Category: DVD release

Umbrella Boxsets: Michael Haneke & New Extremity Collection Vol. 2

It’s been a banner year for Umbrella Entertainment – including a brand refresh – and they haven’t even announced the more exciting and ambitious project I worked on with them in 2025 yet.

First, wrap your peepers around these…

The Michael Haneke Collection – 15 films, (almost) a complete collection, but most importantly including his early career TV work.

Here I am, top and tailing Haneke’s career with a co-commentary on the devastating German language BENNY’S VIDEO (1992) with Stephen A. Russell, and similarly on the French language HAPPY END (2017). There’s a story behind our collaboration on HAPPY END, so make sure you hit me up for it next time we’re sharing anecdotes or happy hour drinks together.

Following the success of their first collection, Umbrella have come out guns blazing with New Extremity Collection Volume 2 – a take-no-prisoners assault on the senses and sensibility, as interpreted by France’s boldest, most audacious filmmakers.

I write an essay on Marina De Van’s IN MY SKIN (2002) where I put forward my own translation of this interpretative dance of the body and soul. It’s quite the amazing morsel.

Make your way to the Umbrella Entertainment website to order…

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DANZA MACABRA Vol. 4: The Italian Gothic Collection

My idea of a good night: Curling up on the couch with four Italian Gothic horror films – TERROR -CREATURES FROM THE GRAVE (1965), NIGHT OF THE DAMNED (1971), THE DEVIL’s WEDDING NIGHT (1973) and BABA YAGA (1973) – with a bottle of Chianti, an open mind and a mutually inclined friend.

The fact that I provided the audio commentary for BABA YAGA with the incomparable Sally Christie is a bonus.

There’s so much on this Severin boxset, lovingly curated by Kat Ellinger, that I can’t do justice to the contents in this brief announcement. But I will post a quote from Nerdist below, and encourage you to seek out the other three volumes of the DANZA MACABRA collection. They don’t make ”em like these anymore.

“Sure, Gothic horror has castles, crypts and candelabras, but the genre – especially in Italy – includes lots of other delicious, devilish delicacies.These fascinating and varied films have seen a home media renaissance in the past few years, and Severin Films has been at the forefront.”
Nerdist

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SCANNERS Limited Edition

There’s no denying my immense love for David Cronenberg’s filmography—I even wrote a book about THE FLY (1986)—so I wanted to do his work and myself proud in writing a piece for this gorgeous Second Sight release of SCANNERS (1981).

I’m pretty proud of the essay angle I came up with. You’ll my find it, ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head: Scanners, Psychosis and Trepanation’ in the infinitely sniffable booklet that comes with this limited edition.

Hold onto your heads, folks…

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DIRECTED BY… ROMAN POLANSKI (1992-1999) boxset release

First project with Imprint Films, and it’s for this stunning boxset of 3 x films directed by Roman Polanski during the 1990s.

My mission: Join Paul Anthony Nelson from Cinema Viscera on the audio commentary for BITTER MOON (1992) and reposition it as the masterpiece it truly is. Did we succeed? I guess that’s up to the listeners, although my love of this nutty film has only been cemented by getting up-close and personal with it 30 years later. You’re invited to lean into the melodrama and sail its choppy seas with us.

We’re in good company. The other films in the boxset are DEATH AND THE MAIDEN (1994) with commentary by Josh Nelson, and THE NINTH GATE with commentary by Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson, and visual essay by my devilish colleague, Sally Christie. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the goodies you’ll find in this triple-decker release.

Flinch if you hear the name ‘Polanski’? I’ve written about that too.

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LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL Collector’s Edition

When contemplating inclusions for my 2023 Top Ten list, LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL (directed by Colin and Cameron Cairnes) was a shoo-in. So, it took little hesitation on my behalf to say ‘yes!’ to writing an essay for the booklet of this Limited Edition release from the most excellent people at Second Sight.

I provide an ‘orstralyan’ perspective on TV sensationalism in the 1970s, ‘WELCOME TO OUR LIVING ROOM: TV Sensationalism and the Scandals That Spawned a Horror Movie’, and I think/hope it came up a treat.


Special features for this release include a new audio commentary from the powerhouse duo of Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson, which is worth the purchase price alone.

You could do worse than adding this treat to your physical media collection.

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GOODNIGHT MOMMY (aka. Ich Seh, Ich Seh) Collector’s Edition

Umbrella Entertainment’s Collector’s Collection of GOODNIGHT MOMMY (2014) = scrumptious. Such beautiful cover design, including the ‘roaches! Lucky me for writing the booklet essay on twins and trauma for this limited, numbered release.

If you haven’t seen the original Austrian version of this most excellent psychological horror, made by aunt and nephew filmmaking duo, Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, don’t walk – run!

If you want to take ownership of an even more special experience of the film, this is the way to do it.

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THE PRIMEVALS Collector’s Edition

She who hesitates is lost. In this case, I’ve sat on my hands way too long in announcing my involvement in Umbrella Entertainment’s Collector Edition of the famously unfinished stop-motion epic THE PRIMEVALS that it has sold out!

Sincere apologies to anyone who may be first hearing about this now 😭

I wrote about the enduring appeal of stop-motion animation in the booklet, with some contributions from Melbourne stop-motion extraordinaire Isabel Peppard (make sure you check out her handiwork if you’re not already familiar with her).

And if you’re new to THE PRIMEVALS, here’s the pitch:

A film 45 years in the making from the late David Allen, no monster or special-effects fan will want to miss THE PRIMEVALS. THE PRIMEVALS is a glorious tribute to classic animation, with a true sense of adventure that reminds the audience why movies are magical.

Unfinished and left on the cutting-room floor for three decades, the epic sci-fi adventure THE PRIMEVALS, from the infamous Full Moon Features, has been resurrected for the screen with TWO cuts of the film and a FULL feature-length documentary!

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HOUSEBOAT HORROR booklet essay

It’s not often that the words ‘beautiful’ and ‘gorgeous’ are associated with the Australian ‘classic’ HOUSEBOAT HORROR but, by golly by gosh, this blu-ray release of the film by Umbrella Entertainment is a work of art in itself.

I was asked to contribute a biography on the film’s co-creator, Ollie Martin, to the booklet, and I can confidently say this is a one-of-a-kind piece, presenting information about Ollie that is not widely available in this digital age. I’d like to thank Gavin Wood, Ray Boseley, Clayton Jacobson and Ollie’s family, Elle and Boyd, for feeding me with the information that has brought this story to life. I really hope that Ollie is smiling down on us from the heavens.

Take note that this is a limited edition release of HOUSEBOAT HORROR, so get your skates on, if you want to bag a copy. It may already be gone. For my international friends, I urge you to jump on this opportunity to snag yourself a little bit of Australian film memorabilia that’s sure to leave you slack-jawed.

PS. It’s worth the purchase for the ‘Banned in Queensland’ pin alone.

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New DVD commentary: SEARCH FOR BEAUTY (1934)

In recording the audio commentary for 1934’s SEARCH FOR BEAUTY with Lee Gambin, I’m pleased to have achieved another first: the oldest film I’ve had the pleasure to reanimate on Blu-ray. And it certainly served us with lashings of fodder to discuss – from overt sexual ogling (from the women!) to bare behinds, a barely legal Ida Lupino, ample lashings of queerness and even fascist regalia!

Get your copy directly from Kino Lorber (or from Cinemaniacs, if you’re in Australia) and get to hear how this pre-code film reflected the momentum of the modern fitness movement, ‘the body beautiful’, and why Buster Crabbe’s ‘pecs’ were hot box office property.

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TAKE BACK THE NIGHT visual essay

This one took awhile to wing its way to Australia, but I’m pleased to have now seen the final edit of my first visual essay about monsters – and breathe a sigh of relief (it came up quite well).

Anyone who has read my Top 8 horror films of 2022 will note that TAKE BACK THE NIGHT made the grade, so it’s extra thrilling to have contributed to this release from Arrow Films, produced by the always astounding Alexandra Heller-Nicholas.

Should you see it too? Yes, you should.

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