Umbrella Entertainment has just announced its November release slate, which is set to include Georges Franju’s Eyes Without a Face (1960) in 4K and Blu-ray, Ti West’s House of the Devil (2009) on Blu-ray, Nacho Vigalondo’s Truecrimes (2007) on Blu-ray, the Full Moon Fright Box: Volume 1 Blu-ray box set—which includes Albert Pyun’s Dollman (1991), Peter Manoogian’s Demonic Toys (1992), Charles Band’s Dollman vs Demonic Toys (1993), and William Butler’s Demonic Toys 2: Personal Demons (2010)—and finally the Ozploitatuion Rarities: Volume 2 Blu-ray box set—which includes Chris Fitchett’s Desolation Angels (1982, aka Fair Game), Craig Lahiff’s Coda (1987), and Christopher Roach’s The Thirteenth Floor (1988). All are due to street on or about 11/6. Here’s a look at the packaging...

Kino Lorber Studio Classics has set Sidney Hayers’ Burn, Witch, Burn (1962, aka Night of the Eagle) for Blu-ray release on 9/17. Also coming that day is the Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XXI box set, which includes Fritz Lang’s Cloak and Dagger (1946), Edward Dein’s Shack Out on 101 (1955), and James Cagney’s Short Cut to Hell (1957). Cloak and Dagger includes a new audio commentary by Heath Holland of the excellent Cereal at Midnight Podcast and author Max Allan Collins. (More on Max in a minute!)

And just a heads up: Our friends at Arrow Video will be announcing their October release slate tomorrow, so be sure to stay tuned to their social media feeds (including X) in the morning.

Here’s a bit of excellent news that some of you may have seen when I first broke it on our own social media feeds yesterday: I’ve officially confirmed that Paramount’s new 4K Ultra HD release of Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief (1955), which is due on 10/15 (you can see the cover artwork below and pre-order it here) is sourced from the same 4K scan as the 2020 Paramount Presents BD release, but is in fact an all-new, painstaking digital restoration that offers corrected aspect ratio, massive corrections throughout the HDR grade, and that is “worlds apart” from the Blu-ray in terms of image quality. You can preview this restoration now in 4K Digital on Apple and Kaleidescape.

And unfortunately, we also have a piece of bad release news today: Many of you have asked us why Second Sight’s pre-order pages for Robert Harmon’s The Hitcher (1986) in 4K Ultra HD have been taken down. Apparently, the company has learned that they cannot ship the title to the US or Canada due to contractual/rights issues. So while those outside the US and Canada can still see the pre-order pages, those inside both countries cannot. (However, it looks like the title will still be available from DiabolikDVD, Grindhouse Video, and Amazon.com.) When we have any further updates on this situation, we’ll let you know.

[Editor’s Update 7/26/24: We’ve confirmed that Second Sight will be fulfilling existing US and Canadian orders for this title already placed through their website—they just aren’t taking any more orders from those countries themselves. But this title will still be available in the US and Canada via DiabolikDVD, Grindhouse Video, and also Amazon via this link. So visit one of those retailers to pre-order now.]

Finally this afternoon, if you’re going to be down at Comic-Con in San Diego today, I’d like to call your attention to a terrific panel at 5:30 PM (Room 6A): My friends Robert Meyer Burnett and Mike Bawden are previewing their True Noir: The Assassination of Anton Cermak immersive audio drama in person! This is based upon author Max Allen Collins’ Nathan Heller series of hard-boiled crime novels, and the radio scripts were adapted by Collins himself. Actors Anthony LaPaglia (Alphonse Capone), Don McManus (George Raft), Louie Lombardi (Sgt. Harry Miller), Bill Smitrovich (Uncle Louis Heller), and Kris Carr (Mary Anne Beame) will be on-hand at the panel, and Max Allen Collins will participate via video link. You’ll also get this exclusive poster...

The panel promises to be very cool and a lot of fun, so do check it out. I would actually be there myself today, but I’m on the verge of completing my second science fiction novel this weekend! So when I haven’t been working on Bits content lately, I’ve at the keyboard furiously typing away.

Once this novel is finally complete, and has gone through my usual beta-reading and editing process, I’ll be launching a Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund the self-publishing of both this novel and (eventually) my first as well—the pair are part of a larger series of novels set in the same story universe. I’ll have more to reveal about all this in the coming weeks and months, but suffice it to say that I’m very excited to finally be getting close to sharing these novels with you!

All right, we’ll leave you today with a look at the cover artwork for a number of newly-announced Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD titles, with Amazon.com pre-order links for each (all of which are now live)...

Stay tuned!

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