Deaf Crocodile

***ANNOUNCEMENT*** Coming in late March on #4K/Blu-ray dual format in the US from @DeafCrocodile : #DeadMountaineersHotel (1979)! "I was on call to drive to a mountain hotel. The hotel's name was The Dead Mountaineer," says police inspector Peter Glebsky (Uldis Pūcītis) at the beginning of Estonian director Grigori Kromanov’s dazzling, paranoid mixture of locked-room mystery, 1970s Euro giallo, classic noir whodunit, and (unbelievably) alien sci-fi ala THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH. Based on a novel by famed Soviet authors Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (STALKER, HARD TO BE A GOD), the hall-of-mirrors plot follows Glebsky as he’s trapped by avalanche in the ski lodge with a rogues’ gallery of weird suspects: tubercular gangster Hinckus (Mikk Mikiver), creepy hotel owner Snewahr (Jüri Järvet, KING LEAR), a wall-climbing physicist (Lembit Peterson), a louche, wig-wearing beauty out of a Bryan Ferry song (Irena Kriauzaite) – oh, and the Dead Mountaineer’s faithful St. Bernard. The interior of the hotel (brilliantly art directed by Tõnu Virve and Priit Vaher, and photographed by Jüri Sillart) is straight out of a Dario Argento or Sergio Martino thriller: all chrome-and-marble with Space Age modern designs, drenched in champagne and feather boas. Featuring a stellar electronica / prog score by composer Sven Grünberg, the film combines an eerie THE SHINING-like mountain locale with speculative sci-fi straight out of Chariots of the Gods. “This is the end of the road. The only way is back,” as the hotel owner cryptically smiles. Newly restored in 4K by Deaf Crocodile in collaboration with the Estonian Film Institute and Film Archive. In Estonian with English subtitles. Bonus Features: New 4K restoration by Craig Rogers and Michael Coronado for Deaf Crocodile and color grade by Tyler Fagerstrom. First-ever Worldwide 4K UHD + Blu-ray release New commentary by film historian Michael Brooke “Snow Job: A Routine Investigation in Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel” - new visual essay by Ryan Verrill & Dr. Will Dodson of Someone’s Favorite Prod. Excerpt from the documentary BONUS TRACK (2016, dir. Riho Vastrik) on composer Sven Grünberg and his score for the film (13 min.) Original trailer Vintage “Making of DEAD MOUNTAINEER’S HOTEL” featurette created by Estonian Public TV Vintage Soviet Estonian newsreel footage on the making of the film (2 min.) New artwork by Beth Morris Disc authoring by @FidelityUHD Deluxe Edition Bonus Content: Limited Edition of 3000 units Hard slipcase featuring new painted cover art by Hans Woody 60-page illustrated booklet including: New essay by Soviet film scholar Peter Rollberg New essay by film historian Michelle Kisner New essay by film critic Walter Chaw deafcrocodile.com/products/dead-… #BluRay #Ad #PhysicalMedia #BluRays #BoutiqueBluRay #CultMovies #DiscConnected #DeafCrocodile #Estonia

Looking forward to seeing anything fun this weekend? #deafcrocodile #letterboxd #defafairytales #bluray

Happy Friday! Just a reminder that while we continue catching up with orders from the sale, Deaf Crocodile merchandise is available and ships from a third-party site. Everything from shirts to coffee mugs to pet bowls, because #deafcroclovespets!

Check out Richard Cox's artwork for the outer box cover of LEGEND OF THE SACRED STONE, all unfurled for your goggling pleasure! Richard previously provided his stunning hand-painted art to KRAKATIT and SIRIUS. #deafcrocodile #bluray #pili #wuxia #puppetry

Sara heals from a car crash swaddled in bandages. Her wounds stink in an precise radius around her body. A glowing ring illuminates the circumference. A gun arrives, then rabbits. BLACK RABBIT, WHITE RABBIT. Shipping May. deafcrocodile.com/products/black…

April is almost over, and when April is done, so is the ROY FROM SPACE Kickstarter! To help you decide, here are some pics of the two beautiful slipcovers we have available. The first is a Kickstarter EXCLUSIVE, with art by Haleigh Buck. Once the Kickstarter ends, we'll print up just enough copies to fulfill the Kickstarter pledges and no more. If you want Haleigh's art to adorn your copy, make sure you get your pledge in by midnight on May 1st! The second is our limited edition slipcover illustrated by Gilbert Hernandez of LOVE & ROCKETS! Gilbert drew a fantastic tribute to the original ROY DEL ESPACIO artwork, with color done by Richard Cox. This is the copy that will come standard with all subscriber copies and Romero's Club purchasers, and will also be available direct from Deaf Crocodile and select retailers. And of course, if you have to have both, there is a tier for that in the Kickstarter campaign! Plus you can pledge or add on for an exclusive ROY enamel pin, the classic Romero pin, and if you want to see your name in lights (on your TV screen), there are still some spaces left to get thanked in the credits! Yes, we made our Kickstarter goal, but space travel still includes unforeseen charges! We hope you'll help Roy in his quest to be seen for the first time anywhere since 1983! kickstarter.com/projects/deaf-… #deafcrocodile #kickstarter #royfromspace #mexicananimation #2danimation #lostanimation #bluray #gilberthernandez #loveandrockets #comicart #haleighbuck

This Friday, The Guild Cinema in Albuquerque presents a one-night screening of Sal Watts' indie action asskicker, SOLOMON KING. April 24, 10:30 pm, ONE NIGHT ONLY! Tickets at guildcinema.com #deafcrocodile #salwatts #indiecinema #actionmovies #abqcinema

cinematheque.cia.edu/movies/black-r… cinematheque.cia.edu/programs/deaf-…

Otherworldly animation and time-bending arthouse thrillers come to the Cleveland Cinematheque next week! We have a double-feature of GWEN & THE BOOK OF SAND and BUBBLE BATH plays Friday, May 1 at 8:45pm and Saturday, May 2 at 4:00pm. Meanwhile, BLACK RABBIT, WHITE RABBIT spins its Moebius Strip magic on the big screen for two days, Thursday, April 30 at 8:50 pm and Sunday, May 3 at 6:10 pm. Tickets and more information at cinematheque.cia.edu. Deaf Crocodile's Blu-ray of BLACK RABBIT, WHITE RABBIT is now available to pre-order from our website. #deafcrocodile #2danimation #indietheater #theatricalexperience #bluray #shahrammokri #hungariananimation #arthousecinema

Happy 4/20 to all who celebrate. While Deaf Crocodile doesn't intentionally release "stoner" films, we just keep doing what we do, putting out live-action and animated films that are seriously odd, bent, surreal, and somnambulant. And if that lines up with how you like to celebrate the greenest day of the year, we're happy to spice up your day's entertainment! (still from "The Cathedral of New Emotions," DC-032) #deafcrocodile #bluray

Thanks for a great Pre-Order Friday from Craig, Dennis, Romero, Victor and the whole gang. Enjoy your weekend. Get home safe. #deafcrocodile #fridayfun @dennisbartok @isavefilms

Rabbits atop high mountains and puppet warriors in magic valleys! Check out this month's episode of The Official Deaf Crocodile Podcast for a deep dive on today's pre-orders, THE LEGEND OF THE SACRED STONE and BLACK RABBIT, WHITE RABBIT. spreaker.com/episode/episod… @somefaveprod

Trailer: youtu.be/RvlKNs0CIRI?si…

NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER: Prepare yourself for hyper-kinetic glove-puppet wuxia insanity! deafcrocodile.com/products/legen… LEGEND OF THE SACRED STONE (SHENG SHI CHUAN SHUO) – 2000, 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, "The Unkind," from gaining possession of the all-powerful Sacred Stone. The Unkind 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. (And keep an eye out for the second Pili feature DEMIGOD: THE LEGEND BEGINS coming out through Deaf Crocodile later in 2026!) 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.) Two original trailers for the feature (with English subtitles) “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, including material from early shows such as “Pili Golden Beam,” “Pili Crazy Blade,” “Pili Sky Entrance” and “Pili Kingdom” up through “Pili: The Nine Dragon Throne,” “Pili: Labyrinth Castle, “Pili Fantasy: War of Dragons” and more! (with English subtitles) Blu-ray authoring by Vital Passenger New art by Beth Morris DELUXE EDITION BONUS CONTENT Slipcase featuring 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)

@SgtBilby 😻

@DeafCrocodile Nimfa as a Mii #HayopKa #TomodachiLife

@JadTheMad1 Most relatable GIF of all time, sadly

@mrreebo1 @SpecterM91 And rarely ever even bother to tag us. Gotta love it.

@SpecterM91 @DeafCrocodile I've noticed the same thing and I think what's happening is @DeafCrocodile announces/releases a new feature, and then accounts like the one you quoted start using it for their own gain

I swear every time I learn about an insane looking animated film I haven't heard of once in my life and start looking it up I immediately see a @DeafCrocodile Blu Ray. Incredible work those guys are doing, I need to stop being broke so I can throw every spare dollar I got at them

NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER: Shahram Mokri's fifth film comes to Deaf Crocodile! deafcrocodile.com/products/black… 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. SPECIAL 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.). In Persian with English subtitles 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 with essays by film scholars Walter Chaw, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Michelle Kisner