We’ve got a quick Friday post for you guys today...

First up, we have a new review for you. Tim has checked out Arrow Video’s Blood Hunger: The Films of José Larraz – Limited Edition Blu-ray box set. It includes Whirlpool (1970), Vampyres (1974), and The Coming of Sin (1978). Enjoy!

We’re going to be back on Monday with more reviews, as well as a new History, Legacy & Showmanship column from our own Michael Coate, celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Wachowski’s The Matrix. So be sure to check back for that.

By the way, we’ve updated our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits to reflect the fact that Ridley Scott’s Alien: 40th Anniversary Edition is FINALLY available for pre-order on Amazon.com (and–holy shit–for just $15!). [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got more reviews for you to enjoy today, including...

My take on James Wan’s Aquaman in 4K Ultra HD from Warner.

Dennis’ review of Dan Bush’s The Vault on Blu-ray from FilmRise.

And Chase’s look at Robert Zemeckis’ I Wanna Hold Your Hand on Blu-ray from Criterion.

More reviews are in the works for tomorrow and Friday, so be sure to check back for them.

Meanwhile, we have some new title news and announcements to report today as well...

We’ve now confirmed the 4/23 release of Captain America: Civil War and Captain America: The Winter Soldier on 4K Ultra HD from Disney. [Read on here...]

All right, before I get started today, I wanted to post a quick personal note to say thank you for all the kind words and messages after my post last week. I’ve really appreciated them.

We’re going to check back tomorrow with a TON of new Blu-ray and 4K reviews (including Disney and Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp), but I wanted to check in with an update this afternoon.

First up, we’ve updated The 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits with Amazon pre-order links for all three of Lionsgate’s Rambo 4K titles, including First Blood, Rambo: First Blood, Part II, and Rambo III. Click on the cover art below for those.

Also Image and RLJ Entertainment has set Arizona for 4K UHD release in addition to Blu-ray and DVD on 10/16.

Paramount is releasing a Mission: Impossible – 6 Movie Collection on both 4K UHD and Blu-ray the same day that Mission: Impossible – Fallout streets on both formats (12/4). [Read on here...]

All right, we’re closing out the week with just a couple of items for you…

First up, we’ve posted a trio of new reviews for you including Tim’s look at Stuart Gordon’s Dagon from Umbrella Entertainment, David’s take on Harry Levin’s Genghis Khan (1965) from Twilight Time, and Dennis’ thoughts on Dark Crimes from Lionsgate, all three on Blu-ray.

We now have official final cover artwork for Universal’s The Big Lebowski on 4K Ultra HD. It’s due on 10/16 and it will feature a native 4K scan of the film with DTS-X object based audio. It will also include the previous Blu-ray edition, with all its extras, and a digital copy. You can pre-order it now on Amazon by clicking on the artwork below.

Side note about Universal… the company appears to be reissuing a whole bunch of catalog titles on Blu-ray throughout the month of October. Deep catalog stuff. So if you’ve missed any titles, you’ll probably find that a new edition is coming then. [Read on here...]

The big news today is that Arrow Video is releasing a new 12 Monkeys: Collector’s Edition Blu-ray on 10/16, mastered from a new 4K scan of the original negative and approved by director Terry Gilliam. Extras will include audio commentary by Gilliam and producer Charles Roven, Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe’s The Hamster Factor and Other Tales of Twelve Monkeys feature-length documentary, an extensive image gallery, the theatrical trailer, and more newly-produced content yet to be announced. You’ll also get a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin and an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring liner notes by Nathan Rabin and archive materials. You can see the package at left and you can pre-order it here on Amazon.

Arrow is releasing a new Schlock! Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray that same day. This will also be mastered from a new 4K scan of the original negative, and will feature audio commentary by writer/director John Landis and makeup artist Rick Baker, a new video interview with author and critic Kim Newman, Birth of a Schlock, an archival video interview with cinematographer Bob Collins 1972, 1979 and 1982 US theatrical trailers, US radio spots, a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys, and an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Joe Bob Briggs. You can pre-order it here on Amazon as well. [Read on here...]

We’ve got more interesting announcements today, including a very nice surprise, plus new reviews too.

First up, those reviews… Tim has taken a look at Richard Friedman’s Doom Asylum on Blu-ray from Arrow Video, along with Dread Central’s Director’s Cut on Blu-ray. Both are well worth a look.

Also, as promised, we posted Michael Coate’s latest History, Legacy & Showmanship column last night, which is a celebration of the 25th anniversary of Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. The packed column features a look back at the original theatrical release (the first ever in DTS) along with a great new roundtable discussion with film historians Joseph McBride, Mike Matessino, and Steven Awalt. We think you’ll really enjoy it.

Also today, we’ve just posted the weekly update of our Release Dates & Artwork section, featuring all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, anytime you order literally anything from Amazon after clicking through one of our links, you’re helping to support our work here at The Bits and we really appreciate it. So thank you! [Read on here...]

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...]

We’re working on a bunch of new reviews here at The Bits, so today’s update is going to be a quick one. But this morning we do have two reviews to start with for you...

First up, we have my thoughts on Steven DeKnight’s Pacific Rim: Uprising in 4K Ultra HD, which streets on 6/19 from Universal.

We’ve also got Tim’s take on Duccio Tessari’s 1965 spaghetti westerns A Pistol for Ringo and The Return of Ringo, both of which are now available together in a new double-feature Blu-ray from our friends at Arrow Video.

And if you check back early tomorrow morning, we’ll have my thoughts on David Ayer’s Fury in 4K Ultra HD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, as well as Tim’s review of Claudio Fragasso’s Zombie 4: After Death on Blu-ray from Severin Films. Both of those titles are now available in stores.

Rest assured, we’ll catch up on new announcements tomorrow afternoon or Friday morning.

Stay tuned…

- Bill Hunt

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

All right, we’re kicking things off today with two more new Blu-ray reviews...

We start with Tim’s take on Larry Cohen’s It’s Alive Trilogy, new on Blu-ray from our friends at Scream Factory. He’s also got a review of Herschell Gordon Lewis’s Two Thousand Maniacs! on Blu-ray from the good folks at Arrow Video.

I’m working to wrap up that review of The Patriot in 4K Ultra HD from Sony, and I should have that up later this afternoon. So be sure to watch for it. Fury is on deck along with Escape Plan from Lionsgate.

Universal swears that they’re sending us the Jurassic Park Collection for review as well, so we do intend to cover it as soon as we’re able. [Read on here...]

First things first today... some of you may have seen my reviews of Mel Gibson’s Braveheart and Ridley Scott’s Gladiator on 4K Ultra HD when I posted them late on Friday night, but if not... there you go. Both are coming out on 5/15 from Paramount in reference quality (or very close to it) and they’re certainly the best way to see these films yet bar none.

Also today, Tim has just posted reviews of Kino Lorber Studio Classics’ outstanding new The Outer Limits: Season One box set, along with Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty: Season 1 and Season 2, all on Blu-ray. Each of these titles are well worth a look.

In 4K Ultra HD catalog news, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has just set The Quick and the Dead for release on the format on 7/17. The 4K disc will feature Dolby Atmos audio and HDR10. It will also include the previous Blu-ray extras and will add 7 never-before-seen deleted scenes for this release. We’ve updated the 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits accordingly. [Read on here...]