Wild Eye Releasing and Visual Vengeance gaze into the eye of CYCLOPS (review)

A schoolgirl starts to question her brother's past involvement in secret experiments involving birth defects and her sister-in-law's very unusual pregnancy in this Japanese eighties gore horror direct-to-video flick CYCLOPS from the creator of NIGHT HEAD and the director of ANOTHER HEAVEN and RINGU: SPIRAL.

REVIEW LINK: Wild Eye Releasing (U.S.) Region A Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

CYCLOPS Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by Justin Decloux of The important Cinema Club and Patrick Macias, author of Tokyoscope: the Japanese Cult Film Companion
• "No Compliance" interview with director Joji “George” Iida
• "Not In The Way Your Expect: The Films of Joji “George” Iida" video essay by Justin Decloux of The important Cinema Club
• "All the Monsters Are Here: The Japanese DTV Market of the Mid-80s" video essay by Justin Decloux of The important Cinema Club
• Image Gallery
• Koji Yamamura Sketch Gallery
• Visual Vengeance Trailer
• Start-up Trailers
• Comes with a folded mini-poster featuring original pressbook art and reversible sleeve featuring original Japanese VHS art. 
• The first pressing includes "The Creation of Cyclops" 16-page liner notes booklet, "A (Short) Horror Trip" 8-page liner notes booklet, and limited Edition slipcover art by The Dude.

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MVD Visual signs a DEATH WARRANT for JCVD in 4K (review)

Jean-Claude Van Damme is a Canadian cop who goes undercover in a Los Angeles prison to find a killer in DEATH WARRANT.  Robert Guillaume, Cynthia Gibb, Patrick Kilpatrick, and Art LaFleur also star.

REVIEW LINK: MVD Visual (U.S.) Region ALL 4K UltraHD/Region A Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

DEATH WARRANT 4K UltraHD/Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One (4K UltraHD):
• 2160p24 HEVC 1.85:1 Widescreen (HDR10)
• English LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English SDH Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director Deran Sarafian 
• Disc Two (Blu-ray):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 Widescreen
• English LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English SDH Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director Deran Sarafian
• Interview with actor Patrick Kilpatrick
• Interview with actor Art LaFleur
• "Defender of Death" interview with actress Cynthia Gibb
• Photo Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer
• Bonus Trailers 
• Comes with a slipcover, reversible cover, and collectible "4K LaserVision" mini-poster.

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Also available on single-disc Blu-ray. 

MVD Visual beats in 4K with Jean-Claude Van Damme's LIONHEART (review)

When his brother is brutally murdered by drug dealers, Lyon escapes from the French Foreign Legion and travels from Africa to Los Angeles to help his sister-in-law and her daughter but he also becomes involved in illegal street fighting rings with high stakes players in this early Jean-Claude Van Damme action flick with heart.

REVIEW LINK: MVD Visual (U.S.) Region ALL 4K UltraHD/Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

LIONHEART 4K UltraHD/Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One (4K UltraHD):
• 2160p24 HEVC 1.85:1 Widescreen (HDR10) of the International Version
• English LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English SDH Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director Sheldon Lettich, moderated by Heath Holland 
• Disc Two (Blu-ray):
• U.S. Theatrical Cut:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 Widescreen
• English LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English SDH, French, and Spanish Subtitles 
• Hybrid Extended Cut:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 Widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo
• Audio Commentary by director Sheldon Lettich and actor Harrison Page 
• "The Story of LIONHEART" documentary
• "Inside LIONHEART with the Filmmakers and Cast" featurette
• "LIONHEART: Behind the Fights" featurette
• 1991 Making-of Featurette
• Interview with director Sheldon Lettich
• Interview with actor Harrison Page
• Behind the Scenes of the Audio Commentary
• Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery
• Promotional Clips
• Theatrical Trailer
• Bonus Trailers 
• Comes with a collectible "Lionheart" 4K LaserVision mini-poster, a reversible cover featuring the 4K LaserVision cover and the 2018 MVD Rewind Collection Blu-ray artwork (with new 4K/BD combo sticker), and a slipcover.

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Eureka Classics is terrorized by BEASTS UNLEASHED (review)

From the fringe of 1950s Hollywood comes two low-budget sci-fi treats.  THE BEAST WITH A MILLION EYES terrorizes a family in the middle of the desert with attacks by birds, cows, dogs, and eventually possessed humans in this effort produced and partially directed by Roger Corman.  THE BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN is the real culprit behind cattle and human disappearances that have a cowboy and a rancher at each other's throats south of the border.

REVIEW LINK: Eureka Video (U.K.) Region B Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

BEASTS UNLEASHED Blu-ray specs:

• The Beast with a Million Eyes:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 Widescreen Presentations of the Theatrical Cut and the Extended Television Cut
• English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English HoH Subtitles
• "Terror from Beyond the Stars" interview with science fiction expert Mark Bould
• Theatrical Trailer 
• The Beast of Hollow Mountain:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen
• English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English HoH Subtitles
• "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" interview with critic Kim Newman
• Theatrical Trailer 
• The first pressing comes with a limited O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Mute and booklet featuring new writing by genre film expert Christopher Stewardson on special effects artist Paul Blaisdell and The Beast with a Million Eyes and a new essay by film journalist Sean McGeady on Weird Westerns and The Beast of Hollow Mountain. 

Second Sight Films deduces THE NAME OF THE ROSE (review)

A Franciscan monk with a yen for logic and philosophy and his young novice seek out a human culprit for a series of brutal murders in a Northern Italy abbey when the brotherhood themselves suspect the Devil and want to summon the Holy Inquisition in this West German/French/Italian big-budget adaptation of Umberto Eco's bestselling novel starring Sean Connery and Christian Slater.

REVIEW LINK: Second Sight (U.K.) Region ALL 4K UltraHD/Region B Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

THE NAME OF THE ROSE 4K UltraHD/Blu-ray specs:

• 2160p24 HEVC Dolby Vision and 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 Widescreen Discs
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Optional English SDH Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historian James Marsh
• Audio Commentary by director Jean-Jacques Annaud
• "Charm of Humanity" interview with director Jean-Jacques Annaud
• "A Boy and His Dog" interview with actor Christian Slater
• "Bringing the Mustard" interview with actor Ron Perlman
• "Liquidating the Disk" interview with screenwriter Andrew Birkin
• "The Abbey of Crime: Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose" 1986 documentary 
• Comes in a rigid slipcase with new artwork by Liza Shumskaya and includes a 120-page book with new essays by Eugenio Ercolani and Gian Giacomo Petrone, Francesco Massaccesi, Sam Moore, Gregory Mucci, Dan Schindel, and Nadine Whitney, as well as six collectors' art cards.

Also available in separate standard edition 4K UltraHD and Blu-ray editions. 

Radiance Films and Transmission tune in to TWO BOXES: TELEVISED TERROR IN FRANCO'S SPAIN (review)

During General Franco's dictatorship in Spain, the public had veiled concerns of "disapperance" and passive disengagement explored to terrifying ends in two short television projects.  In LA CABINA, a middle-aged businessman becomes a public spectacle when he becomes trapped in a telephone box.  In EL TELEVISOR, a family man finally realizes his dream to own a color television set only to realize that it actually owns him in this short feature from Narcisco Ibanez Serrador (THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED, WHO CAN KILL A CHILD?).

REVIEW LINK: Radiance Films (U.K.) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

TWO BOXES: TELEVISED TERROR IN FRANCO'S SPAIN Blu-ray specs:

• La cabina (1972):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• Spanish LPCM 1.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by writers and film-makers Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton
• "Jose Luis Garci on La cabina" screenwriter interview
• "Antonio Mercero Santos on La cabina" location manager interview 
• El televisor (1974):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• Spanish LPCM 1.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by critics and horror experts Jonathan Rigby and Kevin Lyons
• Interview with Spanish film expert Antonio Lazaro-Reboll
• 1999 Press Conference with Narciso Ibanez Serrandor promoting "El televisor" 
• Limited edition of 5,000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings, including an O-card and reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Justin Coffee, and booklet featuring new writing from Alex Mendibil and Paul Martinovic. 

Acorn Media and Lucy Lawless investigate MY LIFE IS MURDER: SERIES 5 (review)

Lucy Lawless plays a former detective who returns to Auckland to settle into a retirement baking sourdough bread only to keep getting involved in murder mysteries as a police consultant with her hacker friend and ex-con brother.

REVIEW LINK: Acorn Media (U.K.) Region 0 PAL DVD (DVDCompare)

MY LIFE IS MURDER - SERIES 5 DVD specs:

• Eight episodes on two dual-layer DVDs
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 Widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English HoH Subtitles