DVD & Blu-Ray Release Report

Monday, December 21, 2020

Arrow Video Readies New Blu-ray Edition Of Director Teruo Ishii's Shogun's Joy Of Torture For Release On Feb. 23

Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has select Feb. 23 as the street for a newly-minted Blu-ray edition of Japanese filmmaker Teruo Ishii’s 1968 anthology, Shogun’s Joy of Torture.

Talk about a film way, way, way ahead of its time. These three short films assembled into a feature-length horror anthology mirrored the same trend that Amicus had introduced during this period, so there is nothing unique there.

However, you’d be hard-put to find Western examples of what amounts to the “torture porn” genre this early in the cycle … even Herschell Gordon Lewis — who would become the “Godfather of Gore” — with his Two Thousand Maniacs! in 1964 and Color Me Blood Red, the following year, had his limits.

Filmmaker Teruo Ishii simply jumped ahead of the curve with Shogun’s Joy of Torture and the follow-up, Inferno of Torture in 1969.

The film itself appears to have made the “adult” circuit in Japan, arrived through some sketchy distribution deals in Europe in the early 70s and didn’t really find its way to these shores until the arrival of VHS in the early 80s. Yes, it’s been around on DVD, but this Arrow Films Blu-ray presentation raises Shogun’s Joy of Torture to new hi-def levels.

Bonus features include commentary from Japanese film expert Tom Mes (“Agitator: The Cinema of Takashi Miike,” “Iron Man: The Cinema of Shinya Tsukamoto” and co-author of “The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film”), the newly prepared featurette titled “Teruo Ishii: Erotic-Grotesque Maestro,” featuring insights from author Patrick Macias (“Japan Edge: The Insider's Guide to Japanese Pop Subculture,” “TokyoScope: The Japanese Cult Film Companion”) and the feature titled “Bind, Torture, Thrill” (with author and critic Jasper Sharp (author: “Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema”).

Shogun’s Joy of Torture is presented in Japanese with English subtitles.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Preps January Blu-ray Theatrical Catalog Promotion

This past week, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced its first wave of theatrical film library Blu-ray releases for the New Year.

Director John Huston’s 1975 film adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling short story, The Man Who Would be King, has skyrocketed in price on Blu-ray since it went out of print (first releases in 2011), which is unfortunate for those wishing to add this Sean Connery — and Michael Caine — adventure tale to their film libraries. Warner Bros. will be re-issuing it on Jan. 5 to kick off the New Year. Problem solved.

Shifting to Jan. 26, there are four new-to-Blu-ray releases ready for film fans to select from.

Up first is director W.S. Van Dyke’s 1936 film, After the Thin Man, the follow-up to the smash hit, The Thin Man (the series would continue for four more films). The Blu-ray, which is a new 4K restoration from the “best surviving elements,” includes the June of 1040 Lux Radio Theatre broadcast (also with Powell and Loy) and two classic theatrical shorts, “How to be a Detective” (1936, featuring Robert Benchley) and the 1936 “Happy Harmonies” cartoon titled The Early Bird and the Worm.

Other Blu-ray debuts on Jan. 26 include The Pajama Game (1957, starring Doris Day), June Allyson and Peter Lawford star in the 1947 Technicolor musical comedy, Good News, and director Norman Taurog’s 1952 film adaptation of the Anna Perrot Rose novel, Room for One More, teaming Cary Grant with Betsy Drake rounds out the new Blu-ray arrivals.

The Criterion Collection Announces Its March Slate Of New Film Restorations

The Criterion Collection announced its slate of March film restorations this past week, which is toplined by the new 2K film restoration of director Mike Leigh’s 1996 Best Picture nominated film, Secrets and Lies, starring Brenda Blethyn and Marianne Jean-Baptiste.

Mike Leigh was nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, and both Brenda Blethyn and Marianne Jean-Baptiste were nominated for acting Oscars.

Bonus features include newly prepared video sessions with filmmaker Mike Leigh and composer Gary Yershon, plus Marianne Jean-Baptiste is joined by film critic Corrina Antrobus … and there is a vintage interview session from 1996 featuring Mike Leigh and film critic Michel Ciment.

Other Blu-ray and DVD releases from the Criterion Collection in March are Touki Bouki (Mar. 9), Céline and Julie Go Boating (Mar. 16), the Blu-ray only collection titled The World of Wong Kar Wai, which is a seven-disc, seven-film set — arriving on Mar. 23 — featuring As Tears Go By, Days of Being Wild, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love and 2046 … and finally on Mar. 30, look for Defending Your Life.

Tuesday, December 15, 2020

New DVD • Blu-ray • 4K Ultra HD Additions For The Period Ending December 11, 2020

New DVD Additions

Adult Source Media

12/08/20 — Released Family Taboo

BBC Home Entertainment

12/08/20 — Released Death in Paradise, Season Nine (2 disc set) and Father Brown: Season Eight (2 disc set)

Bayview Entertainment

01/19/21 — Sets Herman's Hermits Starring Peter Noone (Pop Legends Live!), HNN Presents: Buddy Bebop vs the Living Dead, My Dead Ones (Portuguese), Phoenix (Mongolian), Project Life (Mongolian), Story of Us (Mongolian), Tareq Aziz: The Other Truth and War (Mongolian)

C Vision (MOD)

12/08/20 — Released Into the North Woods: Exploring Wisconsin Central Branch Lines

Championship Productions

12/01/20 — Released Becoming a Champion 400M Runner: Technique, Strategies & Training

12/08/20 — Released Putting the Defense in Conflict, Reading All 3 Levels in the Run Game & Full Field Reads in the Pass Game and Simple & Efficient Coordination of an Offense

Gravitas Ventures (MOD)

12/08/20 — Released Comfort Farms, Don’t Click, Faith Based, Psychopomp, Sexual Animals and Suffer for Good

I-Cine

12/01/20 — Released Say Nang, Part 1 (16 disc set) and Say Nang, Part 2 (16 disc set)

12/08/20 — Released Phio Sau Bong Toi (12 disc set) and Yeu Trong Dau Thuong (13 disc set)

Icarus Films

01/26/21 — Sets Citizens of the World (Italian)

02/02/21 — Sets Night Shift (French)

Lionsgate Home Entertainment

12/08/20 — Released Dragon Soldiers, Little Penguin: Pororo's Dinosaur Island Adventure and Smiley Face Killers

Magnolia Home Entertainment

12/15/20 — Sets Alone (ARR of 88 days; box office $535,015)

Movie Detective (MOD)

12/08/20 — Released El Escapulario (Spanish), Mira (Dutch), Noite Vazia (Portuguese), Non ti Conosco Piu (Italian), Old Lamps (Czech) and Piege pour Cendrillon (French)

PCN Productions (MOD)

12/08/20 — Released 2020 PA Books: Becoming Philadelphia, 2020 PA Books: Dead Letters, 2020 PA Books: Iconic Pittsburgh, 2020 PA Books: Lost Mountain Penn, 2020 PA Books: Out of the Woods, 2020 PA Books: Philadelphia Battlefields, 2020 PA Books: Playing Politics with Natural Disaster, 2020 PA Books: Tanking to the Top, 2020 PA Books: The Founding Fortunes and 2020 PA Books: Warhol

Pentrex

12/08/20 — Released California Electric Trilogy

Rarefilmsandmore.com (MOD)

12/01/20 — Released Das Spukschloss Im Spessart (German), Der Pastor Mit Der Jazztrompete (German), Funf Gluckspilze (German), Geliebte Hochstaplerin (German), Heimweh Nach Dir Mien Grunes Tal (German), Inspektor Gai (Russian) and Through Fire, Water and Brass Pipes (Russian)

12/08/20 — Released Gas, Inspector Palmu (Finnish), Heisser Hafen Hong Kong (German), Las Bicicletas Son Para El Verano (Spanish), Les Liaisons Dangereuses (French), Mirages (silent-1915)/ Be Silent, My Sorrow, Be Silent (silent-1918) and Women of Niskavuori (Finnish)

Smart Mark Video (MOD)

12/08/20 — Released H2O Wrestling: Pay Your Dues #2 - The Hardway - Williamstown, NJ, IWA Mid-South: Season's Beatings 2020 - Jeffersonville, IN and IWA Mid-South: Wrestlefeast - Jeffersonville, IN

The High School Sports Network (MOD)

12/01/20 — Released 2020 AHSAA Class 1A Football Championship: Linden vs Pickens County - Tuscaloosa, AL, 2020 AHSAA Class 2A Football Championship: Abbeville vs Mars Hill - Tuscaloosa, AL, 2020 AHSAA Class 4A Football Championship: Handley vs Gordo - Tuscaloosa, AL, 2020 AHSAA Class 5A Football Championship: St. Paul's vs Pleasant Grove - Tuscaloosa, AL, 2020 AHSAA Class 6A Football Championship: Spanish Fort vs Pinson Valley - Tuscaloosa, AL, 2020 AIA 4A Football Semifinals; Cactus vs CGUHS - Casa Grande, AZ, 2020 AIA 4A Football Semifinals; Mesquite vs American Leader - Queen Creek, AZ, 2020 AIA 5A Football Championships Semifinals: Campo Verde vs Sunrise Mountain - Peoria, AZ, 2020 AIA 5A Football Semifinals: Notre Dame Prep vs Ironwood - Glendale, AZ, 2020 AIA 6A Football Semifinals: Chaparral vs SDOC - Phoenix, AZ, 2020 AIA 6A Semifinals: Highland vs Boulder Creek - Anthem, AZ, 2020 BlueCross Bowl Football Championship: Alcoa vs Milan - Cooksville, TN, 2020 BlueCross Bowl Football Championship: McCallie vs Memphis University - Cooksville, TN, 2020 BlueCross Bowl Football Championship: Oak Ridge vs Summit - Cooksville, TN, 2020 BlueCross Bowl Football Championship: South Pittsburg vs Fayetteville - Cooksville, TN, 2020 BlueCross Bowl Football Championship: USJ vs Davidson Academy - Cooksville, TN, 2020 CHSAA 2A Football Championship: Lamar vs Eaton - Pueblo, CO, 2020 CHSAA 4A Football Championship: Loveland vs Palmer Ridge - Pueblo, CO, 2020 CHSAA 6-Man Football Championship: Stratton vs Fleming - Pueblo, CO, 2020 CHSAA 8-Man Football Championship: Sanford vs Sedwick County - Pueblo, CO, 2020 MHSAA 1A Football Championship: Biggersville vs Lumberton - Jackson, MS, 2020 MHSAA 3A Football Championship: Magee vs Noxubee - Jackson, MS and 2020 MHSAA 6A Football Championship: Oak Grove vs Oxford - Jackson, MS

12/08/20 — 2020 AIA 2A Football Championships Semifinals: Arizona vs Benson - Gilbert, AZ, 2020 AIA 2A Football Championships Semifinals: St. Johns vs SCVU - Gilbert, AZ, 2020 AIA 3A Football Championships Semifinals: ALA vs Snowflake - Scottsville, AZ, 2020 AIA 3A Football Championships Semifinals: Pusch Ridge vs Yuma Catholic - Scottsdale, AZ, 2020 AIA 4A Football Championships Finals: Cactus vs Mesquite - Phoenix, AZ, 2020 AIA 5A Football Championships Finals: Sunrise Mountain vs Ironwood - Phoenix, AZ, 2020 AIA Open Division Semifinals; Salpointe Catholic vs Hamilton - Chandler, AZ, 2020 AIA OPEN Football Semifinals: Liberty vs. Chandler - Chandler, AZ, 2020 BlueCross Bowl Football Championship: Elizabethton vs Haywood County - Cookeville, TN, 2020 BlueCross Bowl Football Championship: Meigs County vs Peabody - Cooksville, TN, 2020 BlueCross Bowl Football Championship: Oakland vs Brentwood - Cookesville, TN, 2020 CHSAA 1A Football Championship: Strasburg vs Limon - Pueblo, CO, 2020 CHSAA 3A Football Championship: Durango vs Roosevelt - Pueblo, CO, 2020 CHSAA 5A Football Championship: Valor Christian vs Cherry Chreek - Pueblo, CO, 2020 DIAA Volleyball Semifinals: Delaware Military vs Saint Mark's - Wilmington, DE, 2020 DIAA Volleyball Semifinals: WFS vs Padua Academy - Wilmington, DE, 2020 MHSAA 2A Football Championship: Taylorsville vs Calhoun City - Jackson, MS, 2020 MHSAA 4A Football Championship: Poplarville vs Louisville - Jackson, MS, 2020 MHSAA 5A Football Championship: West Jones vs West Point - Jackson, MS, 2020 OSSAA 6A-I Football Championship: Jenks vs Santa Fe - Edmond, OK, 2020 OSSAA 6A-II Football Championship: Bixby vs Choctaw - Edmond, OK, 2020 OSSAA Class 3A Football Championship: Holland Hall vs Lincoln Charter - Edmond, OK, 2020 SCHSL 3A Football Championship: Daniel vs Camden - Columbia, SC and 2020 SCHSL 4A Football Championship: AC Flora vs North Myrtle Beach - Columbia, SC

Universal Pictures Home Ent.

12/15/20 — Sets Infidel (ARR of 88 days; box office: $4,051,990)

12/22/20 — Sets Kajillionaire (ARR of 88 days; box office: $523,990)

01/26/21 — Sets Come Play (ARR of 88 days; box office: $8,725,140)

Vertical Entertainment

12/08/20 — Released 24^th, Christmas Hero and Proxima

Well Go U.S.A.

01/26/21 — Sets Synchronic (ARR of 95 days; box office: $613,405)

02/09/21 — Sets Jiang Ziya (Mandarin) (ARR of 130 days; box office: $214,336)

Wolfe

02/23/21 — Sets Breaking Fast

New Blu-ray Additions

Adult Source Media

12/08/20 — Released Night Shift Nurses

Code Red

12/08/20 — Released Cry of a Prostitute

Cohen Media Group

12/08/20 — Released Buster Keaton Collection, Volume 4 (2 silent films: Go West (1925), College (1927))

Film Movement

12/08/20 — Released Raining in the Mountain (Mandarin)

FUNimation

12/08/20 — Released Black Clover Season 2: The Complete Collection (10 disc set) and Violet Evergarden: The Complete Series (2 disc set) (with Digital Copy)

Grasshopper Films

12/08/20 — Released Sweetgrass

Gravitas Ventures (MOD)

12/08/20 — Released Comfort Farms, Don’t Click, Faith Based, Psychopomp, Sexual Animals and Suffer for Good

Indiecan Entertainment (MOD)

12/08/20 — Released Girl With No Mouth (Turkish)

KDMG (MOD)

12/08/20 — Released Center of Nowhere

12/15/20 — Sets 79 Parts

Kino Lorber

12/08/20 — Released Fellini's Casanova (Italian), My Science Project, Return of the Musketeers and Rock Hudson Collection (3 film set: Seminole, The Golden Blade, Bengal Brigade) (3 disc set)

Lionsgate Home Entertainment

12/08/20 — Released Smiley Face Killers (with Digital Copy)

Magnolia Home Entertainment

12/15/20 — Sets Alone

Mondo Macabro

12/08/20 — Released Seven Women for Satan (French) and Sins of the Flesh (French)

PCN Productions (MOD)

Paramount Home Media

02/23/21 — Sets John Hughes 5 Movie Collection (5 film set: Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Some Kind of Wonderful, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, She's Having a Baby) (3 disc set) (with Digital Copy) and Lady Sings the Blues

Rising Sun Media (MOD)

12/08/20 — Released Devil's Familiar/Season of the Witch, Realm of the Damned and Truth Will Out

Scorpion Releasing

12/08/20 — Released Greek Tycoon

Sentai FilmWorks

12/08/20 — Released 7 Seeds, Part 1 (2 disc set)

Shout! Factory

12/08/20 — Released 2020 World Series Champions: Los Angeles Dodgers (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack)

Smart Mark Video (MOD)

12/08/20 — Released IWA Mid-South: Wrestlefeast - Jeffersonville, IN

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (MOD)

12/08/20 — Released Good Neighbor Sam, Notorious Landlady, Operation Mad Ball, Phffft and Under the Yum Yum Tree

Universal Pictures Home Ent.

12/15/20 — Sets Infidel

01/26/21 — Sets Come Play (with Digital Copy)

VIZ Media

12/08/20 — Released Bleach: Set Nine (4 disc set)

Well Go U.S.A.

12/08/20 — Released Possessor: Uncut

01/26/21 — Sets Synchronic

02/09/21 — Sets Jiang Ziya (Mandarin)

New 4K Ultra HD Additions

FUNimation

12/22/20 — Sets Akira (Japanese) (4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack)

Paramount Home Media Preps New Release Blitz For Janaury And February

It was another multi-title announcement week over at Paramount Home Media Distribution … busy, busy, busy, especially at a time when some of the other “Hollywood” studios have seemingly checked out for the year.

Let’s get to it. First up is the five-film, three-Blu-ray disc set titled simply, John Hughes: 5 Movie Collection … that’s pretty clean and very direct and it will be available on Feb. 23. So, what is in this sweet package?

Well, if this is a collection of films showcasing the talents of writer and director John Hughes, then off course there has to be his 1986 landmark film, Pretty in Pink, featuring a marvelous cast … Molly Ringwald, Jon Cryer, James Spader, Andrew McCarthy, and, of course, Harry Dean Stanton. John Hughes wrote the screenplay (Howard Deutch directed).

And, of course, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which he both directed and wrote … it arrived in theatres just months after Pretty in Pink in 1986. Genius. The kid from WarGames, Matthew Broderick, gets a litter older and becomes a high school legend.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Of is a movie that you can watch over and over and … over again, with Jennifer Grey, Jeffrey Jones, Alan Ruck and Mia Sara joining Broderick in a cast ensemble that also features Ben Stein with one of the greatest lines ever, “Bueller (pause), Bueller? (pause) Bueller (cut to empty chain), Bueller.” Simone (yes, that is Kristy Swanson) pipes up with a very detailed explanation of what happened to the aforementioned Bueller at the 31 Flavors the night before … “Thank You, Simone.”

The Deutch/Hughes combination struck gold again one year later (almost to the date) from the theatrical release of Pretty in Pink in 1987 with the arrival of Some Kind of Wonderful, starring Mary Stuart Masterson, Eric Stoltz and Lea Thompson.

The Christmas movie that same year, 1987, was both directed and written by John Hughes (yeah, yeah, technically it is a Thanksgiving movie, but close enough). It has become a seasonal classic, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, teaming Steve Martin and John Candy as mismatched traveling companions who were on a “routine” flight from New York City to Chicago, but ended up in Wichita and found that getting to Chicago would not be easy (understatement).

And lastly, in February of 1988 — notice a pattern, Pretty in Pink was released in February of 1986 and Some Kind of Wonderful hit theatres in February of 1987 — John Hughes directed and wrote She’s Having a Baby, teaming Kevin Bacon with Elizabeth McGovern.

This will be the 35^th Anniversary of Pretty in Pink (wow, where did the time go) … Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Planes, Trains and Automobiles have been available on Blu-ray as individual releases, but this collection marks the first time that both She's Having a Baby and Some Kind of Wonderful will be available on Blu-ray.

Also getting a Blu-ray release from Paramount Home Media on Feb. 23 is director Sidney Furie’s 1972 biopic, Lady Sings the Blues, starring Diana Ross (nominated for Best Actress) as Jazz legend Billie Holiday.

Bonus features include vintage commentary from director Sidney Furie, producer Berry Gordy and artist manager Shelly Berger. There are also seven deleted scenes and the featurette titled “Behind the Blues: Lady Sings the Blues.”

Arriving on Jan. 12 as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings is director Mark Tonderai’s backwoods chiller, Spell, starring Omari Hardwick (Kick-Ass, The Guardian, Sparkle, etc.) as an airplane crash victim who awakes in the care of the kindly Elosie (Loretta Devine) at her remote cabin home … but soon discovers that she has other plans for him (and his family).

The ARR is 74 days and the film’s limited theatrical run during the Halloween period generated box office receipts of $500,104.

Bonus features include deleted scenes and a trio of production featurettes — “The Nightmare Spell,” “Rootwork: Conjuring Spells” and “The Art of Hoodoo.”

Paramount Home Media and Nickelodeon will be teaming up for a trio of new-to-DVD releases during the first quarter of 2021. The first of these, Shimmer and Shine: Magical Mischief, arrives on DVD on Jan. 26.

Included are eight magical adventures, with Zeta conjuring up trouble and Shimmer and Shine doing their best to set things right. We also learn how Zeta and Princess Samira first came to know each other.

On Feb. 2, Blaze & the Monster Machines: Axle City Grand Prix, heads home … and on the same day, look for the DVD debut of Blue's Clues & You: Blue's Sing-Along Spectacular.