It’s been a slow year but finally another fine slate of offbeat Canadian films is hitting DVDs this season. Remember that clicking through these links helps support our efforts is rediscovering classic Canadian cult film, and that the Amazon links on the sidebar are always updated with the latest new release announcements for your viewing pleasure. Scanners DVD/Blu-Ray Combo (Criterion) Release Date: July 15, 2014 Louis Del Grande’s exploding head in HD? GINGER SNAPS DVD/Blu-Ray Combo (Shout Factory) Release Date: July 22, 2014 The classic werewolf film that revitalized Canadian horror for the 21st century has never gotten a fair shake on home video–until now! Deadly Eyes DVD/Blu-Ray Combo (Shout Factory) Release Date: July 15, 2014 Rats (well, costumed dogs) ravage the streets of Toronto in this totally entertaining B-monster classic from Enter the Dragon director Richard Clouse! A co-production with Golden Harvest that won’t disappoint.

Curtains Blu-ray and DVD (Synapse) Release Date: July 8, 2014 Another one MIA on DVD, the creepy Canadian tax-shelter slasher CURTAINS finally hits the shelves in a release that promises to delve into its troubled production history. PORKY’S R2 Blu-Ray (Arrow) Release Date: May 26, 2014 This is already out in R1 from Fox, but this Steelbook edition from the UK-based film fans at Arrow is a thing of beauty.404 Error File Not Foundcurtains joo chiat The page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.white waffle hookless shower curtainThe Bankers of God: The Calvi Affair »28mm curtain pole connector

Jonathan Stryker - 1983 Synapse Films Region 1 DVD As the "Making of . . . " supplement explains, there's a good reason why the director's credit for Curtains is that of the character in the film, a film director named Jonathan Stryker. The released film was was actually the work of original director Richard Ciupka, completed by producer Peter Simpson. For all of the problems, with Simpson shooting approximately two years after Ciupka left the set, this is pretty good "body count" film.olive leaf jacquard lined ring-top curtains The basic premise is that the fictional Jonathan Stryker has invited six actresses to his mansion to audition for the starring role in his next film. curtain tie backs at b&qThe main character is a woman, gone mad with jealousy, who kills her philandering husband. traverse curtain rods amazon

The part was originally slated for Stryker's live-in love, Samantha Sherwood. In order to understand the character's mental breakdown, Sherwood has herself committed to an insane asylum, which as everyone who's seen at least one movie with this kind of set-up knows, is a terrible idea. Stryker decides to make his movie without Sherwood, who in turn manages to escape from the asylum to claim the part she knows should be hers. Not so coincidentally, the other actresses competing for the same part have unexpected dates with the grim reaper.blackout winnie the pooh curtains Just don't look too closely because there are a few bits and pieces that don't quite make sense, like the creepy dolls which appear in a couple of scenes and then seems to have been forgotten as a recurring motif. Unlike many of the films of this type, this one has an older cast, led by John Vernon, virtually typecast as an aloof and arrogant character, as director Stryker.

Almost as much fun to watch in his brief scene is that axiom of Canadian cinema, Maury Chaykin, as the agent of one of the actresses. As for playing the part of a woman with issues, Samantha Eggar probably found this part to be a breeze compared to her work in The Brood. Too bad Peter Simpson had issues with the accent of French-Canadian actress Celine Lomez, she was (and still is) far more attractive than Linda Thorson, a woman best known for attempting to step into the boots worn by Diana Rigg in the television series, The Avengers. That said, what is nice here is that the film takes time to allow for some distinction between the six actresses, among them a stand-up comic, an ice skater and a dancer. It should be no surprise that care was taken visually - Ciupka worked as a cinematographer, for Louis Malle prior to Curtains, and Claude Chabrol a few years later. In the meantime, Simpson, as a producer, made the far better known Prom Night and that film's three (!) sequels. This is one of those times when it's worth watching the DVD supplement with several cast and crew members discussing their experience with Curtains.

Everyone seems to have been embarrassed that they participated in making this film, which seemed to take on cult status on cable television and home video following a desultory theatrical release. I hope someone has told Lynne Griffin, who plays the stand-up comic, Patti, that the Embassy Theater, where Curtains had its New York City premiere, was not in the Lower East Side. For a former New York City resident like myself, such a geographical faux pas is scary. Posted by peter at July 31, 2014 07:10 AMOne of the best things to result from the DVD boom was the proliferation of the feature length doc about an individual movie included as a special feature. Of course, not every movie would get this treatment but it became increasingly viable for more titles to get their very own Hearts of Darkness. Unfortunately, with physical media sales only on the decline, this is now a rarity yet there’s no time like the present to go back a few years and dust off those SD docs and make them new again and that’s just what Synapse has done for the feature length Creepshow doc Just Desserts.

Just Desserts runs right under 90 minutes and it never stops. Cleverly divided into segments just like Romero’s film, it moves quickly and is always informative and fun. Not everyone from the cast returns for the doc but you do get interviews with the likes of Adrienne Barbeau, Ed Harris, and Tom Atkins; on the crew side there’s conversations with Romero himself, Tom Savini, and a slew of other folks who worked on the production. It’s filled with on-set behind the scenes footage, archival stills and talking heads which provide plenty of amusing anecdotes for fans including how hard it was to shoot with Leslie Nielsen due to laughter on the set and the trials and tribulations of working with a high number of live cockroaches. This may not be as harrowing as Hearts of Darkness or as exhaustive as the feature length docs that accompany many of Ridley Scott’s films on disc, but it’s clearly a labor of love for all involved and it manages to be honest while still paying tribute to the topic at hand.

If you haven’t seen this elsewhere yet and you’re a fan of Creepshow and/or horror cinema in general, it’s an essential purchase. Originally released on Universal’s 2007 R2 DVD set, Just Desserts has never gotten an official US release until now as WB owns the rights to the title domestically and didn’t include director Michael Felsher’s documentary on their Blu-ray release. Luckily, the always reliable folks at Synapse stepped up to the plate to get this a stand alone release in the states and, as typical for them, they pulled out all of the stops making this a packed release, the likes of which we even rarely see for a feature film let alone a documentary about one. Featuring a 1080p transfer and a DTS-HD MA 2.0 audio track, this looks and sounds great for a film made almost ten years ago now and it’s safe to say that the presentation isn’t going to get any better than this. On to the supplements, we start with two audio commentary tracks. The first is with Michael Felsher alone who is talkative and carries the track from the project’s inception up through its release, with plenty of anecdotes to spare.

The second track joins Felsher with actor John Amplas, property master Bruce Alan Miller and make up artist Darryl Ferrucci. This track is a bit messy with the audio being sourced from different interviews and Felsher sort of contextualizing it all. The nice thing about this track is that you get to hear from three people who don’t appear in the doc, so if completion is your thing, you’re covered. For video content we start with an 8 minute interview with DP Michael Gornick titled “Creepshow Days,” which unfortunately doesn’t get into too much but is worth a watch. There’s then a collection of “extended interview segments” with Romero, Savini and Bernie Wrightson which are basically just more of the great content that’s already in the doc. “Behind the Screams” is 26 minutes of set footage from Tom Savini, mostly involving effects footage and it’s a real treat. We get a “Horror’s Hallowed Grounds” feature with Sean Clark which most horror fans should be used to by now as Clark tends to pop up on these discs frequently, taking viewers on a tour of a given film’s locations and it’s the same here.