Indicator/Powerhouse Films Announce January Titles

British distributors Indicator/Powerhouse Films have announced their January batch of Blu-ray releases. They are: Hoffman (1970), Girl Stroke Boy (1971), The Brute (1977), and The Blockhouse (1973).

Please note that this is the first time Indicator/Powerhouse Films releases will be made available for purchase in North America.

Hoffman

One of the most unsettling films in the Peter Sellers canon, Hoffman sees the actor in a sinister starring role as a bachelor who obsesses over his secretary (Sinéad Cusack, Tam Lin, Revenge) and, discovering that her boyfriend (Jeremy Bulloch, The Spy Who Loved Me) has been fiddling the books at work, blackmails her into spending a week with him. Their time together reveals Hoffman's tragic, lonely existence.

Alvin Rakoff (Death Ship) directs a film which is by turns amusing, poignant and uneasy, and which boasts a central performance so uncomfortable and revealing that its star tried to have the film's negative destroyed. Hoffman makes its worldwide debut on Blu-ray.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

• NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE by Powerhouse Films
• NEW Selected scenes commentary with director Alvin Rakoff (2022)
• NEW interview with Alvin Rakoff (2022)
• NEW interview with focus puller Eddie Collins (2022)
• NEW interview with draughtsman Terry Ackland-Snow (2022)
• Original theatrical trailer
• Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
• Original mono audio
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by John Rain, archival interviews with Peter Sellers and Sinéad Cusack, a look at author Ernest Gébler's multiple iterations of the Hoffman story, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits
• REGION-A/B "LOCKED"

U.S. STREET DATE: JANUARY 18.
UK STREET DATE: JANUARY: 17.

The Brute

In The Brute, Sarah Douglas (Superman II) gives a courageous performance as Diane, a glamorous fashion model trying to escape the brutal blows of her sadistic husband, fearsomely portrayed by Julian Glover (For Your Eyes Only). After a particularly savage attack, Diane leaves to stay with photographer friend Mark (Bruce Robinson, writer and director of Withnail & I) and his girlfriend Carrie (Suzanne Stone). Finding solidarity with other victims at a nearby women's refuge, she aims to forge a new life alone, but her violent ex-partner is determined to track her down.

Written and directed by Gerry O'Hara (The Pleasure Girls, The Bitch), The Brute is an uncompromising exploitation film which dares to tackle the taboo subject of domestic violence. Unseen since the early days of VHS, The Brute now returns in a worldwide Blu-ray premiere.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

• NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE by Powerhouse Films
• TWO PRESENTATIONS OF THE FILM: the explicit export cut; and the uncensored, pre-release UK version, The Brute Syndrome
• NEW interview with director Gerry O'Hara (2022)
• NEW Audio commentary with actor Sarah Douglas and writer and critic Kim Newman (2022)
• UK prologue (1977): an 'expert' contextualises the film's themes
• The Sea Can Kill (1976): Royal Navy short, written and directed by Gerry O'Hara, about surviving a disaster at sea
• Erin Pizzey (1978): interview with the inspirational founder of the world's first refuge for women, production by the Central Office of Information
• Original theatrical trailers
• Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
• Original mono audio
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson, a look at the public response to the film's controversial screenings, an interview with fight arranger Roberta Gibbs, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits
• REGION-FREE

U.S. STREET DATE: JANUARY 18.
UK STREET DATE: SEPTEMBER 17.

The Blockhouse

Based upon harrowing real events which were turned into a 1955 novel by Jean-Paul Clébert, The Blockhouse starts explosively with an Allied air raid on a Nazi prison camp. Six escaped prisoners take shelter in an underground blockhouse, which is soon destroyed by heavy shelling. Trapped underground, with an almost endless supply of food, wine and candles, the men must endure confinement with no prospect of escape or rescue.

Featuring a stunning ensemble cast that includes Peter Sellers (Hoffman), Charles Aznavour (Shoot the Pianist), Peter Vaughan (Symptoms), Jeremy Kemp (The Strange Affair), Per Oscarsson (A Dandy in Aspic) and Leon Lissek (Marat/Sade), The Blockhouse was filmed on the Channel Islands in a dank and dark underground bunker, giving the film a suffocating sense of claustrophobia. This newly restored edition marks the film's worldwide Blu-ray premiere.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

• NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE by Powerhouse Films
• NEW interview with star Leon Lissek (2022)
• NEW interview with Fred Rees and Gilda Rees, director Clive Rees' son and widow (2022)
• NEW interview with production manager Matthew Raymond (2022)
• NEW interview with executive producer Kent Walwin (2022)
• NEW interview with electrician Peter Bloor (2022)
• The Channel Islands 1940–1945 (1945): short film produced by Britain's Crown Film Unit which sees Channel Islanders re-enact incidents from the German occupation during World War II
• Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
• Original mono audio
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Kieran Foster, contemporary news reports on the event that inspired the film, archival interviews with star Peter Sellers and director Clive Rees, an overview of contemporary critical responses, new writing on The Channel Islands 1940–1945, and film credits
• REGION-FREE

U.S. STREET DATE: JANUARY 18.
UK STREET DATE: JANUARY 17.

Girl Stroke Boy

Based on David Percival's acclaimed play Girlfriend, Girl Stroke Boy is a one-of-a-kind comedy which tells of two everyday, middle-class parents who are confounded when their son brings home his new partner: an elegant, confusingly androgynous West Indian (actor and pop star Peter Straker in a pioneering performance).

Directed with an affectionate, light touch by Bob Kellet (Up Pompeii, Space: 1999) and featuring a superb cast, including Joan Greenwood (Mysterious Island, Kind Hearts and Coronets), Michael Hordern (The Missionary, Barry Lyndon), Patricia Routledge (To Sir, with Love), and Clive Francis (A Clockwork Orange), Girl Stroke Boy still packs a punch today thanks to Straker's flamboyant performance (British cinema's first gay leading role to be played by a black actor) and the prescient subject matter. Long out of circulation, this new, restored edition marks the film's worldwide Blu-ray premiere.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

• NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM RARE SURVIVING ELEMENTS by Powerhouse Films
• NEW interview with the film's star, Peter Straker (2022)
• NEW appreciation by film historian and curator Alex Davidson (2022)
• The BEHP Interview with John Scott (2018): far-reaching discussion of the composer's work, made as part of the British Entertainment History Project
• Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
• A Couple of Beauties (1972): innuendo-laden comedy short starring Manchester-based female impersonator Bunny Lewis
• Original mono audio
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Limited edition exclusive booklet with new essay by Jane Giles, archival interview with Peter Straker, a look at the reception of the source play Girlfriend, an overview of contemporary critical responses, new writing on A Couple of Beauties, and film credits
• REGION-FREE

U.S. STREET DATE: JANUARY 18.
UK STREET DATE: JANUARY 17.