In Fabric (Peter Strickland, 2018) – Chattanooga Film Festival 2019

FIRST FLOOR: WOMEN’S FASHION, ACCESSORIES, TERROR

Writer-director Peter Strickland’s latest effort is his most demented vision to date, a bizarrely terrifying combination of Suspiria and Phantom Thread that is awash in blood (and other bodily fluids). Set in the world of 1970s fashion, In Fabric is a psychosexual phantasmagoria initiated by a murderous dress that is sold by an unusual department store and the hypnotic coven that runs it. Recently divorced bank clerk Sheila is the garment’s first victim, completely unaware that her purchase at Dentley & Soper’s will unleash the frock’s curse and set in motion an absurdly brutal chain of fashion related brutality.

With In Fabric, Peter Strickland blends Italian supernatural horror and Europudding erotica with corporate micromanagement and baroque customer service-speak, producing an incisive parody of consumer culture that still manages to feel legitimately unsettling and truly terrifying. In Fabric is a must sees for surreal fashion addicts and kinky horror fans alike!

Special Edition Comments:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and Uncompressed Stereo PCM
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Feature-length audio commentary with writer/director Peter Strickland
• Fashion Victims, new interview with Strickland
• Deleted scenes with commentary by Strickland
• Dentley & Soper’s commercial
• Production design gallery
• “The Magic Spring,” A Hawk & A Hacksaw’s music video directed by Strickland
• “Never Enough,” The KVB’s music video directed by Strickland
• “Instrumental 7,” Flying Saucer Attack’s music video by Strickland
• Original theatrical trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring two artwork choices

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by horror film journalist Mark Kermode and excerpts from the Dentley & Soper store catalogue

5 Great Reasons to Attend the Buried Alive Film Festival – The November 17th Edition!

The Buried Alive Film Festival’s program for Saturday, November 17, is STACKED with three new feature films, one rep-pick, two supporting features, the Eyeslicer short film program, nine more short films in the “It’s Never Too Early to Start Digging Graves” block, and one burlesque show compliments of Blast Off Burlesque. Now that’s a full day of entertainment!

Overwhelmed with a bounty of goodness, MMC!‘s previews can only be more important, pointing the path from mere goodness and toward greatness. Here, dear readers, are five MMC!-approved reasons (that are actually nine reasons) to BAFF this Saturday:

Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (Michael Winterbottom, 2005)

The Criterion Collection, a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films presents Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story.

Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story is Michael Winterbottom’s unorthodox adaptation of the unfilmable English literary masterpiece The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, written by Laurence Sterne.  Staying true to the manic spirit of the book, the film flips back and forth between the 18th century story and the hapless efforts of the 21st century filmmakers attempting to shoot the classic.  Tristram Shandy (Steve Coogan) narrates the filmed story of his life from conception onward, with numerous digressions and unfinished thoughts, while actor Steve Coogan serves his professional ego behind the scenes against the increasing prominence of his co-star, Rob Brydon.  Crammed with literary jokes and dark humor, and aided by stellar performances by Jeremy Northam, Stephen Fry, and Gillian Anderson, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story is a clever, postmodern take on the construction of a film from an intricate, hilariously autobiographical novel.

Disc Features:

• New, restored 2K digital film transfer, supervised by cinematographer Marcel Zyskind and approved by director Michael Winterbottom, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• A Womb with a View, a new interview with director Michael Winterbottom and actors Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon
• Audio commentary with Coogan and Brydon
• Helen Weinstein conversation with Winterbottom and producer Andrew Eaton for Historyworks
• Extended interview with Steve Coogan conducted by journalist Tony Wilson
• Deleted and extended scenes
• Behind-the-scenes footage
• Premiere footage
• Theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by film critic Mark Kermode and cartoonist Martin Rowson

Bugsy Malone (Alan Parker, 1976)

“Bugsy Malone is the last great musical.” – John Burgess, THE GUARDIAN.

It’s 1929.  A vicious mob war is tearing the city apart.  One man is caught in the middle.  And no one has hit puberty yet.

Get splurged with this offbeat slapstick gangster musical that features ruthless mobsters, gin hall singers and hard-nosed cops .. played exclusively by a cast of children.  Showcasing the talents of a pre-Chachi Scott Baio and a 13 year-old Jodie Foster (fresh off playing a child prostitute for Martin Scorsese in Taxi Driver), Sir Alan Parker’s Bugsy Malone is the most elaborate game cops and robbers ever attempted.  Baio is Bugsy Malone, a small-time boxing promoter who gets mixed up with some pint-sized gangs competing to take over the “sarsaparilla racket” with a cache of “splurge guns” – Tommy Guns that shoot gobs of custard and take their victim out of commission.  Goofing on cliches of prohibition-era gangster pics, the film plays off the absurdity of miniature mobsters talking up dancers at speakeasies and chasing each other in Model T pedal cars, all while supported by Broadway-style song and dance numbers written (and sometimes performed) by Paul Williams.  This gangster epic will appeal to kids and adults alike, and the only thing criminal is how cute these crooks are as they wage their pocket-sized mob war.

Special Features:

• Audio commentary with writer-director Sir Alan Parker
• Optional “Sing-A-Long” version
• “From Sketch to Screen” – rough shot sketches synched to the film’s soundtrack
• After They Were Famous: Bugsy Malone, a 2003 retrospective on the film made from British television
• Trailers
• Photo Gallery
• Production Art Gallery including sketched and full painted concept art
• 32-page booklet featuring an essay by Sir Alan Parker on the making of the film and a new essay by film scholar Kier-La Janisse

Splurge Edition – Package Includes:

• Bugsy Malone on Blu-ray or Standard DVD featuring over 3 hours of bonus material!
• DRM-free Digital Download of the film in 1080p, 720p, and mobile/tablet formats
• Instant download of the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Paul Williams
• 27″ x 40″ reversible poster
• Parker’s graphic novel adaptation of Bugsy Malone, illustrated by Graham Thompson

The Knack … and How to Get It (Richard Lester, 1965)

The Criterion Collection, a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films presents The Knack … and How to Get It.

Either you have it or you don’t.  Cool and sophisticated Tolen (Ray Brooks) has it with a monopoly on womanizing proven by a long line of conquests, while his naïve and awkward landlord Colin (Michael Crawford) desperately wants a piece of it, but when Colin falls for an innocent country girl (Rita Tushingham), self-assured Tolen quickly makes a play for her.  Fresh from the success of A Hard Day’s Night, Richard Lester applies his frenetic style to the early days of Swinging London and creates this mod masterpiece.  The Knack … and How to Get It breaks through the formulaic conventions of romantic love and the sex comedy and stands as a handsome portrayal of the generation gap and the oncoming sexual revolution, wowing audiences at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival and making it a surprise winner of the Palme d’Or.

Disc Features:

• New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Richard Lester, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Audio commentary featuring Steven Soderbergh interviewing Lester
• New interviews with Ray Brooks, Michael Crawford, and Rita Tushingham
• Downloadable soundtrack by John Barry
• Birdwatching, interviews with Charlotte Rampling, Jacqueline Bisset, and Jane Birkin, who all made their onscreen debuts in The Knack … and How to Get It
• Richard Lester’s 1965 documentary on Formula One racing made for Esso
• New interview with Richard Lester on his advertising work during the mid-1960s, including a collection of his television commercials
• Theatrical trailer
• PLUS: An essay by British film scholar Janet Moat

In Bruges (Martin McDonagh, 2008)

The Criterion Collection, a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films presents In Bruges.

Irish hit men Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) have been ordered to cool their heels in the storybook city of Bruges (it’s in Belgium) after a big job goes wrong.  While veteran killer Ken is happy to spend his days sightseeing and his nights waiting for instructions from their boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes), newbie trigger-man Ray quickly grows anxious amid the canals and cobblestones of Belgium’s best-preserved medieval town and finds himself caught in the middle of surreal exchanges between hostile tourists, a beautiful drug-dealer, a skinhead robber, and a heavily drugged little person actor.  And when yet another of Harry’s assignments fails to proceed according to plan, the angry crime boss makes his way to Bruges to sort out Ray and Ken’s mess.  Playwright Martin McDonagh’s first feature is an equally poignant, hilarious, and hard-bitten tale of penance and redemption that has grown into a contemporary cult classic.

Disc Features:

• New, restored 4K digital film transfer, approved by writer and director Martin McDonagh, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Audio commentary with McDonagh and actor Colin Farrell
• Deleted and extended scenes, with optional audio commentary by McDonagh
• Six Shooter, McDonagh’s Oscar-winning 2004 short film
• Within Bruges, a new interview and video piece with McDonagh on the film’s influences and references
• When in Bruges, cast and crew interviews on the making of In Bruges
• Strange Bruges, interviews with the cast on the film’s historic location
• F*****g Bruges, a collection of the film’s vulgar exclamations and reactions
• A Boat Trip Around Bruges, a tranquil point-of-view tour through the canals of Bruges
• Gag reel
• Trailer
• Stills Gallery
• PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by cult film scholar Ernest Mathijs