New Releases

New Releases for the week of October 13th

By madamecrow ⋅ October 13, 2009 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

DRAG ME TO HELL—Here’s a review by our colleague Bryan Theiss:

After three big budget Spider-man movies in a row and his past as the director of The Evil Dead practically forgotten, the old Sam Raimi suddenly reappears with this crowd-pleasing and darkly humorous horror show. Trying to impress her boss at the bank, a young loan officer (Alison Lohman) denies a loan extension to a toothless old Gypsy woman who promptly turns around and curses her. Lohman spends the rest of the movie trying to do whatever she can to avoid getting sucked down into the netherworld, including but not limited to séances, grave robbing and animal sacrifice. Eyeballs appear in her food, flies invade her internal organs, a goat yells at her, blood and worms spray out of her nose and mouth, and all the while she attempts to continue her career and social life. Early in the movie there is a knock down, drag out catfight in a parking garage that’s better than any fight in an action movie this summer, and Raimi maintains that type of energy throughout. He also cleverly gives the heroine more of a dark side than females are usually afforded in the horror movie formula, leading to some big laughs. You’ll be smiling and laughing (and if you’re a Raimi fan you’ll notice a lot of references and in-jokes) but it’s not a comedy, it’s a straight ahead old fashioned horror movie getting a kick out of playing with the audience. Drag Me To Hell is not the scariest or most disturbing horror movie of the year, but it’s by far the most enjoyable.

Thanks, Bryan. We have it for sale on DVD and Blu-ray in the store and online.

OBJECTIFIED–New documentary from the director of Helvetica:

LAND OF THE LOST—The movie-fied version of Sid & Marty Krofft’s kids’ show, though we’ll warn you, this one’s probably not suitable for the younger set. Will Ferrell stars as a scientist who’s time traveling device is mocked by the entire scientific community (and Matt Lauer) until one day it suddenly works, sucking him, an admiring British doctorial student and an offbeat roadside attraction worker (portrayed by the always awesome Danny McBride) into the titular mysterious world. If you were curious, yes, you do get to see Will Ferrell in his underpants.

EVERY LITTLE STEP—A hit at SIFF this year, this documentary chronicles both the creation of A Chorus Line and the casting for the 2006 Broadway revival. This might make a good double feature with Land of the Lost (watch it and you’ll see).

THE PROPOSAL—Green Card for the new millennium, starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds.

DUSAN MAKAVEJEV: FREE RADICAL—Criterion’s Eclipse label presents three films by the Serbian director: Man Is Not a Bird (1965), Love Affair; Or The Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator (1967) and Innocence Unprotected (1968). Read more about it here.

ADORATION–Atom Egoyan’s latest:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME—The 1981 teen slasher starring Melissa Sue Anderson (Mary from Little House on The Prairie) gets a new DVD release with the original music score.

SKIN IN THE 70s: GRINDHOUSE COLLECTION—Four tawdry films: Blue Summer (1973), Sometimes Sweet Susan (1975), Summer School Teachers (1974) and Teenage Divorce (1972) starring George “Sulu” Takei.

BILL NYE: SOLVING FOR X

HORI SMOKU SAILOR JERRY–Warning, there be some swearing in this here trailer:

NEW BLU-RAY: FORMAT OF THE FUTURE

Adam Resurrected

Kenneth Anger: Magick Lantern Cycle

CSI: Season 9

Eagles Over London—Another WWII film from the director of the original Inglorious Bastards. Check it out here.

Easy Virtue (2008)

Facing The Giants

Fireproof

Friday

Girl Next Door (2004)(Unrated!)

Hardware

High Crimes

Hot Fuzz (Ultimate Edition)

Lie To Me: Season 1

Lies and Illusions

Misery

Natural Born Killers (Director’s Cut)

The Office (US): Season 5

Quick and The Dead (1995)

Set It Off

Silverado

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

Streets of Blood

Sugar

Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense

Van Helsing

Warren Miller: Children of Winter (also on regular DVD)

Wrong Turn

Wrong Turn 2

NEW TV ON DVD

Ally McBeal: Seasons 1-5

Cook’s Country: Season 2

Deadly Women: Seasons 1 & 2

Delta State: Season 1

Hunger: Season 2

Inspector Lewis: Season 2 (all four discs also available separately)

Legend Of The Seeker: Season 1

Lovejoy: Season 6

Mary Tyler Moore Show: Season 5

Midsomer Murders Sea. 10 Part 1

Mighty Boosh: Special Edition –All three seasons are now available all together with exclusive bonus features.

My Family: Seasons 3 & 4

6Teen: Season 1 Vol. 1

Some Assembly Required: Seasons 1 & 2

Wycliffe: Season 2

ANIME NEW RELEASES

Amon Saga

Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohaniho Parts 1 & 2

Boy Who Saw The Wind

Hayate The Combat Butler Vol. 2

Master of Epic: The Animation Age

Neuro—Supernatural Detective Parts 1 & 2

Sketchbook

Sunshine Sketch (Hidamari Sketch)

FAMILY NEW RELEASES

Baby Einstein: World Animal Adventure

Bakugan Vol. 5

Ben 10: Alien Force Vol. 4

George Shrinks: Ghost Grabber Machine

Jonas: Rockin’ The House Vol. 1

Lions (4 films)

Mandie and the Secret Tunnel

Mr. Men and Little Miss: Little Miss Sunshine/Mr. Tickle

Power Rangers RPM: Race For Corinth

Strawberry Shortcake Movie: Sky’s The Limit

Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana

World According to Miley Cyrus

NEW IMPORTS & FOREIGN FILMS

Antony and Cleopatra (1972)(PAL Code 2)

Beauty in Trouble (2008)—Czech Republic

By Love Possessed (PAL Code 2)—U.S. film from 1961, directed by John Sturges

Dreams…Do Come True (2009)—India

Eagles Shooting Heroes (2008)—Chinese TV series

En Magan (1974)—India

Fakira (1976)—India

Fighter (2007)—Denmark

Filhaal…(aka For the Moment)(2002)—India

Geisha Boy (PAL Code 2)—U.S. film from 1958 directed by Frank Tashlin

Home Run (2005)—Hong Kong

Jack Brown, Genius (1996)—New Zealand

Karlin Mansdotter (PAL Code 2) (1954)—Sweden

Knock On Any Door (PAL Code 2)—U.S. film from 1949 directed by Nicholas Ray

Love of Siam (2007)—Thailand

Magnificent Matador (PAL)—U.S. film from 1955 directed by Budd Boetticher

My Sister, My Love (PAL Code 2)(1966)—Sweden

Night Games (PAL Code 2) (1966)—Sweden

No Through Road (2009)—Australia

PVC-1 (2007)—Colombia

Tactical Unit: Partners (2009)—Hong Kong

3 Is A Crowd (PAL Code 2)—Diane Kurys’ film from 2003

Ullathai Allitha (1996)—India

Way of a Gaucho (PAL Code 2)—U.S. film from 1952 directed by Jacques Tourneur

NEW DOCUMENTARIES, ART & MUSIC FILMS

American Brew: The Rich and Surprising History of Beer

Animal Armageddon: Target Earth

Clemenza Da Tito (2005)(Zurich Opera House)

FA Cup 2006-07

FC Barcelona: Champions of Europe 2006—These last two are all about the soccer

Good Life: The Joe Grushecky Story

In A Dream (Coney Island 1945)

Tom Jobin: Brazil’s Ambassador of Song

Latin Music USA

Least Of These

New York Noir: The History of Black New York

National Geographic: Egyptian Secrets of the Afterlife

National Geographic: Where’s Amelia Earhart?

Private Century—A collection of home movies, photos, letters and diaries made by ordinary folks in Czechoslovakia from the 1920s-60s.

Edward Said: Out of Place/Last Interview

This Is Berlin Not New York—All about the Antagonist Art Movement

Twin Spirits

Under The Sea with Al Giddings

Visions of the Sea

Wreckreation Nation

AND MORE MOVIES

American Violet

Donna On Demand

Flavors (2003)

Gnaw

Gorehouse Greats Collection

Haunted Airman—Twilight’s Robert Pattison stars as a wounded airman suffering from nightmares who travels to a creepy Welsh castle to seek help from a suspicious psychiatrist (Julian Sands)

Horror In The Wind

How To Be A Serial Killer

Impact (2009)

Imurders

Infestation (2008)

Jackass: The Lost Tapes

Killing Room

Last Of The Mohicans (1936)

Left Bank

Love Statue LSD Experience

Mail Order Bride (2009)—Made for TV western starring My Two Dad’s Greg Evigan and Spaceballs’ Daphne Zuniga.

Nightmare (2005)

The Objective

Oral Fixation

Pets (1974)

Nick Swardson: Seriously, Who Farted?

Katt Williams: Pimpadelic

Wuthering Heights (1967)

As usual, there’s more in our New to Store and New to Room (that’s the Adult section) as well as our stellar Halloween Staff Picks section. Head in out of the rain and check them out.

Tags: Blu-ray, Criterion, Eclipse, imports, Sam Raimi