For the period ending August 16, 2019 ... New DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD selections added to the DVD & Blu-ray Release Report's database

 

DVD New Additions

 

Blue Fox Entertainment (MOD)

08/13/19 — Released Saving Zoe

Championship Productions

08/13/19 — Released Zone Defense

DreamScape Media, LLC

08/13/19 — Released Jungle Smarts and Orge

Get Digital World (MOD)

08/13/19 — Released Child Safety Lockdown, cPanel In-Depth, Crazy Marketing, Create a Community Site Using SiteFrame, Create a Facebook Social Network Using WordPress, Create a Mobile Version of Your Website Using Google Sites, Create a Video Squeeze Page, Create Your Own E-Book Covers, Facebook Essential Training, Facebook Marketing 2018 and Beyond, Facebook Remarket 2.0 Made Easy, Fast Track Traffic, FB Mastermind Continuity, Mastering Your Destiny, Media Traffic Gold, Mega Launch Blueprint, Mobile Profits 101, Power Mindset Mastery, WordPress Speed Tools Tutorials and WSO Cash Code

Gravitas Ventures (MOD)

08/13/19 — Released American Bistro, Blackbear, Dark Place and Enemy Within

Hallmark Channel

08/06/19 — Released Love at Sea

08/13/19 — Released Love Stuck Café

I-Cine

08/13/19 — Released Bi Mat Sau Lung Me (10 disc set) and Lap Lanh Mua Bay (12 disc set)

Indican Pictures

09/17/19 — Sets Shed of the Dead (ARR of 123 days; box office: $38,699)

Invincible Pictures

08/13/19 — Released Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: The Complete Animated Series (5 disc set) and Double Dragon: The Complete Series (3 disc set)

Kino Lorber

08/13/19 — Released Blackmail/Blackmail (silent-1929), Murder!, Port of Shadows (French), Razzia Sur la Chnouf (French) and Touchez Pas au Grisbi (French)

Lionsgate Home Entertainment

08/13/19 — Released Spanish Princess (2 disc set) and Trial by Fire (ARR of 88 days; box office: $143,541)

National Geographic (MOD)

08/13/19 — Released National Geographic: Primal Survivors - Season Three and National Geographic: Wicked Tuna - Season Eight (3 disc set)

PCN Productions (MOD)

08/13/19 — Released Pennsylvania's Historic Courthouses: Blair

Paramount Home Media

10/01/19 — Adds Tell Me a Story: Season One (3 disc set)

Pure Flix Entertainment

08/13/19 — Released Unplanned (with Digital Copy) (ARR of 137 days; box office: $18,958,261)

Serpent Films (MOD)

08/13/19 — Released 2 Classic Movies (2 film set: First of the Few (aka: Spitfire), We Dive at Dawn), 2 Classic Movies (2 film set: The Stranger, British Intelligence) and 2 Classic Movies (2 film set: Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women, Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet)

Shout! Factory

08/13/19 — Released Peter, Paul and Mary: At Newport - 1963-65 and When Calls the Heart: Heart of a Minute

Smart Mark Video (MOD)

08/13/19 — Released Combat Zone Wrestling: Tournament of Death 18 - Voorhees, NJ, IWA Mid-South: A Simple Man - Jeffersonville, IN and IWA Mid-South: Summer Stiff Fest - Jeffersonville, IN

Sony Pictures Home Ent.

08/13/19 — Released All is True (ARR of 95 days; box office: $1,196,697), Blacklist: The Complete Sixth Season (5 disc set) and Mr. Mercedes: Season 2 (3 disc set)

Sony Pictures Home Ent. (MOD)

08/13/19 — Released Ruben Brandt Collector  (ARR of 179 days; box office: $117,693)

Spring Hill Music Group

08/13/19 — Released Booth Brothers: Country Roads

Synapse Films

08/13/19 — Released Django the Bastard

TPR Music

08/13/19 — Released Great Kat: Brindisi Waltz for Violin and Piano

TriCoast Studios (MOD)

08/13/19 — Released AvZ: Angels vs Zombies (French)

20^th Century-Fox Home Ent.

08/13/19 — Released Homeland: The Complete Seventh Season (3 disc set)

09/24/19 — Sets Child's Play (ARR of 95 days; box office: $29,176,532)

Uncork’d Entertainment (MOD)

08/13/19 — Released Blindsided

Universal Pictures Home Ent.

08/13/19 — Released New Amsterdam: Season One (6 disc set)

09/24/19 — Sets Yesterday (ARR of 88 days; box office: $70,483,770)

Vertical Entertainment

08/13/19 — Released Lying and Stealing and Professor and the Madman

Warner Bros. Home Ent.

08/13/19 — Released Best of Warner Bros.: 50 Cartoon Collection - Scooby-Doo! (5 disc set)

09/24/19 — Sets Shaft (ARR of 102 days; box office: $21,355,793)

Warner Bros. Home Ent. (MOD)

08/13/19 — Released Riverdale: The Complete Third Season (5 disc set)

WOWnow Entertainment

08/13/19 — Released It's Here

WOWnow Entertainment

08/13/19 — Released Bad Weasels (MOD)

Blu-ray New Additions

 

Arrow Video

11/12/19 — Sets Far Country (2 disc set)

C Vision Productions (MOD)

08/13/19 — Released Big Boy Tours the Midwest

Criterion Collection

11/12/19 — Sets Day Trippers

11/19/19 — Sets Betty Blue (French) and Cold Warrior (Polish)

11/26/19 — Sets All About Eve (2 disc set) and Now, Voyager

FUNimation

08/13/19 — Released Akiba's Trip (2 disc set), All Out: The Complete Series (4 disc set), Hanebado: The Complete Series (2 disc set) (with Digital Copy), Hinamatsuri: The Complete Series (2 disc set) (with Digital Copy) and Kenka Bancho Otome: Girl Beats Boy

Gravitas Ventures (MOD)

08/13/19 — Released American Bistro, Blackbear, Dark Place and Enemy Within

Kino Lorber

08/13/19 — Released Another Stakeout, Blackmail/Blackmail (silent-1929), Murder!, Port of Shadows (French), Razzia Sur la Chnouf (French) and Touchez Pas au Grisbi (French)

Lionsgate Home Entertainment

08/13/19 — Released Vault (with Digital Copy)

Lionsgate Home Entertainment (MOD)

08/13/19 — Released Barefoot, Frank and Jesse and Open Your Eyes (Spanish)

Oscilloscope Laboratories

10/01/19 — Sets The Proposal

PCN Productions (MOD)

08/13/19 — Released Pennsylvania's Historic Courthouses: Blair

Reliance

08/13/19 — Released Kesari (Hindi)

Sentai FilmWorks

08/13/19 — Released Sakura Wars: The Complete Series (4 disc set)

Shout! Factory

08/13/19 — Released Endless Love, Forbidden World: Remastered, Galaxy of Terror: Remastered and Vice Squad: Collector's Edition

Smart Mark Video (MOD)

08/13/19 — Released IWA Mid-South: Summer Stiff Fest - Jeffersonville, IN

Sony Pictures Home Ent.

08/13/19 — Released All is True and Blacklist: The Complete Sixth Season (5 disc set)

Synapse Films

08/13/19 — Released Django the Bastard

20^th Century-Fox Home Ent.

09/24/19 — Sets Child's Play (with Digital Copy)

Universal Pictures Home Ent.

08/13/19 — Released Fierce Creatures, Leave it Beaver, Radioland Murders and Undercover Brother

09/24/19 — Sets Yesterday (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy)

VCI Entertainment

11/12/19 — Sets The Phantom Creeps (12 chapter serial)

VIZ Media

08/13/19 — Released Hunter X Hunter Set 6 (4 disc set)

Vinegar Syndrome

09/24/19 — Sets Beyond Evil (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack), Mountaintop Motel Massacre (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack), Pledge Night (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack), Secta Siniestra (Spanish) (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack) and Vineyard (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack)

Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.

08/13/19 — Released Black Hole

Warner Bros. Home Ent.

09/24/19 — Sets Shaft (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy)

4K Ultra HD New Additions

Universal Pictures Home Ent.

09/24/19 — Sets Yesterday (4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy)

Paramount Home Media Targets Nov. 5 For The DVD Debut Of Yellowstone: Season Two

Like an express train rumbling down the tracks, Paramount Home Media — with CBS and Showtime compatriots — seems to have an endless number of cars clicking down the rails full of TV series.   This time of year, the calendar fills up on a weekly basis, literally, with new announcements.

So let’s check the tickets being punched this week … conductor please!!

Destined for release on Nov. 5 as a three-disc DVD product offering is the John Linson (executive producer of Sons of Anarchy) and Taylor Sheridan (screenwriter for Wind River, Hell or High Water and both Sicario and Sicario: Day of the Soldado) production of Yellowstone: Season Two, starring Kevin Costner as the head of the Dutton family.

The series, with its twists and turns involving outside forces attempting to encroach upon the massive Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, has developed a loyal and consistent following … already renewed for a third season!    

Included here are all ten episodes from season two (the last two of which will air on Aug. 21 and 28) and judging from the just-aired episode eight and the assault on Dutton’s daughter, Beth (Kelly Reilly — Flight, Eden Lake, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, etc.), this season of Yellowstone should finish with a bang!!  

Next stop on the Paramount express is a new addition to the Oct. 1 release calendar (already in place are Gunsmoke: The 15th Season, Volume One (a four-disc set) and Gunsmoke: The 15th Season, Volume Two (three discs)), which is none other than the CBS All Access twisted fairy tale anthology, Tell Me a Story: Season One (3 disc set).

From the “English Fairy Tales” we get the story of “The Three Little Pigs,” which is combined with the centuries-old European fairy tale, “Little Red Riding Hood,” and then mix in the Brothers Grimm and “Hansel and Gretel,” twist it all around and you get ten episodes of greed, love, love-lost, murder and revenge.    

And yes, season two has been added to the production schedule, which, we are told, will blend together the fairy tale stories of “Cinderella,” “Sleeping Beauty” and “Beauty and the Beast” … this will not be a Disneyesque season of fairy tales to be sure!

Also making a station stop on Oct. 1 is the reboot of Charmed, starring Melonie Diaz, Madeleine Mantock and Sarah Jeffery as sisters who discover that they are actually witches.   This discovery is made when their mother (played by Valerie Cruz) is killed by a powerful demon.

The six-disc presentation of Charm: Season One features all 22 episodes … and yes, season two is in the works!!

Indican Pictures Selects Sept. 17 For The DVD Debut Of Writer/Director Drew Cullingham's Shed Of The Dead

Great scares and off-color humor, that is a tricky — no, make that a VERY tricky — undertaking when you are making a horror flick designed for the purest of genre fans.   One false step and you are toast with an un-watchable film and all of the production money goes down the drain.

With that said, word arrived from Indican Pictures this past week that writer/director Drew Cullingham’s Shed of the Dead will be making its domestic DVD debut on Sept. 17.

The backstory on this British zombie flick is a little murky, but filmmaker Drew Cullingham (A Vampire’s Tale, The Devil’s Bargain) appears to have put the film together back in 2015/16 … did some additional work in post, maybe had some shop-around screenings and then it sort of dropped out sight.   

At some point Indican Pictures got wind of it and in May of this year tested the film in a very limited theatrical break.   The feedback was off the charts.   Audiences loved it.   Even better, audiences raved about it!   

Then came Memorial Day and screen availability dried up — summer blockbusters grab everything.   Indican Pictures found itself between a rock and hard place, they’ve got a genuine indie horror hit on their hands and the temptation is to move it quickly into the home entertainment marketplace.   Instead, patience proved to be the key word … let Labor Day come and go and wait until Sept. 17 for Shed of the Dead’s release on DVD.   Perfectly played.

For the record, the ARR works out 123 days.

This is a gem.   Cullingham has assembled a terrific cast that includes horror icons Kane Hodder, Bill Moseley and Michael Berryman, which immediately gets genre fan’s hearts pumping.   He also somehow managed to recruit English scream queen Emily Booth (Sacred Flesh, Fallen Angels, The Reverend, etc.) as well, plus he got legendary British voice talent Brian Blessed to be the voice-over storyteller.

The result is both funny and bloody.  

Trevor (Spencer Brown) is a slacker, who is married to a shrew of a wife by the name of Bobbi (Lauren Socha), and so he retreats to his role-playing fantasy world housed inside his garden shed.   His only friend is Graham (Ewen MacIntosh) and they spend their time in an alternate war-gaming fantasy world (some very strange stuff going on here).

His fellow gardeners have come to notice that he contributes nothing to the common area and want him and his shed gone.   At this moment reality and fantasy collide together and Shed of the Dead becomes an indie treasure.

There is a horrible accident during the eviction process — a dead body has to be dealt with — and just at that moment there is the arrival of a zombie apocalypse.   Trevor not only has to be resourceful if he is to keep his shed, but he’s going have to put “Casimir the Destroyer,” his war-gaming persona, to work to survive the zombie hoards!

It is definitely not Shaun of the Dead, but Shed of the Dead (bloodier and funnier, in a weird sort of mash-up way) … and Indican Pictures might just have the best indie horror/comedy of the year on its hands come Sept. 17 when the DVD is available for genre fans to savor and enjoy.

Summing up a movie in one sentence can be tricky.   Filmmaker Jessica Scalise came up with, “It's about a girl trying to turn her sister's wedding into a horror film,” when being short and concise as to what Zilla and Zoe was about.

It’s a nice tease.   And to find out what it is all about, check in with Indican Pictures on Sept. 10 as that is the street date assigned by Indican for the DVD debut of Scalise’s Zilla and Zoe.

Drawn from her own childhood experiences and her brief career as a wedding videographer in college, we are introduced to Zoe (Aida Valentine), a gung-ho ten-year old who is an amateur filmmaker.    As we soon learn, she has her heart set her on winning the local “Horror Film Contest” (complete with a cash prize), which pits her against film school students.   No problem!   

Normally, such a venture might move along at its own pace, with perhaps nothing more than a parental inquiry or two, but Zoe has got the special effects and mayhem down pat — quite impressive for a girl of her age.  

 

Her werewolf movie (complete with werewolf hair gathered from shaving the neighbor’s dog) is going to be delivered with gore, lots of gore — in the spirit of, oh say, Herschell Gordon Lewis — and that proves to be too much for her father (played by Greg James) as he puts the kibosh on her film project.

He just has too much on his plate as Zoe’s older sister, Zilla (Sam Kamerman), is making plans to be married and the wedding is a disaster in the making.   So no horror film, but even Zoe’s father realizes that the girl has talents and offers her an alternative to soften the blow … “you can film your sister’s wedding.”

Rewrite!   Her sister’s wedding week as a backdrop for a werewolf tale with lots of gore!   The casting is perfect … lesbian wedding, pushy future in-laws, with plenty of “baggage,” and a desperate search for a willing location for the nuptials … a horror tale to be sure!!  

Zilla and Zoe is packed with plenty of laughs (in the spirit of Little Miss Sunshine, Juno and Napoleon Dynamite), so be sure to check it out on Sept. 10 when it arrives on DVD.

Oscilloscope Laboratories Tabs Oct. 1 For Blu-ray And DVD Editions Of Documentary Filmmaker Jill Magid’s The Proposal

The summer is full of fiction and escape entertainment.   You can have wild fantasies like Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood, or animated talking pets and toys, or cleverly-crafted CGI lions and what not.   You expect such things during the summer.

But there is one film currently working the arthouse circuit (it opened in a single theatre around Memorial Day … and has venues booked through Labor Day) that is every bit as fantastic in its story, but absolutely true.   If you wrote the script, audiences and critics might think it a work of fiction, but artist and documentary filmmaker Jill Magid’s — who is the subject of her own film — award-winning The Proposal is a film document drawn from the incredible, but true, that plays out like a Hollywood-style caper film.

Since the exhibition profile is limited — a few renown arthouse venues and festival screenings — it falls to Oscilloscope Laboratories release of both DVD and Blu-ray editions of The Proposal on Oct. 1 to reach a wider audience.

For the record, the ARR works out to 130 days.

To understand the film in question, you first have to be familiar with Luis Barragán, one of the great architects of the 20^th Century.   Celebrated for his Modernist designs and structures, but with his own “artistic” touches — colorful, vibrant.   He ultimately became know for his “anti-functionalism” and was celebrated as an “architect with emotion.”

As the story unfolds in Jill Magid’s film, we learn that upon Barragán’s passing in 1988, he left his work — his archives — to life-long friends to manage and treasure.   Since they were also roughly his age — he died at age 86 — the estate managers soon passed as well and his legacy ended up being controlled by a Swiss furniture company by the name of Vitra, which set about to copyright and control all of Barragán’s works and designs.

Magid, as an artist, who loves and adores his works and visions — his buildings and homes (which you can visit and see, but the designs themselves, even down to his name, are under copyright by Vitra) — she tries (during the first half of her film) to unlock access to the artist’s works, but is met with resistance (she cleverly uses the monstrous corporate headquarters of Vitra as an imposing obstacle to her quest).

The second half of The Proposal centers around Magid’s “creative” plan to force Vitra’s hand, which we will not reveal here, but let us say, for the record, that Hollywood scriptwriters would be hard-pressed to find a more clever way to “attack” the problem.   

As to the filmmaker herself, this is her only film, she is an artist (and author) who loves and reveres the work of Luis Barragán.   She would like nothing more than the world to share in her passion and remember his legacy.   To that end she recruited professionals to aid her in her quest, with Jarred Alterman (Bisbee '17, Contemporary Color, American Renaissance, etc.) acting as producer and cinematographer, two-time Emmy nominee and Pulitzer Prize-winner Laura Poitras (Oscar-winner for her film Citizenfour) served as executive producer, Field of Vision co-founder Charlotte Cook is on board as a producer and documentary filmmaker Laura Coxson (Iris) is in a similar role as producer … this combined talent and experience gives The Proposal its clean and professional look.   Kudos to all!!

As to bonus goodies, there is a commentary options featuring Jill Magid and the aforementioned Laura Poitras and Jarred Alterman, plus there is a 2016 video interview with Jill Magid conduced by Artforum.

Vinegar Syndrome Announces It Sept. 24 Film Restoration Selections Destined For Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Release

As the clock ticks down to Halloween, genre fans each year are rewarded with home entertainment treasures that make their way to market in late September and throughout October on the lead-up to the big night.   

It’s like a ghoul’s paradise of guilty treasures — this new Blu-ray and that new DVD, oh that one too — and none better this Halloween-season, with their new slate of film restorations, than Vinegar Syndrome.

Genre fans are you ready?   Not one, or two, or even three, but five new horror treats that will be ready as Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack product offerings on Sept. 24.   All new film restorations … like we said, “it’s a ghoul’s paradise!”

Where does one begin?   Let’s start with the new 2K restoration (from the original 35mm negative elements) of the late director Jim McCullough’s (senior, that is … not to be confused with f/x whiz Jim McCullough, Jr., who teamed with his father here with his screenplay) 1986 horror tale, Mountaintop Motel Massacre.   The alliteration just rolls off your tongue … mountaintop (suggesting isolation), motel (a place where something might happen, like “Bates Motel”), massacre (need we say more).

Mountaintop Motel Massacre was released as part of Vinegar Syndrome’s mid-year “surprise package” promotion at the end of May and will now be available for the general public on Sept. 24.

This gem of a film was “in the can” (so to speak) in 1983 and was self-distributed in Louisiana and Mississippi and titled variously Mountaintop Motel and Horror at Mountaintop Motel (which was not uncommon) and then along game New World Pictures, which picked it up on the condition that the McCulloughs rework the ending.

The film, if just judging from the title, would seem to be your typical haunted house slasher film complete with a self-service victim pool (guests randomly checking in), but this little gem offers all sorts of twists and turns.   

Topping the list of “twists and turns” is the recently returned proprietor, Evelyn (Anna Chappell), who has been spending time at the local nut house.   Upon her return she gets into an altercation with her daughter Lorie (Jill King) and one thing leads to another and before you know it we have one dead daughter, which is passed off to the local police as an “accident.”   Really?

Well, once you get going there’s no end to it … and Evelyn picks one particularly gruesome night (it was a dark and rainy night, as horror stories go) and goes off the deep end.   

The “victim pool” is a treasure chest of odds and ends, which makes it fun, and this little roadside rest stop has hidden passages and a tunnel complex (don’t ask), which gives the crazed killer access to the rooms … first for tricks and mischief and then for whack, whack, whack!!

Bonus goodies include an interview session with David Akin, the assistant cameraman, which is titled “Under the Influence,” and a second video session with production designer Drew Edward Hunter that is titled “Mountaintop Motel Memories.”

WOW!   That is just one of five genre gem from Vinegar Syndrome on Sept. 24!

In no particular order, there will be a new 2K restoration of cult filmmaker Herb Freed’s 1980 ghostly aberration thriller, Beyond Evil, starring John Saxon and Lynda Day George as newly weds who end up staying in a haunted mansion that has been abandoned for roughly 100 years.    Can anything possibly go wrong with that?

Of course, plenty can go wrong … that’s the correct answer.   Janice Lynde (long-time soap star) plays Alma, the ghost possesses Lynda Day George and tries to kill John Saxon.   

Bonus features include a newly-prepared video session with filmmaker Herb Freed (titled: “Origins of Evil”) and a second newly-minted session with producer David Baughn (who teamed with Freed the following year, 1981, for Graduation Day) … this session is titled “Evil in Paradise.”

Next is writer/director and star James Hong’s 1989 “wine-making” chiller, The Vineyard.   A new 4K restoration from the film’s 35mm original camera negative is in store for fans with this first-time Blu-ray release.

Dr. Po (James Hong) is a world-renown winemaker, with a secret.   He is actually centuries-old and has accomplished this with a “magic potion,” but something is amiss of late.   But, being a resourceful fellow, he thinks he might be onto a new formula … his prized wines mixed with youthful blood!!!

In a clever “victim pool” arrangement, Dr. Po recruits young actors to work on his winemaking film, which of course is nothing but a ruse to get a ready supply of young blood!

Bonus goodies are toplined by a new video session with James Hong and producer/actor Harry Mok (as “Warrior”), which is titled “Welcome to the Vineyard,” plus there are video sessions with co-director William Rice (titled: “Zombies from San Jose”) and cinematographer John Dirlam (titled: “Sacred Earth and Restless Souls”).

Not done yet.   Getting a new 2k restoration from its 35mm original camera negative is prolific director Paul Ziller’s 1990 debut film, Pledge Night.   

New pledges to Phi Epsilon Gnu are the “victim pool” as the “ghost” of a long-dead pledge (played by Joey Belladonna in a flashback sequence) — who was boiled alive in a vat of acid (a prank gone wrong) — comes back for revenge (with a twist ending).   

We have four new interview sessions variously titled “Hell Weeks” (with director Paul Ziller), “Graduating to Horror” (with writer/producer Joyce Synder), “Hazing from Hell” (with actor Robert Lentini … as Silvera) and “The Bad Man” (with actor Arthur Lundquist … as Dan) and a locations featurette.

Rounding out the Sept. 24 Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack horror parade from Vinegar Syndrome is a new 2k restoration from its 35mm original camera negative of Spanish filmmaker Ignacio F. Iquino’s (aka: Steve McCoy) 1982 horror tale Secta Siniestra.   This is a rare one that Vinegar Syndrome has unearthed … and for many it will be a first time to see it come Sept. 24 (rumors of VHS copies floating around).

Secta Siniestra is presented in Spanish with English subtitles and comes with commentary from film historian and author Kat Ellinger.