News

Raro Video will be releasing the second volume of Fernando Di Leo’s crime films in a three piece set on Blu-Ray or DVD including the films Shoot First, Die Later, Kidnap Syndicate and Naked Violence. For those of you unfamiliar with Di Leo’s films, I have included the trailers & synopses below the official Press Release info. For fans of Reservoir Dogs or just crime & heist films in general, you will find some delight in these Di Leo films. Bravo to Raro for giving these films the TLC that was needed.

Los Angeles - (May 30, 2013) – Hailed by cinephiles for expertly restoring rare films by influential filmmakers and publishing them with compelling extras, Italian film label Raro Video announces the company will debut a second volume of the critically acclaimed and commercially successful films of the “Master of mafia mayhem” Fernando Di Leo.

Outstanding in bold, intricately plotted, ultra-violent stories about pimps and petty gangsters,...

Since January 27, Geoff Manaugh of the widely acclaimed Bldgblog has been hosting Breaking Out and Breaking In: A Distributed Film Fest of Prison Breaks and Bank Heists, "an exploration of the use and misuse of space in prison escapes and bank heists, where architecture is the obstacle between you and what you're looking for." The idea is to have anyone and everyone watch the films, wherever we may be, and then discuss them at Bldgblog: "It's a 'distributed' film fest; there is no central venue, just a curated list of films and a list of days on which to watch them. There's no set time, no geographic exclusion, and no limit to the food breaks or repeated scenes you might require. And it all leads up to a public discussion at Studio-x NYC on Tuesday, April 24." Discussions opened so far: Renoir's Grand Illusion (1937), Bresson's A Man Escaped (1956), John Sturges...

The wonderfully ornate title of Francesco Barilli’s The Perfume Of The Lady In Black refers to something simultaneously specific—an image of the heroine’s late mother, reflected in her bedroom mirror—and intangible, a scent that’s pungent and evocative, but nonetheless a vapor. That’s the film in a nutshell: Hard to comprehend in its particulars—what’s real and what unreal, how the past and present relate to each other—yet suggestive of a nightmare that’s partly a manifestation of a woman’s madness and partly justified paranoia about the people around her. Devotees of ...

There’s something skin-crawling about horror when it has real vibrancy, when ghastly acts of the body and mind take place in living, energetic color. Oftentimes, classic Italian frights were saturated in a wide palette, where even the blood is bright yet simultaneously off-putting. Raro Video’s recent DVD release of Francesco Barilli’s The Perfume Of The Lady In Black showcases nothing short of a soaring example of such, both stunning to watch and eerie when considered.

Raro Video is coming out of the gate very strong.  After their initial Us offerings of Fellini's The Clowns, and the Fernando Dileo Crime Films box set, they've got another winner in The Perfume of the Lady in Black.  The film has never been legitimately available stateside, but this release is well worth the wait.  Francesco Barilli's directorial debut is a film very much of its time, and upon watching it, we are transported to 1974, both through the styles in the film and the style of the film, which is very much in keeping with the classic giallo aesthetic.The story revolved around Sylvia, played to manic perfection by Mimsy Farmer, who seems to be having a bit of a breakdown.  She is a successful...

Last Tuesday, the South By Southwest Film Festival was in full swing and demanded our attention, which is why we were unable to provide you some picks of the week (although we assume you survived). But this week’s offerings feel a little bit like a festival of sorts, thanks to the remarkable variety of titles being offered by studios and distributors, including new releases like Clint Eastwood’s latest, “Hereafter,” low-budget fare like “Jackson County Jail,” animated programming like “The Venture Bros.,...

A look at what's new on DVD today:

"Meskada" (2010)

Directed by Josh Sternfeld

Released by Anchor Bay Entertainment

When this thriller premiered at Tribeca this past spring, Alison Willmore wrote, "the second film from writer/director Josh Sternfeld ("Winter Solstice") has ambitions reaching beyond being a straightforward police procedural," though critics, including her, were mixed about the end result. Nick Stahl and Rachel Nichols star as small-town sleuths who investigate a botched home invasion case that claims the life of a young child in an affluent community and enflames class divisions when the main suspects are from the poorer community nearby. Grace Gummer, Meryl Streep's second daughter to go into the family profession, makes her film debut.

"Anywhere USA" (2008)

Directed by Chusy Haney-Jardine

Released by Cinevolve Studios

Winner of a Spirit of Independence prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, Chusy Haney-Jardine's collection of three comic vignettes involves a...