The indie labels that distribute from OCN are giving you a reason to not venture into the heat on Labor Day weekend with plenty of Blu-rays and more arriving. The big title is Asia Argento’s Scarlet Diva which is a semi-autobiographical movie she made at the start of the Aughties. There’s also the release of Luchino Visconti’s final feature film. From Australia arrives the action fun of Sky Pirates. Here’s the press release from OCN Distribution with all the details of the releases:
The dog days of summer are here—the perfect time to turn up the A/C and curl up with a brand new Blu-Ray (and maybe one of these great film books). This month, we’ve got an anniversary release from AGFA, loaded with low-budget, high-weirdness extras; experimental and newly restored documentaries; one-of-a-kind horror and thriller outings; a special 4-disc box set devoted to the early films of a celebrated South Korean filmmaker; and much more.
And don’t forget to mark your calendars: one of our biggest sales returns this Labor Day Weekend!
| SUPERSOUL BROTHER (AGFA)Our friends at AGFA are celebrating 15 years as the world’s largest genre film archive with an expanded Blu-Ray release of their first DVD collaboration with Vinegar Syndrome: Rene Martinez, Jr.’s sci-fi crime comedy Supersoul Brother from 1978, starring the incomparable “Wildman” Steve Gallon, along with two additional films from the Florida filmmaker’s gonzo homegrown output. For fans of DIY 1970s filmmaking and believers in AGFA’s preservation mission. |
The second entry in independent auteur and Canadian trailblazer Larry Kent’s so-called Vancouver Trilogy and the follow-up last month’s The Bitter Ash is another provocative exploration of disillusioned youth and stifling social mores. High school senior Tom’s studies are constantly derailed by his raging hormones, at a steep cost to both his dreams of a scholarship and to the young women in his path. A powerful time capsule, and a quintessential canuxploitation and indie film classic.
T-BLOCKERS (Dark Star)
The alt-right brain worms are literal in this delightfully gory, campy take on the monster movie that wears its Elvira and Araki influences on its sleeve. The third feature from now-19-year-old (!) Australian auteur Alice Maio Mackay is both powerfully timely in its politics and references, and timeless in its humor and gooey practical effects, marking the ongoing emergence of a bold new voice in queer horror cinema. A can’t-miss treat for queer film collectors and adventurous genre fans.
SEPA: OUR LORD OF MIRACLES (Dekanalog)
The long lost yet timeless solo directorial effort of Swiss filmmaker Walter Saxer, producer on a number of Werner Herzog’s films, newly restored more than 30 years after its initial production. Sepa documents an experimental penal colony deep in the Peruvian jungle wherein inmates roam freely and work the land, attaining a certain degree of freedom while penned in by the elements and governmental neglect. A devastating, singular discovery for documentary collectors and Herzog devotees.
A FAT WRECK: THE PUNK-U-MENTARY (Enjoy the Ride Media)
The wild, uncensored, and uplifting story of Fat Wreck Chords, the punk label co-founded by “Fat Mike” Michael Burkett of NOFX and his then-wife Erin, told by many of the musicians themselves—with help from concert footage and a few BDSM-friendly puppets. Filmed amidst the label’s 25th anniversary, this documentary captures the independent spirit alive and well amongst its founders, musicians, and fans. A must for punk listeners, music history nerds, and fans of no-holds-barred puppetry.
| I AM A SEX ADDICT (Factory 25)An often hilarious and deeply revealing autobiographical “hybrid” documentary from indie provocateur Caveh Zahedi (In the Bathtub of the World, The Show about the Show). In recreations, narration, and raw footage, Zahedi traces the history of his “prostitution fetish” from his college years to his most recent marriage, sparing neither himself nor any sense of propriety. A seminal work for the Zahedi heads and documentary and NYC independent collectors. |
SCARLET DIVA (Film Movement Classics)
The fearless first feature from Asia Argento as writer/director—after acting in over two dozen films—that, almost 20 years after its 2000 premiere, became a touchstone document and a cult classic in the wake of #MeToo. Argento plays a lightly fictionalized version of herself as a rising star who must contend with the temptations and violence of the Hollywood machine, and an unplanned pregnancy, on the road to bodily and artistic independence. An essential film for fans of independent and arthouse cinema.
L’INNOCENTE (Film Movement Classics)
The final film from Luchino Visconti, which premiered mere months after his death in 1976. Tullio, himself an aging if voracious aristocrat, flaunts his affair with a wealthy and beautiful widow before his wife; when he discovers that his wife is pregnant with another, younger man’s child, he is overcome with jealousy and disintegrates into madness. A shatteringly beautiful, patient film from an indisputable master, recently restored and ripe for a new audience—particularly of international, arthouse, and canon collectors.
THE POETRY OF LEE CHANG-DONG: FOUR FILMS (Film Movement Classics)
A momentous 4-disc collection of films from Lee Chang-Dong (Burning)—Green Fish, Peppermint Candy, Oasis, and Poetry—newly restored in 4K and accompanied by intros from the director and additional features, effectively demonstrating Lee’s singular voice and lasting preoccupations. For fans of the director and Korean cinema, arthouse and international collectors, and an essential addition to the new melodrama canon.
OUR WORLD IS DROWNING AND GOING TO HELL: THE UNDERGROUND FILMS OF RICHARD BAYLOR (Saturn’s Core)
The eight incendiary short films of SOV provocateur Richard Baylor, collected for the first time and restored under the director’s supervision. Raised in a fundamentalist home in small-town Michigan, Baylor escaped to Ipswich, England in the mid-80s and produced this body of wildly subversive work exploring the darker sides of the human condition, with plenty of blood, guts, and nudity, before quietly disappearing in the 90s. An absolutely essential release for fans of the Cinema of Transgression; SOV devotees; and bold genre collectors.
A WOUNDED FAWN (Shudder)
The third feature from director Travis Stevens (Girl on the Third Floor, Jakob’s Wife) is a mind-melting horror two-hander set in, commenting on, and infused with the art world—women surrealist artists in particular. On a romantic weekend getaway with handsome if off-kilter Bruce, Meredith finds herself trapped with a serial killer and the ghosts of his victims, until a violent act turns the tables. Beautifully shot in 16mm and boldly reliant on practical effects, a must-have for art horror connoisseurs and genre collectors.
SKY PIRATES (Umbrella Entertainment)
Australia’s 1986 answer to Raiders of the Lost Ark, combining World War II-era adventure, time travel, swashbuckling romance, and a magical relic that must be kept from the Axis Powers’ hands. Come for director Colin Eggleston (Long Weekend) and the Spielberg nostalgia; stay for the stunning Easter Island footage and rousing soundtrack from composer Brian May (Mad Max, Mad Max 2). A must for ozploitation fans and collectors in search of wild, lesser-known adventure films.
OMEN (Utopia)
Winner of the New Voice Prize at Cannes 2023 and selected as Belgium’s entry for the 96th Academy Awards, written and directed by first-time filmmaker, rapper, fashion designer, and poet Baloji, this visually stunning tale of cultures, beliefs, and identities clashing and blending traces one man’s return from Belgium to his family home in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the stain of sorcery first remarked in his childhood intact. A tour de force and must-have for international arthouse fans.
A HEART OF LOVE (Yellow Veil Pictures)
Director Łukasz Ronduda’s heady, visually hypnotic, narratively experimental film about the relationship between real artists Zuzanna Bartoszek and Wojciech Bąkowski, presented as much as performance art as their “real” creations. Their affair plays out in a post-Communist sci-fi-esque Warsaw filled with cold shopping malls and dance clubs, underscored by Bąkowski’s driving music. A strange, special film for fans of Polish and international arthouse cinema.
