For the period ending February 23, 2018 ... New DVD and Blu-ray selections added to the DVD & Blu-ray Release Report's database.

For the period ending February 23, 2018 ... New DVD and Blu-ray selections added to the DVD & Blu-ray Release Report's database.

 

DVD Releases: 

 

BBC Home Entertainment

02/20/18 — Released Blood of the Vikings: Last of the Vikings

Bawn Television (MOD)

02/20/18 — Released District

Bayview Entertainment

02/20/18 — Released Cannibal Hookers and Mako: The Jaws of Death

Breaking Glass Pictures

02/20/18 — Released Voyage

Championship Productions

02/20/18 — Released Best of Club: Building a Better Breaststroke with Jeremy Linn, Frozen Ropes: Hitting Drills for Next Level Performance #1, Frozen Ropes: Hitting Drills for Next Level Performance #2, Frozen Ropes: Scope and Rope - Visual Hitting Drills #1, Frozen Ropes: Scope and Rope - Visual Hitting Drills #2, Frozen Ropes: Weapons of Mental Dominance - Mastering the Inside Game #1, Frozen Ropes: Weapons of Mental Dominance - Mastering the Inside Game #2 and Rotational Progressions and Finish Mechanics for Shot Put and Discus

Digital 1 Media Services

02/13/18 — Released Creed

02/20/18 — Released Klymaxx: Best of Klymaxx, Live

DreamScape Media, LLC

02/13/18 — Released Before She was Harriet

Eagle Rock Entertainment

02/20/18 — Released Doors: Live at The Isle of Wight Festival 1970 (DVD/CD Combo Pack)

FUNimation

02/20/18 — Released Dragon Ball Super: Part Three (2 disc set)

Gravitas Ventures (MOD)

02/20/18 — Released Days of Power, Downhill, Guys Reading Poems, Headgame, Scramble, Time of Their Lives and What Lies Upstream

Hallmark Channel (MOD)

02/20/18 — Released Perfect Bride

I-Cine

02/20/18 — Released Giac Mo Phat Tai (17 disc set)

Icarus Films

04/24/18 — Sets Violent Life (French)

Kino Lorber

02/20/18 — Released Covered Wagon (silent-1923), Master: The Complete Series (4 disc set) and Underground (Serbian) (3 disc set)

Kozmo Magic

02/20/18 — Released Kainoa on Coins: Tablehopper's Quattro

Leomark Studios, LLC (MOD)

02/20/18 — Released Living Room Coffin and Quigley

Lionsgate Home Entertainment

02/20/18 — Released Doomsday Device (aka: Pandora's Box) and Rise of the Footsoldier, Part II

04/17/18 — Sets The Commuter (ARR of 95 days; box office: $35,941,298)

Maverick Entertainment

02/20/18 — Released Inner Beauty

Menemsha Films

02/20/18 — Released In Search of Israeli Cuisine

Momentum Pictures, LLC

02/20/18 — Released Mom and Dad

Monarch Home Video

02/20/18 — Released ExPatriot

Murphy’s Magic Supplies

02/20/18 — Released At the Table: Ben Williams, At the Table: Etienne Pradier, At the Table: Gary Jones, At the Table: Jamie Daws, At the Table: Steve Dala and At the Table: Steven Rowe

Music Box Films

02/20/18 — Released Black Code

Nandar Home Entertainment

02/20/18 — Released Inclusion Criteria

National Geographic Video (MOD)

02/20/18 — Released National Geographic: Secrets of Christ's Tomb

Naxos

02/20/18 — Released Antony and Cleopatra and Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty - The Royal Ballet

PBS Direct

02/20/18 — Released Tell Them We Are Rising

Paramount Home Media

04/03/18 — Sets 13 Reasons Why: Season 1 (4 disc set)

Random Media (MOD)

02/20/18 — Released 3 Days, Ghost and the Boy With a Box on His Head and Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille

Rarefilmsandmore.com (MOD)

02/13/18 — Released En Enda Natt (Swedish), Freddy, Die Gitarre und das Meer (German), Helga, She Wolf of Spilberg (dubbed in English), Le Miracle des Loups (French) and Special Section (French)

02/20/18 — Released Am Abend Nach Der Oper (German), Another Way (Hungarian), Das Sundige Dorf - 1940 Version - Revised (German), Peter Voss, Der Held Des Tages (German), Sesso Nero (Italian), Sheep has Five Legs (French), Tausend Sterne Leuchten (German) and Wayward Girl (Norwegian)

Samuel Goldwyn Films

02/20/18 — Released Mad to be Normal

Screamtime Films (MOD)

02/20/18 — Released Witching Hour and Witching Hour 2

Serpent Films (MOD)

02/20/18 — Released Classic Movies: Two Retro Classics (2 film set: Three Came Home, Waterfront Lady) and Classic Western Movies: Two Retro Classics (2 film set: War of the Wildcats (aka: In Old Oklahoma), Silver Spurs)

Shout! Factory

02/20/18 — Released Kuu Kuu Harajuku: Girl Power

Silent Hall of Fame (MOD)

02/20/18 — Released Lucretia Lombard (silent-1923)

Sony Pictures Home Ent.

02/20/18 — Released Teletubbies: Home Hill Adventures and Teletubbies: Play Time

04/03/18 — Sets Insideous: The Last Key (ARR of 88 days; box office: $67,197,105)

04/10/18 — Sets Outlander: Season Three (5 disc set)

Starry Night Publishing, LLC (MOD)

02/20/18 — Released 13 Rue Madeleine, Ace Drummond (13 chapter serial), Aces and Eights, Ali Baba and the Seven Saracens, Anatomy of a Psycho and Place of One's Own

The Feather Cottage (MOD)

02/20/18 — Released Story Quilter's Threads

The Sailing Channel, LLC (MOD)

02/20/18 — Released Cruising has No Limits, Get Ready to Cross Oceans: Offshore Sailing, Part Two, Get Ready to Cruise: Offshore Sailing, Part One and Storm Tactics: Offshore Sailing, Part Three

20^th Century-Fox Home Ent.

02/20/18 — Released Peppa Pig: Peppa Easter Bunny

Universal Pictures Home Ent.

02/20/18 — Released Midnight, Texas: Season One (3 disc set) and Steve McQueen: American Icon (ARR of 144 days; box office: $1,229,782)

04/24/18 — Sets Den of Thieves (ARR of 95 days; box office: $43,435,863)

Vanishing, Inc.

02/20/18 — Released Benjamin Earl: Red Deck Switches and Ryan Schlutz: Super Strong Super Simple

VIZ Media

02/20/18 — Released Hunter X Hunter: Phantom Rouge

Warner Bros. Home Ent. (MOD)

03/27/18 — Sets Murder Ahoy, Murder at the Gallop, Murder Most Foul and Murder, She Said

Wolfe

04/17/18 — Sets Russian Doll

Blu-ray Releases: 

Arrow Video

04/24/18 — Sets L'Atlantide (French)

Cinedigm Entertainment

02/20/18 — Released Loving Vincent: Special Edition (with UltraViolet Digital Copy)

Eagle Rock Entertainment

02/20/18 — Released Doors: Live at The Isle of Wight Festival 1970 (Blu-ray/CD Combo Pack) and One Republic: Live in South Africa

Frontiers Records

02/20/18 — Released Unruly Child: Unhinged - Live from Milan

FUNimation

02/20/18 — Released All Out, Part 1 (2 Blu-ray/2 DVD Combo Pack) Dragon Ball Super: Part Three (2 disc set)

Gravitas Ventures (MOD)

02/20/18 — Released Days of Power, Downhill, Guys Reading Poems, Headgame, Scramble, Time of Their Lives and What Lies Upstream

Kino Lorber

02/20/18 — Released Covered Wagon (silent-1923), Master: The Complete Series (4 disc set) and Underground (Serbian) (3 disc set)

Kraken Releasing

02/20/18 — Released GARO: The Dark Knight (Japanese)

Lionsgate Home Entertainment

04/17/18 — Sets The Commuter (ARR of 95 days; box office: $35,941,298)

MVD Entertainment Group

04/24/18 — Sets Went To Coney Island On A Mission From God … Be Back By Five

Momentum Pictures, LLC

02/20/18 — Released Mom and Dad (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack)

Naxos

02/20/18 — Released Antony and Cleopatra, Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty - The Royal Ballet and Verdi: La Forza del Destino

PBS Direct

02/20/18 — Released Tell Them We Are Rising

Sentai FilmWorks

02/20/18 — Released Non Non Biyori: The Complete Collection (4 disc set)

Shout! Factory

02/20/18 — Released Gate II: Return to the Nightmare (aka: Gate II: The Trespassers), Girl Without Hands (French) (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack), Night Walker and Robert Mitchum: Farewell My Lovely/The Big Sleep

Sony Pictures Home Ent.

04/03/18 — Sets Insidious: The Last Key (with UltraViolet Digital Copy)

Sumerian Records

02/20/18 — Released American Satan

Twilight Time

02/20/18 — Released Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, Harry and Walter Go to New York, Incident and Manhattan Murder Mystery

Universal Pictures Home Ent.

02/20/18 — Released Midnight, Texas: Season One (2 disc set) and Steve McQueen: American Icon (ARR of 144 days; box office: $1,229,782)

04/24/18 — Sets Den of Thieves (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack) (with UltraViolet Digital Copy))

Vinegar Syndrome

04/24/18 — Sets Liquid Sky (2 disc set)

Warner Bros. Home Ent. (MOD)

03/13/18 — Adds Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

03/20/18 — Sets Black Scorpion

 

 

Writer/Director Ed Gaffney's Russian Doll Heads To DVD On Apr. 17 From Wolfe

Wolfe announced this past week that writer/director Ed Gaffney’s mystery thriller, Russian Doll, will be making its DVD debut this coming Apr. 17.

If you love mysteries, then this is going to be right in your wheelhouse.  Filmmaker Ed Gaffney is a writer and filmmaker (The Perfect Wedding), his wife, Suzanne Brockmann is also a writer … she handled the production and he, both the direction and script.   The result is a noirish tale of deception (writers of mystery novels can be cruel that way) that revolves around a revenge motive … that has simmered for nearly 30 years.

The film opens with a young woman frantically calling 911 — you can’t, as the audience, know too much about her, because her abduction and the information she has uncovered (a murder plot) are central to the mystery.   Detective Viola Ames (played Melanie Brockmann Gaffney) and her partner Detective Fiore (Sal Rendino) catch the case and clues lead them to a local theatre where the play “The Russian Doll” is in rehearsal.  

A bit of backstory about Ames, reveals that her life-partner has recently died, and she still might not be totally focused on her work.   That adds to the edginess of the story.   What the detectives don’t fully understand is that the play is merely a device to exact revenge on someone … an elaborate murder, with the killer literally hiding as part of the theatre company in plain sight.

While Ames is trying to sort out the various clues, she encounters a woman by the name of Faith (Marem Hassler) and the chemistry between them is obvious.  Is she a diversion?   The killer?   Who is the girl held hostage?   And, why, oh why, does everyone involved with “The Russian Doll” have something to hide?

Gaffney’s Russian Doll is a sweet crime thriller that will keep you guessing right up until the final curtain (or is that “curtains” for someone).

Icarus Films Sets The Domestic DVD Debut Of Writer/Director Thierry de Peretti’s A Violent Life For Apr. 24

Icarus Films will be teaming with France’s Distrib Films for the Apr. 24 DVD debut of writer/director Thierry de Peretti’s gritty crime — and cultural — drama, A Violent Life.

We see a different side of France in de Peretti’s latest film, which, as a native-born Corsican, is drawn from his own experiences and the troubled island’s recent past history.   Often neglected, or simply ignored by continental France, beginning roughly in the mid-1970s a Corsican nationalist movement began to take shape, which in over a generation devolved into both regional crime and political factions.

It is with this background in mind that we are introduced to Stéphane (Jean Michelangeli), a seemingly care-free student living in France in 2001.   Looks can be deceptive and when he receives a phone call that his childhood friend has been murdered the past — his Corsican past — comes crashing back in on him.

He has a gangland death sentence awaiting him, but honor dictates that he return to his native island to attend the funeral of his friend … there is no alternative. 

Through Stéphane’s journey home, coupled with a series of flashbacks, we learn the backstory of both him and his murdered friend, Christophe (Henri-Noël Tabary).   He’s no choirboy, rather something a radical, who long ago set things in motion that would take him down this path.

Filmmaker Thierry de Peretti’s A Violent Life presents an often bewildering view of Corsica — the stepchild of France and birthplace of Napoleon — that features a volatile mix of machismo, honor, crime and politics.   Violence and murder are a de facto way of life … wrong place, wrong time and wrong connections and a bullet in the head at the side of the road could be your fate.

A Violent Life is presented in French with English subtitles.

MVD Entertainment Group's Next "MVD Rewind Collection" Release Will Be Richard Schenkman’s Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God On Apr. 24

MVD Entertainment Group’s latest addition to its popular “MVD Rewind Collection” promotional line of DVD and Blu-ray products will be the Apr. 24 special edition Blu-ray release — a new hi-def transfer from the original 35mm film elements — of writer/director Richard Schenkman’s 1998 award-winner, Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God ... Be Back by Five.

This compelling “road trip” begins with the introduction of three 12-year old friends, Daniel, Stan and Richie (played respectively by Timothy Reifsnyder, Brandon Espinoza and Richard Acosta), who are best buddies, and their tag-along girlfriend, Gabby (Laura Breckenridge).    

We then transition to the present and meet the adult versions of Daniel (Jon Cryer) and Stan (Rick Stear) as they go in search of their friend Richie (Rafael Báez), who is now homeless and last seen wandering the streets near Coney Island.  The adult Gabby (Ione Skye) is now Stan’s “girlfriend,” but is, as we shall come to learn, frustrated with his inability to get his life together.

If Stan has problems, you can only imagine how bad Richie is.   He’s sick, he’s lost his way and it is the dead of winter … Daniel and Stan’s mission is clear, find him.   As the day progresses, we get a series of flashbacks that step by step fill in the missing pieces that lead to this crisis.   

The film originally worked the festival circuit during 1998 and 1999 and scored win after win for Best Film, which led to a very limited arthouse run in 2000, followed by a DVD launch the same year and a reissue in 2008.   This marks the films Blu-ray debut … and it comes loaded with extras.

Writer/Director Richard Schenkman (The Man from Earth, The Man from Earth: Holocene) and actor/co-writer Jon Cryer (Pretty in Pink, Morgan Stewart's Coming Home, etc. … and the Emmy-winning star of Two and a Half Men) provide commentary, plus they also provide a newly-filmed introduction to the film.   There is also the featurette titled “'Went to Coney Island... To Make a Movie” and a short film from Richard Schenkman titled “The Producer.”

Vinegar Syndrome's 4K Restoration Of Writer/Director Slava Tsukerman’s Liquid Sky Ready As A Double-Disc Blu-ray Edition On Apr. 24

Vinegar Syndrome has made it official, on Apr. 24 the promised 4K restoration (from the 35mm original negative) of writer/director Slava Tsukerman’s 1983 cult sci-fi masterpiece, Liquid Sky, will be available as a double-disc Blu-ray special edition release.

You could spend quite a bit of time trying to explain the plot developments of Liquid Sky and such explanations would still be left wanting.   Imagine a carnival barker standing outside the sideshow tent screaming, “Step inside and see the invisible alien feed off of the sexual arousal of (long pause) … well, equally alien denizens of the fashion world (another long pause) … oh, hell, just come inside and see it for yourself.”

The backstory on the film — which we suggest you track down and read for yourself — has Slava Tsukerman, his wife Nina Kerova and the then unknown Anne Carlisle (Desperately Seeking Susan, Crocodile Dundee, etc.) collaborating on a screenplay that would take adventage of Carlisle’s unique talents.   

The result was Liquid Sky, which has her playing not one, but two very distinct roles.   She’s Margaret, a fashion model living in Manhattan, who we first catch at something of an underground fashion show.   The late, great David Bowie and his Spiders from Mars would feel right at home.

She also plays Jimmy, a drug-addicted model as well, who is also in the same show.   Jimmy needs a fix and Margaret’s lesbian lover, Adrian (Paula E. Sheppard — Alice Sweet Alice), has the heroin stash, but won’t give it up to the flaky Jimmy on credit (show me the money!). 

Meanwhile, Margaret sees an opportunity to score with an attorney by the name of Vincent (Jack Adalist) who has stopped by the club.   She accepts an invitation to join him back at his nearby penthouse, leaving Jimmy and Adrian to sort things out.   Once there, Vincent drugs her and rapes her … it is just about this time that you are wondering to yourself where is this all going.

On cue, enter an astrophysicist named Johann (Otto von Wernherr), who explains that he has detected an alien presence (the little flying saucer that landed on top of a Manhattan building at the beginning), which just happens to be in Margaret’s apartment.   Now the fun can really begin!!!

Sex and drugs in the presence of the alien entity produces death (ashes to ashes; dust to dust) and Margaret seems to be channeling the unseen visitor.   This “invasion” reaches something of a “climax” one evening when Jimmy and a rather large group of “followers” (read that as an entourage) descend on Margaret’s place and a battle of the sexes takes place … literally, a BATTLE of the sexes.   

By the time the alien spacecraft takes off at the film’s end, Jimmy, Adrian and the nasty Vincent will all be consumed by their actions and Margaret will seemingly be whisked off to another dimension.    Whoa, Liquid Sky is one weird trip!!!

As to bonus goodies, there is a newly-prepared commentary track with filmmaker Slava Tsukerman (who has let it be known that a Liquid Sky sequel is in the works), plus there are video sessions with both Slava Tsukerman and Anne Carlisle, the feature-length documentary title Liquid Sky Revisited, a 2017 Q&A session with Slava Tsukerman, Anne Carlisle and Clive Smith (composer), outtakes, an alternate opening and rehearsal footage. 

Paramount Home Media Selects Apr. 3 For The DVD Debut Of 13 Reasons Why: Season 1

Paramount Home Media announced this past week that the Netflix series, 13 Reasons Why: Season 1, will be making its DVD debut on Apr. 3 as a four-disc set featuring all 13 episodes.

Golden Globe nominee Katherine Langford plays Hannah Baker, a high school student who had committed suicide two weeks earlier, becomes the focus of an impromptu investigation when one of her fellow students, Clay Jensen (Dylan Minnette — Don't Breathe, Let Me In, etc.), receives a mysterious box containing a series of audio cassettes from Hannah.    He begins to explore the reasons for her taking her own life, which are played out in a series of flashbacks.

Bonus features for this critically-acclaimed series (which has been renewed for a second season) include seven production featurettes — “Hannah & Clay: An Unfinished Love Story,” “Justin Foley: Not Your Typical Jock,” “Discovering Jessica Davis,” “Bringing the Book to Life,” “13 Things About Me: Dylan Minnette,” “13 Things About Me: Justin Prentice” and “Beyond the Reasons.”

Arrow Video Restores French-Language Version Of G.W. Pabst’s L'Atlantide For Blu-ray Release On Apr. 24

Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, will be bringing to market a Blu-ray edition on Apr. 24 of the original French-language version of German filmmaker G.W. Pabst’s 1932 film adaptation of Pierre Benoît's 1919 novel, “Atlantida,” which was released theatrically in French-speaking territories as L'Atlantide.    

Filmed during the early days of sound, G.W. Pabst shot this sci-fi/fantasy/adventure tale in three different languages, with Brigitte Helm (known to American audiences as Maria from Fritz Lang’s 1927 film, Metropolis) in the starring role as Antinéa, the Queen of the lost civilization of Atlantis, in all three versions of the film — French, German and English.

If the English-language version, which features John Stuart (Number 17, The House of Trent, Mayfair Girl, etc.) as explorer Lieutenant Saint-Avit, could have found a domestic distributor, The Mistress of Atlantis (the English-language version) would have beaten King Kong to theatres by nearly nine months.   However, it didn’t wash up on these shores until 1939.

Arrow Video is presenting Pabst’ French-language version for its Blu-ray debut, which stars Pierre Blanchar as Capitaine de Saint-Avit (it appears our hero got a promotion in rank for the French-language presentation).   Of note, the German language version featured Heinz Klingenberg as Saint-Avit.

The bonus feature here is a newly prepared video session with film critic and author Kim Newman, who focuses on the work of French novelist Pierre Benoît and the various film-adaptions of his novel (in addition to the three Pabst versions discussed here, you have Siren of Atlantis, Journey Beneath the Desert and more).

L'Atlantide is presented in French with optional English subtitles.