Spookies (Genie Joseph, Thomas Doran, and Brendan Faulkner, 1986)

FROM BEYOND OBLIVION, THE SPOOKIES ARE HERE AGAIN!

An old, abandoned, isolated mansion seems like the perfect place for a group of young couples to party and let loose, but it may be perfect trap to lose their souls. Inside, a strange Ouija board leads the group into a supernatural web of terror, all plotted by an ancient sorcerer gathering sacrifices to restore his unwilling bride once again to life. Just a few more humans are needed to complete his spell …

A dizzying array of monstrous creatures are conjured by the wizard – hellish lizards, skeletal reapers, demons, zombies, seductive spider women, entrancing ghosts, and flatulent muck men, all empowered with a singular instinct to kill – and one by one, each guest is victim to this twisted, supernatural onslaught. Nothing can prepare you for the incredible special effects of Spookies, a horror cult classic that must be seen to be believed!

Special Features:

• New high definition digital transfer
• High-Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard DVD Presentation
• Uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Introduction by the filmmakers
• Audio commentary with film historian Max Evry
• Interviews with actor Anthony Valbrio, visual effects artist Al Magliochetti, and co-producer Frank Farel
• Original ending taken from the interpositive held by the production’s original visual effects artist
• Theatrical trailer
• Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by regional horror historian Brian Albright

Freaks (Tod Browning, 1932)

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

“We accept you, one of us.  Gooble-gobble, gooble-gobble.” This is the chant of Freaks, director Tod Browning’s bizarre morality play of betrayal and retribution in a circus sideshow.  In this Pre-Code masterpiece, an evil trapeze artist seduces and marries a small-statured performer in hopes of murdering him and inheriting his secret fortune.  Her plot raises the ire of the other sideshow members and the “Code of the Freaks” demands a harsh and terrible punishment for this “peacock of the air.”  Browning, a former circus contortionist, shocked audiences and his studio by bringing true circus freaks to the silver screen (including a legless boy, a human torso, Siamese twins, a human skeleton, a pair of armless women, and microcephalics – called “pinheads” in the film), and in doing so Browning created a film that effectively ended his career but became a cult classic decades later.

Disc Features:

• High definition digital transfer with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Audio commentary by Browning biographer David J. Skal
• Freaks: Sideshow Spectacle, a documentary on sideshow performers appearing in the film
• 3 alternate endings
• Special Message prologue added for the film’s theatrical re-issue
• Kim Newman on the banning of Freaks in the UK for 31 years
• Photo gallery of production and publicity stills
• PLUS: A booklet featuring new essays by scholar David Church and director Rona Mark, the original short story “Spurs” that inspired the film, and a script synopsis from the MGM archives

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

The Devils (Ken Russell, 1971)

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

Banned, censored, and suppressed for years, the director’s cut of Ken Russell’s infamous masterpiece depicts the rise and fall of 17th century French priest Urbain Grandier, tried and executed for a series of possessions in Loudon, France.  Masterful performances by Oliver Reed as Grandier and Vanessa Redgrave as Sister Jeanne, Urbain’s hunchbacked nemesis, are matched by Russell’s audacious direction and contributions by Derek Jarman, David Watkin, and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.  Mixing political and religious commentary with transgressive, cinematic spectacle, The Devils is proudly presented here, for the first time for home viewing, as Russell originally intended, restored with previously cut footage and uncompromised by past controversies.

Disc Features:

• New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• New audio commentary featuring filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and film critic Richard Crouse
• New audio commentary featuring film critic Mark Kermode and editor Mike Bradsell
• Hell on Earth: The Desecration and Resurrection of The Devils, Paul Joyce’s hour-long, 2002 documentary made for TV and presented by Mark Kermode
• New interviews with actresses Vanessa Redgrave and Gemma Jones and actors Murray Melvin and Dudley Sutton on the filming of The Devils
• New interview with composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies on the music of The Devils
• Video appreciations by David Cronenberg, Alex Cox, Guillermo del Toro, Terry Gilliam, John Landis, Joe Dante, Lloyd Kaufman, and Mitch Davis
• Excerpts from Saskia Baron’s 1995 made-for-TV documentary, Empire of the Censors
• Original theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring selected reviews from The Devils‘ release and a new essay by Russell biographer Joseph Lanza

Kiss Me, Stupid (Billy Wilder, 1964)

The Criterion Collection, a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films presents Kiss Me, Stupid.

When singer, celebrity, and notorious womanizer Dino (Dean Martin) passes through Climax, Nevada, he doesn’t count on meeting two would-be songwriters with a plan to strand him there and serenade him with their songs.  But then again, they weren’t counting on Dino’s obsessive pursuit of wine and women!  And when one of the men, Orville J. Spooner (Ray Walston) learns that his own wife (Felicia Farr) was once president of Dino’s fan club, he hires Polly the Pistol (Kim Novak) as his replacement wife to help lure the carousing celebrity into a song-buying mood.  Beset by a troubled production and condemned on release by the Catholic League of Decency, Billy Wilder’s Kiss Me, Stupid was a staggering box-office flop, proving to be too frank, too lurid, and too coarse for audiences and authorities alike.

Disc Features:

• New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Audio commentary featuring film scholar Ken Feil
• Wilder’s Anti-Climax, a new documentary on the making of Kiss Me, Stupid, its release and reception
• Behind the scenes footage from Hollywood Backstage
• Video afterword with director Mick Garris
• Wife for a Night, Mario Camerini’s 1952 feature starring Gina Lollobrigida and based on the same stage play as Kiss Me, Stupid
• Alternate scene originally present in the theatrical version
• Stills gallery
• Trailer
• PLUS: New essays by film scholar Michael Koresky and reporter and columnist John Leland

Blue Collar (Paul Schrader, 1978)

The Criterion Collection, a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films presents Blue Collar.

When Detroit auto workers Jerry (Harvey Keitel), Smokey (Yaphet Kotto), and Zeke (Richard Pryor in a rare, but unforgettable dramatic performance) find bills piling up and pressures bearing down, they decide to rob their corrupt union office.  In a cruel twist, their meager haul contains far more than they expected and the three friends find themselves at odds while facing danger, betrayal, and murder.  Paul Schrader’s début directorial effort surmounted bitter tensions amongst his stars to showcase the dark side of the American working class, creating a brutal vision of the low wages and huge debts that trap workers between big industry and big labor.

Disc Features:

• New 4K digital restoration, supervised by filmmaker Paul Schrader, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Introduction by comedian Patton Oswalt
• Audio commentary with co-writer and director Paul Schrader and journalist Maitland McDonagh
• Interview with musician Ry Cooder on the recording of “Hard Working Man” by Captain Beefheart and the music of Blue Collar
• Theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by filmmaker and curator Brecht Andersch