|
CONCLAVE GETS PAPAL BOOST
RECORD STORE DAY BREAKS, ER, RECORDS
PRESS COVERAGE AS NEW VIDEO STORE OPENS…
…AND READERS REMINISCE
SARANDOS SAYS CINEMAS ARE OUTDATED
DYLAN, BRUTALIST LEAD BIG RELEASE MONDAY
SAMURAI COMES JUST IN TIME FOR THIRD WINDOW…
…WITH TOKYO POP TO FOLLOW
STARS COME OUT FOR MOGWAI
DIG RETURNS AND LOOKS FINE AND DANDY…
…AND LENNON’S ON SALE AGAIN
SECOND RUN LIGHTS UP OIL LAMPS
SHAMELESS’ FLIES ON TO THE SHELVES…
…WITH MORE SPAGHETTI TOO
EUREKA UNVEILS JULY TITLES
MUBI HITS THE PEAKS
TERRIFIER GOES ACADEMIC AS UHD SET LANDS
SPOTTED OUT AND ABOUT
SUPPORT THE RAYGUN
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK 
If you can't read this newsletter or see the ads, please click here.
It was a good week for… Everyone's thinking about Conclave and the Pope's death gives the film an unlikely boost…
It was a bad week for… Not looking for sympathy, but the newsletter would have been a few days earlier, had we not ended up spending 30 hours in A&E with an emergency kidney stones op to boot…
We have been watching… The BFI's new Flipside release Eclipse, Arrow's new edition of The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three and Tom Hardy in Havoc on Netflix (all listed on our Letterboxd, we;re down as theraygun, by the way)…
You’ll probably have noticed by now, so this is hardly breaking news, but Pope Francis died at Vatican City on Easter Monday, April 21, and his sudden passing led to numerous online discussions, chats, mentions and memes involving recent awards-friendly papal drama Conclave. The film charts the selection of a new Pope and the politics behind it, making it hugely relevant to what was about to happen following the death of the head of Catholic Church. So scores of consumers headed to both digital and physical media to view the film. The Official Charts listings for the the days after the Pope’s passing highlight its performance – and the organisation expects an even better one when its next Official Film Chart lands this week. It was back up from 22 to 16 in the film chart; a re-entry at number 23 in the download listing; back up to number two in the DVD chart from number 11; a 28 place climb from 33 to number five in the Blu-ray chart; from number 10 to third position in the Official Video Chart and up from the same position to number two in the films on disc listing. Martin Talbot, CEO of the Official Charts (who compile the UK’s EST/VOD/physical sales data for films) who said: “As the nation has been mourning the death of Pope Francis, it has also been keen to understand the process of appointing his successor – the result being a big surge of sales of Conclave over the past week. The numbers are still being collated, but we have rarely seen such a rapid growth in sales and the movie is expected to move quickly up the Official Film Chart when it is unveiled later this week.” The film is available on premium vod and via Amazon in the US, where the death of Francis had a similar effect. Expect it to continue too – the Vatican has just announced that conclave for the next pope begins on May 7, giving more than a week for the film to remain in people’s minds.
Mentioned here briefly last week, but more on Record Store Day and its continued positive effect on music sales, as trade organisation and RSD organiser ERA announced that it was the largest and most successful outing in the 18-year history of the event promoting vinyl sales and indie stores. With 278 stores taking part, it helped propel total vinyl album sales in indie stores for the week of the event to their highest total for 30 years. Vinyl album sales in indie stores were up 270 per cent on the weekly average for 2025 so far, while this year’s RSD was 18 per cent up on the 2024 event. ERA ceo Kim Bayley said: “An initiative designed primarily to support UK indie store culture has become a multi-faceted success, not only delivering on its original objectives, but also giving a boost to the UK’s hard-pressed High Street and generating incremental promotion and revenue for artists and labels.” Darren Draper of Southampton’s Powerhouse Music said: ”Record Store Day totally exceeded all of our expectations. From start to finish the vibe was electric. Being a new store, the event really helped to put us on the map, with new customers on the day already returning. It was an absolute pleasure to be involved and witness people's reactions when they picked up those records they were so excited about.” Russell Elder of Monorail, Glasgow, said: “Record Store Day always feels like a celebratory, worthwhile culmination of the work that goes in. We see early birds of all ages and musical backgrounds out for those treasured limited editions of their favourite artists and the excitement is palpable. For people with a special connection to music, it's just a brilliant time of year.”
“Death to streamers! Physical media forever!” Since The Raygun launched 15 years ago, we’ve written about video rental chains collapsing (we once popped out to the shops and came back to find Blockbuster in the UK had gone under), pop-up video ships to promote launches (Netflix and 20th Century Fox among them, and, most notably, Momentum’s rental store for the launch of V/H/S) and regularly updated from some of the country’s last remaining rental outlets (our chums at Snips Video on the Wirral and 20th Century Flicks in Bristol), so it’s good to finally be able to report on the opening of a brand new video store. Most of our readers won’t be able to pop along to Night Owl Video https://nightowlvid.com/, seeing as it’s in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. The store is currently sales only (including an online option), but may look to expand into rental in the future; it stocks numerous formats, from VHS and LaserDisc through to Blu-ray and 4K UHD by way of DVD, with vinyl soundtracks, books, ephemera and memorabilia also on the shelves. It’s been launched by former Troma staffers Aaron Hamel and Jess Mills and is inspired by legendary New York hotspot Kim’s Videos (we still cherish the Clash and Beastie Boys DVD and VHS bootlegs we picked up in there) and it will be, the duo said, “a gathering place for film fanatics, celluloid crackpots, gore hounds, cinephiles, Letterboxd patrons, and everyone in between to gather and worship at the altar of the mighty motion picture”. It will, of course, be stocking plenty of product from boutique imprints and UK-founded operations such as Arrow, Powerhouse, Radiance and 88 Films, and plans in-store activity and events with labels and talent. Hamel said: “Film fans are sick of paying for fractured streaming services and losing access to their favourite movies. We’re in another golden age of killer home media releases from independent distributors, and it’s driving a renewed passion for physical media. Night Owl Video will be the East Coast haven for cinephiles who have never stopped supporting independent film.” It’s already earned plenty of publicity – you can see more here and here.
Meanwhile, the news about a new video store prompted The Guardian to run a further piece on video stores and readers’ memories and thoughts about renting videos. And what it does illustrate is just how much the public fondly remembers the concept of going to a shop, actually browsing the shelves and making a choice – or not, as the feature reveals, many are still annoyed that the titles they wanted were rarely available. Here’s one, which shows just how ingrained the concept is and the truly formative influence that renting videos had. “Traipsing along to the pokey video store with my dad midweek and mustering up the courage to ascend the dim staircase to the upstairs horror section where, by the stark illumination of a single lightbulb, my young eyes widened to the lurid cover artwork of X-rated nasties in chunky VHS cases, which were all adorned with the sticky thumbprints of a hundred different households as in those days the stores didn’t have generic rental cases for customers to take home. One of my happiest memories, and an experience that in no small part contributed to both my adult love of the extreme horror genre and physical media in general. I can still smell the musty carpet to this day.” You can see the full feature here.
Much has been made this week of Netflix supremo Ted Sarandos’ comments about the film-going side of the business, the theatrical experience and its place in the world. Speaking at a Time 100 event in New York, Sarandos stated that his company was, in fact, “saving Hollywood”, but, as widely reported, said going to see a film in a cinema was an old-fashioned concept. “Netflix is a very consumer-focused company,” he said “We really do care that we deliver the program to you in a way you want to watch it.” Quoting flat box office figures, the Netflix supremo added: “What does that say? What is the consumer trying to tell us? That they’d like to watch movies at home, thank you. The studios and the theatres are duking it out over trying to preserve this 45-day window that is completely out of step with the consumer experience of just loving a movie.” Acknowledging that Netflix would still release films at cinemas, for awards contention, he continued, stating that the business was in a period of transition: “We have these bespoke releases … we have to do some qualification for the Oscars. They have to run for a little bit, it helps with the press cycle a little bit. But I’ve tried to encourage every director we work with to focus on the consumer, focus on the fans. Make a movie that they love, and they will reward you. Folks grew up thinking, ‘I want to make movies on a gigantic screen and have strangers watch them… in the theatre for two months and people cry and sold-out shows … It’s an outdated concept. [Directors making films] for movie theatres, for the communal experience… [is] an outmoded idea. I think it is — for most people, not for everybody. If you’re fortunate to live enough in Manhattan, and you can walk to a multiplex and see a movie, that’s fantastic. Most of the country cannot.” Despite saying he loved cinemas, Sarandos noted he wasn’t too fussed whether cinemas survived or not, concluding he’d be more bothered if “people stopped making great movies”.
It’s hefty new release Monday on April 28 and, following on from awards-friendly tale Conclave mentioned above, two of this season’s big awards contenders land in stores today. A Complete Unknown was perhaps unfairly treated by voters in the final rounds after scoring big in nominations – it picked up eight nods for the Oscars, but left empty-handed. Not one to denigrate the eventual winners, but its nominations, which included Best Picture, director for James Mangold, actor for Timothee Chalomet and two supporting actor nods, surely deserved more – our first thought on leaving the film on its successful theatrical release (almost £11.5 million at UK cinemas as part of a total global haul of just under $140 million) was that Chalomet was a shoo-in for the acting statue. Given the devotion of Dylan fans and the older, still-buying-physical-media demographic, Monday’s release, via Elevation, has buckets of potential. Also landing is the film starring the actor who beat Chalomet to the acting Academy Award in the shape of The Brutalist and its star Adrien Brody, who earned his second Oscar for his role as an architect struggling in post-war America. It picked up three gongs on the night after earning 10 nominations and, given its lengthy running time, this release, through Spirit from its deal with Universal, should pull in plenty more consumers who may not have fancied sitting in a cinema for the bum-numbing three-and-a-half-hour running time. More on both when we’ve had a look at all the extras…
More new releases, and Third Window has new titles dropping on consecutive Mondays, with A Samurai in Time landing on April 28 and Tokyo Pop a week later. The former is, as the independent Asian cinema specialist notes, a “bona fide phenomenon” in its native Japan. The film was put together by amateur filmmaker Junichi Yasuda, rice farmer and ramen restaurateur by day and, for this period drama, film producer, financier, scriptwriter, director, cinematographer editor, lighting man and VFX expert. He assembled the film with a meagre crew of 10, the film opened on one screen last year, but took the market by storm – ending up playing at more than 400 cinemas and being nominated for a raft of Japanese academy awards (seven in all, winning big in the all-important Best Picture category), and outgrossing most of last year’s big budget Hollywood blockbusters. Comment came from Third Window’s Adam Torel who said: “A Samurai in Time was made with the director attempting to emulate the success of another Third Window film: One Cut of the Dead. While its story is different, the feeling behind both, of low-budget films whose message both in front and behind the camera is about a love of filmmaking, is the same. I hope that people who enjoyed One Cut of the Dead can also enjoy A Samurai in Time in a similar way.”
And then a week later, there’s Tokyo Pop, a Japanese and American co-production about a wanna-be new wave songstress who, after failing to hot the bit time in New York decides to have a bash at pop stardom in Japan. With opening credits and a logo designed by graffiti artist Keith Haring and some wonderful footage from the centre of Japanese youth culture Yoyogi Park, the film, originally released in 1988, is a marvellous time capsule. What’s more, extras include a cracking commentary from director Fran Rubel Kuzui, who talks at length about the film, how it disappeared after its initial release, tragic star arrive Hamilton and real-life Japanese pop star Yutaka Tadokoro, whose band the gaijin singer joins. The May 5 bow for the film is being aired at cool cinemas around the UK; it played in London on April 25, Manchester’s Cultplex on April 30 and Ipswich two days ahead of its May 5 release. Comment again came from Third Window’s Adam Torel who said: “I think if you love Japanese culture, especially its music and cinema, then you're sure to fall in love with Tokyo Pop. After 35-plus years lost in the wilderness, it's fantastic to finally be able to watch this film at home and it really looks fantastic with its new master!” Tokyo Pop Ia also covered in the next issue of Film Stories, as part of the home entertainment reviews from The Raygun’s Tim Murray, alongside a raft of other titles and lengthy features on the likes of Slade In Flame, due from the BFI, and Laurel and Hardy and silent cinema on Blu-ray).
Another title we’ve reviewed at length for Film Stories is Lightbulb’s excellent Mogwai documentary, If The Stars Had a Sound, which charts the band’s storied career, their devoted fans and their lockdown album As The Love Continues. The two-disc Blu-ray SKU features a limited set of art cards and, in something that will appeal to their faithful army of acolytes, a second disc that contains the band performing the album live in full in their native Glasgow. It’s a fascinating look at the band, who seem like a thoroughly decent bunch, as devoted as their fans are to their trademark post-rock, quiet-loud-quiet sound and it offers real insight into their creative process. Comment came from Lightbulb’s Matthew Kreuzer who said: “We are delighted with how the Blu-ray packaging has turned out and the pre-orders it has generated and are looking forward to the documentary charting next Sunday. Big thanks go to Bobby Dhani and the team at Elevation. The fans will love this minimalist digipak design and the exclusive elements we’ve secured from the band, including the much sought after live performance of As The Love Continues at Tramway, Glasgow and the twelve never seen before photo ‘art-cards’ of the band.”
The grandaddy of modern rock docs and one that ushered the genre into the 21st century is, of course, Ondi Timoner’s Dig! and the film returned to cinemas earlier this year in a new, expanded and updated form, Dig! XX, via Dogwoof. And after its successful one-night-only theatrical release in March, the title lands in stores on Monday April 28in a new Blu-ray edition. The film, to the uninitiated, looks at two bands, the Dandy Warhols and Brian Jonestown Massacre, who started making waves in the 1990s with their neo-psychedelic sounds. The kindred spirits were pals and toured together, but a combination of success and drugs, among other things, saw them fall out with each other (and themselves), and while the Dandys went on to become chart stars, the other band began falling apart. The new expanded and remastered edition takes the story up to the present day, as well as offering original, unseen footage, and also sees additional narration from the Brian Jonestown Massacre’s mercurial tambourine player Joel Gion, who recently penned a bestseller about his time in the band. Or, as director Timoner told the Guardian recently in some of the hefty PR achieved by the theatrical release: “The new cut – Dig! XX – brings the story up to date. Them becoming friends again and playing together is the last thing you’d imagine happening at the end of the original film.” The Blu-ray features both versions of the film, with additional extras made around the time of the first Dig! and a wealth of new material too.
Talking of Dogwoof, we mentioned it here briefly last week, but just released at cinemas by the company is another outstanding music documentary, One To One: John & Yoko, which charts the couple’s early times in New York following the split of the Beatles, alongside a benefit concert they played for a special school in America. The concert itself is exhilarating, while Beatles and Lennon watchers will glean much from the detailed, rarely-seen archive footage, including extensive phone calls recorded by the singer (he figured his phones were being tapped by the FBI, so decided to record all his conversations himself too). The film has taken more than £200,000 at UK cinemas and, given the ongoing and never-ending thirst for Beatles and Lennon products (not least the recently announced quartet of biopics on the way), this carries a strong home entertainment appeal. Don’t just take our word for it, as Wendy Ide in the Observer noted: “Released from his Beatles responsibilities, Lennon apparently made the most of the newfound freedom. The excitement and enthusiasm in his voice as he bounces ideas for music and activism during a phone call is infectious and vital. Ultimately, One to One might not reveal a huge amount that’s new about Lennon, but it makes him feel bracingly alive in a way few other documentaries have managed.”
Also out on Monday is a new release from Second Run, in the shape of Oil Lamps, another Czech film to join its impressive catalogue. The company’s Chris Barwick said: “Oil Lamps is the fourth film by the late, great Czechoslovak filmmaker Juraj Herz that we’ve released here at Second Run after The Cremator, Morgiana and Beauty and the Beast – and not counting his contribution to the portmanteau feature Pearls of the Deep. These are among our most enduringly popular titles due to their ‘horror/arthouse’ crossover appeal. Oil Lamps was perhaps Herz’s most prestigious production – a lavish period drama based on a classic Czech novel - but it’s no less shocking or disturbing. Central to it are two amazing performances from Petr Cepek (The Valley of the Bees), and the fabulous Iva Janzurova (who would go onto play the twisted twin sisters in Herz’s Morgiana). Great advance reviews, and presented from a beautiful 4K restoration, we hope this will prove just as popular as our other Herz titles.”
Also in store today (we said it was busy) are a brace of new releases from Shameless and sister imprint Cult Films. From the former comes a slice of classic giallo from Dario Argento, Four Flies On Grey Velvet. Newly restored in 4k, it’s available in 4k UHD and standard Blu-ray SKUs, all in Shameless’ trademark yellow packaging, with a booklet, poster, art cards and disc extras in the numbered edition. Shameless’ Garwin Spencer Davison said: “This rarely available, newly 4K restored, HDR UHD features not only an interview with the Master of Horror Dario Argento himself, but also a unique interview with Michael Brando who played the lead - while also becoming the director’s alter-ego (like Mastroianni to Fellini), which is unique in Argento’s entire work and provides an insight in the ‘madness’ of Argento like never before!” From Cult Films on the same day comes spaghetti western Keoma, directed by original Inglorious Bastards helmer (and a huge influence on Tarantino) Enzo G. Castellari and starring Franco Nero. Davison said: “Keoma is stuffed with interviews - two with Enzo G Castellari himself also our own original presentation by Alex Cox (made in the style of his seminal Moviedrome).” Next up beyond this from Shameless is more Italian horror in the shape of Umberto Lenzi’s Oasis Of Fear and Lucio Fulci’s "really hard-hitting” Contraband.
New release announcements and Eureka has unveiled its July slate across its assorted brands and imprints. As ever, the company’s national account manager Marcus Garwood talked us through the titles due. He said: “A Tattooed Dragon, a Great Bear and two slices of 4k goodness make up our July picnic of delights here at Eureka Entertainment. Eureka Classics first as we present Lo Wei's 1973 martial arts gem The Tattooed Dragon. The film stars Jimmy Wang Yu (The One-Armed Swordsman), Sylvia Chang (Slaughter in San Francisco), and James Tien (Shaolin Boxers). The Tattooed Dragon is a showcase for Jimmy Wang Yu following his move from Shaw Brothers to Golden Harvest in the early 1970s, boasting cinematography by Cheung Yiu-tsou (Police Story) and stunts coordinated by Simon Hsu (The Flying Guillotine).The Tattooed Dragon is a must-see showcase of vintage kung fu cinema. We are extremely proud to be making it available for the first time on Blu-ray anywhere in the world from a new 2k restoration. The release features a limited edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Sean Longmore, plus a limited edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing on The Tattooed Dragon by film critic and writer James Oliver. Masters Of Cinema next as we continue our series of DEFA film releases, this time with East Germany's take on the Western genre. The Sons Of Great Bear wasn’t just designed to compete with West German genre films – it was also intended as a pointed corrective to the American frontier myth, pitting its Native American protagonists against violent white settlers in a battle for survival. Followed by the likes of Trail of the Falcon, Ulzana, Blood Brothers and Severino, The Sons of Great Bear made a star of Gojko Mitić and launched an entire series of Westerns at DEFA, known in East Germany as Indianerfilme and historically nicknamed Red Westerns due to their socialist politics. The release features a limited edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Colin Murdoch, plus a limited edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing on The Sons of Great Bear and DEFA’s approach to the Western by Mariana Ivanova, academic director of the DEFA Film Library. Disc extras are include a new audio commentary by Western scholar Jenny Barrett; World Wide West, a new discussion of The Sons of Great Bear in a global context with Austin Fisher, author of Radical Frontiers in the Spaghetti Western and a new video essay on the depiction of Native American life in The Sons of Great Bear by Lee Broughton, author of The Euro-Western. It’s available for the first time ever in the UK from an astonishing 2k restoration by the DEFA Foundation. Finally, after extremely well received collectors Blu-ray editions, we are now excited to be bringing 4k Ultra HD goodness via Masters Of Cinema to both James Whale's 1932 horror The Old Dark House, starring Boris Karloff, and Fred Zinnemann's influential and iconic Western High Noon, starring Gary Cooper in an Oscar-winning performance). Both of these Limited Edition 4k Ultra HD releases will feature a limited edition slipcase, alongside a limited edition collectors’ booklet.”
The tragic passing of David Lynch, a director who, in our humble opinion, changed everything, and was a strong video proposition across the board, from early grainy VHS hits such as Eraserhead, through the rental success of Blue Velvet and, mainstream success scored with DVDs of the likes of Mulholland Drive and, latterly, on Blu-ray with lavish box sets and Universal’s sumptuous Twin Peaks package, has led to a further reappraisal of his works, as noted here just after his death, when we discussed the success of his titles across digital and physical media. And recent weeks has seen retrospectives at theatrical chains such as Picturehouse and indie cinemas too (we caught Wild At Heart on the big screen with a sold out audience recently). And now the latest Lynch revival arrives as MUBI further “marks the expansion of its curated film and cinema catalogue as a home to unique and innovative television and serialisations” by announcing it will offer the first two seasons of seminal series Twin Peaks on its curated subscription vod service from June 13. MUBI’s VP global head of programming Katharina Feistauer said: “Launching Twin Peaks is a dream for MUBI, bringing one of the most loved and discussed series in TV history to the platform. Whilst this launch has been months in the making, the sad news of David Lynch's death only a few weeks ago makes this opportunity to show his iconic work even more special. We are excited for the Lynch fans in our membership to revisit the episodes comprehensively, as well creating an opportunity for new audiences to discover it for the first time."
It’s become a worldwide phenomenon across three feature films, a hugely successful home entertainment and latterly theatrical franchise – and been one of Signature’s biggest success stories ever – and now the Terrifier films will be the subject of a first ever conference devoted to the three horror movies. The Terrifier conference takes place on May 2 and 3, the first day online, the second at at the prestigious University of Warwick, and will, Signature said, “examine the blood-soaked franchise’s presentation of aesthetics, neurodivergence, women, subverted tropes - and the silent menace of horror icon Art, the killer clown”. Scholars from around the globe will be discussing the film and its impact and importance. And, of course, Signature will be there. As the company noted: “Signature Entertainment's own head of publicity Marek Pugh and head of social Jonny Bunning will be in attendance to conduct a special seminar on how their innovative marketing and social media approaches allowed Terrifier 3 to become their best-selling box-office hit of £3.4 million across the UK and Ireland.” The conference comes just ahead of the release of terrified: The Bloody Duo, a UHD boxset containing the first two films in the franchise.
SPOTTED OUT AND ABOUT
 Still performing strongly at the box office, we've been trying to get a picture of this while going past on the bus for some time now, but here it is – the massive Minecraft 3D pig over in west London…
 The Raygun, is 15 years old and continues to report on the home entertainment industry and its ever-changing face. To ensure we can continue to bring you the latest news, opinion and analysis from a business we love and care passionately about, you can support our independent journalism by donating to us via Ko-fi… Thank you.
"
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
New from A24…
Predator returns…
Hoping for more Cramps records in the new series…
Home premiere today (April 28), other formats in June…
THE OBLIGATORY GDPR BIT
You're on The Raygun newsletter mailing list, which has been running for eight years, because you requested it, have been recommended to us or sent us emails. You can unsubscribe at any time, if you're daft, using the link elsewhere or by emailing as below. But of course, you don't want to do that, do you? We don't share your information with anyone else, we don't like cookies and we're the good guys. We care because you do… To subscribe to The Raygun newsletter, please email info@theraygun.co.uk
with subscribe in the subject matter
To unsubscribe, email info@theraygun.co.uk with unsubscribe in the subject
line
For editorial or advertising queries, contact tim@theraygun.co.uk
The Raygun,
31 Corrib Court,
49 Crothall Close,
London N13 4BG
|
 | Powered by YMLP.com | |
| | ||