Mongrel Media’s ScaredSacred and Seville Pictures’ Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey – both well-reviewed Canadian documentaries from the festival circuit – were released on DVD May 23.

Genie Award-winner ScaredSacred – Velcrow Ripper’s film about his five-year journey in search of hope at the planet’s various ‘ground zeroes’ – is the second most pre-ordered Mongrel release so far this year, behind Deepa Mehta’s Water, according to Glen Wood, the distrib’s head of home video distribution. He hopes word of mouth will lead to further interest.

‘We really work the grassroots support of [ScaredSacred],’ says Wood, adding Mongrel is working with Good Company Communications – the same marketing firm that created similar buzz for the distrib’s The Corporation. ‘This DVD release did not have an advertising or marketing budget behind it to brag about.’

Ripper is featured prominently in the disc’s special features, with a 30-minute guided meditation feature and a Q&A.

Meanwhile, Seville unleashed its doc Metal – codirector/anthropologist Sam Dunn’s look at the love and hatred of his favorite musical genre. Special features include an interactive heavy-metal family tree chart, extended interviews and a documentary on ‘Norwegian black metal.’

Dunn – who provides commentary – joined Seville at the Cannes Film Festival for the release, soliciting interest and possible prebuys for Metal’ s sequel, Global Metal, which will ask the burning question, ‘Does metal have anything to teach us about globalization?’

A Lynchian Paradox

Brampton, ON-based Paradox Entertainment has signed an exclusive Canadian distribution deal with David Lynch Productions and released a trio of the director’s films in early May: cult favorite Eraserhead, Lynch’s obscure animated series DumbLand and the anthology The Short Films of David Lynch.

According to Kevin Hall, Paradox’s director of sales and marketing, little promotion has been done because Lynch films are beloved by a very niche crowd, but it has advertised in independent cinema publications.

‘I hate using the term, but Eraserhead especially has been selling itself,’ says Hall, who says the special features on the release have been kept to a minimum in the interest of leaving enough space for the cleaned and remastered version. However, there is a featurette on the making of the film.

Paradox will also release the first six-episode season of Showcase’s Slings and Arrows – from prodco Rhombus Media – on June 6.

Also…

* Alliance Atlantis released the fifth season of Trailer Park Boys on May 9. The two-disc set features all 10 episodes, along with special features highlighted by commentary from John ‘Leahy’ Dunsworth, Pat ‘Randy’ Roach, Lucy DeCoutere and Sara Dunsworth, along with a gag reel, deleted scenes and more.

* Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment has recalled 20,000 units of its Shirley Temple DVD series from across Canada because ‘bonus charms’ included in the package were found to contain high levels of lead. The charms – available in shapes including lollipops, animals and hats – could be found in titles including Little Miss Broadway, Heidi and Dimples. About 730,000 circulated in the U.S. before the recall.

* Equinoxe Entertainment will release Sturla Gunnarsson’s Beowulf & Grendel on July 18. Preorders have kept the title on Amazon.ca‘s DVD best-seller list for most of May. The film will open in six U.S. cities – including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles – on June 16.