Man’s Best Friend (Blu-ray Review)
New Line Cinema was “The House That Freddy Built”, but in 1991 the studio bumped off their carpenter and noted breadwinner (Only to return three years later in Wes Craven’s New Nightmare). They were still a notable horror house and delivered many of the more interesting and mid-level pictures throughout the 1990s. Man’s Best Friend, along with the likes of Ghost In The Machine that same year, were of the horror films that came during the absentee Freddy years. It was also during that dreadful time for horror in the 1990s (That has more gems than you think) where the genre felt on a decline. Scream Factory is bringing Man’s Best Friend to Blu-ray finally on March 12th for the first time. Maybe Ghost in the Machine will be around the corner as well, considering the newfound relations with Warner Bros which also leads to New Line. It doesn’t have many bonus features to speak of, but fans will likely be happy just to have it with a new 2K scan. Pre-order is available below. Continue reading ‘Man’s Best Friend (Blu-ray Review)’
Mary Queen of Scots will forever I’m afraid be known as Johnny Depp’s sequel to Alice in Wonderland where he reprises his role of the Mad Hatter.
Shout! Factory is bringing the cult classic Kalifornia to Blu-ray again, via their Shout Select label. Its finding itself as one of the coveted Collector’s Edition titles to boot. Sporting new artwork (Which admittedly is pretty damn good to my eyes), this release doesn’t boast much in the way of new interviews (Just one with the director), but does carry over all the old stuff and will feature the Theatrical edition of the film for the first time on Blu-ray. Each cut of the film will be on its own disc. This film features an early performance from Brad Pitt that has been to the liking of many fans. You can pick up this film when it releases on March 5th. Pre-order is available to have on release day from the Amazon link below.
When the 2003 film Willard was arriving in theaters back in 2003, it was just this strange film I saw a trailer for and thought it looked odd and was like “okay?”. Crispin Glover was a strange guy to me then. Little did I know, I’d find out that this film was also a remake of a film and the rat at the center was the inspiration for the Michael Jackson song “Ben”. The film came and bombed out, but for myself, and I’m assuming many others, we learned from it, sought out the original and/or found an appreciation in a movie that was nothing like anything else hitting theaters at the time. Scream Factory with its newfound Warner Bros relationship has found this film an instant home on Blu-ray and put one of their best special features crews on the job to help give this one some love. You’ll be able to have the film before the month is out on February 26th. Get your pre-order in now from the link below to be able to put on your shelf next to your copies of the original Willard and Ben from Scream Factory. 
I remember growing up and my mom adoring 1976’s A Star Is Born, which stars Barbara Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. Not so much the movie per se, but I remember the LP always being prominently displayed in her collection. I suppose this information severely dates me, but I’m really just trying to set the mood here. Years later I would find out that it was actually a remake of a 1937 movie of the same name, but I digress. What made me take notice though as I got into collecting home media formats like DVD and Blu-ray my mom would always ask me when does A Star Is Born come out for it. Now some 40 years later it’s kind of sentimental that I’m equally excited for the newest incarnation of A Star Is Born releasing on Blu-ray and 4K UHD Disc this February 19th. 
IFC Midnight typically picks up some really nifty independent horror films that usually wind up on the Scream Factory Blu-ray line. Not all are complete successes, but you can at least see why they’d be interested. The combo of IFC Midnight and Scream Factory is almost an immediate sign of quality when it comes to super low budget and very independent productions. The Clovehitch Killer is their most recent release and its comes with quite a bit of buzz to where I’d had people recommending this film to me before I’d even heard about it. It featured a festival screening, small theatrical release and a VOD one. Seeing the IFC Midnight logo on it, I’d figured the Factory of Scream was bound to be releasing it in the near future and I’d held off. In addition, I decided to go in on recommendation, title and poster image alone, as dark as possible. You’ll be able to own this compelling little serial killer thriller when it arrives on Blu-ray March 5th! 
Disney animation’s new animation hot streak may be more notable for the Frozen phenomenon, but it did start the year prior with the very popular and profitable Wreck It Ralph. And before we start sequelizing the recent run and getting the (sure to be HUMONGOUS) Frozen 2, Ralph gets his second turn at bat. And oddly enough, looking over, balance and consistency may be his strong suit. The sequel did about even critically and just a little better at the box office than the original. That’s a pretty solid carry over considering these both made just shy of half a billion dollars. You’ll be able to take home Ralph’s breaking of the internet when it comes to 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray on February 26th (Same day as Ariel!). 
Many outstanding blockbuster films will hit their 30 year milestone this year. I’ve long talked about how 1989 was an important year to me, in which my passion and love for film took to brand new heights that summer, primarily with the release of Tim Burton’s Batman. Disney also found itself refreshed when The Little Mermaid arrived in theaters and paved way to a resurgence of fairy tale animated features for them, complete with some of the most memorable songs in their catalog. With that 30 year milestone, The Little Mermaid is not only getting a Signature Collection release, its also making the jump to 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray for the very first time. Make sure you grab this one before those pesky vault keepers lock up all the dingle-hoppers for good. You’ll be able to own it on February 26th, and you can pre-order below. 
Scream Factory continues its dig through the annals of Hammer Horror history with the debut of the hotly demanded and requested title, The Vengeance of She! The first film remains only on DVD via Warner Archive Collection (C’mon dudes, lets match up here!), but getting the sequel is a nice start. Its coming with some fresh new interviews, a 2K scan and an episode of World of Hammer (Always cool to see these on the extras list). Start off your She collection at the end by picking this one up and hopefully its not too long before the Ursula Andress original arrives on Blu-ray. The Vengeance of She arrives on February 26th, available from the Amazon link below.
Here we go with more of Scream Factory’s dive into Universal’s classic catalog of more radioactive horror features. The Mole People is an honest classic of this era. They’ve actually put together a new Making Of documentary for it which is really cool. And, like a previous elder horror title The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, they’ve included the original Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode that riffed on it. To me, that’s ultimate cool bonus. Basque in its restoration, but typically, just go back the MST3K version. This one lands at the end of the month on February 26th. Get your Amazon pre-orders in now to ensure you receive on the day of release.
I’m probably alone in this way of thinking, but I cant help myself. When I first saw the artwork to click on for playing the Widows trailer I instantly thought of another Viola Davis movie she did a few years back with Jennifer Lopez. That movie was called Lila & Eve, but had what I originally thought a similar motive…revenge. While there are very much aspects of a revenge genre film in the making here make no mistakes about it Widows is very much a heist movie. It’s also an incredibly good one if do say so myself. The Steve McQueen directed film was released this past week on your favorite home media formats. Aaron Neuwirth brought you the Blu-ray review earlier in the week 
This is a pretty cool new spin with the Scream Factory and Sony/Columbia relationship. It appears they are unlocking another wing of their ever-growing vault for more classic horror of the black and white era. In addition to what they are grabbing from Universal, it seems the classic monster/horror era is building a better foundation in the Scream Factory library. Shout! Factory looks to be getting their hands on some Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and radioactive monster era horror now. While not the first time, the volume looks to have picked up significantly for 2019. We begin here with a Bela Lugosi film having him play a fanged menace once again (NOT Dracula, though) in The Return of the Vampire. You’ll be able to pick it up this month on February 19th. Pre-order using the Amazon link found below the review. 
While I never was a huge Queen fan growing up I was never ignorant to their musical place and historical significance and in the world of rock. That much was never lost on me. I was a fan of most of their songs and like many from my generation completely smitten by “Bohemian Rhapsody” when it was resurrected in the 1992 
Now this is a “Brian” film!
