THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS:
NYMPHOMANIAC VOL. 1&2
2014; $31.98-$34.98; UR
The complete two-part conclusion to Lars von Trier’s “depression trilogy,” following “Antichrist” and “Melancholia.” Charlotte Gainsbourg plays Joe, a nymphomaniac found beaten and unconscious by Stellan Skarsgård. She regales him with lurid tales of her misspent youth, having dangerous and varied sex with anyone and anything that caught her fancy. He prattles about fly fishing and the Fibonacci series of numbers. Sperm donors include Shia LaBeouf, Jamie Bell, Willem Dafoe and Udo Kier, with Christian Slater as Father. Paint-shaker orgasms provided by Stacy Martin and Ananya Berg as young Joes, along with Mia Goth and nubile Sophie Kennedy Clark.
PLEASURE OR PAIN
2013; $26.98; UR
Before his death in 2012, actor/director/producer/pornster Zalman King created some of the most celebrated adult material of his generation, including the groundbreaking “Red Shoe Diaries” with David Duchovny. This flick was his last non-documentary directorial effort. Taking cues from “50 Shades of Grey,” a quiet young woman (Malena Morgan) becomes ensnared in the charms of a wealthy man who exposes her to a world of sexual abandon that she isn’t prepared for. Far more substance than you’d expect, asking the viewer, “What are you willing to do for love?”
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BLOODY MOON
1981; $18.38; UR
Originally titled “Die Säge des Todes,” this early Spanish/German slasher flick comes to us courtesy of the inimitable Jesús Franco. A disfigured guy is sent to an asylum after a rape-murder rampage, then released after only five years to the care of his incestuous sister and wheelchair-bound mother at their boarding school for young women! Not one for subtlety, Franco delivers his trademark bloody nude carnage with gusto, including a remarkably good severed-head-on-a-pillow effect that today’s filmmakers are still scratching their heads over.
JACKASS PRESENTS: BAD GRANDPA.5
2013; $12.98; UR
Johnny Knoxville’s re-edit of his “reality” shock/carnage ode to aging, with an additional 40 unrated minutes of pranks. Special guests include Spike Jonze (director of “Her,” who also co-wrote the screenplay) as “Gloria,” and Catherine Keener as Knoxville’s wife. If you liked the original, then you’ll love this.
JODOROWSKY’S DUNE
2014; $34.99-$40.99; PG-13
The great director Alejandro Jodorowsky, who brought us “El Topo” and, most recently, episodes from TV’s “Metal Hurlant Chronicles,” once vowed to create the definitive telling of Frank Herbert’s “Dune.” He failed, but the story of his failure may be more entertaining than “Dune” itself (or at least the David Lynch/Kyle MacLachlan movie version). This doc looks at Jodorowsky’s efforts and the way the movie industry treats visionary talent. With insights by H.R. Giger, Michel Seydoux and many others.
KID CANNABIS
2014; $9.98-$24.98; UR
While you might expect a movie about two young Idaho buds who start a Canadian pot-importing business to be a wild and wacky teen comedy, this is far more real and far more interesting. Yes, it’s full of sex, nudity and weird experiences, but it’s also full of real crime and real consequences, without ever being preachy or overdramatic. Stars Jonathan Daniel Brown (“Project X”) and Kenny Wormald (“Footloose” remake), with Ron Perlman, Lochlyn Munro, Amanda “Sanctuary” Tapping and lovely Merritt “Ravenswood” Patterson, who gets nicely nekkid.
LAKE PLACID
1999; $26.95; R
Back in 2000, we dubbed this “terribly lame” — man, what were we smokin’? Now one of our favorite bad movies of all time, it finally gets the Blu-ray love it deserves as Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Oliver Platt, Brendan Gleeson, Mariska Hargitay, Meredith Salenger and Betty Freakin’ White fend off an impossible monster crocodile in New York’s Lake Placid. With effects by Stan Winston, a croc-helicopter wrestling match and some wonderfully obscene lines from sweet old Betty. What more could you want in a film?
MAIDENTRIP
2013; $22.98; UR
We have mixed emotions about this doc on New Zealand native Laura Dekker, an exceptional 14-year-old attempting to be the youngest person ever to sail around the world alone. Literally born for adventure, she came into this world aboard her parents’ sailboat while on their own seven-year ’round-the-world trek. But her voyage would encourage other, less prepared teens to try their own deadly stunts. A very straightforward telling (largely by cell phone) with no embellishment, but nonetheless fascinating and disturbing.
RIGOR MORTIS
2013; $22.98-$24.98; UR
Some of our favorite supernatural cinema comes out of Hong Kong, like this tale of a decrepit and infectious public housing pile that’s chock full of ’80s Chinese horror tropes. These come courtesy of director Juno Mak and legendary J-horror producer Takashi Shimizu, who populate the film with faces from the now-legendary “Mr. Vampire” franchise. Not out for cheap shocks, this is a dark, dreamlike tiptoe through ghosts, vampires, zombies and shivering Chinese folklore that builds to a balls-to-the-wall battle with the undead. Sweet.
THE BABY
1973; $12.96-$26.98; PG
We wallow in some pretty sick shit to entertain our readers, but this may be the single most nightmare-inducing willies-fest we’ve ever seen. Social worker Anjanette Comer visits an average American family: a mom (Ruth “Knots Landing” Roman), sisters (including leggy Susanne Zenor) and a nameless, helpless, crib-bound, diaper-wearing, bottle-sucking 21-year-old man with the mind of a child. What happens next is a cult-movie nightmare, and, frankly, there’s not enough money on the planet to make us watch it again. Now on Blu-ray. Oh, and it’s rated PG! Enjoy.
THE RAID 2
2014; $18.98; R
The original was a groundbreaking Indonesian crime thriller about a SWAT team raiding a high-rise tenement building, the fortress of a deadly drug lord, filled with wretched, innocent cannon-fodder. This sequel finds martial-arts master Iko Uwais, the hero of the raid, now besieged on all sides: from the drug lord’s bosses and competition, from politcos and cops on the take, and from one particularly brutal faction that threatens his family. His only recourse? Go undercover and kick his way back to the light. Savage, bloody and poetic.
A more complete listing and free vids at videotapeworm.com.