Deaf Crocodile

[MichaelB]

I gather the reason is that they're disproportionately expensive to manufacture on a per-unit basis and this is a business in which margins are inexorably tightening all the time. And Deaf Crocodile is already operating within decidedly niche territory in terms of what they release.

See also the fact that they're being very selective about what they put out on 4K UHD (which also sends the per-unit manufacturing costs sky-high), although happily that still includes the likes of Krakatit. Whoever would have predicted the first UHD release of a Czechoslovak film to be of an obscure Otakar Vávra film from the late 1940s rather than something far more obvious from a couple of decades later?

[Adam X]

I mean, the change being made for reasons of expense seemed pretty self-evident, even if certain members of that other forum are unable to accept that (even after a detailed post from someone involved in making the decision). The increased move toward custom packaging and sales gimicks in recent years feels very much like the comic book industry in the ‘90’s before its bubble collapsed. Scaling things back right now feels like the only sensible decision if you’re interested in maintaining a label long term.

[pzadvance]

Deaf Crocodile have added an OOP Booklets section where you can download PDFs of several limited edition booklets

[MichaelB]

Happy to confirm that you don't have to be resident in North America to take advantage.

[ianthemovie]

Does anyone know which one of the DEFA fairy tale films features the cat pictured next to a bucket on the front cover of the case (not the slipcover)?

[TechnicolorAcid]

Does anyone know which one of the DEFA fairy tale films features the cat pictured next to a bucket on the front cover of the case (not the slipcover)?

Mother Holly

[ianthemovie]

Thank you!

[TechnicolorAcid]

Demigod: The Legend Begins

"My friend, I'm not sure if you're pulling me into the abyss or helping me," muses white-maned hero Su Huan-Jen as he confronts a spectacular mystery filled with occult manuscripts, palace betrayals, kaiju-like Qilin monsters, incredibly-choreographed wuxia sword battles – all performed by puppets – in the struggle to control the Five Mountains and obtain the Limitless Celestial Book.

Twenty years after directing the epic LEGEND OF THE SACRED STONE (also released by Deaf Crocodile) and building on the long-running “PILI” TV show in Taiwan, director Chris Huang returned with this amazing fusion of traditional budaixi glove puppetry, wuxia martial arts storytelling ala CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON and wildly imaginative fantasy filmmaking in the vein of AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER and THE DARK CRYSTAL.

The serpentine plot revolves around the murder of the Lord of Globe Castle and Huan-Jen’s quest to prove his innocence and unmask the killer, and involves (we kid you not) secrets like the Needle of Roaring Snow (a mystic power summoned by acupuncture!), puppets perspiring and spurting blood, the Seven Words Poison, lovable con men named Shark Qin and Three Dots, and priceless dialogue like "Dumbass! You betrayed my teachings for a book!" and "Why would Evil Brink attack the Fantastic Academy??" In other words, a pure joy from start to finish for fantasy and wuxia martial arts fans! With voice performances by Vincent Huang. In Taiwanese Hokkien with English subtitles.

Special Features:
• Pt. 2 of a new video interview with director Chris Huang (Taiwanese Hokkien with English subtitles)
• New audio commentary by puppeteer & filmmaker Ben Wolf Page, Associate Editor of The Puppetry Journal for the Puppeteers of America
• "Innovation Within Tradition: How Pili and Demigod Synthesize Millenia of History" - new visual essay by film historian Evan Chester (17 min.)
• Original trailer and 6 making-of featurettes (21 min. with English subtitles)
• Trailers for the PILI TV series “PILI FANTASY: War of Dragons” (2019) “PILI FANTASY: Doom of Dragons” (2020) and “PILI FANTASY – Doom of Dragons II” (2022)
• Blu-ray authoring by Vital Passenger
• New art by Beth Morris

Deluxe Edition Bonus Content:
• Slipcase featuring new artwork by Richard Cox
• 60-page illustrated booklet
• New essay by Fantasia Festival programmer Rupert Bottenberg
• New essay by film critic Walter Chaw (Film Freak Central)

Hayop Ka!

From one of the most inventive and irreverent voices in Filipino and World Animation, director Avid Liongoren (SAVING SALLY, the upcoming ZSA ZSA ZATURNNAH), the utterly delightful HAYOP KA! is inspired by the beloved telenovela genre of romance melodramas. Nimfa (voiced by Angelica Panganiban) is a perfume saleswoman kitty in Manila, who receives a prediction from a fortune teller that she’ll fall in love with two men (er, dogs) simultaneously. One is her long-time boyfriend, likable but unambitious canine janitor Roger (voiced by Robin Padilla). The second turns out to be high-powered top dog (literally) executive Iñigo (voiced by Sam Milby), who sweeps her off her paws and forces her to ask what’s more important: True Love, or Wild Hot Sex + Lots of Bling?

Featuring an irresistible style that’s both retro and Cartoon Network modern, HAYOP KA! (which roughly translates as “You are an animal!”) is one of the few Filipino animated films both made in the Philippines and about its life and culture. The Philippines has long been an animation powerhouse, but primarily churning out product for US and Japanese producers - until the arrival of a new generation of animators led by Liongoren’s Rocketsheep Studio and films like HAYOP KA! In Filipino with English subtitles.

Special Features
• 48-page illustrated booklet featuring new essays by film critic Walter Chaw and Fantasia Festival programmer Rupert Bottenberg
• New audio commentary by filmmaker Avid Liongoren and co-writer/co-producer Manny Angeles
• New visual essay by film historian Celeste de la Cabra
• New video interview with filmmaker Avid Liongoren
• 6 short films by Avid Liongoren: “Robuboy,” “Momo,” “Muning,” “Josephine,” “Our Forgotten Friends” and “Jepoy” (2011-2018)
• Teaser trailer for Rocketsheep Studios’ new animated film ZSA ZSA ZATURNNAH and rare concept artwork
• Original trailer
• Blu-ray authoring by Vital Passenger
• New art by Beth Morris

[Captain Paranoia]

Deaf Crocodile have added an OOP Booklets section where you can download PDFs of several limited edition booklets

Talk about what is exactly something I long wished labels would do. I propose a petition for the likes of Arrow, Indicator, Eureka, Radiance, you name it, to follow suit.

[TechnicolorAcid]

Deaf Crocodile is kickstarting their own video store

[TechnicolorAcid]

Felidae is an absolutely filthy noir dressed up in the clothes of light cartoon animation (do not show this to your kids!) Unfortunately, once the shock of its sexual content and violence wears off, there's not too much to chew on here - intriguing characters are introduced and discarded way too quickly, and the ones that stick around are bores or boars or both. I really wanted to like this, but if you're going to take yourself this seriously (totally appropriate on the genre front), you should back it up with a more interesting narrative trajectory

I decided to give this one a revisit and I’m curious to know what others think about this but (and I thank my prior experience with the English dub for making me understand this more on a second viewing) I think this is less of a noir than it is just a straight-faced cat riff on the Giallo film, from the DIY detective tossed into the almost incoherent plot to the various characters introduced before almost immediately getting discarded to the emphasis of sex & violence to the obvious red herring serving as a distraction from a twist villain to the emphasis of style & atmosphere over story feeling more in line with Giallo than noir, not to mention the fact that cats are essentially THE animal of the Giallo film. And I mention this because I think that does excuse a lot of the shortcomings that the film has, especially in how scattershot and unengaged the film is with its central mystery and why a lot of the interesting characters keep just being dropped, simply because that’s what Giallos love to do (at least in my experience with that subgenre) and it overall allowed me to have a lot more fun with the film, even if I still think it never reaches any of the greatness of the genre it’s emulating.

[Peacock]

Deaf Crocodile, it has been strongly rumoured, will be releasing A Visitor to a Museum by Lopushansky in 26 or 27…

I know this has been a much desired title for a long time now so it’s very exciting news, and was a top 10 most wanted one for me!

For those who can’t wait, the film has been restored in 2K and will be released at the end of September on BD in France (with English subtitles) by Intersections. They are also releasing Dead Man’s Letters at the same time, again from a 2K scan and fully English friendly. Their Blu of the latter will also include Lopushansky's short film Solo (again English subs).

So with the 2K scans in mind I assume DC won’t be putting this film/these films out in UHD… but I hope they are able to find a way to include the other two films of the “Apocalypse Quadrilogy”… perhaps The Ugly Swans will be tricky rights wise looking at the companies behind it, but surely Russian Symphony is a possibility as it’s Lenfilm like the other two? Fingers crossed!

DC - if you read this, I hope you can sweet talk Lopushansky into allowing you to include his very rare debut short film, Tears During a Windy Day, which only he appears to hold a copy of and keeps very close to his chest!

[spectre]

This is wonderful news, Peacock – a favourite of mine too, and long (decades!) overdue for an English-friendly release.

I'd jump on the Intersections Blu-ray, but if it doesn't take too long I may wait for the Deaf Crocodile release to be announced just for the price/special features/transfer comparison.

[TechnicolorAcid]

Roy del Espacio

ROY FROM SPACE (ROY DEL ESPACIO) – 1983, Andrea Pérez Mata, 64 min. Completely lost for over 40 years and only the 3rd animated feature ever produced in Mexico, ROY FROM SPACE has finally returned, newly scanned from the original 35mm negative and lovingly restored by Deaf Crocodile! The only feature made by noted titles and commercials animator Héctor López Carmona, ROY is a wildly entertaining work of Outsider / Sci-Fi Animation, loosely inspired (ahem) by the classic 1930s Flash Gordon serials. "I'm Roy from Space. I come from Earth,” our helmet-wearing hero announces with a straight face (note: he never takes off his helmet, indoors or outdoors), and we follow as he fights a nonstop stream of synthesizer-voiced robots and flying saucers in the service of wicked Ming-the-Merciless clone “King Alome” while fending off the king’s hot-blooded daughter. Produced over the course of 3 years, often with the help of non-professional animators, ROY features an incredibly strange and disorienting Outsider Animation style, ala DELTA SPACE MISSION: faces and body parts constantly shift, expanding and contracting without warning; bodies and feet don't seem connected to floors or walls; characters tumble through space like a Merce Cunningham modern dance piece. In other words, it’s a blast. Working with the daughter of original producer Ulises Pérez Aguirre, Deaf Crocodile was able to locate the 35mm film elements at the Cineteca Nacional in Mexico, but were shocked to discover 4-1/2 minutes of live-action footage had been slugged into the film from a Japanese sci-fi movie without permission. Independent animators Isabelle Aspin and Brian Smee were brought in to replace this bootleg footage, creating new 2-D animation using the cel-painted style and feel of the original. Featuring a groove-a-delic synth-laden score by Ernesto Cortazar and the voices of Salvador Nájar, Patricia Martínez and Rubén Moya. In Spanish with English subtitles.

Special Features

48-page booklet featuring new essays by film historian & re-release co-producer Alejandro Vidal and film critic Walter Chaw
New audio commentary by Armando Hernández & Joey Diaz of the Trash-Mex podcast
New visual essay by film historian Celeste de la Cabra
New video interview with Andrea Pérez Mata (an animator on the film) and Ulises Pérez Mata, both children of ROY FROM SPACE producer Ulises Pérez Aguirre, and their cousin, Alejandro Mata
New video interview with director Héctor López Carmona’s grandson, Héctor Ricardo López Reyes, moderated by Dennis Bartok with translation by Alejandro Vidal
New featurette on the creation of replacement animation for the film by animators Isabelle Aspin and Brian Smee by Someone’s Favorite Prod.
Blu-ray authoring by Fidelity in Motion
New cover art and graphic design by Beth Morris

Scarlet Sails

SCARLET SAILS (ALYE PARUSA), 1961, Mosfilm, 88 min. An often-overlooked gem from Soviet fantasy master Aleksandr Ptushko (ILYA MUROMETS, RUSLAN & LUDMILA), SCARLET SAILS is a lovely paean to dreamers and the world of dreams, to outsiders and outcasts, rebels and sailors and storytellers – to those who live differently than the rest of us, no matter who tries to stop them. Adapted from the novel by famed Russian author Alexander Grin, the film follows two parallel stories: the first about Assol, daughter of an impoverished sailor (Ivan Pereverzev from SADKO and NEBO ZOVYOT). As a young girl, an old storyteller predicts her destiny: "One day the sun will shine upon a white ship with scarlet sails. The white ship will slice through the waves and move right towards you." This shimmering dream sustains her into adulthood when she’s played by the luminous Anastasiya Vertinskaya (WAR & PEACE, THE AMPHIBIAN MAN). The second story revolves around Arthur, the rebellious son of an aristocrat, who only dreams of shipwrecks, pirates and going off to sea – as an adult he’s played by popular Soviet actor Vasiliy Lanovoy (WAR & PEACE, ANNA KARENINA). Ptushko’s films are filled with images of the sea and voyages, in SADKO, SAMPO and THE TALE OF TSAR SALTAN, and this is his most lyrical homage to the lore and lure of the ocean: windmills framed in the darkening sky, bonfires flickering on cliffs, storm-tossed waves crashing to shore, faces bathed in red firelight like a Caravaggio painting. SCARLET SAILS was Ptushko’s follow-up to SAMPO, and the two films are companion pieces in many ways, both brilliantly shot by the cinematography team of Gennadi Tsekavyj and Viktor Yakushev. And we defy you not to weep at the film’s stunning climax, arguably the most purely emotional sequence in all of Ptushko’s filmography. Beautifully restored by Mosfilm in 4K for its first-ever U.S. Blu-ray release by Deaf Crocodile, in association with Seagull Films. In Russian with English subtitles.

Special Features
48-page booklet featuring new essays by Russian film historian Peter Rollberg and film critic Walter Chaw
New video conversation with Eisner Award-winning comics artist (Swamp Thing), film historian and author Stephen R. Bissette, and film critic and author Tim Lucas (Video Watchdog, Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark)
New audio commentary by author & film historian Rich Johnson
New visual essay by film historian Celeste de la Cabra
Blu-ray authoring by Vital Passenger
New cover art and graphic design by Beth Morris

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

Going to preorder both. Very excited for these releases.