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Tuesday, 17 July 2018 16:30

Criterion’s October slate, Westworld: S2, Hereditary & more 4K, plus Amazon Prime $15 4K sale, 8 new BD reviews & more

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All right, today’s post was meant to go live yesterday, but we had some server glitches and crashed that took us offline for a while. As such, we’re playing catch up a little bit today. But we’ve expanded the post with today’s news and reviews so. So here we go…

First up, Tim Salmons has turned in his thoughts on Vincent Ward’s Vigil, now available in a new Special Edition Blu-ray from Arrow Video, as well as Scream Factory’s In the Mouth of Madness: Collector’s Edition. Also, David Steigman has taken a look at on Arrow’s The Case of the Scorpion’s Tale: Special Edition on Blu-ray, along with Cleopatra Entertainment’s China Salesman. And Dennis Seuling has reviewed Fredric Hobbs’s Godmonster of Indian Flats on Blu-ray from AGFA and Something Weird Video, as well as 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment’s Love, Simon on Blu-ray.

Now then... Prime Day was a little bit of a disaster yesterday, what with Amazon.com having all kind of outages. But the good news is that they’re having a special sale today for Prime members on many great 4K titles. They have over 175 great titles for just $15 each today! Act quick if you want to take advantage via this link. (Doing so will help support our work here at The Bits and we appreciate it!) [Read on here...]

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In announcement news today, our friends at the Criterion Collection have just announced their October Blu-ray and DVD slate, which is set to include Cornel Wilde’s The Naked Prey (Spine #415 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 10/2, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day (Spine #946 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 10/9, Hal Ashby’s Shampoo (Spine #947 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 10/16, Brian De Palma’s Sisters (Spine #89 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 10/23, and Rob Reiner’s The Princess Bride (Spine #948 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 10/30. We’ve updated the Criterion Spines Project here at The Bits accordingly.

HBO Home Entertainment has officially set Westworld – Season Two: The Door for release on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on 12/4. But the digital release will be available LONG before... on 7/23/18. The 4K release will include both Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos object-based audio. Extras on all versions will include the 3-part Bring Yourself Back Online documentary, 4 behind-the-scenes featurettes (The Buzz: On the Red Carpet, Return to Westworld, Paved with the Best Intentions: The Evolution of the DELOS Corp, and Violent Delights Have Violent Ends), as well as 10 Creating Westworld’s Reality featurettes (An Evocative Location, Fort Forlorn Hope, The Delos Experiment, Shogun World, Inside the Cradle, Chaos in the Mesa, Ghost Nation, Deconstructing Maeve, The Valley Beyond, and The Drone Hosts). You can see the final cover artwork to the left and also below.

Westworld - Season Two: The Door (4K Ultra HD) Westworld - Season Two: The Door (Blu-ray Disc) American Psycho (4K Ultra HD)

Hereditary (4K Ultra HD) The Princess Bride (Criterion Blu-ray Disc) Shampoo (Criterion Blu-ray Disc)

Sisters (Criterion Blu-ray Disc) The Naked Prey (Criterion Blu-ray Disc) Eight Hours Don't Make a Day (Criterion Blu-ray Disc)

Meanwhile, Lionsgate has announced the release the Ari Aster’s Hereditary for Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 9/4. Extras will include deleted scenes, the Cursed: The True Nature of Hereditary featurette, and the Evil in Miniature photo gallery. The 4K Ultra HD edition will include Dolby Vision HDR. Audio on the BD versions will be DTS-HD Master Audio.

Lionsgate has announced the 4K Ultra HD release of American Psycho on 9/25 as well, with Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos audio. Extras will include the previous Blu-ray extras along with a new audio commentary with writer/director Mary Harron.And we’ve learned that Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is planning to release the animated Batman: The Killing Joke and Batman: Assault on Arkham on 4K Ultra HD as well on 9/11.

And Lionsgate has also set The Punisher and Punisher: War Zone for release on 4K Ultra HD on 9/25. Both will feature Dolby Atmos audio and Dolby Vision HDR.

All of these titles have been added to our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits.

Also today, Well Go USA will release Phantasm: Lord of the Dead on Blu-ray and DVD on 9/18.

Kino Lorber Studio Classics will release Don Siegel’s The Black Windmill (1974) on Blu-ray and DVD later this year (street date TBA). Coming on 9/25 to Blu-ray and DVD are Don Taylor’s The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday (1976), H. C. Potter’s The Farmer’s Daughter (1947), Carol Reed’s Trapeze (1956). And coming on 9/18 are Peter Markle’s Bat 21 (1988) and Louis Morneau’s Retroactive (1997).

Also, don’t forget that I’ll be hosting the Breaking News from Shout! Factory and Scream Factory panel at San Diego Comic-Con this coming Friday, 7/20, from 7-8PM in Room 32AB. If you’re a fan of either company, you won’t want to miss it. From the Comic-Con schedule: “Join Brian Ward (Sr. Director of Blu-ray and DVD Production) and Jeff Nelson (Sr. Marketing Director) as they make special announcements and unveil exclusive sneak peeks of Shout! and Scream Factory’s upcoming releases. A fan-driven insider’s event filled with lively discussion and a few surprises, this panel discussion and Q&A will be moderated by Bill Hunt of The Digital Bits.”

Back tomorrow with more, including a new History, Legacy & Showmanship column from our own Michael Coate.

Stay tuned...

(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)