FILM MOVEMENT CLASSICS RELEASES GEOFF MURPHY’S THE QUIET EARTH ON BLU-RAY AND DVD, FEATURING COMMENTARY BY NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON, ON DECEMBER 6TH
“A thoughtful, suspenseful film…full of impact” – Ed Kaufman, The Hollywood Reporter
November 17, 2016 (New York, NY) – Film Movement, the New York-based distributor of arthouse and independent films, is pleased to announce the home video release of Geoffrey Murphy’s New Zealand sci-fi cult classic THE QUIET EARTH (1985, 91 minutes), which will be available for the first time on Blu-ray, as well as DVD, in the U.S. on December 6th. Film Movement Classics will release this Blu-ray and DVD with a unique bonus feature: a commentary by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, the Director of the Hayden Planetarium of the Natural History Museum in New York, together with rogerebert.com film critic Odie Henderson. THE QUIET EARTH is one of deGrasse Tyson’s favorite science fiction films.
In THE QUIET EARTH, Bruno Lawrence stars as scientist Zac Hobson and proved an “electrifying screen force,” observed Sheila Benson of The Los Angeles Times at the time of its release. Zac is a mid-level scientist working on a global energy project who wakes up to a nightmare. After his project malfunctions, he discovers that he may be the last man on Earth. As he searches empty cities for other survivors, Zac’s mental state begins to deteriorate - culminating in the film’s iconic and hotly debated ending. Alison Routledge and Peter Smith also star.
Called “the best science fiction film of the ‘80s” by Kirk Honeycutt of the Los Angeles Daily News, THE QUIET EARTH is loosely based on Craig Harrison’s novel of the same name. With this award-winning film, Geoff Murphy, who also directed GOODBYE PORK PIE and UTU, ushered in a renaissance of classic New Zealand films in the 1980s. In his review, Honeycutt goes on to say, “the movie churns up more thought-provoking ideas about life on planet Earth than a month’s worth of STAR WARS-styled films.” THE QUIET EARTH, which was originally screenwriter and producer Sam Pillsbury’s project, was sold to 80 countries, gained a cult following, and won Murphy attention in the United States. During the 1990s Murphy directed a string of Hollywood features, before returning to New Zealand as second-unit director on THE LORD OF THE RINGS film trilogy.
On December 6th, THE QUIET EARTH will be available to own from FilmMovement.com, Amazon.com and other retailers on Blu-ray and DVD under the Film Movement Classics imprint. In addition to the commentary by Neil deGrasse Tyson and film critic Odie Henderson, the release will include a collector’s booklet with stills and credit details, as well as a newly-commissioned essay by Teresa Heffernan, Professor of English at Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, whose books include “Post-Apocalyptic Culture: Modernism, Postmodernism, and the Twentieth-Century Novel.”
In addition to THE QUIET EARTH, other Film Movement Classics available for purchase in time for the holiday gift-giving season include “Beat” Takeshi Kitano’s first two films, VIOLENT COP and BOILING POINT, and Wolf Gremm’s KAMIKAZE ’89, starring Rainer Werner Fassbinder. To see and purchase all Film Movement Classics on Blu-ray and DVD, please go to FilmMovement.com.
