Curandero: Dawn of the Demon DVD Review

Back in 2005 Grindhouse maestro Robert Rodriguez (Planet Terror, From Dusk Till Dawn) wrote a Spanish-language script about a satanic descent into the seedy Mexican underworld, where a sheepish exorcist and kick-ass cop are on the hunt for a bloodthirsty cult. The film was shelved and hasn’t seen the light of day until now.

Curandero doesn’t bother to hit above its weight, it’s got a keen understanding of where it sits on the quality spectrum and embraces its B-movie roots gleefully, spinning an ever more gruesome web of black magic and gore. At points the film revels in its total lack of CGI but flips and starts flaunting some truly wobbly effects, even then they arguably fit into the film snuggly. Eduardo Rodriguez has an obvious talent for filming this sort of thing, the gruesome and vicious come naturally to every frame however some dodgy editing makes viewing difficult during indoor scenes which can sometimes be too dark to see what the hell is going on.

Carlos Gallardo’s reserved performance is a key reason why this film should be the beginning of a franchise, as he can hold the screen without over acting or seeming like he’s seeking out our attention. His enigmatic performance is why Curandero feels like the seedy Mexican equivalent of Constantine. The whole plot seems like an origin tale, unsure of what exactly to do first, but that doesn’t hold it back too much, this film is focused on giving the viewer a great time whilst throwing enough demonic imagery at you to make the more superstitious viewers out there have a heart attack.

Fast paced, immersed in Mexican culture and superstitious iconography, yet drenched in gore and visceral sequences of violence, Curandero forsakes the straight path by shaking its tale of good vs evil up with acid-trip imagery and some intriguing style decisions. Hopefully the release of this B-movie extraordinaire will spawn a sequel.

★★★☆☆

Scott Clark

Rating: 18
DVD Release Date: 20th May 2013 (UK)
Director: Eduardo Rodriguez
Cast: Carlos Gallardo, Gizeht Galatea, Sergio Acosta, Ernesto Yáñez

Buy: Curandero: Dawn Of The Demon [DVD]

Verve Picture Bringing Home (Yurt) 'Home' June on DVD

Verve Pictures have announced  the UK DVD Release of  HOME (Yurt), winner of  The Golden Wings Digital Digiturk Distribution Award at the recent London Turkish Film Festival.

The first feature to be written and directed by actor Muzaffer Özdemir, best known for his roles in Nuri Bilge Ceylan's THE SMALL TOWN, CLOUDS OF MAY and DISTANT, for which he won the Cannes Best Actor Award, HOME (Yurt) is a beautifully composed meditation on memories and a changing world. Doğan, a pessimistic and neurotic architect, longing for his homeland, revisits the countryside of his childhood for the first time in many years. His search for the familiar, however, is an elusive one and in this modern technological age he quickly discovers that time which once stood still is now fleeting, and that the tranquillity of familiar landscapes is fading.

Poetic and resonant, HOME (Yurt) is a serene depiction of one man's journey to find his own sense of peace amidst the conflict between nature and the ever intrusive modern age.

Home(Yurt) stars

Pre-order/Buy:Home (Yurt) On DVD 

Cannes Festival Winning Post Tenebras Lux A Home July UK Release

Drakes Avenue Pictures and The Independent Cinema Office and are pleased to announce that Carlos Reygadas’ (Battle in Heaven, Silent Light) Post Tenebras Lux will be released in UK on DVD and on Blu Ray for the first time from 22 July.

Reygadas picked up Best Director in Cannes last year for Post Tenebras Lux, perhaps his most personal and complex work to-date. A gorgeous, allusive mood piece examining marriage, poverty, class and gender, the film also looks at our place in nature and how evil lives with us in the most intimate and ordinary of places.

Juan (Adolfo Jiménez Castro) is a wealthy industrialist who has chosen to live with his wife and two children away from the trappings of wealth and the city. Yet isolation in this superficially idyllic rural landscape seems to have brought little peace to his world. Juan’s marriage to Natalia (Nathalia Acevedo) is suffering under the strain of sexual ennui, the banal rigors of bringing up young children and living in a community where he is clearly an outsider.

Its central theme, signposted in an audacious manner very early on, is Juan’s struggle to morally navigate the welter of everyday decisions we are all forced to make in life. The morality of family life is further complicated by Juan’s post-colonial Mexican ethnicity and position as an employer and elite landowner in a country with an increasingly divergent wealth divide.

Largely non-linear in its structure, preferring instead to show a series of striking images from the past, present and possible futures, Post Tenebras Lux repays repeat viewings allowing its myriad ideas to slowly rise to the fore. What lingers long after viewing are not only the more striking images, but also the subtler aspects of family life, the tender fragility of childhood and marriage, and the beautifully haunting representations of nature.



Post Tenebras Lux will be released on DVD and Blu Ray in UK&Ireland on 22 July starring Adolfo Jiménez Castro.

Pre-Order/Buy:Post Tenebras Lux On DVD / Blu-ray

West Of Memphis DVD Review

West of Memphis is the 4th documentary on the subject of the West Memphis 3. It’s the first that is not part of the Paradise Lost series. Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh funded it though their WingNut film company. It’s sort of a condensed version of the Paradise Lost series which is good thing cause those are all feature length so it’s quite epic in scope.

In case you have been living under a rock; the West Memphis 3 were 3 teenage boys who wrongly accused of “satanic murder” of three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas in 1993. There was very little evidence to point the blame to these boys however they were convicted of the crimes. They also were screwed after Jessie Misskelley (one of the 3 convicted boys) was tricked into doing a false confession due to his borderline mental retardation. They eventually spent over 18 years in federal prison. They were basically convicted because they were goth/metal kids that the locals didn’t like. It also was around the time of the satanic cult panic of the early 90s so it was easy to blame it on satanic cults. They eventually got out after pleading guilty but maintaining their innocence.

The film unlike the Paradise Lost goes into quite a bit to detail on the possible suspect Terry Hobbs. Terry was one of the victims’ stepfather and had a history of violence and is a very shady figure and has a very questionable alibi. Paradise Lost 2 is mostly about Mark Byers (one of the fathers of the murder kids) who for a long time was a the key suspect for WM3 supporters but eventually DNA ruled him out. It does however go though the entire case so people who haven’t seen Paradise Lost will get a good grasp of the case.

The documentary is slightly glossier than the Paradise Lost series probably due to Peter Jackson and Sony’s involvement with the film. This is not a bad thing cause it condenses the story to be easier digested for a casual viewer. It’s overall a extremely well made film about one of the worst miscarriages of justice in the recent memory.

★★★★½

Ian Schultz

Rating: 15
DVD Release Date: 20th May 2013
Director:Amy Berg
Cast: Michael Baden, Mark Byers, Henry Rollins, Holly Ballard

Buy:West of Memphis On DVD [2012]

The Murderer Lives at 21 (L'assassin habite... au 21) Blu-Ray Review

The Murderer Lives at 21 is the debut feature film by legendary French director Henri-Georges Clouzot. He would later make such masterpieces as The Wages of Fear and Les Diabloiques. He was the envy of Alfred Hitchcock who wished he made Les Diabloiques, so much so he commissioned the writers of the source novel to write Vertigo for him.

The basic story of The Murderer Lives at 21 is that murder/thief is stalking the streets of Paris. He leaves a calling card with “Monsieur Durand” at the scene of each crime. The inspector on the case gets a hot tip that he is living at the boarding house at 21 Avenue Junot. He decides to go under cover as a priest to trying to solve the crime and end this terror.

The film is a solid whodunit. It’s no masterpiece but for fans of Clouzot and French crime cinema of the 40s and 50s it’s a welcome re-release. It does however has a great sense of paranoia which certainly reflects the Nazi occupation of France. It does jump from a comedy to noir quite freely which doesn’t quite work but it’s a fascinating film that bridges the gap between French poetic realism and later film noir.

The film has been widely unavailable in Britain or the United States for a long time while most of Clouzot’s other work is widely available. It’s a breath of fresh air that the always reliable Masters of Cinema has released on both blu-ray and dvd with a strong transfer taken from Gaumont’s restoration and some supplementary features.

★★★★1/2

Ian Schultz

Rating: PG
BD/DVD Release Date: 20th May 2013 (UK)
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Cast: Pierre Fresnay,
Buy: Blu-ray / DVD

Anthony Asquith's Underground To Get BFI Release This June

Anthony Asquith's Underground (1928), a subterranean tale of love, jealousy, treachery and murder, evokes the daily life of the average Londoner better than any other film in Britain's silent canon. Restored by the BFI National Archive and following an acclaimed theatrical release in January, the BFI now brings the film to DVD and Blu-ray for the first time on 17 June 2013 in a Dual Format Edition. It is presented with a new orchestral score composed by Neil Brand and performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra; along with five short complementary films and an alternative score by musician/sound recordist Chris Watson

In the late 1920s Asquith, along with Hitchcock, was one of the most audacious young talents in British film and Underground was his own original screenplay. With its scenes of the bustling tube (passenger behaviour is strikingly familiar) and the capital’s parks, double-decker buses, pubs and shabby bedsits, Asquith masterfully balances the light and dark sides of city life, aided by a superb cast of Brian Aherne and Elissa Landi as the nice young lovers and Norah Baring and Cyril McLaglen as their unhappy counterparts

At just 26, Asquith's direction is assured, efficient and spare with some remarkably cinematic flourishes, clearly inspired by contemporary German and Russian filmmaking. It climaxes with a thrilling chase scene across the rooftops of the Lots Road Power Station.

For many years the restoration of Underground presented insurmountable difficulties, but developments in digital technology have enabled the BFI to make a significant improvement to the surviving film elements.

Special features
• Feature presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
• Newly commissioned score by Neil Brand presented in 5.1 and 2.0
• Alternative score by Chris Watson
• The Premier and His Little Son (1909-12, 1 min): previously unseen footage of Anthony Asquith as a child
• A Trip on the Metropolitan Railway (1910, 13 mins, DVD only)
• Scenes at Piccadilly Circus and Hyde Park Corner (1930-32, 6 mins, DVD only)
• Seven More Stations (1948, 12 mins, DVD only): a film about the expansion of the Central Line beyond Stratford
• Under Night Streets (1958, 20 mins): a documentary about the tube's nightshift workers
• Illustrated booklet featuring film notes and new essays by Christian Wolmar and Neil Brand.

Pre-order/buy: Underground (DVD + Blu-ray)

My Neighbor Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies to get a 25th anniversary cinema release

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the release of Studio Ghibli’s acclaimed masterpieces GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES and MY NEIGHBOUR TOTORO, STUDIOCANAL are delighted to announce a nationwide theatrical release with a chance to experience a recreation of the original Japanese double-bill feature that first launched these anime classics. An arresting combination from Studio Ghibli’s founding fathers: Hayao Miyazaki’s MY NEIGHBOUR TOTORO, a lyrical fantasy about benevolent forest spirits and Isao Takahata’s GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES, the heartbreaking tale of two children’s struggle to survive their firebombed city in World War 2, were launched together in 1988, showcasing the breadth of the anime powerhouse’s range of vision. Seemingly almost polar opposites in subject matter, Miyazaki’s gentle fable and Takahata’s grittier wartime adaptation both perfectly encapsulate the studio’s signature motif: its evocation of the wonder and innocence of childhood with their leading young protagonists, and showcase perfectly its defining style impressionistic imagery.

GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES
Set in Japan during World War II, GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES focuses on Seita and his little sister Setsuko. After their mother I skilled in an air raid, and with their father serving in the navy, they are forced to fight for survival in the devastated Japanese countryside. Food and shelter are scarce, and even their own relatives are too concerned with their own survival. All they have is each other and their belief that life must carry on. Takahata and his team, including character animator Yoshifumi Kondo, have created a visually stunning and emotionally powerful meditation on the devastating consequences of war.


MY NEIGHBOUR TOTORO [read our blu-ray review]
While their mother recovers from an illness, Satsuki and her little sister Mei get away from it all in an idyllic rural retreat. Far from the bustle of the city, they discover a mysterious place of spirits and magic, and the friendship of the Totoro woodland creatures. Conceived as a family film devoid of conflict and suffused with the joy of country living, MY NEIGHBOUR TOTOR is a masterpiece for the whole family, uniting the unique vision of Hayao Miyazaki with a feel-good tale of childlike wonder and true originality



Grave Of The Fireflies and My Neighbour Totoro will be released in UK cinemas from next Friday 24th May.

Pre-Production Begins on Michigan Film, Papou

Mother and Midwife Pictures is currently underway with pre-production on its feature length film, Papou. Starring international screen actor Yorgo Voyagis (Zorba the Greek) and Evan Kole (The Avengers), this unique tale of an imaginative young boy and his sickly grandfather has been the recipient of over $51,000 on a Kickstarter fundraiser, almost $55,000 in potential Michigan Film and Digital Media Incentive rebates, and numerous press acknowledgments.

The film is being produced by film industry veterans Michael Sinanis and Christos Moisides and directed by 24-year-old first time feature film director Michael Angelo Zervos. Zervos, who penned the story himself, states that his "intention is to create a film that does more than entertain for a day. The importance of the ability to captivate an audience doesn't end when the film ends. The film must create conversation that lasts into the future. It must engage on an emotional and intellectual level."

The film's large cast of local, national, and international talent took several months to gather. Zervos states that he went through hundreds of children for the lead role alone, finally settling on him after being impressed with his ability to think quickly on his feet and energetic vibrancy. "Working with children can be challenging," Zervos admits, "but the challenges are offset by the great reward on screen. Children can have a natural innocence that is magnetic to an audience and I think Evan is rife with this power."

As promotion for the film, the production company has hosted a Facebook application on its fan page called "Your Papou Story". This application features dozens of real life memories and stories about grandfathers submitted from around the world by fans of the film. The story with the most "likes" on Facebook by the month of June will receive movie related prizes.

The film is set to shoot in the Metro-Detroit area beginning in July. The production company is still accepting applications for extra roles more info here

V/H/S 2 Is A Sea Of Blood In New Red-Band Trailer

They may not be the most popular type of films critically but amongst genre fans especially horror fans, anthology films. Now the best of the bunch V/H/S surprised many with its consistency and now a full red band trailer for the S-VHS now called V/H/S 2 has been released  looks like will exceed all expectations.

I just recently watched the first film I was impressed and if you where , V/H.S 2 looks like it ill deliver the goods once more. Plenty of blood, guts, gore and mayhem. It looks like they will follow the same concept unsuspecting people this time private investigators searching for missing student and they come across a set of VHS tapes. When they switch the tapes on what they find is an number of horrific footage which suggests the missing student might be involved in something a lot more darker and disturbing.

Whilst the trailer doesn't reveal much on the plotlines or individual stories what we get is what we can expect in scares, explosions and unexpected frights.the directors scaring us this time are Simon Barrett (V/H/S), Adam Wingard (You’re Next), Jason Eisener (Hobo With a Shotgun), Gareth Evans (The Raid), Timo Tjahjanto (The ABCs of Death), Gregg Hale and Eduardo Sánchez (The Blair Witch Project).




No word on a UK release date but don't be surprise if V/H/S 2 will make it's UK premier at Edinburgh Film Festival next month if not Film4 London Frightfest in August. American horrorphiles can catch the film on 6th June on VOD or 12th July at a cinema near you.

source: Yahoo

Silent Film Great F.W. Murnau's TABU The Latest Edition To Masters Of Cinema

Tabu: A Story of The South Seas , considered one of the greatest films of the silent era, will be released as part of Eureka Entertainment’s MASTERS OF CINEMA series on Blu-ray and DVD on 17 June 2013.

Eureka Entertainment have announced that they will be releasing Tabu: A Story of The South Seas, the final film by one of the greatest of all filmmakers, F. W. Murnau (Nosferatu, Sunrise). In an updated edition of one of the great classics in the Masters of Cinema series, the film will be appearing for the first time ever in its proper 1.19:1 original aspect ratio on both the Blu-ray and DVD, and in an HD 1080p transfer on the Blu-ray. Featuring copious special features including a 15-minute making-of documentary, a full-length audio commentary track on the feature, newly presented outtakes from the original shoot of the film, and a 56-page booklet with original writing by the principals, essays, rare imagery, and more. Tabu: A Story of The South Seas will be released on DVD & Blu-ray as part of the Masters of Cinema series on 17 June 2013.

“a touching and poetic story of ill-starred love” – The Guardian

In 1929, F. W. Murnau (Nosferatu, Faust, Sunrise), one of the greatest of all film directors, invited leading documentarist Robert Flaherty (Nanook of the North, Man of Aran) to collaborate on a film to be be shot on location in Tahiti, a Polynesian idyll in which Murnau imagined a cast of island actors would provide a new form of authentic drama and offer rare insight into their “primitive” culture. The result of their collaboration was Tabu, a film that depicts the details of indigenous island life to tell a mythical tale that is rich in the universal themes of desire and loss.

Subtitled "A Story of the South Seas", Tabu concerns a Tahitian fisherman (played by an islander, Matahi) and his love for a young woman (played by fellow islander Reri, who went on to star on Broadway) whose body has been consecrated to the gods, rendering her tabu as far as mortal men are concerned. The lovers flee their island and its restrictive traditions, but will their love prevail in the "civilised" world?

This Oscar-winning film (the Academy Award went to cinematographer Floyd Crosby) is both poetic and simple in tone. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present – completely unc­ensored and fully restored – this landmark film of rare exoticism and magical beauty, described by critic Lotte Eisner in 1931 as "the apogee of the art of the silent film", for the first time ever on Blu-ray in its original aspect ratio.

SPECIAL BLU-RAY AND DVD EDITIONS

• New 1080p HD transfer on the Blu-ray of the Murnau-Stiftung / Luciano Berriatúa 75th anniversary restoration of the pre-Paramount, longer Murnau-approved version of the film, with uncensored scenes and titlecards, appearing in its original 1.19:1 aspect ratio for the first time

• Full-length commentary track by R. Dixon Smith and Brad Stevens.

• 15-minute German documentary about Tabu by Luciano Berriatúa.

• Newly presented outtakes from the original shoot of the film

• Treibjagd in der Südsee (1940) - an archival short film

• 56-PAGE BOOKLET with articles by Scott Eyman, Richard Griffiths, and David Flaherty; an interview with the film’s cinematographer Floyd Crosby; and the original story treatments written by Murnau and Flaherty for Tabu and its aborted predecessor Turia.

Pre-order/Buy Tabu-A Story of The South Seas:DVD