Brian Clemens retrospective at the BFI

Brian Clemens is the man behind some of the finest British cult and classic TV drama. not to mention a good few movies too over a 50-year period. With this in mind, the BFI is running a retrospective of his work in July, throwing in some Q&A nights with the man himself too.

His work is too numerous to mention, but let's just say Danger Man, The Avengers, The Champions, Adam Adamant Lives! (1966), the Thriller series, The Professionals and Hammer movies including Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde and Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter for starters. You get the idea.
 
Check out over the page for the full programme, tickets are on sale now.

La Planete Sauvage (Fantastic Planet) released on Blu-ray

One of the most trippy animations ever to make it to the big screen is back - with La Planete Sauvage (Fantastic Planet) set to be even more trippy when it lands in high definition on Blu-ray disc.

René Laloux's mesmerising psychedelic sci-fi feature is a landmark animation, especially when couple with the much-sampled soundtrack by Alain Goraguer. What's it about? Well...

DVD Review: The Statue (1970)

I think it's fair to say that Britain's censorship laws up 'til the 1980s (and some would argue beyond) have been significantly tighter than the rest of Europe. Which meant, for many years, we had films that were suggestive and saucy, but never overstepped the legal line. Films like The Statue.

It's a film about a man's manhood. Not unusual, at the time (Percy trod similar ground in the same year). But in 2010? Well, it just seems a bit childish. Anyway, the 'Percy' in question here belongs to Professor Alex Bolt (David Niven). He's created a universal language and for his troubles, got himself a Nobel Prize. Not only that, a large nude statue of him is going up in Grosvenor Square, organised by an ambitious US diplomat called Ray (Robert Vaughn) and paid for by the US government. What could go wrong?

DVD Review: A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971)

A film that's notorious for one particular scene, but if mad dreams, mad hippies, a psych-inspired Ennio Morricone soundtrack, a late 60s London setting and a good old whodunnit story appeal to you, you'll find much to enjoy in the remastered DVD version of A Lizard in a Woman's Skin.

Mad dreams? That's where we come in. The daughter of a respected politician by the name of Carol Hammond (Florinda Bolkan) is having some, involving walking through a train of nude hippies in a fur coat and a romantic tangle with her female next door neighbour Julia Durer (Anita Strindberg), a hellraiser who loves to throw a psych-soundtracked party for the local hippy community. She's so disturbed by the vivid dreams, she's been seeing a local shrink to talk them through, as well as writing them down. All of that will come in useful soon.

Paranoiac (1962) heads to DVD and Blu-ray

I've never heard of it, so it must be rare. Which is reason enough to get excited about the DVD and Blu-ray reissue of early 60s Hammer flick Paranoiac.

Sounding not unlike The Innocents in tone, the story is set three weeks before the Ashby siblings Simon (Oliver Reed), a brutish alcoholic, and Eleanor (Janette Scott), a nervous wreck, are to come into their late parents' inheritance. While Simon plans to have his sister certified insane and locked away, Eleanor keeps seeing the lurking figure of their long-dead brother Tony around the estate. Who or what is this apparition, and does he threaten to reveal skeletons in the closet (and elsewhere)?

Sounds like a winner, with a script by Jimmy Sangster and direction by Freddie Francis. Plenty of extras too, including an optional music & effects track, long-unseen original trailer and a Blu-ray-only exclusive of a high-definition stills gallery of rare materials. Available via Eureka from 26th July 2010, you can pre-order at Amazon now for £11.99.

Find out more at the Amazon website