A priest becomes a vampire…another man’s wife is coveted…a deadly seduction triggers murder. Thirst is the new film from director Park Chan-wook (Old Boy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance). Already a boxoffice smash in Korea, Thirst was honored with the Prix du Jury [Jury Prize] at the 2009 Cannes International Film Festival.

Continuing his explorations of human existence in extreme circumstances, the director spins a tale that he conceived and then developed over several years with co-screenwriter Chung Seo-kyung. Sang-hyun (played by top Korean star Song Kang-ho, of The Host) is a priest who cherishes life; so much so, that he selflessly volunteers for a secret vaccine development project meant to eradicate a deadly virus. But the virus takes the priest, and a blood transfusion is urgently ordered up for him.

The blood he receives is infected, so Sang-hyun lives – but now exists as a vampire. Struggling with his newfound carnal desire for blood, Sang-hyun’s faith is further strained when a childhood friend’s wife, Tae-ju (Kim Ok-vin), comes to him asking for his help in escaping her life. Sang-hyun soon plunges into a world of sensual pleasures, finding himself on intimate terms with the Seven Deadly Sins.

Check out the trailer here and for more info, be sure to check out Focus Features’ official website for the movie here!

 More details coming soon!

AMERICAN rock ‘n’ roll legend Iggy Pop is planning to reform Iggy and the Stooges to perform their seminal album Raw Power, 36 years after it was released.

The news will please Pop and Stooges fans around the world, who, for a variety of reasons, have not seen the group play some of its most famous songs, such as Search and Destroy, Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell and Shake Appeal. Three of the four original members of the Michigan band re-formed as the Stooges in 2003 and toured regularly for five years, including in Australia, but they played nothing from Raw Power because the band’s line-up changed after its first two albums, the Stooges and Funhouse. The band became Iggy and the Stooges to make their third album in 1973, guitarist Ron Asheton was replaced by James Williamson and Asheton played bass.Also, Pop was a heroin addict at the time, one of the contributing factors in the Michigan group’s split soon after the album came out and flopped. Asheton, whose brother Scott is the Stooges drummer, died of a heart attack in January this year. Pop, 62, told The Australian on Tuesday that he had plans to re-unite with the remaining Iggy and the Stooges line-up, with noughties Stooges addition Mike Watt on bassPop said that while the original Stooges ended with Asheton’s death, “there is always Iggy and the Stooges, the second growth of the band”. “I had a meeting in LA last week with James (Williamson),” Pop said. “It was the first time we had seen each other in 30 years. So we talked about doing something together. Raw Power would be the repertoire.” The landmark album, mixed by Pop’s friend David Bowie, has been cited by Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain and many other rock stars as their favourite album and is considered one of the most influential in rock history, despite the fact that it sold so poorly on release. He also revealed that Asheton had left six or seven “hard-driving rhythm tracks” that could also be used in a future project. Pop, who has had a largely successful solo career for the past 30 years, has just released a left-field, jazz-influenced album, Preliminaires, inspired by French writer Michel Houellebecq’s novel, The Possibility of an Island. From: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25511689-601,00.html 

TOWERING INFERNO
MY COUSIN VINNY
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA

Cool Off This July & August With Three High-Def Classics Sure To Make A Splash On Blu-ray Disc From Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment!

LOS ANGELES, CA – Experience classics from the 70s, 80s and 90s as The Towering Inferno, My Cousin Vinny and Big Trouble In Little China make their remarkable high-definition debut on Blu-ray disc (BD) from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. 

One tiny spark becomes a night of blazing suspense in director Irwin Allen’s (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea) three-time Oscar® winning* masterpiece of suspense, The Towering Inferno, debuting July 14 on BD from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. There’s no way out and no way down for Steve McQueen (The Magnificent Seven), Paul Newman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), William Holden (Sunset Blvd.), Fred Astaire (Daddy Long Legs), Richard Chamberlain (“The Thorne Birds”), Robert Wagner (Austin Powers) and Faye Dunaway (Mommy Dearest), trapped on the 129th floor of the world’s tallest building when the opening night gala turns into a nightmare of unimaginable proportions.  A spectacular disaster epic that defined the genre, The Towering Inferno shocked audiences with its groundbreaking special effects and dizzying scale, garnering 10 Oscar nominations at the 1975 Academy Awards®, including Best Picture.

Two New York teenagers travel down south through rural Alabama when a series of coincidences lands them in jail charged with first-degree murder in the Oscar® winner** My Cousin Vinny, arriving on BD August 4 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.  Not being able to afford an attorney, the teens, Bill (Ralph Macchio, “Ugly Betty”) and Stan (Mitchell Whitfield, “W.I.T.C.H.”) turn to Bill’s cousin Vinny (Joe Pesci, Goodfellas), an inexperienced lawyer who took six tries to pass his bar exam.  Never having been in a trial, Vinny has to defend his clients and battle an uncompromising judge, some tough locals, and even his fiancée, Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler) who just does not know when to shut up, to prove his clients’ innocence.

Directed by John Carpenter (Halloween), Big Trouble in Little China stars Golden Globe® nominee*** Kurt Russell (Tombstone) as the All-American truck driver, Jack Burton, who helps his friend Wang Chi (Dennis Dun, “Midnight Caller”) rescue Wang’s green-eyed girlfriend (Kim Cattrall, Sex & The City) from bandits in San Francisco’s Chinatown.  In order to save her, the two men must go into the mysterious underworld beneath Chinatown, where they battle kung-fu masters and face a 2000-year-old ancient sorcerer named Lo Pan (James Hong, Kung Fu Panda) who mercilessly presides over an empire of spirits.  Big Trouble in Little China will be available on BD August 4 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Each BD includes the feature film presented in high definition.  Additional bonus materials and specs by title are as follows:

*1975: Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing and Best Music, Original Song
**1993: Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Marisa Tomei
**1983: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture, Silkwood

Towering Inferno Blu-ray Disc Specs:

Presented in widescreen with English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, 4.0 Dolby Surround and Spanish Mono as well as English, French and Spanish Subtitles.  Bonus features include:
·Commentary by F.X. Feeney-Film Historian
·Scene Specific Commentary by Mike Vezina, Special Director on X3
·Scene Specific Commentary by Branko Racki, Stunt Coordinator on The Day After Tomorrow
·32 Extended and Deleted Scenes
·Alternate Opening Sequence
·Inside the Tower: We Remember Featurette
·Innovating Tower: The SPFX of an INferno Featurette
·The Art of Towering Featurette
·Irwin Allen: The Great Producer Featurette
·Directing the Inferno Featurette
·Putting out Fire Featurette
·Running on Fire Featurette
·Still the Worlds Tallest Building Featurette
·The Write Stirling Silliphant Featurette
·AMC Backstory: The Towering Inferno Featurette
·6 Storyboard Comparisons
·Vintage Promotional Materials:
-NATO Presentation Reel
-Original 1974 Feaurette #1
-Original 1974 Feaurette #2
·Irwin Allen 1977 Interview
·Trailer Farm
-The Towering Inferno Teaser
-The Towering Inferno Trailer
-The Poseidon Adventure Trailer
·Interactive Galleries
-American Cinematographer Article
-The Towering Inferno and How It Was Filmed
-Photographing the Dramatic Sequences for The Towering Inferno
-“Action Unit” Lives Up To Its Name While Shooting The Towering Inferno
·Stills Galleries
-Shot Compositions
-Publicity
-Behind the scenes
-Conceptual Sketches
-Costumes

My Cousin Vinny Blu-ray Disc Specs:

Presented in widescreen with English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English, French and Spanish Subtitles.  Bonus features include:
·Commentary by Director Jonathan Lynn
·2 TV Spots
·Theatrical Trailers
·Fox on Blu-ray Trailer Farm TBD <FOX TO PROVIDE>

Big Trouble in Little China Blu-ray Disc Specs:

Presented in widescreen with English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio and French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital as well as English, French and Spanish Subtitles.  Bonus features include:
·Feature
·Theatrical Version
·Extended Cut
·Commentary by Director John Carpenter and actor Kurt Russell
·9 Deleted Scenes
·Extended Ending
·Vintage Featurette
·Music Video
·Richard Edlund Interview
·Trailer A & B
·6 TV Spots
·Behind the Scenes Gallery
 

TOWERING INFERNO
Street Date:                  July 14, 2009
Order Date:                  June 17, 2009
Pricing:                         $34.99 U.S. / $37.99 Canada
Catalog Number:          2260000
Feature Run Time:        165 mins.
MPAA Rating:               PG
Closed Captioned         YES
MY COUSIN VINNY
Street Date:                  August 4, 2009
Order Date:                  July 8, 2009
Pricing:                          $34.99 U.S. / $37.99 Canada
Catalog Number:          2260278
Feature Run Time:        119 mins.
MPAA Rating:              R
Closed Captioned         YES
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA
Street Date:                  August 4, 2009
Order Date:                  July 8, 2009
Pricing:                         $29.99 U.S. / $32.99 Canada
Catalog Number:          2260276
Feature Run Time:        99 mins.
MPAA Rating:              PG-13
Closed Captioned         YES

Campfire Tales & Evil Christmas:  Psycho Santa / Satan Clause Double Feature

Campfire Tales (re-release)

“It’s a fun anthology with gore and effective rock music.”
-The Psychotronic Video Guide.

Twenty dead bodies. No breasts. Intestine-ripping. Blood-puking. Arm-hacking. Multiple pizza faces. Finger-eating. Face-eating rats. A 78 on the Vomit Meter. Gratuitous pumpkin pie. Heads roll. Finger rolls. Ear rolls. Zombie Fu. Two and a half stars.” -Joe Bob Briggs. While out camping in the dark woods, three young people are approached by a creepy derelict who tells them a collection of grisly stories, each one more shocking than the last! You will meet a sadistic psychopath with a razor-sharp hook and a taste for screaming teenage girls; A group of obsessed drug addicts who decay before your eyes; A demonic Santa Claus who punishes bad
boys and girls; And a band of bloodthirsty zombies out for revenge! Horror legend Gunnar Hansen (Leatherface in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre) stars in this cult thriller from shock master Paul Talbot (Hellblock 13, Freakshow). This original, uncut, uncernsored version of Campfire Tales will have you screaming… again and again!

SPECIAL EDITION DVD INCLUDES:
*UNCUT MOVIE
*BONUS SHORT FILM “TENANTS” WITH COMMENTARY
*AUDIO COMMENTARY BY FILM JOURNALIST MIKE WATT
*STORYBOARDS, *AND MORE!

Cat# srsdvd127438
SRP $19.95
UPC 6 74945 12743 8
Prebook 7/3/2009
Street 7/31/2009
Genre Horror
Not rated - “17″ and older by IDRB
88 mins plus extras
Stars Gunnar Hansen
Dir: William Cooke; Paul Talbot

Evil Christmas:  Psycho Santa / Satan Clause Double Feature (re-release)

This holiday season, Sub Rosa invites you to experience a double feature of festive fright that will make you think twice about whether you’ve been naughty or nice. First up, gather round and bask in the warm glow of SATAN CLAUS, as he slashes his way through the Big Apple in search of the perfect ornaments- body parts! An actor and his detective girlfriend join forces with a voodoo priestess to seek out the killer Kris Kringle in an effort to stop him before he can kill again! Then, meet PSYCHO SANTA!  While en route to a holiday gathering, young Ron teases his wife about the legend of a backwoods Santa with an axe to grind. However, when the legend comes to life, the Christmas bash turns into a holiday bloodbath!

*Two Uncut Features
*Trailers
*Interactive Menus
*Dolby Digital Sound

Cat# srsdvd127537
SRP $19.95
UPC 6 74945 12753 7
Prebook 7/3/2009
Street 7/31/2009
Genre Horror
Not rated - “17″ and older by IDRB
145  mins plus extras!
Stars KIMBERLY LYNN  COLE, ERIC SPUDIC, ROBERT CUMMINS, JODIE RAFTY
Director: Peter Keir; Max Cerchi

http://www.srscinema.com

Self-styled magician Kenneth Anger is one of the most distinctive artists in cinema. On 25 May the BFI releases Anger’s Magick Lantern Cycle – a collection of ten experimental short films – on DVD and on Blu-ray for the first time. Kenneth Anger will be at BFI Southbank on 12 May to introduce a special screening of Rabbit’s Moon.
Renowned as the author of the scandalous best-selling book Hollywood Babylon, Kenneth Anger is a legend in his own time. The mythology that has grown around him has many sources, from his involvement with the occult, astrology and the pop world of Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull and Jimmy Page, to the announcement of his own death in the pages of the Village Voice, and the destruction, loss and banning of his films.

At the heart of all this mythology is a filmmaker of prodigious talent, whose skill and imagination create films of great visual force, influencing filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, David Lynch and RW Fassbinder.

The Magick Lantern Cycle, released in a 2-disc set, contains the following films: Fireworks (1947); Puce Moment (1949); Rabbit’s Moon (1950/1971, the rarely seen 16 mins version); Eaux d’Artifice (1953); Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954); Scorpio Rising (1964); Kustom Kar Kommandos (1965); Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969); Rabbit’s Moon (1979); Lucifer Rising (1981). 
 
Special features
• Newly recorded commentaries by Kenneth Anger
• The Man We Want to Hang (2002) – Anger’s film on the art of Aleister Crowley
• Restoration work demo
• Anger Me (2006) – Elio Gelmini’s portrait of Kenneth Anger
• Illustrated booklet containing Modesty and the Art of Film (1951), an original article by Kenneth Anger; The Crowned and Conquering Child (2008), a newly commissioned essay by author Gary Lachman; and film credits

Kenneth Anger Shoots the Moon – BFI Southbank Special Event
Kenneth Anger will introduce a special screening of Rabbit’s Moon (1950 version). After the screening, we welcome Gary Lachman, Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard to discuss with Anger his influences and legacy. Tue 12 May 18:20 NFT1 Tickets £9, concs £6.65

NB. We expect Kenneth Anger to be available for interview on 12 May.

Release date: 25 May 2009
RRP: DVD £22.99 / Blu-ray £24.99
USA / 1947 - 1981 / colour and b&w / English / cert 18 / original aspect ratio 1.33:1
DVD: cat. no. BFIVD628 / 186 + 71 mins / DVD9 + DVD5 / Dolby Digital stereo audio
BD: cat. no. BFIB1010 / 188 mins + 71 mins / BD50 + DVD5 / 1080p / 24fps
BFI DVD and Blu-ray titles are available from all good retailers; by mail order from the BFI Filmstore Tel: 020 7815 1350 or online at www.bfi.org.uk/filmstore

Director, artist and advocate of independent film, Stephen Dwoskin gathered a group of strangers together for five weeks in 1974 and filmed them as they explored their fantasies within a single room. The results of this experiment are seen in this extraordinary and gorgeous looking experimental epic, released for the first time on 25 May.

Inspired by the post-hippy encounter groups that developed on America’s West Coast, this poetic precursor to TV’s Big Brother explores the relationship between intimacy and performance, often to extreme effect. Men and women don make-up, stockings and ceremonial gowns while emotional and physical interactions form and rupture, pushing some participants to their very limits.

Through his involving camerawork and dynamic use of sound – including a compelling drone score by celebrated composer Gavin Bryars – Dwoskin creates a truly unique film that drives us to examine our own sense of ‘fantasy’ and to question our relationships to both the people around us and the film itself.

As well as the DVD release, the BFI is offering a rare opportunity to see the distinctive work of Stephen Dwoskin at BFI Southbank in An Intimate Cinema: The Films of Stephen Dwoskin – a season of films, workshops and a special in conversation event all taking place from 1 – 31 May. Stephen Dwoskin is available for interview.

Working initially as a graphic designer and art director for CBS Records in New York, Dwoskin began making films in 1961, a few years before Andy Warhol, an artist with whom he is often compared. He left the underground US film scene in the mid-Sixties and, on moving to England, quickly became involved in the foundation of the London Filmmakers’ Co-op. His reputation as a bold and distinctive filmmaker was established in this early period and, to this day, remains one of the most visually rich and emotionally intense filmmakers in British cinema.

Special features
• New high definition transfer created from new film elements
• Laboured Party (1974, 20 mins), Dwoskin’s on-set companion piece to Central Bazaar. An unsuspecting Labour Party canvasser calls at the house and falls under the provocative and playful influence of the feature film’s participants
• Illustrated booklet with contributions from Jonas Mekas, Paul Willemen and William Fowler

Release date: 25 May 2009
RRP: £19.99 / cat. no. BFIVD817 / cert 15
UK / 1975 / colour / English / 142 mins / DVD-9 / original aspect ratio 1.33:1 / Dolby Digital mono audio (320 kbps)
BFI DVDs are available from all good DVD retailers; by mail order from the BFI Filmstore Tel: 020 7815 1350 or online at www.bfi.org.uk/filmstore

On May 12th, Dark Sky Films will release the new independent horror/thriller PLAGUE TOWN that critics have labeled “one of the very few memorable horror flicks of the year” (Films In Review) which “knows which buttons to push to extract the maximum in squeamish delirium” (DVD Savant).  It’s the movie that fright fans around the world have hailed as a new benchmark in independent horror: In a remote village, a shocking secret lives on with each and every baby born. Now for a group of lost tourists, every conception of ‘family’ will soon be sliced to pieces. And for the mysterious young girl named Rosemary, the most depraved hunger of all is about to be fulfilled.  Get ready to witness the graphic shocker that Fangoria calls “a boundary-pushing, taboo-breaking experience…PLAGUE TOWN goes where most mainstream horror films fear to tread!”

PLAGUE TOWN marks the feature directorial debut of David Gregory, one of the international DVD industry’s most in-demand Bonus Feature providers. He has produced and directed more than 130 ‘making of’ documentaries on films as diverse as TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, THE WICKER MAN, THE DEER HUNTER, FASTER PUSSYCAT, DON’T LOOK NOW, HEATHERS and REPULSION. As co-founder of the UK/US DVD labels Blue Underground and Severin, he has produced many of the industry’s most widely acclaimed discs and collections, including THE FINAL COUNTDOWN, THE ALAN CLARKE COLLECTION and THE MONDO CANE COLLECTION, which includes his feature-length documentary THE GODFATHERS OF MONDO. Gregory also produced the award-winning 2004 feature film THE MANSON FAMILY and wrote, produced and directed the IFC original production THE SPAGHETTI WEST.

“When we originally wrote PLAGUE TOWN, killer children hadn’t been used nearly enough in modern horror cinema,” says Gregory. “We wanted to make something that had the edge of a twisted fairy tale, filled with imagery of threatening woods, enchanted cottages, sinister old ladies and eerie foreboding, but with some truly unique and beautiful violence. And we chose to up the ante by making the children hideously deformed and mercilessly homicidal.” PLAGUE TOWN will be available on May 12th, 2009 on DVD and Blu-ray formats packed with bonus material: “A Visit to Plague Town” Featurette, “The Sounds of Plague Town” Featurette, Audio Commentary with Director David Gregory and Producer Derek Curl, and trailer, while the Blu-Ray will contain the exclusive short film SCATHED featuring Warhol Superstar Holly Woodlawn.  

“A very scary experience… Just when you think you’ve seen all it has to offer, director David Gregory cranks up the terror and brings the noise.” - Film Threat

    “Move over TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, there’s a new dog in town.” - EDGE

From AVN: 

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. - Marilyn Chambers, star of such golden age classics as Behind the Green Door and Insatiable, was found dead Sunday in the mobile home where she had been living for the past several months. She was 57. Chambers was found by her daughter, McKenna. No cause of death is yet known, and an autopsy will be performed.

Chambers, who said she began performing under her real name because she was unashamed of what she did, was nonetheless born Marilyn Ann Briggs, and she made 16 movies during the period 1972 to 1986, mostly for the Mitchell Brothers and Caballero Home Video. It was at Caballero that she created the series Marilyn Chambers’ Private Fantasies. During this period, she was married to her manager, Chuck Traynor, and though they were divorced in 1985, when Chambers made her comeback film for VCA Pictures, Still Insatiable, in 1998, she requested that Traynor be present for the filming to lend her moral support. The comeback, however, was short-lived, generating just nine movies, some of which were non-sex roles. Chambers tried her hand at producing as well, creating what was hoped to be a continuing series, Nantucket Housewives, for her own company, Damaged Productions

Chambers was also famous for having appeared as the “cover girl” on boxes of Ivory Snow detergent, and was the star of David Cronenberg’s horror film Rabid in 1977.

Check back here later for more information as it develops.

CHAMPAIGN, IL (January 12, 2009) – Dark Maze Studios has acquired the rights to Korkusuz, a 1986 Turkish film better known to fans as “Turkish Rambo,” and will be releasing it on DVD in Spring 2009 as Rampage . The disc will contain the film’s first-ever English language version and numerous bonus features.

In recent years Turkey has become well-known in America for its “remakesploitation” movies — knock-offs of popular American films such as Star Wars, The Exorcist, and Superman — from the 1960s through the 1980s.

“I’m incredibly excited to be putting this release together,” said producer and Dark Maze president Ed Glaser. “I’m a huge fan of Turkish remakesploitation and I think a lot of folks will really get a kick out of this one.”

The story revolves around a Turkish commando, Serdar, who must infiltrate and capture a group of terrorists living in the mountains.

Rampage has been unavailable since its original Turkish VHS release in 1986.

About Dark Maze Studios

Dark Maze Studios is a Champaign, Illinois-based micro-budget independent studio that strives to produce high-quality entertainment on budgets Hollywood would consider pocket change. Dark Maze has produced a number of successful films since 2002. Rampage is the first foreign film to be distributed by Dark Maze Studios.

For more information, visit the official website at www.darkmaze.com/rampage.