If you're a fan of cult films, the DVD world just got a lot more interesting. Art film outlet Nouveaux Pictures are getting together with Cine-Excess to release a slate of exciting fan favourites, starting with recent release Viva and including several works by the great Roger Corman, who will be the featured artist at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival.
Nicknamed 'taking trash seriously', the project is the brainchild of Film and TV lecturer Xavier Mendik, who works on Cine-Excess at Brunel University's School of Arts Cult Film Archive. "These are probably the first cross commercial-academic DVD movie releases ever,2 says Mendik, who hopes that the new releases will also provide useful material for film students worldwide. " For someone who grew up as a cult film fan the opportunity to be able to release some of my all-time favourite movies is a dream come true."
Martin Nash of Nouveaux Pictures stressed his company's dedication to 'cutting edge movies'. Most of the films already licensed for the project are of the B-movie variety, but B-movies, generally subject to less studio control than bigger budget pictures, have often been an important place for visionary directors to explore their potential. Among the films set for release are Not Of This Earth and Attack Of The Crab Monsters, which are trashy fun but which also showcase the developing talent that Corman was to put to such great use in films like Masque Of The Red Death and The Intruder.
The new project will be particularly appealing to those interested in seeing the early work of established directors like Ron Howard, whose Grand Theft Auto is gearing up for release. Early Jack Nicholson project The Cry Baby Killer is also included, whilst Dario Argento's classic Suspiria will be getting a new lease of life on a special edition DVD.
With so much to look forward to, it's time to start saving your pennies! There's one thing all these films have in common, and that's that they're lots of fun.
