The Deadly Mantis (Blu-ray Review)
Scream Factory is digging into the atomic age Universal monster horror movies, continuing with 1957’s The Deadly Mantis. This comes on the heels of the February release of The Mole People. Like that atomic Blu-ray, they are also including the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode featuring the film. Its a very nice added touch to these release that I hope continue on with the more releases we see. This one doesn’t have quite the bonus features that one did beside that (Mole People had a very fun retrospective documentary), but we are seeing a new 2K scan of the film for the presentation. This one will be releasing to you on March 19th, but you can go ahead and put your pre-orders in now by using the Amazon link below!
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Where do I even begin here? I don’t want to bore my readers over and over talking about how much these Rocky franchise of movies adoringly mean to me. They are absolutely everything to me! They are my main sources of both perseverance and inspiration in life. One could even them call them my soundtrack for success, but I digress. If you’re interested in knowing the full story, you can catch up 
With Scream Factory’s (And of course Shout! Factory overall’s) continued dive into the Sony catalog of horrors, The Craft is a perfect marriage in terms of a title to enhance via a Collector’s Edition. This feels the first of its super teen horror type since their release of Disturbing Behavior back in 2016. The Craft has been a rock solid generational touchstone for over two decades now, proving to be somewhat between a hit and a cult item over time. Very much a big title in the VHS/home video era, its now coming to Blu-ray for the second time around. Scream Factory has aligned some impressive names for new interviews, but unfortunately none of them happen to be any leads from the film which I’m sure its going to be a deal-breaker for many on the fence that would be considering an upgrade of the title. Scream Factory is bringing it out as a part of its March lineup at the top of the month on the 5th and you can pre-order to have it in your hands via the Amazon link below. 
Ridley Scott primarily has been known for mostly his genre and period work in his career and then there’s the little stop off on Thelma & Louise. However, he’s been known to dabble in just about everything to be quite honest. One of my personal favorite films of his is the Nicolas Cage led con-man comedy Matchstick Men. He’s long shown his chops in many avenues and one of his early proving grounds was 1987’s Someone To Watch Over Me. Admittedly, I’m not familiar with this film. Shout! Factory is making it another title to add to the quickly growing and amassing Shout Select line of films. They are putting it out on March 12th and will be including brand new interviews with the screenwriter from the film as well as Someone To Watch Over Me’s cinematographer Michael Poster. No word on what the transfer was on the film, but I’ll spoil it for you and tell you it looks pretty damn terrific. You can set yourself up with a pre-order to have day of release from using the Amazon link below. 
Where do I even begin here? I categorically knew nothing at all about this movie going in. All I knew is Why So Blu reviewers Aaron Neuwirth and Gregg Senko liked it. Aaron who can usually peg what he calls “Brian Movies” declared several months ago that this indeed is one of those. Therefore, since I didn’t take him seriously about it last year I jumped at the opportunity when the Green Book 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray set arrived on my doorstep this past week. While the synopsis of the film really didn’t tickle my fancy I took this opportunity to do so more as a way to see how good Aaron really knows me. Let’s see if his streak with 2018 “Brian Movies” holds true here. What do you say Aaron…are you up to the challenge? So without further ado I’ll put aside all my petty, personal sentiments and remarks to digress back to the reason you’re all here…I present to you Green Book on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray.
I love the Warner Archive Collection. With such a large and vast catalog the studio has, a ton of it still has not seen release to DVD, let alone Blu-ray. WAC picks up a lot of the slack with some good audio/video upgrades as they don’t really create new special features for their releases. And with their monthly releases they are announced usually a month before and usually they are from a wide variety of different decades and genres. And most of the time we have no clue what’s coming (Cleopatra Jones FINALLY next month! Cross it off the wishlist, HELL YEAH!). This month brings some excitement with Academy Award winning director Michael Cimino’s follow up to his notorious bomb Heaven’s Gate, the Mickey Rourke starring Year of the Dragon. Its available now, but I hear there’s a been a bit of a backorder on many sites, so it could take a minute to get to you (DiabolikDVD has come through, cuz “duh”). Pre-order using the link below. 
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. 
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. 
