NEWS ARCHIVE - 3rd TO 9th APRIL 2006




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6th April 2006

DVD NEWS

Werner Herzog's remarkable award-winning documentary about Timothy Treadwell, a man who lived among the Grizzly Bears of Alaska's Katami National Park, Grizzly Man, will be released on DVD by Revolver Entertainment on May the 1st.

The film, which was assembled using the hundred hours of footage shot by Treadwell, was produced by the Discovery Channel.

The American version of the disc featured a version of the film that was slightly different to the one that was shown theatrically. An appearance by Treadwell on The Late Show With David Letterman was in the theatrical version, but couldn't be cleared for DVD. This segment will also be missing from the UK disc.

The UK DVD will feature a bonus fifty-minute follow-up documentary about the film's music, In The Edges: The Grizzly Man Session, and an interview with Werner (this wasn't mentioned in the press release, and it's not clear what form this will take).

The BFI has confirmed two new titles that will be released on April the 24th: Silent Waters, Sabiha Sumar's 2003 film about the changes sweeping a town near the Pakistani / Indian border, and Fanta Régina Narco's examination of the truth and reconciliation process in an unnamed African country, The Night of Truth (La Nuit de la Vérité).

Silent Waters will be presented in 1.85:1 ratio, and will come with an illustrated booklet with essays, details on the film's historical background, a director's note, an interview with Sabiha Sumar and a biography.

The Night of Truth will also be presented in 1.85:1 format, and will also come with an illustrated booklet, this time offering essays, film reviews, an interview with Fanta Régina Narco, a biography and a filmography.

Both titles have an RRP of £19.99.

Marco Ferreri's 1981 film adaptation of Charles Bukowski's sleazy short stories, Tales of Ordinary Madness (Storie di ordinaria follia), will be released on DVD by Nouveaux Pictures on  May the 29th. The film stars Ben Gazzara, Susan Tyrell and Flash Gordon's  Ornella Muti.

The disc will also offer an additional Ferreri feature, his modernist interpretation of Custer's Last Stand, Touche Pas a la Femme Blanche, which stars Marcello Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Philippe Noiret and Alain Cuny.

The film will be presented in widescreen format. The disc will also include a a picture gallery  RRP is £19.99.

The English version of Giuseppe Tornatore's mafia thriller The Professor (Il Camorrista), which also stars Gazarra, will also be released by Nouveaux Pictures on May the 29th. RRP for the disc is £17.99.

Dumplings, Fruit Chan's dark fantasy about a former starlet who discovers the secret of eternal youth, will be released by Tartan Films on June the 16th.

Tartan has dropped their plan to release a double-bill of Paul Morrissey's Flesh For Frankenstein and Blood For Dracula due to "production issues and a revision of strategy". It will now release them separately, with an RRP of £19.99 each, on May the 22nd.

Both titles will be Region 0 encoded, and will have anamorphic 1.85:1 transfers, with mono audio. Hopefully this is a typo, because previous releases of Flesh For Frankenstein have been in 2.35:1 ratio.

Flesh For Frankenstein will feature a commentary by Morrisey, Udo Kier and film historian Maurice Yacovar; screen tests; production stills; and a booklet, BBFC, Morrissey and the Horror Genre, by the BBFC's senior examiner, Craig Lapper. (That's the US one-sheet poster art, above, not the DVD sleeve, by the way).

Blood For Dracula will feature a commentary by Morrisey, Udo Kier and film historian Maurice Yacovar; screen tests; production stills; original press reviews; and a booklet by Ben Cobb.

Three further Morrissey films (Women In Revolt, Madam Wang's and Mixed Blood) will be released by Tartan "soon".

Mick Garris' Chocolate and Don Coscarelli's Incident On And Off A Mountain Road are the next two episodes of Showtime's Masters of Horror anthology series to be marked for DVD release. They'll be released on May the 15th.

The two-disc set will feature extensive bonus materials.

Incident On And Off A Mountain Road has featurettes titled Predators and Prey - An Interview With Don Coscarelli; Behind The Scenes: The Making of...; On Set Interview segments with John De Santis, Ethan Embry; audio commentary by Coscarelli and writer Stephen Romano; trailers; stills gallery; Coscarelli Bio; Screenplay (DVD-ROM) and Screensaver (DVD-ROM).

Chocolate will have two featurettes (The Sweet Taste of Fear - An Interview With Mick Garris and Working With A Master: Mick Garris); On Set Interview segments with Henry Thomas and Lucie Laurier; Behind The Scenes: The Making of Chocolate; audio commentary with Mick Garris and DVD Producer Perry Martin, Fantasy Film Festival; Mick Garris interviews Roger Corman; trailers; stills gallery; Garris Bio; Screenplay (DVD-ROM) and Screensaver (DVD-ROM).

The episodes will be presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) format, with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio tracks.

AUDIO BOOK NEWS

BBC Audiobooks will release Dirk Maggs' play Superman - Doomsday & Beyond on CD on May the 1st, to tie in with the release of Warner Bros' new Superman movie, Superman Returns, which will be released in June.

The two-CD set marks the play's CD debut.  The discs run for two and a half hours, and have an RRP of £12.99.


3rd April 2006

ZETA MINOR NEWS

We have a new review for you today: of of 2 Entertain's forthcoming Bird of Prey DVD set, which features both seasons of the early 80s BBC techno-thriller. The set is released next week. Click on the sleeve image, right, or here to go to the review.


Last week's Zeta Minor News can be viewed here.

Previous Zeta Minor News entries can viewed here.


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