criterionforum.org

Posted: **Wed Mar 04, 2026 1:10 pm**

Is there any plan to continue this series? I seem to remember the original announcement was six volumes with the Norstein set being the last.

Posted: **Wed Mar 04, 2026 1:18 pm**

I believe Norstein was originally number six, but it got bumped up the schedule to number three. As far as I'm aware, the plan is still to release "at least" six volumes.

Posted: **Wed Mar 11, 2026 7:46 pm**

Is it typical for orders placed through DC's website to lack any sort of estimated shipping/delivery date? It's been over two weeks since I placed my order and its status hasn't changed from "confirmed." All of my items were listed as being in-stock, so I shouldn't think that's causing an issue...

Posted: **Wed Mar 11, 2026 8:31 pm**

ianthemovie wrote: Wed Mar 11, 2026 7:46 pm Is it typical for orders placed through DC's website to lack any sort of estimated shipping/delivery date? It's been over two weeks since I placed my order and its status hasn't changed from "confirmed." All of my items were listed as being in-stock, so I shouldn't think that's causing an issue...

I believe that’s quite typical, I can verify this for Pre-Orders at least since the January and February Pre-Orders I made were confirmed but then took a week or two to actually start shipping out, although I’m sure if the same is true for in stock items, might be worth sending a DM to them if you’re worried it’s not going to ship.

Posted: **Fri Mar 13, 2026 5:38 pm**

ianthemovie wrote: Wed Mar 11, 2026 7:46 pm Is it typical for orders placed through DC's website to lack any sort of estimated shipping/delivery date? It's been over two weeks since I placed my order and its status hasn't changed from "confirmed." All of my items were listed as being in-stock, so I shouldn't think that's causing an issue...

They have been changing warehouses these past few months, which has held up some orders. I imagine once the warehouse move is sorted, they won't have these kinds of delays.

You can shoot them an email or DM to check, but I suspect that's what the issue is.

Posted: **Fri Mar 13, 2026 7:08 pm**

Thanks! I see that on their website it says that shipments are backed up right now due to the warehouse move. I'll give it a little more time before I contact them.

Posted: **Fri Mar 13, 2026 7:46 pm**

From their latest newsletter:

Our giant warehouse move is now complete and orders are flying out the door as quickly as possible. By March 20 (if not sooner) we’ll be completely caught up. As a huge THANK YOU for your incredible patience throughout this transition we’re going to have a great big sale! For the first time ever this will also include Deluxe Limited Editions! Many titles are already low in stock, so we anticipate many titles selling out quickly.

The sale will begin at Saturday March 21st at 9am and run until March 28th.

Posted: **Mon Mar 16, 2026 9:27 am**

Adam X wrote: Fri Mar 13, 2026 7:46 pm From their latest newsletter:
Our giant warehouse move is now complete and orders are flying out the door as quickly as possible. By March 20 (if not sooner) we’ll be completely caught up. As a huge THANK YOU for your incredible patience throughout this transition we’re going to have a great big sale! For the first time ever this will also include Deluxe Limited Editions! Many titles are already low in stock, so we anticipate many titles selling out quickly.

The sale will begin at Saturday March 21st at 9am and run until March 28th.

Where are they based in the US? Trying to work out what time this would be in the UK. I know the US has already changed clocks too.

Posted: **Mon Mar 16, 2026 10:01 am**

Given that they're based in L.A., I'd assume PST.

Posted: **Mon Mar 16, 2026 2:08 pm**

Relative to London it's a four hour time difference on the east coast and seven hour time difference on the Pacific coast. My last order with them from the last flash sale was shipped from New Jersey (east coast) but I don't know where the new warehouse location is. I'd imagine it's still on the east coast.

Posted: **Wed Mar 18, 2026 2:10 pm**

Mondo Digital on Dead Mountaineer's Hotel.

Posted: **Sat Mar 21, 2026 4:46 pm**

I got in as soon as it started. Got the limited I wanted of all Eastern European films (apart from the Norstein set with botched audio). Missed out on Freckled Max as there were only two copies which went before I could load the cart. Accepted Alraune ain’t coming back in limited, so got a standard of that too.

Posted: **Sat Mar 21, 2026 5:03 pm**

DEFA Fairy Tales

The wildly surreal, music- and color-saturated world of fairy tale films or Märchenfilme from East Germany’s DEFA Studios are one of the great, still-overlooked subgenres in world fantasy filmmaking. Part Sid & Marty Krofft Saturday morning kiddie psychedelia, part sturdy Socialist moralizing, the Märchenfilme were one of DEFA’s most popular genres from the 1950s to 1970s. We’re thrilled to collaborate again with the DEFA Film Library at the Univ. of Massachusetts Amherst on this first-ever Blu-ray release of five of their best fairy tale gems:

SNOW WHITE (SCHNEEWITTCHEN) – 1961, 63 min., dir. Gottfried Kolditz. This lovely live-action version of the classic Bros. Grimm tale is in many ways the prototypical DEFA fairy tale film, with Doris Weikow radiating storybook charm as Snow White.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD (ROTKÄPPCHEN) – 1962, 72 min., dir. Götz Friedrich. Red Riding Hood (Blanche Kommerell) faces off against some of the mangiest and most terrifying forest creatures ever conceived, including The Big Bad Wolf (Werner Dissel) -- basically an American Werewolf in East Germany. Sure to give your 6-year old self nightmares for life.

MOTHER HULDA (FRAU HOLLE) – 1963, 57 min., dir. Gottfried Kolditz. Lazy daughter Pechmarie (Katharina Lind) and hardworking stepdaughter Goldmarie (Karin Ugowski vie for the approval of magical Frau Holle, who lives in an insanely artificial Pee Wee’s Playhouse-meets-Lidsville underground world.

THE DEVIL’S THREE GOLDEN HAIRS (WER REIßT DENN GLEICH VOR'M TEUFEL AUS) – 1977, 92 min., dir. Egon Schlegel. Crazy fantasy/comedy about a clumsy young man (Hans-Joachim Frank), who is forced to rob three hairs from the Devil (Dieter Franke). The Devil’s psychedelic lair with shrunken heads and gruesome Halloween décor must be seen to be believed.

SNOW WHITE AND ROSE RED (SCHNEEWEIßCHEN UND ROSENROT) - 1979, 70 min., dir. Siegfried Hartmann. Excellent fantasy / fairy tale about peasant girls Snow White (Julie Juristová) and Rose-Red (Katrin Martin) trying to outwit an enraged dwarf (Hans-Peter Minetti) guarding a jewel-filled mine. Would make a good double bill with HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS.

Special Features:
New video interview with comics artist (Swamp Thing), film historian, and author Stephen R. Bissette

New commentaries by film historians Michael Brooke, Samm Deighan, Shelagh Rowan-Legg and Anne Golden

“Socialist Fantasies, the Bros. Grimm and DEFA Studios: Fairytale Filmmaking in East Germany” – new visual essay by film historian Evan Chester

New artwork by Beth Morris

Blu-ray authoring by Vital Passenger

Deluxe Edition Bonus Content:

Slipcase featuring new artwork by Mark “Fables” Buckingham

80-page illustrated book

Essays by film scholars Qinna Shen, Rolf Giesen, Walter Chaw and Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

New interview with screenwriter Stefan Kolditz, son of SNOW WHITE and MOTHER HULDA director Gottfried Kolditz

Rare production photos

Posted: **Sat Mar 21, 2026 6:47 pm**

What are these like, as far as tonally when it comes to 'fairy tales'?

Posted: **Sat Mar 21, 2026 7:22 pm**

TechnicolorAcid wrote: Sat Mar 21, 2026 5:03 pm

DEFA Fairy Tales
The wildly surreal, music- and color-saturated world of fairy tale films or Märchenfilme from East Germany’s DEFA Studios are one of the great, still-overlooked subgenres in world fantasy filmmaking. Part Sid & Marty Krofft Saturday morning kiddie psychedelia, part sturdy Socialist moralizing, the Märchenfilme were one of DEFA’s most popular genres from the 1950s to 1970s. We’re thrilled to collaborate again with the DEFA Film Library at the Univ. of Massachusetts Amherst on this first-ever Blu-ray release of five of their best fairy tale gems:

SNOW WHITE (SCHNEEWITTCHEN) – 1961, 63 min., dir. Gottfried Kolditz. This lovely live-action version of the classic Bros. Grimm tale is in many ways the prototypical DEFA fairy tale film, with Doris Weikow radiating storybook charm as Snow White.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD (ROTKÄPPCHEN) – 1962, 72 min., dir. Götz Friedrich. Red Riding Hood (Blanche Kommerell) faces off against some of the mangiest and most terrifying forest creatures ever conceived, including The Big Bad Wolf (Werner Dissel) -- basically an American Werewolf in East Germany. Sure to give your 6-year old self nightmares for life.

MOTHER HULDA (FRAU HOLLE) – 1963, 57 min., dir. Gottfried Kolditz. Lazy daughter Pechmarie (Katharina Lind) and hardworking stepdaughter Goldmarie (Karin Ugowski vie for the approval of magical Frau Holle, who lives in an insanely artificial Pee Wee’s Playhouse-meets-Lidsville underground world.

THE DEVIL’S THREE GOLDEN HAIRS (WER REIßT DENN GLEICH VOR'M TEUFEL AUS) – 1977, 92 min., dir. Egon Schlegel. Crazy fantasy/comedy about a clumsy young man (Hans-Joachim Frank), who is forced to rob three hairs from the Devil (Dieter Franke). The Devil’s psychedelic lair with shrunken heads and gruesome Halloween décor must be seen to be believed.

SNOW WHITE AND ROSE RED (SCHNEEWEIßCHEN UND ROSENROT) - 1979, 70 min., dir. Siegfried Hartmann. Excellent fantasy / fairy tale about peasant girls Snow White (Julie Juristová) and Rose-Red (Katrin Martin) trying to outwit an enraged dwarf (Hans-Peter Minetti) guarding a jewel-filled mine. Would make a good double bill with HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS.

Special Features:
New video interview with comics artist (Swamp Thing), film historian, and author Stephen R. Bissette

New commentaries by film historians Michael Brooke, Samm Deighan, Shelagh Rowan-Legg and Anne Golden

“Socialist Fantasies, the Bros. Grimm and DEFA Studios: Fairytale Filmmaking in East Germany” – new visual essay by film historian Evan Chester

New artwork by Beth Morris

Blu-ray authoring by Vital Passenger

Deluxe Edition Bonus Content:

Slipcase featuring new artwork by Mark “Fables” Buckingham

80-page illustrated book

Essays by film scholars Qinna Shen, Rolf Giesen, Walter Chaw and Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

New interview with screenwriter Stefan Kolditz, son of SNOW WHITE and MOTHER HULDA director Gottfried Kolditz

Rare production photos

Oh hell yes

Posted: **Sun Mar 22, 2026 12:22 am**

therewillbeblus wrote: Sat Mar 21, 2026 6:47 pm What are these like, as far as tonally when it comes to 'fairy tales'?

I was able to find some clips on YouTube. They appear to have been intended for children or "all-ages" audiences, so I would expect mostly straight-forward, family-friendly adaptations of the fairy tales (all five of them come from the Brothers Grimm), albeit with lots of kitschy/bizarre/colorful sets and costumes and probably some unintentional humor. Maybe the Russian fantastika films that Deaf Crocodile has previously released are comparable?

I thought I had seen this version of Snow White before but it looks like that was actually a different Snow White adaptation from five years earlier. Which has me hopeful that this one will actually be good! I have a soft spot for unusual fairy-tale films so I am very much looking forward to diving into this set.

Posted: **Sun Mar 22, 2026 2:00 am**

therewillbeblus wrote: Sat Mar 21, 2026 6:47 pm What are these like, as far as tonally when it comes to 'fairy tales'?

I can’t judge the whole set but I just saw Frau Holle on YouTube in a Russian dub and tonally, it’s exactly what you’d expect from a fairytale adaptation aimed towards all audiences, charming but ultimately nothing life-changing. Stylistically though, the minimalist sets are the real stars of the picture and create a very dream-like feel to the whole film that turns it into a fairytale that’s wholly devoted to the unreality of these types of tales, especially when we enter the titular character’s home in the clouds with rows of artificial white flowers and wonderfully homegrown effects. I also will add that the Russian dub I experienced with this film turns all of the songs into dialogue that makes them sound like a person is narrating over the songs, which oddly added to the surreal undertones of the film.

Undeniably though, I imagine this set, or at least this film, is probably going to work best with people who have kids or people who’ve grown up with these kinds of films, much like the Aleksandr Ptushko fantasy films Deaf Crocodile has previously released, which means I’ll probably enjoy it but I’d recommend anyone hesitant about that outline not to blind buy just yet and wait for reviews to start coming in.

Posted: **Mon Mar 23, 2026 12:17 pm**

therewillbeblus wrote: Sat Mar 21, 2026 6:47 pm What are these like, as far as tonally when it comes to 'fairy tales'?

I personally I love these. Three Wishes for Cinderella, which was a coproduction, is probably the closest you have seen to these films though that is definitely the crown jewel. They are largely straight forward retellings that depend on aesthetic to create a sense of wonderment which works very well for me.

Posted: **Mon Mar 23, 2026 12:32 pm**

You can definitely see the influence of Three Wishes for Cinderella on the two late-70s films in the set, which are much more overtly comedic—and Snow White and Rose Red even casts Pavel Trávníček in a very similar part to the one he played earlier.

Posted: **Tue Mar 24, 2026 11:24 am**

I was surprised to see that The Singing Ringing Tree was not included in this, by the way. I'll be curious to see whether there are other differences between this set and the one coming from MoC.

Posted: **Tue Mar 24, 2026 11:33 am**

ianthemovie wrote: Tue Mar 24, 2026 11:24 am I was surprised to see that The Singing Ringing Tree was not included in this, by the way. I'll be curious to see whether there are other differences between this set and the one coming from MoC.

Dennis actually discussed this in the Discord and he said this about releasing The Singing Ringing Tree:

If we could have stretched the Fairy Tale set to include another film, it would have likely been THE SINGING RINGING TREE which has some amazing costumes and production design. The lead character of the princess is pretty annoying and unsympathetic, though -- and we're covering some of the same highly stylized, artificial vibe with SNOW WHITE, LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD and FRAU HOLLE in the set. SNOW WHITE & ROSE RED has a lot of gorgeous location shooting, and two very resourceful and pro-active female leads -- and shows how the "Marchenfilme" series was trying to change to keep up with the times. (The DEFA co-production THREE WISHES FOR CINDERELLA which was a big hit at the time would have been a good choice as well, but it came out recently on a standalone Blu-ray!)

Posted: **Tue Mar 24, 2026 11:50 am**

The other interesting thing about Frau Holle is that it’s based on a Grimm fairytale that’s pretty much universally known in Central Europe but really not that well known elsewhere—tellingly, although film and TV adaptations now run into double figures, all but one of them came from German-speaking countries, and the exception was from Czechoslovakia (Juraj Jakubisko’s The Feather Fairy, from 1985), so still Central Europe.

Posted: **Thu Apr 02, 2026 6:26 am**

Roy del espacio Kickstarter

If you want this slipcover, you have to contribute to the Kickstarter campaign:

This is the cover that will later be sold on their website/included in the next 6-month subscription:

Posted: **Fri Apr 17, 2026 5:03 pm**

Legend of the Sacred Stone

LEGEND OF THE SACRED STONE (SHENG SHI CHUAN SHUO) – 2000, Pili International Multimedia, 99 min. Dir. Chris Huang. If you’ve ever dreamed of seeing a wuxia martial arts epic filled with occult secrets and black magic spells, incredibly choreographed sword fights with spinning / flying / leaping combatants, hidden tombs, lakes of fire, the eternal battle between darkness and light – but told entirely with puppets – then your wait is over! LEGEND OF THE SACRED STONE is based on the tremendously popular Taiwanese TV show “PILI” launched in 1984 that uses traditional Chinese budaixi glove puppetry to tell amazingly elaborate wuxia stories packed with nonstop action and swordplay. An equal mix of classic Shaw Brothers martial arts movies, THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO, TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE, and Jim Henson’s beloved THE DARK CRYSTAL, LEGEND revolves around a group of warriors of Wulin led by white-maned hero Su Huan-Jen trying to prevent Mo Kuei and his spectral assassins called "The Unkind" from gaining possession of the all-powerful Sacred Stone. The Unkind in particular are a riot with their screechy Skeksis-like voices and unexpected sense of humor: “We’re the most handsome men in the world!” one chortles. Along the way you get treated to martial arts moves like Aeolian Surprise, Thunder Bars, heroes riding a flying sword like the Silver Surfer, living corpses with melting flesh – oh, and if you’ve ever wondered how a puppet bleeds, you’ll see that too.

In Taiwanese Hokkien with English subtitles.

Special Features:

New video interview with director Chris Huang and members of the PILI puppeteering team. (In Taiwanese Hokkien with English subtitles)

New audio commentary by puppeteer & filmmaker Ben Wolf Page, Associate Editor of The Puppetry Journal for the Puppeteers of America

"Puppets, Wuxia, and Spirituality: The Lore and Inspirations Behind Legend of the Sacred Stone" -- new visual essay by film historian Evan Chester (17 min.)

“Su Huan-Jen Character Spotlight” (1987-2024, 5 min.) – a newly-edited compilation for this release showing the evolution of the character of Su Huan-Jen over the course of nearly 40 years of PILI TV

Two original trailers for the feature (with English subtitles)

New art by Beth Morris

Deluxe Edition Bonus Content:

Slipcase featuring stunning new artwork by Richard Cox

60-page illustrated booklet

New essay by Fantasia Festival programmer Rupert Bottenberg

New essay by film critic Walter Chaw (Film Freak Central)

Limited to 1500 units

Black Rabbit, White Rabbit

BLACK RABBIT, WHITE RABBIT – 2025, DreamLab Films, 139 min. The latest film from Iranian master Shahram Mokri (FISH & CAT, CARELESS CRIME) is another mysterious M.C. Escher-like meditation on reality and illusion, doubles and doppelgängers and uncanny synchronicities, involving stories-within-stories set during production of a film by a director named “Shahram” – already blurring the lines between film and reality. Guns play a strange and mystical part in BLACK RABBIT: on the film set, we meet armorer Babak, played by the great Iranian actor Babak Karimi (FISH & CAT, A SEPARATION). This production marks his 40th, and he’s paranoid he won’t get through the day without a terrible accident (his mentor was killed in an explosion on his 40th film.) "I've discovered something important: there's a revolver here hell bent on revenge,” he murmurs. The other major storyline involves Sara (Hasti Mohammaï), who is kept as a prisoner inside her house by her husband while she recovers from a near-fatal car accident. She's wrapped in bandages like Elsa Lanchester in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and gives off a foul odor from her wounds. Slowly, fantastical elements begin to bleed through, like waking dreams intruding on the conscious world: an enormous prop Coffee Cup moves about the set by itself; inanimate objects talk amongst themselves about the Italian gun that's arrived to take revenge; and an aspiring actress gives an audition in which she does magic, causing a white rabbit and a black rabbit to appear. “The magic of time weaves together apparently unrelated events. A story of women seeking to escape their cocooned lives. A story of objects possessing a soul, deciding when and where to play a role. A quest to make dreams come true, linking these stories together thanks to the wonder of cinema.” – Shahram Mokri. In Tajiki and Russian with English subtitles.

Bonus Features:

Three ultra-rare early Mokri short films:

"The Dragonfly Storm" (Toofan-e Sanjaghak) (2002, 15 min.)

"Limits of the Circle" (Mahdoodeh-ye Dayereh) (2005, 15 min.)

"Ando-C" (2007, 15 min.)

New audio commentary by film programmer and critic Tori Potenza.

New visual essay: “The Maze: Entrances and Exits in Black Rabbit, White Rabbit” (2026, 13 min.) by filmmaker and scholar Stephen Broomer

New artwork by Beth Morris

Deluxe Edition Bonus Content:

Slipcase featuring new artwork by Brian Level.

60-page illustrated book

New essay by Walter Chaw

New essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

New essay by Michelle Kisner

Limited to 1250 units

Posted: **Fri Apr 17, 2026 5:59 pm**

The Mokri film was originally going to be UHD, but Dennis Bartok confirmed on Discord that they dropped this idea for cost and sales reasons (after all, this is perhaps the most obscure film they've ever released; new film though it is).

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