New to Rent By Mail for August 14 2024

MILLE MILLIARDS DE DOLLARS (1982)

From Henri Verneuil, the acclaimed director of The Sicilian Clan, The Night Caller and I… for Icarus, comes a captivating conspiracy thriller about a young journalist, Paul Kerjean (Patrick Dewaere, Going Places), who stumbles across something far more sinister than a simple suicide in the death of a politician—he uncovers an assassination plot hatched by an American multinational company intent on taking over several French industries. Kerjean aims to gather enough evidence to expose the American corporation for what it really is, before French companies start to disappear—along with their employees. The superb cast features Michel Auclair (The Day of the Jackal), Caroline Cellier (Year of the Jellyfish), Charles Denner (Bluebeard), Anny Duperey (Les Compères), Jeanne Moreau (The Bride Wore Black) and Mel Ferrer (Blood and Roses). (BLU-RAY)

JOE BULLET (1973)

When a mysterious gangster starts sabotaging soccer team The Eagles' chance at winning the upcoming championship final, there is only one man who can save the day...Joe Bullet. (BLU-RAY)

MESSIAH OF EVIL (1973)

A woman arrives in a sleepy seaside town after receiving unsettling letters from her father, only to discover the town is under the influence of a strange cult that weeps tears of blood and hunger for human flesh. From Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, the writers of American Grafitti, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Howard the Duck, this dreamy and atmospheric film transposes the post-Night of the Living Dead zombie movie to a surreal small-town American setting, presented through gorgeous Techniscope visuals that echo the stylish European horror of Mario Bava and Hammer.

A true cult film, Messiah of Evil, which was also released as Dead People, has overcome distribution challenges to enjoy growing awareness and high acclaim after decades of word-of-mouth enthusiasm among horror cinema fans and critics around the world. (BLU-RAY)

THE HOLDOVERS (2023)

From acclaimed director Alexander Payne, The Holdovers follows a curmudgeonly instructor (Paul Giamatti) at a New England prep school who is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually he forms an unlikely bond with one of them—a damaged, brainy troublemaker (newcomer Dominic Sessa)—and with the school's head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam (Da'Vine Joy Randolph). (BLU-RAY)

I... FOR ICARUS (1979)

Description: After the recently re-elected President of a fictitious state has been assassinated, one of the members of the investigation committee refuses to sign the final report and is given the task of investigating once more. In the course of his search, he finds evidence that casts serious doubt on the committee's "lone-gunman" theory... Cinematography by Jean-Louis Picavet (If I Were a Spy). Soundtrack by Ennio Morricone. (BLU-RAY)