mervyn-verstellung's - Rented List

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A Japanese box-office sensation in 1968, Kuroneko is a sparse, atmospheric horror story, adhering to Kaneto Shindo's philosophy of using beauty and purity to evoke emotion.

Eccentric and more overtly supernatural than its breakthrough companion piece, Onibaba (1964), Kuroneko revisits similar themes to reveal a haunting meditation on duty, conformity and love. In this magnificently eerie and romantic film - loosely based on the Japanese folktale The Cat's Return - a mother and daughter-in-law (Nobuko Otowa and Kiwako Taichi) are raped and murdered by pillagers, but return from the dead as vampiric cat spirits intent on revenge. As the ghosts lure soldiers into the bamboo groves, a fearless samurai, Gintoki (Kichiemon Nakamura), is sent to stop their reign of terror.

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As he travels home on the train for Christmas holidays Kay Harker (Devin Stanfield) has the strangest feeling something very mysterious is about to happen...there is snow on the wind and wild dogs are roaming the countryside.

Then a chance meeting with an old Punch and Judy man, Cole Hawlins (Patrick Troughton), the guardian of elixir of life and a shabby box of powers, pulls Kay into an array of fantastic worlds where he encounters ancient heroes, wolves, Romans, rats, flashing rings and flying ponies.

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Fresh from an unceremonious dumping by her boyfriend of 10 years, Paula (Laetitia Dosch) finds herself wandering the streets of Paris - jobless, homeless, and single - who no idea of what life holds for her next.

At 31 years old, with little to show for it but a kidnapped cat and a sense of adventure, she sets out to reinvent herself - new job, new friends, new life - and finds that these things never do come easily.

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'The Cremator' has been described in many ways - as surrealist-horror, political allegory, a pitch-black comic satire and a darkly disturbing tale of terror. This unique cult film, a brilliantly chilling mix of Repulsion and Dr.

Strangelove, is set during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia and built around a remarkable performance by Rudolf Hrusinsky as the titular cremator. Proud of his mastery of his trade, Mr. Kopfrkingl's perverse and deranged fantasies gradually lead him towards offering a final solution for the 'salvation of the world'.

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"Bacurau" is a wild, genre-blending siege thriller from Kleber Mendonga Filho (Aquarius, Neighbouring Sounds) and Juliano Dornelles. Set in the remote back-country of Brazil, it follows a tight-knit village community's bloody and brutal fight for its own survival.

With unforgettable turns from Udo Kier and Sonia Braga, this is an audacious, original and spectacularly violent blend of neo-Western, revenge thriller and political allegory.

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Set in modern Berlin, the film expertly captures the daily struggles of inner city life, of gang rivalry, organised crime, fear and fight for survival.

With a soundtrack that features an impressive selection of artists including Gang of Four and Beck, Tough Enough has won numerous accolades around Europe for its raw depiction of the isolation experienced by young people from a society that ignores them.

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On a secluded farm, a man is bedridden and fighting through his final breaths while his wife slowly succumbs to overwhelming grief. Siblings Louise and Michael return home to help, but it doesn't take long for them to see that something's wrong with - mom, something more than her heavy sorrow.

Gradually, they begin to suffer a darkness similar to their mother's, marked by waking nightmares and a growing sense that an evil entity is taking over their family.

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Adam (Gabe Nicholson) lives a life of quiet isolation. He spends his days hunting, preparing food, and keeping watch for a spiritual presence in the forest called Sator.

Adam and his brother, Pete (Michael Daniel), learn of Sator through their grandmother, Nani (June Peterson), who claims that this spirit has been guiding her through life as a whisper in her ear. The presence eventually invades Adam's life, with the impending threat of violence lurking behind the cover of the forest.

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On December 15th 1995 a four-man team from the cable-access program Fact or Fiction braved the desolate New Jersey Pine Barrens determined to deliver a live broadcast of the legendary monster The Jersey Devil. Only one came out alive.

It took the jury 90 minutes to sentence the lone survivor to life in prison. One year later filmmaker David Leigh (David Beard) decided to mount his own investigation. Convinced that the man convicted of these terrible crimes was innocent, Leigh proposes the murders were committed by someone - or something - else. Could the Jersey Devil still haunt the barrens?

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Stillwater follows an American oil-rig roughneck from Oklahoma who travels to Marseille to visit his estranged daughter, in prison for a murder she claims she did not commit.

Confronted with language barriers, cultural differences, and a complicated legal system, Bill builds a new life for himself in France as he makes it his personal mission to exonerate his daughter.

Haunted by her long suppressed past and pressured by family to seek treatment from mystical healers for her infertility, a Kosovar woman Lume (Adriana Matoshi) struggles to reconcile the expectations of motherhood with a legacy of wartime brutality.

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The Secret Garden, tells the story of Mary Lennox, a 10 year old girl sent to live with her uncle Archibald Craven, under the watchful eye of Mrs Medlock with only the household maid, Martha for company.

The film is set in 1940's England at Misselthwaite Manor, a remote country estate deep in the Yorkshire moors. Mary begins to uncover many family secrets, particularly after chancing upon her cousin Colin (Edan Hayhurst), who has been shut away unwell in a wing of the house. Whist exploring the grounds of the Misselthwaite Manor, Mary discovers a wondrous garden and meets a local boy Dickon (Amir Wilson), who helps her fix stray dog Hector's injured leg using the garden's restorative powers. The three children adventure deep into the mysteries of the garden a magical place that will change their lives forever.

When five cops are called to investigate a distress call at an abandoned police station, they will instead discover a Satanic slaughterhouse of horrific physical agony and psychosexual torment. But for those who survive, the worst is yet to come.

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After a mysterious group of individuals breaks into Laura's home and attempts to abduct her eight-year-old son, David (Luke David Blumm), the two of them flee town in search of safety.

But soon after the failed kidnapping, David becomes extremely ill, suffering from increasingly sporadic psychosis and convulsions. Following her maternal instincts to save him, Laura (Andi Matichak) commits unspeakable acts to keep him alive, but soon she must decide how far she is willing to go to save her son.

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Delve into the mind of notorious serial killer Ted Bundy in this gripping drama from director Amber Sealey. Based on actual interview transcripts, 'No Man of God' recounts the final years of Bundy's life, as the FBI make one last attempt to secure the truth about his horrific crimes.

Bill Hagmaier (Elijah Wood), an agent in the FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit, is assigned to probe the dangerous mind of convicted serial killer Ted Bundy (Luke Kirby) prior to his execution. Considered by his superiors to have little chance of gaining insight into the motives and actions of the guarded and evasive Bundy, Hagmaier nonetheless establishes a rapport with the killer, but with time running out before Bundy is given the chair, can Hagmaier get the answers he's looking for and gain closure for the victims' families?