BFI to release Roman Polanski's Tess (1979) on DVD & Blu-ray This March

On 18 March the BFI will release Tess, the triple Oscar-winning 1979 adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s novel, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, directed by Roman Polanski (Chinatown, The Pianist). This beautiful-looking film, mastered from a stunning 4K ultra high resolution digital restoration, is presented in a Dual Format Edition, bringing it to Blu-ray for the first time in the UK. Special features include three documentaries covering the adaptation, the technical challenges and the filming experience.

Nastassia Kinski (Cat People, Paris, Texas) gives a career-defining performance as the ill-fated peasant girl of noble origin, whose beauty is both her fortune and her undoing and has strong support from Peter Firth (Equus, The Hunt for Red October, Spooks) and Leigh Lawson (Being Julia, Casanova, Silent Witness).

Reportedly the most expensive film ever made in France at the time, both the long shoot and post-production work had their problems. Original cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth died suddenly during filming and was replaced by Ghislain Cloquet. The Wessex setting needed to be authentically recreated in France, right down to a replica Stonehenge. The film was the first in France to use Dolby Stereo and with an initial cut of over three hours, months more work was needed to reduce it by 20 minutes.

The film went on to win Oscars for Art Direction, Cinematography and Costume Design, the latter won by Anthony Powell, whose original designs are seen here in a short film, a BAFTA for Cinematography and a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film.

Hardy’s enduring 1891 novel continues to sell strongly and last year booksellers reported a huge spike in sales after its appearance and significance in the 4 million-selling erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey.

Special Features:
• New 4K digital restoration
• Presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
• Tess: From Novel to Screen (Laurent Bouzereau, 2004, 29 minutes, DVD only): Polanski on the adaptation of Hardy's classic novel with contributions from Hardy scholars and cast and crew
• Filming Tess (Laurent Bouzereau, 2004, 26 mins, DVD only): cast and crew discuss the technical challenges they faced
• Tess: The Experience (Laurent Bouzereau, 2004, 20 mins, DVD only): those who worked on Tess discuss their experiences
• Costume Designs (2013, 2 mins): Anthony Powell's award-winning designs
• Original theatrical trailer
• Illustrated booklet with essays and credits

Pre-order / Buy:Tess (DVD & Blu-ray) [1979]

Monster Pictures Bringing Us Irish Horror The Inside This March

Press Release:

MONSTER PICTURES present THE INSIDE, a hard, violent, visceral psychological horror featuring award winning Hollyoaks star Emmett Scanlan as you’ve never seen him before in Eoin Macken’s (BBC TV’s Merlin) most accomplished feature to date, released on DVD on 25 March 2013.

You’ve seen him as Sir Gwaine in the BBC’s TV series Merlin, now Eoin Macken steps behind the camera to direct The Inside, featuring Czech starlet Tereza Srbova (Sirens, Eastern Promises) alongside the cream of Irish acting talent that includes Emmett J. Scanlan(fan favourite Brendan Brady in Hollyoaks, Charlie Casanova), Sean Stewart (Occi, Coward), Natalia Kostrzewa (The Clinic) & Brian Fortune (Game of Thrones). 

While in a pawnshop a young man comes into possession of a second hand video camera; discovering a tape still inside he plays backthe footage and witnesses a horrific series of events involving a group of teens in an undisclosed location. Using the footage as a guide he retraces the steps to where the events seemingly occurred. Deciding to investigate he discovers to his horror not only the truth of theevents on the tape but comes face to face with a supernatural terror from which he may not escape....

The Inside is a hard, violent, visceral psychological horror, which gets into your belly, and leaves an unnerving disturbed feeling after watching it.  Shot mostly in alarming first person perspective this evocatively realistic story of five girls breaking into an abandoned warehouse for excitement -  then finding themselves subject to a terrifying human attack before succumbing to a supernatural terror -  will leave you shaking with fear!  The film shows the worst side of humanity and contrasts it with the horror of the supernatural, which has no compunction between good and evil.  But what is worse - the fear of the unknown, or the known fear of man?  Shot and directed by Eoin C Macken, with additional cinematography by David Laird, and also featuring Eoin Macken, with sound by Greg French of Irish band TheBrilliant Things and a chilling score from Kevin Whyms of Whymsonics, The Inside will re-invigorate the Irish horror genre.

Monster Pictures presents...The Inside, available on DVD from 25 March 2013

EXTRAS

· Exclusive feature length picture in picture commentary with Director Eoin Macken

· Trailers 

· ‘Making of’ Documentary

Pre-Order: INSIDE, THE (Monster Pictures) (DVD)

"Like [REC], The Inside is one of the most terrifying reality footage films ever" - Scream: The Horror Magazine

"Visceral and violent... impressively disturbing" - Screen International

"Will leave you shaking with fear" - Horrorbug

Die Laughing This March With Home Release Of Stitches Starring Ross Noble

STITCHES, starring funny man ROSS NOBLE, and directed by CONOR MCMAHON (Dead Meat) is the black-comedy horror that has become one of the most talked about films of 2012.

The film received its World Premiere at 2012’s Frightfest, winning TOTAL FILM’s “Best Death” award. See why when the DVD & Blu-ray hit shelves on 4th March 2013.

Synopsis:Jaded Richard Grindle is the sleaziest clown working the children’s party circuit in Ireland. Arriving late to one birthday, his timing is off, the bratty kids a nightmare and a prank goes horribly wrong - he falls on a kitchen knife and goes to that Big Top in the sky. Years later the same nasty kids attend another more grown up bash. Little do they know, thanks to a black magic clown cult, Stitches will be the uninvited guest of honour seeking revenge on those responsible for his untimely death.

“HORRIBLY FUNNY” – Ali Catterall, Q

Laughs and gore combine in this twisted tale which also sees some fantastic performances from its young and upcoming cast that includes; TOMMY KNIGHT (Doctor Who) and GEMMA-LEAH DEVEREUX (The Tudors).

Pre-Order Stitches on Blu-Ray or DVD

Stitches will be Released on DVD& Blu-Ray 4th March.

Yueng Sang-Ho's 'The King of Pigs To Get Theatrical Release 25 January

Terracotta Distribution have announced the UK release details of THE KING OF PIGS’ (Dwae-ji-ui wang) is an ultra-violent Korean animation set in a high-school world in which rich "dogs" rule over the "pigs".

The film is directed by Yeun Sang-ho and stars the voices of familiar Korean actors, Yang Ik-june and Kim Kkobbi from the internationally acclaimed ‘BREATHLESS’(released by Terracotta Distribution in 2009).
A festival favourite, this feature animation (aka Manwha) premiered at the 2011 Busan International Film Festival and has since played in various international festivals including the Director’s Fortnight 2012 making it the first animated Korean film to screen at the Festival de Cannes.

‘THE KING OF PIGS’ will be released theatrically in UK from 25th January followed by DVD in March 2013.

.After murdering his wife, a businessman on the verge of bankruptcy, Hwang Kyung-min, finds an old classmate, Jung Jong-suk whom he hasn't seen for fifteen years. During a reunion dinner they look back on their school days, hiding their present situations.Back then there were class distinctions among the pupils. The elite students - 'The Dogs’ - rich, successful and particularly cruel, exercised a reign of terror over the weaker, poorer students - 'The Pigs'.
Jong-suk and Kyung-min were powerless against the ‘dogs’. When Kim Chul, one of their fellow pigs, stood up, he fast became their last hope to end the circle of fear.Fifteen years later, Chul remains a hero. But behind his figure, the two men recall the murky story of their bond and return to the site where the most shocking truth of what happened there is finally revealed.

The King Of Pigs Also had a a decent run on the festival circuit including London Korean, Edinburgh, Fantasia as well as been officially selected for Cannes 2012 directors fortnight which is quite an achievement for an animation and a sign of the quality of the film too..

Before It's March DVD Release King Of The Pigs will have an limited theatrical release in UK on 25th January with Watershed Bristol, Showroom Sheffield and Komedia in Brighton already confirmed to show the film along a screening at next month's Dublin International film festival. More dates to be announced and you can keep track of those dates by checking out Terracotta Distribution's official website

Brandon Croneberg's Antiviral Coming To UK In February

Inject some celebrity into your life and take a magnified look at our public obsession with celebrity culture as ANTIVIRAL is released at select cinemas on 8 February and on DVD and digital download from 11 February 2013.

ANTIVIRAL marks the directorial debut of Brandon Cronenberg, son of legendary filmmaker David Cronenberg and features two hot rising stars in Caleb Landry Jones (X-Men: First Class, Contraband), and Sarah Gadon (Cosmopolis, A Dangerous Method) alongside veteran of the screen, Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange, The Artist).

Having received positive reactions at Cannes, Toronto International and the London Film Festivals, ANTIVIRAL has steadily been infecting the minds of ‘Bodyshock’ fans.  Prepare to be shocked by one of the most eye-opening and thought provoking films of the year.  Syd March (Landry Jones) is an employee at The Lucas Clinic – a company that sells injections of live viruses harvested from sick celebrities to fans who wish to fulfil their obsessive desire for real intimacy with their idols. As well as working for them, Syd also supplements his income by smuggling viruses out of the clinic in his own body in order to sell them on the black market. Constantly ill and losing his edge, Syd becomes careless and infects himself with an unusual virus carried by superstar Hannah Geist (Gadon).

When the news breaks that Hannah has died, Syd realises that the virus running rampant in his system will soon kill him too. Hallucinating and struggling to remain in control, Syd must race to solve the mystery surrounding Hannah’s death if he has any hopes to avoid suffering the same fate.

As a first year film student Brandon Cronenberg developed a serious case of the flu. The illness proved to be the perfect Petri dish for the incubation of ANTIVIRAL. “During a feverish dream, I became obsessed with the physicality of illness, by the fact that what was infecting my body and my cells had come from someone else,” the director recalls. “It’s a weirdly intimate connection. I began to understand how someone like an ardent fan, might see this kind of connection to the object of their fascination as desirable. The intimacy of that link seemed like a good platform to explore celebrity obsession”.

Experience bodyshock at its finest when ANTIVIRAL is released at select cinemas on 8 February and on DVD and digital download from 11 February 2013.



DVD FEATURES:

·         Commentary with director Brandon Cronenberg and director of photography Karim Hussain

·         Deleted scenes with commentary

·         Behind the scenes  featurettes

Pre-order Antiviral [DVD]

Third Window Films Announce UK January Release of The Woodsman And The Rain

Love Asian film? Love Zombie Horror? Comedy? Well your going to love Shichi Okita's eccentric The Woodsman And The Rain which is coming to the UK&Ireland thanks to the fantastic Third Window Films this January. The film stars Koji Yakusho (Shall We Dance, 13 Assassins, The Admiral), Shun Oguri (Crows Zero, Azumi, Space Brothers)and Kengo Kora (Norwegian Wood, Fish Story) a story about a lumberjack who lives in the quaint mountain side whose life is turned upside when a low budget film crew arrive to create a zombie movie!

Synopsis:Katsu (Internationally acclaimed actor Koji Yakusho from Shall We Dance and 13 Assassins) plays a 60 year-old lumberjack who lives in a small, tranquil village in the mountains. When a film crew suddenly arrives to shoot a zombie movie, Katsu finds himself unwittingly roped into assisting the production and becomes increasingly frustrated with the pushy crew, especially the young, seemingly spineless director Koichi (Shun Oguri, star of Crows 0, Sukiyaki Western Django and Space Brothers).

However, an improbable friendship soon develops between Katsu and Koichi, as Katsu comes to see joy in the filmmaking process, and gradually helps Koichi to recover his sense of self. Soon, their bond inspires an unusual collaboration between the villagers and the film crew.

Features

• Interviews with Cast and Crew
• Deleted Scenes
• Theatrical Trailer

Pre-Order: The Woodsman and the Rain [DVD] / [Blu-ray]


Adam Brodie caught the film at Terracotta Film Festival earlier this year , read his review here and The Woodsman And The Rain will be released in UK&Ireland on DVD and Blu-Ray from January 28th 2013.

Can You Survive Sinister? Horror Hit Coming To UK DVD This February

From the producer of “Insidious” and “Paranormal Activity”, the horror box office smash that terrified cinemagoers and critics alike in 2012  When Sinister comes to DVD and Blu-ray. Can you, dare you #SurviveSINISTER in your own home?

Desperately in need of a best seller to revive his struggling career, true crime writer Ellison (Ethan Hawke), moves his family to the scene of his most recent story; the unsolved, gruesome murder of a loving, happy suburban family.Shunned by the local community and strained by his obligations to his family, the discovery of a batch of home movies in the attic offers Ellison shocking proof to the crime he is investigating. Ellison notices the same unidentified figure appearing in each of the 8mm films, leaving him convinced that all the incidents are linked by a truly bizarre connection. As his investigations uncover the terrifying truth he starts to lose his grip on reality and it soon becomes clear that he is placing his own family in harm’s way.

It’s like “8MM” meets “The Shining” meets “Insidious”. A supremely creepy horror, full of dread, shocking images and almost unbearable tension, this one is pretty much guaranteed to give audiences nightmares. It also features a superb central performance by Ethan Hawke.

So can you survive Sinister? Find out 11th February 2013 when the film arrives in UK&Ireland on DVD, Blu-Ray. Sinister stars stars Ethan Hawke , Vincent D’Onofrio , James Ransome, Juliet Rylance and Fred Dalton Thompson

• Extras: 
• Director's Commentary
• Commentary with Writers Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill
• True Crime Authors Feature
• Living in a House of Death Feature
•  Fear Experiment
• Trailer

Pre-Order: Sinister On Blu-ray / DVD

Swelter In The Suspense With 247°F Coming To UK January

The temperature is definitely rising as we announce the arrival of the hottest high concept thriller of 2013 that's guaranteed to make you sweat like never before, 247°F  out on DVD and Blu-ray through Anchor Bay UK on 28th January 2013.

The horrors, thrills and perils of “Frozen” are taken to the opposite extreme and the heat is most definitely on as a trio of trim, toned twenty-somethings are trapped in a sauna and, with the temperature rising and no sign of escape, a wild, hot and steamy weekend of “bare babes and brews” soon turns into a primal fight for survival.

Based on true events, this sweltering suspenser follows a trio of trim, toned twenty-somethings that become trapped in a sauna. With the temperature rising and no sign of escape, a wild, hot and steamy weekend of “bare babes and brews” soon turns into a primal fight for survival! Think “Frozen” but with less snow and more glistening breasts and glowing pecs!
Three years after witnessing the tragic death of her boyfriend in a car accident, Jenna is still struggling to come to terms with her loss. Hoping a carefree weekend away will help, Jenna’s best friend since childhood, good-time party girl Renee, invites her to stay at a remote lakeside cabin along with her jock boyfriend, Michael, and his best buddy, Ian. But the promised weekend of partying, boozing and chilling soon turns into a nightmare when three of the group find themselves inexplicably locked in the cabin’s sauna with no apparent way out.

Scream queen Scout Taylor-Compton (here reunited with “Halloween” co-star Tyler Mane) becomes a veritable “steam queen” starring alongside gorgeous rising star Christina Ulloa and hunky co-stars Van Winkle and Michael Copon in this sultry, slick and uber-sexy horror that's guaranteed to fire up fans of survival situation horrors such as “Frozen”, “Open Water” and “Buried”.


Pre-Order:247º (247 Degrees Fahrenheit) [DVD]

The Weird and wonderful Holy Motors UK Home Release Coming January

A stellar cast including Leos Carax, Denis Lavant, Eva Mendes and Kylie Minogue, beautiful cinematography and extraordinary story combine to make the one and only Holy Motors. Having garnered Five Star reviews in The Guardian, Empire, The Telegraph, The Times, The Irish Times, Eye For Film and the New York Daily News, amongst others, during its hugely successful theatrical release, Holy Motors is the most dazzling, inventive and critically acclaimed film of the year comes to DVD and Blu-ray 28th January 2013.

Synopsis:Over the course of a single day, Monsieur Oscar travels by limousine around Paris to a series of nine “appointments,” transforming into a new character at each stop. Picked up in the morning by Céline, his trusty chauffeur, Oscar begins the day as a captain of industry before becoming a disabled, old gypsy woman begging for spare change on a bridge over the Seine.

Oscar’s seven proceeding incarnations call on what seem to be arbitrary locations throughout the day and night, including a video production facility, the Pere-Lachaide cemetery and a decaying Right Bank department store. With the aid of Céline and his dependable motor, Oscar encounters many bizarre situations and individuals, changing faces and never stopping once, until he fulfils his appointments.

A Palme d’Or nominee and winner of the Prix de la Jeunesse at Cannes Film Festival 2012, winner of the Gold Hugo for Best International Feature and Silver Hugos for Best Actor (Leo Carax) and Best Cinematography (Caroline Champetier and Yves Cape) at the Chicago International Film Festival and winner of the Best Director, Best Film and Critic’s Award at the Catalonian International Film Festival, Leos Carax’s “Holy Motors” is a heartfelt love letter to Cinema by one of today’s most visionary filmmakers.

Part horror movie, part noir-ish crime thriller; part romantic drama, part musical; part comedy, part sci-fi fantasy: it is a film that is almost as impossible to describe as it is to resist. All in all, it is essential viewing for everyone who enjoys the magic of the movies.



Pre-order: Holy Motors DVD / Blu-ray
Holy Motors will be yours to own on DVD, Blu-Ray from 28th January 2013.

Deception Comes Home As The Imposter To Get January Home Release

Be the first to witness the most unbelievable true story in the highly anticipated box office smash, THE IMPOSTER. As well as being shortlisted for an Oscar nomination, this critically-acclaimed and award-winning documentary thriller is out on DVD, Blu-ray, Download and On-Demand on 7 January 2013 from Picturehouse Entertainment and Revolver and will leave you wondering if the truth really is stranger than fiction.

In 1994, 13-year-old Nicholas Barclay disappeared from his home in San Antonio, Texas. Three and a half years later, he was found alive, thousands of miles away in Spain. Disorientated and quivering with fear, he divulges his shocking story of kidnap and torture. His family is overjoyed to bring him home, but all is not what it seems.

Despite having the same tattoos, he looks decidedly different and now speaks with a strange French accent. It’s only when a private investigator starts asking questions that this astonishing true story takes an even stranger turn.

Directed by Bart Layton, this bold and utterly unmissable true crime story is one of the most talked about films of the year. Intriguing and gripping in equal measures, Layton combines both documentary and stylised visualisations to unveil the jaw-dropping true story of Nicholas Barclay’s disappearance. As the truth begins to dawn on you, another emerges leaving you even further on edge as deception comes home...

The film creates a wonderful cohesion between real interview footage and filmed re-enactments, making THE IMPOSTER a thriller filled with twists that you don’t see coming – it’s about the lies that we tell ourselves to find the truth.

An absolute must-see for all film fans this New Year, THE IMPOSTER is available on DVD, Blu-ray, Download and On-Demand on 7 January 2013 from Picturehouse Entertainment and Revolver and available now for pre-order (see below).



DVD & Blu-Ray Extras:

• Making the Imposter (30 min edited version)
• Q&A with Bart, Dimitri and Charlie Parker hosted by Jon Ronson (40 mins)

Pre-Order The Imposter:DVD / Blu-ray

Take This Waltz Set For UK January Home Release

TAKE THIS WALTZ, written and directed by Sarah Polley and starring Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Luke Kirby and Sarah Silverman. TAKE THIS WALTZ is out to own on JANUARY 7th, 2013 and the summertime setting of Toronto will surely thaw any January blues!

Following the success of her Academy Award nominated film Away From Her, Sarah Polley weaves another intelligent, sensitive drama in TAKE THIS WALTZ.
When Margot (Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine), meets Daniel (Luke Kirby, The Samaritan) on a business trip, their chemistry is intense and immediate. Margot suppresses her sudden attraction as she is happily married to Lou (Seth Rogen, Green Hornet), a cookbook writer. When Margot learns that Daniel lives across the street from them, the certainty about her domestic life shatters. She and Daniel steal moments throughout the steaming Toronto summer, their eroticism heightened by their restraint.
Filled with colours, TAKE THIS WALTZ leads us, laughing, through the familiar, but uncharted question of what long-term relationships do to love, sex, and our images of ourselves.

DVD & Blu-ray Extras: Taking the Waltz / Trailer



Pre-Order:Take This Waltz [Blu-ray] / DVD

Penny Woolcock's From the Sea to the Land Beyond BFI's First 2013 Release

This fascinating and moving film by award-winning director Penny Woolcock is a lyrical portrait of Britain’s coastline,created through an exquisite combination of evocative archive footage – drawn from the BFI National Archive – and stirring music. Brighton-based band British Sea Power set the course for this cinematic voyage with an original score that ebbs and flows with the natural sounds of seagulls, ships and
just the occasional snippet of speech. Uplifting and inspirational, From the Sea to the Land Beyond is released on DVD on 21 January 2013.


Travelling from 1901 through both World Wars, into peacetime and the modern age, From the Sea to the Land Beyond shows our coast as a place of leisure, industry and wild nature. With an emphasis on the romantic and the ritualistic, the archive footage used in the film’s assembly is rich and varied. Both film and music incorporate themes of work, play, childhood, romance,melancholy, hope, transportation, wilderness, the power of the elements and the beauty of wildlife.

Amongst many memorable and poignant images are those of a woman scaling a sheer cliff face to collect eggs, a group of Edwardian gentlemen playing beach combat games on the verge of World War I, bathers in top hats, a troupe of dancers on a pristine beach, the arrival by ship of émigrés from the Caribbean and India, the building of the Channel Tunnel, and present-day holidaymakers battling the wind and rain in Blackpool.

The film is comprised mainly of clips from four major BFI National Archive collections: the world-famous Mitchell and Kenyon films; Topical Budget (British silent era newsreels); public information films from the COI collection; travelogues from the British Transport Film Unit.

In her introductory essay in the DVD booklet, director Penny Woolcock (Tina Goes Shopping, The Principles of Lust) writes:‘In these days of formatted, factual entertainment and docu-soaps, tabloid television is created with twitchy fingers on the remote control in mind. Filmmakers find it hard to resist demands for commentaries that inform the viewer what they are about to see and reminding them of it as soon as it is over, and shovelling all the best bits in the film into the first couple of minutes andrepeating later. The opportunity of making something without these attendant anxieties was irresistible.’

Included amongst the DVD’s special features are some of the archive films which were used in From the Sea to the Land Beyond. One of them, Beside the Seaside, directed by Marion Grierson in 1935, is a wittily observant documentary that shows Londoners flocking to the coast to enjoy themselves during a heatwave. This, and the other archive films included as extras, feature newly recorded introductions by Penny Woolcock.

From the Sea to the Land Beyond was conceived and produced by Heather Croall, director of  Sheffield Doc/Fest, and Mark Atkin, director of Crossover Labs. It premiered in Sheffield's Crucible Theatre with a live score – to a standing ovation – in June 2012. The project was funded by The Space, an initiative of the BBC and The Arts Council. British Sea Power, a band famed for their live shows, have subsequently performed their original score at further screenings of the film.


Special features

• Making the Sea and the Land Beyond (2013, 25 mins): documentary with interviews withBritish Sea Power, Penny Woolcock and producers Mark Atkin and Heather Croall S.S Saxonia in Liverpool (James Kenyon, Sagar Mitchell, 1901, 3 mins): passengers and crew boarding the SS Saxonia

• Cunard Mail Steamer Lucania Leaving for America (James Kenyon, Sagar Mitchell,1901,3 mins): early footage of the Lucania passenger liner

• Beside the Seaside (Marion Grierson, 1935, 23 mins): Londoners flock to the South Coast to enjoy themselves by the seaside during a heatwave

• Worker’s Weekend (Ralph Eaton, 1943, 13 mins): the workers of the Vickers Armstrong factory in Broughton assemble a Wellington Bomber in the record time of 24½ hours

• Caller Herrin' (Alan Harper, 1947, 20 mins): the story of the herring fisheries in the North Sea
• Introductions to all the short films by Penny Woolcock
• British Sea Power in rehearsal (Ian Potts, 2012, 6 mins): footage of the band working on the film score
• Film and location identification track
• Illustrated booklet with an introductory essay by Penny Woolcock, film notes and credits

Pre-Order: From the Sea to the Land Beyond [DVD]

Marlene Dietrich's The Blue Angel To Get Masters Of Cinema Treatment

THE BLUE ANGEL [DER BLAUE ENGEL] will be released as part of Eureka Entertainment’s MASTERS OF CINEMA Series in a DUAL FORMAT (Blu-ray & DVD) edition on 28 January 2013

Eureka Entertainment have announced that they will be releasing THE BLUE ANGEL [DER BLAUE ENGEL] as part of Eureka Entertainment’s MASTERS OF CINEMA Series on 28 January 2013.  The film launched the career of the legendary Marlene Dietrich and her multi-film collaboration with Josef von Sternberg, and stars Emil Jannings, the famous German actor of such classics as Faust, The Last Laugh, and The Last Command.  The Blue Angel showcases Dietrich in performance singing many of the songs that would take on the status of trademarks throughout her long career.

“A remarkable performance from Emil Jannings.” – Kim Newman, EMPIRE Magazine

“Not only is Mr. Jannings's and Miss Dietrich's acting excellent, but they are supported by an unusually competent cast.”– New York Times

“Exceptionally high drama for its day, this tragic, tragic tale is one of the best examples of well-realized filmmaking from the first half of the 20th century.” – Filmcritic.com

Synopsis:The Blue Angel is one of the first German language sound films (filmed simultaneously in an English-language version), and the picture that represents the initial collaboration between Josef von Sternberg and his immortal muse, Marlene Dietrich. 

Following up his role in Sternberg's great silent The Last Command, Emil Jannings portrays a schoolteacher named Immanuel Rath, whose fateful expedition to catch his students frequenting the cabaret known as "The Blue Angel" leads to his own rapture with the establishment's main attraction Lola (Dietrich) — and, as a result, triggers the downward spiral of his life and fortune.

Directed by Sternberg while on loan from America to the pioneering German producer Erich Pommer, The Blue Angel is at once captivating, devastating, and powerfully erotic, laced-through with Sternberg's masterful cinematography. From here, the director and Dietrich would go on to make six more films together in the span of five years, and leave a legacy of some of the most indelible iconography in the cinema of glamour and obsession. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present The Blue Angel in a new Dual Format presentation that incorporates both versions of the film in 1080p HD for the first time in the UK.

SPECIAL DUAL FORMAT (BLU-RAY + DVD) EDITION:

• New 1080p HD presentation of both the German-language and English-language versions of the film, with progressive encodes on the DVD.

• Newly translated optional subtitles on the German-language version, and SDH on the English-language version.

• New and exclusive video essay on the films by critic and scholar Tag Gallagher.

• New and exclusive feature-length audio commentary by critic and scholar Tony Rayns on the German-language version.

• Original screen test with Marlene Dietrich.

• Archival interview clips with Dietrich.

• Substantial booklet containing writing on the film, vintage excerpts, and rare archival imagery.

• More features to be announced closer to release date!

Pre-Order:THE BLUE ANGEL [DER BLAUE ENGEL] (Masters of Cinema) (DUAL FORMAT) [Blu-ray] [1930]

She's Coming! American Mary Gets UK Release

The Soska Sisters (aka The Twisted Twins), co-creators of the award winning, cult indie smash hit Dead Hooker In A Trunk make an awe-inspiring return with their second feature AMERICAN MARY, a stylish, sexy, disturbing and darkly comic “body-mod” horror-thriller that many critics are hailing as the best and most genuinely original horror movie of the year.

Co-written and co-directed by Jen and Sylvia Soska (Dead Hooker In A Trunk) and featuring an outstanding, career-best lead performance by Katharine Isabelle (Being Human; Freddie vs. Jason; Ginger Snaps) in the title role, AMERICAN MARY has been wowing audiences at international film festivals (including London’s Film4 Frightfest) throughout 2012 and has been receiving 4/5 star reviews from critics, websites worldwide making American Mary a film Horror Fans should be checking out.

A provocative and thought-provoking combination of the horrors of a feminist “Frankenstein” with a fetishist twist and the visceral thrills of the “female revenge” genre, the film boasts a strikingly original script, laced throughout with a wicked sense of humour and a darkly erotic charge, that admirably takes the horror genre in a fresh and new direction. Simultaneously beautiful, repulsive, shocking and endearing, AMERICAN MARY is an unmissable experience that firmly establishes the Soska Sisters as two of the hottest new talents working in cinema today

Struggling to make financial ends meet while studying to be a surgeon, talented medical student Mary Mason (Katharine Isabelle) finds herself reduced to applying for work at a local strip joint in order to pay off her mounting debts. During her interview, she is unexpectedly called upon to perform some illegal emergency surgery on one of the club’s clients and is instantly rewarded with a significant cash payment.

Word of Mary’s scalpel-work soon reaches one of the club’s dancers, Beatress Johnson (Tristan Risk), who approaches her offering to pay handsomely for some off-the-books, extreme body-modification work on a friend. The ensuing surgery is a huge success and Mary’s skills soon attract the attention of an underground network of high-paying clientele, all looking for someone to administer procedures and body-mod work unavailable through the usual legal channels.

However, the allure of the easy money and the increasingly bizarre work she is commissioned to perform begins to leave a mark on Mary, and when an incident involving the established surgeons she once idolized leaves her traumatised, “Bloody Mary”, as she has come to be known, responds in the only way she knows how.

We will hopefully bring you a review nearer the time and when is that time? American Mary will be released in UK&Ireland on DVD and Blu-Ray 21st January 2013.

Pre-Order/Buy American Mary: DVD / Blu-ray

Gintama The Movie On UK DVD (R2)

If your looking for a last minute Christmas present for a anime fan with in your family Manga Entertainment would like you to consider Gintama:The Movie. Gintama tells the story of a silver haired samurai who attempts to find the whereabouts of the legendary sword whilst the rest of his team hunt down the missing Kotaro Katsura.

Gintama:The Movie will be released in UK&Ireland on 24th December on DVD

Odd Jobs Gin has taken on a lot of odd work in the past, and when you're a Jack of All Trades agency based in a feudal Japan that's been conquered and colonized by aliens, the term “Odd Jobs” means REALLY ODD jobs. But when some more than slightly suspicious secrets from the shadows of Gintoki Sakata's somewhat shady former samurai past and a new pair of odd jobs collide, the action is bound to get so wild and demented that only a feature film will do it justice!

Sit down, strap yourself in, and make sure you're not wearing anything too tight or constricting as the junior half of OJG takes on the task of tracking down a tenacious terrorist while their silver-haired slickster of a partner seeks out a certain sword in the stunningly side-splitting and screwy Gin Tama!

Pre-order: Gintama The Movie [DVD]