Kino Lorber in January

Hi, gang. You remember what the deal is here, right? Kino Lorber: arthouse releaser, repertory distributor, source of films both foreign and grindhouse. Good stuff coming in January. Of the 28 releases coming from the venerable label, here are a few of my picks.

January 5

I know "Savage Streets" only as a rad-looking title on a shelf I wasn't allowed to browse in my mom's video store back in the 90s. So here's my chance to grab it IN WIDESCREEN! ON BLU-RAY!!! How's that for a lil' slice of fried gold? This 1984 revenge actioner (three words that work extremely well together) stars Linda Blair in a skintight suit, Linnea Quigley as her deaf-mute sister, John Vernon as what I assume is some sort of hard-assed authority figure, and 80s generic baddie Robert Dryer. Code Red really breaks out the extras on this one: three separate commentary tracks, a fat grip of interviews with most of the key cast and crew, an isolated music track of the John D'Andrea/Michael Lloyd score, an intro from Kat of Kat's Scratch Cinema, all on an all-region disc. While I still love the artwork on the 2014 Ronin Trax release, giving it up is a small price to pay for what I expect to be the very best film to spend money on the first week of January...

...although Code Red's reissue of 1975's "The Black Gestapo", had it not been a reissue, might have given it a run for its money. Also known as "Black Enforcers", "Ghetto Warriors", and the only film Mrs. Ape will not allow me to hang a poster up for, this was one of the final films from one of my favorite sleazemongers, Lee Frost. It's a pretty rad take on blaxploitation and community empowerment: when the Mafia tries to move in to Watts, a local Black Panthers-esque organization is forced to choose between its original mission and a more-fascist approach. It's been out of print for a hot minute, but now "Black Gestapo" is back, featuring its 2015 2K master and commentary featuring Charles Robinson and Rob Perry. Fun note: Donald Trump once watched this and thought it was a Black Lives Matter documentary.

January 12

Typically, I wouldn't shout out a DVD edition of a five-year-old Blu-ray release of a 70-year-old movie, but, fuck it, it's my blog, and some of y'all might want to save some bread. Cohen Media Group is kicking out a $20 edition of 1952's "Sudden Fear", a fantastic noir thriller originally released by RKO Pictures. It earned four Oscar noms, including for leads Joan Crawford and Jack Palance, cinematographer Charles Lang, and costumer Sheila O'Brien. This is one my granddad showed me back in the day after we went to see "City Slickers". "Ape, m'boy," he said. "Ya want ta see Curly really get mean?" I really didn't, but it's probably one of the first noirs I'd ever seen, so it stuck with me. It has the same 2K restoration as the 2016 Blu-ray release, the same commentary from Jeremy Arnold; it's just on DVD now, and costs $15 less. So save yourself a few bucks, or get an extra movie. Treat yourself: we have no clue how this year's going to turn out.

If you've never seen it before, think of "Buried Alive" as a gender swapped "Sudden Fear". It matters because it's Frank Darabont's directorial debut, originally airing on the USA Network back in 1990. It stars Otter, Amy Archer, and Walter Peck, who I can confirm has no dick. Mark Patrick Carducci, who wrote "Pumpkinhead" and "Neon Maniacs", contributed the teleplay. And if it seems like I'm lacking in details or enthusiasm here, I assure you that I spent it all on coming up with an appropriate "Ghostbusters" reference for William Atherton, who gets interviewed on the disc of this 2K restoration. Apparently there's a sequel, but KL Studio Classics isn't putting that one out...yet.

It's time for another Code Red reissue: this time, the Italo horror-sleaze classic "The Devil's Wedding Night" ("Il plenilunio delle vergini"). I guarantee anything involving Joe d'Amato will be visual in nature. Directed by Luigi Batzelli (as Paul Solvay), and starring Rosalba Neri as a Lady Dracula/Elisabeth Bathory-type, this is a 1973 Italian knockoff of a later-period Hammer vampire movie. Which means, for readers of this blog, that you'll probably dig it if you haven't seen it before. The Kino store clearly points out that this release features the US cut of "Wedding Night"; I can't be arsed to check to see if there's an European X-rated version with hardcore inserts.

January 19

Mrs. Ape and I are typically pretty interested in anything North Korea related, so I think I'll surprise her with Ryan White's newest documentary, 2020s "Assassins". It follows the story of the two women charged and convicted of assassinating Kim Jong-un's half-brother Kim Jong-nam in 2017. Jong-nam was poisoned in Kuala Lumpur International Airport by a pair of women who thought they were on a TV prank show. If that's not enough to draw you in, maybe hearing that White's last docs were "Ask Dr. Ruth" and "The Keepers" series will get your attention. It's his sixth feature in a decade, each of which is both entertainment and informative. And I'm running out of words to write, so let's wrap it up here.

There's also a ton of Fox and MGM "first time of Blu-ray" releases coming in January, as well as a few cool looking documentaries and another in Kino Classics' Forbidden Fruit exploitation series. I'm really regretting not writing something about "Tintorera...Tiger Shark", but we're already several thousand words into this shitshow, so let's leave it at "that's probably something worth looking at". February brings some great reissues (a pair of Sammy Davis Jr. features amongst them), last year's Billie Holiday doc, and a Blu-ray release of "The Kid Stays In The Picture". Come back in 30 for my best Robert Evans impression.

Kino Lorber in December

From "Beasts Clawing At Straws" (Kim Yong-hoon, 2020)

It's the last month of the year, and while the lineup coming this month from the folks at Kino Lorber is a bit on the light side, there are still some rad titles getting a release in December. I mean, any time that the Barbarian Brothers get a Blu-ray reissue of two of their biggest releases is a good month. There's a bit of everything coming from the Kino family in December; here's a few of my favs.

December 1

I'm not sure what business I had as an 8-year-old watching "D.C. Cab" on HBO, but apparently I did, and it became one of those slumber party movies that always made me laugh, and led to a soft spot for the films of Joel Schumacher. Mr. T was on the poster, ripping a door off a taxi; what kid wouldn't want to see that? It's a cast of "Let's Remember Some Guys": Gary Busey! Marsha Warfield! Irene Cara! Bill Maher! Paul Rodriguez! And the Barbarian Brothers! If memory serves, a group of misfit cabbies have to save a youth center (?) from evil taxi drivers (?). I'm a little fuzzy on that part. It's a killer poster/cover, and I'm sure it's a great way to spend 100 minutes. This Blu-ray releases gets you a commentary track with Scout Tafoya, the theatrical trailer, and eight (8!!!) radio ads, with one en Espanol! Muy bien!

The Barbarian Brothers headline a Cannon Films sword & sorcery flick directed by the man who brought us "Cannibal Holocaust". It can't fail! It turns out, it failed. "The Barbarians" got a DVD release a few years back via Scream Factory; now it receives a Region A Blu-ray release courtesy of Kino Studio Classics. This one got made with Golan/Globus money by Ruggero Deodato, and features a rogue's gallery of B-movie legends: Michael Berryman, George Eastman, and Richard Lynch all show up to kick ass and chew scenery. Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson team up for an all-new commentary track for this newly remastered HD release.

December 8

It's another slumber party classic, 1985's "My Science Project" joins the KSC lineup with a Blu-ray release. I went through this weird period of obsession with rewatching this movie after seeing it in someone's basement during a sleepover; I begged my mom to let me rent it to no avail. I couldn't tell you why. It has a super young Fisher Stevens, playing a greaseball slacker next to John Stockwell. It also features a pre-"Blue Velvet" Dennis Hopper playing a ex-hippie science teacher; I'm pretty sure this is the first time I'd ever experienced him in a movie. Writer/director Jonathan Betuel also wrote "The Last Starfighter", which, unfortunately, didn't keep this early Touchstone Pictures release from getting buried by similar fare during the summer of '85. Mike McPadden from Castle of Horror and Kat Ellinger from Diabolique Magazine handle the commentary duties on this disc, which also features an interview with Fisher Stevens. "My Science Project" is on my short list of science-themed teen movies to introduce my niece to; maybe I'll get her started early.

If you're a fan of Euro-crime, then you immediately pay attention when you see Henry Silva in a credit list. So prepare to perk up for this Blu-ray release of 1974's "Cry Of A Prostitute" ("Quelli che contano") from sleaze merchant Andrea Bianchi. Joseph Brenner brought Bianchi's third film over from Italy in 1976 with the tag line, "For a lousy twenty-five bucks, some people think they can do anything!" And now you know what you're in for. Silva plays a cold-hearted assassin; Barbara Bouchet ("Caliber Nine") is a prostitute turned mob wife as the opposite lead. The print comes from Code Red's 2017 HD remaster, and features both the American alternate opening and the US trailer. This is the sort of film I like to request as a gift from my mom when she wants to buy me something small; otherwise, this will be a good pickup during a sale.

December 15

I've been looking forward to seeing Yong-hoon Kim's debut "Beasts Clawing At Straws" ("지푸라기라도 잡고 싶은 짐승들") since I read a review and saw a trailer earlier this year. Based on a novel by Japanese author Keisuke Sone, what I've experienced so far reminds me a lot of the early Coen Brothers crime films. It's all inept criminals, dirty cops, and a bag of cash found in a sauna. Do-yeon Jeon, star of "Secret Sunshine", leads a cast of well-regarded Korean actors. Every review I've read about "Beasts" has been overwhelmingly positive, the trailer looks dope, that's some good-ass Blu-ray artwork...I'm sold. Sadly, it doesn't look like Artsploitation has provided much in the way of extras, but it's available on both Blu-ray and DVD, and you can cop it on digital via KinoNow. I feel like it's a pretty safe wag.

And that's it for Kino in 2020. No releases for the last two weeks of the year. It makes one sad. Thankfully, there's a MFT of good stuff coming over the first quarter of 2021 that I'm looking forward to. "The Kid Stays In The Picture" on Blu-ray! Reissues of "Devil's Express" and "The Black Gestapo"! Pre-Code James Whale thriller! Deep cut films from Frank Darabont and Joe Carnahan! There's a lot coming; I'm back in 30 to talk a bit about it.

Kino Lorber in November

Mel Gibson as Max in "Mad Max" (George Miller, 1979)

I find myself going back and buying from the folks at Kino Lorber a lot this year. They release and distribute a lot of really interesting genre and indie films, as well as some amazing historical artifacts. They also do a ton of sales, which obviously gets my attention. So I figured it's time to chat a bit about their upcoming releases for November. There are some rad reissues headed our way, along with a few great sounding documentaries.

November 3

I think we'd gotten a promo copy for in-store play of "Discord" sometime back in 1998 when I worked at this bookstore. It grabbed my attention because DJ Spooky was performing on the record, although I knew nothin about the composer. It was my first conscious exposure to Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto; I'd discover later that I'd unknowingly heard his work before via the scores for "The Last Emperor", "Aile De Honnêamise" ("The Wings of Honneamise"), and "Wild Palms". It lead me to check out Yellow Magic Orchestra, "Neo Geo", modern composition in general.

So, obviously, I'd like to see "Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda", Stephen Nomura Schible's 2017 documentary about the Oscar and Grammy winner. Shot in the period between the release of "Three" and "async", "Coda" explores Sakamoto's recovery from cancer, his activism, and his creation of art in the autumn of his life. It sounds cool as hell. Also included is Schible's concert film from 2018, "async at the Park Avenue Armory", featuring one of the first live performances of Sakamoto's most recent studio album.

"Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President" has been running on CNN since early September, and it's no understatement to say it'd be nice to have someone running the executive brand who's into being kind to the world and who likes Bob Dylan. I've yet to watch Mary Wharton's documentary about the 39th President's relationship to rock 'n' roll. But as someone who's always had the highest respect for President Carter, someone from Georgia who grew up listening to Little Feat and the Allman Brothers, and someone who wants desperately to cocoon on Election Day, this seems like a pretty good watch. Wharton previously directed an episode of "American Masters" on Joan Baez back in 2009 that I remember being pretty good, and the work that CNN Films releases is strong, so I feel pretty comfortable suggesting watching this one.

November 10

Kino Studio Classics has been slowly reissuing the films of Clint Eastwood with 2K and 4K restorations, making them must haves if you're a Blu-ray collector. Their latest round features Clint's directing debut, 1971's "Play Misty For Me", along with 1972's "The Beguiled" (Don Siegel) and 1975's "The Eiger Sanction". All three of these are great; "Eiger" is one of those mid-70s Euro thrillers that are imminently watchable, and "The Beguiled" was remade by Sofia Coppola in 2017 to some strong acclaim. In my house, however, we mark out hard for "Misty".

"Misty" freaks me out more than "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or "Halloween". It's one of the movies that make me jump everytime I see it. Mrs. Mallory Archer herself, Jessica Walter, is a perfect foil to Clint's DJ Dave Garver, and Donna Mills is tremendous as the woman caught in the middle. The music is top notch, from Errol Garner's "Misty" serving as title inspiration to cameos from Cannonball Adderly, Johnny Otis, and Joe Zawinul at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Best of all, it was shot in Mrs. Ape's hometown, and was lensed by longtime Eastwood collaborator Bruce Surtees. In short, it's a fantastic Hitchcock homage for Clint's first directorial gig. This has a ton of extras included: a 2K restoration, interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, a making-of documentary. And, HEY! It has an o-card! I'm pretty psyched. Just don't tell the missus: she'll be getting this for her birthday.

November 17

Code Red is one of the KL-distributed imprints, and they are a fount of trashy cinema. A lot of their releases are licensed from overseas, and are pretty bare bones, in terms of extras. I'm actually hyped at this reissue, with new art, of their 2017 release of "So Sweet, So Dead", aka "The Slasher", aka "Rivelazioni di un maniaco sessuale al capo della squadra mobile". Directed by Robert Bianchi Montero, and starring Stewart Granger, this 1972 giallo about a serial killer targeting unfaithful wives was best known in the States for being re-edited as a porno called "Penetration". The change here from the 2017 release is in the title and the cover art, adopting the artwork from the Italian poster. If you copped this a few years back, there's no reason to rebuy. BUT if you don't already own this, and are looking for a tense, well acted horror movie, this is one to snag.

November 24

Zine dorks rejoice! Scott Crawford, whose debut documentary "Salad Days" is a big favorite of mine, is back with a look at Detroit's favorite rock 'n' roll mag, Creem Magazine. CREEM was the champion of the underbelly of pop music throughout the 70s; undercapitalized and geographically separate from the industry scenes in L.A. and New York, it fostered writers like Robert Christgau, Richard Meltzer, and Peter Laughner, and was memorably led by Lester Bangs from 1971 to 1976. If Rolling Stone provided legitimacy to its cover subjects, Creem ensured they'd stay hip.

"CREEM: America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine" has been streaming since the start of COVID-19, but debuts on the 24th with this DVD-only release. Most of the folks you'd expect to see in a doc like this make appearances: Alice Cooper, Wayne Kramer, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley. Musicians like Thurston Moore and Michael Stipe pop in, no doubt to provide the 70s reader perspective. In different hands, this could end up like a VH-1 special from the 90s. But I've seen Crawford at work before, and I'm interested in his take on this writer's paradise.

Finally, a classic I'm sworn to buy every fucking time they reissue it. I've owned no less than a half dozen copies of "Mad Max" over the years: VHS, laserdisc, DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray box set, UMD. Shoot, if I'd ever owned a Beta machine, I'd probably have copped it on Beta. My current watching copy is the Collector's Edition released by Scream Factory a few years back. Kino Studio Classics is releasing the first ever 4K UHD version of George Miller's classic. There's been no mention yet as to any restoration that's been undertaken on the print itself, but, like with that Scream Factory release, we get both the original Aussie soundtrack and American theatrical dub, both in gleaming lossless mono. In fact, it appears that all of the extras from the 2015 Collector's Edition get reprised in this 2020 UHD/Blu-ray combo. The additions? A new interview with George Miller, a "Trailers from Hell" featurette, and new cover art based on the French and American theatrical posters. Like I said above, I took a vow when I was young to support any and all releases of "Mad Max", so, even though I don't currently own an Ultra HDTV or a 4K Blu-ray player, I'll be preordering this bad boy.

Jessica Walter and Clint Eastwood in "Play Misty For Me" (Clint Eastwood, 1971)

This is just a small sample of what Kino Lorber has releasing in November. Between their in-house releases and distributed labels, there are a total of 45 film & TV releases this month. That seems to be pretty typical for them. As with the other video houses I write about, I suggest buying direct, because they always seem to offer better discounts than anywhere else in the world, and their free shipping threshold is $50. They also get new releases in my hands anywhere from three to 10 days before the street date, which is nice as hell. So, you know, check 'em out.

"Def-Con 4" coming to Region A Blu-ray

It's difficult, at times, to keep up with the various new release titles that the fine folks at Kino Lorber are releasing or distributing. After all, they have (...checks notes...) 89 new titles coming out over the next nine weeks. But when a crucial title from my youth hits the "coming soon" slate, it tends to stand out.

1985's "Def-Con 4" is what I think of when I remember the heyday of video stores and VHS. There was a one-sheet hanging in a frame in the video store my mom managed that, at the age of 7, had everything my mind was looking for. There was a dead astronaut, a derelict satellite, killer tag lines. It was the tail end of the Cold War, and the Strategic Defense Initiative looked like a reality, so it just grabbed hold of me. I didn't know it at the time, but the poster artist, Rudy Obrero, was also responsible for some of the box art for Mattel's "Masters of the Universe" line. It made sense that I'd be obsessed. I recently ordered that same poster for the New World Pictures home release; it's an indelible part of my childhood that lives on beyond the reputation of a cruddy B-movie.

Now, the folks at Arrow UK released their own Region B Blu-ray in 2019, chock full of the kind of features that has them high on everyone's list of reissue labels. But not everyone has an all-region player, so it's nice to see that the folks at Scorpion Releasing are putting their own version out September 15. Per their Facebook page, it'll have most of the same features as the Arrow UK release. We'll get the same 2K transfer, a new interview with the film's composer, a lossless soundtrack, trailers, and brand new illustrations on the cover. I love the jankyness of that cover. All that said, I'll take full advantage of the reversible cover, and go back to that infamous Obrero artwork.

Click here to preorder from Kino Lorber. "Def-Con 4" on Blu-ray releases September 15, but the gang at Kino Lorber tends to ship preorders a bit early.

What didja buy?: Kino Lorber May edition

Y'all know I'm a big DVD collector (in addition to record, toy, book, and debt). I've been picking up a lot of Kino Lorber's back catalog recently. I've followed Kino Classics for years, but the quality of recent releases on KL Studio Classics has been really strong, and they're almost single-handedly keeping a lot of underseen films from the 50s through 90s available on physical media. Their website regularly runs sales, including a big one in May, which is how I ended up with a fat stack of new DVDs and Blu-rays that arrived earlier this week.

The title that drew me in to making an order was the KL Studio Classics release of 1972's "ZPG: Zero Population Growth". I'm a big consumer of dystopian cinema, and, man, is this a dark movie! Oliver Reed, Geraldine Chaplin, and their bangs star as a futuristic married couple, living in relative privilege on an overcrowded Earth, who have to hide the fact she's pregnant. There are a ton of super-creepy touches to really drive home how terrible everything is: Geraldine Chaplin's character contemplates hitting the "Abortion" button in her bathroom, their Christmas tree is straight out of "A Charlie Brown Christmas", people queue up to watch others eat in a restaurant. And, yet, there were probably a half dozen times during the movie where I thought, "Yeah, that could happen." This was the first movie directed by Michael Campus, who helmed a handful of really distinctive films in the early and mid 70s. Normally, this retails for $29.95; I snagged it for $9.49.

I also grabbed a copy of "Foxes", original released in 1980. I'd heard the score when I went through a big Giorgio Moroder phase (that hasn't ended yet), and I figured it'd fit well in between my copies of "Ladies & Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains" and "Little Darlings". This was one of Jodie Foster's last movies as a child actor, as well as the first movie for both Laura Dern and Cherie Currie. There's not a ton about this to say; it's just one of those late 70s/early 80s films where the teenaged leads are actually allowed to act like teenagers. This was also Adrian Lyne's debut as a feature director, before he'd go on to make "Flashdance", "Fatal Attraction", and "Jacob's Ladder". The soundtrack is just as good as I remember it, with Moroder's score really capturing the era and setting in 1979's San Fernando Valley. I snagged the DVD for $9.99, down from $19.95.

I haven't watched it yet, but I know it by reputation, and I've started watching more "killer animal" movies during the quarantine. So when I saw that the Scorpion Releasing Blu-ray of "Grizzly" was part of the sale, I had to have it! Director William Girdler had a hell of a run in the 70s making a wide range of exploitation movies before dying in 1978. While I really love "Day of the Animals", all recommendations point to this being even better. While mine didn't come with the killer slipcase, it did come at the low, low price of $8.99. So I guess I can live without the slipcase.

I took a wag on the Code Red release of "In The Aftermath". Like I said in the beginning, I like dystopian movies, and their sibling, the post-apocalyptic film. The cover of this one reminded me of the poster for "DEFCON-4". So this seemed like a decent bet. This was definitely worth the $6.99 I spent. "In The Aftermath" takes the Mamoru Oshii OVA "天使のたまご" ("Angel's Egg"), repurposes the animated footage, and combines it with newly-shot live action to create one of the better post-apocalyptic arthouse movies I've seen. I mean, it's weird, and low budget, and the acting isn't great, but it's a clever and watchable first movie by Corman disciple Carl Colpaert. This DVD copy is super bare-bones compared to last year's Arrow US Blu-ray release, but, again, it was $6.99. Totally worth it.

The one purchase that wasn't part of the sale is Kino Classics' Ultimate Edition of "The Blue Angel" ("Der blaue Engle"). I've had my eye on it for a while, and seeing it available for $23.97 was all the excuse I needed to pick it up. 2018's Josef von Sternberg/Marlene Dietrich box set from Criterion really piqued my interest in early Dietrich. It was her first sound film, and her first of seven films directed by Sternberg. It also co-stars Emil Jannings, whose fictional portrayal in "Inglorious Basterds" is one of my favorite throwaway references. This version is super cool because it has both the original German language version and the English language version, which had been shot concurrently, but thought to be lost. The featurette comparing the two versions is really enlightening, and there are a ton of Dietrich-focused extras left to watch. Dietrich is overwhelmingly beautiful here, and even 90 years after its release, this is a really great watch.

I woke up on the 1st to discover that the sale had been extended into this month. There's some great stuff included in the sale, and, with the exception of "Grizzly", all of these are available. It won't be a surprise if I go back for another pass.