For the period ending March 27, 2020 ... New DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD selections added to the DVD & Blu-ray Release Report's database

 

DVD New Additions

7idea Production (MOD)

03/17/20 — Released Winter on Stevens Pass

Abingdon Press

03/03/20 — Released Acts

Annie’s Crafts

03/31/20 — Sets Crazy Quilting for Beginners, Learn to Crochet Mandalas and Learn to Crochet the Cathedral Rose

Bayview Entertainment

05/19/20 — Sets Forgotten Mountain (Albanian), Guia In Love (Cantonese), Hang In There Kids! Lokah Laqi! (Mandarin), Love Detective (Cantonese), Ninja Cheerleaders, Point Defiance, Underdogs and Waterlily Jaguar

Beyond Words Publishing

02/04/20 — Released Cat People

Cinedigm Entertainment

03/24/20 — Released D-Day: Battle of Omaha Beach

Frolic Pictures (MOD)

02/25/20 — Released Double Feature (2 film set: Abraxas: Guardian of the Universe, Doctor Strain the Body Snatcher), Double Feature (2 film set: Animal Protector, A Blade in the Dark), Double Feature (2 film set: Blood Beat, Bells (aka: Murder by Phone)), Double Feature (2 film set: Blood Tracks, Psycho Scarecrow), Double Feature (2 film set: The Cloning of Clifford Swimmer, The Spook Who Sat by the Door), Double Feature (2 film set: Cy Warrior, The Psycho-Tronic Man), Double Feature (2 film set: The Day it Came to Earth, Tender Dracula (aka: The Big Scare)), Double Feature (2 film set: Death Commando (aka: Killer vs. Killer), Santo and Blue Demon Vs The Monsters), Double Feature (2 film set: Death Run, The Maneater), Double Feature (2 film set: Drop Dead Rock, Cyber Bandits), Double Feature (2 film set: The Freeway Maniac, Death-Train (aka: Detonator)), Double Feature (2 film set: Linnea Quigley's Horror Workout, Battling Amazons), Double Feature (2 film set: The Last of the Knucklemen, The Witchmaker (aka: Legend of Witch Hollow)), Double Feature (2 film set: Monolith, Night Angel), Double Feature (2 film set: Necromancy, The Headless Eyes), Double Feature (2 film set: Pink Force Commando, Weapons of Death), Double Feature (2 film set: The Runstone, Psychopath (aka: Bits and Pieces), Double Feature (2 film set: The Secret Night Caller, The Love-Thrill Murders (aka: Sweet Savior)), Double Feature (2 film set: Slasher (aka: Blood Rage), Absurd), Double Feature (2 film set: The Slayer, The Evil), Double Feature (2 film set: Sledgehammer, The Love Butcher), Double Feature (2 film set: Strays, Spring Fever U.S.A. (aka: Lauderdale)), Double Feature (2 film set: Tainted Image, Fatal Images), Double Feature (2 film set: Time Walker, The Day Time Ended), Double Feature (2 film set: The Willies, Magic Island), Double Feature (2 film set: You Won't Stop Screaming, The Killer Wore Gloves) and Double Feature (2 film set: Zoo Zero, Topline)

Gravitas Ventures (MOD)

03/24/20 — Released Cabal, Find Your Groove and Stray

Lionsgate Home Entertainment

03/24/20 — Released Come to Daddy (ARR of 46 days; box office: $96,713)

MVD Entertainment Group

06/16/20 — Sets First Snow

Meridian Releasing Group (MOD)

03/24/20 — Released MRG Collective: Horror, Volume 4 (8 short films: ALLEN+MILLIE, Burned, Ghost Radio, Jameson, Psycho Therapy, Pure O, Retch, The Inside) and MRG Collective: Horror, Volume 5 (8 short films: Adam, Conversation With The Devil, Dirt, Georgie, Hell Phone, Jiating, Nervous Breakdown, Santa Baby)

Mill Creek Entertainment

06/09/20 — Sets 10 Frightening Films: A Deadly Place (10 film set: Cardiac Arrest, Day of the Animals, Grim, Tunnels, Dead Hate the Living, Don’t Go in the House, Deadly Instincts, With Friends Like These, You’re Driving Me Crazy, Shrunken Heads) (2 disc set) (with Digital Copy)

Narrow Bridge Films (MOD)

03/24/20 — Released Yellow Scare

PCN Productions (MOD)

03/24/20 — Released PA Books: Pennsylvania Patriots, PCN Tours: Donjon Shipbuilding & Repair and Pennsylvania Country Roads: Shemanski Maple Syrup Farm

Paramount Home Media

05/05/20 — Sets Ray Donovan: The Seventh Season (4 disc set) and Rhythm Section (ARR of 95 days; box office: $5,427,510)

Smart Mark Video (MOD)

03/24/20 — Released AAW: A New Dawn - Chicago, IL, Epic Wrestling Entertainment: Epic Series 2 - Jeffersonville, IN, Epic Wrestling Entertainment: Peace Out - Jefforsonville, IN, Epic Wrestling Entertainment: Raising the Bar - Jeffersonville, IN, Fight or Die: Blood, Fire & Barbed Wire, Guantos Hardcore Crew: We Want You - Guadalajara, Mexico, H2O Wrestling: Hardcore Kingdom 4 - Williamstown, NJ, IWA Mid-South: Battle Broads 3 - Jeffersonville, IN and IWA Mid-South: Shoot Style Baby & Lethal Leap Year

Sony Pictures Home Ent.

05/12/20 — Sets Fantasy Island (ARR of 85 days; box office: $26,400,618) and Traitor (Italian) (ARR of 102 days; box office: $294,793)

The Teaching Company, LLC

03/24/20 — Released 1066: The Year That Changed Everything (2 disc set), Adobe Lightroom Classic CC: The Complete Guide (4 disc set), Great Tours: France through the Ages (4 disc set) and Language and the Mind (4 disc set)

Universal Pictures Home Ent.

04/28/20 — Sets Assistant (ARR of 88 days; box office: $1,099,322)

05/05/20 — Sets The Lodge (ARR of 88 days; box office: $1,666,564)

Warner Bros. Home Ent. (MOD)

03/24/20 — Released Gauntlet, Incredible Mr. Limpet, International Velvet, Underwater and Up the Sandbox

05/05/20 — Sets Gretel & Hansel (ARR of 95 days; box office: $15,345,133)

Blu-ray New Additions

Acorn Media

03/24/20 — Released Detectorists, Series 1 (2 disc set)

BBC Home Entertainment

03/24/20 — Released Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy - Complete Third Season (7 disc set)

Cinedigm Entertainment

03/24/20 — Released D-Day: Battle of Omaha Beach

Cohen Media Group

03/24/20 — Released Shooting the Mafia (Italian)

Dark Force Entertainment

06/16/20 — Sets Giant Spider Invasion

FUNimation

03/24/20 — Released Appleseed XIII: The Complete Series (2 disc set), Aquarion EVOL, Season 2 (4 disc set), Silver Guardian (2 disc set) and Trickster: The Complete Series (4 disc set)

Gravitas Ventures (MOD)

03/24/20 — Released Cabal, Find Your Groove and Stray

Kino Lorber

03/24/20 — Released Downtown 81, Endless Night, Lightning Over Braddock: A Rustbowl Fantasy (2 disc set), My Gun is Quick and Return From the Ashes

Lionsgate Home Entertainment

03/24/20 — Released Come to Daddy (with Digital Copy)

MVD Entertainment Group

06/16/20 — Sets First Snow

Maiden Japan

03/24/20 — Released Maria Watches Over Us: Complete Series (8 disc set)

Narrow Bridge Films (MOD)

03/24/20 — Released Yellow Scare

Naxos

03/24/20 — Released Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem - Bremen Cathedral and Offenbach: Les Contes D'Hoffmann - Dutch National Opera

PCN Productions (MOD)

03/24/20 — Released PA Books: Pennsylvania Patriots, PCN Tours: Donjon Shipbuilding & Repair and Pennsylvania Country Roads: Shemanski Maple Syrup Farm

Shout! Factory

03/24/20 — Released April Fool's Day: Collector's Edition, Frankenstein: The True Story and Wizard: Collector's Edition (2 disc set)

Smart Mark Video (MOD)

03/24/20 — Released AAW: A New Dawn - Chicago, IL, Fight or Die: Blood, Fire & Barbed Wire, Guantos Hardcore Crew: We Want You - Guadalajara, Mexico, IWA Mid-South: Battle Broads 3 - Jeffersonville, IN and IWA Mid-South: Shoot Style Baby & Lethal Leap Year

Sony Pictures Home Ent.

04/28/20 — Sets Just One of the Guys: 35th Anniversary Edition

05/12/20 — Sets Fantasy Island (with Digital Copy)

Universal Pictures Home Ent.

04/28/20 — Sets Assistant (ARR of 88 days; box office: $1,099,322)

05/05/20 — Sets The Lodge (ARR of 88 days; box office: $1,666,564)

Warner Bros. Home Ent.

05/05/20 — Sets Gretel & Hansel (with Digital Copy)

 

Paramount Home Media Selects May 5 For Ray Dononvan: Season Seven On DVD • May 5 For Director Reed Morano's The Rhythm Section On DVD And Blu-ray

This past week word arrived from Paramount Home Media that two new releases — destined for delivery to the home entertainment packaged media marketplace — will be available on May 5.

First up, Paramount will be teaming up with Showtime on May 5 for the DVD release of the eagerly anticipated return of Ray and Mickey in the four-disc, 10-episode release of Ray Donovan: Season Seven.

This final season arrives with bonus features that include “Dash Directs 705” and “Deconstructing Ray.”

Also heading home May 5 from Paramount Home Media are both DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions of director Reed Morano’s film adaptation of the Mark Burnell novel, The Rhythm Section.

The ARR works out to 95 days and the box office take from the film’s theatrical break at the end of January was $5.4 million.

Stephanie Patrick (Blake Lively — The Shallows, A Simple Favor, The Age of Adaline, etc.) is a drug-addicted hooker working the streets of London.   Not exactly the makings of a heroine, an assassin and instrument of revenge.

We learn that her family was killed in a plane crash three years earlier and that she has basically given up on life.   It is not that her lifestyle will shorten her life, she could care less about, it is that in her mind, she is already dead.

With this in mind, a “client” hooks up with her by the name of Keith (Raza Jaffrey — Code Black, Homeland, Lost in Space), who turns out not to be looking for sexual favors, but is an investigative journalist who has been doing research on the crash that killed her family.   He shares the information with her, which points to a terrorist by the name of Reza Mohammed (Tawfeek Barhom) and she sets out after him with a hastily concocted plan to kill him.   

She fails and Keith is later found murdered.   Stephanie is in over her head — in over her drug- addled head that is.   But she uses the information she got from Keith to find an MI6 agent with the code name of “B,” whose real name is Iain Boyd (Jude Law). 

Why on earth, Boyd reasons, would he want to help her in a mission that is absolutely certain to fail.  Nevertheless, he agrees to train her and even gives her a new name, that of a known killer, Petra Reuter (who is actually dead), and then sends her on her way.  

So there you have it.  A drug-infused hooker (widow), with a fictitious name, sets out on a mission to kill those who killer her family.   Go girl!

Bonus features include deleted and extended scenes, plus featurettes (complete count is a work in progress).

MVD Entertainment Group Preps Marquee Collection DVD And Blu-ray Editions Of Writer/Director Mark Fergus' First Snow For Delivery On June 16

MVD Entertainment Group has carved out June 16 for its next golden addition to its Marquee Collection library of DVD and Blu-ray product offerings.

Ready?   The film in question is writer/director Mark Fergus’ 2006 neo-noir meets The Twilight Zone thriller, First Snow, starring Guy Pearce.

This will be the Blu-ray debut for First Snow … MVD is also making a available a DVD edition if that is more to your liking.

Jimmy Starks (Guy Pearce – L.A. Confidential, Memento, The Hurt Locker, etc.) is a fast-talking salesman.   Flooring is the current gig … other stuff in the past; he can sell ice to Eskimos if necessary.   If it is a commodity, he can move it.  

That doesn’t make either good or bad, just Jimmy.   Being a salesman like Jimmy is — something that defines him — means that everything to him is a negotiation, that’s an important thing to remember as events unfold.

Jimmy lives with his girlfriend, Deirdre (Piper Perabo — The Prestige, The Cave, Coyote Ugly), in Albuquerque, which gives you something of a clue as to his current sales “territory” … the hinterlands.   In any case, we pick up the story with Jimmy out driving, covering his “territory” and as a luck would have it, his car breaks down and he’s stuck in a small town in need of repairs to his car before he can move on.

It’s going to be awhile, so he amuses himself by wandering into a place with a “Fortunes Told” sign and there he meets a guy named Vacaro (played by none other than J.K. Simmons), not Vacaro the Magnificent, not Vacaro the Wise, just Vacaro, sort of a rundown cowboy in a dusty town.  

The palm reading, initially goes as expected, but filmmaker Mark Fergus, uses the one-one-one to set things in motion (take the time and watch this sequence again … very well done).    Vacaro hits a nerve, Jimmy gets testy, Vacaro ends the reading and tosses him out … even give him his money back.

It is all downhill for Jimmy after that, Vacaro has planeted a seed that something inevitable (read: wicked) this way comes and no amount of “negotiating” (selling) can change a single thing.   Fate meets Jimmy in a dusty New Mexico town and there is nothing he can do about it.

First Snow from the Oscar-nominated Mark Ferfus (for his Children of Men script … he also the producer and writer for The Expanse cable series) is a nifty blend of film noir and the kind of quirky stories that The Twilight Zone delivered — indeed, there are points where you expect Rod Sterling to suddenly interject, “Here’s Jimmy Starks, a salesman, who has just crossed over into … the Twilight Zone.”

Bonus features include a video session with J.K. Simmons.

Mill Creek Entertainment Preps Ten-Film Horror Collection For DVD Release On June 9

Mill Creek Entertainment has tabbed June 9 as the street date for a priced-to-collect double-disc DVD collection of ten chillers.   Ten nights of terror will be unleashed with 10 Frightening Films: A Deadly Place … and get this, Mill Creek is including Digital Copy for the entire set!!

So let’s dig into this vault of terror for the film selections that will give you nightmares and goose bumps.   

First up is writer/director Murray Mintz’s 1980 serial killer tale, Cardiac Arrest.  Detective Harry Callahan, aka: “Dirty Harry,” had his problems in San Francisco in 1971 with the “Scorpio Killer.”  It is now almost a decade later and detective Clancy Higgins (Garry Goodrow) has a new case to crack involving yet another serial killer stalking the streets of San Francisco, the “Missing Heart Murders.” 

It seems that some crazed maniac is skillfully cutting out the hearts of his (or is it her) victims?   Whose next!?

Don’t like the big cities all that nastiness, no problem.   Also in the collection is director William Girdler’s 1977 film release, Day of the Animals, starring the husband/wife team of Christopher George and Lynda Day George, plus Leslie Nielsen, Richard Jaeckel, Michael Ansara and Ruth Roman.

This early climate change thriller has a dozen hikers coming face to face with crazed wild animals who are being driven mad by a depletion in the Earth’s ozone layer.   Run, growl, run, munch, run, munch, munch, munch … the animals fight back!!

The cities aren’t safe and neither is a hike in the woods.   Now what?  How about writer/director Paul Matthews’ 1996 “spelunker” horror tale, Grim, which features a group of cave-exploring enthusiasts (aka: “victim pool”) coming face to face with a creature that can literally pass through solid rock.  Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide … get out of this subterranean hell or die!!

In this Mill Creek Entertainment movie ten-pack terror lurks in the cities, in the peaceful countryside and even underground.  There are no safe places, so grab the popcorn and enjoy Cardiac Arrest, Day of the Animals and Grim, plus such terror treats as director Mark Byers’ 1989 giant rat thriller, Tunnels, writer/director Dave Parker’s haunted hospital horror tale, The Dead Hate the Living and who can say no to the 1980 horror classic from filmmaker Joseph Ellison, Don’t Go in the House … if Donny (Dan Grimaldi — as Patsy in The Sopranos television series) invites you over, just say no, no, no (otherwise he has a special basement torture room waiting for you).

Rounding out the collection are writer/director Paul Matthew’s 1997 sci-fi thriller, Deadly Instincts, the 1991 anthology release of With Friends Like These, director Michel Wachniuc’s nut-house tale, You’re Driving Me Crazy and director Richard Elfman’s voodoo horror story, Shrunken Heads.

 

Writer/Director Justin Foia's Point Defiance On DVD From Bayview Entertainment On May 19

Bayview Entertainment has locked in May 19 as the DVD debut date for writer/director Justin Foia’s claustrophobic thriller, Point Defiance.

Shot exclusively on Vashon Island in Washington, it is here that we are introduced to the solidary Peter Allen (Derek Phillips — as Billy Riggins in the Friday Night Lights television series), who lives in a beautiful home far from anyone … it is basically paradise.   Alone, isolated and on lock-down — yes, lock-down — Peter wears an ankle tracker as part of his home arrest plea deal for some shady stockbroker trades that he was involved in.   

To any normal person, especially a city-dweller, Peter Allen is living a life of serenity and luxury.   Vashon Island is one beautiful place and what could possibly disturb the tranquility?  

No sooner does one ponder that question when into this woodland paradise arrives his estranged brother, Alex (Josh Crotty — Isle of the Dead, Psycho Stripper), who says that he has just gotten back from Afghanistan and needs a place to crash for a day or two.  Right off you suspect that something isn’t quite right.   

A missing person, the law comes calling, a mystery, tension and a murder … suddenly Peter’s Vashon Island paradise turns into a prison-like hell.   

Filmmaker Justin Foia, with Point Defiance, has delivered an intense mystery/thriller, where the trappings, from the house itself to the picturesque surroundings, belie the dangers that have arrived.   Perhaps, just perhaps, they have always been there … just beneath the surface.

Dark Force Entertainment's Remastered Edition Of The Giant Spider Invasion Heads To Blu-ray On June 16

Dark Force Entertainment, with sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a “Remastered Edition” (a new HD transfer from the original 35mm camera negative) of director Bill Rebane’s 1975 sci-fi thriller, The Giant Spider Invasion, ready for a Blu-ray release on June 16.

Filmed in and around Tomahawk, Wisconsin, a couple of seemingly unrelated events kick off the carnage … some hanky panky with the locals (serves to introduce characters), a meteor crashes on a remote farm, a motorcycle accident and worst of all, a B-52 bomber crashes.   It certainly is a busy night in rural Wisconsin, but it is about to get a whole lot busier.

There is a burst of gamma radiation, a light show and a sudden drop in barometric pressure, all of which prompts astronomer Dr. Jenny Langer (Barbara Hale — Emmy-winner for her portrayal of Della Street on the Perry Mason television series) to call NASA.   Very mysterious … so much so that Dr. Vance (Steve Brodie — The Caine Mutiny, The Far Country, Out of the Past, etc.) is immediately dispatched to investigate, especially since there appears to be a connection with the B-52 going down.

With everyone in place, let the invasion begin!   Dan (Robert Easton — Paint Your Wagon, Pete’s Dragon, Working Girl) and Ev Kester (Leslie Parrish — as Daisy Mae in Li’l Abner, plus such films as The Manchurian Candidate, Sex and the Single Girl, etc.) are at the center of the invasion — it was their farm where the meteor hit. 

But good old Dan tries to cover things up when he discovers geodes with diamonds inside, plus dead cows (he sells what remains to the local diner) and the eviscerated body of the motorcyclist (bury the evidence).   His wife doesn’t last long as she is eaten by a giant spider, but she won’t be the last victim in this remote Wisconsin town as the inter-dimensional (the good doctors team up to figure that out) eight-legged terror grows and grows and consumes all those unlucky enough to cross its path.

The Giant Spider Invasion may not be up to today’s sci-fi film standards (CGI and all), but it nevertheless remains a terrific creature feature that never disappoints.

Bonus features from Dark Force Entertainment include the featurette “Giant Spider Mishaps,” a video session with actor Robert Easton and music video.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Will Release DVD And Blu-ray Editions Of Director Oz Perkins' Gretel And Hansel On May 5

In a word salad soup of studio participation, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, in association with Metro Goldwyn Mayer and Orion Pictures, will be bringing the United Artists Releasing theatrical release of director Oz Perkins’ spin on the Brothers Grimm horror tale, Gretel & Hansel, to the home entertainment package media marketplace on May 5.

The ARR comes in at 95 days and domestic box office receipts were $15.3 million.

Planned for distribution are DVD and Blu-ray editions.   The only bonus feature is a single featurette titled “Storybook.”

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Selects May 12 For The Release Of DVD And Blu-ray Editions Of Director Jeff Wadlow's Fantasy Island

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will be releasing both Blu-ray and DVD editions of director Jeff Wadlow’s Fantasy Island, a twisted take on the vintage television show starring Ricardo Montalban and Hervé Villechaize, on May 12.

The ARR for this theatrical version, starring Michael Peña as “Mr. Roarke,” comes in at just 88 days.   Box office receipts, before theatres shuttered nationwide, were $26.4 million.

As to bonus goods, first up you can choose between the PG-13 theatrical version or an unrated presentation of the film (likely cuts made to move it from an R-rating to PG-13).   If you selected the unrated viewing option, you can also access a commentary track featuring director Jeff Wadlow (Truth or Dare, Kick-Ass 2, Cry Wolf) and members of the cast.  There are also a half-dozen deleted scenes.