Indie Just Announced: ‘Evil Dead II,’ ‘Bellflower,’ ‘Worst in Show’

Evil Dead II: 25th Anniversary Edition
Lionsgate
Street: 11/15
Prebook: 10/18
DVD $14.98
BD $14.99
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I don’t have to tell you how awesome Evil Dead II is, but this well-timed release of the horror/black comedy classic includes new featurettes. It’s as good a time as any to own this film!

Bellflower
Universal
Street: 11/15
Prebook: 10/4
DVD $29.99
BD $39.99
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One of the most critically acclaimed indies of the year, Bellflower’s filmmakers used a hand-built camera from vintage camera parts to give it a unique look, perfect for telling the story of two friends who build flamethrowers in anticipation of a global apocalypse.

Worst in Show
Breaking Glass
Street: 12/6
Prebook: 11/5
DVD $19.99
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Ugly dogs are SO CUTE.
 

Indie Just Announced: ‘Sid and Nancy,’ ‘Beginners’

Sid & Nancy: 25th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray
Fox
Street: 12/27
Prebook: 11/30
BD $24.99 ()

The legendary story of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, who was found dead in their Chelsea Hotel room, as indelibly played by Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb, is coming Blu-ray with the featurettes “For the Love of Punk” and “Junk Love.”

Beginners
Universal
Street: 11/15
DVD $29.98 ()
BD $34.98 ()
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Ewan McGregor plays a man named Oliver who is having a mid-life crisis when his father, who comes out of the closet shortly after Oliver’s mother dies, begins to die of cancer. Better, funnier and more complex than most any film this year. Christopher Plummer’s portrayal of the father isn’t to be missed.

Another Earth
Fox
Street: 11/29
Prebook: 11/2
BD $34.98 ()

A starless indie sleeper about a student who, after an accident with tragic consequences, finds another Earth in the sky.

Attack the Block
Sony Pictures
Street: 10/25
DVD $30.99 ()
BD $35.99 ()
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People have been talking about this movie all year, and it’s out on disc soon — great, hilarious movie about teens in London defending their housing project from alien invaders.
 

Image Bows Midnight Madness Collection

Image Entertainment has debuted the Image Midnight Madness series, featuring vintage ’80s horror films from Lakeshore Entertainment.

Due Sept. 6 are Children of the Corn (DVD and BD) Hellraiser (DVD and BD), Hellbound: Hellraiser II (DVD and BD), Creepshow 2 (from Stephen King and George Romero; DVD), Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (DVD), Return of the Killer Tomatoes (DVD), Vamp (starring Grace Jones; DVD and Blu-ray), House (DVD), House II (DVD), Return to Horror High (DVD) and Transylvania 6-5000 (DVD).

Streeting on DVD Sept. 20 are Dead End Drive-In, Flowers in the Attic, Slugs, The Stuff and Chud.

All DVDs are listed at $9.98 and Blu-rays at $17.97.
 

‘El Topo,’ ‘Holy Mountain’ Coming to Blu-ray

Yes! Anchor Bay Entertainment will upgrade a couple of the weirdest and most innovative films put to video to high-def when it releases director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s El Topo and The Holy Mountain on Blu-ray April 26 (prebook March 30) at $34.99.

El Topo helped launch the midnight movie phenomenon when the Mexican director’s film was released in 1969, screening seven nights a week at the Elgin Cinema in New York (see more about this in the film Midnight Movies). The cult classic is a pychedelic Western that defies description and conventional plot, as gunslinger El Topo treks across the desert to defeat his rivals. Follow-up The Holy Mountain was even further out there, as The Alchemist ascends the Holy Mountain to take the place of gods who secretly run the universe.

Both films feature new HD transfers from the original negatives under the supervision of Jodorowsky, as well as commentaries with Jodorowsky, photo galleries, script excerts and original trailers. El Topo features an interview with Jodorowsky while Holy Mountain has deleted scenes with commentary from Jodorowsky, as well as a featurette on the restoration process.
 

New Indie Titles, April 29: ‘When You’re Strange’ and More

Title: When You’re Strange: A Film About The Doors
Genre: Documentary/Music
Studio: Eagle Rock Entertainment
Street date: 6/29
Prebook date: 6/4
Price/Format: $19.98 DVD or $24.98 Blu-ray
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This theatrical documentary uses rarely seen footage of The Doors to tell the story about the controversial rock band. The film is directed by Tom DiCillo and narrated by Johnny Depp.


Title: Don McKay
Genre: Drama
Studio: Image
Street Date: 6/29
Prebook Date: 6/1
Price/Format: $27.98 DVD $35.98 Blu-ray
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Executive produced by and starring Oscar nominee Thomas Haden Church (Sideways), the film concerns a janitor (Church) haunted by a mistake he made 25 years ago. He is pulled out of his funk by his ex-girlfriend (Elizabeth Shue), who is dying and wants to spend her final days with him but who is closely watched over by her doctor (James Rebhorn) and nurse (Melissa Leo). With Tribeca buzz, an amazing cast and critical acclaim, Don McKay is surely worth checking out. The discs come with commentary and deleted scenes.


Title: World Cup Soccer in Africa: Who Really Wins?
Genre: Documentary
Studio: Disinformation
Street date: 6/15
Prebook date: 5/18
Price/Format: $19.98 DVD
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As much as the World Cup is a globally celebrated event, South Africa serving as the host nation for the 19th FIFA World Cup raises some questions — who is uprooted by the building of new stadiums for the event? And couldn’t the money spent for those stadiums have been used to help the country’s poorest, who lack toilets or running water?


Title: Le Combat dans l’ile
Genre: Drama/Foreign/Cult
Studio: Zeitgeist
Street date: 6/22
Price/Format: $29.99 DVD
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A remastered French New Wave romantic political thriller, Alan Cavalier’s film deals with the political situation in France in the 1960s. A member of a right-wing terrorist organization is involved in an assassination attempt and hides out in his friend’s childhood home with his wife, and a love triangle ensues. Sounds like Jules et Jim meets Casablanca, count me in.


Title: Word Is Out
Genre: Documentary/Gay/Lesbian
Studio: Oscilloscope/Millarium Zero
Street date: 6/8
Prebook: 5/4
Price/Format: $29.95 DVD
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In conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the first gay pride marches comes a release of this 1977 film, a documentary of 26 gay and lesbian people of various races, ages and backgrounds. The landmark film was shown in theaters and on television released in theaters around the world and shown on prime-time television and has been restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. The film will be released through Millarium Zero, a sister company to Milestone Film & Video, and through a distribution deal with Oscilloscope. The DVD includes numerous special features about the filmmakers, the film’s subjects and more.
 

New Indie Titles: ‘Five Minutes of Heaven’ and More

Title: Five Minutes of Heaven
Genre: Thriller
Studio: MPI/IFC
Street date: 4/27
Price/Format: $19.98 DVD, $29.98 Blu-ray

Liam Neeson stars in director Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Sundance award-winning thriller based on true events in 1975 Northern Ireland, and the conflict there between Catholic nationalists who wanted to end British rule of the region and largely Protestant loyalists. Three decades after the conflict, a man who was asked to kill a young Catholic nationalist must face the victim’s younger brother, who witnessed the killing, on a talk show.


Title: Easier With Practice
Genre: Drama
Studio: Breaking Glass
Street date: 4/6
Price/Format: $24.99 DVD

Based on a true story that was published in GQ, Easier With Practice stars The Hurt Locker’s Brian Geraghty in a Sprit Award nominated film about a writer who engages in phone sex with a mysterious woman he has never met, and for whom he comes to have feelings.


Title: Andy Kaufman: World Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion
Genre: Documentary
Studio: Infinity
Street date: 4/27
Price/Format: $19.98 DVD

Really, the name says it all — it’s a documentary about legendary comedian Andy Kaufman’s famed wrestling matches with women around the country.


Title: Hal Hartley’s Surviving Desire/Possible Films Vol. 2
Genre: Shorts
Studio: Microcinema
Street date: 4/27
Price/Format: $24.95 DVD each

Two titles from the vaults of director Hal Hartley (Fay Grim): One has the 53-minute comedy Surviving Desire, plus two short films; the other has five new short films from Hartley.


Title: The Queen and I
Genre: Documentary
Studio: Walking Shadows
Street date: 6/29
Prebook date: 5/25
Price/Format: $24.95 DVD

This is a documentary about two very different women coming to understand one another — one is the filmmaker, Nahid Persson Sarvestani, an Iranian exile who was part of the Communist faction to overthrow the Shah of Iran; the other is the Shah’s wife, Empress Farah Pahlavi. It’s nice to see relatively new company Walking Shadows take chances on challenging films, and this one’s a Sundance selection.

Film Movement Gets Brazilian Dance Doc

Film Movement has acquired the rights to Only When I Dance, a Portuguese-language documentary from British director Beadie Finzi. The film follows two ballet hopefuls, both poor, from the favelas on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.

There’s a happy ending to this story — Irlan Silva, one of the kids in the film, is now touring with the junior company of American Ballet Theater. 

The Tribeca official selection will see a limited theatrical run and premiere through Video on Demand in the summer.
 
“This inspirational film has been charming festival audiences around the world, and now it is time for its infectious joie de vivre to hit North American theaters and homes,” said Film Movement president Adley Gartenstein. “We are thrilled to be its distributor and make this happen.”

New Indie Titles: 'Sex and Lucia,' 'Human Centipede'

Title: Sex and Lucia
Genre: Foreign/Drama
Studio: Palm Pictures
Street Date: 10/12
Price/Format: $29.98 Blu-ray
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This highly erotic film won Paz Vega a Goya and international acclaim. I haven’t seen Sex and Lucia yet, but its description has always reminded me of that “Seinfeld” episode with the sexy foreign film Rochelle, Rochelle — “A young girl’s strange, erotic journey from Milan to Minsk.” The Blu-ray includes behind-the-scenes footage, cast interviews, a photo gallery, a soundtrack excerpt and more.



Title: The Human Centipede
Genre: Horror
Studio: MPI/IFC
Street date: 10/5
Prebook: 8/30
Price/Format: $24.98 DVD, $29.98 Blu-ray
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Possibly the grossest movie ever is coming to DVD and Blu-ray — a mad surgeon creates a creature of sorts by attaching people to one another via their gastric systems. It’s nominated for a Reaper Award (check out the nominations here). Bonus features include deleted scenes, behind the scenes footage, an interview with Tom Six, a documentary with Six, a casting featurette and more.

‘Troll 2’ Comes to Blu-ray

Oh no they didn’t: Troll 2 is coming to Blu-ray Oct. 5 (prebook Sept. 8) from Fox/MGM (BD/DVD combo pack $19.99, DVD $14.99).

Generally considered one of the worst movies ever made (No. 64 on IMDb’s bottom 100 movies), generating its own documentary (Best Worst Movie, directed by its own star, Michael Stephenson), it is nonetheless beloved for such lines as “they’re eating her…then they’re gonna eat me…oh my god!” (see below). The plot follows some nonsense about a family vacation to the land of Nilbog (which spells “goblin” backwards) where young Joshua (Stephenson) must save his family from man-eating goblins (don’t ask what happened to the trolls; also, this movie has nothing to do with, and is unconnected to, the original Troll).

More fun facts, courtesy of Wikipedia: The movie’s bad goblin costumes were designed by cult erotic actress Laura Gemser, and after a screening of Troll 2 in Morgan, Utah, where the movie was filmed, the director was presented with a key to the city. Celebrate 20 years of this trash classic and preorder it today, along with Best Worst Movie, which streets Nov. 16 from New Video ($19.95).

 

Factory 25 Slates ‘Wah Do Dem’

Title: Wah Do Dem
Genre: Drama
Studio: Factory 25
Street Date: 10/26
Price/Format: $24.95 DVD
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This Los Angeles Film Festival winner follows Brooklyn musician Max (Sean Bones) as his girlfriend (Norah Jones) dumps him just before they are to embark upon on a Caribbean cruise. Max instead sets upon a philosophical journey alone, in Jamaica. The reggae-tinged film features appearances by music artists MGMT, Santigold, Sean Bones, The Congos and Yeasayer.


Watch the trailer here: