Do you like scary movies? Well, it appears as though this edition of highlights on DVD and Blu-ray has a few. Be sure to click on any links to read more about them. And don’t get too concerned, there are a few other genres represented. So if you can’t make it out to the movies this week, be sure to give one of these titles a try!
Big New Releases!
About Scout – A rebellious girl decides to travel across Texas to search for her missing sister – she suspects the sibling is with their estranged father. Along the way, she befriends and travels alongside a depressed New Yorker. Press reaction was mixed, claiming that the performances were good but that the story was riddled with plot holes and inconsistencies. The impressive cast includes India Ennenga, Jane Seymour, Ellen Burstyn and Danny Glover.
Diary of a Deadbeat: The Story of Jim VanBebber – This documentary follows low-budget exploitation filmmaker Jim Van Bebber, most known for a bloody little no-budget action pic called Deadbeat at Dawn (1988). The cameras catches up to the underground filmmaker and captures him from 2010-2015 as he attempts to mount a career comeback and start a new production. This title is straight-to-DVD, so there are no reviews available at present.
Flight 7500 – I’m very curious about this troubled production. Shot and completed way back in 2012, this horror tale is an English-language chiller from director of the Japanese scare-fest, The Grudge (2004). The story involves a group of passengers who encounter supernatural forces while on a flight from LA to Tokyo. It has been released in other parts of the world, but even there reaction was very poor, calling it an ineffective effort that doesn’t deliver on shocks or scares. Now viewers can see what happened for themselves and make up their own minds. It stars Leslie Bibb, Ryan Kwanten, Amy Smart and Jamie Chung.
The Forest – Here’s another effort that didn’t wow critics. Based around Japan’s Aokigahara Forest (which is said to be haunted), an American woman arrives searching for her sister. Unfortunately, she encounters strange people and bizarre ghostly forces that seem determined to keep her in the woods. Notices were terrible for the film, claiming that the plotting becomes increasingly ludicrous as it progresses and that it earns more laughs than chills. The cast includes Natalie Dormer, Taylor Kinney, Yukiyoshi Ozawa and Eoin Macken. To read a full length review of the movie, just click here.
The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun – This bizarre French/Belgian thriller involves a pretty secretary in a strange mental state who steals her boss’ car for a joyride around a seaside town. Apparently, there also happens to be a dead body in the trunk of the vehicle. It has generally split audiences and has been called a strange and eccentric puzzle box of an art film. Sounds like it you’re looking for something straight forward and conventional you may not like it. The movie stars Freya Mavor, Benjamin Biolay, Elio German and Stacy Martin.
Standoff – This small-scale, independent action/thriller is about a troubled war veteran who attempts to help a young girl after she witnesses a hit. Of course, this leads the assassin to the girl and the woefully unarmed protagonist. Most of these types of movies don’t fare well with critics, but this one actually garnered mixed reviews. Some thought it was silly, but more than half found it to be a well-acted, tense and interesting spin on the genre formula. Thomas Jane, Lawrence Fishburne and Joanna Douglas headline the effort.
Blasts From the Past!
This week, Arrow have a sequel to an 80s horror classic. Bride of Re-Animator (1989) is the follow-up to the modern horror classic Re-animator (1985). The sequel finds two of the original characters returning for more undead mayhem (their creations include plenty of lab experiments gone wrong). Frankly, it isn’t nearly as effective as the original, but it is the best of the follow-ups. Arrow’s Limited Edition 3-disc Blu-ray/DVD is quite impressive. The disc includes new transfers of the Unrated and R-rated versions of the film, as well as multiple audio commentaries featuring director Brian Yuzna, cast members like Jeffrey Combs and make-up effects technicians. There are making-of and make-up featurettes as well and deleted scenes. It also contains impressive artwork from illustrator Gary Pullin. If you’re a fan of the film, this is as good as it gets.
Shout! always deliver interesting Blu-ray of cult titles. This week they’ve got a Double Feature package containing Destroyer (1988) and Edge of Sanity (1989). Both movies feature Anthony Perkins (Psycho). The first title stars Lyle Alzado as an executed prison inmate who seeks revenge on a film crew shooting a movie at the now abandoned penitentiary. The second is an strange take on Jekyll and Hyde with Perkins as the cocaine-addicted title character, stalking his prey in the nastier sections of London. B-movie fans should be pleased with the release.
Additionally, they have the Chris Sarandon and Peter Cushing UK miniseries of A Tale of Two Cities (1980). This well-regarded Dickens adaptation was nominated for a Golden Globe.
And in their efforts to try and release every single John Carpenter movie ever made, Shout! also have a Collector’s Edition Blu-ray of Village of the Damned (1995). Based on the John Wyndham novel, this is another take (after the classic 1960 version) on mysterious children exerting strange control over the residents of a small town. It’s pretty pulpy and not up there with the director’s best, but it is fun slice of cheese (with a few elaborate deaths) and features a great cast that includes Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Lindo Kozlowski, Michael Pare, Meredith Salenger and Mark Hamill. Yep, Superman and Luke Skywalker in the same flick. The disc features vintage interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, as well as a new retrospective featuring interviews with Carpenter and other cast members, a special on highlighting the film’s locations and other bonuses.
Warner Archive have a new Blu-ray of the Alfred Hitchcock film, Suspicion (1941). This one stars Joan Fontaine as a shy heiress who thinks that her new husband, played by Cary Grant, is plotting to kill her. It certainly makes for an awkward honeymoon. Fontaine won an Academy Award for Best Actress and the disc comes with a making-of documentary and theatrical trailer.
On the DVD front, they’re also putting out the documentary Cinema’s Exiles – From Hitler to Hollywood (2009), which details the many film professionals (like Billy Wilder, Fritz Lang, Fred Zinnemann and Peter Lorre) who immigrated to California pre-WWII and influenced the industry. They’ve also got The Seventh Sin (1957), a drama with Eleanor Parker and George Sanders as a marriage couple struggling with adultery.
And there’s more. Criterion have a Blu-ray of the Howard Hawkes adventure/comedy Only Angels Have Wings (1939). It’s about a traveling entertainer who falls for a daredevil pilot while in South America. The movie star Jean Arthur and Cary Grant, and the release includes discussions and a program with filmmakers and critics on its cinematic value, a archived interview with the director and a radio play version of the film featuring the film’s cast.
Kino have a fascinating release in the crime B-movie Shadows in an Empty Room (1977). This Italian/Canadian co-production involves a vengeful cop who goes on the rampage when his sister is poisoned. Apparently, he’s not above using brutal techniques to get what he wants. It stars John Saxon, Stuart Whitman, Martin Landau, Tisa Farrow and Gayle Hunnicutt (among many others). I’m not familiar with it, but many have claimed it features a car chase that must be seen to be believed.
Universal are releasing a Blu-ray set called American Pie Unrated 4-Movie Collection. Naturally, it contains the four major movies in the series, American Pie (1999), American Pie 2 (2001), American Wedding (2003), and the best-forgotten American Reunion (2012). I guess the main selling feature is that the release contains R and Unrated versions of all the films (as well as bonus documentary on the series).
Finally, Cult Epics is releasing a Blu-ray of the graphic and very-hard-to-watch horror film Schramm (1993) aka Schramm: Into the Mind of a Serial Killer from German director Jorg Buttgereit (Nekromantic).
You Know, For Kids!
Here are some options for any youngsters.
Justice League Vs Teen Titans
Pound Puppies: Showstopping Pups
Power Rangers: Wild Force: The Complete Series
On the Tube!
And here are the TV-themed releases that include a documentary on the ’85 Bears – you can see them rap in one of the videos below. Of course, they aren’t the only sports teams to grace fans with their singing skills in the 80s, as you’ll also see in various clips (at least the last one got it right by only using a selected bits by the players and keeping the song to, you know, talented musicians).
Don Matteo: Set 13
Don Matteo: Set 14
Don Matteo: Set 15
ESPN Films: 30 For 30 – The ’85 Bears
Family Matters: Season 6
Finding Your Roots: Season 3
Frontline: Supplements & Safety (PBS)
Grace and Frankie: Season 1
Heroes Reborn: Season 1
Ken Burns: Jackie Robinson (PBS)
London Spy (BBC Miniseries)
Prisoners’ Wives: Complete Collection
Sisters: Season 4
Welcome to Sweden: Season 2