Film Buff Friday: Basket Case

What's in the basket...???

BASKET CASE - LIMITED EDITION [Blu-ray] (2/27)

THE TENANT IN ROOM 7 IS VERY SMALL, VERY TWISTED, AND VERY MAD.

The feature debut of director Frank Henenlotter (Brain Damage, Frankenhooker), 1982's Basket Case is perhaps his most revered - a riotous and blood-spattered midnight movie experience, now immortalized in a lavish new 4K restoration by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

Duane Bradley is a pretty ordinary guy. His formerly conjoined twin Belial, on the other hand, is a deformed, fleshy lump whom he carries around in a wicker basket. Arriving in the Big Apple and taking up a room at the seedy Hotel Broslin, the pair set about hunting down and butchering the surgeons responsible for their separation. But tensions flare up when Duane starts spending time with a pretty blonde secretary, and Belial's homicidal tendencies reach bloody new extremes.

Filmed on a shoestring budget against the backdrop of 1980s New York (where the movie would become a staple of the infamous 42nd Street grindhouse circuit), Basket Case has clawed its way from its humble origins to become one of the most celebrated cult movies of all time.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

* Presented from a brand new 4K restoration from the original 16mm negative by MoMA

* High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation

* Original Uncompressed Mono Audio

* Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

* Brand new audio commentary with writer/director Frank Henenlotter and star Kevin Van Hentenryck

* Basket Case 3-1/2: An Interview with Duane Bradley - Frank Henenlotter revisits Duane Bradley decades after the events of the original Basket Case

* Seeing Double: The Basket Case Twins - a brand new interview with Florence and Maryellen Schultz, the twin nurses from Basket Case

* Brand new making-of featurette containing new interviews with producer Edgar Ievins, casting person/actress Ilze Balodis, associate producer/effects artist Ugis Nigals and Belial performer Kika Nigals

* Blood, BASKET and Beyond - a brand new interview with actress Beverly Bonner

* Belial Goes to the Drive-In - a brand new interview with film critic Joe Bob Briggs

* Outtakes Featurette

* In Search of the Hotel Broslin - archive location featurette

* Slash of the Knife (1972) - short film by Frank Henenlotter

* Belial's Dream (2017, 5 mins) - brand new Basket Case-inspired animated short by filmmaker Robert Morgan

* Behind-the-scenes of Belial's Dream

* Trailers, TV Spots and Radio Spots

* Extensive Still Galleries

* Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sara Deck

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector's booklet with new writing on the film by Michael Gingold

Order on MVDshop.com or Amazon

Film Buff Friday: "The Apartment"

Jack Lemmon & Shirley MacLaine
The Apartment

The Academy Award Winner for Best Picture, Directed by the great Billy Wilder

The Apartment - Limited Edition (12/26) In 1960, following on from the success of their collaboration on Some Like it Hot, director Billy Wilder (Ace in the Hole, Sunset Boulevard) reteamed with actor Jack Lemmon (The Odd Couple, Glengarry Glen Ross) for what many consider the pinnacle of their respective careers: The Apartment. C.C. "Bud" Baxter (Lemmon) is a lowly Manhattan office drone with a lucrative sideline in renting out his apartment to adulterous company bosses and their mistresses. When Bud enters into a similar arrangement the firm's personnel director, J.D. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray, Double Indemnity), his career prospects begin to look up... and up. But when he discovers that Sheldrake's mistress is Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine, Irma la Douce), the girl of his dreams, he finds himself forced to choose between his career and the woman he loves... Winner of five Academy Awards®, including Best Picture, The Apartment features a wealth of Hollywood's finest talent - on both sides of the camera - at the top of their game. By turns cynical, heart-warming and hilarious, Wilder's masterpiece now shines like never before in this all-new, 4K-restored edition from Arrow Films. Trailer: https://youtu.be/GX9-5Zxy5us  LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS - Limited Deluxe Edition Blu-ray [3000 copies] - Brand new 4K restoration of the film from the original camera negative produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release - Original uncompressed PCM mono audio - Optional 5.1 remix in lossless DTS-HD Master Audio - Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing - Audio commentary with film producer and historian Bruce Block - New appreciation of the film and select scene commentary by film historian Philip Kemp - The Flawed Couple, a new video essay by filmmaker David Cairns on the collaborations between Billy Wilder and Jack Lemmon - Billy Wilder ABC, an overview by David Cairns on the life and career of the filmmaker, covering his films, collaborators and more - New interview with actress Hope Holiday - Inside the Apartment, a half-hour "making-of" featurette from 2007 including interviews with Shirley MacLaine, executive producer Walter Mirisch, and others - Magic Time: The Art of Jack Lemmon, an archive profile of the actor from 2007 - Original screenplay by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond (BD-ROM content) - Theatrical trailer - Special collector's packaging featuring newly commissioned artwork by Ignatius Fitzpatrick - Collector's 150-page hardcover book featuring new writing by Neil Sinyard, Kat Ellinger, Travis Crawford and Heather Hyche, generously illustrated with rare stills and behind-the-scenes imagery

Film Buff Friday: Children of the Corn

Just in time for Halloween and to catch the hype of that other Stephen King work "IT" comes...

Children Of The Corn [Blu-ray] (9/26)

From the mind of celebrated horror author Stephen King, the man behind such classic terror tales as The Shining, Carrie and It, comes one of his most chilling offerings yet - Children of the Corn.

A young couple on a road trip find themselves lost in the backroads of rural Nebraska, eventually winding up in the seemingly abandoned town of Gatlin. But the town is far from empty - as the pair soon discover, it's inhabited by a twisted cult of murderous children thirsty for another blood sacrifice...

Adapted from King's eponymous short story first published in 1977 and starring Linda Hamilton (The Terminator), Children of the Corn has gone on to spawn one of the most enduring horror franchises of all time. 

Features

- Brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative 

- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation

- Original stereo and 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio options 

- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

- Brand new audio commentary with horror journalist Justin Beahm and Children of the Cornhistorian John Sullivan 

- Audio commentary with director Fritz Kiersch, producer Terrence Kirby and actors John Franklin and Courtney Gains 

- Harvesting Horror - retrospective documentary featuring interviews with Fritz Kiersch, John Franklin and Courtney Gains 

- It Was the Eighties! - an interview with actress Linda Hamilton 

- ...And a Child Shall Lead Them - a brand new interview with actors Julie Maddalena and John Philbin 

- Field of Nightmares - a brand new interview with writer George Goldsmith 

- Stephen King on a Shoestring - an interview with producer Donald P. Borchers 

- Welcome to Gatlin: The Sights & Sounds of Children of the Corn - interviews with production designer Craig Stearns and composer Jonathan Elias 

- Return to Gatlin - a look back at the iconic filming locations in Iowa with host John Sullivan 

- Cut From the Cornfield - an interview with actor Rich Kleinberg on the infamous "lost" Blue Man Scene 

- Disciples Of the Crow - 1983 short film adaptation of Stephen King's story 

- Storyboard gallery 

- Original theatrical trailer 

- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Fully illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by John Sullivan and Lee Gambin

Pre-order at MVDshop.com or on Amazon

Film Buff Friday: The Climber

Joe Dallesandro beyond Andy Warhol's Factory...

THE CLIMBER [Blu-ray + DVD] (May 16th)

After shooting cult favorites Flesh for Frankenstein and Blood for Dracula in Europe, Joe Dallesandro spent much of the seventies making movies on the continent. In France, he worked with auteurs like Louis Malle and Walerian Borowczyk, and in Italy he starred in all manner of genre fare from poliziotteschi (Savage Three, Season for Assassins) to nunsploitation (Killer Nun). 

The Climber follows in the tradition of gangster classics such as The Public Enemy and Scarface as it charts the rise and inevitable fall of small-time smuggler Aldo (Dallesandro). Beaten and abandoned by the local gang boss after he tries to skim off some profits for himself, Aldo forms his own group of misfits in order to exact revenge... 

Written and directed by Pasquale Squitieri (Gang War in Naples, I Am the Law), The Climber is a prime example of Italian crime cinema - a high-octane action-thriller full of brawls, fistfights, shootouts and explosions!

FEATURES

- Brand new 4K restoration of the film from the original negative

- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations

- Original Italian soundtrack in uncompressed PCM mono with optional newly-translated English subtitles

- Alternative English-language soundtrack with optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing

- Little Joe's Adventures in Europe, a brand-new interview with Joe Dallesandro on his numerous European film appearances during the 1970s and early 1980s

- Reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Roberto Curti, author of Italian Crime Filmography, 1968-1980

Pre-order at the MVD SHOP or on Amazon  

Film Buff Friday: Cinema Paradiso

Remember when "Cinema Paradiso was the go to hot Foreign Language film?

I do...well film buffs it's making it's way back to video as a Barnes and Noble exclusive this March, the 7th to be exact.

Cinema Paradiso

(Separate DVD and BD SKUs)

A  CELEBRATION OF YOUTH, FRIENDSHIP, AND THE EVERLASTING MAGIC OF THE MOVIES

A winner of awards across the world including Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, five BAFTA Awards including Best Actor, Original Screenplay and Score, the Grand Prize of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival and many more.

Giuseppe Tornatore's loving homage to the cinema tells the story of Salvatore, a successful film director, returning home for the funeral of Alfredo, his old friend who was the projectionist at the local cinema throughout his childhood. Soon memories of his first love affair with the beautiful Elena and all the high and lows that shaped his life come flooding back, as Salvatore reconnects with the community he left 30 years earlier.

Presented in both the original award-winning cut and the expanded Director's Cut incorporating more of Salvatore's backstory, newly restored from original negative materials.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS 

• Restored from the original camera negative and presented in two versions - the 124 minute Cannes Festival theatrical version and the 174 minute Director's Cut
• Uncompressed original stereo 2.0 Audio and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio options
• Optional English subtitles
• Audio commentary with director Giuseppe Tornatore and Italian cinema expert critic Millicent Marcus
• A Dream of Sicily - A 52-minute documentary profile of Giuseppe Tornatore featuring interviews with director and extracts from his early home movies as well as interviews with director Francesco Rosi and painter Peppino Ducato, set to music by the legendary Ennio Morricone
• A Bear and a Mouse in Paradise - A 27-minute documentary on the genesis of Cinema Paradiso, the characters of Toto and Alfredo, featuring interviews with the actors who play them, Philippe Noiret and Salvatore Cascio as well as Tornatore
• The Kissing Sequence - Giuseppe Tornatore discusses the origins of the kissing scenes with full clips identifying each scene
• Original Director's Cut Theatrical Trailer and 25th Anniversary Re-Release Trailer

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector's booklet by Pasquale Iannone illustrated with archive stills, behind-the-scenes images and posters

Barnes and Noble at:

www.barnesandnoble.com/

Film Buff Friday: Crimes Of Passion

OMG! I am a huge fan of Ken Russell and his visionary, off center brand of film making. This ranks among one of my favorite films of all time. I first saw it on video, the unrated version, brilliant!

Kathleen Turner gave one of the bravest, most original, brilliant performances ever by an actress of her stature at the time. Anthony Perkins was nothing less than amazing! Can you tell I am excited for July 12th?!?!?

Crimes Of Passion [Blu-ray + DVD] (July 12th)

She is watched. She is worshipped. And she must remain a mystery.

In the early eighties British enfant terrible Ken Russell travelled to America and placed his unorthodox imprint on a pair of US movies. The first was the Altered States, so out-there its screenwriter disowned it. The second was the equally crazy Crimes of Passion, starring Kathleen Turner (Body Heat, Serial Mom) at the height of her powers.

Fashion designer Joanna Crane (Turner) leads a double life. By night she is China Blue, a prostitute who's attracted the unwanted attention of two men. One is a sexually frustrated private detective hired by her employees. The other is psychopathic priest (played by Norman Bates himself, Anthony Perkins) in possession of a murderous sex toy.

With its outré screenplay by Barry Sandler and over the top score by Rick Wakeman, Crimes of Passion may just be the most outrageous Ken Russell film ever made - and that's quite some feat!

BONUS MATERIALS
- Brand new 2K restoration of the film from original film materials
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations of the director's cut and unrated versions of the film
- Optional subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary with director Ken Russell and producer-screenwriter Barry Sandler
- Seven deleted/extended scenes with optional commentary by Sandler
- Brand-new interview with Sandler recorded especially for this release
- Home movie footage of Ken Russell visiting Florida for a retrospective screening of Crimes of Passion at the 2009 Florida Film Festival
- Theatrical trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Twins of Evil

- Illustrated booklet containing new writing by Ken Russell's biographer, Paul Sutton, correspondence between Russell and Kathleen Turner, and an on-set interview with Russell (first pressing only)

Pre-order at the MVD SHOP or on Amazon