10.27.2018

Blu-Ray Roundup - October Edition: Schlock, Torso, Twelve Monkeys and Distant Voices, Still Lives

SCHLOCK (1973)

John Landis' 
First Film Comes 
to Blu-Ray

A LOVE STRANGER THAN KING KONG!
From writer/director John Landis, the mind behind The Blues Brothers and An American Werewolf in London, comes a love story that transcends the boundaries of nature and good taste – the one and only Schlock!
Carnage! Terror! Banana skins! The mighty prehistoric ape Schlocktropus has emerged from hiding to embark on a full-scale rampage across a quiet Southern Californian suburb. The police are baffled. The army is powerless. The body count is rising. But when Schlocktropus encounters a kindly blind woman (Eliza Garrett, National Lampoon’s Animal House) who sees beyond his grotesque visage, the homicidal simian is presented with a chance at redemption...
Shot over twelve days on a micro-budget, Schlock launched the careers of both Landis and legendary effects makeup artist Rick Baker (Videodrome). An uproarious pastiche of monster movies, packed to the gills with irreverent humour and biting satire, Schlock serves as the outrageous missing link between the creature features of yesteryear and its creators’ subsequent varied and celebrated careers.

BONUS MATERIALS:

• 4K restoration of the film from the original camera negative 
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation 
• Original lossless mono soundtrack 
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing 
• Audio commentary by writer/director John Landis and makeup artist Rick Baker 
• New video interview with author and critic Kim Newman 
• Birth of a Schlock, a 2017 video interview with John Landis 
• Archival video interview with cinematographer Bob Collins 
• 1972, 1979 and 1982 US theatrical trailers 
• US radio spots 
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
 FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Joe Bob Briggs

Schlock hits on October 15 from any number of your favorite online retailers. 

TORSO (1973)

Sergio Martino's Bloody Classic Comes to Blu-Ray With 2 Cuts!

TORSO is hailed by both Tarantino and Eli Roth as director Sergio Martino’s masterpiece. And its electrifying denouement, elevated to the level of Hitchcock, is their avowed inspiration!
 
Made after his uber stylish Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh & All The Colours of the Dark, here Martino goes deeper into sexually-charged giallo thereby becoming one of the genre’s most iconic exponent! 
 
Luscious students, whom we can only assume are studying for a PhD in stripping, head off for a vacation. Luckily for fans of psycho sexual thrillers, a black-gloved saw-wielding killer has followed them to their sapphic retreat and starts effective slayer multi-tasking by mutilating his way through a cast of hot beauties.. 
This new HD restored version is presented in its most complete form ever, anywhere, with unique new English rebuilds, finally doing justice to this Giallo masterpiece.

• Brand new 2K restoration of the film from the original camera negative by Arrow Films
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations of both versions of the film: the 94-minute Italian and 90-minute English cuts
• Original lossless Italian and English mono soundtracks*
• English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
• New audio commentary by Kat Ellinger, author of All the Colours of Sergio Martino
• New video interview with co-writer/director Sergio Martino
• New video interview with actor Luc Merenda
• New video interview with co-writer Ernesto Gastaldi
• New video interview with filmmaker Federica Martino, daughter of Sergio Martino 
• New video interview with Mikel J. Koven, author of La Dolce Morte: Vernacular Cinema and the Italian Giallo Film
• 2017 Abertoir International Horror Festival Q&A with Sergio Martino
• Italian and English theatrical trailers
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Adam Rabalais

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Adrian Smith and Howard Hughes

Torso releases on October 30th

DISTANT VOICES, STILL LIVES (1988)

Winner of the International Critics’ Prize at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival, Terence Davies’ feature debut heralded one of Britain’s finest filmmaking talents.

Loosely based on the director’s own family and upbringing, Distant Voices, Still Lives presents an evocative account of working-class life in Liverpool, England during the 1940s and 50s. Births, marriages and deaths – and an expressive use of music – provide the underpinning for a film that is beautiful, heartbreaking, resonant but never sentimental.
Now regarded as a masterpiece of British cinema, and boasting a startling performance from Pete Postlethwaite (Romeo + Juliet, Inception) as the head of the family, Distant Voices, Still Lives has been treated to a glorious 4K restoration by the British Film Institute.

• Brand new 4K restoration, carried out by the British Film Institute
• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
• Original stereo audio (uncompressed LPCM)
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Commentary by writer-director Terence Davies
• Interview with Davies
• Interview with art director Miki van Zwanenberg
• Theatrical trailer
• More to be announced!
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jennifer Dionisio

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Christina Newland plus archive essays

Distant Voices, Still Lives was released on October 23rd

TWELVE MONKEYS (1995)

"The Future is History"

Following the commercial and critical success of The Fisher King, Terry Gilliam next feature would turn to science fiction and a screenplay by Janet and David Peoples (Blade Runner, Unforgiven) inspired by Chris Marker’s classic short film La Jetée.

In 1996, a deadly virus is unleashed by a group calling themselves the Army of the Twelve Monkeys, destroying much of the world’s population and forcing survivors underground. In 2035, prisoner James Cole (Bruce Willis, Die Hard) is chosen to go back in time and help scientists in their search for a cure.
Featuring an Oscar-nominated turn by Brad Pitt (Fight Club) as mental patient Jeffrey Goines, Twelve Monkeys would become Gilliam’s most successful film and is now widely regarded as a sci-fi classic. Arrow Films are proud to present the film in a stunning new restoration.

• Brand new restoration from a 4k scan of the original negative by Arrow Films, approved by director Terry Gilliam
• DTS 5.1 Master Audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Audio commentary by Terry Gilliam and producer Charles Roven
• The Hamster Factor and Other Tales of Twelve Monkeys, feature-length making-of documentary by Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe (Lost in La Mancha)
• Extensive image galley
• Theatrical trailer
• More to be announced!
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Nathan Rabin and archive materials

Twelve Monkeys was released on October 18th

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