Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF December 5th, 2016

Bonghjornu! A full week with Blu-ray reviews/comparisons via Arrow, Twilight Time, Shout! Factory, Cohen Media, Magnolia, Eureka... of films by Richard Fleischer, John Huston, Robert Wise, Paul Mazursky, Abel Ferrara, Bob Clark, Catherine Hardwicke etc.. Our Calendar has new listings including films by Woody Allen, John Ford, Víctor Erice, Fred Zinnemann, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, , Charlie Chaplin, Charles Vidor, Marcel Camus, Howard Hawks, Roman Polanski, Aleksandr Sokurov, Sergio Corbucci, Antonio Margheriti, Lucio Fulci, Roger Corman, Andrei Konchalovsky, Gus Van Sant and more. Feature Blu-ray and DVD is posted for DECEMBER. We have a CONTEST posted with a brand new Indicator Blu-ray prize. Enjoy!!

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Feature Blu-ray and DVD chosen for the Month of DECEMBER!

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(Week of) December 5th CONTEST  identify the clip HERE to win a Brand New prize of Indicator's Region FREE Blu-ray of To Sir, With Love Best of luck!

If there are DVD or Blu-ray titles you'd like us to cover - please feel free to recommend!

Gary at 2ze dot com

Dreamscape BD - Alex Gardner (Dennis Quaid) is a man with an incredible psychic gift… but for years has used it solely for personal gain. Reuniting with his old mentor, Dr. Novotny (Max von Sydow), Gardner joins a government project in which he learns to channel his abilities in order to enter peoples' subconscious through their dreams. As his powers grow, the young psychic soon finds himself in a living nightmare of conspiracy and murder… and the only way out is to go back in. Blu-ray Release date: December 13th, 2016

Lords of Dogtown BD - Director Catherine Hardwicke followed up her highly acclaimed debut Thirteen with this exhilarating drama about the origin of extreme sports culture, and the devastating effects it has on the lives of those who created it. After a severe drought empties Southern California s swimming pools, Z-Boys Tony (Victor Rasuk), Stacy (John Robinson) and Jay (Emile Hirsch) move in with their boards and develop an entirely new style of skateboarding, heavily influenced by their surfing background. After winning numerous competitions, skateboarding and the Z-Boys both become a worldwide phenomenon, but this newfound success shreds their friendship. Blu-ray Release date: December 5th, 2016

In Order of Disappearance BD - When a father (Stellan Skarsgård), uncovers his son's murderer, he begins to unravel. Once an upstanding citizen, Nils embarks on a blood-thirsty quest for revenge that escalates into a full-blown international gang war. With darkly funny humor reminiscent of Tarantino and The Coen Brothers, Nils finds himself caught up in a world not his own surrounded by drug traffickers, con artists and kingpins, in order to bring his son's murderers to justice. Blu-ray Release date: December 6th, 2016

Black Christmas (1974) BD - This truly is a classic horror film that acts as a bridge of sorts between the horror movies of old and what was to come in the more modern ones. It is a throwback in that it never reveals many things, such as the killer’s past, their motives, or even shows the killings themselves. It’s all left to you to decipher. But while its means are of the old school, the story is all too modern – a male killer stalking young women, a loved holiday turned violent, and a heroine who must overcome her own fear to survive a madman who seems inhuman. Director Bob Clark creates a feeling of dread that begins as soon as you see the killer ascend the trellis and that lasts well past the film has ended. Shout! Factory Blu-ray Release Date: December 5th, 2016

The Driller Killer BD - The Driller Killer, though, is darkly fascinating, as much a document of the late-'70s New York punk and pop-art scenes as it is a grindhouse plugger. Ferrara himself stars as a misanthropic painter who lets his frustration with insensitive art dealers and obnoxious neighbors push him over the edge, into homicide by power drill. Ferrara based his character on a bum-hating friend of his, and shot the film over the course of two years, partly as a joke and partly as an attempt to cash in on gore-mania. But his fascination with New York subcultures overtook the project, leading him to spend half the picture hanging out with fringe-dwellers before finally getting around to offing them. It's not an auspicious debut, but The Driller Killer is clearly the work of a one-of-a-kind maverick. Arrow Blu-ray Release Date: December 13th, 2016

Creepshow 2 BD - This second horror anthology presents more eerie tales based on Stephen King stories. One episode finds a cigar-store Native American statue coming to life to avenge the death of the shop owner (George Kennedy) and his wife (Dorothy Lamour). Another features a group of teens menaced by a blob-like creature. The final installment follows a wealthy and callous woman (Lois Chiles) who hits a hitchhiker with her car and decides to flee the scene, but the victim isn't inclined to remain dead. Arrow Blu-ray Release Date: December 13th, 2016

C.H.U.D. BD - In downtown Manhattan, a police captain s hunt for his missing wife leads to the discovery of a series of mysterious disappearances in the area. Extending his search into the tunnels and sewers below the city streets, it soon becomes clear that something monstrous is lurking in that subterranean world and it won t stay there much longer... Blu-ray Release Date: November 22nd, 2016

Sudden Fear BD - Gargoyle thriller from 1952, with Joan Crawford (in her high garish period) as an heiress who discovers her husband (Jack Palance, the perfect iconic match) is planning to kill her. The film was a product of RKO desperation and didn't do especially well on first release; its anomalous success as a revival (in 1987, in 35-millimeter restoration) seemed largely a matter of fidelity to archetype (as a clear-lined suspenser) and kitschy iconographic tastes, though Charles Lang's glossily noirish cinematography may have had something to do with it, too. Blu-ray Release Date: December 13th, 2016

Cohen and Tate BD - Eric Red, scriptwriter of The Hitcher, turns his hand to writing and directing for this suspenseful low-budget thriller. Both films revolve around the theme of innocent captured by raving sadist. Travis (Cross) is a nine-year-old boy who has witnessed an underworld killing. Cohen (Scheider) and Tate (Baldwin) are professional killers who must kidnap the boy and transport him from Oklahoma to their bosses in Houston. The nightmarish journey takes place at night, with the jaded taciturn Cohen increasingly angered by the lunatic ramblings of his violent sidekick. Added to this is their young hostage, who sets the men up against each other, and concocts various escape plans. Red does wonders with a simple budget and scenario; the sparsity of props and dialogue enhances the often brutal tension, while balance is struck with hefty doses of black humour. Blu-ray Release date: December 5th, 2016

Moscow on the Hudson BD - When Russian saxophone player Vladimir (Williams) visits NY, his experiences back home lead him to defect, leaving family, friends and a familiar culture for the pursuit of pleasure and freedom. But after the initial delirium, he finds that the Big Apple is rife with poverty, racism, unemployment, and mugging. Mazursky's comedy may not exactly be politically profound, with its suggestion that freedom and happiness are relative concepts. But where it scores so highly is not only in its ability to evoke Vladimir's astonishment at the bizarre, sometimes brutal texture of New York life, but also in the generosity it extends to the musician's sad predicament. Twilight Time Blu-ray Release Date: November, 2016

The Guyver BD - Having been smuggled out of the mysterious Chronos Corporation by one of its researchers, a bio-weapon known as the Guyver unit which transforms its holder into a lethal super-being ends up in the hands of Sean, a young martial arts student. Sean soon finds himself in the sights of the Chronos Corporation and its mutant henchmen, who'll stop at nothing to retrieve the weapon. Blu-ray Release date: December 19th, 2016

Gran Bollito BD - Mauro Bolognini, that master of Italian costume and period dramas, gives us a peculiar slice of Grand Guignol with Gran Bollito (Black Journal, 1977). The film stars Shelley Winters as a mother so insanely over-protective of her grown son that she decides to make a deal with death by offering alternate victims, plucked from among her fellow tenants in a 1938 Italian apartment building; among these are several men playing women, including the one and only Max Von Sydow. Laura Antonelli and Rita Tushingham also star. Twilight Time Blu-ray Release Date: November, 2016

I Want To Live! BD - One of the great anti-capital punishment movies, this is based on the life and death of Barbara Graham. At one time or another, Graham was convicted of prostitution, perjury, forgery, and finally murder. Basing their screenplay on contemporary newspaper files and her own letters, Nelson Gidding and Don Mankiewicz make no bones about Graham's anti-social tendencies, but conclude that she was probably innocent of the last charge. Wise paces the film so that the last half-hour, taking us into the gas chamber, is incredibly powerful, and Hayward won an Oscar for her unforgettable performance. The jazz score is by Johnny Mandel. Twilight Time Blu-ray Release Date: November, 2016

Moby Dick BD - The legendary writer-director John Huston adapts Herman Melville’s great American novel, Moby Dick (1956), with the assistance of another legend, co-screenwriter Ray Bradbury. Everyone is familiar with the story about the obsessive Captain Ahab (Gregory Peck), determined to hunt down at whatever cost the titular Great White Whale, a potent symbol for all the unstoppable evil in the world. Featuring extraordinary supporting performances from Richard Basehart, Leo Genn, Orson Welles, and Friedrich von Ledebur; and sterling cinematography from Oswald Morris. Twilight Time Blu-ray Release Date: November, 2016

Pretty Poison BD - A one-off minor masterpiece from debut director Black, Pretty Poison stars Perkins as the factory worker and part-time arsonist, who gets more then he bargained for when he teams up with impressionable teenager Weld. Giving new meanings to the phrase quiet waters run deep, Perkins with his psychological problems is no match for Weld's murderous intent. While Perkins initially manages to teach her a trick or two, the roles are soon reversed. Impressively dark comedy, especially noteworthy for Perkins' performance. Black's direction manages to get the most out of the tight script, by regarding his characters with a mixture of horror and fascination. Twilight Time Blu-ray Release Date: November, 2016

The Boston Strangler BD - Why did 13 women open their doors to the Boston Strangler? That's the question Richard Fleischer sets out to answer in this, the first of his genre-redefining serial killer films. Of course, there may actually have been more than 13 women and it's by no means certain that the man to whom the crimes are herein ascribed actually killed anybody, but that doesn't much matter because what Fleischer gets is underneath the skin of Boston itself, whereupon his questions become much more challenging. Twilight Time Blu-ray Release Date: November, 2016

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