Displaying items by tag: Scream Factory

Afternoon, folks. And welcome to 2021!

The news in the home video industry is pretty slow this week, as we’d expect given the recent holiday and the still unfolding (and industry-slowing) pandemic.

But we do have a couple new 4K Ultra HD reviews for you all to enjoy this afternoon.

First, Tim has taken a look at Don Coscarelli’s The Beastmaster (1982), as newly-remastered in 4K by our friends over at Vinegar Syndrome. The limited release appears now to be back in stock at the Vinegar Syndrome website, and we expect it to eventually be released in more traditional Amaray packaging on Amazon at some point in the coming months. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got another new review for you today, along with some more announcement news and a bit of sad news to report as well...

First up, that review: Tim has just posted his in-depth take on Terence Fisher’s Hammer Films classic The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), now available on Blu-ray in a new 2-disc Special Edition from the Warner Archive Collection. It’s a great film restoration and it sounds like a great disc too, featuring a new audio commentary by our friend Constantine Nasr with Steve Haberman. This is one you’re not going to want to miss if you love the vintage horror genre.

Speaking of the Warner Archive, they’ve just revealed their featured January Blu-ray titles, which are set to include the classic films The Pajama Game, Good News, Room for One More, After the Thin Man, and The Man Who Would Be King, along with The 100: The Seventh and Final Season. Look also for Speedway and Boogie Nights on DVD only.

Paramount has just officially set Arthur Hiller’s Love Story (1970) newly-restored as a Paramount Presents Blu-ray edition on 2/9. Extras will include “a new Filmmaker Focus with film historian Leonard Maltin, with previously released content including a commentary by director Arthur Hiller, an introduction by film critic Ben Mankiewicz, Love Story: A Classic Remembered, and the theatrical trailer, plus access to a Digital copy of the film.” [Read on here...]

Good evening, everyone! Sorry for the lack of news updates this week, but we’ve been incredibly busy here at The Bits over the past several days. We’ve been doing some important server updates and software patching, but more importantly for you guys we’ve been working hard on new Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD reviews. So we have a few of those for you this evening...

First, I posted my review of Christopher Nolan’s TENET in 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on Monday. It’s an ambitious film with stunning image quality and a characteristically Nolan-frustrating surround sound mix. You’ll find all the details here.

And just today, I posted my thoughts on Well Go USA’s brand new Ip Man: The Complete Collection box set, featuring all four films in the series—Ip Man, Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster, Ip Man 3, and Ip Man 4: The Finale—in 4K Ultra HD with remastered image quality and new Dolby Atmos sound mixes. It’s also worth a look, especially if you’re a fan of Donnie Yen.

Meanwhile, Tim has reviewed Sean Cunningham’s DeepStar Six (1989) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

And Dennis has turned in his looks at Robert Aldrich’s Attack! (1956) and Frank Perry’s Ladybug Ladybug (1963), also on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got an announcement news update for you here at The Bits this afternoon...

First up today, Kino Lorber Studio Classics has officially set their long-awaited Spaceballs (1987) 4K Ultra HD for release on 4/12. The 4K disc will include Dolby Vision HDR and audio commentary by Mel Brooks. Audio will be includes in 5.1 and 2.0 (format TBA) with optional English subs. You’ll also get the film on Blu-ray, which will include lots of additional legacy extras. You can see the 4K art at left. We’ve updated our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits accordingly.

The company also has a nice March slate of catalog Blu-ray titles, which is expected to include Sidney Lanfield’s My Favorite Blonde (1942), David Butler’s Caught in the Draft (1941), and Elliott Nugent’s Nothing But the Truth (1941) on 3/2 (all Bob Hope films), followed by Don Jones’ The Forest (1982, for Code Red), Sam Peckinpah’s Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974), Robert Aldrich’s The Choirboys (1977), and Richard Fleischer’s The Don is Dead (1973) on 3/9, Jim O’Connoly’s Tower of Evil (1972, for Scorpion Releasing), Andy Anderson’s Positive I.D. (1986), Francis Megahy’s Taffin (1988), Andrei Konchalovsky’s Runaway Train (1985), and Marty Feldman’s The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977) and In God We Trust (1980) on 3/16, Don Jones’ Schoolgirls in Chains (1973, for Code Red), Frank Perry’s Doc (1971), George Seaton’s Showdown (1973), Henry Hathaway’s Shoot Out (1971), and Richard Fleischer’s Crossed Swords (1977, aka The Prince and the Pauper) on 3/23, and Otto Preminger’s Rosebud (1975), Andrew Bergman’s Isn’t She Great (2000), Édouard Molinaro’s A Pain in the Ass (1973), and Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution (2007) on 3/30. [Read on here...]

All right, first things first today: I’m pleased to report that we did not have to evacuate from these wildfires here in SoCal after all. But it was a long night while we waited to find that out. Thankfully, when I stepped out this morning, it appeared that the fires had moved farther away from us, not closer. And this afternoon the evacuation orders all around us were lifted. So... whew!

It’s going to take a couple days to get back to normal around here, but I count that as a good problem to have, considering the alternative.

Now then... the big news today is that our industry and retail sources are telling us that Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is quietly preparing to release Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium, Rian Johnson’s Looper, and Andrew Niccol’s GATTACA in 4K Ultra HD early in 2021. Elysium and Looper are already available digitally in 4K, and a few European retailers have listed GATTACA for physical 4K release in March. [Read on here...]

We have a little bit more interesting release news for you to check out today (by way of closing out the week)...

First of all, our friends at Arrow Video have just announced their January 2021 slate of home video titles, and it’s pretty terrific. It starts with UK only Blu-ray releases of Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza’s [Rec] and Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy. Oldboy will also be released on 4K Ultra HD (in the UK only), but remember that 4K discs are not region locked.

Next up, Arrow is releasing Park Chan-wook’s JSA: Joint Security Area and Richard Kelly’s Southland Tales on Blu-ray Disc in the UK, US, and Canada.

Finally, those of you who missed out of Arrow’s recent (and fast selling) Gamera box set (reviewed here on The Bits) will be pleased to know that its films are being reissued on Blu-ray (again in the UK, US, and Canada) in a more wide-release configuration. Three SKUs will be available: Gamera: The Heisei Era (3 films plus a documentary and the Gamera the Brave film as a bonus) as both a wide-release box set and as a Steelbook, and Gamera: The Showa Era (8 films) as a wide-release box set. Obviously, you won’t get all the swag their original big box included, but at least this gives more of you access to the films in HD. [Read on here...]

We’ve got a pair of new disc reviews for you to read today...

Tim has taken a look at Steve Beck’s Ghost Ship (2002), now available on Collector’s Edition Blu-ray from Scream Factory.

Also today, Dennis has turned in his thoughts on Simon Langton’s The Whistle Blower (1986) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Meanwhile, I posted my in-depth thoughts on Robert Zemeckis’s Back to the Future: The Ultimate Trilogy on 4K Ultra HD from Universal on Monday, so do check that out in the event you missed it.

In announcement news today, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has set Roland Emmerich’s 2012 for release on 4K Ultra HD on 1/19. [Read on here...]

Today’s update on The Bits is going to be quick because, with a little luck, I should be working on our review of Universal’s Back to the Future Trilogy in 4K by the end of the day.

In the meantime, Tim has posted a review of Kevin Smith’s Mallrats, as recently released on Blu-ray by Arrow Video. Sounds like it’s a pretty good disc, so do give it a look.

Speaking of reviews, we’d like to call your attention once more to Tim’s review of the Friday the 13th Collection: Deluxe Edition Blu-ray box set. Fans (and Shout!/Scream Factory) have discovered three errors in the set, which has led Shout! to establish a disc exchange program. Specifically, there are errors in the Blu-ray discs of Friday the 13th: Part III, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, and Jason X. We’ve posted the exact details and exchange program instructions at the end of the second part of Tim’s review (click here for that). And if you’re having any problems, are missing discs, or what-have-you, here’s a direct link to the official page where you can report them to Shout!. [Read on here...]

We’ve got some more announcement news to report today, but first more reviews...

I’ve just taken a look at Warner’s The Flintstones: The Complete Series on Blu-ray. It’s a mostly solid release, though the remastering quality is a bit uneven and the extras are somewhat lacking. Yet there’s no doubt the episodes look better than ever.

Also Tim has reviewed Koji Shima’s Warning from Space (1956) on Blu-ray from Arrow Video, not to mention Edward Dein’s Curse of the Undead (1959) from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

And Dennis has given Graham Swon’s The World Is Full of Secrets (2018) a look on Blu-ray as well, from Kino Lorber proper.

Also today, we’ve once again updated our Release Dates & Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover art and Amazon.com pre-order links (click here for that). And the section is finally working just fine, totally bug free. So if you’d like to help support our efforts here at the site by shopping through our links throughout the section, we’d surely appreciate it! [Read on here...]

All right, we have some great release news to report for you all today...

But first, we also have another new Blu-ray review: Tim has taken a look Bruno Mattei’s Cruel Jaws (1995) on Blu-ray from Severin Films. You’ll find that here.

Now then, that news we mentioned...

Our friends at Shout! and Scream Factory have just announced the 4K Ultra HD release of John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness: Collector’s Edition on 1/19. The 4K/Blu-ray package will carry an SRP of $34.98. The 4K disc itself will include Dolby Vision and HDR10 high dynamic range, along with a new Dolby Atmos audio mix. All of the existing extras from Scream’s excellent Blu-ray release will carry over. You can see the cover artwork at left and also below. [Read on here...]