More Eastwood 4K updates, plus an Abbott & Costello Horror Collection in Ultra HD, new Eureka Blu-ray titles, the Andor: S2 trailer drops at last & more!

Monday, 24 February 2025 15:59

More Eastwood 4K updates, plus an Abbott & Costello Horror Collection in Ultra HD, new Eureka Blu-ray titles, the Andor: S2 trailer drops at last & more!

by Bill Hunt

Abbott & Costello Horror Collection (4K Ultra HD)

We’ve got several new 4K and Blu-ray reviews for you all to enjoy today, including...

Stephen’s exhaustive and in-depth take on David Fincher’s Panic Room (2002) in 4K Steelbook from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, as well as his thoughts on Peter R. Hunt’s Shout at the Devil (1976) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, and also Tobe Hooper’s Lifeforce (1985) in 4K Ultra HD from Arrow Video in the UK. And for the record, I think Stephen’s take on Panic Room is right on the money and well worth reading for 4K enthusiasts. (Especially you young whippersnappers who seem to think a 4K disc must be absolutely reference quality to have any value—gather ‘round, Professor Bjork is teaching class.)

My review of Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) in 4K Ultra HD from Italy’s Eagle Pictures via their 4Kult line, a disc that features an encode optimized for a 100GB disc (and which is a notable improvement over the Paramount Presents 4K release).

Dennis thoughts on Carl Reiner’s Summer Rental (1985) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

And finally Tim’s look at the excellent Tom and Jerry: The Complete CinemaScope Collection on Blu-ray from our friends at the Warner Archive Collection.

More reviews are on the way this week, including my thoughts on Gladiator II and Amadeus in 4K, Tim’s look at Arrow’s Mexico Trilogy in 4K, and more. So be sure to keep your eyes peeled for those.

In announcement news today, Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment has now confirmed that non-Steelbook 4K versions of all the recent Clint Eastwood titles are due on 4/15 as well, including Dirty Harry (1971), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), and Pale Rider (1985). It looks like all three films will feature new Dolby Atmos mixes with HDR10 high dynamic range. You can see the Amaray covers below the break. [Read on here...]

Kino Lorber Studio Classics has just revealed a new Abbott & Costello Horror Collection (1941-1955) 4K Ultra HD box set that’s “coming soon” and will include the films Hold That Ghost (1941), Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), Abbott and Costello Meet The Killer Boris Karloff (1949), Abbott and Costello Meet The Invisible Man (1951), Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953), and Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy (1955). I doubt anybody has that on their 4K Bingo card!

Also coming soon to Blu-ray from KLSC is the Audie Murphy Collection IV box set, which will include Kurt Neumann’s The Kid from Texas (1950), Budd Boetticher’s The Cimarron Kid (1952), and Nathan Juran’s Drums Across the River (1954).

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is releasing Bruno Barreto’s Bosso Nova (2000) on Blu-ray on 4/15 under the Sony Pictures Classics label.

Eureka in the UK has revealed four great new Blu-ray releases for April and May, including The Magnificent Chang Cheh: The Magnificent Trio & Magnificent Wanderers (1966 & 1977) on 4/28, Yueh Feng’s The Bells of Death (1968) and the Strange New Worlds : Science Fiction at DEFA (1960-76) box set—which includes The Silent Star, Signals: A Space Adventure, Eolomea, and In the Dust of the Stars—all on 5/19, plus the Terror in the Fog : The Wallace Krimi at CCC (1963-64) box set—which includes The Curse of the Yellow Snake, The Strangler of Blackmoor Castle, The Mad Executioners, The Monster of London City, and The Racetrack Murders—on 5/26. I can’t wait to see that Strange New Worlds box set! Those are some rare sci-fi gems indeed. You can pre-order all of these titles here.

Also, it looks like A24’s 4K Ultra HD editions of Halina Reijn’s Babygirl (2024) and Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist (2024) are now available for pre-order on Amazon.com as well their own online shop, though the street date is still TBA. Based on the A24 Shop listings however, both are likely to street in March. You can see the cover artwork below.

Universal has set Jonathan Eusebio’s Love Hurts (2025) for Digital release on 2/25, with the Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD release expected to follow on 4/1. The films stars Ke Huy Quan.

And finally today, Lucasfilm has just dropped the first full teaser trailer for the April 22 debut of Andor: Season Two on Disney+ and it looks absolutely fantastic. Can’t wait for this. It’s by far the best Star Wars since Rogue One and the Original Trilogy before that. Here’s the trailer...

We’ll leave you with a look at the cover artwork for all of the titles mentioned above, as well as the Criterion May slate, all of which are now available for pre-order on Amazon (just click on the covers to visit the respective pre-order pages, and don't forget that ordering from Amazon through our links helps to support The Bits which we really appreciate!)...