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OnVideo's Weekly Guide to Home Video Releases
The 3rd Guest: Still mourning the loss of their daughter, two former lovers encounter her when they go on a ghost-hunting expedition. (DVD release: Day & date)
Those Who Call: When their car breaks down in an abandoned old town on a road trip to Colorado, two sisters soon realize things aren’t what they seem, and they aren’t alone in the forest. They find themselves being hunted by a sadistic pagan cult and must do everything in their power to survive. (Digital only)
Night of the Bastard: Disgruntled hermit Reed lives a solitary life in the desert but after chasing away a group of youths trying to party near his home, his peaceful life is violently upheaved when a goup of savage cultists lay siege to his house. (Digital, VOD only)
Alex’s War
(2022) Who is Alex Jones? Looking past caricature and propaganda, this documentary is a searching and human character study of one of America’s most infamous, charismatic, and divisive public figures. Director Alex Lee Moyer draws from Jones’s first ever independent long-form biographical interviews, behind-the-scenes footage from his studio and rallies, and full access to the Infowars archives to trace his 25 year rollercoaster of a career. Formats: DVD. (Play Nice/CAV Distributing).
Dragons Forever
(1988 -- Hong Kong) Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Pauline Yeung. Hotshot lawyer Jackie Lung (Jackie Chan) is hired to defend the owner of a factory which, unbeknownst to him, is the center of a clandestine narcotics syndicate. He enlists resourceful acquaintances Wong Fei-Hung
The Dunwich Horror
(1970) Riding high on their successful adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe, Roger Corman and American International Pictures took on that other titan of literary terror, H.P Lovecraft. Dean Stockwell stars as Wilbur Whateley, a mysterious young man who travels from the small town of
Piggy
(2022 -- Spain) With the summer sun beating down on her rural Spanish town, Sara hides away in her parent’s butcher shop. A teenager whose excess weight makes her the target of incessant bullying, she flees a clique of capricious girls who torment her at the town pool, only to stumble upon them being brutally kidnapped by a stranger, who drives off with them in his van. When the police begin asking questions, Sara keeps quiet. Intrigued by the stranger — an interest that’s mutual — she’s torn between revealing the truth and protecting the man who saved her. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray, VOD, Digital. (Magnolia Home Entertainment Magnet Label). Read more here
The 3rd Guest
(2022) Nikki Kris, Matthew Clark, Clint Carmichael, Joseph Lopez, Logan Laurel, Andrea M. Anderson. Evie Kenneth (Kris) is talented, driven, and consumed with work until the unthinkable happens – her daughter dies suddenly. After burying her daughter, Evie turns to a former lover, Hart (Clark) for comfort. He decides to take Evie with him on a ghost-hunting assignment that turns into a nightmare, when real paranormal events occur and the two must fight for their lives to survive from these unseen force.
Formats: DVD, VOD. (Indican Pictures). Read more here
She Said
(2022) Based on the bombshell New York Times investigation, the film follows the remarkable true story of how reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor went from underdogs to inspirations by shattering the silence surrounding sexual assault in Hollywood. Determined to expose the truth many fear to tell, Megan and Jodi’s partnership shakes up the system, empowering courageous women to retake their strength through stories of survival. Vitals: Director: Maria Schrader. Stars: Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan, Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, Jennifer Ehle, Samantha Morton, Ashley Judd.
2021, CC, MPAA rating: R, 129 min., Drama, North American box office gross: $5.285 million, worldwide $11.450 million, Universal.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Code, VOD, Digital.
Extras: "Breaking the Story" behind-the-scenes featurette with journalists Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor; theatrical trailer.
Read more here
January 10
January 13
Being Thunder
(2021) Documentary. Sherenté, a Two Spirit Genderqueer teenager from Rhode Island's Narragansett tribe performs in dance competitions at annual regional powwows of New England tribes. There is no formal rule which prohibits Two Spirit Genderqueer people from competing in a category different from their birth gender. Wearing female fancy shawl regalia, Sherenté dances with joy and beauty. Behind the scenes, tribal leaders manipulate Sherenté's scores or disqualify them outright because of their belief in traditional binary gender roles. Blindsided by ongoing dishonesty and deception, Sherenté continues to perform in spite of insensitive behavior by tribal leaders and others in their community. Sherenté's enduring courage and self-respect are met with an outpouring of support from family, powwow attendees, and fellow competitors.
Formats: DVD, VOD, Digital. (Film Movement).
(Sammo Hung) and Dung Dak-Biu (Yuen Biao) to assist in the case, but loyalties begin to falter when romance blossoms between both sides. Formats: Blu-ray. Extras: Hong Kong Version - 4K restoration of the original Hong Kong version; audio commentary; English Version - 4K restoration of the English versionr, which was commissioned by Golden Harvest for international audiences outside Asia with the classic English dub; Japanese Version - 4K restoration of the Japanese version, which features two extra scenes and an ending with outtakes, with English subtitles; original Hong Kong trailer; original English trailer; outtakes and behind the scenes; deleted scenes; "The Legacy of Dragons Forever"; "The Breaker" featurette on the acting and fighting careers of Billy Chow, who has a memorable role in the film; "Kick Fighter" featurette; more. (88 Films/MVD Entertainment).
Dunwich to the library of the Miskatonic University that holds one of the only copies of the Necronomicon, a legendary book of occult lore that Wilbur hopes to borrow. Graduate student Nancy Wagner (Sandra Dee) falls under his malign influence and travels with him back to his home where Wilbur has plans to use her in a ritual to raise "The Old Ones," cosmic beings from another dimension. But who, or what, is in the locked room at the top of the stairs? And what will happen if they get out? Directed by Daniel Haller, genius art director of numerous Corman classics, this was also the first screenwriting credit for Curtis Hanson, who would later direct the multi award-winning "L.A. Confidential." Newly restored by Arrow Films from the original 35mm camera negative. Formats: Blu-ray. Extras: New audio commentary by Guy Adams and Alexandra Benedict, creators of the audio drama "Arkham County"; "The Door into Dunwich," a new conversation between film historian Stephen R. Bissette and horror author Stephen Laws; "After Summer After Winter," a new interview with science fiction and fantasy writer Ruthanna Emrys; "The Sound of Cosmic Terror," new interview with music historian David Huckvale in which he takes a closer look at Les Baxter’s score for The Dunwich Horror; theatrical trailer; image gallery; reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Luke Preece; FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing by film critics Johnny Mains and Jack Sargeant. (Arrow Video/MVD Entertainment). Read more here.
The Executioner Collection
Fists flurry and blood flows as legendary cult director Teruo Ishii joins forces with martial arts legend Shin'ichi "Sonny" Chiba in this bone-crunching double whammy of classic karate exploitation from Toei. In "The Executioner" (1974) Ryuichi Koga (Chiba) is a descendent of the Koga Ninja school, now earning his living through more nefarious means as a gun for hire. When he is enlisted to take down a drug cartel alongside Hayabusa (Makoto Sato), a disgraced former narcotics detective now operating within the criminal underworld, and renegade Aikido master Sakura (Eiji Go), tensions grow among this three-man team of ne'er-do-wells as each come to question each other's motives. Koga returns in the even more gung-ho follow up, "Karate Inferno" (1974), as the ringmaster of a gang of thieves plotting to steal a priceless jewel from a master criminal. Making its High Definition home-video debut, The Executioner is presented in both its original Japanese-language version and with the English dub track from the 1970s North American release. Formats: Blu-ray. Extras: Brand new audio commentary by Chris Poggiali and Marc Walkow; "Sonny Chiba, Karate King," a 30-minute featurette on the legendary Sonny Chiba, featuring Grady Hendrix, Tom Mes, Chris Poggiali, Marco Joachim and Seiji Anno, from the band Guitar Wolf; original trailers; image galleries; reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Lucas Peverill; FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the films by by Mark Schilling. (Arrow Video/MVD Entertainment). Read more here.
The Gang of Four
(1988 -- France) Intimations of conspiracy hover over a group of actors in this underrated but decidedly major work from New Wave master and former Cahiers du Cinema editor-in-chief Jacques Rivette. Four young women share a house on the outskirts of Paris and study acting under a demanding teacher (Bulle Ogier). Outside class, each is questioned by a mysterious investigator on the trail of a former roommate who may be involved in a criminal enterprise. Rivette’s characteristic preoccupation with the intersections between daily life and performativity creep into every corner of this wholly engrossing mystery, which eventually expands beyond the confines of the film itself. Shot by DP Caroline Champetier ("Holy Motors") in a glorious late-‘80s palette of deep reds, golden yellows, and dark teals, this playful revisiting of his debut "Paris Belongs to Us" launched the second phase of Rivette’s career. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray. (Cohen Film Collection). 
A Haunted Turkish Bath House
(1975 -- Japan) Naomi Tani, Misa Ohara, Taiji Tonoyama,Tomoko Mayama, Terumi Azuma, Kôji Fujiyama, Kôji Fujiyama, Sami Suzuki. Features Nikkatsu star Naomi Tani as an abused wife sold to a brothel to cover her husband’s debts. The deceitful husband is actually behind it all, in cahoots with the brothel madame, who is his lover. Tani discovers the truth and gets tortured to death. However, the dead woman’s soul seeks vengeance from a most unusual quarter. The film is a bizarre mixture of Japanese erotica, gangster film and “ghost cat” horror movie, all popular genres in the 1960s and 70s. Formats: Blu-ray. Extras: Interview with Patrick Macias, author of "TokyoScope: The Japanese Cult Film Companion"; introduction to Toei horror films by Patrick Macias; audio commentary from Samm Deighan; trailers. (Mondo Macabro). 
House of Terrors
(1965 -- Japan) Kô Nishimura, Yûko Kusunoki, Harold Conway, Shinjirô Ebara, Masumi Harukawa, Yoko Hayama, Kazuo Katô, Takeshi Katô. A rare Jaoanese gothic horror film making its Blu-ray debut. A recently widowed woman discovers that her former husband, who died in an insane asylum, owned a remote country mansion. She and a group of friends go to the villa and find a weird demonic statue in the hallway. They are joined by a hunchback caretaker who tells them of the numerous murders that have occurred there. Soon the guests begin to hear strange noises including disembodied laughter, and feel that they are being stalked by a disturbing presence that haunts the mansion. Formats: Blu-ray. Extras: Introduction to the film by Patrick Macias, author of "TokyoScope: The Japanese Cult Film Companion"; audio commentary from Tom Mes; Patrick Macias on Toei horror films; trailer.
(Mondo Macabro).
Imitation of Life
(1934) Melodrama master John M. Stahl brings his exquisite restraint and almost spiritually pure visual style to this devastating, enduringly relevant story of mothers and daughters. "Imitation of Life" explores the friendship between two struggling single mothers: one (Claudette Colbert) a working-class white woman who ascends to the top of the business world, the other (Louise Beavers) her Black housekeeper, whose life is shattered by the rejection of her rebellious, white-passing daughter (Fredi Washington). It is this latter relationship — attuned to America’s bitter racial realities and heartbreakingly enacted by trailblazing Black performers Beavers and Washington — that lends the film its transcendent emotional power. This first adaptation of Fannie Hurst’s best-selling novel boldly confronts the complexities and contradictions of racial identity, economic exploitation, and the limits of the American dream. 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray. Extras: Read more here. (The Criterion Collection).
In the Folds of the Flesh
(1971 -- Italy/Spain) Eleonora Rossi Drago, Pier Angeli, Fernando Sancho, Alfredo Mayo, Emilio Gutiérrez Caba, Maria Rosa Sclauzero. Night-time, a peal of thunder, a castle by the sea, a severed head rolls across a carpeted floor, a blood-stained sword lies next to it. Meanwhile police are in hot pursuit of a criminal who is evading capture on a speeding motorbike. He takes refuge in the overgrown castle grounds, and he sees a dark-haired woman burying a corpse in a shallow grave. 13 years later, after being recaptured and serving his sentence, the man returns to the castle, intent on blackmail, and maybe a few other things. This only covers the first few minutes of this wild psychedelic nightmare. Frequently described as one of the craziest of all Italian “giallo” thrillers, "In the Folds of the Flesh" is all that and more. Several dismembered heads are featured. Visitors arrive at the castle, only to be murdered in a variety of gruesome ways. Characters turn out not to be who they said they were. Incest, madness, flashbacks, Etruscan skeletons and even a Nazi death camp are all woven into the fabric of the film. Formats: Blu-ray. Extras: Documentary featurette on director Sergio Bergonzelli; audio commentary from Samm Deighan; trailers. (Mondo Macabro).
She Said
(2022) New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor break one of the most important stories in a generation - a story that helped ignite a movement and shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Code, VOD, Digital.
Extras: "Breaking the Story" behind-the-scenes featurette with journalists Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor; theatrical trailer. (Universal).
Read more here
200 Meters
(2020 -- Palestine) Mustafa, a Palestinian construction worker, lives in a West Bank home a mere 200 meters away from his wife and children, on the other side of the Israeli border wall. Though eligible for an Israeli ID, Mustafa sacrifices living with his family in resistance to what he believes are unjust laws enforced by the occupying Israeli government, so he instead uses his work permit to visit daily. The arrangement is functional, until one day Mustafa gets a call every parent dreads: his son has been seriously injured and brought to an Israeli hospital. Rushing to cross the border checkpoint, Mustafa is denied on a technicality. Stopping at nothing to reach his child, a 200 meter distance becomes a 200 kilometer odyssey, as the increasingly desperate Mustafa attempts to smuggle himself to the other side of the wall. An impressive feature debut by writer-director Ameen Neyfeh that expertly balances tender family drama and frenetic political thriller.
Formats: DVD, VOD, Digital. Extras:
Commentary with director Ameen Neyfeh. (Film Movement).
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January 8, 2023
(ISSN 1094-3676).
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