When the blood begins to flow, who will be left to scream. Exploitation Flick Dear God No! Coming to UK DVD

MONSTER PICTURES present “DEAR GOD NO!”, a twisted fairy tale for beer drinkers and hell-raisers, released on DVD on 14 January 2013

“Dear God No!” is a tribute to a lost regional drive-in film from 1976 that doesn’t rely heavily on computer gimmicks, and cuts to the core of what made these low-budget films shockingly fun. Shot entirely on SUPER 16MM Fuji film and using equipment from the era, Dear God No! is a drive-in & grindhouse lovers dream. No pretty actors- just a rocking original soundtrack, bikers, babes and blood, and as many naked breasts as the script would allow.

Outlaw motorcycle gang The Impalers tri-state rape and murder spree ended in a bloody massacre with rival club Satan’s Own. The surviving members sought refuge in a secluded cabin deep in the North Georgia mountains. What first must of seemed like easy prey for a home invasion, became a living nightmare of depravity and violence. A young innocent girl being held captive may hold the key to the twisted secrets locked in the basement and the killing machine feasting on human flesh in the forest outside.

“Dear God No!” is a brand new biker/horror/sexploitation feature written & directed by exploitation aficionado James Bickert, released on DVD in the UK by Monster Pictures UK on 14 January 2013. 

Regular Readers of Cinehouse may remember this film wen we brought you the trailer for it's American release Summer 2011, but now the film is coming to UK&Ireland!

EXTRAS

·         All new Grindhouse Cut of the feature (UK Exclusive)

·         Exclusive full colour booklet featuring the words of director James Bickert and graphic illustrator Tom Hodge, production stills, and more

·         Audio Commentary with Writer/Director James Bickert and composer Richard Davis

·         Audio Commentary with actors Jett Bryant, Madeline Brumby and Shane Morton

·         UK Theatrical trailer

·         Redband Trailer

·         Behind the Scenes Gag Reel

·         Poster and Still Slideshow

·         Zombie Parody

·         Torture Porn Parody

·         Vlog the Magnificent at The Dear God No! World Premiere

·         Easter Eggs

·         Animated short featuring two of the characters from the film (UK Exclusive)

Pre-order :DEAR GOD NO! (Monster Pictures) (DVD)

Watch The Brilliant Little Short Little Theatres: Homage To The Mineral Of Cabbage.

Little Theatres: Homage To The Mineral Of Cabbage is a brilliant little stop animation short Stephanie Dudley, which was first shown at 2010 Toronto Film Festival. Based on an Erin Moure poem it's simply brilliant, reminder that traditional methods of animation are just as effective probably more powerful than modern day CGI/computer based which lack atmosphere. Cabage as a mineral? Strange?! Watch the short film in its full, enjoy.....


sourceTwitch

Watch The Trailer For Brutal Brit Flick The Fall Of The Essex Boys

Fans of Rise And Fall of A White Collar Hooligan, Bonded With Blood, Jack Says, Rise Of The Footsoldier  will want to check out Paul Tanter's The Fall Of The Essex Boys. The brutal new Brit crime flick follows the rise and violent fall of the notorious Essex Boys, one of the most feared criminal gangs in Britain’s history. The 2000 Essex Boys starring Sean Bean, Charlie Creed Miles and Tom Wilkinson was loosely based on 1995 Rettendon gruesome triple gangland  murders, and now another new  look real life crime.

I haven't seen the Essex Boys but have heard quite a few positive things about the film, however Paul Tanter has his work cut out to convince cinephiles his version of events is worth your hard earned cash. His previous films especially Rise And Fall of A White Collar Hooligan was nothing but atrocious which is a shame as we really want to give British film making especially independent made films our support. On evidence of this trailer the violence levels looked to have risen compared to previous films, its brutal in nature, very gritty drug fuelled looking film and the directors experience in British gangland style films he should at least deliver something gripping (we hope)

The Fall Of The Essex Boys has a familiar cast with Nick Nevern, Simon Phillips, Robert Cavanah all Tanter regulars and their joined by Kate Magowan, Kierston Wareing, Peter Woodward, Craig Rolfe and Roman Kemp. The Fall Of The Essex Boys will be released in UK 8th February 2013.

Synopsis:The 1995 Rettendon Triple Murder. Not since Jack The Ripper has a killer’s identity so captivated the nation. The gruesome death of three drug dealers has spawned a miniature industry – books, TV programmes, merchandise, conventions and – of course – feature films. The appetite for gory detail and suppressed gangland secrets remains unabated, and is constantly titillated further with new tales of football hooliganism, international drug smuggling and police conspiracies of silence.
An 18 year old girl going into a coma after taking an ecstasy pill from a bad batch is the catalyst that sets in motion a series of events that leads to the demise of one of the most infamous criminal organisations in British History. Detective Inspector Stone steps in to try and put pressure on an untouchable unit of criminals - Pat Tate, Tony Tucker and Craig Rolfe. The Essex Boys. In order to bring the criminals   down, he must act out of the law to get things done.
As the Essex Boys grow stronger and more fearless, their addiction to drugs and power slowly starts to spiral out of control and they soon start to develop enemies everywhere.As Stone starts to see the cracks forming in their organisation and with pressure from his peers he soon realises that bringing them down will be inevitable but the real test will come when he must find a way of getting his man on the inside out safely.

Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon) DVD Review

Rating: U
DVD Release Date: 
26th November 2012
Directed By: 
Georges Méliès
Cast:
Georges Méliès, Victor André ,Bleuette Bernon
Buy: [DVD] [1902]


I can say without a doubt that A Trip to the Moon is one of the most intriguing films I've ever seen. Clocking in at about 16 minutes, Georges Méliès' seminal work bristles with imagination and invention. It's weird to see common film techniques pioneered this early on. Matte paintings, jump cut effects and the like are all here, a few years after the medium was invented. These types of effects were very common until about 15 years ago when CGI started hogging the spotlight. The film's most iconic image of the Man in the Moon getting a rocket stuck in his eye is still as striking today as it ever was, with the influence of that one image alone being felt in everything from Futurama to The Mighty Boosh.

So, what can I say about it? Well, the plot is easy enough to grasp hold of. Some astronomers want to go to the Moon. They built a rocket that looks like a bullet and shoot themselves out of a massive cannon. They land on the Moon and soon discover it's filled with aliens known as Selenites. After they defeat them, the astronomers and a captured Selenite journey back to Earth and are met with a heroes' welcome. The end. It's all very charming. The creativity is the thing that struck me the most about it. I can't imagine what audiences back in 1902 thought of it, I bet it blew their minds clean across the room. Some of the tricks implemented here (such as an umbrella turning into a huge mushroom that grows) must have left them scratching their heads. Kinda throws how spoiled we are in terms of presentation and effects in this day and age into sharp focus. There's a bit after the astronomers are captured and led to the Selenite leader. One of the astronomers picks him up and dashes him on the floor where he explodes into a cloud of smoke. I let out a little chuckle and realised I was laughing at a 110 year old joke. That's pretty special.

The version sent to me was the recently restored colourised version of the film, complete with the previously lost ending and a new soundtrack by French band Air. The colourisation can be distracting at times, but it's nice enough. It's cool to know the intentions for costume colours and things. Without colourisation, I wouldn't have known that the moon bleeds red blood after getting shot with the rocket. Not being an expert on the film, I'm not sure if the film was accompanied by live piano music when it was projected and if so, I would have preferred that but the Air score is decent enough.

A Trip to the Moon is one of those films that managed to capture just what was possible with the new and exciting world of cinema at just the right time. You can easily see how it inflamed the imagination and inspired audiences for generations. On top of all that, it's arguably the first science-fiction film, so think about that when you sit down to watch your precious Blade Runner or whatever. It's really difficult to talk about the film without sounding like some kind of pipe-puffing loser professor, but it's one of the most important films in cinematic history. It's good to remember your roots.

★★★★★

Ben Browne

The Czechoslovak New Wave: A Collection DVD Review

Second Run has released a limited-edition three-disk set, The Czechoslovak New Wave: A Collection, which features three films from the 1960s: Diamonds of the Night (Jan Němek, 1964), Intimate Lighting (Ivan Passer, 1965) and The Cremator (Juraj Herz, 1968). The Czech New Wave was a very brief episode in European cinema that is probably best known for the fact that Milos Forman came out of it (Forman later directed One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus).

During the short five-year period from 1963 to 1968, the finest films of this movement were very much influenced by surrealism or were, conversely, very light comedies. It’s a strange mixture but it works. This box set is a good introduction to both sides of this dichotomy. Diamonds of the Night is an almost silent film about two teenage boys who take a train from one concentration camp to another. There is a spell-binding tracking shot that follows the boys as they escape the train, which goes on for at least three minutes. After their escape, the rest of story is told through fragmented memory and fantasy sequences of before they were captured, their capture, escape and re-capture. It was based on a then-unpublished survivor’s book: in the true story, the person was captured and escaped three times and had no memory of how he made his final escape.

Němek owes a huge debt to Robert Bresson, the minimalist French director, but also his direct opposite, the surrealist Luis Buñuel. The film has a very overt homage to Un Chien Andalou (1929) in a fantasy sequence where the boys are lying on the ground and one’s hand is covered by ants and later face. This juxtaposition of surrealism and realist/minimalist filmmaking is very interesting—it’s just a fantastic, moving, hour-long film.

Intimate Lighting is the “worst” film of the collection, but only because the other two are so much better. It is a light comedy about a group of classical musicians who are in a house rehearsing for an upcoming concert performance, and concerns their interactions with each other. Director Ivan Passer is better-known for his early collaborations with Milos Forman, whose early films he wrote, but he also directed the fantastic neo-noir Cutter’s Way (1981). His directing career seems to have taken off much more in America than in Czechoslovakia: most of his films have been in English.

The Cremator is quite possibly the best film in the collection. It follows a professional cremator in Nazi-occupied Prague. He becomes increasingly deranged, and then gets involved with the Nazis. It is a black comedy: a surreal and unsettling film with a great performance by Rudolf Hrusínský, who resembles an Asian Peter Lorre (although he is not, in fact, Asian.) This film has some of the most impressive use of fish-eye lens shooting in cinema, right up there with Citizen Kane and Seconds, as well as some truly astonishing tracking shots and angles, and imagery that will never leave you.

The director Juraj Herz was a puppeteer and animator before becoming a filmmaker, making him an outcast amongst the Czech New Wave crowd as he had not attended film school with the rest. This background gave him a surrealist animator’s look at film. The dvd also an introduction by the Brothers Quay. The Cremator really must be seen to believed it’s indescribable.

Overall, the box set is a very good value for money: two excellent films and one good one. After the failed Czech Uprising of 1968, the majority of New Wave filmmakers left Czechoslovakia, some going to America and others to Europe. Once you’ve watched these, it would also be worth having a look at Cutter’s Way to see how practices that originated in the Czech New Wave impacted American film. Interesting, the director of Diamonds of the Night has recently stated making low-budget/no-budget digital films that hearken back to the experimental nature of this early work, so the story does not end here.

Ian Schultz

Diamonds of the night (15)
★★★★★

Intimate Lighting (PG)
★★★1/2☆

The Cremator (15)
★★★★★

Directed By: Jan Nemec, Ivan Passer, Juraj Herz
Cast:  Rudolf Hrusínský, Vlasta Chramostová , Zdenek Bezusek, Karel Blazek, Ladislav Jánsky, 

Buy: The Czechoslovak New Wave - A Collection (3 Film Box Set) [DVD]

The Passion of Joan Arc Blu-Ray Review

Made in 1928 by the legendary Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer, The Passion of Joan of Arc has recently been remastered by Eureka Entertainment for its Masters of Cinema Range. It had previously only been available to English-speaking viewers as a Criterion release. The film charts the final days of Joan of Arc: her trial, the suffering she went through physically and mentally, and obviously ends with her execution by being burned at the stake for being a witch.

The film is truly relentless throughout. The Masters of Cinema DVD includes 97- and a 84-minute versions; the difference between the two is the frame rate (speed), not the footage. The release also includes the Lo Duca version, which was the cut most widely distributed and was famously used in Jean-Luc Godard’s Vivre sa Vie (1962), probably the first introduction most people have had to this film. This was the version most people will have seen until the complete cut was found in, fittingly enough, in a Danish mental hospital in 1981.

The actress who plays Joan of Arc, Maria Falconetti, is seen here in her second and last film role. She was mostly known as a stage actress and her presence is stagey: she speaks little, but there are extraordinary close-ups of her eyes throughout the film. However, it is probably one of the five greatest performances ever committed to film. Unlike Florence Delay in Robert Bresson’s later attempt to film the Joan of Arc story, Falconetti has a shaven head (this is one of the biggest flaws of Bresson’s film as it is historically inaccurate.) The also includes Antonin Artaud as the monk Massiou. Artaud later stated the film was meant to reveal Joan as a victim of one of the most terrible perversions of justice committed by state or church.

When the film came out it was very controversial in France, partly because Dreyer was Danish and not Catholic, and partly because of the rumoured casting of Lillian Gish as Joan. Gish was then most well known for her role in Birth of a Nation (she later in life starred in Night of the Hunter) It was edited by the Archbishop of Paris and government censors against Dreyer’s will, leaving the director very angry.

The Passion of Joan of Arc clearly owes some debt to German expressionism, which was even more obvious in Dreyer’s next film, Vampyr (1932). Visually it is certainly the greatest silent film ever made due to the lead performance and the incredible set designs. It was shot by Rudolph Maté, who later became very well known for his work as a film noir director, most notably D.O.A. (1950), and also shot for Hitchcock, Welles and Lubitsch. Paul Schrader has praised “the architecture of Joan's world, which literally conspires against her; like the faces of her inquisitors, the halls, doorways, furniture are on the offensive, striking, swooping at her with oblique angles, attacking her with hard-edged chunks of black and white."

This is a film that should be watched continuously, so it is gratifying that it is now available on home video again. It was voted into the top 10 in the Sight and Sound critics’ greatest films poll in 2012, and has recently been shown at the Leeds Film Festival and elsewhere with a live score. If you are a major fan like me, you may also want to have the Criterion version, which has the superior “Voices of Light” score (one of many scores that have been composed for it over the years.) Dreyer never selected a definitive score for The Passion of Joan of Arc, so unlike some other films of that era (such as Nosferatu and Metropolis) it was left open to interpretation by classical and pop composers – there have been many scores made, even one by Nick Cave.

Ian Schultz

★★★★★

Rating:PG
Re-Release BD/DVD Date: 26th November 2012 (UK&Ireland)
Directed By: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Cast:  Maria Falconetti, Eugene Silvain , André Berley
Buy The Passion of Joan Arc: Blu-ray / DVD / Double Play (Blu-ray + DVD) - Steelbook

Southern Comfort Blu-Ray Review

Southern Comfort (1981) is a film directed by Walter Hill, best known for The Warriors, The Driver and his long-lasting involvement in the Alien series. The film is very influenced by Deliverance (1972), which is not unsurprising since Hill has said numerous times that John Boorman’s earlier film Point Blank (1967) and especially its screenplay was a revelation for him—so obviously he had also seen Boorman’s Deliverance.

In a nutshell, the story is about patrol of the Louisiana Army National Guard who are out on training maneuvers in the swamps. They deeply upset the local Cajun population, so badly that eventually the swap-dwellers want to kill the Guardsmen, who then need to evade capture (in other words, not dissimilar to the rafters versus hillbillies plot in Deliverance). It stars Keith Carradine, Powers Booth and Fred Ward, and also features Peter Coyote. Southern Comfort is one of the last American films of that era to touch on the post-Vietnam conflict.  Co-screenwriter David Giler said he knew from the get-go that it would be seen as a metaphor for Vietnam. Giler has worked continuously with Hill, most notably on Alien.

It is a well-shot film, and also notable for its good score by Ry Cooder. Cooder has collaborated with Hill several times, and is also well-known for his score for Paris, Texas (1985). The cinematography of the Louisiana bayou is excellent, making you feel that you are actually there.

Southern Comfort is a solid man-against-nature and man-against-man thriller with obvious political undertones. When it came out it was not very successful, much like most of Walter Hill’s films with the obvious exception of his work on the Alien franchise, but over the years it has grown in stature. Many people consider it a superior film to Deliverance. Although I would not put it above Deliverance, it is well worth watching, especially for a very good early performance by Powers Boothe, who later starred in Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (1980: another little-seen film that deserved to be better known.) Hill remains an underrated director whose early films should be re-evaluated (The Driver, for example, was obviously a major inspiration for last year’s Drive). This is one of his very finest films, and is certainly better to watch in its new Blu-Ray format release from Second Sight Films, which includes a good-quality interview with Walter Hill.

Ian Schultz

★★★★☆

Rating:15
BD/DVD Release Date: 26th November 2012 (uk)
Directed By:Walter Hill
Cast:Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe, Fred Ward, Peter Coyote,
Buy Southern Comfort: (Limited Edition packaging) [Bluray] / DVD

Stanley Kubrick's Fear And Desire To Get Masters Of Cinema Release

Stanley Kubrick’s FEAR AND DESIRE will be released as part of Eureka Entertainment’s MASTERS OF CINEMA Series on Blu-ray & DVD on 28 January 2013

Eureka Entertainment have announced that they will be releasing on Blu-ray and DVD a new restoration in a proper release for the first time ever in the UK of the legendary Stanley Kubrick's debut feature, FEAR AND DESIRE, available from 28 January 2013.  It is the only Kubrick film besides A Clockwork Orange that was nearly impossible to see in the UK for several decades. 

This release completes the fact that now every single one of Stanley Kubrick's films will be available on Blu-ray/DVD.  Full details of the special features have just been released.  The Masters of Cinema edition will contain Stanley Kubrick's complete early shorts (Day of the Fight, Flying Padre & The Seafarers) made in the run-up to FEAR AND DESIRE, presented completely for the first time on an official release.  In addition to the shorts, there will also be a new and exclusive video introduction to the films by Kubrick scholar, film-critic, and Cahiers du cinéma American correspondent Bill Krohn shot in LA in November 2012 & a packed booklet featuring new and exclusive essays on FEAR AND DESIRE and the early shorts by Kubrick scholar, professor, and film critic James Naremore. 

“[A] highly promising first effort by one of America's premiere filmmakers.” - TV Guide's Movie Guide  

From the director of such classic masterworks as Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey , A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Full Metal Jacket. 

Independently financed with contributions from Stanley Kubrick's family and friends in an era when an "independent cinema" was still far from the norm, Fear and Desire first saw release in 1953 at the Guild Theater in New York, thanks to the enterprising distributor Joseph Burstyn. Now, with this new restoration carried out in 2012 by The Library of Congress, a film that for decades has remained nearly impossible to see will at last appear in a proper release in the United Kingdom.

Kubrick's debut feature tells the story of a war waged (in the present? in the future?) between two forces. In the midst of the conflict, a plane carrying four soldiers crashes behind enemy lines. From here out, it is kill or be killed: a female hostage is taken on account of being a potential informer; an enemy general and his aide are discovered during a scouting mission... What lies in store for this ragtag group of killers, between their perilous landing in the forest, and the final raft-float downstream... all this constitutes the tale of Kubrick's precocious entry into feature filmmaking. 

Bringing into focus for the first time the same thematic concerns that would obsess the director in such masterworks as Paths of Glory, Dr. Strangelove, and Full Metal Jacket, Fear and Desire marks the outset of the dazzling career and near-complete artistic freedom which to this day remains unparalleled in the annals of Hollywood history. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Stanley Kubrick's Fear and Desire in its gorgeous new restoration on both Blu-ray and DVD.

SPECIAL BLU-RAY AND DVD EDITIONS:

• New HD restoration of the film by The Library of Congress, presented in 1080p on the Blu-ray. 

• Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. 

• Stanley Kubrick's complete early shorts, made in the run-up to FEAR AND DESIRE, presented completely for the first time on an official release: Day of the Fight, Flying Padre & The Seafarers 

• A new and exclusive video introduction to the films by Kubrick scholar, film-critic, and Cahiers du cinéma American correspondent Bill Krohn shot in LA in November 2012 

• A packed booklet featuring new and exclusive essays on FEAR AND DESIRE and the early shorts by Kubrick scholar, professor, and film critic James Naremore 

Pre-Order/Buy Fear And Desire: DVD / Blu-ray

The Muppet Christmas Carol Review

2012 has seen not only the bi-centenary of Charles Dickens' birth, but also celebrates the 20th anniversary of one of the strangest screen adaptations of perhaps his most famous ghost story (of which he wrote several), A Christmas Carol. Directed by Brian Henson, the son of the late Muppet master Jim Henson,The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), starring Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat, as well as a wonderfully sour Michael Caine, is sheer bliss from start to finish.

Charles Dickens' seasonal tale, which is not only a warning against greed and the love of money, but also a classic example of the benefits of doing good to your fellow man, is brought to life by noneother than that loveable team of misfits, the Muppets.

No matter who you are or where you come from Jim Henson's mad offspring have an indefinable quality which has universal appeal. As their successful reinvention in The Muppets (2011) proved, their brand of magic is timeless, which also means now is the ideal opportunity to reissue one of their most succeful and best loved big screen outings.

The quirky characteristics of the various members of the Muppet troupe make them the perfect candidates to bring Dickens' supernatural tale to life. The role of the quick tongued and buxom Emily, matriarch of the Cratchit family was tailormade for Miss Piggy whilst Kermit is ideal as her kind hearted husband Bob. There are a few diviations from Dickens' original version, but giving Scrooge's dead partner Jacob Marley a brother called Robert, allows for grouchy Muppet regulars Statler and Waldorf to perform their popular rountine of putdowns and corny jokes. The casting as a whole is pure genius on the part of Casting Directors Suzanne Crowley, Mike Fenton and Gilly Poole, and brings a breath of fresh air to a story which often appears stale through overfamiliarity.

The humans, though mainly in supporting roles, add believability to the whole affair whilst not detracting from the impact of the film's main stars. Other than Steven Macintosh as Scrooge's nephew Fred, Caine is the only other human to play a major role in the film. His interpretation of Scrooge, the crotchety and miserable moneylender, is marvelously chilling yet pitiful, inducing sympathy from the viewer as he is shown the mess he has made of his life and given one last chance to mend his ways before his time runs out.

If there was to be any downside to the film one would imagine it would result from the addition of the sacharine and fluffy songs without which no Muppet production would be complete. However the clever placement of these serves to strengthen the storyline, bringing a lighter touch to what can sometimes be a brooding and cautionary tale.

Christmas is ultimately a time for children, and the rerelease of this magical family treat will be the perfect antidote to the big budget blockbusters which take over many local multiplexes at this time of year.

Cleaver Patterson

★★★★★

Rating: U
Re-Release Date: 23rd November 2012 (UK)
Directed By: Brian Henson
Cast: Michael Caine, Steven Mackintosh, Kermit, Miss Piggy

UK Trailer + Release Details For Midnight Son

Monster Pictures present MIDNIGHT SON, the story of a young man's thirst for human blood which threatens to destroy his relationship with the woman he loves. The film is set to receive a limited UK theatrical release on 11 January 2013.

From the director of The Blair Witch Project, MIDNIGHT SON is the story of Jacob (Zak Kilberg,Zombie Strippers!, Lincoln Heights), a young man confined to a life of isolation, due to a rare skin disorder that prevents him from being exposed to sunlight. His world opens up when he meets Mary (Maya Parish, How I Met Your Mother), a local bartender, and falls in love. Tragically, Jacob’s actions become increasingly bizarre as he struggles to cope with the effects of his worsening condition.

Forced by the disease to drink human blood for sustenance, he must control his increasingly violent tendencies as local law enforcement narrow their focus on him as a suspect in a series of grisly murders.

Directed by Scott Leberecht, a well-known name on the festival circuit, MIDNIGHT SON is a twisting, terrifying tale of vampirism and humanity and how the two conditions can intertwine. Having wowed audiences when it received its UK premiere at Frightfest, the film was recently screened to a packed audience at Horrorthon in Dublin. The film receives a limited UK theatrical release on 11 January 2013 followed by a DVD release in time for Valentine’s Day on 11 February 2013.

Pre-Order Midnight Son: DVD