little girl on a search for a new beginning.

Waterworld (Blu-ray) 

Double Dragon: Amazon - $27.99

Evil meets its match in this daring martial arts adventure about two teen brothers out to stop an obsessed tycoon from finding both halves of a mystical talisman.

Double Dragon (Blu-ray) 

Johnny English Strikes Again: Amazon - $22.99

The new adventure begins when a cyberattack reveals the identities of all active undercover agents in Britain, leaving Johnny English as the secret service's last hope. Called out of retirement, English dives headfirst into action with the mission to find the mastermind hacker. As a man with few skills and analogue methods, Johnny English must overcome the challenges of modern technology to make this mission a success.

Johnny English Strikes Again (Blu-ray) 

The Hate U Give: Amazon - $19.99
4K: Amazon - $24.99

Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Now, facing pressures from all sides of the community, Starr must find her voice and stand up for what's right.

The Hate U Give (Blu-ray)
Temporary cover art 

The Hate U Give 4K (Blu-ray)
Temporary cover art 

Death Note Collection: Amazon - $27.99

A battle between the world's 2 greatest minds begins when Light Yagami finds the Death Note, a notebook with the power to kill, and decides to rid the world of criminals.


Death Note Collection (Blu-ray)

 
Dis: Amazon - $17.99

An ex-soldier with a criminal past takes refuge in the woods. A demonic figure seeks the seed of killers and the blood of the damned to feed his mandrake garden. DIS is an infernal descent into the root of the mandrake legend and a man who wanders too close to that legend and the unnamable terror behind it. What you sow you will reap.

Dis (Blu-ray)

Road House 2: Amazon - $17.99

A group of malicious drug runners are attempting to take over the Black Pelican roadhouse, and it's up to the owner's nephew to beat down the bad guys and keep the club in the family.

Road House 2 (Blu-ray) 

Killjoys (Season 4): Amazon - $27.99

Scattered to the far corners of the J galaxy and beyond, our Killjoys find themselves united by the knowledge of the name of their true enemy: The Lady. An immeasurable manifestation of evil without beginning or end, The Lady is making her play and our trio has something she wants – the Hullen Heir. While Dutch is on a journey to face her biggest foe yet, D'av and John are trapped in an elevator in deep space with a pregnant Delle Seyah.

Killjoys: Season Four (Blu-ray) 

How To Train Your Dragon 4K: Amazon - $18.99

A young Viking named Hiccup lives on the windswept island of Berk, where his father Stoic the Vast is the tribe's feared chief, and fighting dragons is part of every young warrior's training. But Hiccup's destiny of becoming a prized dragon fighter takes an unexpected diversion when he saves and befriends an injured dragon, Toothless. Hiccup now embarks on a mission of his own to convince his tribe to abandon its barbaric tradition of ruthless dragon-slaying and try out some new methods.
How to Train Your Dragon 4K (Blu-ray) 

How To Train Your Dragon 2: Amazon - $18.99

It's been five years since Hiccup and Toothless successfully united dragons and vikings on the island of Berk. While Astrid, Snotlout and the rest of the gang are challenging each other to dragon races (the island's new favorite contact sport), the now inseparable pair journey through the skies, charting unmapped territories and exploring new worlds. When one of their adventures leads to the discovery of a secret ice cave that is home to hundreds of new wild dragons and the mysterious Dragon Rider, the two friends find themselves at the center of a battle to protect the peace. Now, Hiccup and Toothless must unite to stand up for what they believe while recognizing that only together do they have the power to change the future of both men and dragons.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 4K (Blu-ray) 


-The Impostor