Like many other services , Criterion Channel has a special niche ; it ’s one that fans of the fabled Criterion Collection line of Blu - rays and DVDs will immediately grasp . Forged fromthe ashes of FilmStruck , Criterion Channel launch last month ( not without some technological hiccups , sorta like its herald ) with a stable of Hellenic , indie , international , and art - house flick , plus the short and supplemental feature ( like trailers , comment , and behind - the - scene documentary film ) that the brand is known for . Criterion Channel will alsorotate certain titles in and out calendar month to calendar month . you may determine it outfor costless for two week , and if you stick around around after your trial is up , it ’s $ 11 a month or $ 100 for a year - long subscription .
While the Criterion Channel is tailored more toward fans of old motion picture , alien - language features , and offbeat indie , those classifications also come about to include several sci - fi , horror , and fancy films . We dig out through the site ’s ever - growing list of title to make a few good word .
1. The Love Witch
There ’s no filmmaker today quite like Anna Biller , who pairs a boldly feminist point of view with a genuine appreciation for crummy , cheesy , brightly - colour repulsion moving picture of the 1960s . Her 2016 second feature , The Love Witch ( which the auteur wrote , directed , edited , scored , and produce ) , is bothan insightful study of gender rolesand a confect - colored supernatural phantasy , about a outstanding unseasoned witch named Elaine ( Samantha Robinson ) who rips her way through a serial publication of wooer , spells , and potion as part of her determined quest to conjure up true love .
Though the closet and production excogitation scream “ retro , ” The Love Witch is determine in a nebulous prison term period that feels a flock like now , and Biller ’s mission of subvert the male gaze is emphasized by the many , many close - ups of Elaine ’s perfectly made - up eyes size up every slab of beefcake that cross her path .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FduP45p-o6k
Elaine (Samantha Robinson) casts a spell in The Love Witch.Image: Oscilloscope Laboratories
2. Godzilla (and his many friends, foes, and associates)
The bombasticGodzilla : King of the Monstershits theaters on May 31 , but if you ’d rather go sure-enough school , the Criterion Channel has an impressive back catalogue to help gripe up your knowledge of kaiju story . Ishiro Honda ’s 1954 original Godzilla can be viewed many places , but Criterion ( which also has the 1956 westerly remix star Raymond Burr , Godzilla , King of the Monsters ) boasts a short ton of supernumerary , let in audience clips with cast and crew , a scholarly comment trail , and a short doc about the veridical - life Nipponese fishing sauceboat vs. American nuclear test tragedy that helped inspire Godzilla ’s write up .
And if your thirst for rubber - suited monster run late enough , Criterion also has All Monsters Attack , Destroy All Monsters , Ghidorah the Three - Headed Monster , Godzilla Raids Again , Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla , Godzilla vs. Megalon , Invasion of Astro - Monster , Mothra vs. Godzilla , Rodan , Son of Godzilla , Terror of Mechagodzilla , The War of the Gargantuas , and The X From Outer Space .
3. A hell of a Cronenberg double feature
Never get a peaceful dark ’s sleep again after stack these two creepy-crawly classic from torso - horror sea captain David Cronenberg : 1981’sScanners , about a telepaths who engage in the ultimate battle of the mind , feature one of cinema ’s most legendaryexploding - mind special effects ; and 1979’sThe Brood , about a womanhood whose rage is so herculean she unintentionally spawns humanoid “ children ” that attack the objective of her anger .
Just the picture alone would be recommended view , but if you watch them though Criterion Channel , you may also get at spear carrier like an insightful contemporary interview with Scanners antagonist Michael Ironside ; vintage lecture - show clips ( include a 1980 segment of The Merv Griffin Show with The Brood star Oliver Reed … alongside Griffin ’s other guests , Orson Welles and Charo ) ; multiple schmoose with Cronenberg himself ; making - of documentaries ; and more .
4. Top-notch (and très weird) foreign-language horror
One of the Criterion Collection ’s most robust category has always been outside picture , and there are some horror standouts lurking in its library of foreign selection . These admit Guillermo del Toro ’s first characteristic , 1993’sCronos , the serious-minded yet gory narration of an aged old-timer dealer who cut himself on a mystic mechanized gadget that slowly start turning him into a lamia . It ’s the first collaboration between del Toro and Ron Perlman , who pops up as the hard-boiled boy of a rich human race who want the machine to secure his own immortality .
There ’s also Georges Franju ’s 1960 centre Without a Face , the scarey , black - and - white-hot tale of a mad doctor on the James Henry Leigh Hunt for the perfect replacement face for his girl , whose own lovely visage was mangled in a railcar chance event . And if you really wanna blow your hair back while reading subtitles , gibe out Goke , Body Snatcher From Hell — Hajime Sato ’s 1968 tale of bickering airplane - crash survivor who must repugn with a skull - pierce alien blob that ’s go forth from a nearby UFO , intent on turning man into vampires as part of its plan for world domination . The particular effects are rather lo - fi , but that does n’t stop them from being improbably unsettling .
5. Time Bandits
With Apple’sin - the - full treatment cyclosis serviceplanning a serial ( with the help ofTaika Waititi ) based onTerry Gilliam ’s 1981 sentence - travel fantasy , there ’s no better time to revisit this film , especially when it do with the option of watching with a commentary packed with memories and anecdote from Gilliam , co - writer Michael Palin , star John Cleese and David Warner , and others .
Yes , Time Bandits isa fairy tale with a kid protagonist , following the adventures of a account - haunt tween who gets swept up with a bunch of stealer who hop across clip and proportion with the help of a wizard single-valued function . But there ’s nothing twee about this inventive story , a fact underline by thatbleaker - than - dim gut - punch of an ending . Other duplicate include here are a short doc essay the film ’s fanciful output innovation and costumes , as well as an extensive conversation with Gilliam filmed at a fete in 1998 .
6. Sightseers
Eclectic British filmmakerBen Wheatley(Kill List , Free Fire , A study in England ) directed this 2012 mordant funniness about a duet ( the deadpan hilarious Alice Lowe and Steve Oram , who also co - drop a line the handwriting ) on a vacation from hell . The gadget is that their road tripper is actually pretty everyday ; traveling by RV , they do things like visit a pencil museum and incidentally break apart a bachelor girl party . The “ hell ” part total from the fact that they just ca n’t cease brutally killing hoi polloi who get in their way — and regard they ’re both pretty unstable , it does n’t take much to pass water them off . tripper is classified as one of Criterion Channel ’s limited - appointment selections ( it ’ll be available through September 30 ) , so move it to the top of your waiting line if you make up one’s mind to take the plunge .
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CronosImage: October Films
