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OUT TOMORROW! Man-Kei Chin's "Sex and Zen II" Blu-ray - Loletta Lee, Shu Qi, Ting Fong, Christine Hung, Kin-Yan Lee @88_Films UK: amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/AS… BONUS CAPTURES: patreon.com/dvdbeaver/post… OUR REVIEW: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film3/… When his simple-minded son fails to consummate his marriage, priapic aristocrat Sai (Elvis Tsui – The Seventh Curse) takes his daughter-in-law into his own bed. He does not realise, however, that the bride – Shu Qu (Millennium Mambo; The Transporter) – is actually a supernatural succubus. Will he realise before it's too late? Or will her infamous 'sucking skills' claim further victims? Adapted from a (notoriously fruity) classic of Chinese erotica, Sex and Zen II goes even further than the (already pretty eye-popping) original, featuring mechanical penis transplants, rubbery-tentacle demon sex and more T&A than you can shake a stick at. Branded with Hong Kong's infamous 'Adults Only' Category III rating, Sex and Zen II leaves other skin flicks in the shade. *** This Hong Kong Category III erotic comedy-fantasy serves as a loose sequel to the 1991 cult classic Sex and Zen, shifting the tone from the original’s more philosophical, stylized bedroom romp toward a wilder blend of slapstick farce, supernatural horror, wuxia-inspired elements, and boundary-pushing softcore erotica. Produced by Wong Jing (a key figure in 1990s HK genre cinema) under Golden Harvest, the film runs about 89 minutes and was a modest commercial performer (roughly HK$8.58 million at the Hong Kong box office). It exemplifies the era’s Hong Kong Category III boom - films that exploited relaxed censorship for explicit content while mixing genres for commercial appeal. A major highlight - and one reason the film endures in cult circles - is Shu Qi (then an up-and-coming Taiwanese model - after in Millennium Mambo, The Assassin, Confession of Pain, Looking For a Star, Three Times, The Transporter, New York, I Love You) in her prominent early leading role as the dual-natured Mirage Lady/Siu-Tsui. Cast after Wong Jing spotted her in a nude pictorial, she brings sultry allure, otherworldly menace, and genuine screen presence to the succubus who seduces and destroys through erotic power. The intense girl-on-girl climax with Loletta Lee (Mr. Vampire IV, Saga of the Phoenix) - shines in a strong comic turn as the resourceful, assertive heroine, showcasing her range beyond typical sex-film roles - is frequently cited as a Category III landmark - wildly abandoned, visually striking, and narratively pivotal. Sex and Zen II is a quintessential example of 1990s HK Category III cinema: unapologetically explicit, tonally chaotic, and surprisingly thematically rich beneath the titillation. While not as refined as its predecessor, it stands out for its inventive grotesquerie, strong female leads, and especially Shu Qi’s star-making turn as the seductive, soul-draining Mirage Lady - a performance that helped propel one of Asia’s most versatile actresses to international prominence. It remains a guilty-pleasure cult gem for those who appreciate its mix of laughter, lust, and lowbrow horror. 88 Films’ Blu-ray is a strong, fan-friendly release that presents this cult favorite in its best available form - uncut, vibrant, and contextualized. The excellent transfer, solid audio options, and David West commentary make it enticing for devotees of 1990s Hong Kong erotic cinema. It captures the film’s campy, explicit charm without compromise and earns a sly recommendation for genre enthusiasts but I would lean to the original, for sure.

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Sidney J. Furie's "The Young Ones" Blu-ray - Cliff Richard, Robert Morley, Carole Gray, Teddy Green, Annette Robertson @StudiocanalUK UK: amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/AS… BONUS CAPTURES: patreon.com/dvdbeaver/post… OUR REVIEW: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film2/… Icon Cliff Richard stars as Nicky Black, the leader of a London youth club who takes on the might of big business in a battle to save their dilapidated club premises from demolition. Unknown to Nicky’s friends, the head of the property company that’s pitted against them is Nicky’s own father, who has no sympathy with his son’s plight. To raise funds, members of the club stage a musical show, with Nicky as the star, in hopes they can save their club before it’s too late. A warm-hearted musical for all the family. *** Sidney J. Furie's The Young Ones stands as one of the most successful and emblematic British pop musicals of the early 1960s. It launched Cliff Richard as a major film star, showcased Furie’s (The Entity, Night of the Juggler, Hit!, The Naked Runner, The Appaloosa, The Ipcress File, The Snake Woman, Doctor Blood's Coffin) emerging directorial flair, and captured the era’s blend of youthful optimism, showbiz tradition, and generational negotiation. While derivative in plot, the film excels through its energy, visual ambition, memorable songs, and a standout performance by Robert Morley. The plot is openly borrowed from the 1939 MGM musical Babes in Arms (kids put on a show to save their community). This “let’s put on a show” structure provides a thin but functional framework for the musical numbers, allowing the film to prioritize spectacle over deep drama. The twist of father-son conflict adds mild tension, but the tone remains light-hearted and escapist. Cliff Richard brings enormous energy and a beaming, innocent charm as Nicky. He is more polished entertainer than raw rocker here (a shift from his earlier Expresso Bongo), singing with conviction and dancing with enthusiasm, though some critics noted his acting inexperience. Furie later praised the “truth about the acting and the writing” and the film’s innocence - no heavy sex or rebellion, just clean fun. At its core, the film explores generational reconciliation through entertainment. Youthful energy and pop culture are not portrayed as rebellious threats but as vibrant continuations of showbiz tradition. Overall, The Young Ones is best appreciated as a vibrant time capsule of early 1960s British pop cinema - optimistic, tuneful, and technically more ambitious than its reputation sometimes suggests. It remains enjoyable today for its sheer joie de vivre and as an early showcase of talents who would shape British film and music in the decade ahead. StudioCanal’s 65th-anniversary Blu-ray is a strong debut release for this cheerful British musical. The vibrant 4K restoration and solid audio significantly upgrade the film’s sunny visuals and infectious songs, making it far more enjoyable than previous standard-definition versions. Extras are brief but affectionate, centered on firsthand recollections. For fans of Cliff Richard, early-60s pop musicals, or simply a dose of wholesome escapism, this Region 'B' Blu-ray comes warmly recommended as the definitive home-video presentation - polite, polished, and full of period charm.

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Jean-Pierre Desagnat's "Vertigo for a Killer" Blu-ray - Marcel Bozzuffi, Sylva Koscina, Michel Constantin @KinoLorber US: amzn.to/3Qz6nxJ CAN: amzn.to/43QkxgX BONUS CAPTURES: patreon.com/dvdbeaver/post… OUR REVIEW: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film2/… Marcel Bozzuffi (The French Connection), Sylva Koscina (Trapped by Fear) and Michel Constantin (Violent City) give perfectly hard-boiled performances in this Eurocrime gem directed by Jean-Pierre Desagnat (Les Étrangers, OSS 117: Double Agent). When hitman Marc (Bozzuffi) refuses to liquidate his friend René (Constantin), he becomes a target himself. In order to escape his former boss and his ruthless thugs, he seeks support from the sultry Sylvie Dussort (Koscina), who offers him shelter on the Riviera. What Marc does not know is that the lady has a hidden agenda. Swirling with Hitchcockian suspense and a Eurowestern score, Vertigo for a Killer (Vertige pour un tueur) delivers the neo-noir goods. *** Jean-Pierre Desagnat's Vertigo for a Killer is a lean, atmospheric French Eurocrime thriller that fuses hard-boiled policier elements with Hitchcockian suspense and a dash of existential hitman fatalism. It stars Marcel Bozzuffi (Razzia, Hi-Jack Highway, Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece, Maigret Sees Red, Z, The French Connection, Images, Illustrious Corpses, Identification of a Woman,) as Marc Régent, a professional assassin who deliberately botches a hit on his old friend René (Michel Constantin - Le Trou, Maigret Sees Red, Last Known Address, Violent City, The Cop,) at a Paris metro station. Sylva Koscina (The Beast is Loose, The Crimes of the Black Cat, A Lovely Way to Die, So Sweet So Dead, The Railroad Man, Deadlier Than the Male, Hornet's Nest, Some Girls Do, Lisa and the Devil,) brings seductive elegance and subtle menace to her role as Sylvie Dussort, the glamorous Riviera housewife who offers the fugitive hitman Marc shelter in her luxurious villa, only to reveal a calculating agenda laced with betrayal and self-interest. Stylistically, the movie earns its “Vertigo” title through dizzying suspense and moral disorientation rather than literal heights. It succeeds as a brisk exercise in genre craft: a killer on the run who discovers that vertigo isn’t just fear of falling - it’s the disorienting realization that every safe harbor hides another abyss. Kino’s Blu-ray of Vertigo for a Killer is a welcome, no-frills release that honors this efficient Euro-thriller with a very good 4K-sourced transfer and a strong new commentary track. While not loaded with extras, the technical presentation elevates the film’s sun-baked visuals and effective score, making it an easy recommendation for fans of 1970s continental crime cinema. It’s a solid, satisfying disc that brings renewed life to an obscure gem without hype or filler.

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George P. Cosmatos's "The Cassandra Crossing" Blu-ray - Sophia Loren, Richard Harris, Burt Lancaster, Martin Sheen, Lee Strasberg, OJ Simpson, Ava Gardner, Ingrid Thulin @imprint_films @UmbrellaEnt @viavisionent US: amzn.to/4epAbG6 BONUS CAPTURES: patreon.com/dvdbeaver/post… OUR REVIEW: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film3/… The Cassandra Crossing is a 1976 disaster thriller film directed by George Pan Cosmatos, starring Sophia Loren, Richard Harris, Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Martin Sheen, and O.J. Simpson. In the movie, passengers aboard a luxurious trans-European train are exposed to a deadly plague-like virus after a terrorist incident. Authorities, led by a ruthless U.S. colonel (Lancaster), seal the train and divert it toward a long-abandoned, structurally unsound steel arch bridge known as the Cassandra Crossing (represented on screen by France’s Garabit Viaduct, designed by Gustave Eiffel). The plan is to quarantine survivors at a disused Polish concentration camp—or let the bridge collapse and eliminate the threat—while passengers fight for survival amid the spreading infection, interpersonal drama, and the looming catastrophe. A classic example of 1970s all-star disaster cinema, the film blends conspiracy thriller elements, action, and high-stakes suspense. Though often criticized for its melodramatic script and implausible plot, it delivers entertaining star power, impressive aerial footage of the bridge sequences, and a memorable score by Jerry Goldsmith. It remains a cult favorite for fans of the genre. *** George P. Cosmatos's The Cassandra Crossing is a quintessential example of the 1970s all-star disaster thriller genre - 1970's Airport (plus sequels Airport 1975, Airport '77, and The Concorde: Airport '79,) The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, Earthquake, The Swarm, Avalanche, Rollercoaster -, blending elements of medical horror, conspiracy intrigue, action, and melodrama. Directed by George Pan Cosmatos (Tombstone, Leviathan, Of Unknown Origin) from a screenplay co-written with Tom Mankiewicz (Dragnet, Ladyhawke, Superman, The Eagle Has Landed, Mother, Jugs & Speed, The Man with the Golden Gun, Live and Let Die, Diamonds Are Forever,) and Robert Katz (Kamikaze 89, The Salamander,) the film was produced as an international co-production backed by media mogul Sir Lew Grade (Voyage of the Damned, Saturn 3, The Boys From Brazil, Capricorn One) and Carlo Ponti (Torso, Oasis of Fear, Zabriskie Point, The Firemen's Ball, Blow-Up, Closely Watched Trains, Doctor Zhivago, The 10th Victim, Casanova 70, Operation Crossbow, Marriage Italian Style, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Contempt, Le Doulos, Cleo from 5 to 7, Boccaccio '70, Léon Morin Priest, A Woman Is a Woman, Lola, Two Women, The Railroad Man, La Strada,) - Sophia Loren’s husband. With a budget of around $3–6 million, it features an eclectic ensemble cast and ambitious practical effects, particularly striking aerial sequences. A terrorist infiltrates a U.S. Army germ warfare lab in Switzerland and becomes infected with a highly contagious, weaponized strain of pneumonic plague. He boards the luxurious Trans-European Express from Geneva to Stockholm. As passengers begin falling ill, authorities - led by the cold, calculating Colonel Stephen Mackenzie (Burt Lancaster - The Killers, Brute Force, Desert Fury, I Walk Alone, Sorry, Wrong Number, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, Criss Cross, Rope of Sand, Apache, Vera Cruz, The Rose Tattoo, Trapeze, The Rainmaker, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Sweet Smell of Success, Run Silent Run Deep, Separate Tables, Elmer Gantry, The Young Savages, Judgment at Nuremberg, Birdman of Alcatraz, The Leopard, Seven Days in May, The Train, The Professionals, The Swimmer, Castle Keep, Airport, Lawman, Valdez Is Coming, Ulzana's Raid, Scorpio, The Midnight Man, Conversation Piece, 1900, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson, Twilight's Last Gleaming, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Zulu Dawn, Local Hero, The Osterman Weekend, Field of Dreams,) - seal the train and divert it toward a disused Polish concentration camp for quarantine. The route requires crossing the long-abandoned Cassandra Crossing, a rickety steel arch bridge (filmed using France’s Garabit Viaduct, designed by Gustave Eiffel) deemed structurally unsound. The passengers include a divorced couple Jennifer (Sophia Loren - Boy on a Dolphin, The Pride and the Passion, Houseboat, Two Women, El Cid, Boccaccio '70, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, The Fall of the Roman Empire, Marriage Italian Style, Operation Crossbow, Arabesque,) and Dr. Jonathan Chamberlain (Richard Harris - The Guns of Navarone, Mutiny on the Bounty, This Sporting Life, Red Desert, Major Dundee, Camelot, A Man Called Horse, 99 and 44/100% Dead!, Juggernaut, The Wild Geese, Unforgiven, Gladiator,) who rekindle their romance. Aging socialite Nicole Dressler (Ava Gardner - The Killers, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, Show Boat, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Mogambo, The Barefoot Contessa, On the Beach, 55 Days at Peking, Seven Days in May, The Night of the Iguana, Tam Lin, Earthquake, The Sentinel,) and her gigolo lover Robby Navarro (Martin Sheen - Badlands, Apocalypse Now, The Final Countdown, Gandhi, The Dead Zone, The Believers, Wall Street, JFK.) A priest (O.J. Simpson - Cocaine and Blue Eyes, Capricorn One, A Killing Affair, The Towering Inferno,) an elderly Holocaust survivor (Lee Strasberg - And Justice for All, The Godfather Part II, Boardwalk.) Ingmar Bergman regular, Ingrid Thulin (The Magician, Winter Light, The Silence, Hour of the Wolf, The Damned, Short Night of Glass Dolls, Cries & Whispers, Salon Kitty,) delivers a strong, intelligent performance as Dr. Elena Stradner playing the principled virologist who first identifies the deadly plague strain and desperately tries to warn authorities of the catastrophic danger, only to be overruled by the cold military logic of Burt Lancaster’s character. Released in 1976, The Cassandra Crossing eerily anticipates later pandemics and debates over individual rights vs. collective security. While predated by Elia Kazan's Panic in the Streets, Robert Wise's The Andromeda Strain, and George Romero's The Crazies, it was followed by later pandemic thrillers including Outbreak, Contagion, Carriers, and Blindness. Imprint’s limited-edition Blu-ray is a welcome, region-free release that gives The Cassandra Crossing a respectful 1080P presentation and thoughtful new supplements. The video is attractive and filmic, the audio solid for its era, and the extras add genuine value. For fans of 1970s disaster cinema, star-studded spectacles, or Jerry Goldsmith scores, this is easily the best way to experience the film on home video - polished, entertaining, and limited to 1500 copies. Recommended to fans of Pandemic-centered films or strong ensemble thriller devotees.

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Akira Kurosawa's "Red Beard" Blu-ray - Toshirō Mifune, Yûzô Kayama, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Reiko Dan, Kyōko Kagawa @BFI UK: amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/AS… BONUS CAPTURES: patreon.com/dvdbeaver/post… OUR COMPARISON: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film3/… A testament to the goodness of humankind, Akira Kurosawa’s Red Beard (Akahige) chronicles the tumultuous relationship between an arrogant young doctor, Noboru Yasumoto (Yuzo Kayama) and a compassionate clinic director. Toshiro Mifune, in his last role for Kurosawa, gives a powerhouse performance as the dignified yet empathic director who guides his pupil to maturity, teaching the embittered intern to appreciate the lives of his destitute patients. Perfectly capturing the look and feel of 19th-century Japan, Kurosawa weaves a fascinating tapestry of time, place, and emotion. *** Akira Kurosawa's Red Beard is a monumental three-hour humanist epic that serves as both a culmination of the director’s mid-career preoccupations and a deeply personal farewell to his long collaboration with Toshiro Mifune. Adapted primarily from Shūgorō Yamamoto’s short story collection, with a key subplot drawn from Dostoevsky’s Humiliated and Insulted, the film is set in mid-19th-century Edo (towards the end of the Tokugawa period) at a free public clinic for the poor. Young, arrogant Dr. Noboru Yasumoto (Yūzō Kayama), freshly trained in Western medicine at Nagasaki and expecting a prestigious post as physician to the Shogunate, is assigned instead to the rural Koishikawa clinic run by the gruff, red-bearded Dr. Kyojō Niide (Mifune). What begins as resentment and rebellion slowly transforms into profound moral awakening as Yasumoto confronts poverty, suffering, death, and quiet acts of compassion. The narrative unfolds episodically through interconnected vignettes: the dying merchant Rokusuke and his tragic backstory of expiation; the abused child Otoyo (Terumi Niki), rescued from a brothel and nursed back to health by Yasumoto; the “Mantis” woman, a trauma survivor turned murderer; Sahachi’s earthquake tale of lost love; and various patients whose stories reveal layers of social injustice. Visually, Red Beard is a masterclass in restraint and depth. It was Kurosawa’s final black-and-white film, shot in widescreen (2.35:1) with meticulous deep-focus compositions, long takes, and telephoto lenses that compress space to heighten intimacy and tension. He constructed an entire authentic village and clinic set, aging props meticulously for realism. Multiple cameras captured scenes simultaneously, allowing fluid editing that blends documentary-like observation with expressive staging. The two-year shoot was grueling, contributing to financial strains on Mifune’s production company and ultimately ending the iconic Kurosawa-Mifune partnership after 16 films (Mifune turned down other roles, leading to resentment). It was a huge domestic success in Japan - hailed as a magnum opus and winning Kinema Junpo’s Best Film - but received mixed Western reception for its length and perceived sentimentality. It marks a pivot in Kurosawa’s career: after this, funding dried up, leading to darker, more nihilistic late works like Ran. In essence, Red Beard is a film about healing - not just bodies, but souls and societies - through stubborn, everyday kindness. It affirms Kurosawa’s core question: “Why can’t people be happier together?” and answers it with a resounding call to choose compassion, even (or especially) when the world makes it hardest. Few films match its emotional depth, technical mastery, and unwavering faith in humanity. The BFI Blu-ray of Red Beard is an excellent, respectful release that finally brings Kurosawa’s humanist epic to high-definition UK audiences in strong technical form. While a full 4K restoration would have been ideal, the 2K transfer impresses with its clarity and texture, the audio holds up beautifully, and the extras strike an ideal balance between scholarly insight and archival interest. Paired with an attractive booklet, this disc stands as a worthy addition to BFI’s ongoing Kurosawa series (see Stray Dog) and a must-own for fans seeking the definitive home-video presentation of one of the director’s most emotionally resonant works. This is one of my favorite Kurosawa films. Highly recommended.

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TV Movie Of The Week: Collection Five (1972 / 1974 / 1975) Blu-ray - Bette Davis, Robert Wagner, Denholm Elliott, James Earl Jones, Estelle Parsons, Clint Walker, Robert Urich @imprint_films @UmbrellaEnt @viavisionent US: amzn.to/4w2w4FJ UK: amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/AS… BONUS CAPTURES: patreon.com/dvdbeaver/post… OUR REVIEW: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film3/… Madame Sin (1972) is a delightfully campy spy thriller TV movie that plays like a pulpy Bond knockoff filtered through Fu Manchu vibes, with Bette Davis gleefully hamming it up as the half-Chinese criminal mastermind ensconced in a Scottish castle. She kidnaps a down-and-out ex-CIA agent (Robert Wagner) to help steal a nuclear submarine using her high-tech "Thought Factory" and brainwashing gadgets, all while delivering monstrous one-liners in Edith Head couture. The supporting cast (including Denholm Elliott as her sleazy aide) adds solid British gravitas, but it's Davis's vampy villainy and the film's outlandish gadgets, exotic sets, and ridiculous plot twists that make it a hoot—pure escapist fun for fans of 1970s genre cheese, even if it feels dated and never quite lives up to its potential as a series pilot. Killdozer (1974) is a gloriously silly made-for-TV sci-fi horror flick adapted from Theodore Sturgeon's novella, in which a meteorite-possessed bulldozer goes on a murderous rampage against a remote construction crew on an island. Led by a no-nonsense foreman (Clint Walker) and featuring solid character actors like Neville Brand, the film delivers straightforward action, tense machinery chases, and a straightforward alien-possession premise treated with dead-serious 1970s TV earnestness. It's slow and visually plain at times, with the "killer dozer" looking more absurd than terrifying, but the cult appeal lies in its charming ridiculousness, competent execution for the budget, and nostalgic Jaws-on-wheels vibe—perfect low-key entertainment that rewards viewers who embrace the premise without overthinking it. The UFO Incident (1975) stands out as a thoughtful, unsettling TV movie dramatizing the real-life Betty and Barney Hill alien abduction case, anchored by powerhouse performances from James Earl Jones (as the tormented Barney) and Estelle Parsons. Framed around their hypnosis sessions with a psychiatrist (Barnard Hughes), the film builds quiet psychological tension through marital strain, repressed memories, and eerie flashback reenactments rather than flashy effects, creating a moody, introspective tone that feels more like speculative drama than outright sci-fi. While wordy and deliberately paced, its creepy atmosphere, strong acting, and balanced ambiguity about the events make it one of the stronger 1970s UFO tales—fascinating even for skeptics, and far more compelling as character study than spectacle. *** Imprint’s TV Movie of the Week Collection Five - Madame Sin (1972), Killdozer (1974), and The UFO Incident (1975) - exemplify the golden age of made-for-TV movies in the early-to-mid 1970s. They emerged during a boom in network anthology films, particularly ABC’s Movie of the Week (1969–1975), which delivered weekly 90-minute (including commercials) original productions that mixed genres, attracted stars, and tackled topical or sensational subjects with modest budgets but often surprising ambition. Two aired on ABC as part of that franchise; the third was a Universal Television production for NBC. They reflect the era’s cultural currents: Cold War espionage lingering into détente, fascination with technology and its perils, growing public interest in UFOs and the paranormal amid social upheaval (Vietnam, Watergate, counterculture), and television’s shift toward more adult-oriented, issue-driven or genre storytelling that theatrical films sometimes avoided. Madame Sin was a British-American co-production (with involvement from ITC’s Lew Grade - Voyage of the Damned, Saturn 3, The Boys From Brazil, Capricorn One) - originally conceived as a pilot for a potential weekly TV series centered on a charismatic, recurring super-villainess in the vein of a female Fu Manchu or Bond antagonist. Bette Davis (The Letter, Dark Victory, Jezebel, Connecting Rooms, Beyond the Forest, Dangerous, Another Man's Poison, Now, Voyager, The Virgin Queen, Of Human Bondage, Marked Woman, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Old Acquaintance, Scream, Pretty Peggy, Payment on Demand, Storm Center, Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte, Dead Ringer, The Whales of August, The Little Foxes,) then in a later-career phase of taking on varied TV roles for steady work and creative outlets, starred as the half-Chinese international criminal mastermind operating from a Scottish castle with a high-tech “Thought Factory” (sonic weapons, mind-implantation devices). Robert Wagner played the reluctant ex-CIA agent she coerces into helping steal a nuclear Polaris submarine; he also served as executive producer. Killdozer (released on Kino Blu-ray HERE) a Universal Television production, was directed by Jerry London and produced by Herbert F. Solow. It adapted Theodore Sturgeon’s acclaimed 1944 novella (originally published in Astounding Science Fiction). Sturgeon, a major Golden Age sci-fi author known for psychological depth and themes of humanity/machine interfaces, provided the core idea of an alien electromagnetic entity possessing machinery. For television, the story was simplified: the novella’s elaborate backstory involving ancient Atlantis and warring alien races was replaced by a straightforward meteorite crash on a remote island (off Africa’s coast in the film). A construction crew building an airstrip uncovers it; the entity possesses a Caterpillar bulldozer, which then methodically hunts the men. The cast featured rugged TV stalwarts like Clint Walker (The Night of the Grizzly, More Dead Than Alive, The Dirty Dozen, Sam Whiskey, Mysterious Island of Beautiful Women, The White Buffalo,), signature tough-guy Neville Brand (Riot in Cell Block 11, Gun Fury, Stalag 17, The Turning Point, Kansas City Confidential, Red Mountain, Only the Valiant, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, Where the Sidewalk Ends, D.O.A., Port of New York,) Carl Betz (Vicki, Inferno,) and a young Robert Urich (Dirty Harry, Lonesome Dove, Spenser: For Hire.) Stunts were handled by Carey Loftin, who had worked on Spielberg’s Duel (1971) - another “vehicle as killer” thriller with which Killdozer is often compared. The UFO Incident (also on Kino Blu-ray in 2022, HERE) - a Universal Television drama, directed and executive-produced by Richard A. Colla (with producer Joe L. Cramer), is a more serious, psychological take on the real-life 1961 Betty and Barney Hill alien abduction case - the first widely publicized such incident in the U.S. It is based on John G. Fuller’s 1966 bestseller The Interrupted Journey, which drew from the couple’s hypnosis sessions with psychiatrist Dr. Benjamin Simon. James Earl Jones (Claudine, Conan the Barbarian, The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings, Cry, the Beloved Country, Gardens of Stone, Dr. Strangelove, Malcolm X, Field of Dreams,) - Barney Hill, a Black postal worker - and Estelle Parsons (Watermelon Man, The Front Page, Rachel, Rachel, Bonnie and Clyde) - as Betty, a social worker - deliver acclaimed, Emmy-caliber performances as the interracial New Hampshire couple haunted by missing time and nightmares after a UFO encounter. Barnard Hughes (Midnight Cowboy) plays the skeptical-yet-compassionate psychiatrist. Together, these films highlight the versatility and creative risks of 1970s network TV movies: low-to-moderate budgets encouraged tight storytelling, strong writing, and star-driven performances over spectacle. Madame Sin with its glossy, mod-Bond exoticism, brought glamorous villainy and international production values; Killdozer delivered pulpy sci-fi horror with a classic literary pedigree; The UFO Incident offered introspective docudrama grounded in a real (if controversial) case. They aired during a period when networks used these films to compete for viewers with topicality, star power, and genre thrills - ABC’s Movie of the Week in particular helped boost the network’s profile before ratings fatigue set in by the mid-1970s. Imprint Television’s TV Movie of the Week Collection Five Blu-ray is a welcome, lovingly curated addition to any 1970s genre TV library, particularly for Madame Sin’s long-awaited Blu-ray debut. The video and audio presentations are respectful and filmic, the extras are smartly chosen (with Gerani’s contributions and the Goldenberg documentary as highlights), and the limited hardbox packaging makes it a handsome shelf piece. It may not revolutionize existing owners of the prior Kino Blu-ray releases for Killdozer and The UFO Incident, but the unified presentation, new commentary tracks, and overall care make this an essential set for completists. At only 1500 units, it’s a strong recommendation for fans of campy espionage, killer machines, and thoughtful UFO drama - another success in Imprint’s ongoing championing of overlooked TV gems. Recommended!

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The Complete Kubrick A titan of cinema whose influence extends across visual art, philosophy, politics, technology, fashion, and beyond, Stanley Kubrick created an unprecedented string of masterpieces, from Paths of Glory to Dr. Strangelove to 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Eyes Wide Shut. Bending disparate genres to his will, he imbued his creations with a cuttingly ironic worldview and an iconographic, mesmerizingly precise visual style, probing the anxieties, enigmas, and horrors of the twentieth century with a coolly devastating eye. Tracing his evolution from independent maverick to Hollywood rebel to visionary transnational auteur whose every film from the mid-1960s on became a manifesto of a radically new sensibility, The Complete Kubrick brings together the entirety of a body of work that opened popular cinema up to new realms of moral profundity and metaphysical mystery. Collected here for the first time are Kubrick’s thirteen features and three shorts, all restored in 4K, with their original soundtracks alongside the 5.1 mixes, restored and remastered; over twenty-five hours of interviews, documentaries, and behind-the-scenes materials; and deluxe packaging illustrated with rare photographs, artwork, and documents annotated by Kubrick himself, all housed in a singular box inspired by the director’s legendary archive.

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Georges Franju's "La Tête contre les murs" Blu-ray - Pierre Brasseur, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Mocky, Anouk Aimée, Charles Aznavour @FilmsRadiance US: amzn.to/4ehcyy0 CAN: amzn.to/43E5iYg UK: amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/AS… BONUS CAPTURES: patreon.com/dvdbeaver/post… OUR COMPARISON: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film2/… After he steals money from his wealthy father one too many times, the rebellious François (Jean-Pierre Mocky, Litan) is forcibly committed to a psychiatric institution. Labelled a delinquent and an arsonist, he endures the dehumanising treatment reserved for society’s rejects, and attempts to thwart the archaic methods of the cruel Dr. Varmont (Pierre Brasseur, Children of Paradise.) Adapted by Mocky from Hervé Bazin’s shocking autobiographical novel, this poetic and furious debut feature from Georges Franju (Eyes Without a Face) features an all-star cast including Anouk Aimée (La Dolce Vita) as François’s only visitor, Paul Meurisse (Les diaboliques) in the role of the more modern Dr. Emery, and Charles Aznavour (Shoot the Pianist) as a long-time resident of the institution. *** Georges Franju’s feature debut, La Tête contre les murs, is a haunting drama that blends stark social realism with poetic, nightmarish surrealism in its critique of institutional psychiatry, authoritarian control, and the fragile boundaries of sanity and freedom. Adapted by Jean-Pierre Mocky (who also stars as the protagonist François Gérane) from Hervé Bazin’s semi-autobiographical 1949 novel, the film follows a rebellious, aimless young man from a bourgeois family. After clashing with his authoritarian lawyer father - stealing money and burning legal documents - François is committed to a remote psychiatric asylum not because he is dangerously insane, but as punishment for defying patriarchal order. Inside, he encounters a gallery of patients whose "madness" often seems more like emotional isolation or minor eccentricity than clinical pathology, including the gentle epileptic Heurtevent (a poignant Charles Aznavour - The Tin Drum, Ten Little Indians, The Blockhouse, Candy, Shoot the Piano Player, Testament of Orpheus,) and a criminal hiding from gangsters. The film’s core tension revolves around two contrasting psychiatrists: the hardline Dr. Varmont (Pierre Brasseur - Spotlight On A Murderer, Eyes Without a Face, Le Plaisir, The Law, Le Quai Des Brumes (Port of Shadows), Children of Paradise, Goto - Island of Love,) who views his role as protecting society by containing patients indefinitely through rigid, dehumanizing methods, and the more humanitarian Dr. Emery (Paul Meurisse - Les diaboliques, Army of Shadows,) who advocates rehabilitation and humane treatment but lacks the resources or influence to enact broader change. Their philosophical debates highlight mid-20th-century debates in psychiatry - containment versus cure - while the film suggests that asylums can manufacture or exacerbate mental distress as much as alleviate it. François’s repeated escape attempts, fleeting romance with Stéphanie (Anouk Aimée - A Man and a Woman, Lola, Model Shop, 8 1/2, Contraband Spain,) and ultimate recapture underscore the individual’s helplessness against systemic power. Thematically, the film functions on multiple levels. It is a pointed indictment of postwar French bourgeois society and institutional psychiatry’s potential for abuse, prefiguring later works like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. More broadly, it explores the dialectic between freedom and control, portraying patriarchy and societal norms themselves as a kind of collective asylum. François’s rebellion mirrors the emerging youth counterculture of the era, positioning him as a sympathetic anti-hero rather than a delinquent. Jean-Luc Godard praised Franju for seeking “the madness behind reality” as a Surrealist pilgrimage to uncover truth. A quietly devastating bridge between social realism and psychological cinema, La Tête contre les murs reveals Franju (Judex, Eyes Without a Face, Spotlight On A Murderer,) as a fully formed auteur: compassionate toward outsiders yet unflinching in exposing the machinery that crushes them. It rewards repeated viewings for its atmospheric density and layered critique. Radiance Films delivers a definitive Blu-ray debut for Georges Franju’s powerful debut feature. The excellent 4K restoration, clean uncompressed audio, and well-chosen extras make this a must-own release for fans of classic French cinema and institutional dramas. With its limited edition presentation and high production values, it stands as one of the strongest boutique releases of the year - essential viewing for anyone interested in the blurred lines between sanity, rebellion, and societal control. Highly recommended.

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Youth Gone Wild: 1950s Juvenile Delinquency (1955 - 1958) Blu-ray - Mary Murphy, Mike Connors, Troy Donahue, Norma Eberhardt, Richard Bakalyan, Rebecca Welles, Gene Evans, Tommy Cook, Mollie McCart, Sue England @imprint_films @UmbrellaEnt @viavisionent VV: viavision.com.au/products/youth… BONUS CAPTURES: patreon.com/dvdbeaver/post… OUR REVIEW: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film3/… Imprint's Youth Gone Wild: 1950s Juvenile Delinquency (1955 - 1958) Blu-ray package with Live Fast, Die Young, Juvenile Jungle, Young and Wild and Teenage Crime Wave contains films that capitalized on widespread societal panic over rising youth crime, rock 'n' roll culture, broken families, and the perceived breakdown of traditional values in post-WWII America. All four emerged during the peak of the JD ('Juvenile Delinquency') cycle (roughly 1955–1959), fueled by headlines, Senate hearings on juvenile delinquency, and hits like Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Blackboard Jungle (1955.) These low-budget quickies (often under 80 minutes, shot by Republic Pictures or Columbia) targeted drive-ins and teen audiences while delivering moralistic warnings to parents. They feature overage actors playing "teens," slang-heavy dialogue, hot rods/joyrides, petty-to-violent crime escalation, and authority figures (cops, parents) struggling to contain the chaos. Absent or ineffective parents drive the plots. In Live Fast, Die Young, sisters flee a grouchy single dad. Teenage Crime Wave highlights poor parenting and a Thanksgiving family backdrop underscoring alienation. Delinquents reject school, work, and "square" society for thrills. Joyrides, petty theft, or bad associations spiral into robbery, kidnapping, assault, or murder are common. Often one charismatic delinquent pulls others (often an "innocent" friend or newcomer) into crime. Female characters are often hyper-sexualized manipulators or victims. There are dark cinema influences with shadowy lighting, fatalistic tones, voiceover narration (Live Fast, Die Young), urban/gritty settings mixed with rural chases, and doomed anti-heroes. William Witney directed two (Juvenile Jungle and Young and Wild), giving them a similar energetic B-movie pace but tonal contrast (adventurous vs. grim). These films mirror 1950s anxieties about affluence creating bored, alienated youth, weak families, and media influence - while exploiting those fears for profit. They are rarely subtle or progressive but offer raw snapshots of the era's moral panic, with energetic direction, memorable sleaze, and occasional insight into rebellion's roots. Today, they appeal as cult trash cinema, time capsules, or double-feature fodder. Together, they form a mini-cycle within the broader JD wave, showcasing variations on the "troubled teen" archetype from glamorized runaways to outright monsters. There are notable cast members across these four 1950s JD exploitation films (many featured young or up-and-coming actors who later gained fame, alongside reliable B-movie veterans.)Live Fast, Die Young has Mary Murphy (Kim Winters / narrator) best known as the female lead opposite Marlon Brando in The Wild One (1953). She brings noir gravitas here. Mike Connors was the star of the long-running TV series Mannix (1967–1975); a solid leading-man presence in many 1950s B-films like Corman's Day the World Ended, Where Love Has Gone and decades later in Nightkill with original Charlie's Angel Jaclyn Smith and a weary Robert Mitchum. Troy Donahue also appears - he was a teen heartthrob who became a major 1950s–60s star (A Summer Place, A Distant Trumpet, Dr. Alien, Jules Verne’s Rocket to the Moon, Imitation of Life.) This was one of his early roles. Juvenile Jungle has Corey Allen (Hal McQueen) who also played the iconic Buzz Gunderson (the rival who dies in the "chicken run" with James Dean) in Rebel Without a Cause. Mollie McCart (A Kiss Before Dying,) was a minor but memorable 1950s B-movie actress best remembered for her intense performance as the wild, manipulative delinquent Terry Marsh in Teen-Age Crime Wave. Carolyn Kearney (The Thing That Couldn't Die, Hot Rod Girl,) is best remembered today for her roles in 1950s juvenile delinquent and horror films. In Young and Wild she played Valerie Whitman, the wholesome young woman (along with her boyfriend Jerry, played by Robert Arthur - Twelve O'Clock High, Yellow Sky, Mildred Pierce,) who becomes a target of the delinquent gang led by Scott Marlowe. Peggy Maley (The Brothers Rico, The Midnight Story, Indestructible Man, I Died a Thousand Times, Moonfleet, Human Desire, The Wild One, The Bigamist,) former Miss Atlantic City, played Sue Hawkins, a worldly, tough B-girl and bar hostess in Live Fast, Die Young who mentors and influences the runaway sister Jill (Norma Eberhardt - The Return of Dracula,) in the seedy San Francisco underworld. There are other exploitation-style JD quickies from the era - like High School Confidential! (1958) with Russ Tamblyn, High School Hellcats, Reform School Girl (and a 1986 re-make,) Hot Rod Girl, Teenage Doll, Robert Altman’s early film The Delinquents (1957) , Motorcycle Gang - a loose follow-up to The Wild One, Untamed Youth, with Mamie Van Doren and Lori Nelson , about delinquent girls on a chain gang farm, even Teenage Monster, Teenagers from Outer Space and I Was a Teenage Werewolf are horror twists on the JD genre (often science turning troubled teens into monsters.) Imprint's Youth Gone Wild: 1950s Juvenile Delinquency (1955 - 1958) Blu-ray boxset is an excellent boutique release that rescues four fun, sleazy 1950s JD gems from obscurity and presents them with care, strong new scholarship, and attractive limited-edition packaging. While the films themselves remain raw B-movies, the video / audio upgrades and generous, insightful extras turn this into a must-have for devotees of drive-in cinema, film noir influences, and mid-century moral panic. At its price point and with only 1500 units, it’s a strong recommendation for anyone appreciating the genre, Drive-In nostalgia, and the budding young casts. This is highly collectible.

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Shohei Imamura’s "The Pornographers" 4K UHD - Shōichi Ozawa, Sumiko Sakamoto, Keiko Sagawa, Masaomi Kondô, Haruo Tanaka, Ganjirô Nakamura @FilmsRadiance US: amzn.to/4af3KaT UK: amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/AS… BONUS CAPTURES: patreon.com/dvdbeaver/post… OUR COMPARISON: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film2/… Shohei Imamura’s The Pornographers (1966), also known as Erogotoshitachi yori: Jinruigaku nyūmon or Introduction to Anthropology through Pornographers, is a bold, satirical black comedy that follows small-time porn filmmaker Subuyan Ogata as he navigates the seedy underbelly of postwar Japanese society while supporting his landlady/lover Haru and her dysfunctional family. *** Shohei Imamura's The Pornographers is a landmark satirical black comedy that stands as one of the director’s most distinctive and internationally recognized works. Freely adapted from Akiyuki Nosaka’s 1963 novel, the film uses the life of a small-time pornographer as a provocative entry point into an anthropological study of repressed desires, social hypocrisy, family dysfunction, and the messy undercurrents of postwar Japanese society. The story centers on Subuyan “Subu” Ogata (Shōichi Ozawa - Imamura's Dr. Akagi, The Eel, Black Rain, The Ballad of Narayama, Vengeance Is Mine,) a dedicated but world-weary producer of cheap 8mm stag films who also occasionally pimps. He lives in a cramped Osaka household with his landlady and occasional lover, the widowed barber Haru (Sumiko Sakamoto - Warm Water Under a Red Bridge, The Ballad of Narayama, Stray Dog,) her teenage daughter Keiko (Keiko Sagawa), and her son Kōichi (Masaomi Kondô - The Fall of Ako Castle, Horrors of Malformed Men, Eighteen Years in Prison.) Subu supports the family financially while rationalizing his illicit work as a beneficial service to a sexually repressed society - providing an outlet for “natural” desires that polite society denies. Haru harbors a bizarre superstition: she believes her dead husband has been reincarnated as a large carp in an aquarium (how Imamura is that?), whose disapproving gaze inhibits her intimacy with Subu. Imamura’s subtitle signals his intent: pornography serves as a lens for “anthropology”—examining base human instincts (what he called the “lower part of the human body”) against the “lower part of the social structure.” The film explores how sexual desire persists beneath civilized norms, satirizing both the government’s hypocritical repression (attempting to sanitize art and deny impulses) and individuals like Subu who commodify them. The porn trade itself is voyeuristic, but Imamura implicates the audience through framing devices (windows within the frame suggesting viewers watching viewers) and the act of watching the film. Like Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom but played for uneasy laughs with minimal explicit nudity, the film probes cinema’s own voyeuristic nature and humanity’s self-examining impulse - symbolized by objects like the camera and the all-seeing carp. Gender dynamics and women’s experiences also feature prominently, consistent with Imamura’s broader oeuvre. Haru represents traditional superstition and resilience; Keiko embodies emerging youth and objectification. The film avoids easy feminism but sympathetically observes how women navigate exploitation and changing social roles. The Pornographers is quintessential Imamura: lively, unsettling, and “messy, really human, Japanese.” The humor is cheeky and black, deriving from failed shoots, philosophical dialogues among pornographers, and ironic reversals - never descending into mere titillation. In sum, The Pornographers is not primarily “about” pornography but uses it as a mirror to reveal the hypocrisies, desires, and absurdities of human (and specifically Japanese postwar) existence. In conclusion the Radiance 4K UHD package is superb and long-overdue upgrade for one of Imamura’s most subversive and entertaining masterpieces. The restoration is reference-quality, the extras are intelligently chosen and newly produced, and the overall presentation reflects the care this cheeky, taboo-busting classic deserves. For fans of Japanese New Wave cinema or Imamura’s work in general, this is an essential purchase and easily one of the most desirable catalog  4K UHD releases of 2026. Highly recommended.

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Brit Noir Collection II Blu-ray - Jack Hawkins, Margaret Leighton, Ralph Richardson, Michael Medwin, Dorothy Alison @KinoLorber US: amzn.to/4epBYtt BONUS CAPTURES: patreon.com/dvdbeaver/post… OUR REVIEW: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film2/… Home at Seven (1952) The Intruder (1953) The Long Arm (1956) The mighty Jack Hawkins (The Cruel Sea, The Bridge on the River Kwai) takes center stage in this triple feature of brilliant British noir. Home at Seven (1952) – Ralph Richardson reprises his role from R.C. Sherriff’s play as a bank clerk whose inexplicable amnesia leaves him without an alibi after a murder-robbery. Co-starring Hawkins and the marvelous Margaret Leighton, this twisty mystery (a.k.a. Murder on Monday) saw Richardson direct for the first and only time in his illustrious career. The Intruder (1953) – The horrors of war come back to haunt a former World War II colonel (Hawkins) when an armed man (Michael Medwin), who once fought bravely under the colonel’s command, breaks into his home. The gripping second feature from future 007 master Guy Hamilton (Goldfinger). The Long Arm (1956) – Reuniting with his Cruel Sea director Charles Frend, Hawkins leads a Scotland Yard investigation into a spate of safe-cracking crimes across England, beginning with the latest heist in London. Known as The Third Key in the U.S., the film adopts a gritty procedural style made popular by Ealing in 1950’s The Blue Lamp. *** Ralph Richardson's Home at Seven is a tense psychological mystery centered on amnesia, identity, and the fragility of ordinary middle-class life - based on a play by R.C. Sherriff. The Intruder, directed by Guy Hamilton (Goldfinger and other Bonds as well as Force 10 from Navarone, An Inspector Calls, Home at Seven, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, The Mirror Crack'd, Evil Under the Sun, Manuela, The Party's Over, The Devil's Disciple,) is a strong post-war drama/thriller about the difficulties of readjustment for ex-servicemen, class, loyalty, and the long shadow of war. Adapted from Robin Maugham’s novel The Line on Ginger. Charles Frend's The Long Arm has Jack Hawkins (the standout link for all three films.) He brings quiet authority, decency, and underlying intensity to all three. The Long Arm is a classic police procedural with a clever, low-key cat-and-mouse feel, emphasizing deduction, forensics, and dogged detective work over action. The films share tales of ordinary, respectable men whose stable lives unravel due to crime, memory loss, or societal change. The films explore the gap between wartime heroism/duty and the struggles (or mundanity) of civilian life. They are atmospheric rather than sensational, with strong emphasis on character, psychology, class, and moral ambiguity. They favor tension, dialogue, and procedural detail over violence or glamour. These are thoughtful, well-acted 1950s gems that reward relaxed viewing. Kino Lorber’s Brit Noir Collection II Blu-ray set is a welcome and cohesive package that showcases three thoughtful, character-rich 1950s British crime dramas linked by Jack Hawkins and a shared post-war sensibility. With solid-to-excellent A/V presentation and informative commentaries, it’s highly recommended for fans of restrained Brit Noir and classic UK cinema. The set’s strength lies in its thoughtful curation making it an essential addition for those exploring this era of British crime dramas or thoughtful dark cinema - a keeper for me. Absolutely recommended.

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Coming in September: three intoxicating tales of outsiders and doomed lovers from a French-cinema firebrand; an electrifying thriller set at the height of Brazil's military dictatorship; an enthralling love letter to cinematic maverick Jean-Luc Godard; a luminous exploration of male ego and class divisions; and, fresh from theaters, a Kafkaesque thriller about the impunity of power and horrors of totalitarianism. PLUS: A nine-hour opus investigating the Holocaust, and the most radical courtroom drama in cinema history.