The Comfort of Strangers (1990) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection, DVD9 and Blu-Ray BFI

Adapting the acclaimed novel by Ian McEwan, playwright and screenwriter Harold Pinter lends his trademark unnerving dialogue and air of creeping menace to this spellbinding study of power, control, and the frighteningly thin line between pleasure and pain.

Colin (Everett) and Mary (Richardson) are second-honeymooning in Venice, warily striving to repair the fissures in their stale relationship. A seemingly fortuitous encounter with the aristocratic Robert (Walken) bemuses them, his evident hospitality sitting uneasily with his unusually frank questions and confessions. But the suave tale-spinner also catalyses what remains of the couple's sexual feelings for each other, and as if mesmerised, they return to the palazzo he shares with his submissive wife (Mirren), only half oblivious to the dangers awaiting them...

Director: Paul Schrader
Cast: Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett, Natasha Richardson, Helen Mirren
Country: USA, Italy, UK
Genre: Drama, Thriller
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Reflections of Evil (2002) 2 x DVD5

Now, there are cult movies and then there are CULT movies. There are movies that gradually find exposure and a dedicated audience. There are movies that barely make a whimper initially and take years to catch on. And, there are movies so notorious and/or scarce they become the stuff of back alley legend.
Damon Packard's Reflections of Evil (2002) may be the first modern, digital equivalent of the underground cult film.

Bob (played by Packard himself) is an obese, sugar addicted, quite possibly insane, street seller of cheap watches. He still lives with his mother, who despite her henpecking complains cannot control her weird son. Given to Tourretes-like screaming fits and gorging himself on sweets, Bob is a seeming magnet for violence, be it from random pedestrians, homeless people, or dogs that assault him as he walks around LA.

Flashbacks to 1971 reveal Bob as a kid with his mother and sister, Julie (Nicole Vanderhoff), taking a Universal Studios tour. Julie gets off the tram, wanders around the backlot, and stumbles upon a young Steven Spielberg making his first film Something Evil. She then meets the Golden Guru and his followers who entice her with drugs. After what can only be described as a 2001ish psychedelic nightmare, she apparently OD's and is sent into the afterlife where her ghostly spirit wanders. And, eventually, we come to find she is looking for Bob.

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Die Russen kommen / The Russians Are Coming (1987), Karriere / Career (1971) DVD9 + DVD5 Edition Filmmuseum 107

In The Russians Are Coming, director Heiner Carow and screenwriter Claus Kuchenmeister tell the story of the final days of World War II from the perspective of a member of the Hitler youth. For this boy, an ardent devotee of National Socialism, the day that will later become known as "Liberation Day" in the GDR brings about the collapse of his entire world.

Originally included in the DEFA production schedule in 1966 as a reserve entry for the forthcoming 50th anniversary of the October Revolution in 1967, the almost-finished film was aborted in 1968. It would not be completed until 1987. A DEFA film about fascism without an anti-fascist hero would have been unusual at any time, but The Russians Are Coming strayed too far from the dominant narrative and was inopportune.

This double DVD presents a new, restored version of the film and allows viewers their first ever opportunity to compare it with Career (1971), in which Heiner Carow made use of parts of the unreleased material from The Russians Are Coming.

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The Complete Fritz Lang Mabuse Box Set: Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler / Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922), Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse / The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933), Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse / The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960) 4 x DVD9 Eureka – Masters of Cinema

With two great bodies of work, the first in the German silent era, the other in Hollywood talkies, Lang (1890-1976) bestrides the history of cinema, arguably the most original, innovative and influential figure in film history. He virtually invented several movie genres, including the paranoid conspiracy thriller, and running through his oeuvre over three decades is the mysterious figure of the megalomaniac criminal genius, Dr Mabuse, who reflected the madness of the 20th century and its possessed leaders.

This superbly produced four-disc set in Eureka's Master of Cinema series features his three very different takes on Mabuse: the five-hour Dr Mabuse, The Gambler (1922), one of the masterpieces of silent cinema which captured the malaise of the Weimar Republic; The Testament of Dr Mabuse (1933), which targeted the ascendancy of Nazism and was his last German film before going into exile; and The 1,000 Eyes of Dr Mabuse (1960), his final movie, reflecting his thoughts on the new Germany and the cold war.

4xDVD9 | PAL | 495 minutes | 26.5 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Deutsch
Subtitles: English
Genre: Crime, Horror, Mystery, Thriller

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Marriage Story (2019) 2 x DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

Marriage Story charts the dissolution of one married couple's (Adam Driver's Charlie and Scarlett Johansson's Nicole) relationship virtually from start to finish, as filmmaker Noah Baumbach follows the protagonists through the minutia of modern-day divorce and its myriad of humiliations and complications.

The film opens in a therapist's office, where Charlie and Nicole have each written down what they love about the other. Charlie reads his touching letter aloud, but Nicole refuses before storming out of the office. Before the instant turmoil, Charlie and Nicole lived in New York City with their young son, Henry (Azhy Robertson). Charlie directs experimental plays, usually starring Nicole, who was previously a teenage movie star. She is offered a starring role in a television pilot in Los Angeles and takes Henry to live with her mother, Sandra (Julie Hagerty), who has a special relationship with Charlie. The move is supposed to be temporary, but when Charlie arrives, he realizes Nicole is laying down roots in California. Pushed by Nicole, Charlie agrees to split amicably and forego hiring divorce attorneys. This changes when Nicole hires an experienced litigator, Nora Fanshaw (Dern), to handle the legal separation. As the case heads to court, the couple also must wade through feelings of betrayal, neglect and resentment, while saving face for young Henry.

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Breve Antologia Della Pittura Italiana (2006) 8 x DVD

Italian Art from 1200 to 1900. The life and works of 94 Italian famous painters from the 13th to the 20th century in a unique multimedia work of its kind.

22 hours of movies and documentaries from the Archive of the Istituto Luce, 1200 photographies, artists' biographies and interactive menus which create a great work.

8xDVD | PAL 4:3 | 1320 minutes | 51.6 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Italiano
Subtitles: English, Italiano
Genre: Documentary

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Madhouse / There Was a Little Girl (1981) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Arrow Films

Julia, a young teacher for deaf children living in Savannah, Georgia. Julia has horrid memories of her childhood, which was scarred by her sadistic twin sister Mary. At the urging of her uncle, Father James, Julia visits Mary, suffering from a severe skin disease, in a mental institution. The meet does not go well, and Mary vows to make Julia "suffer as she had suffered". As their mutual birthday approaches, several of Julia's friends and neighbors begin to die gruesome deaths, some of which committed by a mysterious Rottweiler dog that has some sort of connection to Mary. But is Mary really the killer?

A member of the Video Nasties library and banned for several years, Ovidio Assonitis' Madhouse (1981) is now getting the deluxe Blu-ray treatment from Arrow in this must-see release for fans of slasher cinema. Twisted, disturbing, and brutal this is definitely a fierce film and is on par with that of a Dario Argento film and other Italian horror films of the time.

BD50, DVD9 | 1080p AVC, NTSC | 01:33:20 | 40.6 Gb + 6.93 Gb
Language: English
Subtitles: English

Director: Ovidio G. Assonitis (as Oliver Hellman)
Cast: Patricia Mickey, Michael MacRae, Dennis Robertson
Country: Italy
Genre: Horror
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