Second Run resurrects a GOLEM (review)

A man discovers in the course of a police interrogation that he is missing all but his most recent memories in this Polish quasi-science fiction thriller based on a pre-Kafka occult novel by Gustav Meyrink directed by Piotr Szulkin.

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

GOLEM Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 Widescreen
• Polish LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historian Michael Brooke 
• Short Films: 
• "One, Two, Three [Raz, dwa, trzy]" (1972) 
• "Everything [Wszystko]" (1972) 
• "A Sketch in Six Parts [Szkic do sześclu części]" (1973) 
• "Copyright Film Polski MCMLXXVI" (1976) 
• Annotated Script/Storyboard 
• Comes with a 20-page booklet featuring essays by Tomasz Kolankiewicz and Michał Oleszczyk.
  

Second Run chases FUGITIVE IMAGES: SELECTED WORKS BY ANDREA LUKA ZIMMERMAN (review)

"A selection of vital works from filmmaker, artist and cultural activist Andrea Luka Zimmerman, the first director to be shortlisted for both the Grierson and Jarman Awards. Situated between documentary and fiction, these films challenge political and structural injustice, working with marginal communities to assert our shared humanity."

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

FUGITIVE IMAGES: SELECTED WORKS BY ANDREA LUKA ZIMMERMAN Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One:
• Taskafa: Stories from the Street (2013): 
• 1080p24 AVC MPEG-4 1.78:1 Widescreen 
• English/Turkish LPCM 2.0 Stereo 
• English Subtitles 
• Trailer 
• Estate, a Reverie (2015): 
• 1080p24 AVC MPEG-4 1.78:1 Widescreen 
• English LPCM 2.0 Stereo 
• Trailer 
• Short Films: 
• "I am Here" 
• "More Utopias Now!" 
• "Birdboy and the General" 
• "Shelter in Place" 
• "Civll Rites" 
• "Art Class" (2020) 
• Trailer 
• "Merzschmerz – Four Short Films": 
• "Lucky Hans" 
• "A Good Man" 
• "The Flying Fish" 
• "Once Upon a Time There Was a Tiny Mouse" 
• Appreciation by Penny Woodcock
• Disc Two:
• Erase and Forget (2017): 
• 1080p24 AVC MPEG-4 1.78:1 Widescreen 
• English LPCM 2.0 Stereo 
• Trailer 
• Here for Life (2019): 
• 1080p24 AVC MPEG-4 1.78:1 Widescreen 
• English LPCM 2.0 Stereo 
• Teaser and Trailer 
• Behind the Scenes 
• Songs: 
• "Wayfaring Stranger" by Fern Maddie 
• "Gelem Gelem" by Balamuc 
• "Sounding the Voices" sound work by Andrea Luka Zimmerman 
• Appreciation by Gareth Evans
• Comes with a 48-page booklet.

88 Films gets a slick FULL BODY MASSAGE (review)

When her regular masseur cancels, a successful art dealer spends a challenging evening with a replacement whose focus on spiritual healing spurs erotic intimacy in Nicolas Roeg's Showtime TV movie starring Mimi Rogers and Bryan Brown.

REVIEW LINK: 88 Films (UK) Region B Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

FULL BODY MASSAGE Blu-ray specs: 

• Theatrical Version:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 Widesreen
• English LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English SDH Subtitles
• TV Version:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen (upscaled from standard definition)
• English DTS 2.0 Stereo
• "Painting by Numbers: Gareth Williams on FULL BODY MASSAGE" actor interview
• Theatrical Trailer
• Comes with a reversible sleeve with new artwork by Hannah Gillingham.
  

Eureka's Masters of Cinema visits SIRK IN GERMANY 1934-1935 (review)

Before Douglas Sirk became Hollywood's King of Melodramas, he worked in a variety of genres in his native Germany but always with an eye towards biting social commentary about life under the Nazis.  In the comedy APRIL, APRIL! a pompous man and his socialite wife scramble to save face after they have been the victims of a prank.  In THE GIRL FROM THE MARSH CROFT, an unwed mother endures public shame as she attempts to live honorably in a repressive society.  In PILLARS OF SOCIETY, a man returns to his Norwegian home after twenty years and discovers that he has been scapegoated by his corrupt brother-in-law.

REVIEW LINK: Eureka Video (UK) Region B Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

SIRK IN GERMANY 1934-1935 Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.19:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen Transfers of APRIL, APRIL!, THE GIRL FROM THE MARSH CROFT, and PILLARS OF SOCIETY
• German LPCM 2.0 Mono Audio
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentaries on all three films by Douglas Sirk expert David Melville Wingrove
• Shorts: 
• Zwei Windhunde (Two Greyhounds) (1934) 
• Dreimal Ehe (Three Times Before) (1935) in two versions 
• Der eingebildete Kranke (The Imaginary Invalid) 
• "Magnificent Obsessions" 2025 interview with film historian Sheldon Hall
• Limited to 2,000 copies. 
• Comes with an O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Scott Saslow and a collector’s booklet featuring a new extended essay on Sirk’s early works by German cinema expert Tim Bergfelder.
  

Altered Innocence casts its gaze on LE BEAU MEC (review)

Wallace Potts, the lover of ballet dancer Rudolph Nureyev, made a cinematic study of hustler/model/porn star Karl Forest where the lines between the subject's real life and the filmmakers fantasies become blurred.

REVIEW LINK: Altered Innocence (US) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

LE BEAU MEC Blu-ray specs: 

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• English/French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historian Elizabeth Purchell and filmmaker Adam Baran 
• François About talks about "Le beau mec" with historian Hervé Joseph Lebrun 
• Print Materials & Original Photos Gallery 
• Newly-created Trailer Trailers 
• Comes with a reversible cover and a 12-page booklet by film critic Caden Mark Gardner.
  

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Arrow Video learns to PLAY IT COOL with an "electric jellyfish" (review)

When her mother goes to prison for stabbing her rapist, young Yumi has nowhere to go but to become a hostess at a nightclub where she is further victimized by client and gangsters.  She uses her poker skills to keep from surrendering her body but falling in love complicates her goals in this melodrama from the director of IREZUMI and BLIND BEAST.

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

PLAY IT COOL Blu-ray specs: 

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.42:1 Widescreen
• Japanese LPCM 1.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by critic and Japanese cinema specialist Jasper Sharp and professor and Japanese literature specialist Anne McKnight
• "Too Cool for School" video essay by Japanese film scholar Mark Roberts
• Theatrical Trailer 
• Image Gallery
• Comes with a slipcover, a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella, and an illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Earl Jackson.
  

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Arrow Video gives communion to ALICE, SWEET ALICE (review)

When young Karen Spages is murdered on the day of her first communion, suspicion turns towards her older sister Alice who plays cruel pranks on people and wanders her apartment building in a monster mask.  As more murders occur, Alice swears the killer is the ghost of her sister.  Is she crazy or is there something more sinister stalking her family?

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Video (US) Region ALL 4K UltraHD (DVDCompare)

ALICE, SWEET ALICE 4K UltraHD specs:

• Three Versions:
• Original "Communion" Version with additional gore
• "Alice, Sweet Alice" Theatrical Version
• "Holy Terror" Reissue Version
• 2160p24 HEVC 1.85:1 Widescreen (Dolby Vision)
• English LPCM 1.0 Mono
• Optional English SDH Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director Alfred Sole and editor Edward Salier, moderated by William Lustig  
• Audio Commentary by film historian Richard Harland Smith 
• "First Communion" interview with director Alfred Sole 
• "Alice on My Mind" interview with composer Stephen Lawrence 
• "In the Name of the Father" interview with actor Niles McMaster 
• "Lost Childhood: The Locations of Alice, Sweet Alice" tour of the original shooting locations by author Michael Gingold 
• "Sweet Memories" interview with filmmaker Dante Tomaselli, cousin of Alfred Sole 
• Deleted Scenes 
• Split-screen Version Comparison 
• "Holy Terror" Re-release Theatrical Trailer 
• U.K. "Communion" TV Spot 
• Image Gallery 
• Screenplay Gallery 
• Comes in a slipcover with a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx, and an illustrated collectors booklet featuring new writing on the film by Michael Blyth.
  

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