New Releases for March 19 2024

IMPULSE (1974)

William Shatner stars as Matt Stone, a deranged gigolo who preys on rich women, unable to control his murderous psychosexual urges. Directed by legendary exploitation filmmaker William Grefé (The Death Curse of Tartu), and co-starring Jenifer Bishop (Al Adamson's The Female Bunch), Ruth Roman (Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train), Harold "Oddjob" Sakata (Goldfinger) and William Kerwin (Herschell Gordon Lewis' Blood Feast), Impulse is being presented in a beautiful new master lovingly restored in 4K from rare archival 35mm film elements. (BLU-RAY)

LYNCH / OZ (2022) (Janus Contemporaries)

The themes, images, and cultural vernacular of Victor Fleming’s The Wizard of Oz continue to haunt David Lynch’s filmography—from his early short The Alphabet to his recent television series Twin Peaks: The Return. Arguably, no filmmaker has so consistently drawn inspiration—consciously or unconsciously—from a single work. Is Lynch trapped in the Land of Oz? If so, what can we learn about his body of work by taking a closer look at how it intersects and communicates with that legendary fantasy? In turn, what do Lynch’s films have to say about the enduring resonance of one of America’s most beloved classics? Through six distinct perspectives, Alexandre O. Philippe’s Lynch/Oz helps us reexperience and reinterpret The Wizard of Oz by way of David Lynch, delivering new appreciations of both. (BLU-RAY and DVD)

THE RUNNER (1984) (Criterion Collection)

Childhood takes on mythic dimensions in one of the defining works of postrevolutionary Iranian cinema. Inspired by director Amir Naderi’s own boyhood, The Runner is lit from within by Madjid Niroumand’s electrifying performance as a young orphan fending for himself on the streets of a port city, determined to rise above his circumstances—working odd jobs, passing time with friends, learning to read—and running, always running, toward the future. Water, fire, the human body in motion: in hypnotic images of lyrical power, Naderi finds unexpected glory in the world of a boy suspended between modernity and elemental natural forces as he chases his own path forward. (BLU-RAY and DVD)