The KimStim Collection And Icarus Films Team For the June 21 Domestic DVD Debut Of Charlotte Rampling's I, Anna

The KimStim Collection, with sales and distribution support provided by Icarus Films, announced this past week that writer/director Barnaby Southcombe’s film adaptation of Elsa Lewin’s 1987 mystery novel, I, Anna, will be available on DVD this coming June 21.

The streets of New York of the 1980s have been updated to those of modern London in this neo noir thriller adapted for the screen by Southcombe (Footballers Wive$: Overtime, Waterloo Road, etc.) as a showcase for his mother, Charlotte Rampling.   

The film sensation of 1970s with her cutting-edge roles in such films as 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, Zardoz, The Night Porter and more, did not receive her first Oscar nomination until this past year for her performance in 45 Years — which is due out on DVD and Blu-ray on June 14.   

In I, Anna, she plays Anna Welles, a lonely woman with “issues,” who may, or may not, have been involved in a brutal murder.   Bernie Reid (Gabriel Byrne), the detective assigned to the case, becomes enamored with her style, her elegance and her beauty — as men so often do in film noir tales — and, being lonely himself, falls in love with her. 

 

As events unfold, and she begins to experience repressed memories, Reid is trapped between doing his job and sheltering the woman he has fallen in love with … who just might have a screw loose.  

This stylish, psychological tale — with its beautiful cinematography — worked the festival circuit in Europe, Asia and Canada (with wins at the Viareggio EuropaCinema festival and the Vancouver International Film Festival, among others), had a brief theatrical run in selected markets overseas, but failed to find theatrical representation in the domestic market.   

The KimStim Collection has come to the rescue and the timing for this Charlotte Rampling star-vehicle is spot-on with 45 Years arriving in the home entertainment market at the same time.  Rampling and Byrne fans will not be disappointed.

FilmRise Selects May 6 For The DVD Debut Of Documentary Filmmaker Amy Berg's Janis: Little Girl Blue

On Friday, May 6, FilmRise, with sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, will release on DVD documentary filmmaker Amy Berg’s Janis: Little Girl Blue, a stirring tribute to rock icon, Janis Joplin.

Narrated by singer-songwriter Cat Power, the film arrives with an ARR of 161 days and ticket sales for this documentary during its theatrical run totaled an impressive $402,249.

Bonus features include four featurettes — “Big Brother Acapella,” “Avalon vs. The Fillmore,” “Influences” and “Walk of Fame Ceremony.”

   

Mill Creek Entertainment Targets July 5 For Two Double-Feature Blu-ray Releases Featuring The Films Of Film Promoter Par Excellence William Castle

On July 5, Mill Creek Entertainment will double-up with a pair of Blu-ray double-bills showcasing the films of director and film promoter par excellence William Castle.

The Blu-ray double bills are: William Castle Double Feature: 13 Ghosts and 13 Frightened Girls and William Castle Double Features: Homicidal and Mr. Sardonicus.   The SRP for each Blu-ray double-feature is just $14.95 (before discounts at retail) and that will have genre-fans salivating as they eagerly await the arrival of July 5.

Beginning with the Halloween-season release of Macabre in 1958, William Castle went from being a B-movie line director for Columbia Pictures, where he learned his filmmaking craft under the tutelage Harry Cohn (who died suddenly of a heart attack in early 1958), to that of a film impresario who ran off a string of six horror hits in a row.   Right in the middle of this run was the summer of 1960 release of 13 Ghosts.

Castle had a knack for coming up with promotional gimmicks that garnered publicity and elevated his films beyond just B-grade exploitation fare.   13 Ghosts, used a now-you-see’em, now-you’don’t gimmick involving red and blue colored cellophane panels to see the ghosts haunting the Zorba mansion.

Counted among the cast members of 13 Ghosts is the Wizard of Oz’s Margaret Hamilton, Martin Milner — who would rise to stardom with the debut of the television series Route 66 beginning in October of the same year — Rosemary DeCamp (who had just finished a five-season run as the co-star of The Bob Cummings Show — nominated for an Emmy during the final season) and veteran actor Donald Woods (The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Watch on the Rhine, etc.).

The second half of this “triskaidekaphobia” double bill is director William Castle’s summer of 1963 film, 13 Frightened Girls.   This is more of a mystery than a horror film, with the gimmick used by Castle being that of recruiting girls from different countries (which were featured in the opening scene that was spliced onto the beginning of the film for that particular country’s theatrical run) to play themselves at a boarding school in Switzerland (actually shot on location in Big Bear, California).   

Kathy Dunn is the “star” among the girls (the catalyst that moves the story along) — this was her only theatrical release and soon “retired” from the business.   Her co-stars were screen regulars Murray Hamilton and Hugh Marlowe. 

Of the 13 girls, Alexandra Bastedo (Miss England), Ilona Schütze (Miss Germany), Judy Pace (Liberia — who was actually an American), Gina Trikonis (Miss Russia — who was also an American) and Lynne Sue Moon (Miss China — likely born in England) — who all made their film debuts here — were the only ones to continue with film careers (the others, one and done).

The second double feature, William Castle Double Features: Homicidal and Mr. Sardonicus, teams two horror delights that were both released theatrically in 1961 (Homicidal was released during the summer and Mr. Sardonicus was Castle’s Halloween-season entry for 1961).

William Castle saw the success of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and went into production with Homicidal, but it wasn’t going to be just a quickie rip-off, he had to come up with a really clever twist, so he sat down with his long-time collaborator, Robb White (Macabre, House on Haunted Hill, 13 Ghosts … and the author of such novels as “Up Periscope” (1956), “Torpedo Run” (1962) and “Deathwatch” (1972)), and they came up with a doozy!

Jean Arless (actually Joan Marshall acting under a pseudonym so as not to give away the twist) stars as Emily, a gaunt-looking blonde who has a lust for murder.   The police suspect that a woman named Miriam (Patricia Breslin) might be connected to the grisly murder at the beginning of the film, but her alibi is strong.   Meanwhile, Miriam’s half-brother, Warren, has returned from Europe and the two of them are in line for an inheritance as Warren’s father has passed away. 

Miriam’s boyfriend, Karl (Glenn Corbett), begins to suspect that Emily, who is acting very strange, might be involved.   It gets even stranger when we learn that Warren has secretly married the creepy Emily, who is charged with the care of the elderly Helga (who knows a terrible secret, but who has had a stroke and is now mute), the woman who served as the family’s housekeeper when Warren was just a youngster.   

So how do Karl and Miriam convince Warren that Emily is dangerous?   That’s their problem.

As the film reaches its climax, Castle interjects a “fright break,” where theatrical patrons have the opportunity to leave the theatre — and receive a full refund — if they are too scared to continue watching the film.   

The reveal — the MacGuffin — is excellent and so worthy of William Castle’s reputation as a showman (the New York Times critic assigned to the film back in 1961 did not recognize that Jean Arless was a fraud and dubbed her performance “her film debut”).

The companion film on this Blu-ray release is Mr. Sardonicus, a period piece that sought to take advantage of the Edgar Allan Poe gothic adaptations that Vincent Price had with The Pit and the Pendulum earlier in the year and House of Usher (the previous year).

Castle saw the opportunity for a wholly original work when he recruited Ray Russell to adapt a screenplay of his own short story that had appeared in the January of 1961 edition of Playboy Magazine.   

It spins around the mysterious Baron Sardonicus (played by Guy Rolfe — Ivanhoe, King of Kings, The Alphabet Murders, etc.) and the efforts of Dr. Cargrave (Ronald Lewis) to find a cure for the Baron’s tortured condition (which is explained in a backstory).

The gimmick here was that the audience could choose the ending to the film — mercy or no mercy for Sardonicus.   Of course they picked no mercy (legend has it that Castle never shot a “mercy” ending — he knew what the outcome would always be).

Arrow Video To Release Four Incarnations Of Blood Bath As A Double-Disc Blu-ray Limited Edition On May 31

Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution support from MVD Entertainment Group, will be releasing all four versions of Blood Bath as a double-disc, limited edition Blu-ray collection on May 31.

History reports that Roger Corman saw an opportunity to get a Cold War espionage thriller about stolen paintings, or forgeries … or some such thing made on the cheap in Yugoslavia in 1963.   He even talks about making the deal in his 1990 book (with Jim Jerome), “How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime.”

For twenty grand, plus the contribution of two English-speaking actors, William Campbell and Patrick Magee (who had just finished Dementia 13), and one of his protégés (none other than Francis Ford Coppola) on set to supervise the script, he got Rados Novakovic to direct Operation Titian.

It was crap, so he asked Jack Hill to rework it.   Hill went down to Venice (Venice, California that is) with the likes of Corman regular, Jonathan Haze (The Little Shop of Horrors, The Terror, etc.), Sig Haig (Hill’s buddy), Playboy Playmate (June 1962) Marissa Mathes and a few others to shoot additional scenes.   Campbell rejoined the project, but wanted more money.   

This resulted in the first cut of the new film, which was titled Blood Bath, however it never saw the light of day.   Time passed and Corman took another whack at it, this time with his production assistant Stephanie Rothman as the writer and director of the project.   History records that he gave her free reign to rework both Novakovic and Hill’s versions of the film anyway she saw fit ... and she did.

She made it a vampire movie.   So it went from a story about a forged Titian painting, to a story about a painter who kills models and disposes of their bodies, to a story about a deranged painter who actually changes into a vampire.   Campbell was done, no more re-shoots for him, so Rothman’s work-around was to simply get an actor to be a shape-shifter who was heavily cloaked and not recognizable.  The result was Blood Bath and it was double-billed with Queen of Blood and released in March of 1966 (with both Rothman and Hill created as co-directors).   

Lastly, the film was re-cut yet again for television syndication and re-titled Track of the Vampire.

Arrow Video has assembled new 2K restorations of Portrait in Terror (TV syndication version of a re-edited Operation Titian) Blood Bath and Track of the Vampire from the original film elements, plus they’ve included Operation Titian (which has been reconstructed from original film elements) to round out the checkered history of this one-of-a-kind film production.

Bonus features include a newly-prepared video session with actor Sig Haig, an archive interview with Jack Hill and a newly prepared featurette titled “The Trouble with Titian Revisited,” which features Video Watchdog’s Tim Lucas updating his definitive 1990 three-part essay on the history of Operation Titian (and all the versions that followed).

Paramount Home Media Unleashes Zoolander No. 2: The Magnum Edition On May 24 As DVD And Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Editions

It has been 15 long years since Derek, Hansel and the nefarious Mugatu turned the world of high fashion upside down with the discovery that where goest thou runway model, so too goes an assassin.

Paramount Home Media announced this week that their triumph return will be on May 24 when they reunite in Zoolander No. 2: The Magnum Edition.   Consumers will have the choice between a stand-alone DVD edition or a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack.

The ARR works out to 102 days and domestic box office receipts totaled $28.8 million.

As we pick up the action some 15 years later, poor Matilda has succumbed to a horrible accident, little Derek, Jr. (well, no so little) is in an orphanage and Derek is out of the “business.”   So it is now up to Penelope Cruz as Valentina (think: “fashion police”) to whip Zoolander into shape, reunite him with Hansel and set things straight!  Well, as straight as they can be in the fashion world.

It’s all great fun as Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson and Will Ferrell are given free hand to chew the scenery and are aided and abetted by cameos galore — from Justin Bieber, Katy Perry and Macaulay Culkin to Kiefer Sutherland, MC Hammer and Billy Zane as Billy Zane.   Even Christine Taylor (the now-dead Matilda) gets her moment as well.  And, we discover who Derek Zoolander’s real father is … yes, another cameo.

Bonus goodies for Zoolander No. 2: The Magnum Edition and limited to the Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack edition and come in the form of a quartet of featurettes — “The Zoolander Legacy,” “Go Big or Go Rome,” “Drake Sather: The Man Who Created Zoolander,” and “Youth Milk.”

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's Risen Gets Day/Date 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack Push On May 24 — So Say Eager Retailers

If it happens once, twice or even a few times you can reasonably chalk it up to some random happenings related to the distribution schedule, or business affairs slow to give approvals or even over-eager retailers anxious to grab their “fair share” of the revenue pie.    

But when it happens literally every week, then there is something amiss; something mechanically out of sync with the way things should work in the home entertainment market place these days. 

The latest theatrical release with a domestic box office take in excess of $25 million to get a street date — without an official announcement from the respective studio’s home entertainment division — is director Kevin Reynolds’ biblical mystery, Risen.   

Everyone, but Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, has confirmed that May 24 will be the street date for DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack editions.   That date yields a swift-to-market ARR of just 95 days.  Ticket sales currently stand at $36.7 million.

We suspect that VOD/HD windows, based on theatrical revenue performance measurements, are the driving mechanism triggering the dates for availability windows of the various viewing platforms.   The PR people can’t seem to get the approvals necessary to get a proper press release out in front of the rush of retail and distributor date leaks.   

Despite not having an official press release Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, we already know what the special features will be for this story about Tribune Clavius (Joseph Fiennes) and his mission to discover what happened to the body of the crucified Jesus.   Thank you, Walmart (Canada).

All SKUs will feature a commentary option (unspecified, but likely to be director Kevin Reynolds — Tristan + Isolde, The Count of Monte Cristo, Waterworld, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, etc.) and a pair of featurettes — “The Mystery of the Resurrection: Making Rise” and “Creating A.D. Jerusalem: Script to Screen.”  Exclusive to the Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack editions are deleted scenes and the additional featurette titled “The Battle of the Zealots Deconstructed.”

Universal Studios Home Entertainment Preps London Has Fallen For A DVD And Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Release On June 14

The all-action thriller from director Babak Najafi, London Has Fallen, will be making its way to the home entertainment market place on June 14 as both DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions.

This CGI wonder (which is really well executed) — many of London’s favorite tourist spots are obliterated on-screen — arrives with an ARR of 102 days and domestic ticket sales of $60.8 million. 

All of the key cast members from Olympus Has Fallen — Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Angela Bassett and Morgan Freeman — are back for another round of “let’s kill the president” … and most manage to survive the attempt once again (which leaves open the possibility of another … Has Fallen sequel).

As to bonus goodies, there are a pair of featurettes, which are common to both release SKUs — “The Making of London Has Fallen” and “Guns, Knives & Explosives.”

Also getting a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack and stand alone DVD push from Universal Studios Home Entertainment this week — and also slated for release on June 14 — is director Gavin Hood’s drone-strike thriller, Eye in the Sky, starring Helen Mirren.

The ARR is 109 days and domestic ticket sales during the film’s theatrical run have rise to $10.5 million.

Of note, this is Alan Rickman’s final film appearance.   He succumbed to the ravages of pancreatic cancer in January of this year about seven weeks before Eye in the Sky opened theatrically.   His voice will also be featured as the Blue Caterpillar in director James Bobin’s Alice Through the Looking Glass, which is will be released theatrically at the end of May.

Bonus nuggets for Eye in the Sky are two featurettes — “Perspective” and “Morals.”