New Release Wall
“Bodies Bodies Bodies” (Lionsgate): A band of post-adolescent rich kids turn on each other, with violent consequences, in this wildly comic murder mystery. What’s perhaps most wickedly delightful about Halina Reijn’s satire with a body count is the way it plays out like a Gen Z Twitter fights, in real time, with weapons, proving that you can poke at internet culture even in a house where a thunderstorm has knocked out the WiFi.
Also available:
“Bullet Train” (Sony) Assassin Brad Pitt meets many, many other assassins and ne’er-do-wells on a bullet train, and they try to kill each other quickly.
“Beast” (Universal): Man-vs-Nature thriller with Idris Elba trying to protect his daughters from a very large lion intent on protecting his own territory.
“Breaking” (Decal/Bleeker) John Boyega resurrects the spirit of “Dog Day Afternoon” in this true-life bank-robbery drama from Abi Damaris Corbin and Kwame Kwei-Armah.
“DC League of Super-Pets” (Warner Bros): Krypto and Ace lead a new group of super-animals who get their time to shine as they come to the Justice League’s rescue.
“The Deer King” (GKIDS): Masashi Ando, who worked on classics like “Spirited Away” and “Paprika,” makes his directorial debut with this epic fantasy anime.
“E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” 40th Anniversary Edition (Universal): Forty years of loving E.T., and your reward is a 4K HD Blu-ray loaded with never-before-seen bonus features.
“Easter Sunday” (Universal) Comedian Jo Koy’s movie follows a Filipino-American family’s reunion for Easter and all the bickering and hilarity that goes on.
“Fall” (Lionsgate) Viewers afraid of heights will lose their minds watching this terrifying thriller about two women, both expert climbers, straddling a 2,000-foot-tall radio tower who then… can’t get down.
“The Invitation” (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): A DNA test leads an orphan to discover some distant relatives in England — who seem to have a distinct taste for blood.
“Mack & Rita” (Lionsgate): When you lie down in a magical tanning bed and wind up switching bodies with Diane Keaton, don’t stress about it; she’s who you wanted to grow up to be anyway.
“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” (A24) Charming summer sleeper hit about an adorable little animated shell who wears shoes and the heartwarming adventure he takes with his piece-of-lint pet.
“Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind” (Warner Bros): Animation the way it was meant to be, for adults with lots of “strong bloody violence and gore throughout,” as described by the R-rating box on the back of this Blu-ray.
“Nope” (Universal): Jordan Peele’s latest mind-bender involves aliens and child stardom, the mythology of the American West, economic opportunism, trauma, and the unknowable. The Blu-ray release drops 90 minutes of extras to help you sort it all out.
“Orphan: First Kill” (Paramount): Esther the fake Estonian orphan who’s actually a small-bodied adult murderess is back, and she’s going to try to seduce all the hot dumb dads.
“Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank” (Nickelodeon/Paramount) A town full of cats is under siege thanks to a cat-hating villain, and it’s up to brave dog Hank to save the day.
“Rumble” (Paramount) Charles Barkley and pro wrestlers Roman Reigns and Becky Lynch lend their voices to this animated family comedy about monster wrestling.
“Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!” (Warner Bros): The Mystery Machine gang is back for a new full-length animated feature. Now with no-longer-subtextual lesbianism for Velma!
New Indie
“Gone in the Night” (Vertical) Winona Ryder and Dermot Mulroney wind up at a cabin in the woods, and cinema has shown us that that is always a bad idea. But this indie film (which premiered at SXSW earlier this year under the title “The Cow”) has a few more tricks up its sleeve, as well as a supporting cast that includes John Gallagher Jr., Owen Teague and Brianne Tju.
Also available:
“F—k The Devil/F—k The Devil 2: Return of the F—ker” (AGFA/Bleeding Skull): If “The Ring” were made by German stoners and the video tape in question unleashed a murder-thing called “The F—ker” instead of just a spooky child, you’d have something like this extremely strange, lo-fi gore experiment.
“Ape” (Factory 25): A struggling comedian and pyromaniac unleashes his anger not with comedy, but with random firestarting in this anxiously comic film from Joel Potrykus.
“The Harbinger” (Screen Media/Veteran Films) A family moves to a small town with their troubled young daughter who may be a conduit of evil and then, oops, their new neighbors start dying.
“Kingslayer” (Shout Studios): Richard the Lionheart is torn between fighting for the crown or for love in this period action-adventure.
New Foreign
“Squeal” (Kino Lorber): Part fairy tale, part “Hostel”-meets-“Babe,” this grim parable/deranged thriller involves a man traveling through Eastern Europe who loses his way and finds himself captured and put to work on a pig farm. As a pig – to be fair, the farm family’s own pig ran away so they needed to fill the position – complete with living in the barn and being fed slop. Aik Karapetian’s otherworldly, fantastical approach keeps you guessing, occasionally grossed out, and concerned over the fate of both species of pig.
Also available:
“An Impossible Love” (Menemsha Films) This French drama embarks on the decades-long story of a mother and daughter’s bond, the man who abandoned them, and questions of longing and loyalty.
“La Llorona” (Criterion Collection) Guatemalan filmmaker Jayro Bustamante’s critically acclaimed 2019 feature revolving around ghosts from a country’s troubled history gets the Criterion attention it deserves.
“Moon 66 Questions” (Film Movement): A young woman goes home to care for her estranged, ailing father, and old secrets and resentments rise to the surface in this Greek family drama.
“My Donkey, My Lover & I” (Greenwich): A teacher pining for her married lover decides to comedy-stalk him by following his family through a hike in the mountains in this breezy French comedy.
“The Test” (Icarus): A French family comedy where everything seems perfect until mom finds a positive pregnancy test in the bathroom. Suddenly, everyone is a suspect!
“Three Wishes for Cinderella” (Shout Studios): Norwegian retelling of the Cinderella story with some very modern twists.
“Vortex” (Utopia): Gaspar Noe’s latest concerns aging and the breakdown of the body with an almost shocking amount of tenderness, but, you know, while still being an intense Gaspar Noe film.
New Documentary
“Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song” (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): Did you know that legendary singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen’s most famous song, “Hallelujah,” almost didn’t make the cut to appear on an album? You’ll learn even more than that in this bio-doc featuring Jeff Buckley, John Cale, Brandi Carlile, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins and many more colleagues and admirers. Directed by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller, it’s the definitive story of Cohen, one that uses “Hallelujah” as its framework for delving into his mark on music. And for superfans, it’s a treasure trove of archival materials — including personal journals, rare recordings and performance footage — that audiences have never seen before.
Also available:
“The AIDS Show: Artists Involved with Death and Survival” (Milestone) is a heart-rending archival wonder, a 1986 stage production of “The AIDS Show,” a play by gay men about the impact of the AIDS crisis on that most vulnerable community, combined with interviews with the show’s creators and performers.
“The Automat” (Kino Lorber) A delightful film delving into the history of the world’s most legendary early 20th century restaurant, where patrons put coins into slots and opened up little glass windows to get food; featuresa stories from the people — like Mel Brooks — who were there to get their piece of pie.
“Blue Island” (Icarus/dGenerate) Chan Tze Woon’s epic documentary concerning Hong Kong’s struggle for democracy and the larger government crackdown on protests.
“Forget Me Not: Inclusion in the Classroom” (Cinema Libre Studio): Parents fight back against proposed laws that would keep children with disabilities from attending their local public school.
“A History of the European Working Class” (Icarus Films Home Video): This extensive documentary lays out the struggle of working people making their own lives better and how it reverberated throughout history, all the way to contemporary struggles for living wages and humane working conditions.
“The Jackie Stiles Story” (Kino Lorber) For 16 years, 5’8” small town Kansas basketball player Jackie Stiles held the NCAA record for all-time leading scorer, and this doc tells you how she did it. (Hint: lots of hard work.)
“Return to Auschwitz: The Survival of Vladimir Munk” (Kino Lorber) 95-year-old professor Vladimir Munk, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz, returns to the camp to honor the 30 relatives who didn’t survive.
“South: Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance Expedition” (Milestone/BFI) The original film documenting Ernest Shackleton’s harrowing 1914-1916 Antarctic expedition, newly restored in 2K by the BFI National Archive.
“This is GWAR” (Shudder/RLJE): The documentary that pays tribute to the majesty and beauty of metal legends/costumed marauders GWAR.
“’Til Kingdom Come” (Kino Lorber): Ever wonder why so many American Evangelical Christians are so concerned with Israel? This doc explains the prophesies believed and the Armageddons prayed for.
New Grindhouse
“Gothic Fantastico: Four Italian Tales of Terror” (Arrow Video): Welcome to the greatest era of Italian gothic horror film with this box set of four movies from the 1960s. Included are the underappreciated “Lady Morgan’s Vengeance”; the Roger Corman-esque “The Blancheville Monster” that borrows elements of various Edgar Allen Poe stories; “The Third Eye,” starring a young Franco Nero, that was rejected by the Italian censors for its nudity and violence; and “The Witch,” based on the novel by Carlos Fuentes, that wound up with a Best Actress nomination for star Rosanna Schiaffino from the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists. Rounding out this collection is an 80-page book of essays from film scholars and loads of special features and bonus content.
Also available:
“The Amityville Curse” (Canadian International Pictures/TVA): This overlooked entry in the Amityville franchise returns to the haunted house and decides to make it even weirder.
“Blood Hunter” (VHShitfest): This zero-budget VHS-based vampire shocker is an innovative and underseen chunk of gore.
“The Possessed” (Scream Factory): Australian horror filmmaker Chris Sun’s latest is about a man who finds himself with the gift of driving out demons from unwelcoming bodies, a true accidental exorcist.
“They Crawl Beneath” (Well Go USA Entertainment) An earthquake unleashes underground monsters in this claustrophobic sci-fi “Tremors”-adjacent jam.
“Shock-O-Rama Video Party” (AGFA/Something Weird): Four short-ish trash horror nudie exploitation artifacts from the 1950s and 60s converge in one deranged collection. Included: “The Naked Witch,” “Violated,” “Ghosts of Hanley House” and “Passion in The Sun.”
New Classic
“Paranormal Activity: The Ultimate Chills Collection” (Paramount Home Entertainment): What the heck, it’s Halloween. And the Paranormalverse has certainly had its ups and downs over the course of seven films: Some of them have been terrifying and others somewhat less so. But what holds them all together, what sustains our desire to return to otherwise nondescript suburban boxes that descend into freaked-out madness every night, isn’t so much the idea of a malevolent supernatural entity, but that there is something downstairs in the darkness of our own homes, and we’re powerless to stop it. The films are marvels of using small budgets to huge effect, and we happily fall for it every single time. This nine-disc box set has all the films, 3D versions, alternate takes, deleted scenes, a documentary and a hilarious “home security” sticker.
Also available:
American Frontier Trilogy (Lionsgate): Or at least the post-9/11 version of the American Frontier, aka, a total bummer as depicted in this triple feature of “Hell or High Water,” “Sicario,” and “Wind River,” from “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan. (Christmas gift for dad alert!)
“Army of Darkness” Collector’s Edition (Scream Factory): Sam Raimi’s hilarious third installment in the “Evil Dead” trilogy gets a lavish, extras-packed 4K HD upgrade across four discs in a limited edition steelbook package.
“Arsenic and Old Lace” (Criterion Collection): Cary Grant visits his eccentric aunts to find that they have a few corpses in their basement in this screwball murder comedy from 1944.
“The Bat” (The Film Detective): Vincent Price and Agnes Moorhead star in this 1959 old dark house movie where, oops, a steel-clawed murderer is on the loose.
“Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): Francis Ford Coppola’s sumptuous gothic retelling with Gary Oldman as a deliciously decadent Transylvanian prince who would very much like to drink Winona Ryder’s blood for eternity.
“By Candlelight” (Kino Lorber) Legendary horror director James Whale changed it up with this 1933 romantic comedy full of deception, fake countesses and mistaken identities.
“The Chocolate War” (MVD Visual) Based on Robert Cormier’s always-getting-banned novel, this 1988 adaptation delivers an allegory about power and conformity, set in a Catholic boys’ school. An impressive directorial debut from actor-turned-filmmaker Keith Gordon.
Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection, Volume 3 (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): Another 4K collection of favorites from the vault, spanning the decades, including “It Happened One Night,” “From Here to Eternity,” “To Sir, With Love,” “The Last Picture Show,” “Annie” (1982) and “As Good As It Gets.”
“Crossroads” (Mill Creek): This is not the one with Britney Spears. This is the one where Ralph Macchio wants to be a blues guitarist.
“The Cure” (Mill Creek) Joseph Mazzello and Brad Renfro star in this 90s drama about a young boy with AIDS and his best friend.
“Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” (Warner Archive Collection) A full 17 minutes of material censored from the original cut have made their way back into this 1931 Karl Struss-directed classic of the man with two identities, starring Frederic March as the tormented soul.
“Eve’s Bayou” (Criterion Collection): Kasi Lemmons’ director’s cut of her stunning 1997 southern gothic drama of family secrets gets a 4K restoration, a director commentary, interviews, William Eggleston set photography, cast-reunion footage, an essay from film scholar Kara Keeling and more in this thoughtful Criterion release.
“Fright Night” (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): The 4K treatment for this blast of 80s horror fun. If you think your new neighbor is a vampire, invite him over! What could it hurt?
“In The Soup” (Factory 25): A 1992 Sundance Jury Prize winner from Alexandre Rockwell stars Steve Buscemi and Jennifer Beals in a comedy about the trouble with trying to make a movie with small-time criminals.
“Indecent Proposal” (KL Studio Classics): Billionaire Robert Redford offers a million bucks to Woody Harrelson and Demi Moore for a night of sex with Ms. Moore in this bonkers 90s erotic thriller.
“The Inner Life of Martin Frost” (Kino Lorber): A writer (David Thewlis) retreats to a country home to work, and wakes up on day with a strange woman in his bed. Is she a ghost? A muse? A hallucination? You might find out. You might not.
“Island of the Blue Dolphins” (Kino Lorber): A 60s childhood classic adventure about a Native American girl (Celia Kaye) stranded on an island off the California coast.
“The Kindred” (MVD Entertainment/Synapse): The 80s cult classic about a young man who learns that his late mad scientist mom created a baby brother for him. In the lab. In a jar.
“Krull” (Mill Creek): The box for this thrillingly fun 80s trash classic says it all: “Journey into a mystical time where a horrible beast is the ruler.”
“The Limey” (Lionsgate): Steven Soderbergh brought together Terence Stamp, Lesley Anne Warren, and Peter Fonda for one of this crime drama, and it’s one of his best.
“Lost Highway” (Criterion Collection) David Lynch’s 1997 dark and hypnotic nightmare journey into the unknown recesses of identity gets the full Criterion treatment, including a feature-length documentary, “Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch.”
“Mark of the Vampire” (Warner Archive Collection) This long lost 1935 Tod Browning (“Dracula,” “Freaks”) chiller stars Lionel Barrymore and Bela Lugosi and delivers its director’s trademark creepiness.
“Murder at the Vanities” (KL Studio Classics): A rollicking 1934 pre-Code murder mystery musical comedy with Kitty Carlisle (who became a TV game-show legend on “What’s My Line?”) and special musical guest Duke Ellington.
“No Escape” (MVD Entertainment) In the futuristic world of 2022 (!) Ray Liotta has to break out of a supermax prison island in this 90s cult favorite.
“Night of the Living Dead” (Criterion Collection): The proper Criterion treatment for this all-time horror classic, and you get a lot of extra material.
“Nobody Waved Goodbye” (Canadian International Pictures): A classic of 60s Canadian cinema and teens-in-trouble, it’s a documentary-like cousin to “Rebel Without a Cause.”
“The Paper” (Mill Creek) Ron Howard’s 90s drama about a newspaper has Glenn Close and Marisa Tomei and what else were you looking for in a film?
“Quiet Days in Clichy” (MVD Entertainment/Blue Underground): Danish artist Jens Jørgen Thorsen’s 1970 arthouse sensation is an adaptation of Henry Miller’s erotic novella.
“The Rainmaker” (Kino Lorber): Burt Lancaster and Katherine Hepburn as a con man and a rancher (respectively) work wonders in this 1956 romantic comedy-drama.
“Renegades” (Mill Creek): Kiefer Sutherland and Lou Diamond Phillips bust a crime ring.
“The Replacement Killers” (Mill Creek) Action superstar Chow Yun-Fat picks up a gun alongside Mira Sorvino in this 90s thriller.
“The Return of The Living Dead” (Scream Factory): The most punk rock of all 80s horror films is back in an extravagant two-disc set with 4K restoration and lots of extras.
“Satan’s Little Helper” (MVD Entertainment Group/Synapse) A little boy learns that his neighbor might be a serial killer using Halloween as cover in this 2004 cult favorite.
“Scream 2” (Paramount) In 4K HD for its 25th anniversary, Ghostface keeps on stabbin’!
“Sex and Lucia” (Music Box Films): This 2001 arthouse sensation stars Paz Vega as a young woman from Madrid to leaves for a Mediterranean island and discovers romance with an enigmatic diver.
“Shadowlands” (Mill Creek): Anthony Hopkins is Christian author C.S. Lewis and Debra Winger is his wife Joy Gresham in Richard Attenborough’s drama about love and death.
“Tropic Thunder” (Kino Lorber) A bunch of actors shooting a war movie in Vietnam wind up in real battle in this ripping comic-action satire about thespian ego. Still problematic, of course, but make up your own mind.
“Viva Erotica” (Kani Releasing): In one of the great Hong Kong films of the 90s, legendary actor-singer Leslie Cheung (“Happy Together”) plays a down-on-his-luck filmmaker tasked with making a softcore porn movie.
“The Watcher” (Mill Creek) James Spader hunts serial killer Keanu Reeves in this 2000 thriller you might have missed or maybe even forgot existed. (No relation to the current Netflix hit of the same title.)
“What’s Up Connection” (Kani Releasing): An almost unclassifiable 1990 time capsule of Japan-meets-Hong Kong cross-cultural opportunism, Masashi Yamamoto’s film shakes down globalization in the wildest possible way.
“Zerograd” (Zero City) (Deaf Crocodile): Karen Shakhnazarov’s acclaimed 1988 cult film is a dark satire that’s been described as “part Kafka, part Agatha Christie and part Monty Python.”
New TV
“Ed Sullivan’s Rock & Roll Classics” (Time/Life): It’s impossible to overestimate the impact that square old variety-show host Ed Sullivan had on the music that shaped America’s young people. From the 1950s to the 1970s, an era before cable TV and the internet, when television audiences were glued to the broadcasts of exactly three major networks, Sullivan brought rock and roll to millions of viewers. Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, The Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, and on and on and on — this was where families gathered on Sunday night to have arguments over teenage hair length and the aesthetic qualities of “that racket.” Thank the boomer archivists at Time/Life for putting this one together. It’s got 10 discs, 128 performances, an accompanying booklet, and hours of music you either remember lovingly or are going to happily discover for the first time.
Also available:
“Abbott Elementary”: The Complete First Season (Warner Bros): The much-loved Emmy-winning sitcom sensation is here on physical media for you (or your favorite teacher).
“Dexter”: The Complete Series + “Dexter: New Blood” (Showtime/CBS/Paramount): Michael C. Hall is the world’s most conflicted serial killer/crime fighter, and this box set gives you every blood-soaked moment of his two long-running series.
“Ed, Edd n Eddy”: The Complete Series (Warner Bros): Three best friends with very different personalities but the same name tackle the daunting challenge of puberty in this cult favorite animated series.
“The Flash”: The Complete Eighth Season (DC/Warner Bros) The Flash and Team Flash continue to outpace a never-ending slew of Central City villains, in what’s being called the show’s penultimate season.
“Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends”: The Complete Series (Warner Bros) Utterly charming animated series about the everyday problems of growing up and having plenty of (imaginary) friends to help you get through.
“Marineland Carnival” (MPI Media Group) Arguably weirder than the Rob Zombie remake, there was a bizarre TV special in the 60s where The Munsters went to Marineland and frolicked with dolphins, and it is essential viewing.
“Melrose Place”: The Complete Series (CBS DVD/Paramount): From its beginnings as an earnest Gen X drama to its heyday as an unhinged soap full of sex, explosions and murder, “Melrose Place” was even more 90s than “Friends.”
“The Outer Limits”: Season One and “The Outer Limits”: Season Two (KL Studio Classics): This classic 60s sci-fi series gets the deluxe treatment — in separate season packaging — with HD restoration, commentaries, and lots of extras.
“Picard”: Season Two (CBS/Paramount): Patrick Stewart is forever your Space Daddy.
“Sweet Tooth”: The Complete First Season (DC/Warner Bros): Based on the DC comic book, this fantasy drama involves children born half-human, half-animal in a post-apocalyptic America.
“That 70s Show”: The Complete Series (Mill Creek): 200 episodes of 70s nostalgia and stars when they were just babies. Relive the bell bottoms.
“The Time Traveler’s Wife”: The Complete Series (HBO/Warner Bros): A loving couple have to learn to negotiate their relationship when one of them can’t seem to stop time-traveling.
“Titans”: The Complete Third Season (Warner Bros): Nightwing, Raven, and the rest of the Titans keep fighting the good fight — sometimes — in Gotham City.
“The Twilight Zone”: The Complete Series (CBS DVD/Paramount): Jordan Peele’s reboot of the classic mind-bender drew mixed responses, but now you can grab all 20 weird episodes in one place and decide for yourself.
“Ultraman Neos”: The Complete Series (Mill Creek): Wait, NOW your collection of Ultraman media is complete.
“Ultraman Zearth/Ultraman Zearth 2” (Mill Creek) Okay, so, your extensive collection of Ultraman media will never be complete and you probably like it that way, so snap up this double feature of 90s films.
“Walker”: Season Two (CBS DVD/Paramount): Jared Padalecki, the most continuously employed person in TV since Robert Urich passed away, keeps it going with the second season of the rebooted “Walker, Texas Ranger,” the show you watch when “Yellowstone” isn’t on.
“Winning Time: The Rise of The Lakers Dynasty”: The Complete First Season (HBO/Warner Bros): From Adam McKay, it’s the story of how Magic Johnson (Quincy Isaiah), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Solomon Hughes) and the team’s eccentric owner (John C. Reilly) turned around a losing team.