My Two Cents
Monday, 26 February 2018 14:45

Warner Archive’s Black Scorpion BD, plus Lionheart, The Old Dark House, our review of Darkest Hour & more

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All right, we’ve got a trio of new new Blu-ray reviews for you to start the new week...

I’ve actually managed to find time to write a few myself, so we start with my take on Joe Wright’s outstanding Darkest Hour, on Blu-ray from Focus Films and Universal. The disc streets tomorrow.

Also, I’m pleased to be able to report that there’s ONE good Blu-ray edition of the Frank Herbert’s Dune miniseries available on Blu-ray for US fans, and it comes from Alive AG in Germany. It’s an all-region release with English audio (but no subs), lots of the previous DVD extras, and no 4% PAL audio speed-up. There’s also a good Children of Dune BD too (from Umbrella Entertainment) that I’ll be reviewing here later this week, so be sure to watch for that.

And Tim has checked out the Warner Archive’s fine new Blu-ray release of Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III. Enjoy! [Read on here...]

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In announcement news this afternoon, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has set The Americans: The Complete Fifth Season and Archer: Dreamland – The Complete Season Eight for release on DVD only on 3/27 and 3/20 respectively.

Speaking of the Warner Archive, the company is currently working on a new Blu-ray release of The Black Scorpion (1957). The disc includes bonus features with rare stop-motion animation by the great Ray Harryhausen. Street date is 3/20. Also coming to Blu-ray from the Archive are While the City Sleeps (1956) and Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956), with the street date for both 3/13.

The MVD Rewind Collection is bringing the Jean-Claude Van Damme film Lionheart to Blu-ray on 6/12, featuring both the theatrical and extended cuts plus extras.

Discotek Media is bringing the animated Robot Carnival to Blu-ray and DVD on 3/27, featuring the work of nine Japanese animators.

Arrow Video is releasing Michio Yamamoto’s The Bloodthirsty Trilogy (The Vampire Doll, Lake of Dracula, and Evil of Dracula) to Blu-ray and DVD on 5/14-15 in both the US and UK. Arrow also has a new special edition of The Last House on the Left coming to BD in the US and UK on 5/28-29, as well as Rawhead Rex on BD in the UK only on 5/14 and Dark Blue on BD in the UK only on 5/7.

Also for UK fans, Eureka! is releasing The Old Dark House (1932) on Blu-ray in the UK on 5/21, mastered from a new 4K scan and restoration.

Finally today, we’d like to send our love out to filmmaker Kevin Smith, who reportedly had a heart attack over the weekend and is now recovering in the hospital. Kevin was an early Bits reader, all the way back when, and he’s damn good people. All of us here wish him a speedy recovery!

We’ll leave you with a look at the cover artwork for some of the titles mentioned above and more (click on the covers to pre-order them on Amazon.com)...

Annihilation (Blu-ray Disc) The Commuter (Blu-ray Disc) The Commuter (4K Ultra HD Blu-ray)

While the City Sleeps (Blu-ray Disc) Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (Blu-ray Disc) The Black Scorpion (Blu-ray Disc)

Back with more reviews and news tomorrow. Stay tuned...

- Bill Hunt

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

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