The 2005 infamous Ozploitation terror flick Wolf Creek scores a two-disc Blu-ray release from Via Vision Entertainment with a lenticular cover and is limited to a shockingly slim 1000 units! 

Based on true crimes within the Australian Outback (not the steakhouse chain), the film rode the wave of body horror "torture porn" terror flicks like Hostel, High Tension, and the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Only this one was pretty good and genuinely terrifying without completely diving deep into the depictions of mutilation and pain. Directed by Greg McLean and starring Kestie Morassi, Cassandra Magrath, and Snakes On A Plane's Nathan Phillips with John Jarratt turning in a particularly scary performance as Mick Taylor.

Wolf Creek - Limited Edition Blu-ray (1000 Units)

Absent a proper Blu-ray release in the United States after HD-DVD went defunct, Wolf Creek has been around the block in other markets and territories on the format for several years now. While we await a domestic release, ViaVision is delivering an exciting 2-Disc 2-Version Limited Edition with a lenticular cover and six art cards. $40+ shipping (U.S) may be a bit steep for some but it'd be great to finally have both cuts of the film in the same package. I'm tired of waiting for someone to deliver the first and best of the series while Wolf Creek 2 has been available here stateside for years, so I think I'm going to take the plunge and jump for this edition.

Again, this set is limited to only 1000 units so get those pre-orders in fast! You can only purchase this direct from ViaVision

A collection of 10 more classic Disney animated shorts is on the way to DVD and Blu-ray on June 27. Digital will be available on April 4.

Celebrate 100 magical years of Disney with this collectible compilation of animated shorts! Join Mickey and his friends in these 10 hilarious, madcap adventures which have entertained generations of children and adults alike. Highlights include The Band Concert, where Maestro Mickey and his friends face wild challenges while performing outdoors. Then see what happens when Goofy is in the driver’s seat pulling Mickey’s Trailer. In Pluto’s Sweater, Pluto gets hot under the collar when Minnie knits him a warm turtleneck, and in Pluto and the Gopher, Pluto stops to smell the flowers, but finds himself outwitted by a mischievous rodent. And there’s no stopping Donald’s nephews from coming between their uncle and the lovely Daisy Duck when Mr. Duck Steps Out. Five more charming, funny stories complete this legacy collection that’s sure to delight.

Mickey & Friends: 10 Classic Shorts - Volume 2

The Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack will include stereo audio and 10 classic animated shorts:

• The Band Concert
• Pluto’s Sweater
• Mickey’s Trailer
• Pluto and the Gopher
• Mr. Duck Steps Out
• Lonesome Ghosts
• Boat Builders
• Tugboat Mickey
• Winter Storage
• Pluto’s Party

Order the Blu-ray now and here is the full press release:

CELEBRATE 100 MAGICAL YEARS WITH MICKEY & FRIENDS!

Collect Another Piece Of Animation History When 

Mickey & Friends 10 Classic Shorts – Volume 2

Arrives On Digital on April 4 and Blu-ray™ & DVD on June 27

BURBANK, CA (March 14, 2023) – Walt Disney Animation Studios announces the release of a second highly-collectible volume of ten classic animated short films, in a new collection, Mickey & Friends 10 Classic Shorts – Volume 2.  Available together for the first time for audiences to enjoy at home, the exciting new collection combines hilarious animated classics, including favorites ‘The Band Concert,’ ‘Pluto’s Sweater’ and ‘Mickey’s Trailer.’  They are combined with a fun all-new animated interstitials introduction featuring Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald, Goofy and Pluto, as the beloved Disney characters gather together to watch a slideshow on some of their hilarious past adventures. 

Mickey & Friends 10 Classic Shorts – Volume 2 debuts as part of the expansive celebration of Disney's 100th anniversary.

It will be available to purchase on Digital on April 4 and on Blu-ray and DVD on June 27. 

Shorts Included:

• The Band Concert
• Pluto’s Sweater
• Mickey’s Trailer
• Pluto and the Gopher
• Mr. Duck Steps Out
• Lonesome Ghosts
• Boat Builders
• Tugboat Mickey
• Winter Storage
• Pluto’s Party

Synopsis

Celebrate 100 magical years of Disney with this collectible compilation of animated shorts! Join Mickey and his friends in these 10 hilarious, madcap adventures which have entertained generations of children and adults alike. Highlights include The Band Concert, where Maestro Mickey and his friends face wild challenges while performing outdoors. Then see what happens when Goofy is in the driver’s seat pulling Mickey’s Trailer. In Pluto’s Sweater, Pluto gets hot under the collar when Minnie knits him a warm turtleneck, and in Pluto and the Gopher, Pluto stops to smell the flowers, but finds himself outwitted by a mischievous rodent. And there’s no stopping Donald’s nephews from coming between their uncle and the lovely Daisy Duck when Mr. Duck Steps Out.  Five more charming, funny stories complete this legacy collection that’s sure to delight.

Product Specifications

Street Date

Digital: April 4, 2023

Physical: June 27, 2023

Product SKUs

Physical: Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray + DVD & Digital Code)

Run Time - Approx. 82 Minutes

Rating - Not rated

Aspect Ratios:

Digital: 1.78:1

Physical: 1.78:1

U.S. Audio:

Digital: English 2.0 Dolby Digital, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital, French 2.0 Dolby Digital

Blu-ray: English 2.0 Dolby Digital, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital, French 2.0 Dolby Digital

DVD: English 2.0 Dolby Digital, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital, French 2.0 Dolby Digital

U.S. Subtitles

Digital: English SDH, Spanish, French (some platforms)

Blu-ray: English SDH, Spanish, French

DVD: English SDH, Spanish, French

One of the rare excellent video game adaptations, HBO's The Last of Us is coming to 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and Blu-ray July 18th, 2023 - Digital on April 11th. 

Remember when video game adaptations were universally bad? Well, that bad luck has been changing after two successful Sonic the Hedgehog films and now HBO's smash hit The Last of Us. Maybe we can get a genuinely good Resident Evil movie or television series one day? In the meantime, we'll just have to wait for The Last of Us to return to television screens. The series stayed true to the video game's roots focusing on the human conflict of surviving the zombie apocalypse, but rather than retread the same ground of The Walking Dead, Neil Druckmann and showrunner Craig Mazin wisely found a way to push the fungal-infected horrors to the sidelines, focus on the humans, and still craft a compelling and often terrifying show. Now we all get to wait four long months to own the show on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray

The Last of Us - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

The Last of Us - Blu-ray

Now we've seen images of a 4K SteelBook offering due to hit the U.K. markets, and it's a safe assumption that it'll come here. But until we see that it's coming to our shores for sure, I'm going to hold off adding it to our listings. Mind you, full specs and A/V details aren't available yet, the press release included a list of bonus features that will be available with the digital purchase.

SPECIAL FEATURES ON DIGITAL INCLUDE:

• The Last of Us: Stranger Than Fiction (New Featurette Exclusive to 4K, BD and DVD) - Series cast and filmmakers are joined by experts in survival, microbiology, and parasitology for a chilling discussion on the realities of the invasive fungus and subsequent apocalypse in The Last of Us. 
• Controllers Down: Adapting The Last of Us (New Featurette Exclusive to 4K, BD and DVD) - Follow the journey of The Last of Us from console to screen as cast and filmmakers take us inside the process of expanding the world and breathing new life into the game’s beloved characters. 
• From Levels to Live Action (New Featurette Exclusive to 4K, BD and DVD) - Discover how The Last of Us incorporated and expanded fan-favorite game moments in the series.
• Getting to Know Me (4 Featurettes)
• The Last Debrief with Troy Baker (2 Featurettes)
• Inside the Episode (9 Featurettes)
• Is This A The Last of Us Line? (2 Featurettes)

The 4k UHD and Blu-ray releases aren't up for pre-order yet, but when they are we'll update our listings ASAP.

Here's the full press release for you to take a gander at:

THE HBO^® ORIGINAL HIT SERIES

THE LAST OF US:

THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON

AVAILABLE PURCHASE DIGITALLY ON APRIL 11, 2023

AND ON 4K ULTRA HD^TM, BLU-RAY^TM AND DVD JULY 18, 2023

#TheLastOfUS

BURBANK, CA (March, 14, 2023) – Millions of viewers know now why loyal gamers have been clamoring for a worthy adaptation of The Last of Us. Based on the famed video game of the same name, the HBO original drama series marked HBO’s second largest debut, behind only “House of the Dragon,” and has shown consistent growth throughout its first season culminating in a 75% increase in Sunday night’s finale audience. Recently renewed for a second season, fans can own all nine episodes of the critically-acclaimed first season along with nearly 3 hours of special features including 3 all-new featurettes, when The Last of Us: The Complete First Season comes to 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on July 18, 2023 and will be available to purchase Digitally* on April 11, 2023.

The Last of Us takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal and heartbreaking journey as they both must traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.

Season one stars Pedro Pascal as Joel, Bella Ramsey as Ellie, Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Anna Torv as Tess, Nico Parker as Sarah, Murray Bartlett as Frank, Nick Offerman as Bill, Melanie Lynskey as Kathleen, Storm Reid as Riley, Merle Dandridge as Marlene, Jeffrey Pierce as Perry, Lamar Johnson as Henry, Keivonn Woodard as Sam, Graham Greene as Marlon, and Elaine Miles as Florence. Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker also star.

With a 96% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, The Last of Us has been declared “HBO’s next big hit” by Rolling Stone, with Variety noting, “one sees the near future in which the show winds up among television’s best.” IndieWire declared the new series “better than every video game adaptation that comes to mind,” with IGN hailing it as “a brilliant retelling of one of video games’ most beloved stories” and adding that it “delivers an enriching show for fans of the PlayStation hit, while also managing to stay welcomingly thrilling to newcomers.” CNN called the storytelling “absolutely fearless and unflinching, creating horrifying scenarios and moments that can be alternately touching and utterly tragic.”

The Last of Us, based on the critically acclaimed video game of the same name developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation® platforms, is written and executive produced by Craig Mazin (Emmy^® Award-winning creator of HBO’s “Chernobyl”) and Neil Druckmann (creator and writer of the award-winning “The Last of Us” franchise and Naughty Dog Co-President). The series is a co-production with Sony Pictures Television and is executive produced by Carolyn Strauss, Evan Wells, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, and Rose Lam. Production companies: PlayStation Productions, Word Games, The Mighty Mint, and Naughty Dog.

The soundtrack to The Last of Us  is available everywhere now, and features an original score by 2-time Academy Award winner Gustavo Santaolalla and David Fleming. Having scored both the original video game and its 2020 sequel, Gustavo Santaolalla builds on his previous work, expanding the intimate, guitar-driven soundscape to deliver a score as emotionally laden as the story itself. In addition to the score, the album also includes Nick Offerman's cover of Linda Ronstadt's "Long Long Time" and Jessica Mazin's cover of Depeche Mode's "Never Let Me Down Again." 

The Last of Us: The Complete First Season will be available to purchase Digitally* on April 11, 2023 from Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu and more. 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD will be available July 18, 2023 to purchase online and in-store at major retailers.

*Digital Purchase is available now in Canada.

SPECIAL FEATURES ON DIGITAL INCLUDE:

• The Last of Us: Stranger Than Fiction (New Featurette Exclusive to 4K, BD and DVD) - Series cast and filmmakers are joined by experts in survival, microbiology, and parasitology for a chilling discussion on the realities of the invasive fungus and subsequent apocalypse in The Last of Us. 
• Controllers Down: Adapting The Last of Us (New Featurette Exclusive to 4K, BD and DVD) - Follow the journey of The Last of Us from console to screen as cast and filmmakers take us inside the process of expanding the world and breathing new life into the game’s beloved characters. 
• From Levels to Live Action (New Featurette Exclusive to 4K, BD and DVD) - Discover how The Last of Us incorporated and expanded fan-favorite game moments in the series.
• Getting to Know Me (4 Featurettes)
• The Last Debrief with Troy Baker (2 Featurettes)
• Inside the Episode (9 Featurettes)
• Is This A The Last of Us Line? (2 Featurettes)

Pricing and series information:

The Last of Us: The Complete First Season

Includes 9 one-hour episodes:

1. When You’re Lost in the Darkness
2. Infected
3. Long, Long Time
4. Please Hold to My Hand
5. Endure and Survive
6. Kin
7. Left Behind
8. When We Are in Need
9. Look for the Light

PRODUCT                              SRP

Digital Purchase                      $19.99 SD / $24.99 HD US

$24.99 SD / $29.99 HD Canada

4K Ultra HD                             $49.99 US/ $54.97 Canada

Blu-ray                                     $44.98 US/ $49.99 Canada

DVD                                        $39.99 US/ $44.98 Canada

Languages: English, French, and Spanish

Subtitles: English, French, and Spanish

Episode Run Time: approx. 474 minutes

Sylvester Stallone's 1993 high altitude "Die Hard on a Mountain" action-adventure epic Cliffhanger picks up a new Dolby Vision HDR grade and deluxe SteelBook packaging to celebrate its 30th Anniversary.

This has been a busy year for Stallone fans and their growing 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray collections and it's going to get even busier this May. It's wild to realize Cliffhanger turns 30 years old this year!I spent days of my valuable childhood time watching this movie and desperately trying to master the impossible snowboarding sequences on the Sega CD game. Now after an already solid 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release, Sony is doing what Sony does and reissuing the film on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray for a new Anniversary release complete with Dolby Vision HDR upgrade and deluxe StreelBook packaging. To sweeten the pot, it looks like they're also tossing in a bunch of new never-before-seen deleted scenes into the mix! I heard this one was heavily edited for the numerous bloody kills so I'm curious to see if those make an appearance this go around.

Cliffhanger: 30th Anniversary
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray SteelBook

Not yet up for pre-order, the set should hit store shelves and online retailers May 30th, 2023. Here are all the details:

CREDITS

Directed By: Renny Harlin
Produced By: Alan Marshall and Renny Harlin
Based on a Premise By: John Long
Screen Story By: Michael France
Screenplay By: Michael France and Sylvester Stallone
Executive Producer: Mario Kassar
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, John Lithgow, Michael Rooker, Janine Turner, Leon, Paul Winfield and Ralph Waite
 

SPECS

Run Time: Approx. 112 minutes
Rating: R for violence and language
4K UHD Feature Picture: 2160p Ultra High Definition, 2.40:1
4K UHD Feature Audio: English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Compatible) | English 5.1 DTS-HD MA

Nine films from controversial Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini will be available in a Blu-ray boxed set from the Criterion Collection on June 27.

One of the most original and controversial thinkers of the twentieth century, Italian polymath Pier Paolo Pasolini embodied a multitude of often seemingly contradictory ideologies and identities—and he expressed them all in his provocative, lyrical, and indelible films. Relentlessly concerned with society’s downtrodden and marginalized, he elevated pimps, hustlers, sex workers, and vagabonds to the realm of saints, while depicting actual saints with a radical earthiness. Traversing the sacred and the profane, the ancient and the modern, the mythic and the personal, the nine uncompromising, often scandal-inciting features he made in the 1960s still stand—on this, the 101st anniversary of his birth—as a monument to his daring vision of cinema as a form of resistance.

Pasolini 101 - Criterion Collection Blu-ray

Featuring

Accatone, 1961

Mamma Roma, 1962

Love Meetings, 1964

The Gospel According to Matthew, 1964

The Hawks and the Sparrows, 1966

Oedipus Rex, 1967

Teorema, 1968*

Porcile, 1969

Madea, 1969

*All discs are new to Blu-Ray with the exception of this title

NINE-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION COLLECTOR’S SET FEATURES

• New 4K digital restorations of seven films and 2K digital restorations of Teorema and Medea, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks 
• Two shorts made by director Pier Paolo Pasolini for anthology films: La ricotta (1963) and The Sequence of the Paper Flower (1969) 
• Two documentaries made by Pasolini during his travels
• New program on Pasolini’s visual style as told through his personal writing, narrated by actor Tilda Swinton and writer Rachel Kushner
• Audio commentaries on Accattone and Teorema
• Documentaries on Pasolini’s life and career featuring archival interviews with the director and his close collaborators
• Episode from 1966 of the French television program Cinéastes de notre temps
• Interviews with filmmakers and scholars
• Trailers
• New English subtitle translations
• PLUS: Deluxe packaging, including a 100-page book featuring an essay and notes on the films by critic James Quandt, and writings and drawings by Pasolini

ACCATTONE

Poet and painter turned filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini courted controversy with his very first feature by using Catholic iconography and liturgical music to render a plaintive, brutally beautiful portrait of a shiftless Roman pimp and thief (then-nonprofessional Franco Citti, in a revelatory performance) whose life of petty crime turns increasingly desperate when the woman who supports him is imprisoned. Melding a hardscrabble neorealist milieu with classical influences, Pasolini offers a vision of underclass struggle as a kind of modern sainthood.

1961 • 117 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • In Italian with English subtitles • 1.37:1 aspect ratio

MAMMA ROMA

Anna Magnani is Mamma Roma, a middle-aged prostitute who attempts to extricate herself from her sordid past for the sake of her son. Highlighting director Pier Paolo Pasolini’s lifelong fascination with the marginalized and dispossessed, Mamma Roma offers an unflinching, neorealistic look at the struggle for survival in postwar Italy. Though initially banned in the country for obscenity, today the film remains a classic, featuring a powerhouse performance by one of cinema’s greatest actors and offering a glimpse at Pasolini in the process of finding his style.

1962 • 106 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • In Italian with English subtitles • 1.85:1 aspect ratio

LOVE MEETINGS

Let’s talk about sex. In this radically engaged and engaging documentary, Pier Paolo Pasolini takes to the streets, town squares, beaches, factories, and universities of 1960s Italy to solicit everyday citizens’ thoughts on a host of hot-button subjects, including sex work, gender equality, homosexuality, and divorce (then illegal in Italy). What emerges is both a kaleidoscopic cross section of faces and places—from the industrialized cities of the North to the rural villages of the South—and an incisive portrait of a society where, despite the rapid modernization brought on by the postwar “economic miracle,” hypocrisy, repression, and conformism still hold sway.

1964 • 92 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • In Italian with English subtitles • 1.85:1 aspect ratio

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

A biblical epic that only the Marxist dissident Pier Paolo Pasolini could make, this intensely faithful adaptation of Saint Matthew’s Gospel depicts the life and teachings of Jesus Christ (Enrique Irazoqui, a Spanish economics student and Communist activist), whose unwavering compassion for the poor and defiant condemnation of moral hypocrisy make him a perhaps unexpected embodiment of the director’s own worldview. Stunningly shot amid the timeless landscapes of southern Italy and set to a soundtrack that encompasses everything from Bach to Black spirituals, The Gospel According to Matthew cuts past dogma and straight to the core of Jesus’s radical humanism.

1964 • 137 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • In Italian with English subtitles • 1.85:1 aspect ratio

THE HAWKS AND THE SPARROWS

While wandering the countryside, a pair of father-and-son vagabonds (played respectively by Italian cinema legend Totò, in his final major film role, and Ninetto Davoli) happen upon a talking crow who spouts philosophy and launches them on a freewheeling picaresque through time, space, and the margins of a rapidly modernizing Italy. A comic Marxist fable that balances heady ideas about religion, poverty, and class struggle with irreverent slapstick sight gags, The Hawks and the Sparrows finds Pasolini at his lightest yet as stingingly subversive as ever.

1966 • 89 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • In Italian with English subtitles • 1.85:1 aspect ratio 

OEDIPUS REX

Pier Paolo Pasolini’s powerfully iconoclastic take on Sophocles’s tragedy blends eras and cultures to create a searing exploration of fate, free will, and the things we fear most in ourselves. Shot amid the stark, elemental landscapes of the Moroccan desert, and set in an indefinable ancient past, this bold reimagining casts the filmmaker’s frequent collaborator Franco Citti as the eponymous foundling, whose willful blindness to his own nature unleashes a cataclysmic reckoning. With a prologue and epilogue set in twentieth-century Italy, Pasolini connects the story to his own upbringing, daring to bare his soul on-screen.

1967 • 104 minutes • Color • Monaural • In Italian with English subtitles • 1.85:1 aspect ratio 

TEOREMA

With Teorema, a coolly cryptic exploration of bourgeois spiritual emptiness, Pier Paolo Pasolini moved beyond the poetic, proletarian earthiness that first won him renown. Terence Stamp stars as the mysterious stranger—perhaps an angel, perhaps a devil—who, one by one, seduces the members of a wealthy Milanese family (including European cinema icons Silvana Mangano, Massimo Girotti, Laura Betti, and Anne Wiazemsky), precipitating an existential crisis in each of their lives. Unfolding nearly wordlessly, this tantalizing metaphysical riddle—blocked from exhibition by the Catholic Church for degeneracy—is at once a blistering Marxist treatise on sex, religion, and art and a primal scream into the void.

1968 • 98 minutes • Color • Monaural • In Italian with English subtitles • 1.85:1 aspect ratio 

PORCILE

“I killed my father. I ate human flesh. I quiver with joy.” Provocateur Pier Paolo Pasolini is at his most incendiary in this double-edged allegory on fascism, consumerism, and resistance. In one story, a defiant man (Pierre Clémenti) perpetrates increasingly barbaric acts while wandering a mythic, volcanic landscape. In the other, the scion (Jean-Pierre Léaud) of a wealthy, ex-Nazi industrial family conceals a shocking proclivity. Taken together, these stories of transgression form a scathing commentary on postwar European moral rot and the meaning of rebellion in the face of a corrupt world.

1969 • 98 minutes • Color • Monaural • In Italian with English subtitles • 1.85:1 aspect ratio 

MEDEA

In this hypnotic adaptation of Euripides’s immortal tragedy, Pier Paolo Pasolini casts opera diva Maria Callas (utterly arresting in her only film role) as the sorceress of Greek legend, whose separation from her homeland of Colchis and betrayal by her lover, Jason, lead her down a path of shocking vengeance. Melding Western myth with aesthetic and musical influences from numerous world cultures, Pasolini fashions a mesmerizing cinematic pageant that gathers in force until it explodes in rage and a stunningly nihilistic condemnation of injustice.

1969 • 110 minutes • Color • Monaural • In Italian with English subtitles • 1:85:1 aspect ratio

SRP for this Special Edition Collector's Set is $249.95.

Preorders should be available in the coming days

Marc Forster's comedy based on the novel “En Man Som Heter Ove” by Fredrik Backman and the film “En Man Som Heter Ove” by Hannes Holm arrives on Blu-ray March 14. Digital will be available on February 28.

Based on the # 1 New York Times bestseller “A Man Called Ove,” A Man Called Otto tells the story of Otto Anderson (Tom Hanks), a grump who no longer sees purpose in his life following the loss of his wife. Otto is ready to end it all, but his plans are interrupted when a lively young family moves in next door, and he meets his match in quick-witted Marisol. She challenges him to see life differently, leading to an unlikely friendship that turns his world around. A heartwarming and funny story about love, loss, and life, A Man Called Otto shows that family can sometimes be found in the most unexpected places.

A Man Called Otto - Blu-ray

The Blu-ray will include a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack plus a digital copy and the following supplements:

• Breaking The Rules: Making A Man Called Otto: Go behind the scenes with the incredible cast and crew for an exploration of the filmmaking process that brought A Man Called Otto to the screen!
• ‘Til You’re Home Music Video
• In The Studio With Rita Wilson & Sebastián Yatra: Go inside the recording studio with Rita Wilson and Sebastián Yatra as they discuss how the collaboration for the film’s hauntingly beautiful end credit song “‘Til You’re Home” came to life.
• Deleted Scene: When Marisol needs a ride, Otto must make quick adjustments to his car

SPECS

Run Time: 126 minutes
Rating: This film is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for the following reasons: mature thematic material involving suicide attempts, and language.
Blu-ray™: Feature: 1080p High Definition / 1.85:1 | Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA | Audio Description Tracks Stereo
DVD: Feature: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen | Audio Description Tracks Stereo

Atomic Monster and Blumhouse' surprise hit horror/comedy M3GAN attacks Blu-ray from Universal on March 21st with both Theatrical & Untrated Cuts...
No 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray to be found.

The Blumhouse and Atomic Monster machines keep cranking along with the surprise killer doll hit M3GAN. Reportedly cut down to secure a more audience-friendly PG-13 didn't hurt its box office as the film soaked in an impressive $168million global box office haul on the back of a meager $12million production budget. Now with it's Blu-ray release hitting at the end of March (digital streaming sales and rentals hit February 24th), fans can check out the longer, gorier, and more profane Unrated Cut as well as enjoying the version they saw in theaters.

M3GAN - Blu-ray

Here's what you're getting in the box:

Universal City, California, February 17, 2023 – She’s more than a toy. She’s family. And now she’s Unrated. Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 95%, the year’s most unnerving film M3GAN arrives in an all-new unrated version with revealing extras when you buy on Digital February 24, 2023 and on Blu-ray^TM and DVD March 21, 2023 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.  The “existentially scary” (Collider) film, presented from Universal Pictures and Blumhouse and produced by Atomic Monster in association with Divide/Conquer, has crossed $167 million at the global box office. M3GAN is produced by masters of horror—Atomic Monster’s James Wan (Saw, Insidious, The Conjuring, Anabelle) and Blumhouse’s Jason Blum (Halloween franchise, The Invisible Man, The Black Phone) and directed by Gerald Johnstone (Housebound). The M3GAN UNRAT3D VERSION delivers more distressing violence and profanity and features never-before-seen bonus content including a breakdown of the creation of M3GAN and behind-the-scenes featurettes showcasing the film’s complex stunts and gory deaths.
 
M3GAN is a marvel of artificial intelligence, a life-like doll programmed to be a child’s greatest companion and a parent’s greatest ally. Designed by brilliant toy-company roboticist Gemma (Allison Williams, Get Out), M3GAN can listen and watch and learn as she becomes friend and teacher, playmate and protector, for the child she is bonded to. As Gemma faces pressure at work from her boss (Ronny Chieng, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) to deliver a finished version of M3GAN, she suddenly becomes the unprepared caretaker of her newly orphaned 8-year-old niece, Cady (Violet McGraw, The Haunting of Hill House). Gemma decides to pair the M3GAN prototype with Cady in an attempt to resolve both problems—a decision that will have unimaginable consequences.

EXCLUSIVE BONUS FEATURES ON BLU-RAY^TM, DVD & DIGITAL: 

• A New Vision of Horror - Filmmakers and cast break down how the world of M3GAN was created, including the initial idea, through production under the leadership of director Gerard Johnstone
• Bringing Life to M3GAN - See how animatronics, puppets, and actor Amie Donald helped make M3GAN as real as possible
• Getting Hacked - A behind-the-scenes look at how cast and crew accomplished some of the film's complex stunts and gory deaths

Number of Discs: 2

Now up for pre-order! Thank you for all of your pre-orders. They really do go a long way toward keeping our little operation up and running.

Warner Brothers sets The Maltese Falcon and Cool Hand Luke on 4K UHD on April 4th with Rebel Without a Cause following on April 18th.

Best Buy Exclusive Steelbooks for at least Cool Hand Look and Rebel Without A Cause are up for pre-order!

The Maltese Falcon - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Academy Award® winner Humphrey Bogart stars in this classic film noir as tough San Francisco private detective Sam Spade in the classic, convoluted story of Spade's involvement with a deadly band of international thieves who will lie, double cross and murder to obtain a small, jewel-encrusted statue known as The Maltese Falcon. Sam Spade's (Bogart) partner, Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan), accepts a job protecting a young woman (Mary Astor). Neither Spade nor Archer believe the woman or the story she tells them, but they do believe her money. Then, when Archer is murdered, Spade's search for the killer drags him in the web of lies and death spun by the desperate people seeking The Maltese Falcon.

The 1941 film is directed by John Huston in his directorial debut. The screenplay is by Huston and is based on the 1930 novel by Dashiell Hammett. The film stars Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre, Barton MacLane, Lee Patrick, and Sydney Greenstreet.  

The Maltese Falcon was nominated for three Academy Awards® for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Sydney Greenstreet) and Best Adapted Screenplay (John Huston). Considered one of the greatest films of all time, it was one of the first 25 films selected by the Library of Congress to be included in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." 

The Maltese Falcon Ultra HD Blu-ray contains the following previously released special features:

• Commentary by Eric Lax
• “Warner Night at the Movies”
• “Sergeant York” Trailer
• “New Highlights of the Roosevelt Churchill Parley” (newsreel)
• “The Gay Parisian” (1941 WB short)
• “Meet John Doughboy” (1941 WB cartoon)
• The Maltese Falcon: One Magnificent Brid
• Becoming Attractions: The Trailers of Humphrey Bogart
• Breakdowns of 1941 (WB short)
• Make-up Tests
• 2/8/43 Lux Radio Theater Broadcast
• 9/20/43 Screen Guild Theater Broadcast
• 7/3/46 Academy Award Theater Broadcast
• Trailers
• 1936 “Satan Met a Lady”
• 1941 “The Maltese Falcon”

In the UK a SteelBook option is available, we just haven't seen it pop up stateside at Best Buy yet, when/if they add it we'll update our listings.

Cool Hand Luke - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Academy Award® winner Paul Newman stars with George Kennedy in this story of a man who will not surrender to authority--even at the cost of his life. When Luke Jackson (Newman) is sentenced to a Southern prison for a minor infraction, his intelligence, calm under pressure and inability to accept defeat soon gain him the respect of his fellow inmates on the chain gang--and the nickname Cool Hand Luke. But they also earn Luke the enmity of the warden, who cannot allow any inmate to challenge his authority. When Luke's mother dies, he decides to escape ... and he will not allow anyone to stop him.

The 1967 film is directed by Stuart Rosenberg.  The screenplay is by Donn Pearse and Frank R. Pierson and is based on the Pearce’s 1965 novel of the same name. The film is produced by Gordon Carroll and stars Paul Newman, George Kennedy, J.D. Canon, Robert Drivas, Lou Antonio, Strother Martin, and Jo Van Fleet.

Cool Hand Luke was nominated for four Academy Awards® for Best Actor (Paul Newman), Best Supporting Actor (George Kennedy) and Best Screenplay – Based on Material from Another Medium (Don Pearce and Frank Pierson) and Best Original Music Score (Lalo Schifrin) and won for Best Support Supporting Actor.

Cool Hand Luke Ultra HD Blu-ray contains the following previously released special features:

• Commentary by Eric Lax
• “A Natural-Born World-Shaker: Making Cool Hand Luke” (featurette)
• Trailer

 Cool Hand Luke - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray (Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook)

Rebel Without a Cause - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

The 1955 film is directed by Nicholas Ray from a story by Ray, a screenplay by Stewart Stern, and an adaptation by Irving Shulman. It is produced by David Weisbart and James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Jim Backus, Ann Doran, Corey Allen, and William Hopper.

In 1990, Rebel Without a Cause was added to the Library of Congress's National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant." 

Rebel Without a Cause Ultra HD Blu-ray contains the following previously released special features:

• Commentary Douglas L. Rathgeb
• “James Dean Remembered” (1974 TV special)
• “Rebel Without a Cause: Defiant Innocents” (featurette)
• “Dennis Hopper: Memories from the Warner Lot” (featurette)
• Screen Tests
• Wardrobe Tests
• Deleted Scenes

Rebel Without a Cause - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray (Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook)

All of these are ready to pre-order! Thank you in advance for your pre-orders, they really do go a long way toward keeping our little operation up and running.

    Ridley Scott's Thelma & Louise hits the Criterion road in May with a Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release. The month's slate also includes Targets as well as Petite Mama on Blu-ray and 4K releases of both Wings of Desire and Branded to Kill.

Once again The Criterion Collection expands its content with a mix of old and new titles seeing some extra TLC on physical media. With Wings of Desire already getting an excellent EU 4K release it was only a matter of time before Criterion would update theirs, but there are some other pleasant surprises for their May slate. Lets take a look at what's getting added to our shelves:

Up first on May 2 is Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Wings of Desire - The Criterion Collection
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Wings of Desire is one of cinema’s loveliest city symphonies. Bruno Ganz is Damiel, an angel perched atop buildings high over Berlin who can hear the thoughts—fears, hopes, dreams—of all the people living below. But when he falls in love with a beautiful trapeze artist, he is willing to give up his immortality and come back to earth to be with her. Made not long before the fall of the Berlin Wall, this stunning tapestry of sounds and images, shot in black and white and color by the legendary Henri Alekan, forever made the name of director Wim Wenders' synonymous with film art.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• 4K restoration, supervised and approved by director Wim Wenders, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
• One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
• Audio commentary featuring Wenders and actor Peter Falk
• The Angels Among Us (2003), a documentary featuring interviews with Wenders, Falk, actors Bruno Ganz and Otto Sander, writer Peter Handke, and composer Jürgen Knieper
• Episode of Cinéma cinémas from 1987, featuring on-set footage
• Interview with director of photography Henri Alekan
• Deleted scenes and outtakes
• Excerpts from the film Alekan la lumière (1985) and from Ganz and Sander’s 1982 film about actor Curt Bois
• Notes and photos by art directors Heidi and Toni Lüdi
• Trailers
• PLUS: An essay by critic Michael Atkinson and writings by Handke and Wenders
• Cover by Michael Boland

Seijun Suzuki's 1967 New Wave Branded to Kill will also be available on 4K UHD on May 9

Branded to Kill - The Criterion Collection
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

When Japanese New Wave bad boy Seijun Suzuki delivered this brutal, hilarious, and visually inspired masterpiece to the executives at his studio, he was promptly fired. Branded to Kill tells the ecstatically bent story of a yakuza assassin with a fetish for sniffing steamed rice (the chipmunk-cheeked superstar Joe Shishido) who botches a job and ends up a target himself. This is Suzuki at his most extreme—the flabbergasting pinnacle of his sixties pop-art aesthetic.

4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
• Interviews with director Seijun Suzuki and assistant director Masami Kuzuu
• Interview with Suzuki from 1997
• Interview with actor Joe Shishido
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by critic and historian Tony Rayns
• Cover by Eric Skillman

Peter Bogdanovich's Targets starring the legendary Boris Karloff arrives on Blu-ray on May 16 

Targets - The Criterion Collection

Old Hollywood collides with New Hollywood, and screen horror with real-life horror, in the startling debut feature from Peter Bogdanovich. Produced by Roger Corman, this chillingly prescient vision of American-made carnage casts Boris Karloff as a version of himself: an aging horror-movie icon whose fate intersects with that of a seemingly ordinary young man (Tim O’Kelly) on a psychotic shooting spree around Los Angeles. Charged with provocative ideas about the relationship between mass media and mass violence, Targets is a model of maximally effective filmmaking on a minimal budget and a potent first statement from one of the defining voices of the American New Wave.

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New 2K digital restoration, supervised by director Peter Bogdanovich, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Audio commentary from 2003 featuring Bogdanovich
• New interview with filmmaker Richard Linklater
• Introduction to the film from 2003 by Bogdanovich
• Excerpts from a 1983 interview with production designer Polly Platt
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by critic Adam Nayman and excerpts from an interview with Bogdanovich from Eric Sherman and Martin Rubin’s 1969 book The Director’s Event: Interviews with Five American Film-Maker
• New cover by Drusilla Adeline/Sister Hyde

Céline Sciamma’s 2021 film Petite Maman is due on Blu-ray on May 23 

Petite Maman - The Criterion Collection

Céline Sciamma’s follow-up to Portrait of a Lady on Fire transcends time and space to weave a delicately emotional fable about grief, family, and connection across generations. In the wake of her grandmother’s death, eight-year-old Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) accompanies her distraught mother (Nina Meurisse) to her childhood home. There, Nelly’s encounter with another young girl (Gabrielle Sanz) brings mother and daughter together in a way neither could have ever imagined. Evoking childhood’s perpetual state of wonder through luminous, richly textured images, Petite maman takes viewers on a journey inward for a quietly miraculous tale of emotional time travel.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• 4K digital master, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
• New conversation between director Céline Sciamma and filmmaker Joachim Trier
• Trailers
• PLUS: An essay by author So Mayer
• New cover by Carson Ellis

 Lastly on May 29 is Ridley Scott's Thelma & Louise on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray.

Thelma & Louise - The Criterion Collection
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Two women, a turquoise Thunderbird, the ride of a lifetime. With this pop-culture landmark, screenwriter Callie Khouri and action auteur Ridley Scott rewrote the rules of the road movie, telling the story of two best friends who find themselves transformed into accidental fugitives during a weekend getaway gone wrong—leading them on a high-speed Southwest odyssey as they elude police and discover freedom on their own terms. Propelled by irresistible performances from Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis (plus Brad Pitt in a sexy, star-making turn)—and nominated for six Academy Awards, winning one for Khouri—the exhilaratingly cathartic Thelma & Louise stands as cinema’s ultimate ode to ride-or-die female friendship.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director Ridley Scott, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
• One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and two Blu-rays with the film and special features
• Two audio commentaries, featuring Scott, screenwriter Callie Khouri, and actors Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon
• New interviews with Scott and Khouri
• Documentary featuring Davis, Khouri, Sarandon, Scott, actors Michael Madsen, Christopher McDonald, and Stephen Tobolowsky, and other members of the cast and crew
• Boy and Bicycle (1965), Scott’s first short film
• Original theatrical featurette
• Storyboards and deleted and extended scenes, including an extended ending with director’s commentary
• Music video for Glenn Frey’s “Part of Me, Part of You,” from the film’s soundtrack
• Trailers
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: Essays by critics Jessica Kiang and Rachel Syme and journalist Rebecca Traister
• New cover by Sam Hadley

Preorders for Criterion's May releases should be available soon!

2022 was an absolutely insane year for cult and horror 4K Blu-ray releases, with great offerings from both major studios and boutique labels arriving nearly every week! Add on the fact that exclusive 4K Blu-ray releases were coming out in countries like Germany, UK and France, and you’ll have a tough time keeping track of everything that was coming out each and every day. Our wallets certainly felt the hit! It’s absurd that we got all of Argento’s Animal Trilogy in 4K in the same year that Alligator finally hit HD and 4K as well as a ton of nearly fogotten SOV favorites finding new life on Blu-ray. Hell, even Poltergeist and Fright Night got gorgeous new 4K transfers, with Criterion delivering the mother of all Zombie films in 4K. With so much great stuff coming out this last year, it was nearly impossible to narrow the field so Bruce Douglas, Sam Cohen, and Matthew Hartman offer up a few of their favorites and honorable mentions.

High-Def Digest's Favorite Cult Classics and Horror Releases of 2022

Thriller: A Cruel Picture (Vinegar Syndrome)

Full disclosure: The only context I had for this film was that it was some sort of grindhouse classic that Tarantino had cited as being a major influence on him, plus the general reputation it has in cult film communities of being a full-throated blend of sleazy sex and violence. What I was not prepared for was the ugly and caustic revenge film it is, like it’s in fierce opposition to the leagues of fans who have held it up as an energetic, sleazy time. Vinegar Syndrome presented us with a full 4K Blu-ray package during their big Halfway to Black Friday Sale, which of course sold out quickly and has since reappeared in a standard edition. With both cuts of the film sourced from a new 4K restoration from the negative, an incredible making-of doc that includes interviews with Christina Lindberg and Gunnar Palm, plus a stellar 4K transfer supported by HDR, Thriller: A Cruel Picture gets my highest recommendation. Just, uh…expect to be shocked. - Sam Cohen

Pink Flamingos (Criterion Collection)

What cult film list would be complete without a nod to The Sultan of Sleaze himself, John Waters! Back in June we reviewed a beautiful Criterion Collection release of his notorious film Pink Flamingos. Fully restored from 4K scans of the original 16mm source elements, the shockingly hilarious satire has never looked better. Bonus features are mostly archival but worth it for collectors to double dip. - Bruce Douglas

Dune (1984) Ultimate Edition (Koch Media)

David Lynch’s Dune is a fascinating failure. An expensive flop in theaters, the film steadily grew into a cult following with fans picking over every shred of footage to untangle the cinematic storytelling web of Frank Herbert’s iconic novel. As Arrow arranged a pretty terrific release for the U.K. and the United States, Koch Media delivered the genuine Ultimate Edition offering up not only Lynch’s Theatrical Cut in gorgeous 4K and 1080p, but also the Extended Television Cut in HD as well as the fabled Spicediver fan-edit in 720p. If that wasn’t enough there are tons of swag items including a production design booklet, the Marvel comics adaptation, and tons of new and archival bonus features including the excellent Ballyhoo Film’s feature-length documentary The Sleeper Must Awaken: The Making of Dune which was supposed to be on the Arrow disc but sadly didn’t make it due to some delays. - Matthew Hartman 

Dog Soldiers (Second Sight / Scream Factory) 

My personal favorite 4K horror import from 2022 was Second Sight’s hardbox digipack release of Neil Marshall’s Dog Soldiers. Yeah, I know what you’re going to say: why didn’t I buy Shout’s version in the US? Absolutely no offense is given toward Shout’s version, but I’ve been following Second Sight’s efforts on this particular title very closely and wanted to support that. Marshall shot this rough and tough horror film on Super 16mm, then it was blown up to 35mm for theatrical release. Prior releases had been sourced from 35mm prints with noise reduction really softening the whole film terribly, but here we get a stunning 2160p presentation sourced from a 4K restoration of the original 16mm camera negative. The film grain looks incredible here and colors are so much more natural, plus the bloodletting on display still hits just as hard as it did upon its original release. And for the physical media fiends, this one comes in a terrific hardbox case with a digipack and booklet inside. Scream Factory delivered their own excellent 4K release utilizing the same A/V elements with plenty of great bonus features, it just wasn't as elaborate as what Second Sight delivered. - Sam Cohen

The Sonny Chiba Collection (Shout! Factory)

The Sonny Chiba Collection brings seven underseen films from the action star’s career in a mix of sleazy exploitation actioners, yakuza crime thrillers, and samurai epics. Fans couldn’t get enough of this Shout! Factory box set in 2022! To see features like Shogun’s Shadow and Bodyguard Kiba 2 finally make their jump to home video made this set worth every penny. A/V presentations for each film are impressive given the age and availability of the earlier features. Limited special features here, but the films speak for themselves! Pair this set with Shout! Factory's excellent 2019 Street Fighter Collection and Arrow's Sister Street Fighter Collection. - Bruce Douglas

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (Turbine Medien / Arrow)

Another gift from the import markets was the one-two-punch of Arrow UK and Germany’s Turbine Medien dropping their respective editions of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. This grossly unnerving and shocking horror film is loosely based on real events and was shot on location in Chicago in 16mm for an extra grimy and creepy vibe. The new Dolby Vision transfer is fantastic and the film has never looked or sounded better after years of dodgy releases that left much to be desired. Both sets feature an excellent assortment of bonus features - the Arrow has more commentaries, but the Turbine disc offers up an alternate widescreen framing on Blu-ray. - Matthew Hartman

Four Flies on Grey Velvet (Severin Films)

Again, how can I choose one Dario Argento 4K Blu-ray release from 2022 to like the most? Simply, you can’t! But the Black Friday-exclusive 4K Blu-ray package of Argento’s Four Flies on Grey Velvet from Severin Films gets a special mention. The 1971 giallo film features Argento at his spine-tingling best, and the violence is frequently punctuated by farcical comedy and visual conceits that the Italian maestro would revisit throughout his career. You could even say that Four Flies on Grey Velvet is the rollicking genesis of Argento’s obsession with voyeurism, writ large into a rock anthem of sorts. Severin’s beautiful new 4K transfer is sourced directly from the original 2-perf negative, restoring all of the various differences between the Italian Director’s Cut and English Language Version and gifting the whole thing with Dolby Vision HDR that’s tuned perfectly. Add the huge collection of supplements spread across the four discs included (one 4K disc, two Blu-ray and one CD) and you have a horror fan’s dream. Here’s to hoping that Severin follows this exclusive release up with a standard edition down the road. - Sam Cohen

The Films of Doris Wishman (AGFA)

The queen of absurdist sexploitation cinema received much attention in 2022 with lavish box sets featuring her avant-garde body of work. From Something Weird Video and AGFA the two collections we reviewed feature a number of cult favorites including Bad Girls Go to Hell, Double Agent 73, and Let Me Die A Woman. Lovingly restored with breathtaking restoration work the films have never looked better. Accompanied by a wealth of bonus features, The Films of Doris Wishman is a must-have for any cult collector. - Bruce Douglas 

God Told Me To (Blue Underground) 

Larry Cohen’s masterstroke in genuine terror, God Told Me To is just a damn unsettling piece of filmmaking. I got this disc to review right as another horrific mass shooting was hitting headlines making this release unfortunately timely and prescient. As we struggle to understand why the latest incident happened in the real world, in the film, Tony Lo Bianco is obsessing over his latest case where a string of murders happened with each perpetrator uttering the same terrifying four words. Blue Underground continued their incredible streak of reference-quality catalog releases giving this film an amazing Dolby Vision transfer complete with a new Atmos track and plenty of bonus features. - Matthew Hartman

Black Christmas (Scream Factory)

The love I have for this film knows no bounds, therefore picking up a newly minted 4K Blu-ray release wasn’t really a tough decision to make. There were some well-documented issues with the original audio tracks included in Shout’s 2016 Blu-ray release, to which Shout responded back then by sending out replacement discs with an improved-but-still-bunk single-channel track. For this new release, though, they present both newly restored versions of the original mono track and 5.1 upmix. Sound engineer Brett Cameron, who gets his own special feature in this release, spent hundreds of hours restoring the original mono track to repair the many missing moments of sound effects and dialogue from previous releases. As for the new 2160p transfer aided by Dolby Vision HDR, it’s the best this dark-as-hell film has ever looked. Turn the lights off for maximum effect! - Sam Cohen

Red Lips (Saturn's Core)

2022 was a huge year for SOV productions getting the HD treatment. Vinegar Syndrome's OCN partner label Saturn’s Core has been painstakingly reviving its catalog of lost SOV horror thrillers with impressive results. My favorite of the year was 1995’s Red Lips, the trashy erotic epic that launched the 90’s lesbian vampire boom. Starring Ghetty Chasun, Michelle Bauer, and Kitten Natividad the film is packed with sleazy vibes but courting an honest love story at the center of it all. Thankfully Saturn’s Core brought the film to Blu-ray preserving the analogue patina for a new generation of fans. Special features allow fans to dive deeper into film with interviews and archival footage. It’s not for everyone, but that’s the beauty of these films making their way into our collections. - Bruce Douglas 

The Wicker Man (Imprint) 

Robin Hardy’s shocking folk horror film The Wicker Man has been remade (hilariously) and inspired numerous films in its wake. The film has had multiple cuts over the years with tons of informative bonus features, but never before has everything been pulled together into a single fantastic box set. This edition offers up the Theatrical Cut, Director’s Cut, and Final Cut of the film along with hours of bonus features complete with the film’s iconic and damned creepy soundtrack. Imprint went full out for this release and it’s a genuine treat for fans of the film and Christopher Lee enthusiasts. - Matthew Hartman

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Turbine Medien) 

Yes, I am aware that Tobe Hooper’s classic horror film is being released in the US on 4K Blu-ray in a matter of weeks, however, attention must be paid to Turbine’s wonderful 4K Blu-ray steelbook release of the film from March 2022. As an owner of Turbine’s 2016 4K Blu-ray release of the film, which lacked HDR and had some wonky encoding, it’s my great pleasure to report that Turbine’s 2022 4K Blu-ray is a huge upgrade. Some may say that presenting a film shot on 16mm in 4K doesn’t really make sense, but to this reviewer, the enhanced resolution helps to refine the grain even more. The Dolby Vision HDR is tuned just right as well, bringing the most out of highlights, close-ups, and primaries. That way you can appreciate all the baked-in details without softening the impact of something as gritty as this film. And not that it was needed, but Turbine provides this release with a true murderer’s row of audio options, including original mono,  Dolby Atmos, and even a 13.1 Auro-3D mix for those who have the equipment. These SteelBooks quickly sold out but Turbine has reissued the discs and artwork for new Mediabooks. - Sam Cohen

Attack of the 50ft woman (Warner Archive Collection)

In November we had a chance to sit down with the b-movie classic Attack of the 50ft Woman.  The Warner Archive Collection delivered the goods for a fantastic Blu-ray release sporting a gorgeous transfer, clean audio, and a nice audio commentary. Our editor said the restoration sported “impressive details and a gorgeous grayscale”. While the film may leave much to be desired in terms of plot and execution, its impact on drive-in films and genre staples can’t be understated. - Bruce Douglas

The Frighteners Ultimate Edition (Turbine Medien) 

Before The Lord of the Rings and King Kong, Peter Jackson made another special effects extravaganza - that no one went to see in theaters. The Frighteners starring Michael J. Fox as an unscrupulous paranormal investigator didn’t become a hit until home video when word of mouth slowly turned this expensive theatrical flop into a genuine cult classic. Now thanks to the good folks at Turbine Medien, The Frighteners scares up one of the best 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray releases of the year with new Dolby Vision HDR transfers for both the Theatrical Cut and Director’s Cut with the DC also scoring a terrific Atmos mix to match. Then as an added bonus, They have the Director’s Cut with a new open matte presentation on Blu-ray on top of hours of new and archival bonus features. It’s a beautiful box set that is a genuine Ultimate Edition for one of the best horror comedies ever made - and for a while at least, this is the only place you'll be able to score this great flick in 4K! - Matthew Hartman

Honorable Mentions on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

There are just too many great cult classics and horror releases this year to properly highlight them all. In addition to some of our favorites listed above we had a lot of love for the following releases:

• Night Creatures aka: Captain Clegg (Scream Factory) 
• The Celebration: Dogme 1 (Criterion Collection)
• The Return of the Living Dead 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray (Scream Factory)
• Final Flesh (AGFA)
• Night of the Living Dead 4K Ultra HD (Criterion Collection)
• Highlander (Lionsgate / Studio Canal)
• Death Wish II (Vinegar Syndrome)
• Army of Darkness 4K Ultra HD (Scream Factory)
• Wild Things 4K Ultra HD (Arrow)
• Candyman (Arrow / Scream Factory / Turbine)

What were some of your favorite cult classics or favorite horror flicks you picked up this year on 4K Ultra HD or Blu-ray?

Darren Aronofsky's The Whale featuring the critically-acclaimed performance by Brendan Fraser will emerge on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital on March 14.   

Read our theatrical review for The Whale here.

From Darren Aronofsky comes The Whale, the story of a reclusive English teacher who attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter. Starring Brendan Fraser and based on the acclaimed play by Samuel D. Hunter.

The Blu-ray will include a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, two behind-the-scenes featurettes, and a digital copy.

BLU-RAY / DVD SPECIAL FEATURES

• People Are Amazing: Making The Whale
• The Sounds of the Sea: Scoring The Whale 

The Whale
 

Order your copy today and here is the full press release:

.

Add every Season One episode of HBO Max's post-apocalyptic series to your home video collection (either Blu-ray or 4K UHD) on February 21.   

A post-apocalyptic saga spanning multiple timelines, this limited drama series tells the stories of survivors of a devastating flu as they attempt to rebuild and reimagine the world anew while holding on to the best of what’s been lost. Based on the international bestseller of the same name by Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven stars Mackenzie Davis, Himesh Patel, Lori Petty, David Wilmot, and Daniel Zovatto, with appearances from Gael Garcia Bernal, Danielle Deadwyler, Timothy Simons, Caitlin FitzGerald, David Cross, and more.

Specs are still unknown, but each release will be a three-disc set containing all episodes of the first season.

Station Eleven - Blu-ray

Station Eleven - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Pre-orders are now available and the Blu-ray has MSRP of $29.99, while the 4K UHD Blu-ray is $39.99. Here is the full press release:

Forgotten survival horror gem P2 starring Rachael Nichols and Wes Bently is coming to Blu-ray with three Mediabooks from German label Turbine Medien

I haven't seen this movie in ages, my DVD was lost to the sands of time long ago, but I remember enjoying its simple to the point horror scheme. As you can see from the pics above, this new Blu-ray will pick up both English and German language Dolby Atmos and Auro 3D. We're trying to confirm that each disc will be region free - most of Turbine's releases have not been region locked so it's a safe bet. You get three artwork options to choose from and they're up for pre-order now.

P2 - US Artwork Mediabook
(limited to 600 units)

P2 - German Artwork Mediabook
(limited to 600 units)

P2 - International Artwork Mediabook
(limited to 300 units)

Here are all of the gory details:

Synopsis:
Survival horror from the makers of HIGH TENSION and MANIAC!

New York at Christmas. A gloomy, deserted underground car park after hours. When the young lawyer Angela finally wants to leave for the family celebration, her car won't start. The young security guard Thomas offers to help, but quickly turns out to be a maniac who doesn't want to spend the celebration of love alone. A bloody fight for survival begins for Angela...

Alexandre Aja (HIGH TENSION) and Franck Khalfoun (MANIAC) shock with close-up horror, with tension, action and brute force. Wes Bentley (YELLOWSTONE) shines as an apparently friendly psychopath who turns Christmas Eve into a bloodbath. The Special Edition offers a new level of terror with sound in Dolby Atmos and Auro 13.1! Limited Mediabook with a German motif - only 600 pieces!

Taking the bus to work suddenly seems like a very good idea. (New York Times)
 
Original title: P2
Country of production: USA 2007
Director: Franck Khalfoun
Cast: Rachel Nichols , Wes Bentley , Philip Akin

Technical specifications:
Language / Sound: German & English: Dolby Atmos, Auro & DTS 2.0
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (1080p Full HD)
Subtitles: German, English, English (SDH)

Running time: 97 minutes

Bonus Material:
+ A new fear level - Making of* (approx. 12 min.)
+ Terror design - location and stunts* (approx. 5 min.)
+ A New Kind of Suspense - Director Franck Khalfoun* (ca. 3 min.)
+ Behind the scenes* (approx. 4 min.)
+ Audio commentary* with Alexander Aja, Franck Khalfoun and Gregory Levasseur
+ Cinema trailers, teasers and TV spots
*The bonus material has optional German subtitles.

Number of discs: 2
Genre: Horror

The gory Christmas action-comedy starring Stranger Things' David Harbour as Santa Claus will be available on Blu-ray/DVD on January 24th

When a team of mercenaries breaks into a wealthy family compound taking everyone inside hostage, they are not prepared for a surprise combatant: Santa Claus. David Harbour (“Stranger Things”) stars as St. Nick in the “wildly entertaining” (SCREEN RANT) holiday romp, delivering some serious season’s beatings to save the family and the spirit of Christmas.

There doesn't appear to be a 4K UHD Blu-ray release at this time, but the releases include over half an hour of supplements including deleted scenes, featurettes, and an audio commentary with Director Tommy Wirkola, Producer Guy Danella, Writer Pat Casey and Writer Josh Miller.

Violent Night
 

Order your copy now and here is the full press release (I love how it says that Violent Night's home video release arrives just in time for next Christmas):

The critically-acclaimed musical comedy and Best Picture winner from Rob Marshall is getting a SteelBook edition for the film's 20th anniversary on February 7th

Winner of 6 academy Awards- Chicago is a dazzling spectacle cheered by audiences and critics alike! At a time when crimes of passion result in celebrity headlines, nightclub sensation Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and spotlight seeking Roxie Hart (Renée Zellweger) both find themselves sharing space on Chicago's famed Murderess Row! They also share Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), the town's slickest lawyer with a talent for turning notorious defendants into local legends. But in Chicago, there's only room for one legend!

The release doesn't appear to have anything new aside from the SteelBook packaging, as the bonus materials are all legacy features.

Chicago 20th Anniversary Blu-ray SteelBook
 

Order your copy today and here is the full press release:

Winner of six Academy Awards®, including Best Picture, director Rob Marshall’s musical sensation CHICAGO celebrates its 20^th anniversary this year with a new, Limited-Edition Blu-ray™ SteelBook™, arriving February 7, 2023 from Paramount Home Entertainment.

Originally released wide on January 24, 2003, CHICAGO was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and won not only Best Picture, but also Best Supporting Actress for Catherine Zeta-Jones, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound. 

A thrilling adaptation of the Broadway musical, the film boasts sensational performances from Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly, Christine Baranski, and more.  Filled with electrifying musical numbers, wildly entertaining satire, and plenty of razzle dazzle, CHICAGO remains a must-see cinematic spectacle.

The Limited-Edition Blu-ray SteelBook includes access to a Digital copy of the film and boasts over three hours of legacy bonus content, including commentary with director Rob Marshall and screenwriter Bill Condon, an extensive look at the film with cast and crew interviews, plus extended musical performances.  Bonus content is detailed below:

• Feature Commentary with director Rob Marshall and screenwriter Bill Condon
• Chicago in the Spotlight – A Retrospective with Cast and Crew
• Bringing Chicago to Life: Adapting the Broadway Musical to Film
• Developing the Screenplay: Collaborating with Bill Condon
• Casting the Movie: Finding Actors Who Can Sing and Dance
• The Extended Cast: The Great Dancers of Chicago
• Rehearsals: The Best of Times
• Rob Marshall: Born to Direct
• Marty Richards: In Remembrance
• Neil Meron and Craig Zadan: Renowned Musical Producers
• The Magicians Behind the Camera: Colleen Atwood - Dion Beebe - John Myhre
• The Best of Broadway: The Choreographers
• The Director's Cut: Musical History is Made
• The 75th Academy Awards: And the Oscar goes to…
• The 85th Academy Awards: A Walk Down Memory Lane
• The Relevance and Impact: The Aftermath of the Modern Day Musical
• Extended Musical Performances
• “And All That Jazz”
• “When You’re Good to Mama”
• “Cell Block Tango”
• “We Both Reached For The Gun”
• “Mister Cellophane”
• “All I Care About”
• “All I Care About” with Richard Gere
• “Nowadays” with Renée Zellweger
• “And All That Jazz” with Catherine Zeta-Jones
• “I Can’t Do It Alone” rehearsal
• “Nowadays/Hot Honey Rag” rehearsal
• “We Both Reached For The Gun” rehearsal
• “Cell Block Tango” rehearsal

 Steamboat Willie and nine other Walt Disney Animation Studios classic shorts will be available on home video next month on February 7 in celebration of Disney's 100th anniversary.

Celebrate 100 magical years of Disney with this collectible compilation of animated shorts! Mickey and Minnie share their memories in new introductions to these 10 wonderful stories, which have entertained generations of children and adults alike. Included is the iconic "Steamboat Willie," the first cartoon with synchronized sound, in which the character of Mickey Mouse was first introduced as a deckhand on a riverboat commanded by the tyrannical Captain Pete. Also included are "Brave Little Tailor," featuring Mickey as a medieval tailor given a daunting task. In "Mickey’s Delayed Date," the tardy mouse relies on his faithful pup Pluto to get him to a dance with Minnie. "Hawaiian Holiday" finds Mickey and his pals vacationing on a beautiful island. Then along with friends, Mickey and Minnie glide through a romantic date on a frozen river in "On Ice." And catch five more delightful stories in this legacy collection.

The Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy Combo Pack includes a 2.0 soundtrack with all-new introductions by Mickey and Minnie.

Mickey & Minnie: 10 Classic Shorts - Volume 1
 

Pre-orders should be available shortly but here is the full press release:

CELEBRATE 100 MAGICAL YEARS WITH MICKEY AND MINNIE!

Collect A Piece of Animation History When 

Mickey & Minnie 10 Classic Shorts – Volume 1

Arrives on Blu-ray™ and DVD February 7

BURBANK, CA (January 10, 2023) – Walt Disney Animation Studios today announced that Mickey & Minnie 10 Classic Shorts – Volume 1 will soon be available to audiences to enjoy at home. This new collection gathers together ten classic animated shorts for the first time, including the iconic “Steamboat Willie,” and features all-new introductions from Mickey and Minnie for each short.

This release is part of the planned releases coming in 2023 to celebrate Disney's 100th anniversary.

It will be available to purchase on Blu-ray and DVD from February 7. 

Film Synopsis

Celebrate 100 magical years of Disney with this collectible compilation of animated shorts! Mickey and Minnie share their memories in new introductions to these 10 wonderful stories, which have entertained generations of children and adults alike. Included is the iconic "Steamboat Willie," the first cartoon with synchronized sound, in which the character of Mickey Mouse was first introduced as a deckhand on a riverboat commanded by the tyrannical Captain Pete. Also included are "Brave Little Tailor," featuring Mickey as a medieval tailor given a daunting task. In "Mickey’s Delayed Date," the tardy mouse relies on his faithful pup Pluto to get him to a dance with Minnie. "Hawaiian Holiday" finds Mickey and his pals vacationing on a beautiful island. Then along with friends, Mickey and Minnie glide through a romantic date on a frozen river in "On Ice." And catch five more delightful stories in this legacy collection.

Product Specifications

Street Date

Physical: February 7, 2023

Product SKUs

Physical: Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray + Digital Code) & DVD

Feature Run Time

Approx. 83 Minutes

Rating

Not rated

Aspect Ratio

Digital: 1.78:1

Physical: 1.78:1

U.S. Audio

Blu-ray: English 2.0 Dolby Digital, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital, French 2.0 Dolby Digital

DVD: English 2.0 Dolby Digital, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital, French 2.0 Dolby Digital

Digital: English 2.0 Dolby Digital, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital, French 2.0 Dolby Digital

U.S. Subtitles

Blu-ray: English SDH, Spanish, French

DVD: English SDH, Spanish, French

Digital: English SDH, Spanish, French (some platforms)

 Have you been nice this year? Did Santa bring you movies or new gear? How true they are, the "Twelve Pains of Christmas" by the talented Bob Rivers. At the close of this week, we countdown to 2023! Welcome to Volume 3 Episode 31 of our weekly release guide. A look at the highlights of what's coming to disc the week of December 25th - December 31st, as well as a look at announcements from last week.

4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Releases

 New releases this week starts out with Halloween Ends, which is available as a standard edition, a Walmart Exclusive and a Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook. The Zavvi cover edition comes on January 16th. You can also get the trilogy (2018 - 2022) in a single package as well.

This one surprised me a bit, when the announcement dropped there was a lot of buzz. Talking about Terrifier 2, and the only way to get the 4K is from Best Buy. This might make me have to watch the first film to see what's up.

 Kino Lorber this week has Paul Newman's 1994 film Nobody's Fool, which is based on Richard Russo's novel by the same name.

Blu-ray Releases

 Blu-ray counterparts first, and this week it means every title above. Halloween Ends, the 2018-2022 trilogy, Terrifier 2 and Nobody's Fool.

 Anime highlights include Digimon Adventure Season 1, Goodbye, Don Glees!, Lupin the 3rd Farewell to Nostradamus, Project A-ko 3, Seven Days War - Movie and She Professed Herself a Pupil of the Wise Man - The Complete Season.

 LionsGate delivers a bio/drama titled Lamborghini. Yup, it's *that* Lambo.

 Mystery behind this one, from Universal, Prancer: A Christmas Tale. This one was supposed to be released December 27th, and right up til a few days ago, it was still listed as such. Now it is listed as a release date of November 29, so, a month ago. My joke was going to be "just in time for (50% off) Christmas (sales)."

 Honorable mention: If you got Nobody's Fool because you're a Newman fan, Kino Lorber has a blu-ray of Twilight (1998) to fill your Newman library.

 If you are OK with importing, Turbine Media has Knight Rider - 40th Anniversary Edition this Friday. There are enough differences with their set (including more discs/higher bitrate) to strongly consider this one. 

Announcements from last week:

Paramount has officially announced Dragonslayer for 4K SteelBook and standard editions with a date of March 21.

4K Release Calendar

2K/BD Release Calendar

Which titles are you buying this week? Which ones are on your wishlist, be it to buy as an impulse buy or to wait for the right price?

The best of the classic sci-fi horror franchise, Cube Zero picks up three new limited edition Mediabooks from German label Turbine Medien. 
Just in time for Christmas, each cover option is limited to a run of 333 units, available December 16th!

This franchise was one of my favorites to pick up at the rental shop. The first Cube was a low-budget classic that did a lot with very little. Cube 2 was decent but it felt like a rehash. But then came the prequel, 2004's Cube Zero which has become a genuine sci-fi horror splatterhouse classic. It's gnarly good fun and I've been looking forward to diving back into this one and these Mediabook covers are pretty damn slick. Check 'em out:

Cube Zero - Mediabook Cover A
Limited to 333 units

Cube Zero - Mediabook Cover B
Limited to 333 Units

Cube Zero - Mediabook Cover C
Limited to 333 Units

Here's everything you're getting in the set:

Technical specifications:

• Language / sound: German DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 5.1, German DD 5.1, English DD 5.1
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1 (1080p24 Full HD), 1.78:1 (16:9 anamorphic, PAL)
• Subtitles: German, English
• Running time: 98 minutes

Bonus material:

• Audio commentary by director Ernie Barbarash*
• Making-of - Inside the Box (approx. 20 min., with German voice-over)
• Storyboard/film comparisons (approx. 4 min.)
• Music video, trailer (US & DE)
• 28-page book section by Tobias Hohmann on the history of the film including an interview with director Ernie Barbarash

Pre-orders are now live!

Thank you for your pre-orders - they really do go a long way towards keeping out little show up and running. 

Michael Knight, a lone crusader in a dangerous world. The world of The Knight Rider on Blu-ray in a new 23-Disc

40th Anniversary Complete Series Collection from German label Turbine Medien

Knight Rider 40th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray

David Hasselhoff and his supercar KITT ride off into the sunset dealing justice where ever they travel in new 23-Disc Blu-ray collection from Turbine. Limited to 3939 units, this expansive set gives fans all 90 episodes of the original 4 seasons spread out over 20 discs with a Blu-ray with over three hours of exclusive bonus features including interviews with various cast and crew. On top of that, Turbine is gassing up this set with the two follow-up TV films in SD Knight Rider 2000 and Knight Rider 2010 with another disc dedicated to the complete 23-episode run of Team Knight Rider in SD. In addition there will be a massive 332-page book (in German) giving a full episode guide as well as new interviews and trivia. Sadly due to licensing issues the 2008 Knight Rider series didn't make the cut. 

Here are some stills from the set - looking pretty good! 

Here's everything that's coming in the set:

Technical specifications:
Language / Sound: BD 1-20 (series): German & English - DTS-HD MA 2.0 - BD 21 (bonus material): English DD 2.0 - BD 22 (TV films): German & English - DD 2.0 - BD 23 (TEAM KNIGHT RIDER): German & English - DD 2.0
image format: BD 1-20: 4:3 - 1080p24 Full HD - BD 21-22: 4:3 SD - BD 23: 4:3 SD
Subtitles: BD 1-20: German & English for all episodes + bonus material - BD 21-22: German & English - BD 23: none
Running time: 5820 minutes

Bonus material:
+ TV films KNIGHT RIDER 2000* & KNIGHT RIDER 2010* (in SD)
+ TEAM KNIGHT RIDER Series (in SD)

+ Bonus Blu-ray with brand new world exclusive interviews and featurettes* (HD, approx. 3 hours):
- Stu Phillips (composer - approx. 11 min.)
- Steven E. de Souza (Producer & Writer - approx. 32 mins)
- Rebecca Holden (Actress - approx. 25 mins)
- Jack Gill (Stunt Coordinator & KITT Driver - approx. 34 mins)
- Tom Greene (Producer & Writer - approx. 50 min.)
- Deborah Davis (author - approx. 17 min.)
- Knightcon 2011 - words of welcome from Tom Greene (approx. 28 min.)
- myKITT.de - The fulfillment of a childhood dream (approx. 13 min.)
- Universal archive* (approx. 30 min.):
- Knight Rider - Under the hood (approx. 16 min.)
- Knight Stunts (approx. 6 min.)
- Knight Sounds (approx. 7 min.)
- Sketch Gallery (approx. 3 min.)
- Photo Gallery (approx. 3 min.)
+ Audio Commentary* on Pilot by David Hasselhoff and Glen A. Larson

+ 332-page book: Knight Guide to Series History
+ Design Concept Replica
+ 2 DIN A1 Posters
+ 5 Replica ID Cards (incl. Knight's driver's license & KITT's vehicle registration)
+ Artcard Set & Sticker
+ Limitation Certificate - strictly limited to only 3,939 pieces

*The Bonus material has optional German and English subtitles.

Number of discs: 23

Pre-orders are now live and you can order directly from the Turbine Shop HERE 

Thank you for your pre-orders, they really do go a long way toward keeping our little operation at High-Def Digest alive and running. 

   The horror double feature starring Corbin Bernsen will make its Blu-ray debut on January 24 which will also include a digital copy.

Where there’s a drill, there’s a way. Corbin Bernsen stars as homicidal dentist Dr. Alan Feinstone in these two horror favorites, available for the first time on Blu-ray™. In The Dentist, Beverly Hills dentist Dr. Feinstone seems to have the perfect, ordered life — until the discovery of his wife’s affair with the pool boy sends him off the deep end, unlocking the killer inside. The Dentist 2 finds the evil doctor in a maximum-security mental hospital…but not for long, as he escapes to a small town and turns his attentions to a new love interest and new victims.

Both films will include audio commentaries, isolated score selections w/audio interviews, interviews with cast and crew, trailers and still galleries.

The Dentist Collection
 

Order your copy today and here is the full press release:

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