The Cars That Ate Paris 4K (1974) and The Plumber (1979)

“Impressive Package of Early Peter Weir Works”

The BFI are releasing, in a limited edition two disc set, with either one 4K UHD disc and one Blu-ray or two Blu-rays depending on your preference, director Peter Weir’s first feature film, along with his later THE PLUMBER (1979) featured on the second disc.

Disc One: The Cars That Ate Paris (1974)

The residents of the small Australian town of Paris have developed a novel way of sustaining their town: they set traps for people driving past so that they crash. The townsfolk strip the cars and, depending on their mental capacity after the accident, the victims are either absorbed into the community or become fodder for the local doctor’s brain surgery experiments, with most of them ending up as long-term psychiatric patients on Bellevue Ward at the Paris hospital. Arthur (Terry Camileri) is ‘lucky’ enough to be forced into joining a community where the bizarre annual local ball and the frustrations of the local youth in their souped-up salvaged cars are all going to collide.

THE CARS THAT ATE PARIS is a strange film that’s difficult to categorise. Featured in Philip Strick’s book Science Fiction Movies it isn’t SF really, unless you imagine we are seeing the behaviour of a small town just a few years into the future. Indeed, you can see a young George Miller relishing the mad vehicles and car crashes and saying “See? THAT is what I want for MAD MAX”.

It’s not really a horror film either, although it certainly has horror elements and that is how its director describes it in the extras. However, it’s also easy to see Peter Weir’s Monty Python-style group TV origins as well, and sometimes the film feels a little like a bizarre French black comedy (perhaps the name Paris isn’t so random after all). Castwise there will be some familiar faces for film fans including John Meillon from CROCODILE DUNDEE as the town mayor who runs everything, Bruce Spence from MAD MAX 2 and a hundred other highly recognisable character roles as one of the locals and Kevin Miles, veteran of literally hundreds of episodes of Australian television, as the doctor. 

Extras include a commentary track by Australian film expert Dr Stephen Morgan who, amongst other things, helpfully contextualises the film in relation to the state of small Australian towns at the time. Morgan also contributes an essay to  the accompanying booklet. There are two Weir-directed short films: 3 to Go: Michael is a 31 minute 1970 black and white piece commenting on contemporary youth, whereas Incredible Floridas is a 12 minute 1972 documentary short (12 minutes) about the avant composer Richard Meale and his piece of music which was inspired by the writings of poet Arthur Rimbaud.

There is a new interview with star Terry Camilleri (21 minutes), and archival ones with producer Hal McElroy (6 minutes), a 2003 interview with Weir about the film (11 minutes) and a longer career-length Guardian interview from 1985 which runs 70 minutes and is provided as an extra commentary track. There’s also a 15 minute video essay about the film from Chris O’Neill and the usual image gallery and trailer.

Disc Two: The Plumber (1979)

While her husband Brian (Robert Coleby from The Young Doctors and Chopper Squad) is busy engaged in medical research at the university, Jill Cowper (Judy Morris who also co-wrote the animated penguin movie HAPPY FEET) stays in their campus accommodation studying for her masters degree in anthropology. Her peaceful days are interrupted by Max the plumber (Iver Kants) who proceeds to turn the family bathroom, and thereafter her life, completely upside down, and not in a comedy way. Eventually things get so bad that Jill has to resort to desperate measures to get rid of a man who may be simply a ‘harmless character’ or a gaslighting maniac.

THE PLUMBER feels like an Australian take on the works of British writer Alan Ayckbourn, taking what initially seems to be a simple domestic situation and quickly escalating it to unbearable intensity. Weir keeps everything tight and at 77 minutes the tension never drops. It’s a fascinating well-made and well acted piece that Weir made after his classic THE LAST WAVE (1977).

Extras on disc two include a chatty commentary between Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson, an eight minute interview with Weir about the film from 2008 and, perhaps most interesting of all, Peter Weir’s Dream Within a Dream, a 19 minute installation piece that uses alternate takes and unused footage from his classic PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK alongside a new narration Weird recorded for it. Some of the footage looks a little rough but this is still essential viewing for PICNIC obsessives and a very nice addition to what is a very well put together set of early Weir works. Finally the set also comes with a booklet which features writing on both films as well as a Weir interview. 

Peter Weir’s THE CARS THAT ATE PARIS in 4K and THE PLUMBER in 1080p are being released by the BFI in a limited edition two disc set (one UHD & one Blu-ray or two Blu-rays), as well as on Apple TV and Amazon Prime on Monday 25th May 2026

The Devil’s Candy 4K (2015)

Writer-director Sean Byrne’s THE DEVIL’S CANDY, the film he made in between THE LOVED ONES (2009) and DANGEROUS ANIMALS (2025), is getting the special treatment from Second Sight with another of their limited edition 4K UHD / Blu-ray combo releases complete with art cards, 120 page book and slipcase, as well as getting standard separate 4K UHD and Blu-ray releases.

Extremely metal artist Jesse (Ethan Embry) moves with his equally heavy metal-loving teenaged daughter Zooey (Kiara Glasco) and his not quite as heavy metal-loving wife Astrid (Shiri Appleby from TV’s Roswell) to a big old farmhouse in the country. They get it cheap because two people died there, but who they really need to be concerned about is the still-living son of the family, Ray (Pruitt Taylor Vince), now holed up in a motel but still affected by a voice in his head that keeps telling him to abduct Zooey.

Meanwhile Ethan’s wall-sized art is progressing well, even if it isn’t the butterflies a bank has commissioned him for and is instead a hellscape filled with the heads of screaming children. Ethan frequently loses track of time, failing to pick his daughter up from school in the process, and it’s on one of those occasions that Ray is able to grab her.

THE DEVIL’S CANDY runs a sweet 79 minutes and leaves you with enough to think about as to what is actually going on, how much it has to do with the house itself that Ethan has moved into, and whether or not it will continue after the film is over. Byrne cleverly manages a fine, claustrophobic atmosphere even with the frequent use of wide shots, and Ethan’s artwork is a delicious confection of horrors in itself.

Second Sight’s 4K release comes with a Sean Byrne commentary and there are new interviews with Byrne (33 minutes), Embry (20 minutes), cinematographer Simon Chapman (25 minutes), editor Andy Canny (23 minutes) and production designer Thomas S Hammock (16 minutes), giving us nearly two hours’ worth of interviews in all. There’s also a short piece on the VFX work (3 minutes) and two Sean Byrne short films. Of most interest to horror fans will be Advantage Satan (11 minutes) about a couple trapped in a tennis court at night, and you also get Work? (11 minutes) which is about a sex worker. 

Sean Byrne’s THE DEVIL’S CANDY is out from Second Sight in a limited edition 4K UHD / Blu-ray set as well as standard edition separate UHD and Blu-ray releases on Monday 25th May 2026

We Bury the Dead (2025)

Signature Entertainment are releasing writer-director Zak Hilditch's latest post-apocalyptic drama (he made the emotional endurance test that was 2013's THESE FINAL HOURS) on Digital, with a DVD and Blu-ray release to follow. The apocalypse in question is rather more low-key this time around and those who have seen THESE FINAL HOURS will probably be relieved to hear WE BURY THE DEAD isn't quite the hammer blow to the senses that Mr Hilditch's previous genre effort was.

America makes a terrible mistake (likely to be a recurring theme in cinema for the next few years) and a pulse bomb is let off by accident, killing everyone on the Australian island state of Tasmania. There's no radiation pollution so once the fires have settled down teams of volunteers are sent in to clear up the dead. Before they do so, however, they are warned by the military that some of the victims are waking up and aren't at all like they were.

Ava (Daisy Ridley), an American, comes over as part of the volunteer corps with the intention of looking for her husband who was at a convention in Hobart. She teams up with Clay (Brendon Thwaites) and together they make their way south into territory that is yet to be cleared by the authorities as safe to enter.

Whereas THESE FINAL HOURS was an unflinching, brutally cynical under-the-microscope examination of humankind faced with certain death after a worldwide disaster, WE BURY THE DEAD comes across more like one of zombie genre progenitor George A Romero's more thoughtful, equally concerned movies like THE CRAZIES (1973). Once our civilians are clearing up bodies it becomes clear that the military can't be trusted and neither, necessarily, is Ava who is harbouring her own secrets.

There are zombies, but only very seldom are they encountered so anyone expecting an undead gorefest will be disappointed. Once Ridley and Thwaites are on the road the film suffers from slowing the action down a bit too much when it should perhaps be developing into more of a road movie, but for a low-key, restrained piece this isn't bad at all. Here's the trailer:

Zak Hilditch's WE BURY THE DEAD is out from Signature Entertainment on Digital  HD on Monday 2nd February 2026 and Blu-ray and DVD on Monday 16th February 2026

Talk to Me (2023)

The impressive directorial debut of brothers Daniel Philippou and Michael Philippou gets the whistles and bells Second Sight treatment with both limited and standard edition 4K and Blu-ray releases.

Mia (Sophie Wilde) is still getting over the death by accidental overdose (or was it?) of her mother. She attends a get together where the central 'party piece' is a severed, mummified hand. If you hold the hand and say the movie's title it allows you to communicate with a dead person's spirit. You can also allow the spirit to possess you, but it must not be for any longer than 90 seconds or something terrible will happen. Needless to say, at a similar party the following night something terrible does happen which is Mia's fault, and all because she finds herself (or believes she finds herself) talking to her dead mother's spirit. 

If you've not see TALK TO ME that's all you really need to know, suffice to say that this is a film that explores some dark themes and concepts and has an ending that will leave you with plenty of questions. Some of those questions are answered to an extent by the wealth of extras that have been prepared for this special edition. 

'Social Media and Self Harm', the use of mobile phones to allow teenagers to distance themselves from the real world when events become too much for them, and how you can never trust that who you are talking to (on social media or in the spirit world) are all touched on in extras that include a commentary track by the directors and a nearly hour-long interview with them that also deals with the nuts and bolts of getting the film made. 

A second commentary track from Emma Westwood and Sally Christie provides an academic viewpoint. Both come across as chatty and personable, making this worth a listen as well. There are also new interviews with DP Aaron McLisky (25 minutes) and producer Samantha Jennings (19 minutes). I'll admit I had missed that this was the same Australian film company that made THE BABADOOK. Kat Ellinger gives us a 17 minute visual essay on 'Contagion in Cinema' dealing with both the literary and cinematic antecedents of TALK TO ME's themes of addiction and self harm.

Archival extras include two behind the scenes featurettes (16 minutes in all) and six minutes of deleted scenes, plus there are 23 minutes of cast interviews and 15 minutes of crew interviews. 

All the above are included in both the standard and limited editions. Exclusive to the limited edition is a 120 page book with new writing on the film, six art cards and a rigid slipcase.

TALK TO ME is out from Second Sight on Monday 23rd June 2026 in both a limited edition containing both 4KUHD and Blu-ray, and separate 4KUHD and Blu-ray editions

Dangerous Animals (2025)

"Seriously Decent Serial Killer Horror"

Vertigo have secured a UK cinema release for the new film from Tasmanian director Sean Byrne (2009's THE LOVED ONES), which had its world premiere at the Cannes directors' fortnight.

Tucker (Jai Courtney) makes a living taking tourists on cage diving trips to swim with sharks. Those tourists who he's happy won't be missed never get to leave. Because Tucker is a serial killer and his method of despatch is the school of sharks that regularly collect around his boat because they recognise it as a food source. He also films his victims' deaths and keeps the videotapes in a special cabinet in his boat.

When surfing free spirit Zephyr (Hassie Harrison from YELLOWSTONE) becomes Tucker's latest prisoner he soon finds he has his hands full with someone who can pick locks and is more than prepared to fight back. Prospective boyfriend Moses (Josh Heuston) is also looking for her and thus the scene is set for a final act showdown.

THE LOVED ONES was a seriously twisted Australian horror offering and fans of that will be pleased to hear that, while it's a little bit lighter in tone, DANGEROUS ANIMALS is a just as good serial killer piece set mainly at sea with only a couple of characters. To that end it could be considered part of a tiny subgenre of thrillers that would include Phillip Noyce's DEAD CALM (1989) and Rob Grant's HARPOON (2019). Courtney makes for a good, unsympathetic villain and both Harrison and Heuston are likeable leads. Byrne gets the balance just right between character development and the scary stuff, with the result being one of the better horror movies of the year. Here's the trailer:

Sean Byrne's DANGEROUS ANIMALS is getting a UK cinema release from Vertigo on Friday 6th June 2025

Birdeater (2025)

"Quite the Dread-Filled Trip"

The nightmarish (and occasionally Lynchian) feature debut of Australian writer-directors Jack Clark and Jim Weir is getting a cinema and digital release from Blue Finch.

Louis and Irene are planning on getting married. Louis organises a bucks' party with a crucial difference: Irene is invited and so is one of her female friends. They travel to a remote crumbling building in the country to spend one day and one night partying. Once there alcohol is consumed, drugs are taken, and the party games commence.

And it's when these games commence that things start to get weird, as it turns out Louis and Irene's relationship isn't as straightforward as their friends think, although we, the viewer, have been party to few strange goings-on earlier that are explained as the film progresses.

It's a bit difficult to say any more about BIRDEATER without spoiling it. At the beginning we glimpse an out of focus poster for Ted Kotcheff's 1971 WAKE IN FRIGHT, and, like that film, BIRDEATER is to an extent about toxic Australian masculinity. But there's a lot more complex stuff about interpersonal relationships in here as well, suffice to say that Clark and Weir's film is deserving of the accolades and prizes that have already been bestowed upon it. If you fancy a decent slice of Australian dread then BIRDEATER is just the ticket. Here's a trailer:

BIRDEATER is out from Blue Finch Releasing in cinemas on Friday 9th May 2025 and on digital on Monday 26th May 2025