The brand is a joint venture between the Cult Film Archive at Brunel University's School of Arts, in Uxbridge, West London and Nouveaux Pictures, a leading distributor of classic art-house films.
Under the strand, Cine Excess: Taking Trash Seriously, the label is releasing Suspiria by leading Italian horror director Dario Argento, on DVD and Blu-Ray, on January 18.
The film, which became an influential cult classic for its fusion of art-cinema techniques with inventive murder scenes, is being released on Blu-Ray in the UK for the first time.
Brunel Cult Film and TV lecturer, Xavier Mendik, the director of Cine-Excess, helped supervise the restoration of the release in conjunction with film organisations in London and Prague.
Mr Mendik who also leads the annual Cine-Excess international cult film conference and festival, upon which the label is based, also supervised all of extras for the release, which will be aimed at fans and film studies students alike.
“Cult fans are sick of 'extras' that are fairly superficial,“ he explains. “They appreciate something more substantial and intelligent, and which informs them about the movies they love.“
The main documentary included on the release is Fear at 400 Degrees, which Mendik wrote and directed. As well as exploring Argento's classic tale about a coven of murderous witches in a dance academy, the documentary also explores the cultural, social and political context of Italy in 1970s, such as urban terrorism, the women's movement, and regional inequality.
“The series, 'Taking Trash Seriously,' refers to films outside the mainstream, which are defined as 'trash,' but often are later defined as Indie or arthouse classics,“ adds Mendik. Cine Excess recently released the gory 1980s Dutch thriller, Amsterdamned, directed by Dick Maas.
The Cult Film Archive has been given the rights to a selection of the 300 movies owned by the B-movie director and producer, Roger Corman and these will be released in 2010 on the Cine-Excess label.
Notes to Editors
For further details, please contact the Brunel University Press Office, email: press-office@brunel.ac.uk. Tel: 01895 265585 [Mon, Tues, Fri].
Xavier Mendik can be contacted on Xavier.Mendik@brunel.ac.uk; tel: 0771 315 5646
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