Mother Father Sister Brother Frank (2024)

 

"Jolly Black Comedy Fun"

Writer-Director Caden Douglas' black comedy is getting a Digital release from Miracle Media.

The four members of the Jennings family are settling down to their regular Sunday night dinner together, and it turns out they all have secrets. Mother (Mindy Cohn from Apple+ TV show Palm Royale) and Father (Enrico Colantoni, still probably best known to genre fans for playing Mathesar in 1999's GALAXY QUEST) are reluctant to reveal theirs, although it's essential they do so.

Meanwhile brother Jim (Iain Stewart) is about to get divorced, while his already divorced sister Jolene (Melanie Leishman from 2014's musical STAGE FRIGHT) is pregnant. Then Uncle Frank (Juan Chioran) turns up and it quickly becomes obvious that something needs to be done about him.

A quirky, gory comedy that feels a bit like if the director of WHY WON'T YOU JUST DIE decided to make a feature length episode of sitcom Friday Night Dinners, MOTHER FATHER SISTER BROTHER FRANK starts quietly but director Douglas skilfully allows things to get riotously out of hand as incident is piled upon incident. It's a deliciously silly film centred around murder and the subsequent disposal of the body, and if you're in the right mood you'll find plenty to smile at. Here's a trailer:

Caden Douglas' MOTHER FATHER SISTER BROTHER FRANK is out on Digital from Miracle Media on Monday 27th January 2025 

Harpoon (2019)

"Tightly plotted, splendidly made suspense thriller"

Three friends on a boat trip encounter deception, disaster and death in Rob Grant's tightly plotted HARPOON, now getting a Blu-ray release from Arrow.

Richard (Christopher Gray) is rich and has a terrible temper. Sasha (Emily Tyra) is Richard's long-suffering nurse girlfriend. Jonah (Munro Chambers) is Richard's much more poorly off best friend. When Richard intercepts a text message from Sasha to Jonah he immediately jumps to the conclusion that she and Jonah are having an affair and as a consequence beats Jonah up. But no! They were just discussing the purchase of Richard's birthday present - a harpoon gun. 

By way of an apology, Richard takes them for a day trip on his boat, where unfortunately for all three it turns out Jonah and Sasha have actually been seeing each other. Much smashing up of radio equipment and throwing off the boat of useful things later, and the three find themselves stranded at sea in a boat that doesn't work with only half a small pot of drinking water and a couple of mustard sachets for food. Richard is convinced someone will pick them up. No-one does.

A three hander that never lets up for its 82-minute running time, HARPOON starts off deceptively cocksure, with a voice-over narration that could have overbalanced everything but which you realise as you go along is just right. Thinking you're in for a shouty comedy means that when events take a darker turn they're all the more effective, and the director's original pitch of 'Seinfeld meets KNIFE IN THE WATER' is a perfect description.

Arrow's Blu-ray comes packed with extras. It premiered at London's Frightfest last year and you can relive the experience with the intro and Q&A that took place there (and you get to hear my voice at one point - now you want the disc, don't you?).

There are two commentary tracks. The first is with writer-director Grant and his two producers. Grant ingests magic mushrooms and goes solo for the 'Director's Psychedelic Commentary' which, considering that, is remarkably focused and far less deranged than you might be expecting.

You also get a 30 minute making of, deleted scenes, B-roll footage (with commentary), Frightfest interviews, a trailer and reversible sleeve. The first pressing comes with a booklet with new writing on the film from Amy Simmons. HARPOON was one of the best movies of last year (it's on the HMC Top 20) and is fully deserving of this extras-packed presentation. 

Rob Grant's HARPOON is out on Region B Blu-ray from Arrow on Monday 27th January 2020

Rabid (1977)

"Cronenberg 101"

101 Films have brought out David Cronenberg's second feature-length body horror picture on Blu-ray in a new edition that features a host of new special features. 

When Rose (Marilyn Chambers) is injured in a motorcycle accident her only chance for surviving lies with the only nearby hospital. Unfortunately it's the David Cronenberg Keloid Plastic Surgery Clinic for Wildly New and Untested Techniques That Could Prove Disastrous. Rose's intestines have been mangled by the motorbike and skin grafts are taken from her thighs, denatured and implanted within her in an attempt to encourage them to grow as new bowel tissue. None of this is very obvious, by the way, and even on the commentary it's not clear but in numerous interviews with Cronenberg he has stated this was the intention. Unfortunately the denatured tissue decides to do its own thing and causes a blood sucking proboscis (the original title was MOSQUITO) to develop in Rose's armpit. Rose becomes a science-fiction vampire. All she can eat is blood, and her activities cause the unwanted side effect of the spreading of a virulent form of rabies. She escapes the clinic, hitchhikes to Montreal, and the scene is set for a plague scenario that expands upon Cronenberg's previous SHIVERS.

  Maybe I'm getting old, but RABID really doesn't feel that dated. Of course the clothes and hairstyles are period mid 1970s, but Cronenberg's approach to the science gives it a timelessness that means RABID is still a very worthwhile viewing experience. It's also a grim and humourless one, and it's a testament to Cronenberg's skills that a scene in which Dr Keloid looks at porn star Marilyn Chambers' breasts and says 'The grafts appear to have healed well' isn't in the slightest bit funny. Even now, after VIDEODROME, CRASH and other assaults on the senses, RABID still boasts arguably the most depressing and heart-breaking ending of any Cronenberg film. If you've seen it you know what I mean, and if you haven't why are you reading this when you could be watching this unique classic of science fiction-horror?

RABID was previously released on Blu-ray four years ago by Arrow Films. That edition is now out of print with copies going for the usual silly money online. But worry not because you have no need of that edition now there's the new 101 Films package. New to this are a feature length commentary track from the Soska sisters (whose remake of the film just premiered at Frightfest). There's also a feature-length documentary on Canadian horror cinema from Xavier Mendik, plus a new booklet. 

Carried over from the previous Arrow edition are two commentary tracks. The first is from David Cronenberg who neither introduces himself nor gives us much idea when this is from, but I'm guessing it's the commentary from the previous US region 1 release. The track is what you might expect from Cronenberg, and it's actually rather pleasing to see how seriously he still considers the film. There's also a separate commentary from William Beard, author of The Artist as Monster: The Cinema of David Cronenberg. There's also the archive interview with Cronenberg and interviews with producer Ivan Reitman and co-producer Don Carmody. You also get the 1999 episode of The Directors TV series that concentrated on Cronenberg and featuring interview with Holly Hunter, Marilyn Chambers and others.

Extra to the Arrow version is a commentary track from author Jill Nelson and Marilyn Chambers 'personal appearance manager' Ken Leicht, as well as an interview with RABID actress Susan Roman. 

The first 3000 copies of this new 2K scan come with a slipcase and the booklet. An excellent package. 

David Cronenberg's RABID is out on Blu-ray in a 2 Disc set from 101 Films now