News

Carl Weathers passed away peacefully in his sleep on Feb. 1, 2024, leaving an indelible mark on our pop culture. Weathers, who most recently joined the Star Wars galaxy as both a talented director and as the charismatic magistrate Greef Karga, is a legend whose years as a performer on both the big and small screens are worthy of celebration.

Weathers originally made his name in college football, but when his NFL career didn’t pan out, he moved into acting. His linebacker physique made him perfect to play heavyweight champion of the world Apollo Creed in the first Rocky film, and his pop culture immortality was assured. You’ll find him in several iconic ’80s movies, including in one of our genre favorites, Predator.

If you’re interested in seeking out the actor’s work beyond Rocky, Predator, and Star Wars, here are our picks for the best of Carl Weathers in movies and TV.

As we wrap up the month of March, we have one final round of horror and sci-fi home media releases on tap before we start looking towards April and beyond, and I hope you have your wallets ready, because this week’s slate of titles is a budget killer, no doubt. Arrow Video is celebrating the 40th anniversary of An American Werewolf in London this year with a brand new limited edition Steelbook, and Warner Archives is showing some love to a few older titles this Tuesday as well: Isle of the Dead and The Bermuda Depths.

Vinegar Syndrome is keeping busy with a handful of new releases this week, too, including The Fear, Nightmare Weekend, Graduation Day, and Hitcher in the Dark. Severin Films is also celebrating a pair of films from Álex de la Iglesia with their Special Edition Blus for The Day of the Beast and Perdita Durango,...

One of the surprise hits of the 1973 Cannes Film Festival was the low-budget coming of age film Jeremy, an unassuming drama starring two unknowns and directed by an American documentarian whose low-key approach yielded powerful emotional effects. Sixteen-year old Robby Benson had been acting on Broadway since he was nine but was fairly new to movies; his co-star, Glynnis O’Connor, was even less experienced and fluked into her part when she tagged along with her brother Darren on his audition for the part […]

The post Jeremy, The Bad News Bears, The Bermuda Depths and Isle of the Dead: Jim Hemphill's Home Video Recommendations first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

One of the surprise hits of the 1973 Cannes Film Festival was the low-budget coming of age film Jeremy, an unassuming drama starring two unknowns and directed by an American documentarian whose low-key approach yielded powerful emotional effects. Sixteen-year old Robby Benson had been acting on Broadway since he was nine but was fairly new to movies; his co-star, Glynnis O’Connor, was even less experienced and fluked into her part when she tagged along with her brother Darren on his audition for the part […]

The post Jeremy, The Bad News Bears, The Bermuda Depths and Isle of the Dead: Jim Hemphill's Home Video Recommendations first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none

By Todd Garbarini

Tsugunobo Kotani is a film director whose name does not roll off the tongue throughout film circles. A handful of titles to his credit consist of Hatsukoi (1975), The Last Dinosaur (1977), The Ivory Ape (1980), and The Bloody Bushido Blade (1981), and there are a good number of Japanese-language titles that appear in his early filmography. An Internet search of “Tom Kotani,” the Americanized variant of Tsugunobo and the director’s name as it appears in some of his movies, yields even less information. While most people may not recognize him, there is a small but significant percentage of film viewers, yours truly included, who have been deeply affected by one of his films in particular: the made-for-television undersea effort The Bermuda Depths. Filmed in the British Overseas Territory of the Bermudas in 1977, The Bermuda Depths is mysterious for several reasons. It is...

Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none

By Todd Garbarini

Tsugunobo Kotani is a film director whose name does not roll off the tongue throughout film circles. A handful of titles to his credit consist of Hatsukoi (1975), The Last Dinosaur (1977), The Ivory Ape (1980), and The Bloody Bushido Blade (1981), and there are a good number of Japanese-language titles that appear in his early filmography. An Internet search of “Tom Kotani,” the Americanized variant of Tsugunobo and the director’s name as it appears in some of his movies, yields even less information. While most people may not recognize him, there is a small but significant percentage of film viewers, yours truly included, who have been deeply affected by one of his films in particular: the made-for-television undersea effort The Bermuda Depths. Filmed in the British Overseas Territory of the Bermudas in 1977, The Bermuda Depths is mysterious for several reasons. It is...

The Bermuda Depths (1978) is now available on Blu-ray from Warner Archive

What secret lurks 20,000 feet below the waves in the paranormal realm called the Bermuda Triangle? That’s the question a scientist (Burl Ives), his student (Carl Weathers) and a young man (Leigh McCloskey) haunted by nightmarish memories of his Bermuda childhood ask themselves. The answer involves a beauty (Connie Sellecca) who has sold her soul for eternal youth and a giant sea turtle that leaves death in its wake. Eerie and hypnotic, The Bermuda Depths was produced by Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass (The Year Without a Santa Claus), who meld their imaginative fantasy style with the live-action horror genre.

Special Features: Includes Both the 1.33:1 US Broadcast Television Version and the 1.85:1 International Theatrical Version; New Audio Commentary by Author/ Film Historian Amanda Reyes (Are You in the House Alone? A TV Movie Compendium: 1964-1999) and Kindertrauma co-founder Lance Vaughan.

Some of you may be too young to remember The Last Dinosaur. Others of you are old enough to remember seeing it when it first aired in 1977 or the million times it ran in syndication throughout the Eighties. Now everyone can get reacquainted with this cult favorite that has dwelled in obscurity for too long thanks to the Warner Archive.

A joint production between Rankin/Bass (the makers of such classic Christmas specials as "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer") and Tsuburaya Productions (the creators of "Ultraman"), The Last Dinosaur was originally scheduled to be a theatrical release but ended up premiering as an ABC TV movie in 1977. The subsequent repeat airings and limited VHS release have all been of the 90-minute TV cut. The Warner Archive just released 16x9 full frame print contains the never before seen in the Us 106-minute theatrical cut.

“It eats meat! Us!!” "It" is a Tyrannosaurus,...