What We Left Behind – Looking Back At Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Blu-ray Review)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, caught in between the mega popular Star Trek: The Next Generation and the more traditionally plotted Star Trek: Voyager, was typically overlooked during its time on the air or unappreciated. However, it was a show that was a gamechanger for the television landscape and today’s highly normal serialized storytelling. With no fully remastered and restored Blu-ray sets like The Next Generation likely ever coming fruition, we are instead treated to What We Left Behind; a documentary chronicling the series and its legacy with all the important people brought back to tell the story (Well, except Avery Brooks). Shout! Factory will be releasing this exciting event on Blu-ray on August 6th. This briefly had an event night in theaters, so if you missed out on it, this new Blu-ray is your chance. Plus it is truly loaded with more material beyond the documentary, so you’ll really want to check it out.
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Last month it was Ivan Ooze, now Shout! Factory is moving onward with the Power Rangers movies with TURBO. Personally, I can’t say I’m familiar with this one as the whole thing had passed me by and I was probably “too cool” for it when Turbo released in 1997. I recently spoke with Steve Cardenas about the films and VERY positive about the first Power Ranger movie and pretty mum about Turbo here. So we shall see. Anyway, this is the first time for the film to be on the Blu-ray format (Was not included in the big set from last year) and it looks to also contain some nice supplemental fun here as well. You’ll be able to add it to your collection of Zords, Discs and more when it arrives on Blu-ray from Shout! Factory on July 30th.
Releasing alongside Lust For A Vampire this month, Scream Factory also will be dipping into Hammer Horror’s The Reptile. It makes its American debut and brings with it a few new bonus features while keeping true to what has been on the Blu-rays so far with the archival bonus features getting ported over. That seems to be par for the course with the Hammer Horror films from Scream Factory. I’ve never seen The Reptile, but with it including a Doctor Who actor in Jacqueline Pearce in the cast (Sure, “just” The Two Doctors serial but she’s done Big Finish stuff as well), I’m all too eager to check this one out now. You’ll be able to check it out too when it arrives on July 30th. To land yourself a copy of The Reptile, you can pre-order the Blu-ray by going to Shout! Factory’s website, or you can simply scroll down to the Amazon link that follows the whole review and click on that (And help our little site a hair in the process).
Scream Factory’s devotion to Hammer Horror continues in 2019 (Wait until you see the Hammer stuff coming in September) with a title unreleased on Blu-ray so far (And has a bit of demand) with Lust For A Vampire. The second film in the noted Karnstein trilogy, it will be making its debut here with some fresh new bonus materials and a 4K scan from the original negative. While reviled by many (Even those who worked on the film), Lust For A Vampire has a pretty solid cult following and really fits the bill to be a Scream Factory release (In the UK, it is being released a few weeks after this one by Studio Canal). Lust For A Vampire releases on July 30th (Same day as The Reptile) and is available for pre-order by going to the Shout! Factory website or by clicking on the Amazon link that follows the review.
I remember seeing the first production stills of Shazam! online and thinking how awful/embarrassing our hero’s inflated muscle outfit looked. Surely this was a joke and they were keeping his real superhero suit under wraps or inserting it digitally later in post. Wrong! Then something happened and I was like whoa this actually looks not only legit, but fun and hysterical as well. That moment I speak of was when the film’s first theatrical trailer dropped. Not only was the inflated muscle bound costume the real thing, but for the first time since I saw those stills I breathed a somewhat sigh of relief. This feature looked like a blast on the cover. Couple that with the initial wave of early reviews that were not only favorable, but claiming this was one of the best DCEU movies yet and you had my attention dripping whet with anticipation. So here we are! It’s Shazam! on 4K time!
Hey, the Critters are back! All right! Well, they came back already this year with Shudder’s Critters: The First Binge back in March. But now we are getting a sequel to the original film series with Critters Attack! This one also boasts the return of Dee Wallace to the series for the first time since the original film. Warner Bros will be putting the movie out on Blu-ray on July 23rd, but this is in anticipation of some big SyFy Channel premiere of the film later this year or something or other is what I gather. If you want to have it next to your Scream Factory box set and actually own the thing (AND see it before its TV debut), then you go right ahead, scroll down, and click on the Amazon link where you can secure yourself a copy of this return to the little hedgehog-ish, ball rollings, human eating furrballs known as the Critters.
Shout! Factory is launching a glorious collector set of the cult science fiction program, starring Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, Space 1999 on July 16th. This elaborate set includes every episode, the first time in America for the second season, as well as plenty of new bonus material. If you act fast, on Shout! Factory’s website, the first 500 orders will come with a collectible Space 1999 snow globe. You want that, you know you do. But, as of writing this, it may be too late. Personally, I’d always meant to check this show out and this Blu-ray set seemed the most appropriate way to start my journey. You can start yours, revisit or decorate your movie collection with this fine release by ordering from Shout! Factory or the Amazon link following the review.
In 1995, Waterworld was more infamous for its controversies and budget than it was for being a fantastic movie. Critics ripped the picture to shreds, and audiences were divided as well. Some people wondered where the money had gone. Others wondered why the performances weren’t the greatest. It should be said that sometimes time can be kinder to a movie on occasion. Upon revisiting Waterworld, I can confidently say this is one of those times. Check out the in-depth perspective on Waterworld on 4K Blu-ray, which hit stores on 7/9! 
Scream Factory named their last Universal Horror Collection “Volume 1” and they are coming through with more within just a month with “Volume 2”. The first set was originally a Karloff and Lugosi collection, renamed for one reason or another (And with this label, you can put much more content out under the Universal Horror banner). This one doesn’t have the distinction of those two actors, but it isn’t without merit or a common thread among the films. On one hand Volume 2 is a bit of a Mad Doctor/Scientist collection of films, but within 3 of those a common actor is among them. This could be somewhat of a Lionel Atwill set (A new mini doc is even devoted to him) as he stars in 3 films in this set and is as common a fixture in the Universal Classic Monster films as his colleagues Karloff and Lugosi. This new 4-disc set will be available at the end of the month on July 23rd and can be pre-ordered from the Shout! Factory website or the bottom of this review via the Amazon link.
Scream Factory is showing no limits this year to the eras with which they are bulking out their library in 2019. Coming July 15th is a the 1943 horror film The Leopard Man. Its a film notable for being the first with which to appropriately or not be afraid to tackle the subject of serial killers (And so ahead of that, the term “serial killer” hadn’t been coined yet). This release boasts a new 4K transfer from the original negative and a brand new commentary to go with a previous one done by director William Friedkin. The Leopard Man looks to be as solid a package as you could put together for a cult film of its age. You can check out the review and/or pre-order yourself a copy by clicking on the Amazon link following the review. 
Movies about how life can be thrown into a tailspin are always interesting to me. The changes don’t have to be monumental, but when they are you are consistently drawn in to the story more. I went into my viewing of The Professor with a small tinge of doubt right out of the gate. To be honest, I had never heard of the film prior to receiving it, and the title gives little hope you’ll be seeing something promising. 
Pet Sematary kind of freaked me out as a kid, but truth be told I never read the 1983 novel of the same name by Stephen King.
Warner Archive Collection has delivered a nice little surprise this month in the form of 1978’s Corvette Summer. Or for many years as people knew it “That movie Mark Hamill did after Star Wars”. The film didn’t quite strike with audiences that year and had a weird reputation, but I’ll argue that its kinda sorta worth another look. Not that its some forgotten or unappreciated gem from 41 years ago, but moreso that its a perfectly fine film and not this dreadful thing its reputation would have you thinking about it. Plus, Annie Potts rules in this movie and you should check her out at least. The film made its way on June 18th, though it looks like the initial run might be out, so you’ll have to wait on the second wave to order. There is a link you can do something with below, but in the meantime, check out this review or you can hear me discuss the film on the Forgotten Films podcast a few years back by clicking 
Scream Factory like to fashion themselves on housing many John Carpenter films, but they are also looking like a library of iconic actor Tom Atkins (The Fog, Escape From New York, Halloween III: Season of the Witch). And now they are doing Fred Dekker’s Night of the Creeps. This cult classic has been on Blu-ray for a good many years, but is finding an enhancement in joining the coveted Collector’s Edition line from Scream Factory. There’s even an edition you can order that has a TOM ATKINS ACTION FIGURE with it. How awesome is that? They are adding loads of new interviews for extras as well as porting over the ones from the other edition. Its a monster release from a label known for bringing monsters to their finest releases. This one came out on June 25th, so you can order whenever you’re ready and willing to enhance your movie collection with this little slice of alien/zombie-esque action horror comedy.
Well, well, well. More “Universally” welcomed surprises coming from Scream Factory as the year of 2019 continues onward. Its actually incredibly surprising that its taken until 2019 for This Island Earth to find its way onto the high definition format. You’d think it would have at least found its way into some sort of Classic Science Fiction multi-film set if Universal didn’t think it’d do well enough on its own. Crazy enough, it made its way to the format via Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie before getting its own release. Fittingly, Shout! Factory (Under the Scream Factory banner) will be putting the film’s non-riffed and original theatrical version out as well. And they aren’t messing around with it either, its coming with a really rad set of bonus features that’ll have you shouting “Mu-TANT”! This year has seen Universal tackling this unique science fiction horror era between the classic monsters age and the Hammer/API era of horror. This Island Earth can be yours if the price is right, on July 9th.
Scream Factory not only has some fresh new studio catalog titles to tackle with Warner Bros recently, they’ve also been getting some output from Sony. As such, their new release of the 2006 film Silent Hill marks the distributor’s first foray into the video game film genre. The critically reviled box office disappointment did have its fans, making it a little bit of a cult film for which to maybe take another look at and a good candidate for a Scream Factory release. It also is a film whose director is quite popular with some of his other efforts (Brotherhood of the Wolf and his Lea Seydoux starring Beauty and the Beast). Scream Factory is giving this one a pretty solid treatment in the form of a 2-disc set with bonus features provided by Reverend Entertainment. The release will be their to cool down and spook you following your 4th of July firework excitement when it arrives on July 9th. You an pre-order the Blu-ray from Shout! Factory’s website or by using the Amazon link at the end of the review.
