Good news for those who wish to know what their Twitter feed’s jacking off to: the Criterion Channel are launching an erotic thriller series that includes De Palma’s Dressed to Kill and Body Double, the Wachowskis’ Bound, and so many other movies to stir up that ceaseless, fruitless “why do movies have sex scenes?” discourse. (Better or worse than middle-age film critics implying they have a hard-on? I’m so indignant at being forced to choose.) Similarly lurid, if not a bit more frightening, is a David Lynch retro that includes the Criterion editions of Lost Highway and Inland Empire (about which I spoke to Lynch last year), a series of shorts, and a one-month-only engagement for Dune, a film that should be there in perpetuity.
Retrospectives of Harold Lloyd, Rohmer’s Tales of the Four Seasons, and shorts by Fanta Régina Nacro round out the big debuts, while Criterion editions of Faya dayi, Dressed to Kill, and The Comfort of Strangers debut, while Debbie Tucker Green’s ear for eye has a streaming premiere. And while you’re at it: don’t sleep on Songs from the Second Floor, streaming thanks to Ari Aster.
See the full list below and more at the Criterion Channel.
Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Werner Herzog, 1972
Ballerina, David Lynch, 2007
Bashful, Alfred J. Goulding, 1917
The Big Idea, Gilbert Pratt and Hal Mohr, 1917
Bintou, Fanta Régina Nacro, 2001
Body Double, Brian De Palma, 1984
Body Heat, Lawrence Kasdan, 1981
Bound, Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski, 1996*
By the Sad Sea Waves, Alfred J. Goulding, 1917
Call Me, Sollace Mitchell, 1988
A Certain Morning, Fanta Régina Nacro, 1992
Color of Night, Richard Rush, 1994
Crimes of Passion, Ken Russell, 1984
Criminal Passion, Donna Deitch, 1994
Declarations of Love, Tiff Rekem, 2022
Dream Lover, Nicholas Kazan, 1993
Dressed to Kill, Brian De Palma, 1980
Dune, David Lynch, 1984*
ear for eye, debbie tucker green, 2021
Faya dayi, Jessica Beshir, 2021
Filipiñana, Rafael Manuel, 2020
Fleshtone, Harry Hurwitz, 1994
A Gasoline Wedding, Alfred J. Goulding, 1918
Get Out and Get Under, Hal Roach, 1920
Good Morning, Miss Dove, Henry Koster, 1955
Grandma’s Boy, Fred Newmeyer, 1922
Harold Lloyd’s Funny Side of Life, Harry Kerwin, 1963
The Harder They Come, Perry Henzell, 1973
Haunted Spooks, Hal Roach and Alfred J. Goulding, 1920
Heron 1954–2002, Alexis McCrimmon, 2022
Home When You Return, Carl Elsasser, 2021
In a Lonely Place, Nicholas Ray, 1950
Inland Empire, 2006
Jade, William Friedkin, 1995*
Konate’s Gift, Fanta Régina Nacro, 1997
The Last Seduction, John Dahl, 1994
Lonesome Luke, Messenger, Hal Roach, 1917
Look Pleasant, Please, Alfred J. Goulding, 1918
Lost Highway, David Lynch, 1997
LYNCH (one), blackANDwhite, 2007
LYNCH2, blackANDwhite, 2007
Madness Remixed, Rhea Storr, 2021
Maman Brigitte, Ayanna Dozier, 2022
Manhunter, Michael Mann, 1986*
Mulholland Dr., David Lynch, 2001
Next Aisle Over, Hal Roach, 1919
Oliver Sees Indigo, Ryan Clancy, 2022
Over the Fence, J. Farrell MacDonald and Harold Lloyd, 1917
Poison Ivy, Katt Shea, 1992
Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch, Toby Keeler, 1997
Puk nini, Fanta Régina Nacro, 1995
A Sailor-Made Man, Fred Newmeyer, 1921
A Sammy in Siberia, Hal Roach, 1919
Sister, Sister, Bill Condon, 1987
Songs from the Second Floor, Roy Andersson, 2000
So We Live, Rand Abou Fakher, 2021
Spring Fever, Hal Roach, 1919
Squish!, Tulapop Saenjaroen, 2021
Strangers, Rajee Samarasinghe, 2022
A Tale of Autumn, Eric Rohmer, 1998
A Tale of Springtime, Eric Rohmer, 1990
A Tale of Summer, Eric Rohmer, 1996
A Tale of Winter, Eric Rohmer, 1998
That’s Him, Gilbert Pratt, 1918
Three Songs Without Z., Karthik Pandian and Andros Zins-Browne, 2022
We Knew How Beautiful They Were, These Islands, Younes Ben Slimane, 2022
Wicker Man, Robin Hardy, 1973
Back By Popular Demand
In a Lonely Place, Nicholas Ray, 1950
Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Werner Herzog, 1972
The Harder They Come, Perry Henzell, 1973
The Wicker Man, Robin Hardy, 1973
Manhunter, Michael Mann, 1986
*Available in the U.S. only