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Chicago – The spooky season is also the season for favorite horror films, and the Comfort Film series of Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood has three to put on the viewing list, curated by Chicago programmer Stephanie Sack. Under the theme “The Art of Murder,” scheduled for October 2nd is “Deadly Sweet,” October 9th is “Blind Beast” and October 16th concludes the program with “Smile Before Death.” For information about the films and tickets, click Art Of Murder.

Comfort Film presents screenings of local, national, and international films every Wednesday. The film programmers closely collaborate with a variety of local cinephile organizations and film festivals to bring debuts by independent filmmakers, niche titles from obscure archives, experimental film making, and more.

’Deadly Sweet,’ part of the ‘The Art of Murder’ at Comfort Films

Photo credit: Comfort Film

Stephanie Sack is a film programmer (“La Gialloholique”) and partner in “Barge Lady Cruises,...

There are a lot of go-to platforms for seasonal streaming but do not forget what you presume are outliers to the spooky season cause.   Take Mubi for instance. Regarded as a home for the arthouse and the autuer, Mubi is stacked to the rafters with quality programming. They also know that their suscribers like to get their spook on so they've curated a handful of terror-ific titles for the month of October to scratch that spooky itch.    Mubi's seasonal programming will include two films from Masumura Yasuzo, Blind Beast and Irezumi - Spider Tattoo. Mubi has also put together a collection of film from female filmmakers, including Censor and The Love Witch. On the doc side they also have Rodney Ascher's A Glitch...

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In the course of the 1960s, much of what was long overdue after the end of World War II took shape in the form of questioning authority, institutions and indeed social norms. Within the culture of several nations, this revolution (if you want to call it that) expressed itself in pieces of art which could no longer be categorized within the traditional patterns, resulting in many artists feeling a kind of uncprecedented freedom. It was only a brief period, but it surely had its consequences, as we can see in the highly influential cinema produced by Art Theatre Guild and its many directors. One of them, Yasuzo Masumura directed over 40 films during his career and was once regarded as one of the most promising talents of this new generation of filmmakers, even though many of his works remain underappreciated (and under-seen) in his home country and beyond its borders, for example,...

Blind Beast.You could start cradled like the kidnapped woman in the undulating foam curves that resemble a gigantic female torso in Blind Beast (1969). You could make your approach via the swing of a Super-8 camera towards the steps of a courthouse at the beginning of A Wife Confesses (1961). You could drift into A Cheerful Girl (1957) through the kitchen window, onto a table laden with groceries and bottles of fluorescent orange soda-pop. You could inject yourself like morphine into Red Angel (1966), seep like body ink into the skin of Spider Tattoo (1966), or slide into the fevered bloodstream of All Mixed Up (1964) like powdered poison swallowed from a kite-paper pouch. Whether you arrive on the tip of a blade or the cusp of a kiss, there is no wrong place to start with Yasuzo Masumura, the postwar Japanese director whose astonishing accomplishment should by rights have him mentioned in the same...

The 57th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will focus on independent Iranian cinema this year, with a selection of recent works by directors working outside the Tehran regime.

The nine features, all made in the past four years, and most from young directors at the start of their careers, “offer an insightful testimony of the burning creativity of Iran’s artists in the face of their challenging reality,” the festival said in a statement, calling the films examples of “urgent, unheard, voices who palpably bear a spiritual connection to the previous generations of their country’s greats [and who] tackle the current reality [in Iran] with a remarkable sensitivity and great inventiveness.”

The selection includes two features from this year: Negin Ahmadi’s Dream’s Gate and Zapata from director Danesh Eqbashavi; two from 2022: Nader Saeivar’s No End and The Locust, directed by Faeze Azizkhani; Bahram Ark’s The Skin and Vahid Vakilifar’s K9,...

The 57th edition of Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival, which runs June 30-July 8, has planned a retrospective program focused on Iranian cinema with a selection of films made in the past four years. The festival will also celebrate the work of Japanese filmmaker Yasuzo Masumura.

Commenting on the Iranian cinema program, the festival said in a statement: “Collectively these works offer an insightful testimony of the burning creativity of Iran’s artists in face of the challenging reality. Nine mostly young filmmakers – urgent, unheard voices – who palpably bear a spiritual connection to the previous generations of their country’s greats, tackle the current reality with a remarkable sensitivity and great inventiveness.

“Melancholic dramas, comedies, war movies, sci-fis…films about love, and films within films. Together, these nine unique and intensely personal testimonies form a multi-dimensional mosaic that reflect the collective spirit and openness of Iran’s young cinema of today.

Yasuzo Masumura amazes us with yet another sensual stunner. This period way-of-all-flesh tale is almost a horror film, but the supernatural shivers are far outpaced by the daily Evil that Men Do. Japanese superstar Ayako Wakao blazes across the screen as a self-decreed avenger of the female sex, who allows men to destroy themselves and uses them to destroy each other. The bloody killings orbit around the desire to possess the irresistible Spider Woman, an in an ‘annihilating noir.’ The screenplay is by the equally famous Kaneto Shindo, from a Japanese ‘amor fou’ novel by Junichiro Tanizaki.

Irezumi

Blu-ray

Arrow Video

1966 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 86 min. / Street Date June 22, 2021 / Spider Tattoo / Available from Amazon / 39.95

Starring: Ayako Wakao, Akio Hasegawa, Gaku Yamamoto, Kei Sato, Fujio Suga, Reiko Fujiwara, Asao Uchida, Kikue Mori.

Cinematography: Kazuo Miyagawa

Production Designers: Hiroaki Fujii, Shiro Kaga

Art Director: Yoshinobu Nishioka

Film Editor: Kanji Suganuma

Original Music: Hikaru...

Production designer Lisa Soper compares working on "Peacemaker" to a roller coaster: It's big and fast, sometimes daunting, but an absolute thrill. Once she got off the roller coaster, as she put it, she just wanted to go back on it again and again. For the production designer, the series was pure forward-momentum, as well as "incredibly, incredibly rewarding." 

Whether creating a high-tech lab out of Ikea items, telling great artists to do a bad job, or taking a hammer to sets, Soper more than enjoyed creating this world with James Gunn and all involved. "At the end of the day, you...

The post Peacemaker Production Designer Lisa Soper on The Opening Credits and That Warehouse Set Piece [Interview] appeared first on /Film.

Yasuzo Masumura’s searing outrage didn’t abate in the 1960s; this unflinching view of the WW2 Japanese counterpart of a ‘M.A.S.H.’ unit cuts straight to the ugly truth of war, as the unending destruction of human bodies and minds. The horrors of ad hoc amputations match the behaviors of the demoralized patients. Masumura’s top muse Ayako Wakao is the traumatized battlefield nurse who becomes intimate with a surgeon who can only cope with his work by becoming a morphine addict. Excellent analysis by Rony Rayns and David Desser brings us closer to the director’s obsession with disturbing truths.

Red Angel

Blu-ray

Arrow Video

1966 / B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 95 min. / Akai tenshi / Street Date January 18, 2022 / Available from / 39.95

Starring: Ayako Wakao, Shinsuke Ashida, Yusuke Kawazu, Ranko Akagi, Daihachi Kita, Takashi Nakamura.

Cinematography: Setsuo Kobayashi

Production Designer: Shigeo Mano

Art Director: Tomoo Shimogawara

Film Editor: Tatsuji Nakashizu

Original...

Kevin Bacon is getting a mentor in Psych vet Corbin Bernsen, who will recur during Season 3 of Showtime’s City on a Hill, our sister site Deadline reports.

Bernsen will play Sinclair Dryden, a former FBI agent and mentor to Bacon’s character Jackie. He is described as an old money Beacon Hill socialite who hides a darker disposition underneath his charm. Bernsen most recently appeared on The Resident and is slated to reprise his role as Arnie Becker in ABC’s L.A. Law revival pilot.

More from TVLineCan Supergirl Spin Off Lena? Is Liv Wise to 'Rollisi'? Did Legacies Forget Marcel?...

Exclusive: Emmy nominee Corbin Bersen (L.A. Law), Joanne Kelly (Warehouse 13) and Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters) are set to recur opposite Kevin Bacon and Aldis Hodge in Showtime’s Boston crime drama City On a Hill. Additionally, we’ll be seeing more of Mark Ryder in Season 3, as his role as Father Doyle will be expanded. Season 3 is set to premiere in 2022.

Season three brings us to Boston’s high society Beacon Hill. Following his dismissal from the FBI, Jackie Rohr (Bacon) lands a lavish new gig running security for a wealthy family. Life is good until secrets begin to unravel. When an investigation opens – implicating local and federal authorities – assistant district attorney Decourcy Ward (Hodge) sees an opportunity to finally rip out the machinery perpetuating a broken system.

Bernsen will play Sinclair Dryden, an old money Beacon Hill socialite and former outstanding FBI agent who has been a mentor to...

Exclusive: Fox Entertainment’s free streaming service, Tubi, has set Camilla Belle to star in the romantic comedy feature 10 Truths About Love.

She’ll play Carina, a relationship columnist for whom, despite her professional expertise, love does not come easy. The movie also stars David Lafontaine (Molly’s Game) as Liam, Belle’s love interest.

“We are delighted to have Camilla Belle star in our Tubi Original Movie for Valentine’s Day,” said Adam Lewinson, Chief Content Officer at Tubi. “Camilla’s charismatic performance is perfectly paired with the charming screenplay for 10 Truths About Love, and we’re so pleased that this movie will anchor our Valentine’s programming event with thousands of bingeable romantic titles.”

10 Truths About Love also stars Sebastian Marziali (Party Mamas), David Keeley (Warehouse 13), Kelsey Verzotti (Top 10 Dorothy), Paula Rivera (Impulse), Maya Cieszynska (And He Was Gone), Karn Kalra (The Dictator’s Playbook), Robert Ifedi (Self Made:...

Hello, dear readers! We’re back with a brand new assortment of horror and sci-fi home media releases this week, and as we creep closer and closer towards Halloween, there are definitely a handful of titles coming out on Tuesday that would be fun to check out as you get ready for the spooky season. Arrow Video is keeping busy with a handful of releases, including a 4K version of Dario Argento’s The Cat O’ Nine Tails and Blind Beast. And speaking of Argento, Blue Underground is showing Two Evil Eyes - his collaboration with George A. Romero - some love with their 4K presentation of the film. Larry Cohen’s A Return to Salem’s Lot is finally getting a Blu-ray, and if you missed the latest Conjuring film in theaters earlier this year, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is headed home on multiple formats this week as well.

Yasuzo Masumura takes horror into kinky territory in an Edogawa Ranpo shocker about obsession, namely, mixing sex and death. Michio is the tactile-fixated blind sculptor who imprisons model Aki to serve as an ultimate objectified ‘body’ — but she eventually joins him, taking the lead on a delirious suicidal journey of discovery. Probably once considered pornographic, the 1969 show is fairly tame by today’s Nc-17 standards, and not as radically violent or abhorrent as one might expect — but it’s still loaded with weird, Dangerous Ideas. The sets are not to be believed — the unhinged artist lives in a surreal workspace surrounded by hundreds of oversized sculptures of body parts.

The Blind Beast (Moju)

Blu-ray

Arrow Academy

1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 84 min. / Street Date August 24, 2021 / Moju; Warehouse / 39.95

Starring: Eiji Funakoshi, Mako Midori, Noriko Sengoku.

Cinematography: Setsuo Kobayashi

Art Director: Shigeo Muno

Original Music: Hikaru Hayashi

Written by Yoshio Shirasaka from a novel...

With offerings like Death Line and Stage Fright in their August lineup, Arrow's service continues to be a go-to destination for lovers of cult cinema:

"London, UK - Arrow Video is excited to announce the August 2021 lineup of their new subscription-based Arrow platform, available to subscribers in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland.

The August lineup leads with the Arrow release of Noel David Taylor's bizarre filmmaking comedy Man Under Table, available exclusively to subscribers in the US, Canada, the UK and newly launched in Ireland. The feature debut from writer/director Noel David Taylor, who also stars as Guy, a beleaguered, hilariously obnoxious scriptwriter navigating his way through the chaotic indie film scene in a dystopian Los Angeles, Man Under Table world premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival and screened at the Chattanooga Film Festival. The film will debut on Arrow August 2nd.

Man Under Table...

Yasuzô Masumura’s Blind Beast (1969) will be available on Blu-ray August 24th from Arrow Video

Blind Beast is a grotesque portrait of the bizarre relationship between a blind sculptor and his captive muse, adapted from a short story from Japans foremost master of the macabre, Edogawa Rampo.

An artists model, Aki (Mako Midori), is abducted, and awakens in a dark warehouse studio whose walls are decorated with outsized womens body parts eyes, lips, legs and breasts and dominated by two recumbent giant statues of male and female nudes. Her kidnapper introduces himself as Michio (Eiji Funakoshi), a blind sculptor whom she had witnessed previously at an exhibition in which she featured intently caressing a statue of her naked torso. Michio announces his intention of using her to sculpt the perfect female form. At first defiant, she eventually succumbs to his intense fixation on her body and finds herself drawn into his sightless world,...

Yasuzo Masumura may be practically unknown to the west, but he is quite famous and respected in Japan, with filmmakers like Shinji Aoyama and Nagisa Oshima considering him as one of the precursors of the Japanese New Wave of the sixties, and one of the most important creators in postwar Japan. Thankfully, Arrow Films has done a significant effort to change the fact, by releasing a number of his lesser known titles. “Irezumi” is of the first films that established his exploitation style, which was later implemented in his most well known ones, like “Hanzo the Razor: The Snare” and “Blind Beast.”

Based on a novel by Junichiro Tanizaki and scripted by the great Kaneto Shindo, the story revolves around a true femme fatale named Otsuya, a daughter of a rich merchant. In the beginning of the film, she persuades her lover, Shinsuke to betray her father,...

Another year, another paycheck whisked away by Arrow Video's prodigious lineup. This August the cult home video juggernaut takes no pity on collector's with a robust slate that includes David Lynch's Dune (UK/US/Can) in 4K Uhd, Adam Rehmeier's Dinner in America (UK only), Masamura's Blind Beast (UK/US/Can), Brotherhood of Satan (UK/US/Can), Kim Jee-woon's classic horror film, A Tale of Two Sisters (UK Only), a box set of previously released Sergio Martino classics, and a la carte reissues of Alejandro Jodorowsky's classic midnight mindfucks, El Topo and The Holy Mountain (both UK only) and standard 4K Uhd & Blu-ray releases of Sergio Corbucci's Django (UK/US/Can). Dune is the obvious leader in this pack, and as such, Arrow is presenting it not only in a limited edition slips cover special...

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Fetch Publicity releases the first 4K Blu-ray release outside of “Irezumi,” (1966) Yasuzo Masumura’s early masterwork, outside of Japan. The Blu-ray will be available on 21 June 2021.

From us: Yasuzo Masumura may be practically unknown to the west, but he is quite famous and respected in Japan, with filmmakers like Shinji Aoyama and Nagisa Oshima considering him as one of the precursors of the Japanese New Wave of the sixties, and one of the most important creators in postwar Japan. Irezumi is of the first films that established his exploitation style, which was later implemented in his most well known ones, like “Hanzo the Razor: The Snare” and “Blind Beast.”…“Irezumi” is an exploitation film of rare quality that will definitely satisfy fans of the genre, as it paved the way for the surge of the category that occurred in the 70’s.” (Panos Kotzathanasis)

From Fetch: Drawn from...

Arrow Video’s May films include a superbly quirky comedy horror debut, a vintage Japanese comedy classic, the worldwide Blu-ray debut of a provocative Seventies masterwork, and a lavish edition of an offbeat, A-list sci-fi favourite.

As expected, the releases will be superbly packaged, featuring brand new restorations and audio commentaries, rare behind-the-scenes featurettes, revealing documentaries, beautifully designed booklets with new writing on the filmmakers, and reversible sleeves with striking newly-commissioned artwork, collectable limited edition O-cards and exclusive SteelBooks.

First in May, Arrow Video presents “A Ghost Waits,” an ingeniously unique and unpredictable combo of horror, humour and heart from first-time writer/director Adam Stovall and producer/star MacLeod Andrews. From its opening spectral assault to its achingly poignant conclusion – as well as a witty depiction of afterlife bureaucracy in the vein of “Beetlejuice” and “A Matter of Life and Death – A Ghost Waits” has shocked and surprised audiences around the world,...

May 2021 is another great looking month for Arrow Video and cult movie fans with the company reissuing some classics in brand new editions, upgrading Blu-rays to 4K, and bringing a contemporary indie darling to home video. The release I'm most looking forward to is Masumura Yasuzo's classics Giants and Toys coming to Blu-ray in the US, UK, and Canada. Not far behind is cult gem Over the Edge by director Jonathan Kaplan, an exclusive UK release. Also on this month's docket are recent indie horror A Ghost Waits in the US, UK, and Canada, a new steepbook edition of Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys, and Sergio Corbucci's classic Django getting shuffled a bit in the release schedule to the end of...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Yasuzô Masumura’ Black Test Car (1962) is currently available on Blu-ray from Arrow Video.

Japanese maverick director Yasuzo Masumura (Blind Beast) helms a bitingly satirical espionage thriller set in the heart of the Japanese auto industry in his 1962 landmark Black Test Car, which launched a series of similarly themed Black films.

In a bitter, take-no-prisoners corporate war between the Tiger Motorcar Company and their competitors, the Yamato Company, undercover spies have infiltrated both sides. As Tiger prepares to launch its newest Pioneer car and a prototype bursts into flames, Toru heads a secretive task force to root out Yamato s spy, and find out what they can about the competitor’s familiar-looking new model.

Making its worldwide Blu-ray debut, Black Test Car is paired here with the English-language video premiere of its follow-up The Black Report, also directed by Masumura.

Special Edition Contents

High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of Black Test Car...

For vintage Japanese classics Arrow is the place to be this summer. Yasuzô Masumura’s complicated tale of industrial espionage is an attack on the free enterprise system — even good people will do terrible things to get ahead, to prevail over the competition. It’s Tiger Car Company against the Yamato Car Company, winner take all. Plus, the extra feature The Black Report is not filler, but a terrific murder prosecution story, with Masumura’s patented dose of acid cynicism and murky misanthropy.

Black Test Car

Blu-ray

Arrow Video

1962 /95 min. / Kuro no tesuto kaa

Starring: Jirô Tamiya, Junko Kanô, Eiji Funakoshi, Hideo Takamatsu, Ichirô Sugai, Kichijiro Ueda.

Written by Kazuro Funabashi, Yoshihiro Ishimatsu from a novel by Sueyuki Kajiyama

Produced by Gentaro Nakajima

The Black Report

Blu-ray

Arrow Academy

1963 / 94 min. / Kuro no hôkokusho

Starring: Ken Utsui, Junko Kanô, Hideo Takamatsu, Shigeru Kôyama, Eitarô Ozawa, Bontarô Miake, Mieko Kondô.

Written by Yoshihiro Ishimatsu,...

Arrow Video shows no signs of cooling off as summer continues, with the release of a horror anthology from two genre masters, the definitive edition of a sci-fi classic on 4K Ultra HD, the world Blu-ray debuts of a superb Japanese thriller and a newly unearthed UK cult oddity, and a stunning boxset of iconic creature features. The fantastic selection of films include hours of new and archived bonus features, expert commentaries, never-before-seen cuts of the films, as well as collector’s booklets with incisive writing on the filmmakers, and luxurious packaging and brand new artwork.

At the end of July, brace yourself for “Creepshow 2,” ,where Titans of terror George A. Romero and Stephen King deliver yet another selection of blood-curdling tales in the follow-up to the 1982 horror classic. Retaining the same EC comic book flavor that made the original such a hit, “Creepshow 2” is a standout horror...

“The dance of darkness must spout blood into the air, in the name of the experience of evil” Tatsumi Hijikata

Made in 1969 and to this day still banned in Japan, “Horrors of Malformed Men” is a classic “ero guro nansensu” (erotic grotesque nonsense) film, based on few stories by Edogawa Rampo, whose work includes other novels-turned-films like “Blind Beast” and “Gemini”. The main inspiration of director Teruo Ishii was “The Strange Tale of Panorama Island” but he and co-scriptwriters Masahiro Kakefuda ended up adding parts of other Rampo’s novels, making “Horrors of Malformed Men” a screenwriting pastiche that doesn’t do the film any favors in terms of continuity and coherence, but infuses it with originality, fun and a unique surreal flavor.

The ban in native Japan was not due to violence or gore – the film is in fact rather tame for a cult horror – but...

Review by Roger Carpenter

In Japanese history the Meiji Period, which lasted from 1868 – 1912, saw Japan change from a centuries-old isolated feudal society to a more modern society. The Meiji Period saw Japan being opened to the West and the influence of Europe and America on Japanese culture and society. This period was a time of immense change for the Japanese. It was followed by a very short-lived period called the Taisho period, which lasted just 14 years, from 1912 – 1926. The Taisho Period was a time of liberalism and democratic thinking in Japan, and also marked the beginning of a creative movement called ero guro nansensu. Based upon the shortened English words erotic, grotesque, and nonsense, the ero guro nansensu movement began in literature and art, eventually expanding into theatre, film, and even music.

Over time the original intent of the movement has evolved from an exploration of ideas or objects that were malformed,...