We’re on the verge of a new month, so that means that Saturday is going to bring a barrage of new and noteworthy streaming titles, and while I’ll be covering those next week, we’ve still got some good stuff to finish out June!
Fist up, our Top 5 new additions:
FORBIDDEN ZONE (Sundance Now) – Richard Elfman’s deranged B&W surreal musical should be on any cult film fan’s radar – if you haven’t seen Hervé Villechaize romance Susan Tyrrell, or Danny Elfman, as the Devil, do a Cab Calloway number, your life isn’t complete.
YOU’RE SO COOL, BREWSTER: THE STORY OF FRIGHT NIGHT (Shudder) – I’m a sucker for feature-length retrospectives, and one on Tom Holland’s classic tale of terror FRIGHT NIGHT is more than welcome, especially when all of the living performers involved are associated. Great to see it make its streaming debut.
Dark Shadows (Amazon) – Not the Tim Burton movie, but the original gothic soap opera with Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins. Granted, it’s not the whole series, but episodes 1-35, 453-492, and 614-655 should at least hold you for a little while.
DEMON (Amazon) – This Polish-Israeli horror film, based on the Jewish legend of the dybbuk, received solid word of mouth during its brief theatrical run last fall.
NIGHT TRAIN TO TERROR (Screambox) – Sure, they’ve also added AUDITION, but this batshit Frankanthology film that awkwardly mashes together three already-strange films into a single super-strange one is a sight to behold.
Netflix
New to Netflix this week are the documentaries AMERICAN ANARCHIST, profiling the lift of William Powell, the writer of “The Anarchist Cookbook,” and NOBODY SPEAK: TRIALS OF THE FREE PRESS, the tale of Peter Thiel’s frighteningly successful campaign against Gawker media. Also new are Justin (KING COBRA) Kelly’s I AM MICHAEL (the latest film in James Franco’s line of gay fetish dramas) and Gael Garcia Bernal in the biopic NERUDA.
Hoopla
The library-based streaming service now offers the fantastic documentary I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO, as well as the doc SAVING BANKSY, the high-concept Elijah Wood thriller GRAND PIANO, Michael (NADJA) Almereyda’s EXPERIMENTER with Peter Sarsgaard and Winona Ryder (a recommended look at the Milgrim experiments on authority), Stephen Chow and Derek Kwok’s enjoyably crazy action fantasy JOURNEY TO THE WEST and the intriguing-looking VHS found-footage film DESERT CATHEDRAL starring Lee Tergesen.
Hulu
Looking for low-budget horror? Hulu has you covered with BADLANDS OF KAIN (2016 road trip horror pic), MAN VS. (a reality show host has an alien encounter), THE SNARE (three people are trapped in an apartment by a mysterious force), HOTEL OF THE DAMNED (written by GHOULIES’ Luca Bercovici), KRAMPUS UNLEASED (has anyone seen all of these low-budget Krampus films?), PARASITES (UNSPEAKABLE director Chad Ferrin’s tale of an angry homeless gang), MINUTES PAST MIDNIGHT (an anthology film with Barbara Steele, Jason Flemyng, and Arthur Darvill), THE SHELTER (with Michael Pare), RAZORS: THE RETURN OF JACK THE RIPPER, THE AMITYVILLE EXORCISM, BLOOD BROTHERS (based on Leopold and Loeb, with Barbara Crampton and Ken Foree) and ONE UNDER THE SUN (a sci-fi thriller). There’s also The Asylum’s time-travel flick FLIGHT WORLD WAR II, Casper Van Dien and Cynthia Rothrock(!) in STAR RAIDERS: THE ADVENTURES OF SABER RAINE, and Emily Browning in the Burt Reynolds-narrated SHANGRI-LA SUITE.
Most recommended, however, is Stephen Chow and Derek Kwok’s action comedy fantasy pic JOURNEY FROM THE WEST. It’s a lot of fun!
Shudder
In addition to the FRIGHT NIGHT doc, Shudder has added Jeff Lieberman’s 1977 LSD classic BLUE SUNSHINE starring Zalman King, and the short film THE GREY MATTER.
Fandor
Fandor has come up with another treasure trove of oddities, including Jerry Warren’s 1966 THE WILD WORLD OF BATWOMAN, the 1934 sterilization drama TOMORROW’S CHILDREN, Sam Newfeld’s RADAR SECRET SERVICE (1950) and OUTLAW WOMAN (1952), teen abortion dramas TOO SOON TO LOVE (1950) and UNWED MOTHER (1958), Lewis Gilbert’s 1953 thriller THE SLASHER, Tom Gries’ SERPENT ISLAND (1954), THE SLIME PEOPLE (1953), Alan Hale Jr. in the 1960 stock car racing drama THUNDER IN CAROLINA, crime flicks SHOOT TO KILL (1947) and STREET OF SHADOWS (1953, with Cesar Romero), Terence Fisher’s THE UNHOLY FOUR (1954) and THE BLACK GLOVE (1954), Jayne Mansfield in 1963’s PROMISES! PROMISES!, and primate pics THE WHITE GORILLA (1945) and THE BRIDE AND THE BEAST (1958).
Exploitation.tv
The Vinegar Syndrome-backed streaming service has added Alex de Renzy’s 1977’s BABY FACE to its offerings.
Sundance Now
In addition to the classic FORBIDDEN ZONE, Sundance Now has also added the highly recommended docs HATED: G.G. ALLIN AND THE MURDER JUNKIES and Adam Rifkin’s portrait of oddball filmmaker Giuseppe Andrews, GIUSEPPE MAKES A MOVIE, as well as the Spanish B&W silent take on Snow White, BIANCANIEVES.
FilmStruck
FilmStruck has added Hitchcock’s 1927 THE LODGER.
Screambox
In addition to NIGHT TRAIN TO TERROR, you can now catch Takashi Miike’s twisted AUDITION as well as Lucio Fulci’s 1981 THE BLACK CAT. (The description states it’s the 1934 version, but the art tells another story.)
Amazon Prime
The biggest new title to Amazon Prime is Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, and Greta Gerwig in 20TH CENTURY WOMAN. Other new titles of note include SHANGRI-LA SUITE (narrated by Burt Reynolds, about a plot to kill Elvis), the gay prison drama K-11 with Goran Visjnic, D.B. Sweeney, Tiny Lister and Jason Mewes, the Power Glove-based horror pic BUZZARD, the belated sequel WITCHCRAFT XIV: ANGEL OF DEATH (!), the highly recommended ghost story WE ARE STILL HERE featuring Barbara Crampton, and THE LAST LOVECRAFT: THE RELIC OF CTHULHU. Scorsese’s GANGS OF NEW YORK is also new to the service.
Going beyond this century, we’ve got obscurities like Tony Curtis in the 1977 period sex comedy SOME LIKE IT COOL (aka THE AMOROUS MISADVENTURES OF CASANOVA), the 1976 action pic EQUALS AGAINST DEVILS, 1976’s THE LEGEND OF BIGFOOT, the Filipino superhero flick DARNA VS. THE PLANET WOMEN (1975), Robert Ginty in Sig (RETURN OF SUPERFLY) Shore’s 1980 heist pic THE ACT, the 1973 Chilean Larry Hagman comedy (!) ANTONIO, Peter O’Toole and Charlotte Rampling in 1976’s FOXTROT, two animal-based family flicks from 1971 (MOOCH GOES TO HOLLYWOOD with Vincent Price and Jim Backus, and THE LION WHO THOUGHT HE WAS PEOPLE), Arch Hall Jr. in James (THE SADIST) Landis’s 1964 NASTY RABBIT, Rene Cardona’s “classic” SANTA CLAUS and 1952’s “perfect woman” horror pic UNNATURAL: FRUIT OF EVIL with Erich von Stroheim. Finally, there’s the 2000 apocalypse flick TYCUS with Dennis Hopper, and the pre-MANNEQUIN TV series My Living Doll.
- JIM WYNORSKI RETURNS WITH THE CREATURE FEATURE ‘GILA’ - May 1, 2014
Tags: Adam Rifkin, Alan Hale Jr., Alex de Renzy, Alfred Hitchcock, Amazon Prime, Annette Bening, Banksy, Barbara Crampton, Barbara Steele, Burt Reynolds, Cab Calloway, Casper Van Dien, Cesar Romero, Charlotte Rampling, Crackle, cynthia rothrock, D.B. Sweeney, Dan Curtis, Danny Elfman, Dennis Hopper, Derek Kwok, elijah wood, Elle Fanning, Emily Browning, Erich von Stroheim, Exploitation.TV, Fandor, FilmStruck, G.G. Allin, Gael Garcia Bernal, Giuseppe Andrews, Goran Visjnic, Greta Gerwig, Hervé Villechaize, Hoopla, Hulu, James Franco, Jason Flemyng, Jason Mewes, Jayne Mansfield, jeff lieberman, Jim Backus, John Cusack, Jonathan Frid, Ken Foree, Larry Hagman, Lee Tergesen, Lewis Gilbert, Martin Scorsese, Michael Paré, Netflix, Peter O'Toole, Peter Sarsgaard, Raoul Peck, Richard Elfman, Samuel L. Jackson, Screambox, Shudder, Stephen Chow, streaming, Susan Tyrrell, Terence Fisher, the asylum, The Devil, Tom Gries, Tom Holland, Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr., Tony Curtis, vampires, vincent price, Vinegar Syndrome, Winona Ryder, zalman king
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