3/15 – Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil (1958 – 4K & BD), Luis Valdez’s Zoot Suit (1981), Leon Capetanos’ Dirty O’Neil (1974 – for Code Red), Steve Carver’s Fast Charlie… the Moonbeam Rider (1979), Tab Murphy’s Last of the Dog Men (1995)
3/22 – David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises (2007 – 4K), Stuart Heisler’s Blue Skies (1946), Robert Stevenson’s Back Street (1941), Henry Hathaway’s Now and Forever (1934)
3/29 – The Elmer G. Ulmer Sci-Fi Collection, including The Man from Planet X (1951), Beyond the Time Barrier (1960), The Amazing Transparent Man (1960), Joseph Pevney’s Shakedown (1950), James L. Wilson’s Scream of a Winter Night (1979 for Code Red), Vernon P. Becker’s Dagmar’s Hot Pants, Inc. (1971), Robert Siodmak’s The Devil Strikes at Night (1957) and Farewell (1930)
4/5 – Henri Verneuil’s The Body of My Enemy (1976), Fernando Di Leo’s The Violent Breed (1984 – for Code Red)
4/12 – Emmett Alston’s New Year’s Evil (1980)
4/19 – Norman Jewison’s In the Heat of the Night (1967 – 4K)
Coming Soon – Riccardo Freda’s Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World (1961), James P. Hogan’s The Last Train From Madrid (1937), Giuliano Montaldo’s Grand Slam (1967), James Whale’s By Candlelight (1933), Frank Lloyd’s If I Were King (1938), Howard H. Griffith’s Next Time We Love (1936), Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing (1956 – 4K) and Killer’s Kiss (1955 – 4K), Ted Post’s Good Guys Wear Black (1978), Paul Aaron’s A Force of One (1979), Eric Carson’s The Octagon (1980), James William Guerico’s Electra Glide in Blue (1973)
Honestly, that’s a helluva great line-up of catalog titles and we’re only scratching the surface of what the company is cooking up for 2022.
Also today, Via Vision’s Imprint Films label has just revealed their April catalog Blu-ray slate, which is now set to include...
Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man (1973 – limited to 2000 copies) – a 4-disc set featuring The Final Cut, the UK Theatrical Cut, a new HD presentation of the Director’s Cut (combining HD with SD for unavailable material), and the soundtrack CD, with extras to include a new audio commentary by BFI film historians Vic Pratt and Will Fowler, a new audio commentary by film critic and historian Kim Newman & author Sean Hogan, 5 new featurettes (Video Essay by Kat Ellinger, The Music of The Wickerman, The Golden Bough, Video Essay by Dr. Adam Scovell, and Interview by Musician Robert Reed), plus lots more legacy extras.
Ivan Passer’s Cutter’s Way (1981) – with a new audio commentary by assistant director Larry Franco and unit production manager Barrie Osborne, a new introduction video by Jeff Bridges, and a new Video Interview with screenwriter Jeffrey Alan Fiskin, plus legacy extras.
George Seaton’s The Counterfeit Traitor (1962) – with a new audio commentary by Lee Pfeiffer, publisher of Cinema Retro Magazine with film historian Paul Scrabo, plus legacy extras.
Barry Shear’s Across 110th Street (1972) – with a new audio commentary by film historian Nick Pinkerton, a new audio commentary by cinema author & critic Matthew Asprey Gear, and a new Video Interview with author Mikel J. Koven, plus legacy extras.
Martin Ritt’s The Brotherhood (1968) – with a new audio commentary by Lee Pfeiffer with film historian Tony Latino.
Richard Fleischer’s The Don is Dead (1973) – with a new audio commentary by film historians Marc Edward Heuck and Glenn Erickson, plus legacy extras.
Frank Perry’s Man on a Swing (1974) – with a new audio commentary by film historian/filmmaker Daniel Kremer.
Here’s a look at the slate’s packaging...
All of these titles are due to street on 4/27, and of course they’re Australian imports but should be ALL REGION. You can read more about them here via the Imprint Films website (or by clicking on the image above).
In other title news, here’s a surprise: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment is releasing Chip ‘n’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers: The Complete Series on Blu-ray Disc on 2/15. Let’s hope lots more such titles follow. You can pre-order the title here now on Amazon. [Update: Apparently this was a Disney Movie Club exclusive that the studio decided to put into wide release. Thanks to Bits reader Ted Van D. for the heads-up!]
Finally today, some of you will recall that we mentioned a week ago that Sony was working on a new 4K Ultra HD remaster of the animated Heavy Metal (1981) for release in April (the title was listed on Amazon.fr). Well, now additional retail sources are checking in with word that the release may actually be a 2-film set including both the original film and Heavy Metal 2000. And 4/19 is now the likely street date. As soon as the studio makes it official, we’ll let you know.
That’s all for now! Stay tuned...
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