SCENES ON SCREEN
The latest releases coming to cinemas and home media
Scenes on the big screen
Birmingham-based cinema, the Mockingbird, is looking to help parents keep their kids entertained over the summer holidays with its Kids Cinema Club, giving families the chance to see the latest big-screen releases for the discounted rate of £3.99.
From the 24th to the 28th of July, the cinema will show The Little Mermaid, The Super Mario Bros Movie and Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse. The following week will see Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and The Flash offered and from the 4th to the 10th of August Disney Pixar’s Elemental will be discounted.
You can book tickets at www.mockingbirdcinema.com
Now in its sixth year, Frightfest is joining forces with Giles Edwards of Queensbury Pictures for New Blood. Its mission is to find emerging UK-based genre writers and nurture their projects from script to screen.
The scheme has previously delivered Broadcast Signal Intrusion, written by Phil Drinkwater and Tim Woodall, and directed by Jacob Gentry, as well as The Change, written by Carina Rodney, which has been optioned by a UK producer.
Applications are open until the 4th of August, requiring a 400-word proposal. Anyone who reaches the final selection is expected to send a rough draft of the first ten pages of the scripts, as Queensbury expects to take projects through to production.
Eight applicants will then workshop their ideas in a group setting, under the guidance of industry professionals and genre experts, including Andy Nyman, Jennifer Sheridan and Toby Poser.
FrightFest has also joined with FAB Press once again to launch The FrightFest Guide to Mad Doctor Movies, which will go on sale during the festival, with official signings on the 25th and 26th of August.
It’s written by practising surgeon Dr John Llewellyn, who takes a detailed look at one of the longest-running archetypes in horror cinema, with reviews of over 200 mad doctor movies.
In addition to this, there is a foreword by controversial director Tom Six, who added his own mad doctor to the genre with The Human Centipede.
Special edition hardbacks will be on sale at the event, priced at £25, with a paperback edition to be released on the 24th of October.
Nominated for SXSW 2020’s Grand Jury Award and winner of the Grand Jury Prize at DOC NYC 2021, Cathryne Czubek’s documentary Once Upon a Time in Uganda is set to hit UK cinemas on the 5th of September via Blue Finch Films.
It follows two friends from opposite ends of the world, who unite over a love of Chuck Norris and 80s action films. Through sheer determination, they set out to create their own movies and catapult Wakaliwood to international stardom.
Universal Pictures has released the official trailer for Alexander Payne’s next film, The Holdovers, set to release later this year.
It follows Paul Giamatti’s curmudgeonly instructor, who is forced to remain on campus at a prestigious school during Christmas to babysit a handful of students.
Over the holidays, he starts to bond with a brainy but damaged troublemaker (newcomer Dominic Sessa) and the head cook (Da’Vine Joy Randolph).
Scenes on the small screen
Following the release of its 10-disc boxset, Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest, which includes 4K restorations of Lee’s films at the Hong Kong production company, Arrow Video has released new clips from Game of Death, The Big Boss, Fist of Fury and The Way of the Dragon.
Available now, the boxset includes hours of bonus features and unreleased footage, including the extended Mandarin cut of The Big Boss, ten minutes longer than any previous release, and the never-before-seen log fight from Game of Death.
LGBTQ+ production company, Peccadillo Pictures, will release its latest short film collection, Boys on Film 23: Dangerous to Know on DVD, Blu-ray and digital today.
Bringing together ten films focused on risky attractions, the release also includes interviews with a handful of the directors featured.
The films included are:
My Uncle’s Friend, Brazil, dir: Renato Turnes
Budapest Closed City, Hungary, dir: Máté Konkol
Eden, Belgium, dir: Sven Spur
Chaperone, USA, dir: Sam Max
Break Me, Norway, dir: Israsj Asanti
By His Will, Israel, dir: Uriel Torten
Red Ants Bite, Georgia, dir: Elene Naveriani
Hornbeam, UK, dir: Mark Pluck
Jim, UK, dir: Tom Young
Too Rough, UK, dir: Sean Lìonadh
Sony Pictures Entertainment has released Ari Aster’s latest film Beau is Afraid for Download & Keep today. It follows Beau (Joaquin Pheonix), an anxious but loving man who is afraid of everything, especially his mother. Having missed a flight to his hometown, he becomes trapped in a never-ending odyssey between time and space.
Arrow, the streaming service from Arrow Video, has announced its August lineup, starting with Rudolf Thome’s pop fantasy Red Sun, focused on the post-’68 and women’s liberation movements.
Also joining the streaming service is Paolo Virzi’s neo-noir Human Capital, which shows the financial and moral downfall of two Italian families against the backdrop of the financial crisis.
Two …Selects series are showing in August, with writer, actor and comedian Reece Shearsmith and filmmaker Roger Avery selecting their favourite film releases from Arrow.
There’s also a series of documentaries from Paul Joyce, the Revengeamatics season focusing on revenge flicks like The Exterminator, Oldboy and The Villainess, and the Renegade Cops season with Security, Cop Game, Heart of Dragon and more.
Shudder’s August lineup includes two exclusive films. The Communion Girl follows Sara in 1980s Spain as she tries to fit into a new town. Walking with her friend Rebe, they come across a young girl with a doll, which kicks off a series of nightmarish experiences. It streams from the 11th of August.
Following this on the 18th of August, Bad Things follows a group of friends on a weekend getaway at a snowy resort, which turns into a psychological tailspin as deceased guests and the resort itself start to come to life.
August will also see Manfish, Vampir, Amigo, America Latina and Come to Daddy join the streaming service.
Vertigo Releasing will release The Queen Mary on digital platforms on the 28th of August. Written and directed by Gary Shore, it follows two photographers who go aboard the HMS Queen Mary, one of the most haunted places in the world and unleash a series of terrifying events.
Indicator is continuing its run of 4K restorations of Jean Rollins films, with two new releases announced for October. Lips of Blood (1975) brings together the director’s favourite motifs (ruined chateaux, remote beaches, graveyards, mysterious twins and female vampires), where a photograph leads a man into the netherworld of vampirism.
It’s presented with a new audio commentary from Stephen Jones and Kim Newman, an introduction and behind-the-scenes footage of the director, archival interviews and an 80-page booklet with new writing from Maitland McDonough.
Perhaps the director’s most famous film, 1979’s Fascination, sees a thief take shelter in a remote chateau, with two chambermaids as hostages. However, the arrival of the aristocratic owners leads to an orgy of violence.
It includes a new audio commentary from Jeremy Richey, an updated documentary about the making of the film, new and archival interviews, a critical appreciation of the film and an 80-page booklet with writing from Vanessa Morgan.
Both releases can be pre-ordered in a bundle (use discount code BUNDLE to get 10% off) and will be released on the 23rd of October in the UK, and the 24th of October in the US and Canada.
Eureka Entertainment has announced its October lineup, with three new releases. On the 23rd of October, Stephen Chow directs and stars in the James Bond spoof From Beijing With Love, which makes its UK Blu-ray debut.
Chow stars as Ling Ling Chat, a disgraced former spy, who is dispatched to recover a stolen dinosaur skull from a golden gun-wielding supervillain.
It’s presented in 1080p high definition, with a new interview with actor Wong Kam Kong, archival interviews with Chow and a limited edition collectors booklet with new writing from James Oliver.
Also released on the 23rd of October is Beach of the War Gods from Jimmy Wang Yu, who stars as a wandering swordsman who agrees to defend a small town with a core team of skilled warriors, including actors Yeh Tien and Han Hsieh.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary, it’s packaged with a new audio commentary from Frank Djeng, interviews with action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema, archival interviews and a limited edition booklet by James Oliver and Dr Craig D Reid.
Finally, released on the 30th of October as part of the Masters of Cinema collection, Eureka will put out Pandora’s Box, directed by G. W. Pabst and starring Louise Brooks.
Adapted from a pair of plays by Frank Wedekind, it follows Lulu, a prostitute whose relationship with a respected newspaper editor leads them both down a path of tragedy and peril.
Available on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK, it’s presented in a limited edition hardcase, with a new booklet with writing by Alexandra Heller Nicholas, Imogen Sara Smith, and Richard Combs, audio commentary by Pamela Hutchinson and a series of video essays from Kat Ellinger, David Cairns and Fiona Watson.
Australian label Imprint Films has announced a series of limited edition releases for its October lineup. Each is limited to 1,500 copies.
Produced by Guillermo del Toro and directed by J A Bayona, The Orphanage gets its first-ever Blu-ray release in Australia, packaged in a two-disc hardbox and includes new audio commentaries and video essays, as well as a booklet with writing from Francesco Massaccesi.
Also debuting on Australian Blu-ray is Wind Chill, starring Emily Blunt and directed by Gregory Jacobs, which follows two college students whose car is forced off the road in the middle of a snowstorm. William Friedkin’s Bug, written by Tracy Letts and starring Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon, also has its first release.
Starring Kate Hudson, Gene Rowlands, Peter Sarsgaard and John Hurt, The Skeleton Key is presented here with a host of special features.
Rounding out the releases is the world-first Blu-ray release of The Mad Room, a 1969 horror starring Stella Stevens and Shelley Winters, and 1962’s Night of the Eagle, starring Peter Wyngarde and based on the novel by Fritz Leiber.