The Stone Tape

release date: 9th december 2024

101 Films presents Nigel Kneale’s The Stone Tape (1972), released on Blu-ray for the first time. Broadcast by the BBC on Christmas Day 1972 to critical acclaim, The Stone Tape sees Kneale employing his trademark fusion of science fiction and supernatural horror to terrifying effect and ranks among the legendary screenwriter’s best work.

Brand new extras: ‘Children of The Stone Tape’ Documentary on the lasting legacy of The Stone Tape •‘Out of Darkness: A Visionary Manxman’ Short film on Writer Nigel Kneale • Commentary with filmmakers Jon Dear and Sean Hogan • Limited edition rigid box packaging • Set of art cards • Script booklet • Booklet including ‘Placememory’ by Andy Murray and ‘Weird Science: The Stone Tape at Fifty’ by John Doran

Nothing Is Sacred: Three Heresies from Luis Bunuel

release date: 16th december 2024

From 1946 to 1965, Luis Bunuel directed 21 films in Mexico, the country that became his naturalised home. Towards the end of this period, the great master of surrealism would meet two of his most important collaborators – the husband-and-wife duo of producer Gustavo Alatriste and actress Silvia Pinal – and together they would create three of his most provocative and enduring works: Viridiana (1961), The Exterminating Angel (1962) and Simon of the Desert (1965). Presented here in new restorations, all three films are frequently hailed as some of the greatest of all time.

Funny Girl

release date: 9th december 2024

Witness the birth of a movie star as Barbra Streisand makes a screen debut for the ages in this musical spectacular. From humor to pathos, she hits every note as popular 1920s singer-comedian Fanny Brice, a young Jewish New Yorker whose spirit and supernova talent propel her to fame in the Ziegfeld Follies, but whose devotion to an unreliable gambler (a charismatic Omar Sharif) brings drama and heartbreak into her life. Adapted from a hit Broadway show and directed by Hollywood master William Wyler, Funny Girl hits emotional highs in unforgettable performances of songs like “People” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade”—moments that won Streisand one of the most richly deserved Best Actress awards in Oscar history.

release date: 16th december 2024

When his police detective best friend is killed, down-at-heel private eye and part-time blues singer BJ (Yusaku Matsuda, The Game Trilogy) gets the blame. He must start his own investigation to clear his name, but what he uncovers is a tangled web involving crooked cops, drug-dealing gangsters, the city’s underground gay and biker scenes, and even his own past. A loose remake of Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye that also draws from Visconti’s Death in Venice, this was Matsuda’s break with his action hero image. Samurai movie veteran Eiichi Kudo (The Fort of Death) relishes his chance at directing a neo-noir that captures urban Japan at the height of 1980s decadence.

release date: 30th december 2024

Andrés and Ana, an urban couple who live in Madrid, leave their apartment to spend a day of pleasure in the city with their dog. They end up accepting the invitation of two strangers, Bruno and Berta, to go to eat at their country house. A storm surprises them and they have to stay overnight together. The two couples start a session with a Ouija board. Conflictive past situations arise, such as the affair that Ana had with Andrés’ brother or a suicide attempt by Bruno, who receives criticism from Berta. This will be the beginning of the horrors that will take place in the haunted house.

release date: 9th december 2024

A videographer answers an online ad for a one-day job in a remote town to record the last messages of a dying man to his unborn child. As the day progresses the man’s requests and behaviour become increasingly more bizarre.

release date: 9th december 2024

The team behind Re-Animator turn up the H.P. Lovecraft dial to 11 to bring you a true tour-de-force of the horror genre, From Beyond. Directed by Stuart Gordon we follow a group of scientists who have created The Resonator, a machine which allows humans to view things outside of perceptible reality. But what they see is way outside their wildest nightmares and soon creep into their reality. With copious amounts of latex and bare flesh, From Beyond adds a raw, contemporary touch to the original story as well as barnstorming performances from Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton.

release date: 9th december 2024

Genre maestro Kim Jee-woon (A Tale of Two Sisters) set his sights on new frontiers and spiced them up with his rollicking kimchi western The Good, the Bad, the Weird. Wrangling three of Korea’s biggest stars, he orchestrated an audacious action epic sweeping across the dusty Manchurian plains. 

In the 1930s, three gun-toting Koreans converge on a train with different objectives but after an explosive altercation they leave it with the same goal: track down a map leading to an unfathomable treasure. The ‘Good’ is bounty hunter Park Do-won (Jung Woo-sung, 12.12: The Day), who is chasing down the ‘Bad’, the ruthless bandit Park Chang-yi (Lee Byung-hun, A Bittersweet Life), rumoured to be the notorious ‘Finger Cutter’. Meanwhile, wily thief Yoon Tae-goo (Song Kang-ho, Parasite), the ‘Weird’, is on the hunt for anything he can get his hands on. Backs are stabbed, fingers are cut, and many bullets fly as this dangerous trio blast their way through the desert in search of untold riches. 

release date: 9th december 2024

Jean Rollin continues his unique exploration of the vampire genre with Requiem for a Vampire (Requiem pour un vampire), featuring a cast of Rollin regulars including Marie-Pierre Castel (The Shiver of the Vampires), Mirelle Dargent (Lips of Blood), and Louise Dhour (The Escapees).

When Marie (Castel) and Michelle (Dargent), two enigmatic women travelling through the countryside in clown costumes, stumble across a mysterious château, they uncover a sadistic vampire sect, the leader of which offers them eternal life to continue his bloodline.

Also released as Virgins and Vampires and Caged Vampires, Rollin’s pulp-inspired fourth feature boasts an abundance of surreal and erotic imagery, and is accompanied by an eccentric free-rock score by composer Pierre Raph (The Iron Rose, The Demoniacs).

release date: 2nd december 2024

A smart homage to 1950’s B-movies, Critters sees a group of small but toothy extra terrestrials escape from an alien prison and land in small-town America with two shape-shifting bounty hunters in hot pursuit. Directed by Stephen Herek (Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure) and starring genre stalwarts Dee Wallace (The Howling) and M. Emmet Walsh (Blood Simple), the film was a smash-hit on home video, launching a franchise for the ravenous furry fiends. Two years later, Critters 2: The Main Course sees the Krites come back for seconds as leftover eggs hatch and attack the rural town of Grover’s Bend. Directed by Mick Garris (Sleepwalkers) with a script co-written by David Twohy (Pitch Black), Critters 2 is one big ball of toothy delight.