If classic and cult British films - from Alfie to Performance, from The Devils to Withnail and I - are your cup of tea, then this indispensable guide to a previously uncharted, alternative history of British cinema is for you.

In an all-new documentary, produced exclusively for the BFI, the UK’s most knowledgeable and well-respected cult film critic, Kim Newman, explores such questions as how the director of Help! and Superman II came to make one of the world’s greatest, but little-known, black comedies, and lifts the lid on which previously unseen British film features Helen Mirren in her debut role.

With a selection of original trailers and short films - including one that’s exclusive to this release - this is your passport to the exciting and surprising world of the Flipside. All titles are now available on DVD and Blu-ray for the first time ever, in the BFI Flipside collection.

* Kim Newman’s Guide to the Flipside of British Cinema (2010, 37 mins): all-new, exclusive documentary * Carousella (1966, 25 mins): controversial documentary on the lives of a group of striptease artistes, directed by John Irvin (Hamburger Hill, Raw Deal)

* Tomorrow Night in London (1969, 5 mins): vibrant and fast-paced tourist board short extolling the virtues, and fashions, of London’s nightlife

* The Spy’s Wife (1972, 27 mins): a modish tale of international intrigue and extra-marital relations with Tom Bell (The L-Shaped Room, Prime Suspect) and Ann Lynn (Screamtime, Separation)

* BFI Flipside trailer reel

* Fully illustrated booklet with essays and film credits

The DVD can be had for the bargain price of £1.99 direct from the BFI

http://filmstore.bfi.org.uk/acatalog/info_15526.html?NOLOGIN=1

A true Aussie horror cult classic and one of the most memorable movies of the early 1970s to mid-1980s New Wave of Australian Cinema, Colin Eggleston’s atmospheric 1978 shocker LONG WEEKEND (originally starring John Hargreaves and Briony Behets) gets a contemporary makeover courtesy of director Jamie Blanks (Valentine; Urban Legend) and the original film’s screenwriter Everett De Roche (Link; Razorback; Roadgames; Patrick).

Coming to DVD on 8th February 2010 as a two-disc Ultimate Edition, this new version of LONG WEEKEND stars Jim Caviezel (Jesus in Mel Gibson’s “The Passion Of The Christ” and soon to be seen starring in the highly anticipated remake of cult 1960s TV series “The Prisoner”) and Claudia Karvan (Daybreakers; Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith) and cranks the chilling eco-horror theme to the max producing that rare thing in cinema – a remake that is as good as, and arguably scarier and more effective than, the original.

When unhappily married and recently estranged city couple Peter (Caviezel) and Carla (Karvan) set off for a long weekend camping in a remote but picturesque spot on Austalia’s North Coast with Peter’s friend Luke and his girlfriend, they are hoping that a few days of sun, surf and solitude will help heal their marital wounds. After getting lost in the dark and spending an uncomfortable night in their car, Peter and Carla awake to find themselves parked mere yards from their intended destination and, despite the mysterious non-arrival of Luke and his partner, set up camp. In stereotypical city folk style they immediately begin to show a complete disregard for their beautiful, untouched environment by nonchalantly discarding rubbish, breaking glass, chopping live trees for firewood and taking pot shots at the wildlife.

As the weekend progresses and their personal relationship deteriorates ever further, they become increasingly aware of an unseen, almost malevolent force of nature acting against them. But are the bizarre occurrences they witness merely coincidental events whose effects are heightened by the couple’s isolation or is something else at work? A highly effective shocker that topically pits man against nature in a deceivingly beautiful setting, LONG WEEKEND comes to DVD boasting a host of extra features that include an exclusive interview with screenwriter Everett De Roche.

The two disc LONG WEEKEND (cert. 15) will be released on DVD (£17.99) by Showbox Entertainment on 8th February 2010. Special Features include: Director’s Production Diary; Interview Gallery (Claudia Karvan; Everett De Roche; Tobey Eggleston); Deleted Scene (Jim and the Ducks); ‘Making of’ featurette; ‘Taming the Wild’ featurette; Peter’s Death – Behind the Scenes with Grant Page and Roger Ward; English 2.0 and 5.1 audio options; chapter selection; trailer.

To win 1 of 3 DVDs, answer the following:

Who directed the original LONG WEEKEND in 1978?

Answers to carl@unrated.co.uk by January 31st, 2010

We have two copies of Park Chan-wook’s THIRST to give away as Competition prizes.

Following its hugely successful theatrical release in October, which saw it being hailed as Film of the Week in both Time Out and The Guardian and being awarded Four Star reviews in The Daily Express, Time Out, The Sun, Empire, Total Film and Loaded, Park Chan-wook’s Thirst comes to DVD and Blu-ray on 25th January 2010.

The joint winner of the Jury Prize at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, Thirst sees the director of the "Vengeance" trilogy and "Oldboy" further emphasising his versatility as a storyteller and a filmmaker by turning his hand to Western horror traditions and taking on the ever-popular vampire genre.

Very loosely based on Emile Zola’s novel "Therese Raquin", the story concerns a priest who, accidentally cursed with vampirism, is thrown into a whirlpool of moral decline that leads to him into a nightmare world of lust, adultery and murder.

Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho) is a priest who cherishes life; so much so, that he selflessly volunteers for a secret vaccine research project designed to eradicate a deadly virus.

When the virus is found to be affecting the priest and threatening his life, a blood transfusion is urgently ordered up for him. However, the blood he receives is unknowingly infected, the result of the transfusion being that Sang-hyun survives the viral attack but now exists as a vampire dependent upon the life blood of others. Struggling with his newfound carnal desire for this vital fluid, Sang-hyun’s faith is further strained when a childhood friend’s wife, Tae-ju (Kim Ok-vin), comes to him asking for his help in escaping her tormented life. It’s not long before the former priest is plunged headlong into a world of sensual pleasures, finding himself on intimate terms with the deadliest of the Seven Sins.

Starring Song Kang-ho as Sang-hyun (The Host; The Good, The Bad, The Weird; Lady Vengeance; Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance) and Kim Ok-vin as Tae-ju (Dasepo Naughty Girls; The Accidental Gangster), Thirstis a visceral, thought-provoking and darkly comic exploration of human existence in extreme circumstances from one of the most original and provocative directors working in modern cinema.

Thirst(cert. 18) will be released on DVD (£19.99) and Blu-ray (£24.99) by Palisades Tartan on 25th January 2010.

To win a copy simply answer the following. Which film was the first of the director’s "Vengeance Trilogy"? Answers by January 25th, 2010, to carl@unrated.co.uk

Following on from its critically acclaimed UK theatrical release in October 2009, the riveting, intelligent and totally unpredictable PONTYPOOL comes to DVD and Blu-ray in January 2010.

Oliver Stone's "Talk Radio" meets John Carpenter's "The Fog" in PONTYPOOL, a psychological chiller about a mysteriously transmitted virus that threatens the residents of a small Canadian town.

Adapted by author Tony Burgess from his award winning bestseller "Pontypool Changes Everything" and directed by Bruce McDonald (Hard Core Logo; The Tracey Fragments), PONTYPOOL stars Stephen McHattie (Watchmen), Lisa Houle (Due South; Seinfeld) and Georgina Reilly (Terry Southern's Plums And Prunes).

It appears to be just another humdrum winter's day in Pontypool, Ontario as shock-jock Grant Mazzy (McHattie) goes on air to present his morning phone-in radio show from a studio in the basement of the town's church. But amidst the minor news items regarding school bus cancellations and missing cats being reported by Mazzy's listening public and his "Eye in the Sky" reporter are a series of bizarre reports of local people developing strange speech patterns and committing acts of horrific violence. With no confirmation of these events on the official news wires, Mazzy, his producer (Houle) and assistant (Reilly) suspect an elaborate hoax is being played. However, it isn't long before the radio team realise that the reports are real and that something terrible is happening beyond the studio walls. Trapped inside the church as bloody chaos reigns outside, they must decide if they should stay on air in the hopes of being heard and eventually rescued, even though they suspect their broadcasts may be contributing to the madness infecting the residents of Pontypool.

PONTYPOOL (cert. 15) will be released on DVD (£15.99) and Blu-ray (£19.99) by Kaleidoscope Entertainment on 25th January 2010.

Special Features include: Cast and director interviews; Horror Collection – 2 short movies; Behind the Sound - The sound design of Pontypool; stills gallery; theatrical trailer.

Blu-ray exclusive: Pontypool – The Radio Play (30 mins).

To win one of three BLU-RAY DVDs simply answer the following:

Which Tony Burgess novel is the film PONTYPOOL based upon?

Answers to carl@unrated.co.uk by January 15th, 2010

Before Caligula and Salon Kitty came the Tinto Brass 1960s Psychedelic Classics.

Welcome to the sexual revolution as only Tinto Brass could have imagined it! Featuring Deadly Sweet (Col Cuore in Gola) a cinema fumetti pop art giallo thriller, starring the sexy Ewa Aulin (Candy). The Howl (L'Urlo) a surreal cult classic, with Tina Aumont (daughter of Maria Montez) now for the first time ever Uncut on DVD. And Attraction (Nerosubianco), a psychedelic pop art experience, with music by Freedom (ex Procal Harum)

SPECIAL FEATURES
Widescreen version (16x9 Enhanced), Restored, uncensored versions, English audio commentaries by Tinto Brass, Galleries, and Trailers

Color. 1867/1969/1970. 280 minutes. Widescreen. English/Italian with Optional English subtitles. Not Rated.

A Cult Epics Release DVD075 DVDs are also available as single discs, $29.95 srp

Paul Naschy star of numerous Spanish horrors has sadly passed away following a long battle with cancer at the age of seventy-five.

Unrated fondly remembers the films of Paul Naschy that proved so illusive in the days before video, when the only glimpses of the nocturnal activies of Waldemar the werewolf was gleaned from the likes of imported copies of "Famous Monsters of Filmland" and "Castle of Frankenstein", before the 80s came along, and aan uncut WEREWOLF AND THE YETI surfaced on VHS before being inexplicably caught up on the British Video Nasty furore on the early 80s.

After that it was screenings of bootlegged copies of Naschy’s films at Dave Carson’s flat in Victoria, years before the internet took off and the advent of DVD that made his films more readily available.

I was fortunate to meet Mr. Naschy at a film convention in London several years ago, his English was a bit shaky, but I managed to secure a signed photo "Para Carl" from the claws themselves. Thanks to everyone over the years who have watched Naschy films with me, we’ve laughed a lot at his barrel chested, pot bellied antics but they’ve proved enjoyable nevertheless.

The howling will continue long after the full moon has died.

One of the most controversial movies of the 1980s – and never granted a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification until now – the seminal cult shocker SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT finally gets its long-awaited UK DVD release in November 2009 just in time to bring some Christmas fear into the hearts of horror fans looking for something more stirring than the usual seasonal fare.

A ‘stalk and slash’ shocker with bells on, SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT sparked a wave of controversy on its original US theatrical release thanks to its premise of having a killer dressed as Santa Claus, a concept that led to angry parents, film critics, celebrities and movie industry insiders protesting against and calling for a boycott of this ‘outrageous’ movie. Now, UK viewers can at last see what all the fuss was about with the release of the fully uncut and most complete version of the film available.

A superlative 80s shocker that spawned four sequels and ticks all the required slasher genre boxes – namely gratuitous gore, nudity, sex, decapitation and an appearance by Hollywood scream queen Linnea Quigley (Return Of The Living Dead; Night Of The Demons; Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers) – SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT is the perfect Yuletide tale of terror.

SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT (cert. 18) will be released on DVD (£15.99) by Arrow Video on 23rd November 2009. Special Features include: unrated trailer; audio interview with director Charles E. Sellier Jr.; poster; booklet including ‘Deadly Director: Charles Sellier interviewed by Calum Waddell’ and ‘Silent Night, Sex Night: The Slice and Times of Linnea Quigley’.

We have 3 DVDs to offer for the readers who answer the following

Who directed SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT?

Answers to carl@unrated.co.uk by 31st November, 2009.

Revered, misunderstood and oft-discussed, Stephen Weeks’ rarely seen 1974 dreamlike chiller is the absolute definition of a cult British Horror film. Set in 1930s England it tells of three former public schoolmates, Larry Dann (The Bill), Murray Melvin (The Devils) and the enigmatic Vivian Mackerrell (the inspiration for Bruce Robinson’ s creation ’Withnail’, seen here in his only major screen role), who reunite in a country mansion haunted by the spirit of insane former resident Marianne Faithfull (Girl on a Motorcycle). The haunting transports them to a surreal world of demonic dolls, sadistic doctors, incest and murder. Hammer fans will see Barbara Shelley (Dracula Prince Of Darkness) and Leigh Lawson (Hammer House Of Horror), among the cast, ’cult TV’ enthusiasts will recognise Anthony Bate (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Beasts), and sitcom lovers will enjoy a cameo from Penelope Keith (The Good Life, To The Manor Born).

This combination of 1970s Britsploitation and 1930s quaintness, realised perfectly by Weeks and soundtracked by Pink Floyd collaborator Ron Geesin, have made Ghost Story legendary. Now, for the first time on DVD Nucleus Films proudly presents this pristine 2-disc collector’s edition including Ghost Stories, an in-depth featurette about the curious tale about the making of the film, an audio commentary, a trailer and a selection of Weeks’ fascinating early shorts and commercials including the previously unseen Tigon film 1917!

Two Disc Collector’s Edition

•Widescreen (1.85:1) Presentation Enhanced for 16x9 TVs • English 2.0 Mono • Ghost Stories - an all-new 60 minute featurette including interviews with Director/Producer Stephen Weeks, Actors Larry Dann and Murray Melvin, British Horror Icon Barbara Shelley, composer (and Pink Floyd collaborator) Ron Geesin, with comments from UK critic Kim Newman. • Audio Commentary with Stephen Weeks, moderated by Professor Samuel Umland • Theatrical Trailer • The Chelsea Cobbler store commercial • Alternate opening credits sequence • Stephen Weeks’ The Making of Ghost Story (.pdf)

Plus 7 previously unseen early short films!

Owen’s War (1965 / B+W / 10m) Deserted Station (1965 / B+W / 7m) The Camp (1965 / B+W / 4m) Moods of a Victorian Church (1967 / Colour / 9m) Two At Thursday (1968 / B+W / 10m) 1917 (1968 / Colour / 35m) Flesh (1969 / Colour / 3m)

Released by Nucleus Films on Monday 9th, November, 2009

http://www.nucleusfilms.com/

The Associates are delighted to announce the return of the much loved and celebrated Tartan Films name and catalogue – now rebranded as Palisades Tartan – and to welcome them to our valued roster of clients. In July 2008, the highly respected US company Palisades Pictures and its parent company Palisades Media Corp acquired a majority of Tartan Film UK’s 400-plus film library assets and branded their new division Palisades Tartan. Now bigger, better and bolder than before, Palisades Tartan will continue to expand on an already distinctive and provocative catalogue of films and to re-introduce the most popular elements of the former Tartan label to a whole new audience through DVD re-releases and exclusive DVD box sets, as well as through brand new releases in both the theatrical and home entertainment markets.

First of all, in late-September 2009, Palisades Tartan will be releasing the Andy Lau-starring Asian thriller "A World Without Thieves" and the New Queer Cinema classic "Swoon" on DVD. In the next few days we will announce the Palisades Tartan DVD and Blu-ray titles scheduled for release in October, November and December.

WIN TICKETS TO THE UK PREMIERE OF "THIRST" AND THE CHANCE TO MEET DIRECTOR PARK CHAN-WOOK!

To tie-in with the forthcoming UK theatrical release of director Park Chan-wook’s latest movie, "Thirst", Palisades Tartan is offering movie fans a once-in-a-lifetime chance to win a trip for two to London to attend the UK premiere of "Thirst" and to meet Park Chan-wook in person.

All entrants have to do is visit http://www.palisadestartan.com/contest_uk.asp between now and midnight on Wednesday 23rd September 2009 and enter their details on the competition page.

A winner and two runners-up will be randomly selected from those who enter. The grand prize winner will win a trip for two to London to attend the UK premiere of "Thirst" at the Curzon Soho cinema on Monday 5th October 2009, hosted by Metrodome Distribution in association with Palisades Tartan UK. The winner and a friend will also have the opportunity to meet and have lunch with the film’s celebrated director, Park Chan-wook. The grand prize includes roundtrip transportation to London from the major airport or train station nearest to the winner’s home address, as well as overnight hotel accommodation for their stay in London.

The two runners-up will each receive a copy of the Vengeance Trilogy DVD Box Set released by Palisades Tartan UK.

"Thirst" will open at UK cinemas on 16th October 2009.

CONTEST:

http://www.palisadestartan.com/contest_uk.asp

THIRST TRAILER:

http://onlinemoviepromo.com/newplayer.php?id=3318

From producer Michael Bay ("Transformers", "The Unborn") comes a truly terrifying story of one man’s journey into hell as HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE is released on DVD and Blu-ray by Icon Home Entertainment on 19 October 2009.

Starring Dennis Quaid ("G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra") – soon to be seen in cinemas in October in "Pandorum", and Ziyi Zhang ("House of Flying Daggers", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"), HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE is a gruesome crime thriller full of the intensity and twists comparable to "Se7en" and "Saw", and the smash hit TV series Dexter. Directed by Jonas Akerlund ("Spun") the all-star cast also includes Peter Stormare ("Minority Report") and Patrick Fugit ("Almost Famous").

Four Horsemen. Four Unrelated Victims. Four Painful Secrets.

Recently widowed police detective Aidan Breslin (Quaid), finds himself thrust into investigating a series of perverse serial killings rooted in the Biblical prophesy of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: War, Famine, Pestilence and Death.

The White Horsemen, a master of deception and the unexpected leader hell-bent on conquest; The Red Horsemen, a sharp-witted warrior intent on turning man against man; The Black Horsemen, a manipulative and dark Tyrant, unbalanced but always one step ahead; and The Pale Horsemen, an executioner with disarming strength, determined to spread death through surgical precision.

As Breslin unveils each of the bizarre revelations in the case, he slowly discovers a shocking and terrifying link between himself and the suspects. HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE also has some great special features including audio commentary with the Director Jonas Akerlund and some dark and intense deleted scenes.

Palisades Tartan UK and Metrodome Distribution have signed an exclusive deal allowing Metrodome exclusive rights to represent Palisades Tartan's TV and video-on-demand library in the UK. The deal also allows Metrodome theatrical distribution rights for acclaimed Korean director Park Chan-wook's new vampire feature "Thirst", opening in UK cinemas on 16th October 2009. Joint winner of the 2009 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize (together with Andrea Arnold's "Fish Tank"), "Thirst" tells the story of a failed medical experiment that turns a priest into a vampire.

The celebrated Palisades Tartan catalogue boasts an assortment of critically hailed gems including Park Chan-Wook's 2003 masterpiece and winner of the Cannes Grand Jury Prize in 2004, "Oldboy". Additional titles include Takashi Miike's "Audition", Kinji Fukasaku's "Battle Royale" and Paul Verhoeven's "Black Book".