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Last Tango In Paris was one of the provocative, controversial, and talked-about films of the 1970’s. With its mix of troubling sexual content & off-kilter, at times meta drama commenting on death & formal relationships. All wrapped up in arty/ at times uneven plotting, taking in powerful/ unpredictable performances from its two leads. Its plot regards the sexual liaisons between two strangers, forty-five-year-old American hotelier Paul (Marlon Brando) and twenty-something French woman Jeanne (Maria Schneider). Here from 88 Films is a dual UHD/ Blu Ray release of the film. It features a 4k scan, a new commentary track, and a mix of new/ archive extras.
Released first in 1976 as an episode of the BBC series Play for Today, Nuts in May was the breakthrough film for English screenwriter/director Mike Leigh. It’s a dark comedy drama/tragicomedy about a city-dwelling middle-class husband and wife going camping in the countryside. The film blends cringe inducing/ awkward humour, glum travel logging, with plenty of pathos. It not only helped launch Leigh as a household name but also became generally influential to the likes of The Office, Ben Wheatley's Sight Seers & much more. Here from BFI is a recent Blu-ray release, taking in a new 4k scan and a decent enough selection of mainly archive extras.
From the early 2000s, Cradle Of Fear is an extremely gory and fairly sleazy SOV anthology film from the UK, trying to recapture the spirit of the likes of the films put out in the 70/early 80’s by Amicus and Tigon. It features Dani Filth (of Cradle of Filth), as our sinister-yet- largely silent bridging character. It’s certainly got a lot of impressive/ gruelling gore, but the surrounding acting/ production is decidedly mixed/ cheap in places, so you have to ready/ open to this. Here from Unearthed, those uncovers of extreme/ brutal film is a double region A Blu-ray of the film- the first disc features the film & extras, and on the second a selection of short films by the same director.
Matching the upheaval and frantic political climate of their city, Minneapolis death merchants Nothingness, churn forth devastating brutality that is as complex and beautiful as it is punishing. Their third full-length, Godslaughter, continues the band's discourse in dissonance and "digressive death," pushing their envelope further and building a following along the way. Wonderfully captured by Adam Tucker, Godslaughter is a great look at the inner workings of Nothingness, their ethos, power, and drive to capture their "digressive" brand of death metal.
The bing, at its most basic, is a big heap of something. The term belongs to a particular place, both etymologically and historically. In the Central Belt between Edinburgh and Glasgow, there are massive bings, composed of the detritus of a now-extinct (at least in this area) oil industry in which the energy resource was extracted through shale mining. Today, the landscape is populated by these dregs of yesteryear, which have since become indistinguishable from the surrounding topography, bearing a fresh covering of grass and earth, effectively camouflaging the industrial genesis of these beasts.
From the mighty fine folks at SRS Cinema, here’s another weird ‘n’ wacky slice of low-budget sharkploitation…and boy, this one goes there, in its all-out WTH-ness. We have a size-shifting, talking, at points walking shark who likes making it with the ladies, a demented female cult that follows said shark- with loads of blood, limb-munching, and some awkward humour- all captured in lo-fi, shot-on-video form
Hit The Pulse To Purge…is a CD anthology looking at the output of Portion Control between the years1983 & 1986. The South London industrial electronic/ EBM project is seen as being most influential, going on to inspire/ inform the likes of Front Line Assembly, Skinny Puppy, Orbital and Nine-Inch Nails.
Here’s a CD compilation bringing together three mid-to-late ’60s horror soundtracks by Elisabeth Luthyens-Britain’s first female feature film composer. The twenty-four-track collection brings together score cues ( along with atmospheric sound effects from the films) and a trailer for each film, with a total disc runtime of seventy five minutes.
First released in 2021 as a digital-only release, Ritual was the 11th album from Polish industrial/rhythmic noise project Wieloryb. Here’s a CD reissue of the album, which adds three bonus tracks to make a fifteen-track release.
Contemplator Caeli is a five-track collaboration between these two respected German dark ambient projects. It was first released in 2020 as a vinyl-only release; here, from Poland’s Zoharum is a CD or tape release of the album- I’m reviewing a CD promo of the release. The reissue has been remastered by James Plotkin.
The Fires (2025) is an Icelandic disaster thriller directed by Ugla Hauksdóttir (Alien: Earth), who co-wrote the screenplay with Markus Englmair (Blood and Milk), based on the novel by Sigríður Hagalín Björnsdóttir. The film stars Vigdís Hrefna Pálsdóttir (The Valhalla Murders) as volcanologist Anna, alongside Pilou Asbæk (Game of Thrones), Joi Johannsson (True Detective), Sigurður Sigurjónsson (Rams), and Ingvar E. Sigurdsson (The Northman). After 800 years of dormancy, Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula erupts without warning, forcing Anna to navigate both a volcanic catastrophe and the chaos threatening her country
First released in 1998 on Repulse Records, Destined To Fail was the lone studio album from Massachusetts death metal band Scattered Remnants. The eight-track album offered up a brutal, bleakly simplistic at times grooved take on DM form, with some effective jarring tonal shifts, and a few more creative/ experiential touches.
Black Rabbit, White Rabbit is a 2025 Tajikistan/UAE production that blurs the lines between drama, mystery and dark comedy, with light touches of fantasy and playful surrealism. It regards three interwoven stories: a middle-aged prop master concerned about a gun, an aspiring actress trying to sneak on set. And a bandaged woman who was involved in a car crash, has a bossy/ unpredictable husband, and believes she has the power to move things with her mind. The film's a wonderfully intriguing/unpredictable/ at times mind-bending ride- all wrapped in a meta bow, so you're often unsure what is real & what is not. Here from Deaf Crocodile is a Region 1 Blu-ray release of the film, taking in a commentary track, visual essay, short films by the director, etc.
Dummy is the 100th film directed by American low-budget horror/ sci fi director Mark Polonia. It regards a troubled/ once famous Ventriloquist- played by a long-term collaborator Jeff Kirkendall- who takes his life, transfers his angst and anger into his dummy Chucklehead. The small-town set picture blends elements of supernatural drama/ light thriller, slasher, and low-key comedy.Here from SRS Cinema is a DVD release of this 2026 film, taking in the always worthy director's commentary from Mark, a pitch video, trailer and trailer reel.
The rather curiously named Lemming Project were a German Death Metal band from the early 90s. They released two albums on the legendary Noise label, which served up a crusty- yet progressive sound that brought in industrial, discordant, and grimly experimental elements. Here from Cherry Red’s Dissonance Productions is a two-set bringing together the band's two albums on Noise- 1991’s Extinction and 1992’s Hate & Despise.
Light Again is a two-CD set bringing together the two albums released by talented British Indian fusion guitarist Gary Boyle in the late 1970s. He’s best known for setting up the four-piece fusion/ jazz rock band Isotope- though he also did session work with the likes of Keith Tippett, Mike Gibbs, Mike Westbrook, Stomu Yamashta, Bert Jansch and Norma Winstone.
Here’s a 2025 psychological thriller from director Jennifer E. Montgomery, who co-wrote the script with cinematographer Andrew Davis, This Tempting Madness is a committed take on a familiar tale of paranoia, mistrust and a breakdown of reality.
The Slasher genre’s true home is the USA, as most of its key developments have occurred there, along with many of its most notable films & franchises. But other countries have also made stabs at the genre too, and I’d say Norway's Cold Prey trilogy is one of the most known/ effective of these. Here from Second Sight is a classy/ definitive reissue of the trilogy. The three-disc Blu-ray set comes presented in a rigid slipcase with new artwork by James Neal. It features a one hundred and twenty-one-page book with new essays by Matt Donato, JA Kerswell, Justin LaLiberty, Paul Lé’s Ariel Power-Schaub and Nathaniel Thompson. As well as five collectors' art cards. Each film gets a new commentary track, and a decent selection of extras too.
Life is full of repeating patterns and cycles, be they from the Earth and Moon, our natural beings, or those we create in our day-to-day. Extend this out, and one can see a city come to life, following its own patterns and cycles, built upon thousands (or more) simultaneously running and moving cycles of its denizens. Nonturn takes these repetitive city cycles, repurposes their sounds, and structures them into a new, 96 BPM cycle for Repeating Town. Capturing the machines, footsteps, sounds, and rhythms of Koenji, Tokyo, Nonturn builds an intriguing new city life via experimental electronic music. Rearranging the recorded sounds to form something musical from nothing, this dada-esque reconstruction makes art from the repetitive chaos of the city routine
Enlightened Depths is a one-hour slab of rolling bass- boil and tumbling static-based wall noise from this French noise maker. The digital release appears on Poland’s Gates Of Hypos.
Gritcore is a new two-track HNW release from Norfolk Trotter- aka Norwich’s Michael Ridge (Acerbitas, Zebra Mu, Dial-Up Summer Breeze). Each ‘wall’ runs between thirty and forty minutes, and has been created by playing sandpaper on a modified turntable.
Now here's a ‘wall’ noise track that manages to blend panic and brooding dread rather well. The around-hour-long creation finds this Stuttgart, Germany-based project serving up something fairly interesting in the wall noise form
Here’s an electro-choppy, grain-juddering, and at points texturally unpredictable example of the wall-noise form from Cincinnati's Whore’s Breath. The single track slides in at just under the forty-five-minute mark and is proof once again why this is one of the most consistent, at times experimental projects operating within walling today.
Mata Hari is the first release I’ve heard in a little while from this Everett, Washington-based wall noise project. Though going from their Bandcamp page, they have been fairly active of late. The digital release features a single twenty-five-minute track- bringing together a galloping low end with crispy clappings ‘n’ cluttering clusters of mids.