Craig Ian Mann
@craigimann.bsky.social
Full-time home video producer, part-time writer and sometimes documentary filmmaker | author of Phases of the Moon: A Cultural History of the Werewolf Film | producer and co-writer of Survivors: The Spectre of Threads | 📼 📀
I wrote a little primer on East German cinema for the BFI – ten great films produced by DEFA between 1946 and 1989. Half of them are available on UK Blu-ray (so far, anyway).
10 great East German films
Between the end of World War II and the fall of the Berlin Wall, the weird and wonderful film production line in communist East Germany included sci-fi, westerns, film noir and some uniquely disturbin...
bfi.org.uk
Fairytale Fan? Delighted to show my art for INTO THE FOREST, an amazing collection of vintage fairytale films, & the just announced BENEATH THE TREES boxset! An amazing project to work with @craigimann.bsky.social to illustrate the boxes and interiors for these. info: eurekavideo.co.uk #art
When I joined the website we don't talk about (2009 I guess), Sam Neill was in the habit of following literally anyone who followed him. No pretensions, no questions asked. I guess eventually he couldn't keep up with it, but I always thought that said something about him. Anyway, rewatch Dead Calm.
We're continuing our run of popular German genre cinema at Eureka with Eastern Trails: The Western at DEFA. Putting this one together has been incredibly fun.
Just got my contributor copy of Mario Bava's sensational DANGER: DIABOLIK. Eureka's box set is a thing of beauty, jammed with insightful and entertaining extras. I just knew when I started reading the comic book 45 years ago it would eventually pay off! eurekavideo.co.uk/movie/danger...
I’m staying in a film-themed hotel in Łódź with original Polish poster art on every wall and a Wajda mural painted on the building opposite. It’s the best hotel I’ve ever stayed in and the room even comes with a massive telly… but motion smoothing is switched on so there goes the TripAdvisor review.
You know when you finally see a bonafide masterpiece years after everyone else does and it rightly blows your socks off? Last night I watched Ashes and Diamonds. Holy shit.
Yesterday we announced the second release in the Chasm Films catalogue: Álex de la Iglesia's incredible, blackly comic horror show The Last Circus, replete with a roster of new extras and a director interview. Grab it from @filmsradiance.bsky.social here: www.radiancefilms.co.uk/products/the...
Very sad to hear that Tony Stella has passed away. He was an incredible talent. Here’s my favourite piece of art he produced for us at Eureka, for Cruel Tale of Bushido.
Our new label Chasm Films is set to release its first title – György Pálfi's Taxidermia – later this month, and it's lovely to see that we made it onto @letterboxd.social's latest ShelfLife list. You can pre-order directly from @filmsradiance.bsky.social here: www.radiancefilms.co.uk/products/tax...
Fast Cars and Fresh Kills: on screens and shelves this month • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
The Wachowskis’ pioneering live-action cartoon, a masterwork by Lucrecia Martel and a divisive midnight-movie gem are among the selections in this month’s edition of Shelf Life.
letterboxd.com
The 1984 BBC drama THREADS depicts the effects of a nuclear attack on the working-class city of Sheffield, where hundreds of local men, women and children had volunteered to be extras. [TRAILER LINK] youtu.be/4U5Zb0fqimA
SURVIVORS: THE SPECTRE OF THREADS (2026) TRAILER
YouTube video by Severin Films / Intervision Picture Corp.
youtu.be
Great weekend at Culture Shock festival (by @celluloidscreams.bsky.social). My pick of the retrospectives the Estonian sci-fi noir Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel, my favourite of the new films the Kazakh alien visitation film Stinker. Huge thanks to all who saw Eureka’s The Devil from Mill Mountain, too.
Our feature documentary Survivors: The Spectre of Threads will soon be out in the world as part of the new 4K UHD release of the most harrowing film ever made from @severinfilms.bsky.social. You can pre-order it now (and please do!). You can also grab a traffic warden pin badge while you’re at it.
Threads [3-Disc 4K UHD w/LE Slipcase + Postcard]
“THE MOVIE THAT SCARRED A GENERATION FOR LIFE.”British Film Institute THE WORLDWIDE UHD PREMIERE THREE DISC COLLECTION INCLUDES 7 HOURS OF SPECIAL FEATURESAND BONUS DOCUMENTARYSURVIVORS: THE SPECTRE O...
severinfilms.com
I watched Red Planet on the new 4K UHD from @arrowvideo.bsky.social last night and either it’s actually quite good or I just have a soft spot for films released when I was 10-12 years old, but either way I had a very good time.
Just announced by Eureka, Into the Forest: Folktales at DEFA, featuring five East German Märchenfilme alongside new commentaries, video extras, three animated shorts from the DEFA archives and a stacked book of essays. This has been a dream production project. Pick it up.
The second annual Culture Shock festival (from the folks at @celluloidscreams.bsky.social) kicks off at Sheffield's Showroom Cinema in just two weeks. You won't find more eclectic genre programming – Possession, A Chinese Ghost Story, Dead Mountaineer's Hotel, R.O.T.O.R. – anywhere else.
Culture Shock: Festival of Fantastic Film | Showroom Cinema
Join us for the second edition of Culture Shock: Festival of Fantastic Film, a genre film festival from the makers of Celluloid Screams that celebrates classic and contemporary sci-fi, fantasy, horror...
showroomcinema.org.uk
I've just realised it's been 10 years now since I made my first contribution to a Blu-ray release. I wrote an essay on Wolfgang Petersen's Enemy Mine (still a firm favourite) for Eureka in 2016. A decade later, I'm producing discs for them – all thanks to this underrated little sci-fi film, I guess.
Just been reminded – by an exciting email from Severin – that I forgot to share this piece from the Sheffield Tribune when it was published. We've talked to a lot of people about Threads and our upcoming documentary Survivors: The Spectre of Threads, but this is my favourite interview we've done.
Threads and the making of the Sheffield mind
"The film had genuinely traumatised him in a way that has made him ready for the end of the world at any moment"
sheffieldtribune.co.uk
One of my favourite pieces of art I have ever commissioned, by the exceptionally talented @carlydraws.bsky.social.
carlydraws@carlydraws.bsky.social · 5mo agoHEART OF STONE Bringing classic fairytale vibes in this one, my cover art for 'Heart of Stone' a classic fairytale movie from the DEFA collection at Eureka Entertainment. Gorgeous film! wanted to show those beautiful vintage colours in the art. charcoal and digital colour #art #movies
I've finally got my framed #ArtOfAction poster, featuring my introduction to #TheAdventuresOfRobinHood (1938), on the wall. You can read "Robin Hood And The Stuntman Lost In Time" below. #FilmSky
John Featherstone@johnfeath.bsky.social · 2y agoI had the honour of introducing #TheAdventuresOfRobinHood (1938) at #Sheffield's Showroom Cinema as part of #ArtOfAction season. Here, masterfully reworked as a Q&A by @latereviewer.bsky.social is what I said about one of the greatest stunt teams ever assembled... latereviewer.com/2024/11/26/r...
Picked up the BFI’s new release of Strongroom and absolutely loved supporting feature The Man in the Back Seat. Incredibly nippy at 57 minutes(!), it’s a very tense crime thriller that follows two petty crooks desperately trying to offload their injured victim without getting caught. Great stuff.
Eureka's May titles have just been announced, all of them a total blast to work on: Buster Keaton's masterpiece The General on 4K UHD, an excellent and underseen outing for Inspector Maigret in Maurice Tourneur's Cécile is Dead and Frank Beyer's controversial Trace of Stones, one of DEFA's finest.
Gen Z is reviving DVDs and Blu-rays, with local video rental shops reporting record months and membership numbers as young people embrace physical media. Read more: www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
It has made my day to see Eureka's release of Jakob the Liar – the only East German film to ever be nominated for an Academy Award – top the @avforums.bsky.social list of Top 10 Blu-rays for February 2026. It was a genuine honour to produce this one and I'm really very proud of it.
Top 10 Blu-rays (UK) for February 2026
Another month - is it February already? - another packed release schedule in 1080p blu-ray land. Lets see which ones are worth picking up, shall we?
avforums.com
We've been working on Chasm Films, a new home video label dedicated to underground world genre cinema, for ages – so it's great to see our first release announced with huge thanks to @filmsradiance.bsky.social for hosting us. Taxidermia is beautiful, bonkers and a world Blu-ray premiere. Pick it up.
Of all the new-to-me films I watched last year, the one I think about most often is Piotr Szulkin's War of the Worlds: Next Century. A radical approach to the familiar alien invasion narrative about the evils of media manipulation (and martians obviously). Available on disc from Radiance.
I had a blast talking about the mighty Rear Window (a personal all-timer) with @fatscoleman.bsky.social for @top100pod.bsky.social. I really love this film and hope it comes across in our discussion.
The Top 100 Greatest Films Of All Time@top100pod.bsky.social · 7mo ago💥NEW EPISODE!💥This month Tim is joined by @craigimann.bsky.social from Eureka Entertainment to discuss Alfred Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW (1954). Available wherever you get your podcasts.
💥NEW EPISODE!💥This month Tim is joined by @craigimann.bsky.social from Eureka Entertainment to discuss Alfred Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW (1954). Available wherever you get your podcasts.
