Indican Pictures Has Selected Nov. 25 As The DVD Debut Date For Writer/Director Chris Alonso’s Not For Human Consumption

Indican Pictures will be bringing writer/director Chris Alonso’s crime thriller, Not for Human Consumption, to the DVD market place on Nov. 25.

Drawn from actual events, Jay Trotta (Nick Thurston — Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Truth Below, etc.) finds himself being punished for doing the public a service.   He’s rewarded with a three-year prison jolt for doing nothing more than pumping a few bullets into his drug dealer.   

But Jay uses the time wisely.   When not getting his ass kicked for this or that, he gets clean, sober and mentally tough … he’s ready for a new life on the outside.

Indeed, it looks as though he might actually make a go of it.  He has a girlfriend named April (Maddy Curley — Starting From Scratch, Stick It) and has worked his way into a piece of a hookah bar.   Surprise, he’s making some decent money, legitimately … but.   Yes, it’s that nasty “but” for this, “but” for that part of it; the easy money and all that comes with it.

Soon he’s dealing a mixture of so-called synthetic marijuana, which is highly addictive and more and more the “drug of choice” for those looking for the ultimate high.   He’s partner with his old buddy from the past, Marty (Justin Sims) and soon enough it all starts to go down hill.   It was so easy getting in … it’s the getting out, alive, that will be the tricky part!

Ariztical Entertainment Prepares The Domestic DVD Debut Of Writer/Director Diemo Kemmesies’ Silent Youth For Jan. 13

Ariztical Entertainment announced this past week that writer/director Diemo Kemmesies’ Silent Youth will be making its domestic DVD debut on Jan. 13.

The city of Berlin serves as an interesting — no, that’s not near strong enough, how about intriguing — yes, intriguing backdrop to this story of a chance meeting between two young men.   Visually impressive, but not in the sense that filmmakers use the streets and tourist trappings of Paris as a romantic metaphor, Berlin gets a decidedly different look here … which is, in the end, melancholy in nature.  

Marlo (Martin Bruchmann — The Tower) has arrived in the city to visit a friend, Franzi (Linda Schüle) and they seem to be just that, friends.   When she heads off to work, he sets out to explore the city and it is here that he “bumps” into Kirill (Josef Mattes), who is scarred and bruised from a recent altercation.   

They spend the evening together taking in the sights of the city (interesting choices), but share very little in the way of conversation.    Phone numbers are exchanged.

Later, Marlo confesses to Franzi that he’s met someone.   She asks “what’s her name,” and Marlo simply replies “Kirill” and you can see (again without dialogue) the sudden change in her demeanor … it’s a body language expression that is very much like “Oh shit!  Really?”

Marlo meets Kirill a second time and more information is exchanged as they once again take in some interesting, but un-touristy spots … eventually arriving back at Kirill’s apartment.  

Of course they will move on.   Marlo back to school and Kirill to an uncertain fate, but the memories of their chance encounter will remain.  

Silent Youth is presented in German with English subtitles.

Paramount Home Media's Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown Makes Its Long-Awaited DVD Debut On Feb. 10

The long-awaited DVD debut of the 1977 animated theatrical hit, Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown, featuring the summer camp adventures of Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts gang, will be on its way to retailers nationwide from Paramount Home Media Distribution on Feb. 10.

Legendary Peanuts producer Bill Melendez (Oscar nominated in 1969 for the music in A Boy Named Charlie Brown, plus six Emmy wins, including one for A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965) teamed with Phil Roman (producer of such animated series as Garfield and Friends and The Simpsons) for the direction here.  

Why this treasure has take so long to reach the DVD market place is anyone’s guess, but fans will be happy to enjoy the fun of Charlie Brown (voiced by Duncan Watson), Lucy (voiced by Melanie Kohn) and the rest of the Peanuts “campers” as they compete against impossible odds in a raft race … that ends with a surprise winner!!!

Also heading to DVD on Feb. 10 are five additional animated KidVid product offerings.   Leading the parade will be Dora the Explorer in the Nickelodeon presentation of Dora and Friends.   She’s not alone as Peter and the Magic Egg, Puff the Magic Dragon Triple Feature (a collection of three adventures), Strawberry Shortcake Double Feature (two kid-friendly stories, including Wonderful World Of Strawberry Shortcake) and the 1980 Thanksgiving animated special, Dorothy in the Land of Oz, featuring Mischa Bond as the voice of Dorothy and none other than Sid Caesar as the voice of the Wizard.

There is also a MOW double-feature on the Feb. 10 release docket showcasing the adventures of the Addie Mills (played by Lisa Lucas).  These are: Addie and the King of Hearts (1976, teaming Jason Robards with Lisa Lucas and Mildred Natwick, plus Diane Ladd, Richard Hatch and Christina Hart), which is double-billed with The Easter Promise (1975, also starring Jason Robards and Mildred Natwick).

Lastly, there are three DVD presentations timed for the Easter season, Greatest Heroes of the Bible, Volume 1- The Bible's Greatest Stories, Greatest Heroes of the Bible, Volume 2- God's Chosen Ones and Greatest Heroes of the Bible, Volume 3- God's Power.  

That’s quite the line-up of new DVD releases that Paramount has prepared for Feb. 10.  

Annabelle Is Tabbed For A Jan. 20 DVD And Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Rollout From Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

Not since Chucky barked out “Hi, I'm Chucky.  Wanna play?” has there been anything quite like the lovely doll, Annabelle.   She made her debut in The Conjuring and returned as the “star” of her own film this year in cinematographer-turned-director John R. Leonetti’s self-titled film, Annabelle.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will bring home this smash horror hit on Jan. 20 as both DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack (with UltraViolet) SKUs.   The ARR comes in at 109 days and at the local multiplexes were screams and shrieks of terror to the tune of $83.5 million in ticket sales  — all of that generated after Labor Day!

Mia (Annabelle Wallis — as Jane Seymour in The Tudors television series) is a doll collector.   You know, the sort of porcelain creations that are not played with, but rather put on display.   One of these is Annabelle, a gift from her husband, John (Ward Horton), which is possessed … and every bit as malevolent as dear old Chucky.   

While Chucky did his own dirty work (from inanimate toy to killer), the doll Annabelle transforms into both spirit and human form for her deadly attacks.   The shock of her transformation from doll on the shelf to hideous creature — from an innocent little girl to drooling demon — can be quite unsettling.   If it is things that go bump in the night you want, then Annabelle delivers that with gusto!

Bonus features include the featurette titled “The Curse of Annabelle.”   Exclusive to the Blu-ray SKU are deleted scenes and three additional featurettes — “Bloody Tears of Possession,” “Dolls of the Demon” and “A Demonic Process.”

Also added to Warner Bros. Home Entertainment’s release schedule this week is the Dec. 23 Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack-only debut of director Philippe Falardeau's The Good Lie, starring Reese Witherspoon as the unlikely mentor to three “Lost Boys” of Sudan survivors who have been uprooted to of all places, Kansas.

Domestic ticket sales came in at $2.4 million … bonus features include deleted scenes and the production featurette titled, “The Good Lie Journey.”

Well Go USA Brings DVD And Blu-ray Editions Of Director Lee Seok-hoon’s The Pirates To The Domestic Market Place On Jan. 20

It’s the year 1388, the Ming Dynasty is on the rise in China and there is much chaos on the Korean Peninsula, so much so that mercenary pirates and roving gangs of bandits do what they do in such times … they fill the void.   

So when the royal seal — from the Ming emperor — goes missing on its way to Yi Song-gye, the hard-charging founder of the forthcoming Chosŏn Dynasty in Korea, a great opportunity awaits for anyone who can recover the missing trinket. 

This is the premise of Well Go U.S.A.’s Jan. 20 DVD and Blu-ray release of director Lee Seok-hoon’s The Pirates.

The film is in limited release in the domestic market and has thus far generated ticket sales of $415,775 … the ARR comes in at 137 days.   In Korea, The Pirates, pulled in over $64 million at the box office (very impressive).

With lavish production values, superb cinematography and an interesting blend of violence and comedy The Pirates certainly lives up to its billing as the Korean version of Pirates of the Caribbean.   There’s even a mock version of Jack Sparrow, Jang Sa-jung (Kim Nam-gil — No Regret, Portrait of a Beauty, etc.), who finds himself in competition with the beautiful Yeo-wol (Son Ye-jin — A Moment to Remember, Blood and Ties) to recover the royal seal.

Oh, did we mention that the object that has caught everyone’s interest just happens to be “residing” in a very peculiar place … the belly of a whale.  Seriously!

The Pirates is great fun … and a great adventure.   Presented in Korean with English subtitles.

The Film Chest Tabs Jan. 6 For The Three-Disc Set Titled Sherlock Holmes: The Archive Collection #2

The Film Chest, in conjunction with Synergy Entertainment, will be releasing a three-disc collection devoted to Sherlock Holmes on Jan. 6.

Titled Sherlock Holmes: The Archive Collection #2, this unique amalgamation of hard-to-find film material related to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Victoria-era sleuth, Sherlock Holmes (his first appearance in the 1887 crime novel, “A Study in Scarlet”).   

The earliest work showcased here is director Arthur Marvin’s 1900 “Mutoscope” silent short film, Sherlock Holmes Baffled, which runs for a scant 30 seconds and features an unknown Holmes.

Next in chronological order is the 1916 silent short film, The Mystery of The Leaping Fish, which stars Douglas Fairbanks in a comedy spoof of Doyle’s detective.   Other silent short films in the collection starring Ellie Norwood as Holmes include The Dying Detective (1921) and The Devil’s Foot (also 1921). 

Further afield are the Our Gang silent short comedy, The Mysterious Mystery! (1924), Slick Sleuths (1926, an animated Mutt & Jeff theatrical cartoon) and the animated Felix the Cat cartoon, Sure-Locked Homes (1928). 

Also include in the collection are both English and Spanish-language versions of Sherlock Holmes and The Secret Weapon, a splendid selection of original Sherlock Holmes theatrical trailers and more … much more, including rare radio performances and three classic episodes from the Sherlock Holmes television series starring Ronald Howard as the master detective.

           

Oscilloscope Laboratories Selects Jan. 20 For The DVD Debut Of Writer/Director James Ward Byrkit’s Coherence

Oscilloscope Laboratories has tabbed Jan. 20 as the DVD release date for writer/director James Ward Byrkit’s multi-award-winning claustrophobic creep-out, Coherence.

The ARR is 214 days and ticket sales came to $102,617.

A half-dozen friends are over for dinner at Mike (Nicholas Brendon — as Kevin Lynch in the Criminal Minds television series and as Xander in Buffy the Vampire Slayer series) and Lee’s house (Lorene Scafaria), which could have been a horror story all unto itself since the relationships between the assembled guests are so tangled and twisted that more than a few verbal punches are anticipated.   

With this tension established, the fun begins when, of all things, a passing comet begins to interact with the electronics … we are, after all, a society dependent on our little devices.  

This of course leads to a combination of speculation and folk tales about what was rumored to have happened when this particular comet zipped by last time.   It’s very clever, instead of campers sitting around a camp fire in the woods telling ghost stories, they are gathered around the dinning room table sipping wine and doing the exact same thing.

Strange things then begin to happen, the phones are out, the lights flicker, phones explode, strange noises rattle the proceedings (literally bumps in the night) and an unsettled feeling of “what next” begins to grip the group.   They check on the neighbors, that only makes it worse.

The tension builds and filmmaker Byrkit uses the confines of the house (which becomes metaphorically smaller as the evening progresses) and combines this with the Val Lewton principle of horror filmmaking, where the unseen and unknown — working on the mind — can be more terrifying than any visible threat.   

Bonus features for the DVD release of Coherence include commentary from filmmaker James Ward Byrkit, who is joined by actors Alex Manugian (who co-wrote the script) and Emily Foxler, plus there are a behind-the-scenes featurette and test footage with comments by Byrkit.

Mill Creek Entertainment Adds Grit, Guts And Glory DVD Mega-Set To Its Jan. 13 Release Calendar

News arrived this week that Mill Creek Entertainment has added a massive 24-disc collection of films and classic television episodes to its Jan. 13 release calendar.

Titled American Heroes Collection: Grit, Guts & Glory, this action-themed DVD set includes 94 theatrical releases — a blend of Westerns and war films — the documentary The American West of John Ford and a selection of 35 classic Western television episodes (The Adventures of Kit Carson, Annie Oakley, The Gabby Hayes Show, The Lone Ranger, etc.) and the 1938, 15-chapter serial, The Lone Ranger, starring Lee Powell as the Lone Ranger and Chief Thundercloud as his sidekick, Tonto.

For more information on this unique “instant library” collection — and other DVD SKUs being prepped for delivery during the first two weeks of the New Year — be sure to visit Mill Creek Entertainment’s web site at http://www.millcreekent.com.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment Picks Jan. 13 As The Street Date For DVD And Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Editions Of Director Luc Besson's Lucy

Universal Studios Home Entertainment added its second hit theatrical release to its January Blu-ray and DVD product calendar this week.   Last week it was the biopic Get On Up, this week it is the Jan. 13 rollout of director Luc Besson’s Lucy.

The ARR is a long-in-the-tooth 172 days, but with a domestic box office take of $126.5 million Universal can release this mixed-genre thriller starring Scarlett Johansson (half sci-fi, half martial arts crime saga) at any time that it pleases … customers will be waiting!

Bonus feautres include two featurettes — “The Evolution of Lucy” and “Cerebral Capacity: The True Science of Lucy.”