Kino Lorber has unveiled some of the details of their April 2021 Blu-Ray and DVD releases from their Kino Lorber, Kino Classics, Cohen Media Group, Zeitgeist Films, Greenwich Entertainment, Scorpion Releasing, Code Red and Good Deed Entertainment imprints. Get all the details on this incredibly packed lineup below:
Street Date: 4/6/21
Synopsis: Winner of the Special Jury Award for Cinematography at the Sundance Film Festival.In the wilderness of the Bucharest Delta, an abandoned water reservoir just outside the bustling metropolis, the Enache family lived in perfect harmony with nature for two decades, sleeping in a hut on the lakeshore, catching fish barehanded, and following the rhythm of the seasons. When this area is transformed into a public national park, they are forced to leave behind their unconventional life and move to the city, where fishing rods are replaced by smartphones and idle afternoons are now spent in classrooms. As the family struggles to conform to modern civilization and maintain their connection to each other and themselves, they each begin to question their place in the world and what their future might be. With their roots in the wilderness, the nine children and their parents struggle to find a way to keep their family united in the concrete jungle. With an empathetic and cinematic eye, filmmaker Radu Ciorniciuc offers viewers, in his feature debut, a compelling tale of an impoverished family living on the fringes of society in Romania, fighting for acceptance and their own version of freedom.
Bonus Features: Deleted Scenes | Trailer
BLASTFIGHTER (SPECIAL EDITION)
Street Date: 4/6/21
Synopsis: Michael Sopkiw (After the Fall of New York, Devil Fish) stars in this Southern-fried action thriller as an embittered cop just released from prison after serving a lengthy term for killing the man who had murdered his wife. Wishing for a peaceful, serene change of pace and a chance to catch up with his daughter (Valentina Forte, Cut and Run), he moves to rural Georgia to live off the land. Alas, this pastoral existence is short-lived thanks to a sleazy group of poachers who supply an even sleazier scientist with live animals for sadistic biological experiments. Armed with the superweapon Blastfighter, he goes on a bloody rampage against the poachers in this classic Italian revenge movie, also starring George Eastman (Ironmaster, The Grim Reaper, Rabid Dogs) and genre favorites Massimo Vanni (Zombie 3) and Ottaviano Dell’Acqua (Zombie). Now watch this Quentin Tarantino approved slice of drive-in mayhem from director Lamberto Bava (Demons, A Blade in the Dark) in high-octane HD!
Bonus Features: Audio Commentary with Star Michael Sopkiw, Moderated by Nathaniel Thompson | New Interviews with Stars Michael Sopkiw and George Eastman, Director Lamberto Bava and Director of Photography Gianlorenzo Battaglia | Trailer | Region A/B/C
Street Date: 4/6/21
Synopsis: Dario Argento (Suspiria, Deep Red) brings us a chilling giallo film like only the true master can. A series of grisly murders in the city match the work of a serial killer who appears to have escaped the authorities and disappeared without a trace seventeen years earlier. A retired police detective (Max von Sydow, The Exorcist, The Three Days of the Condor) who is familiar with the case comes out of retirement to catch the killer. Beautifully shot by Ronnie Taylor (Sea of Love) with a wonderful score by Goblin (The Church). The stellar cast includes Chiara Caselli (My Own Private Idaho) and Rossella Falk (Modesty Blaise).
Bonus Features: Audio Commentary by Film Historians Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson | Interview with Director/Co-Writer Dario Argento | Interview with Co-Writer Franco Ferrini | Interview with Set Designer Massimo Antonello Geleng | Interview with Actor Gabriele Lavia “Mr. Betti” | Interview with Actor Paolo Maria Scalondro “Commissioner Manni” | Trailers | Dual-Layered BD50 Disc | In English and Italian with English Subtitles
Synopsis: The Delicious Little Devil (1919) is a delightfully risqué silent comedy starring Mae Murray and Rudolph Valentino (The Sheik), presented in a 4K restoration by Universal Pictures. Murray stars as Kitty Maguire, the virtuous daughter of a washerwoman who loses her job as a hat-check girl. She is forced to make ends meet as a dancer at a roadhouse cabaret, but she can only get the job by pretending to be Gloria du Moine, the notorious mistress of the Duke de Sauterne (Bertram Grassby). Mary falls in love with Jimmie Calhoun (Valentino), who is wary of marrying her because of her supposedly sordid past, and the film careens to a rollickingly funny conclusion as her true identity is revealed.
Bonus Features: Audio commentary by film historian Gaylyn Studlar | Blood and Sand (1922) trailer | Music by Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum | Newsreel footage of Rudolph Valentino’s funeral | Orson Welles Remembers Rudolph Valentino
Street Date: 4/6/21
Synopsis: Exploitation films were often ripped from the most sensational headlines of the day, and few headlines were as scandalous as those reporting a murder within the community of a masochistic religious cult in northern New Mexico. Los Hermanos Penitentes celebrated Lent by enacting elaborate tableaus of flagellation, self-mutilation, and crucifixion. Envisioning the box-office potential of such a spectacle, cinematographer Roland Price (Marihuana: Weed With Roots in Hell) shot several reels of footage of the rituals, then teamed with producer Harry Revier (Child Bride) to fashion a murder mystery around the documentary material. For years, The Lash of the Penitentes flourished on the exploitation circuit, sometimes with new footage cut into the feature (and most notoriously: the trailer). Usually circulated in an abbreviated 35-minute version, this Kino Classics edition was restored from film elements preserved by the Library of Congress, and represents the uncensored 48-minute cut: The Penitente Murder Case.
Bonus Features: The Penitente Murder Case (the complete, uncensored, 48-minute cut) | The Lash of the Penitentes (the censored and condensed 35-minute version) | Audio commentary by series curator Bret Wood | Optional English SDH subtitles | Trailer gallery
Street Date: 4/6/21
Synopsis: Prior to emigrating to the U.S., where he would make such classics as The Spiral Staircase and The Killers, Robert Siodmak took a familiar black comedy premise and transformed it into a diabolical thriller. Heinz Rühmann, employing his trademark persona of the childlike naïf, portrays Hans, a despondent young man who decides to murder himself by hiring a burglar to commit the crime. But when Hans’s life takes an unexpected turn for the better, he realizes he must locate and stop the killer before the contract can be fulfilled. Combining morbid comedy with broad slapstick, The Man in Search of His Murderer owes much of its comic sensibilities to screenwriters Billy Wilder (Double Indemnity) and Curt Siodmak (The Wolf Man) who were also soon to leave Germany, to later enjoy fruitful careers in Hollywood.
Bonus Features: Audio commentary by film historian Josh Nelson
PREPARATIONS TO BE TOGETHER FOR AN UNKNOWN PERIOD OF TIME
Street Date: 4/6/21 (DVD Only)
Synopsis: Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time is a hauntingly provocative psychological thriller that is Hungary’s official entry for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards®. Márta, a 40-year-old neurosurgeon, falls in love. She leaves her shining American career behind and returns to Budapest to start a new life with the man she loves. But she waits for him at the Liberty Bridge in vain—he does not appear at their rendezvous. Márta starts to search for him desperately, but when she finally finds him, the love of her life claims that they have never met before
Bonus Features: Trailers
Street Date: 4/13/21
Synopsis: A month after receiving a fatal diagnosis in January 2015, Oliver Sacks sat down for a series of filmed interviews in his apartment in New York City. For eighty hours, surrounded by family, friends, and notebooks from six decades of thinking and writing about the brain, he talked about his life and work, his abiding sense of wonder at the natural world, and the place of human beings within it. Drawing on these deeply personal reflections, as well as nearly two dozen interviews with close friends, family members, colleagues and patients, and archival material from every point in his life, Oliver Sacks: His Own Life is the story of a beloved doctor and writer who redefined our understanding of the brain and mind.
Bonus Features: Audio Description | Deleted Scenes | Trailers
Synopsis: From James Bridges, the acclaimed director of The Paper Chase, The China Syndrome, Urban Cowboy, Mike’s Murder, Perfect and Bright Lights, Big City, comes this classic 70s drama about the tragic death of James Dean on September 30, 1955 and the effects it has on a circle of friends in a small Arkansas town. Their leader Jimmy J. (Richard Thomas, TV’s The Waltons) is a college undergrad who, like his cinematic hero, feels alienated and misunderstood. At the news of Dean’s death, Jimmy J. gathers his friends, including fellow spirit Billie Jean (Lisa Blount, An Officer and a Gentleman), girlfriend Charlotte (Deborah Benson, Just Before Dawn), roommate Hanley (Tom Hulce, Amadeus), sidekick Eugene (Dennis Christopher, Breaking Away) and jock Frank (Dennis Quaid, Dreamscape), for an emotional vigil. What begins, however, as a soul-searching assemblage gives way to youthful revelry, drinking binges, police chases, midnight séances, graveyard mischief and ultimately, tragedy. Beautifully shot by the great Gordon Willis (The Godfather, Manhattan) and co-starring Susan Tyrrell (Fat City).
Bonus Features: NEW Audio Commentary by Peter Tonguette, the author of “The Films of James Bridges” | Theatrical Trailer | Dual-Layered BD50 Disc | Optional English Subtitles
IRONMASTER – AKA LA GUERRA DEL FERRO: IRONMASTER
Synopsis: A tale that hurls you back to the dawn of human history! On his own, exiled tribesman Vudu (George Eastman; After the Fall of New York, Hands of Steel, Blastfighter) discovers how to fashion weapons out of iron and use them for his new tribe’s survival and demolishing their enemies. When the new leader of his former tribe Ela (Sam Pasco) figures out how his clan can survive by creating their own iron, it becomes a battle to the death between two brutal forces! Who will win, and at what cost? Directed by Umberto Lenzi (Almost Human, Spasmo, Seven Blood Stained Shadows, Nightmare City), now watch this stone age fantasy classic in HD!
Bonus Features: 2016 HD Master | Interviews with Director Umberto Lenzi, Star George Eastman and Art Director Massimo Antonello Geleng
SENSATION SEEKERS/A CHAPTER IN HER LIFE
Synopsis: Among the most exciting rediscoveries of silent cinema are the films of Lois Weber, who produced and directed a series of popular and provocative films at Universal Studios, often depicting women’s struggles for independence within the ever-shifting moral landscape of 1920s modernity. Sensation Seekers stars Billie Dove (The Black Pirate) as the free-spirited Egypt, a small-town girl who dreams of escape and adventure, and resists the efforts of a pious minister (Raymond Bloomer) to tame her thirst for excitement. Egypt’s progress is highlighted by moments of cinematic spectacle, including a lavish masquerade ball and a stunning shipwreck sequence. A Chapter in Her Life explores the efforts of a young girl (Jane Mercer) whose childish innocence exposes the hypocrisy and weakness that threaten the happiness of an aristocratic family.
Bonus Features: New 2K restorations by Universal Pictures • Audio commentary for Sensation Seekers by Shelley Stamp, author of Lois Weber in Early Hollywood
Synopsis: Gillian (writer-director Gillian Wallace Horvat playing a warped version of herself) is one of those many struggling filmmakers in L.A. who just can’t seem to get the money for their first feature. Feeling like her friends and her partner (Keith Poulson) are losing faith in her abilities, she decides to resurrect her abandoned documentary based on a “compliment” she once received that she would make a good murderer. But while she documents what makes the perfect murder a hitherto unseen dark side of Gillian emerges and grows.Gillian (writer-director Gillian Wallace Horvat playing a warped version of herself) is one of those many struggling filmmakers in L.A. who just can’t seem to get the money for their first feature. Feeling like her friends and her partner (Keith Poulson) are losing faith in her abilities, she decides to resurrect her abandoned documentary based on a “compliment” she once received that she would make a good murderer. But while she documents what makes the perfect murder a hitherto unseen dark side of Gillian emerges and grows.
Bonus Features: Trailers
Street Date: 4/20/21
Synopsis: Part psychological horror, part realist drama, this exhilarating debut feature from Shatara Michelle Ford is set against the backdrop of national discussions around inequitable health care and policing, the #metoo movement, and race in America. Test Pattern follows an interracial couple whose relationship is put to the test after a Black woman is sexually assaulted and her white boyfriend drives her from hospital to hospital in search of a rape kit. Their story reveals the systemic injustices and social conditioning women face when navigating sex and consent within the American patriarchy.
Bonus Features: Audio commentary by director Shatara Michelle Ford | Shatara Michelle Ford in conversation with James Gray | Trailer
Street Date: 4/27/21
Synopsis: The Devil’s Advocates—an outlaw gang of Harley-riding hellions led by Adam (Stephen Oliver, The Naked Zoo, Motorpsycho!) and his old lady Helen (Donna Anders, Count Yorga, Vampire)—troll the dusty highways of the American Southwest in search of the next great kick, whether it be sex, drugs, or violence. After dispatching a pair of rednecks unfriendly to their lifestyle, the Advocates run roughshod over a gas station before taking to the road again, where they encounter a cloistered sect of Satanic Monks led by high priest One (Severn Darden, Battle for the Planet of the Apes). A mass-drugging, a ritual sacrifice, a topless snake-dance, and a scene-clearing fistfight ensue but it’s too late; the spell has been cast, and the two shall become… Werewolves on Wheels! Equal parts road movie biker pic and black magic monster flick, this cross-genre film marked the directorial debut of Michael Levesque (Sweet Sugar), art designer on Russ Myers films Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens and Up! Also starring Billy Gray (TV’s Father Knows Best) and pop singer Barry McGuire (Eve of Destruction), Werewolves on Wheels defies classification. Is it art? Is it exploitation? The answer is a resounding yes. Now see this cult classic for the first time in HD!
Bonus Features: Brand New HD Master | Theatrical Trailer
HEARTWORN HIGHWAYS
Street Date: 4/27/21
Synopsis: Sometimes, a documentary filmmaker is present at precisely the right moment to capture lightning in a bottle. It happened with Bob Dylan in Don’t Look Back, Chet Baker in Let’s Get Lost, and it happened with 1976’s Heartworn Highways. This iconic outlaw country documentary saw filmmaker James Szalapski travel to Texas and Tennessee to capture the radical artists reclaiming the genre by rejecting the mainstream Nashville machine. Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Steve Young, David Allan Coe, Steve Earle and many others provide musical highlights including Clark’s brilliant “Desperados Waiting For a Train,” Young’s stirring “Alabama Highways” and Van Zandt’s emotional “Waiting Around To Die.”
Bonus Features: Audio commentary with producer Graham Leader and editor/AD Phillip Schopper | Booklet with essays by Graham Leader and Phillip Schopper (Blu-ray only) | Bonus footage (52 minutes) | Trailers for Heartworn Highways and Heartworn Highways Revisited (2017)
HEARTWORN HIGHWAYS REVISITED
Synopsis: 2021 marks the 45th anniversary of the seminal music documentary Heartworn Highways, a film that captured the nascent roots of the Outlaw Country movement in the mid-70s. Today, Heartworn Highways Revisited explores and celebrates the authenticity and spirit of that legendary film via a community of contemporary musicians creating music in Nashville, Tennessee. In Heartworn Highways Revisited, the filmmakers reunite with Heartworn originals Guy Clark,Steve Young and David Allan Coe while focusing on the next generation of “outlaws” includingJohn McCauley, Jonny Fritz, Josh Hedley, Justin Townes Earle, Shovels & Rope, Langhorne Slim, Robert Ellis, Andrew Combs, Shelly Colvin, Phil Hummer and others who honor the traditions of their predecessors while forging a highway all their own.
Bonus Features: Audio commentary by director Wayne Price | Additional scenes | Trailers
WANTED FOR MURDER/CAST A DARK SHADOW
Street Date: 4/27/21
Synopsis: Death and seduction are the themes of these newly-restored thrillers from the golden age of British noir. In Cast a Dark Shadow, Dirk Bogarde (The Servant, The Damned) stars as “Teddy” Bare, a smooth-talking cad who maintains a life of leisure by preying on a series of lonely, wealthy women. But the headstrong sister (Kay Walsh) of one of his late wives is determined to bring Teddy’s killing streak to an end. In Wanted for Murder, the polished exterior of a refined gentleman (Eric Portman) conceals the heart of a strangler. A young record shop clerk (Dulcie Gray) holds the key to his capture, which puts her at the head of the queue to become his next victim.
Bonus Features: Trailers
WHEN THE BEAT DROPS
Street Date: 4/27/21 (DVD Only)
Synopsis: Drop into the electric and subversive underground dance scene known as bucking. As voguing exploded out of the ballroom scene of NYC, bucking was boldly pioneered in the clubs of the Deep South as a new form of self-expression. When the Beat Drops presents a fresh glimpse into the magnetic artistry and flair behind this emerging dance culture. In his feature debut, famed choreographer and filmmaker Jamal Sims, who has worked with the likes of Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, and RuPaul’s Drag Race, illuminates the warm-hearted and fierce queer black performers who make up one of the leading “bucking” groups in the city of Atlanta. As they train for their biggest competition yet, they face the risk of losing their jobs and family to compete at the top levels of this dance scene. Jamal Sims calls dance a “super power,” and with this film he crafts a vision of the power of dance to bring movement to new heights and elevate the queer community. – Outfest
Bonus Features: Trailer
SUPER FRENCHIE
Street Date: 4/27/21 (DVD Only)
Bonus Features: The Paraglide Rope Swing | Trailers
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
