Archive for the 'Amazon Pre-Orders' Category
March 9th, 2026 by Gerard Iribe
Some horror films scare you. Others make you laugh. The Fade to Black 4K UHD release from 88 Films shines a spotlight on a cult oddity that does something stranger. It takes the love of movies and twists it into something dark, obsessive, and a little uncomfortable. Directed by Vernon Zimmerman, this cult favorite follows Eric Binford, a lonely film fanatic whose devotion to classic cinema slowly spills over into real life with deadly consequences. Packed with film references, eerie humor, and an early appearance from Mickey Rourke, Fade to Black plays like a warped love letter to movie history. It is part slasher, part satire, and part psychological portrait of what happens when fandom loses its grip on reality. He’s coming to get you…
Continue reading ‘Fade to Black (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
March 6th, 2026 by Gerard Iribe
A mysterious hand promises everything. Talent. Wealth. A second chance at life. But as The Devil’s Hand (1943) on Blu-ray slowly reveals, some bargains come with a price that cannot be escaped. Directed by French cinema pioneer Maurice Tourneur (Cécile is Dead) and starring Pierre Fresnay, this eerie tale unfolds like a dark legend passed from one traveler to the next. When a strange man arrives at an isolated mountain inn and begins telling the story of how a cursed talisman changed his life, the film slips into a moody blend of supernatural folklore, moral fable, and wartime fantasy. Known in French as La Main du Diable and later released internationally as Carnival of Sinners, the film remains one of the more unusual entries in French horror, quietly weaving dread and irony into a story about ambition, temptation, and the cost of getting exactly what you wish for. Continue reading ‘The Devil’s Hand (Blu-ray Review)’
March 5th, 2026 by Gerard Iribe
In the mid-1960s, eleven films produced by DEFA– the state-operated film studio of the German Democratic Republic – were either pulled from theatres or barred from release due to their supposedly anti-socialist themes. The most infamous of these films was Trace of Stones, an intense and accomplished political drama directed by one of East Germany’s most talented filmmakers, Frank Beyer (Jakob the Liar). A nuanced exploration of the everyday workings of socialism in practice, Trace of Stones was perceived as an attack on the GDR’s national ideology and withdrawn from cinemas in 1966. Frank Beyer did not direct another feature film until 1975, while Trace of Stones was suppressed until after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present this extraordinary film, available on Blu-ray for the first time. Continue reading ‘Trace of Stones on Blu-ray May 18!’
March 4th, 2026 by Gerard Iribe
An unsung master of French cinema meets an undisputed master of detective fiction in Cécile is Dead, as Maurice Tourneur (The Devil’s Hand) brings Georges Simenon’s crime novel to the screen. Simenon’s beloved sleuth Inspector Maigret appeared in 75 novels and 28 short stories written over five decades, along with innumerable radio, film and television adaptations – and here Tourneur directs one of the very finest among them. One of three Inspector Maigret films made in occupied France during World War II, Cécile is Dead boasts noirish cinematography by Pierre Montazel, art direction by Guy de Gastyne – a set designer for Marcel L’Herbier and René Clair – and music by Roger Dumas, who scored Tourneur’s The Devil’s Hand. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present this French crime classic on Blu-ray, marking its first release on home video in the UK. Continue reading ‘Cécile is Dead on Blu-ray May 18!’
March 3rd, 2026 by Gerard Iribe
Buster Keaton was arguably the greatest comedian of the silent era and certainly one of the funniest and most talented performers to ever work in the movie business. The Generalis his masterpiece: co-directed, co-written, co-produced and starring Keaton, it is a side-splitting document of a comedy genius at the peak of his powers and boasts some of the finest slapstick set pieces ever committed to film. Featuring what is perhaps the most thrilling chase sequence ever committed to film, The General is a perennial classic and stands with the very finest examples of silent comedy, including Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights, Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last! and Keaton’s own Sherlock Jr. The Masters of Cinema Series is honoured to present The General on 4K UHD for the first time in the UK. Continue reading ‘The General on 4K UHD Blu-ray May 18!’
February 10th, 2026 by Gerard Iribe
The writer Karl May is a household name in his native Germany, where he is associated with thrilling Western tales and sweeping adventure stories. Following earlier attempts to bring his novels to the screen, films adapted from May’s work found their greatest success in the 1960s. Seven of them were produced by Artur Brauner at CCC Film, all starring Lex Barker and directed by veteran filmmakers Robert Siodmak, Hugo Fregonese, Franz Josef Gottlieb and Harald Reinl. Wildly entertaining, shot in beautifully cinematic European locations and helmed by some of the most talented filmmakers working in Germany during the 1960s, these popular Karl May adaptations paved the way for the many Italian Westerns that would soon follow. The Masters of Cinema Series is honoured to present all seven of Artur Brauner’s Karl May adaptations for the first time ever on home video in the UK from brand new 4K restorations by CCC Film. Continue reading ‘‘Adventure Calls!’ on Blu-ray April 27!’
February 4th, 2026 by Gerard Iribe
In 1962, Italian comic book writers Angela and Luciana Giussani invented fumetti neri (“black comics”) with Diabolik, a wildly popular crime series starring an elusive master thief. Within just a few years, the comic was adapted into a psychedelic feature film – released internationally as Danger: Diabolik – directed by a true maestro of Italian genre cinema in Mario Bava (Blood and Black Lace) and starring John Phillip Law (Death Rides a Horse) in the title role. Designed to capitalise on the success of CCC Film’s Dr Mabuse sequels, André Hunebelle’s Fantomas trilogy and Harry Alan Towers’ Fu Manchu series, Danger: Diabolik is Italy’s contribution to the popular cycle of supervillain movies that swept Europe in the 1960s and a key entry in Mario Bava’s filmography. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present this landmark of Italian genre cinema on 4K UHD and Blu-ray for the first time in the UK. Continue reading ‘‘Danger: Diabolik’ on 4K UHD April 20!’
January 22nd, 2026 by Aaron Neuwirth
Director E.L.Katz’s debut film, Cheap Thrills, arrived back in 2013 with the hopes of becoming something of a midnight movie favorite. Even for a low-budget, small-studio release following a buzzy premiere at SXSW, the film still bombed. The reviews were there, though, including my positive thoughts on what this sick black comedy had to offer. I was among the first people to see the film back in 2013, thanks to a midnight LA screening. I appreciated how much the film was willing to push itself and let the actors really dive into the macabre mischievousness offered by Trent Haaga and David Chirchirillo’s screenplay. Now the film has been re-released by Arrow in a limited-edition package, complete with new interviews and more. Perhaps it will really begin to find an audience.
Continue reading ‘Cheap Thrills – Limited Edition (Blu-ray Review)’
January 17th, 2026 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in April: John Singleton’s Hood Trilogy, three indelible tales of Black urban life from a vital auteur; Point Blank, a stylized revenge thriller set in 1960s Los Angeles, directed by John Boorman; Monty Python’s Life of Brian, a blockbuster biblical epic from a legendary British comedy troupe; Trouble in Paradise, a pre-Code jewel glittering with innuendo and sophistication, directed by Ernst Lubitsch; Gilda, the most sensual of all Hollywood noirs, directed by Charles Vidor; Eclipse Series 48: Kinuyo Tanaka Directs, six woman-centered features from one of Japan’s greatest actors; and, fresh from theaters, Bi Gan’s Resurrection—a ravishing vision of a world where humans have forsaken dreams for immortality.
Continue reading ‘Singleton, Monty Python, Lubitsch & More Coming to the Criterion Collection April 2026’
January 15th, 2026 by Gerard Iribe
Directed by Lo Wei shortly before he achieved global success with the Bruce Lee vehicles The Big Boss and Fist of Fury, The Invincible Eightwas one of the first films produced by Golden Harvest following the company’s founding in 1970 – a wuxia tale starring Nora Miao (The Way of the Dragon), Angela Mao (Hapkido), Paul Chang Chung (Police Story) and James Tien (Yes, Madam!). Eight men and women band together for a single purpose: to take their revenge on the military General responsible for killing members of their respective families. They intend to stop at nothing until their adversary is dead, but theirs will not be an easy task. For the General not only has the protection of the Imperial army, but also an elite group of bodyguards armed with whips and sworn to protect their leader at any cost. Boasting fight choreography by Sammo Hung (who also plays one of the villain’s whip-wielding henchmen), The Invincible Eight is a significant film in the history of Hong Kong cinema, notable for helping to establish Golden Harvest as an industry force to be reckoned with. Eureka Classics is proud to present the film on Blu-ray for the first time outside of Asia. Continue reading ‘The Invincible Eight on Blu-ray March 16!’
January 14th, 2026 by Gerard Iribe
Best known for dramas such as Until We Meet Again and An Inlet of Muddy Water, the Japanese filmmaker Tadashi Imai was also the director of Revenge, a highly accomplished and brutal jidaigeki picture. These two sensibilities come together in the film that might just stand as Imai’s masterpiece: Cruel Tale of Bushido. Kinnosuke Nakamura (Miyamoto Musashi) stars in multiple roles, playing seven generations of men belonging to the same family. In the modern day, salaryman Iikura is devastated by his wife’s attempted suicide. To distract himself, he begins working through his recently discovered family records. As he traces his personal history across 350 years, he discovers tale after tale of men who have suffered, debased themselves and made untold sacrifices in the name of bushido, or the moral code of the samurai. The Masters of Cinema Series is honoured to present the film on Blu-ray for the first time in both the UK and North America. Continue reading ‘Cruel Tale of Bushido on Blu-ray March 23!’
December 15th, 2025 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in March to the Criterion Collection: Killers of the Flower Moon, an epic elegy of greed, betrayal, and murder in 1920s Oklahoma, directed by Martin Scorsese; Testament, a singular vision of life in the wake of nuclear devastation, directed by Lynne Littman; Claude Lelouch’s A Man and a Woman, one of the most intoxicating love stories ever told; and The Blade, a tour de force of Hong Kong action cinema from Tsui Hark. Plus: Classe tous risques, a hard-boiled gangster noir from Claude Sautet, and Viridiana, Luis Buñuel’s irreverent portrait of life as a beggar’s banquet—now on 4K UHD and Blu-ray.
– Continue reading ‘Scorsese, Bunuel, Hark & More Coming to The Criterion Collection March 2026’
November 26th, 2025 by Gerard Iribe
A swordsman, writer and artist who lived between 1584 and 1645, Miyamoto Musashi is a near-mythic figure in Japanese history and an icon of Japanese popular culture. The first film based on his life was produced in the silent period, followed by dozens more made over the next decades. In the early 1960s, Toei launched into an entire series focused on the legendary samurai – a five-part saga adapted from the works of Eiji Yoshikawa and completed under the direction of Tomu Uchida between 1961 and 1965. A greatly accomplished samurai saga featuring two titans of Japanese cinema in Kinnosuke Nakamura and Ken Takakura, Toei’s Miyamoto Musashi films deserve to stand with the Zatoichi series as one of the great samurai sagas of the 1960s. The Masters of Cinema Series is honoured to present all five films on Blu-ray from new 4K restorations by Toei.
Continue reading ‘Zen & Sword: The Miyamoto Musashi Saga at Toei on Blu-ray Feb. 23, 2026!’
November 17th, 2025 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in February to the Criterion Collection: Network, a prescient X-ray of the corrupted soul of a corporate-dominated America, directed by Sidney Lumet; The Man Who Wasn’t There, Joel and Ethan Coen’s existential noir thriller set in 1940s California; Eclipse Series 8: Lubitsch Musicals, four elegant, bawdy pre-Code movie musicals from Ernst Lubitsch; and, fresh from theaters, Cloud, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s darkly comic, gonzo revenge thriller. Plus: now on 4K UHD—3:10 to Yuma, a psychologically complex western directed by Delmer Daves, and PlayTime, Jacques Tati’s nearly wordless comedy about confusion in an age of high technology—and, on stand-alone Blu-ray, A Woman Under the Influence, a benchmark of American independent cinema from John Cassavetes.
Continue reading ‘Lubitsch, Kurosawa, Coen Brothers, and More Coming to The Criterion Collection February 2026’
November 5th, 2025 by Jordan Grout
Peter Hyams’ Outland presents a kind of future that looks completely exhausted. Gone is any semblance of sleekness. The story takes place on Io, one of Jupiter’s moons, though you’d never know it from the look of the place. The mining colony where the action unfolds could be a factory town in the Rust Belt, transplanted a few million miles from home and deprived of oxygen, where everyone seems to be working off the same hangover. The lights flicker, walls sweat, and every face looks like it’s been up for forty hours. It’s a future that sure as hell grinds to the bone.
Continue reading ‘Outland (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
October 30th, 2025 by Gerard Iribe
Charisma follows Goro Yabuike (Koji Yakusho, Cure), an overworked police officer who leaves his job behind after he fails to resolve a hostage situation, resulting in the deaths of both a high-profile politician and his captor. Reeling from this incident, he seeks solitude in a mountain forest, where he finds himself at the centre of a conflict over an enigmatic tree that the locals have named “Charisma.” In Cloud, factory worker Ryosuke Yoshii (Masaki Suda, Wilderness) quits his job to pursue a new career as an unscrupulous online reseller, becoming increasingly ruthless as he turns a profit from desperate customers. Eventually, though, those customers have had enough of being ripped off by Yoshii – and go looking for him to exact their revenge. Made 25 years apart, Charisma and Cloud illustrate the singular vision of one of Japan’s most talented working filmmakers. Following previous releases of Tokyo Sonata, Journey to the Shore, Cure and Creepy, the Masters of Cinema series is proud to present two more of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s films on Blu-ray, both making their debuts on UK home video. Continue reading ‘Cloud / Charisma: Two films by Kiyoshi Kurosawa on Blu-ray January 26!’
October 9th, 2025 by Gerard Iribe
Relay (2025) finally makes its way to home video via Blu-ray. Riz Ahmed stars as a professional “fixer” who brokers secret deals between powerful corporations and those threatening to expose them. He’s all about precision and control. Then one day, a desperate woman played by Lily James breaks through his routine and shakes up his careful system. This Relay Blu-ray review looks at how the film balances secrecy, trust, and survival in a sleek modern thriller.
Continue reading ‘Relay (Blu-ray Review)’
October 9th, 2025 by Gerard Iribe
Just as the kung fu film seemed to be losing steam as the 1970s came to a close, a new generation of martial arts stars rose to the top of Hong Kong cinema. Amongst them were Yuen Biao, Jackie Chan and the irrepressible Sammo Hung, who found fame as the director and star of The Iron Fisted Monk, The Magnificent Butcher and Encounter of the Spooky Kind. Presented here are three films spanning Hung’s career, from a supporting role in The Manchu Boxer to stardom in Paper Marriage and Shanghai, Shanghai. From traditional kung fu to romantic comedy to a tale of cops and crooks with shades of the “heroic bloodshed” films so popular in the 1980s and early 1990s, The Manchu Boxer, Paper Marriage and Shanghai, Shanghai exhibit Sammo Hung’s enormous range and chart his rise from supporting player to top-billed star. Eureka Classics is proud to present all three films for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK. Continue reading ‘‘Triple Threat: Three Films with Sammo Hung’ on Blu-ray December 8!’
