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OnVideo's Weekly Guide to Home Video Releases
Final Frequency: Rogue scientists are bent on stealing Nikola Tesla's most secret formulas to manufacture the Mother of all Earthquakes and collapse downtown Los Angeles during the G-20 World Summit. The “Voice of God” weapon can control or destroy human minds. Innocent PhD student Esther is caught in the crosshairs as she and a gang of determined misfits battle to save her beloved professor and the world. (VOD)
The Forever Room: When a woman wakes up to find herself shackled in a basement with no memory of how she got there, her horror is amplified when she discovers that her captor is her own mother. Plagued by her slipping mental state, she is soon beset by strange apparitions and frightening experiences. (iTunes, Apple TV, Google Play, Prime Video, FandangoNOW, Vudu)
Funhouse: When eight celebrities from around the globe are invited to compete in an online reality show, they soon realize that they are playing for their very lives, as those voted off suffer horrific consequences -- broadcast live to the entire world. (Apple TV, Prime Video, Google Play, FandangoNOW, DirecTV, and more; DVD release: Day & date)
Jurassic Hunt: In this sci-fi thriller, female adventurer Parker joins a crew of male trophy hunters in a remote wilderness park. Their goal: slaughter genetically recreated dinosaurs for sport using rifles, arrows, and grenades. After their guide is killed by raptors, the team tries to escape the park – but the hunters quickly become the hunted. (DVD release: Day & date)
The Clockmaker of St. Paul
(1974 -- France) The debut feature of legendary director Bertrand Tavernier. Adapted from Georges Simenon’s novel "The Watchmaker of Everton" (1954), it stars Philippe Noiret as the unassuming title character, a man who begins to reexamine his life when his son is wanted for murder. Asked for help by the police inspector (Jean Rochefort), he realizes how little he knew about his son, and begins to seek out the truth hidden behind his family’s walls. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray. Extras: New introduction by filmmaker Walter Hill, commentary by director Bertrand Tavernier, booklet with excerpts from Tavernier's memoir [Blu-ray only], interview with Tavernier and Philippe Noiret (2001), interview with Tavernier (2008), trailer. (Kino Classics).
Dreambuilders
(2020 -- Denmark) Minna’s life is turned upside-down when her dad’s new fiancée and her daughter move in. Her new stepsister, Jenny, turns out to be horrible and Minna is very
Evil Dead Trap
(1988 -- Japan) Miyuki Ono, Aya Katsuragi, Hitomi Kobayashi. A TV station employee takes a camera crew out to an abandoned factory to investigate a purported snuff film that was made there, only to end up running for her life.
Formats: Blu-ray. New 4K scan restoration. Extras: Audio commentary with director Toshiharu Ikeda and SPFX manager Shinichi Wakasa; commentary by filmmaker Kurando Mitsutake ("Karate Kill," "Gun Woman"); commentary with James Mudge of Eastern Kicks; "Trappings of the Dead - Reflecting on a Japanese Cult Classic"; storyboards; behind-the-scenes stills; promotional artwork; trailer.
(Unearthed Films). Read more here.
Funhouse
(2019 -- Sweden) Valter Skarsgård, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Khamisa Wilsher, Christopher Gerard, Karolina Benefield. Down and out backup singer and celebrity ex-husband Kasper is invited to compete in the Funhouse, an online "Big Brother" style reality show. In an attempt to rebrand his image due to a tarnished reputation, Kasper reluctantly accepts the offer. Alongside seven other C-list celebrities from around the globe, he competes for a 5 million dollar prize. At first, the Funhouse is just as the name suggests, full of wild times, budding friendships, love connections, and brewing rivalries. But, to everyone’s surprise, the fun quickly turns into misery when the first challenge leaves one of the contestants brutally murdered. Formats: DVD, Digital, VOD. Extras: "Behind the Scenes of Funhouse," visual effects breakdown. (Magnet/Magnolia Home Entertainment). Read more here.
Habit
(2021) Bella Thorne, Gavin Rossdale, Paris Jackson, Josie Ho, Andreja Pejic. L.A. party girl Mads (Thorne) gets a gig running drugs for Eric, a washed-up Hollywood star. When their cash gets stolen and Eric is slain by a rival drug lord, Mads and her two sexy BFFs hide out by dressing up as nuns. But in spite of their costumes, these bad girls are no angels. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray, VOD, Digital. (Lionsgate). Read more here.
Lansky
(2021) Sam Worthington, Harvey Keitel, AnnaSophia Robb, Minka Kelly, Jackie Cruz. Based on true events, this crime thriller centers on notorious gangster Meyer Lansky. It follows an aging Lansky living in anonymity in Miami after being pursued for decades by the FBI. When he enlists a journalist named David Stone to tell his story, the Feds use him as a pawn to track down the millions of dollars that Lansky has been suspected of stashing. Stone finds himself caught in the middle of a game of cat and mouse, as he eventually uncovers the hidden truth about the life of the notorious boss of Murder Inc. and the National Crime Syndicate.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray, VOD, Digital. (Lionsgate).
NCIS: Los Angeles: The Twelfth Season
(2020-21) All 18 episodes. The 12th season finds Callen (Chris O’Donnell) and Sam (LL Cool J) continuing to take on dangerous, vital cases with international ties, while working to find balance as they each try to maintain new and blossoming relationships.
Formats: DVD. (CBS/Paramount).
Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway
(2019) Rose Byrne, Domhnall Gleeson, David Oyelowo, Elizabeth Debicki, Margot Robbie, James Corden. In this live-action/CGI family film, Thomas and Bea are now married and living with Peter and his rabbit family. Bored of life in the garden, Peter goes to the big city, where he >meets shady characters and ends up creating chaos for the whole family. Formats: DVD + Digital Code, Blu-ray + Digital Code, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray
Prince of the City BLU-RAY DEBUT
(1981) Director: Sidney Lumet; Treat Williams, Jerry Orbach, Williams plays a New York City narcotics detective who reluctantly agrees to cooperate with a special commission investigating police corruption, and soon realises he's in over his head. He's plunged into a nightmare of conflicting moral issues in a world where nobody can be trusted. Extras: "The Real Story" featurette. (Warner Archive).
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
A chilling story of terror, murder and unknown evil that shocked even experienced real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. One of the most sensational cases from their files, it starts with a fight for the soul of a young boy. After a cop stumbles upon a dazed and bloodied young man walking down the road, the suspect is accused of murder and claims demonic possession as his defense, forcing the Warrens into a supernatural inquiry unlike anything they've ever seen before.
Vitals: Director: Michael Chaves. Stars: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Ruairi O’Connor, Sarah Catherine Hook, Julian Hilliard.
2021, CC, MPAA rating: R, 112 min., Horror, US box office gross: $63.177 million, worldwide $175.177 million, Warner.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray + Digital Code, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo, VOD, Digital.
Extras: "By Reason of Demonic Possession” in-depth look at the true story that inspired the movie. Blu-ray adds “The Occultist” featurette; “Exorcism of Fear” behind-the-scenes; “DC Horror Presents The Conjuring: The Lover #1” video comic that takes you deeper into the Conjuring Universe.
Read more here.
Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway
(2021) In this live action/CGI sequel, the lovable rogue is back. Bea, Thomas, and the rabbits have created a makeshift family, but despite his best efforts, Peter can’t seem to shake his mischievous reputation. Adventuring out of the garden, Peter finds himself in a world where his mischief is appreciated, but when his family risks everything to come looking for him, Peter must figure out what kind of bunny he wants to be.
Vitals: Director: Will Gluck. Stars: Rose Byrne, Domhnall Gleeson, David Oyelowo, Elizabeth Debicki, Margot Robbie, James Corden.
2019, CC, MPAA rating: PG, 93 min., Family, US box office gross: $39.297 million, worldwide $145.297 million, Sony.
Formats: DVD + Digital Code, Blu-ray + Digital Code, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo, VOD, Digital.
Extras: "Bunnies, Baddies, and the Big City: The Making of Peter Rabbit 2," "Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle's Wee Little Kitchen," "Bea's Crafting Corner: DIY Bunny Bookmarks," "Bea's Crafting Corner: Create Your Own Woodland Terrarium."
Read more here.
August 24
Ashes and Diamonds BLU-RAY DEBUT
(1958 -- Poland) A milestone of Polish cinema, this electrifying international sensation by Andre Wadja -- the final film in his celebrated war trilogy -- entwines the story of one man’s moral crisis with the fate of a nation. In a small Polish town on the final day of World War II, Mace (the coolly charismatic Zbigniew Cybulski), a fighter in the underground anti-Communist resistance movement, has orders to assassinate an incoming commissar. But when he meets and falls for a young barmaid (Ewa Krzyzewska), he begins to question his commitment to a cause that requires him to risk his life. "Ashes and Diamonds’" lustrous monochrome cinematography -- wreathed in shadows, smoke, and fog -- and spectacularly choreographed set pieces lend a breathtaking visual dynamism to this urgent, incendiary vision of a country at a crossroads in its struggle for self-determination. Formats: Blu-ray, with new 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack. Extras: Audio commentary from 2004 featuring film scholar Annette Insdorf; new video essay by Insdorf on the film’s legacy; "Andre Wadja: On Ashes and Diamonds,” a 2005 program featuring director Andre Wadja, second director Janusz Morgenstern, and film critic Jerzy Plazewski; archival newsreel footage on the making of the film; an essay by film scholar Paul Coates. (The Criterion Collection).
Blind Beast
(1969 -- Japan) "Blind Beast" is a grotesque portrait of the bizarre relationship between a blind sculptor and his captive muse, adapted from a short story from Japan's foremost master of the macabre, Edogawa Rampo. An artist's model, Aki (Mako Midori), is abducted, and awakens in a dark warehouse studio whose walls are decorated with outsized women's body parts -- eyes, lips, legs and breasts -- and dominated by two recumbent giant statues of male and female nudes. Her kidnapper introduces himself as Michio (Eiji Funakoshi), a blind sculptor whom she had witnessed previously at an exhibition in which she featured intently caressing a statue of her naked torso. Michio announces his intention of using her to sculpt the perfect female form. At first defiant, she eventually succumbs to his intense fixation on her body and finds herself drawn into his sightless world, in which touch is everything. "Blind Beast" is a masterpiece of erotic horror that explores the all-encompassing and overwhelming relationship between the artist and his art and the obsessive closed world that the artist inhabits, with maestro director Yasuzo Masumura ("Giants and Toys," "Irezumi") conjuring up a hallucinogenic dreamworld in which sensual and creative urges combine with a feverish intensity. Formats: Blu-ray. Extras: New audio commentary by Asian cinema scholar Earl Jackson; newly filmed introduction by Japanese cinema expert Tony Rayns; "Blind Beast: Masumura the Supersensualist," a new visual essay by Japanese literature and visual studies scholar Seth Jacobowitz; original trailer; image gallery; reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella; FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated booklet featuring new writing by Virginie Sélavy. (Arrow Video/MVD Entertainment). Read more here.
The Cannibal Man
(1972 -- Spain) Vicente Parra, Emma Cohen, Eusebio Poncela. From subversive Spanish writer/director Eloy de la Iglesia comes the international hit and DPP 39 Video Nasty that remains among the most notorious and misunderstood shockers of the 70s: When a slaughterhouse worker accidentally kills a man during a fight, it triggers a desperate descent into madness and mass murder. Also known as "The Apartment on the 13th Floor" and "Week of the Killer." Features both the International and extended Spanish Version newly scanned from the original negatives for the first time ever. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray. Extras: "Cinema at the Margins": author Stephen Thrower and film writer Dr. Shelagh Rowan-Legg on Eloy de la Iglesia; "The Sleazy and the Strange" interview with film critic Carlos Aguilar; deleted scenes; original theatrical trailer. (Severin Films).
The Cat O' Nine Tails
(1971) Following the success of his debut feature, "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage," distributor Titanus tasked writer-director Dario Argento with delivering a follow-up in short order. The resulting film, granted a greatly enhanced budget and heralded in its US marketing campaign as "nine times more suspenseful" than its predecessor, was "The Cat O' Nine Tails." When a break-in occurs at a secretive genetics institute, blind puzzle-maker Franco Arnò (Karl Malden), who overheard an attempt to blackmail one of the institute's scientists shortly before the robbery, teams up with intrepid reporter Carlo Giordani (James Franciscus) to crack the case. But before long the bodies begin to pile up and the two amateur sleuths find their own lives imperiled in their search for the truth. And worse still, Lori (Cinzia De Carolis), Franco's young niece, may also be in killer's sights. This second entry in the so-called "Animal Trilogy" found Argento further refining his distinctive style and cementing his reputation as the master of the giallo thriller. Featuring a nerve-jangling score by the great Ennio Morricone, "The Cat O' Nine Tails" remains one of Argento's most suspenseful and underrated films. New 4K restoration. Formats: 4K Ultra HD. Extras: Interviews; featurettes; commentaries; script pages for the lost original ending, translated into English for the first time; original Italian, international and US theatrical trailers; illustrated collector’s booklet featuring an original essay on the film by Dario Argento, and writing by Barry Forshaw, Troy Howarth and Howard Hughes; fold-out double-sided poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Obviously Creative; six double-sided, postcard-sized lobby card reproduction artcards; limited edition packaging with reversible sleeve featuring originally and newly commissioned artwork by Obviously Creative. (Arrow Video/MVD Entertainment). Read more here.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
(2021) Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Ruairi O’Connor, Sarah Catherine Hook, Julian Hilliard. A chilling story of terror, murder and unknown evil that shocked even experienced real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. One of the most sensational cases from their files, it starts with a fight for the soul of a young boy, then takes them beyond anything they’d ever seen before, to mark the first time in U.S. history that a murder suspect would claim demonic possession as a defense. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray/DVD Combo, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo, VOD, Digital. Extras: "By Reason of Demonic Possession” in-depth look at the true story that inspired the movie. Blu-ray adds “The Occultist” featurette; “Exorcism of Fear” behind-the-scenes; “DC Horror Presents The Conjuring: The Lover #1” video comic that takes you deeper into the Conjuring Universe.
Read more here. (Warner).
The Dark: Collector's Edition
(1979) William Devane, Cathy Lee Crosby, Richard Jaeckel, Keenan Wynn, Casey Kasem, Jacquelyn Hyde. In this chilling tale of alien terror, a writer (Devane) takes a personal interest in a series of baffling, shocking murders in Los Angeles ... and evidence suggests the suspect may not be human. Every night "The Mangler" stalks the streets, attacking and mutilating random victims. On the creature's trail is TV reporter Zoe Owens (Crosby) and police detective Dave Mooney (Jaeckel), but the truth behind the murders is far more strange and horrifying than they could ever imagine. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray. Extras: Audio commentary with producer Igo Kantor and director John “Bud” Cardos; interview with composer Roger Kellaway and Cardos; vintage Interview with Cardos; photo gallery; original theatrical trailer. (MVD Visual).
frustrated. One night, Minna discovers a world behind her dreams, where the whimsical dreambuilders create every fantasy and nightmare we endure nightly on their theater stages. Minna also finds out how to manipulate Jenny’s dreams. But interfering with dreams has dire consequences … and when Minna goes too far one night, Jenny can’t wake up anymore. Minna must enter the dream world one more time to face the nightmare she has created in order to save Jenny and her new family. Animated feature. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo, VOD, Digital. (Shout! Kids). Read more here.
The Fatal Raid
(2019 -- Hong Kong) Jade Leung, Patrick Tam, Min-Chen Lin, Jeana Ho, Michael Ton. Two elite police teams head up a secret operation following a dangerous smuggling ring across the Macau border, but when their presence is discovered, the mission ends in a deadly firefight. Twenty years later, an escort mission brings the survivors back to the scene of the tragedy -- and fosters a highly unwelcome reunion.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray, VOD, Digital. (Well Go USA).
One Dark Night Collector's Edition
(1982) Meg Tilly, Melissa Newman, E.G. Daily, Adam West. World renowned psychic Raymar is found dead after announcing that he had uncovered the secret of how to become even more powerful in death by the use of telekinetic powers. At the same time, two high school girls plan an initiation night for their friend Julie (Tilly), who is determined to shed her "goody goody" image. Her test is to spend the night locked in the crypt - the same one that Raymar has been buried in that very day. The crypt soon becomes a battlefield of horror.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray. Extras: Audio commentary with director Tom McLoughlin and writer Michael Hawes; work print version of the film; commentary with McLoughlin and producer Michael Schroeder; interviews with McLoughlin, Schroeder, actress E.G. Daily, make-up person Paul Clemens, director of photography Hal Trussell, production designer Craig Stearns and Nancy McLoughlin. (MVD Visual).
Overboard
(1987) Director: Garry Marshall; Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Edward Herrmann, Katherine Helmond, Roddy McDowall. A cruel but beautiful heiress mocks and cheats a hired carpenter to do some work on her yacht. When she gets amnesia after accidentally falling overboard, he decides to introduce her to regular life by convincing her they're husband and wife -- in the process getting a mother for his four kids and a free housekeeper. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray. Extras: Interview with Screenwriter Leslie Dixon. (Severin Films).
Extras: "Bunnies, Baddies, and the Big City: The Making of Peter Rabbit 2," "Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle's Wee Little Kitchen," "Bea's Crafting Corner: DIY Bunny Bookmarks," "Bea's Crafting Corner: Create Your Own Woodland Terrarium." (Sony).
Read more here.
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August 22, 2021
(ISSN 1094-3676).
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