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13 January 2025

Radiance Films blesses NOTHING IS SACRED: THREE HERESIES BY LUIS BUNUEL (review)

Having fled Spain during the Spanish Civil War for France and then America where he lost his job after being denounced by former friend Salvador Dali, Luis Bunuel found refuge in Mexico where he toiled away in the studio system directing various genre films until he partnered with actress Silvia Pinal and her husband Gustavo Alatriste on three films that would change the direction of their careers.  VIRIDIANA is the tale of a young novice nun who visits her uncle who attempts to corrupt her in a film that was a sensation at Cannes, branded blasphemous by the Catholic Church, and banned in Spain by dictator Francisco Franco.  In THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL, the guests of a dinner party discover that for some reason they cannot leave.  In SIMON OF THE DESERT, ascetic monk Simon suffers the mockery of his brothers, the scorn of worshippers, and the temptations of the Devil "herself."

REVIEW LINK: Radiance Films (UK) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

NOTHING IS SACRED: THREE HERESIES BY LUIS BUNUEL Blu-ray specs:

  • Disc One - Viridana:
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 Widescreen 
    • Spanish LPCM 2.0 Mono 
    • Optional English Subtitles 
    • Audio Commentary by film historian Michael Brooke 
    • "The Life and Times of Don Luis Buñuel" 1983 BBC documentary 
      • Optional introduction by director Anthony Wall 
    • Appreciation by filmmaker Lulu Wang 
    • Interview with director Luis Buñuel for French TV's "Cinéastes de notre temps" 
    • Gallery
  • Disc Two - The Exterminating Angel:
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen 
    • Spanish LPCM 2.0 Mono 
    • Optional English Subtitles 
    • Appreciation by filmmaker Alex Cox 
    • "A Mexican Buñuel" 1995 documentary by Emilio Maillé 
    • Appreciation by filmmaker Guillermo del Toro 
    • "Dinner and Other Rituals" visual essay by critic and writer Alexandra Heller-Nicholas 
    • Behind the Scenes Gallery
  • Disc Three - Simon of the Desert:
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen 
    • Spanish LPCM 2.0 Mono 
    • Optional English Subtitles 
    • Appreciation by filmmaker Richard Ayoade 
    • "The Other Trinity: Alatriste, Buñuel and Pinal" visual essay by film historian Abraham Castillo Flores 
    • "Buñuel: A Surrealist Filmmaker" documentary by Javier Espada 
    • Gallery
  • Limited edition of 6000 copies, presented in a rigid box with full-height Scanavo cases and removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings.  Three discs housed in a slipcase, each with reversible sleeves featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sister Hyde.  Also includes a limited edition 80-page book featuring new writing by Glenn Kenny, Justine Smith, Lindsay Hallam and David Hering, as well as archive material.
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Acorn Media is cursed by ODDITY (review)

After her sister is murdered by an escaped maniac, a blind psychic gifts her brother-in-law and his new girlfriend with a strange wooden mannequin that seems to have a life of its own in this Irish horror film from the maker of CAVEAT.

REVIEW LINK: Acorn Media (UK) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

ODDITY Blu-ray specs:

  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.39:1 Widescreen
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
  • English Audio Description DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo
  • Optional English SDH and French Subtitles
  • Storyboard-to-Screen
  • Behind the Scenes
  • The Making of the Wooden Mannequin Gallery

02 January 2025

MVD Visual sponsors CHEERLEADERS WILD WEEKEND (review)

FLESH GORDON's Jason Williams and MEATBALLS' Kristine DeBell star in this oddball mashup of seventies sexploitation and screwball comedy as a busload of cheerleaders are taken hostage by washed up football players for ransom the state is unwilling to pay.  NURSE SHERRI's Marilyn Joi and THE HILLS HAVE EYES' Robert Houston also star.

REVIEW LINK: MVD Visual (US) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

CHEERLEADERS WILD WEEKEND Blu-ray specs: 

  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 Widescreen
  • English LPCM 2.0 Mono
  • Optional English SDH Subtitles
  • Audio Commentary by director Jeff Werner, editor Greg McClatchy, and star Marilyn Joi 
  • Audio Commentary by star Kristine DeBell 
  • Interviews: 
    • star Kristine DeBell 
    • star Jason Williams 
    • co-star Leon Issac Kennedy 
    • co-star Marilyn Joi 
  • Theatrical Trailer 
  • Alternate Title Card 
  • Photo Gallery 
  • Trailers 
  • Comes with a slipcover and foldout poster. 

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01 January 2025

CineVentures' Best of 2024 Blu-ray/4K UHD Releases!

I participated in the DVDBeaver Blu-ray and 4K UHD of the Year 2024 poll and a number of my comments are excerpted throughout the coverage; however, I have included here my picks and comments in full (Amazon links in the titles). 

Top Blu-ray Releases of 2024

Comments: Not only has Second Sight's The Blair Witch Project set gone back to the original 16mm and Hi8 materials to recreate the theatrical and festival cuts, the combination of the original cast and crew commentary and the new Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson track shed light on just how much the film was not a fluke and its continued cultural impact. Valley of the Bees was a long time coming after previous Blu-rays of Vlacil's other medieval pictures. 

I vampiri was not only the real first Italian Gothic horror but also the film that put director Riccardo Freda and cinematographer/director Mario Bava on their subsequent career paths with, respectively, The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (also now on 4K UHD) and Black Sunday. Radiance Films' Blu-ray not only gave us a Tim Lucas commentary to shed light on the rough edges of its construction but also its first exposure in English-speaking territories in compromised cuts. 

Radiance Films' Blu-ray of Viva la Muerte was not the film's (or Arrabal's) first exposure in English-speaking countries, but it special features do a better job than before of distinguishing the director from being a mere colleague or Artaud and Jodorowsky with his own unique vision on family, politics, and religion. 

Long consigned to the video shelves, Stranger's Kiss was not just a neo-noir speculative fiction on the making of Stanley Kubrick's Killer's Kiss but the special features reveal its more contemporary roots in the Dorothy Stratten tragedy, repositioning Peter Coyote's obsessed filmmaker somewhere between hyper-perfectionist Kubrick and Stratten's muse-struck director/lover (shedding light on his subsequent, proficient but sometimes detached output). 

Radiance Films give Elio Petri's Vanessa Redgrave Franco Nero-vehicle A Quiet Place in the Country the same respectful treatment of their other Petri releases by allowing its special features contributors to delve beneath its psychedelic surface into its Gothic and giallo underbelly. 

Who knew Radiance Films' Elegant Beast and its satiric treatment of the Japanese postwar Danchi apartment living situation would not only produce this comedic drama but also inform this reviewer's understanding of Nikkatsu's Apartment Wife: Affair in the Afternoon (released on Blu-ray later in 2024) and the danchizuma sociocultural phenomena. 

Radiance Films' Blu-ray of Alain Cavalier's Le combat dans l'île not only provides an introduction to the director's filmography and a wonderful Romy Schnedier/Jean-Louis Trintignant vehicle but also provides insight into prominent subsequent titles in both actors' filmographies: That Most Important Thing: Love and The Conformist, respectively. 

Germany might have given Italian Gothic horror and sci-fi fans a (region-locked) UHD of Planet of the Vampires, but Radiance Film's Blu-ray is the far more satisfying package supplement-wise whether you snap up the limited edition from earlier in the year or the more recent stripped down but not entirely "standard" special edition. 

We did not have time to review Vinegar Syndrome's Blu-ray of Alan Beattie's eighties Gothic throwback Delusion, but a 4K restoration from the original 35mm negatives was more than we expected for this underrated video rental store dust-gatherer that some might have encountered as "The House Where Death Lives". 

Top 4K UHD Releases of 2024

Comments: All three of Cult Epics' Tinto Brass 4K remasters are easily the best these stylish films have ever looked and sounded, and the special features go a long way towards contextualizing Brass as an Italian pop culture figure and household name. 

Two long holdouts for Jess Franco HD remasters Night of the Blood Monster and Count Dracula finally hit 4K, the former from Blue Underground in a comprehensive edition that ported over two commentaries from the recent U.K. Blu-ray release along with their own new extras and the latter from Severin Films in a mammoth four-disc edition and 88 Films in a two-disc edition with two exclusive commentary tracks. 

Celluloid Dreams made their debut with a definitive 4K/Blu-ray edition of The Case of the Bloody Iris, a minor giallo once consigned to box set exclusive on DVD now looking its best with extras that make a convincing case for it being a better work thank it once seemed, and they have more planned for 2025 including a four-disc edition of Short Night of Glass Dolls and The Black Belly of the Tarantula

88 Films have also given us sterling 4K UHD remasters of the Joe D'Amato duo Anthropophagus and Absurd, the extras of which provide an Italian film industry context for what made films like this possible and even necessary for fiercely independent filmmakers like D'Amato, while Umberto Lenzi's Eyeball saturates the screen in all its bloodshot glory. 

Severin Films' 4K edition of the Italian zombie classic Burial Ground is a very different viewing experience from all of the wildly different earlier transfers (and is really only lacking in comparison to the U.K. release in regard to that edition's Grindhouse 35mm extra transfer of the U.S. version). 

Top Boxsets of 2024

Comments: Jackie Chan's Project A films have had a rather convoluted history on video including cropped releases of the Miramax edits, upscaled SD masters, and 1080p Blu-rays that looked better but had fans just accepting a certain degree of roughness due to the breakneck pace of Hong Kong filmmaking (even though Chan's films had far more extensive schedules than some of his contemporaries), but 88 Films' 4K restorations far more effectively convey just how much bigger and grander these films were meant to be compared to his earlier Lo Wei productions. 

Arrow's J-Horror Rising set of seven post-Ringu Japanese horror films offered the best-looking and sounding presentations of these films while also outfitted with extras that provided insight into both the "formula" of audience-pleasing J-horror films and the need to continually experiment along with the ambitions of some of the filmmakers, some of whom stayed with the genre and others who moved beyond. Fans of the set should check out Arrow's recent release of Tomie along with their earlier releases of the Ringu Collection (and Ringu 4K), One Missed Call, as well as the Ju-on set, while fans of those films should check out this set. 

88 Films' Pete Walker set collected his horror filmography in a combination of new transfers and re-graded ones along with plenty of archival extras and new ones that may have you changing your opinions about some of the "lesser" films. 

Altered Innocence's Ozon set rescued three of the director's less-mainstream, more daring works from the DVD oblivion of their original U.S. distributors. 

Overshadowed by Severin's bookending mammoth Black Emanuelle box set and their second folk horror set – along with the Christmastime announcement of Russ Meyer's films finally getting remastered in any format after years as tape-sourced DVDs was Severin's second and third Danza Macabra volumes, the former giving us a 4K edition of Castle of Blood and a Blu-ray of the wonderfully experimental vampire film They've Changed Their Face while the latter gave us new transfers of Necrophagus – a film that once seemed fated to only exist on DVD in its U.S. version Graveyard of Horror – and three gorgeous HD transfers of Night of the Walking Dead, Cross of the Devil, and Cake of Blood which were heretofore only accessible on the gray market in dark, chalky TV recordings and VHS sources. 

Shawscope Volume 3 brought us a 4K restoration of The One Armed Swordsman along with 2K restorations of Killer Constable and Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan and eleven other lesser-known Shaw Brothers films, encompassing Chang Cheh's films that got the new wave wuxia genre off the ground as well as some of the major works of the no-less-talented by lesser-known Chor Yuen and some other surprises. 

Forgotten Gialli: Volume Seven is the more uneven of the two "Forgotten Gialli" sets issued this year by Vinegar Syndrome but it has gorgeous restoration of Obsession: A Taste for Fear, a futuristic giallo long available in cropped, fuzzy video transfers (the one letterboxed transfer just matted off the fullscreen crop even though the film was shot in anamorphic Panavision), and Sweets from a Stranger was a sleeper surprise. 

Daiei Gothic's selection of ghost stories provided an overview of some of the major monster and ghost types of Japanese folklore, as proven by the fact that all three of the films have analogues in the anthology Kwaidan (notably the life-draining Snow Woman). 

We did not have time to cover the Buñuel set due to the server issue backlog but the review is coming and this region free British set is the one to go for.

31 December 2024

Arrow Video strikes back with SHAWSCOPE VOLUME 3 (review)

From Shaw Brothers who brought the wuxia genre back to Hong Kong and Chinese screens are a selection of fourteen major and rare titles from their library including the ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN trilogy, THE LADY HERMIT, INTIMATE CONFESSIONS OF A CHINESE COURTESAN, THE 14 AMAZONS, KILLER CONSTABLE, and more along with commentaries, interviews, and even alternate versions.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Video (US/UK) Region A/B Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

SHAWSCOPE VOLUME 3 Blu-ray specs:

  • Disc One - The One Armed Swordsman:
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen 
    • Mandarin and English LPCM 1.0 
    • Optional English (for Mandarin) and English SDH (for English dub) Subtitles 
    • Audio Commentary by David West, author of "Chasing Dragons: An Introduction to the Martial Arts Film" 
    • Appreciation by film critic and historian Tony Rayns 
    • "One Armed Superstar" interview with actor Wang Yu 
    • "Chiao Chiao: A Shaw Career" interview with actress Chiao Chiao 
    • "Ku Feng on Chang Cheh" interview with actor Ku Feng 
    • "Sam Ho on Chang Cheh" appreciation of director Chang Cheh's work by film historian Sam Ho 
    • "Daniel Lee on ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN" 2004 interview with Daniel Lee, director of the remake "What Price Survival" 
    • "One-Armed Side Hustles" video essay by film historian Brandon Bentley on actor Wang Yu 
    • Trailer Gallery: 
      • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin) 
      • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (English) 
      • Chang Cheh Trailer Reel
  • Disc Two:
    • Return of the One Armed Swordsman: 
      • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen 
      • Mandarin and English LPCM 1.0 Mono 
      • Optional English (for Mandarin) and English SDH (for English) Subtitles 
      • Audio Commentary by critic Samm Deighan 
      • Theatrical Trailers: 
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin) 
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (English) 
    • The New One Armed Swordsman: 
      • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen 
      • Mandarin and English LPCM 1.0 Mono 
      • Optional English (for Mandarin) and English SDH (for English) Subtitles 
      • Audio Commentary by martial arts cinema expert Brian Bankston 
      • Theatrical Trailers: 
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin) 
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (English) 
        • German Theatrical Trailer 
        • "Triple Irons" U.S. Theatrical Trailer 
        • "Triple Irons" U.S. TV Spots
  • Disc Three:
    • The Lady Hermit: 
      • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen 
      • Mandarin and English LPCM 1.0 Mono 
      • Optional English (for Mandarin) and English SDH (for English) Subtitles 
      • Audio Commentary by critic James Mudge
      • Theatrical Trailers:
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin)
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (English)
    • Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan:
      • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen 
      • Mandarin and English LPCM 1.0 Mono 
      • Optional English (for Mandarin) and English SDH (for English) Subtitles 
      • Audio Commentary by film critic and historian Tony Rayns 
      • Audio Commentary by critic Samm Deighan 
      • Alternate English Export Credits 
      • Theatrical Trailers: 
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin) 
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (English)
  • Disc Four - 14 Amazons:
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen 
    • Mandarin and English LPCM 1.0 Mono 
    • Optional English (for Mandarin) and English SDH (for English) Subtitles 
    • Audio Commentary by Jonathan Clements, author of "A Brief History of China" 
    • Interview with stuntwoman Sharon Yeung 
    • Interview with film historian Bede Chang 
    • Interview with film critic Law Kar 
    • Theatrical Trailers: 
      • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin #1) 
      • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin #2) 
      • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (English)
  • Disc Five:
    • The Magic Blade: 
      • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen 
      • Mandarin and English LPCM 1.0 Mono 
      • Optional English (for Mandarin) and English SDH (for English) Subtitles 
      • Audio Commentary by critic Samm Deighan 
      • Theatrical Trailers: 
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin) 
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (English) 
    • Clans of Intrigue: 
      • Theatrical Version: 
        • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen 
        • Mandarin and Cantonese LPCM 1.0 Mono 
        • Optional English (for Mandarin) and English (for Cantonese) Subtitles 
        • Audio Commentary by critic James Mudge 
      • Uncensored Version: 
        • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen 
        • Mandarin and Cantonese LPCM 1.0 Mono 
        • Optional English (for Mandarin) and English (for Cantonese) Subtitles 
      • Theatrical Trailers: 
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin #1) 
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin #2) 
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (Cantonese)
  • Disc Six:
    • Jade Tiger: 
      • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen 
      • Mandarin LPCM 1.0 Mono 
      • Optional English Subtitles 
      • Audio Commentary by critic Ian Jane 
      • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer 
    • The Sentimental Swordsman: 
      • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen 
      • Mandarin and Cantonese LPCM 1.0 Mono 
      • Optional English (for Mandarin) and English (for Cantonese) Subtitles 
      • Audio Commentary by David West, author of "Chasing Dragons: An Introduction to the Martial Arts Film" 
      • Theatrical Trailers: 
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin #1) 
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin #2) 
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (Cantonese)
  • Disc Seven:
    • Avenging Eagle:
      • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen 
      • Mandarin, Cantonese, and English LPCM 1.0 Mono 
      • Optional English (for Mandarin), English (for Cantonese), and English SDH (for English) Subtitles 
      • Audio Commentary by martial arts cinema expert Frank Djeng 
      • Alternate English Export Credits 
      • Theatrical Trailers: 
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (Cantonese) 
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (English #1) 
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (English #2)
    • Killer Constable: 
      • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen 
      • Mandarin and English LPCM 1.0 Mono 
      • Optional English (for Mandarin) and English SDH (for English) Subtitles 
      • Audio Commentary by film critic and historian Tony Rayns 
      • Audio Commentary by martial arts cinema expert Frank Djeng 
      • Audio Commentary by martial arts cinema expert Brian Bankston 
      • Additional and Alternate Scenes from the South Korean Version 
      • Alternate "Lightning Kung Fu" English Credits 
      • Theatrical Trailers: 
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin #1) 
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin #2) 
        • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer (English)
  • Disc Eight:
    • Buddha's Palm: 
      • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen 
      • Mandarin, Cantonese, and English LPCM 1.0 Mono 
      • Optional English (for Mandarin), English (for Cantonese), and English SDH (for English) Subtitles 
      • Audio Commentary by critic and translator Dylan Cheung 
      • Alternate "Raiders of the Magic Palm" English Credits 
      • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer 
    • Bastard Swordsman: 
      • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen 
      • Mandarin LPCM 1.0 Mono 
      • Optional English Subtitles 
      • Audio Commentary by martial arts cinema expert Frank Djeng 
      • Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer
  • Disc Nine - Bonus Content:
    • Killer Constable - South Korean Version: 
      • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen (with standard definition inserts) 
      • Korean LPCM 1.0 Mono 
      • Optional English Subtitles 
    • Appreciation of director Chor Yuen by film critic and historian Tony Rayns 
    • Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan: 
      • "Confessions of a Stunt Woman" interview with stunt woman Sharon Yeung 
      • "Theories on Intimate Confessions" appreciation by academic Sze Man-hung, musician Kwan King-chung, and filmmaker Clarence Fok 
    • Magic Blade: 
      • Audio interview with actor Ti Lung 
      • Interview with director Chor Yuen 
      • Interview with actor Yuen Wah 
      • Interview with actor Li Ching 
      • "Sam Ho on Chor Yuen" appreciation by film historian Sam Ho 
      • "The Scriptwriter" interview with screenwriter Sze-to
    • Avenging Eagle: 
      • "The Eagle Chief" interview with actor Ku Feng 
      • "The Blue Eagle" interview with actor Eddy Ko
  • Disc Ten - CD Soundtrack:
    • Thirty-five tracks from the De Wolfe Music Library (79 minutes)
  • Housed in a digibook in a slipcase with an illustrated 60-page collectors' booklet featuring new writing by David West, Jonathan Clements and Dylan Cheung, plus cast and crew listings and notes on each film by Ian Jane.

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23 December 2024

Second Run grants THREE WISHES FOR CINDERELLA (review)

A Czech/East German co-production based on the Czech version of "Cinderella" with feminist undertones THREE WISHES FOR CINDERELLA remains a Christmas favorite throughout Europe.

REVIEW LINK: Second Run (UK) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

THREE WISHES FOR CINDERELLA Blu-ray specs:

  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
  • Czech LPCM 2.0 Mono
  • Optional English Subtitles
  • An Appreciation by film historian Michael Brooke
  • "Popelka" 1929 Silent Film Adaptation
  • "Střevíček" 1937 Animated Film
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Restoration Trailer
  • Comes with a booklet by Video Watchdog's Tim Lucas
     

Acorn Media investigates THE BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES: SERIES 10 (review)

Quirky city detective Mike Shepard and his local team Kristen Sims, Daniel Chalmers, and coroner Gina investigate bizarre murders in the New Zealand backwoods town of Brokenwood.

REVIEW LINK: Acorn Media (UK) Region 0 PAL DVD (DVDCompare)

THE BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES: SERIES 10 DVD specs:

  • Six feature-length episodes on three dual-layer DVDs
  • 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 Widescreen (PAL)
  • English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
  • Optional English HoH Subtitles
  • The Making of Series 10