New to Rent By Mail for July 30th 2024

BENNY'S BATHTUB (1971)

How can you not love a psychedelic animated kids' film in which a young boy, bored with the dreary and gray Adult World, follows an enchanted tadpole through the drain in his bathtub – where he discovers a surreal and musical undersea world?? Populated by singing (and barely dressed) Mermaids, a funky hepcat Octopus, and whiskey-drinking Skeleton Pirates, the underwater kingdom is the grooviest scene this side of YELLOW SUBMARINE, with helpings of Dr. Seuss, Sid & Marty Krofft and Harry Nilsson's THE POINT thrown in (kids' entertainment in the early 1970s was truly outtasite!). (BLU-RAY)

EXISTENZ (1999)

In the near future, video games have evolved to a point where they are able to biologically interact with players through the use of an electronic umbilical cord. Allegra Geller has created eXistenZ, a highly anticipated virtual reality game which has come under fire for its potential ability to effectively warp players' perceptions of reality. When an anti-game zealot attempts to murder Allegra during a demo, she narrowly escapes with the help of her publicist, Ted Pikul. However, Allegra discovers that the only master copy of the game might have been damaged during the attack and convinces Ted to test it with her. After Ted reluctantly agrees, the pair enter the virtual world of eXistenZ, but it's not long before they start becoming uncertain as to where the violent gameplay ends and reality begins… (BLU-RAY + 4KULTRAHD)

SHREDDER ORPHEUS (1990)

Let's shred our way to hell! The Greek myth is reimagined as a post-apocalyptic skateboard rock opera in SHREDDER ORPHEUS -- a low budget hallucination that drops somewhere between the music video for Devo's "Whip It," a Bones Brigade skate tape, and a surrealist art project. The story follows Orpheus (director Robert McGinley), a rock star who descends to hell in order to save his kidnapped wife (and the universe) from Satan and his hypnotic TV signals. Filmed in Seattle and featuring a rare screen role from Steven Jesse Bernstein -- the William S. Burroughs of the Pacific Northwest -- SHREDDER ORPHEUS makes its disc debut with a new preservation from the original film elements. (BLU-RAY)

D.A.R.Y.L. (1985)

When Joyce and Andy Richardson are offered the chance to foster a young boy, seemingly abandoned on the side of a secluded road, they take him in, treating him as the son they never had. Although he remembers his name is Daryl, everything else about his past, his parents, and how he ended up on that secluded road remains a mystery; Daryl cannot remember a thing! On the other hand, he quickly demonstrates incredible intelligence and the uncanny ability to learn any skill shown to him on the very first try. However, when a mysterious and sinister seeming couple arrive at the Richardson's home, claiming to be Daryl's real parents, they and their adopted son are thrust into an incredible, high stakes cover up and fight for survival as Daryl's actual identity is revealed, and his life put into immediate jeopardy. (BLU-RAY + 4KULTRAHD)

EIGHT MOUNTAINS (2022)

An epic journey of friendship and self-discovery set in the Italian Alps, The Eight Mountains is a cinematic experience as intimate as it is monumental. Adapting an award-winning novel by Paolo Cognetti, Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch portray, through observant detail and stunning landscape photography, the profound relationship between Pietro (Luca Marinelli) and Bruno (Alessandro Borghi), who first meet as children in an Alpine village. Years later, the estranged friends reunite, after the passing of Pietro’s father (Filippo Timi), in order to realize his dream of rebuilding a ruined cabin on a mountain slope. This emotional project, and their subsequent explorations of the mountains, create a strong bond between the two—yet individual dreams, and the demands of society, ultimately drive them to pursue irrevocably divergent paths. (BLU-RAY)