My Two Cents
Friday, 12 February 2021 18:26

Criterion reveals its May Blu-ray slate, plus Vinegar Syndrome’s first adult 4K title, and Scream sets Event Horizon for 3/23

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All right, we’re rounding out the week today with some great release news and some new disc reviews too. First up, those reviews...

I’ve just turned in my thoughts on John Carpenter’s They Live, as recently released in 4K Ultra HD by Scream Factory. Both the UHD and included Blu-ray are mastered from the 2018 4K scan and restoration, and Scream has tossed in a new Dolby Atmos mix to boot. It’s a fine release, so don’t miss it.

I’ve also reviewed Roland Emmerich’s epic disaster flick 2012 on 4K Ultra HD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, and I’ve given a great little indie release a review on Blu-ray too: Dmitriy Kiselev’s Spacewalker (2017) from MPI Home Video, which tells the story of cosmonaut Alexey Leonov and humanity’s first spacewalk in 1965.

Tim’s also posted a review of William Campbell’s Ingagi (1930), recently released on Blu-ray by Kino Classics as part of their Something Weird line-up. Ingagi is definitely something weird.

And just a heads-up: We’re working on reviews of Prince of Darkness in 4K from Scream Factory, along with the new 4K releases of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing from Universal and Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro from Discotek Media, among other titles. So watch for those starting on Monday. [Read on here...]

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One more bit of site business: We’ve just posted the latest 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 anything from Amazon after clicking to them through our links, it goes to help support our work here at The Bits and we appreciate it.

Now then, the big announcement news today is that The Criterion Collection has officially unveiled their May slate of Blu-ray and DVD titles, which is set to include Ahmed El Maanouni’s Trances (Spine #689 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 5/4, Amy Heckerling’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Spine #1075 – Blu-ray and DVD) and Dorothy Arzner’s Merrily We Go to Hell (Spine #1076 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 5/11, Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Flowers of Shanghai (Spine #1077 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 5/18, and Edmund Goulding’s Nightmare Alley (Spine #1078 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 5/25. We’ve updated our Criterion Spines Project pages accordingly. You can see the cover artwork for all 5 below.

Also today, though it’s a little bit out of our wheelhouse here at The Bits, here’s a surprise: Vinegar Syndrome has just announced and released (today) what we believe is the first adult film on the 4K Ultra HD format: Anthony Spinelli’s SexWorld (1977), a “blue” take off on Michael Crichton’s Westworld (1973) and Richard T. Heffron’s Futureworld (1976). It’s available now and you can order it directly from the Vinegar Syndrome online store if you’re interested. The package includes the X-rated film on both 4K and Blu-ray, as well as the softcore version of the film, and a soundtrack CD. Go figure.

Meanwhile, RLJE Films has set Steven Kostanski’s PG: Psycho Goreman for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 3/16.

And finally, back to Scream Factory for a moment: The company has also just officially set Paul W.S. Anderson’s sci-fi thriller Event Horizon for release as a Collector’s Edition Blu-ray on 3/23. The title was originally announced last year, but was delayed to allow for improved production quality and extras. The film will be mastered from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative. The package will also include no less than 11 newly-produced interview featurettes (including Reflecting on Hell with director Paul W.S. Anderson, Ghost Galleon with writer Philip Eisner, Organized Chaos with actress Kathleen Quinlan, Compassion in Space with actor Jack Noseworthy, The Doomed Captain with actor Peter Marinker, Space Cathedral with production designer Joseph Bennett, Something New with set decorator Crispian Sallis, Taking Care of It with production manager Dusty Symonds, Reinforcements with second unit director Robin Vidgeon, Almost Real with location manager Derek Harrington, and Screams from the Cosmos with sound designer Campbell Askew). You’ll also get the existing audio commentary with director Paul W.S. Anderson and producer Jeremy Bolt, the 5-part Making of Event Horizon documentary, the 4-part Point of No Return with narration by Paul W.S. Anderson, Secrets (deleted scenes), The Unseen Event Horizon, the theatrical trailer, and a video trailer. We’ve included the cover art for this below as well.

And here’s a look at that promised cover artwork (note that the Amazon pre-order links are all now live)...

Event Horizon: Collector's Edition (Blu-ray Disc) Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Criterion Blu-ray Disc) Merrily We Go to Hell (Criterion Blu-ray Disc)

Flowers of Shanghai (Blu-ray Disc) Trances (Criterion Blu-ray Disc) Nightmare Alley (Criterion Blu-ray Disc)

That’s all for this week. Have a great weekend!

Stay tuned...

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