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 

Arrow Video will never leave THE HOUSE WITH LAUGHING WINDOWS (review)

THE GARDEN OF THE FINZI-CONTINIS' Lino Capolicchio is an art restorer called to a remote village in the Po Valley to restore a rotting fresco that depicts a macabre rendition of the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian and gradually discovers that something is very wrong in the village related to the fresco's mysterious painter in this rural giallo from ZEDER director Pupi Avati.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Video (U.S.) Region A Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

THE HOUSE WITH LAUGHING WINDOWS Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 Widescreen
• Italian LPCM 1.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by critics Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson
• Audio Commentary by critics Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth
• "Painted Screams" 2025 documentary by Federico Caddeo featuring interviews with co-writer/director Pupi Avati, co-writer Antonio Avati, assistant director Cesare Bastelli, actors Lino Capolicchio, Fancesca Marciano, Giulio Pizzirani, and Pietro Brambilla, production designer Luciana Morosetti, assistant camera operation Toni Scaramuzza, sound mixer Enrico Blasi, and Emanuele Taglietti (son of assistant production designer Otello Taglietti (94 minutes)
• "La Casa e Sola" visual essay by critic Chris Alexander
• "The Art of Suffering" visual essay by critic Kat Ellinger
• Italian Theatrical Trailer 

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Cult Epics exposes the smutty letters of P.O. TINTO BRASS in 4K (review)

Having built up a reputation as a master of erotica, director Tinto Brass is inundated daily with letters, photos, and videos charting the erotic imaginations of his female fans.  With his sexy secretary, he probes these fantasies in search of inspiration in this erotic anthology film.

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

P.O. BOX TINTO BRASS 4K UltraHD/Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One (4K UltraHD):
• 2160p24 HEVC 1.85:1 Widescreen (HDR10)
• Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• English Subtitles for scenes never dubbed into English
• Audio Commentary by film historians Troy Howarth, Jeremy Richey, Nathaniel Thompson, Eugenio Ercolani, and Heather Drain
• Theatrical Trailer 
• Disc Two (Blu-ray):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 Widescreen
• Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• English Subtitles for scenes never dubbed into English
• Audio Commentary by film historians Troy Howarth, Jeremy Richey, Nathaniel Thompson, Eugenio Ercolani, and Heather Drain
• Interview with director Tinto Brass
• Image Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer 
• Comes with a 20-page booklet and slipcover.

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Also available from AMAZON in a Blu-ray single-disc edition.

Also available directly from CULT EPICS with a website-exclusive alternate slipcover, four lobby card reproductions, and a bonus disc featuring the documentary ISTINTOBRASS. 

Deaf Crocodile tucks us in for DEFA FAIRY TALES (review)

After World War II, West Germany embraced capitalist ideals and Hollywood-style cinema while Soviet-controlled East Germany took a Utopian approach to their cinema through DEFA studio using film to instill communist ideals including fairy tales whose moral lessons stressed the value of hard work and the corruption of greed with familiar-yet-unfamiliar tellings of SNOW WHITE and LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD along with the less-familiar stateside MOTHER HULDA in which a put-upon stepdaughter dives into a well to retrieve a lost spindle and finds herself high above in the clouds, THE DEVIL'S THREE GOLDEN HAIRS in which a young man travels to Hell to trick the devil in order to win the hand of a princess and save his death-ridden village, and SNOW WHITE AND ROSE RED in which two sisters fight an evil mountain spirit to free the princes they love from a curse.

REVIEW LINK: Deaf Crocodile (U.S.) Region A Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

DEFA Fairy Tales Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One:
• Snow White:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historian Samm Deighan 
• Mother Hulda:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English and English SDH Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historian Michael Brooke 
• Disc Two:
• Little Red Riding Hood:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.36:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English and English SDH Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historians Shelagh Rowen-Lagg and Anne Golden 
• Disc Three:
• The Devil's Three Golden Hairs:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 Widescreen
• German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English and English SDH Subtitles 
• Disc Four:
• Snow White and Rose Red:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English and English SDH Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historian Samm Deighan 
• "Socialist Fantasies, the Bros. Grimm and DEFA Studios: Fairytale Filmmaking in East Germany" visual essay by film historian Evan Chester
• Interview with comics artist, film historian, and author Stephen R. Bissette by Deaf Crocodile's Dennis Bartok (94 minutes)

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SRS exorcises the DEVIL TIMES TWO (review)

A series of brutal murders in the woods surrounding an abandoned monastery where a tragic exorcism claimed the lives of ten people bring a pair of priests to the Mother Superior caretaker who believes that the Gates of Hell are somewhere close by and the murders are being committed by returning damned souls in this GRINDHOUSE-style modern pastiche disguised as a TV recording of a long-lost seventies Italian horror film.

REVIEW LINK: SRS (Sub Rosa Studios) Region ALL BD-R (DVDCompare)

DEVIL TIMES TWO BD-R specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English Subtitles
• Backstage Featurette
• Photo Gallery
• Trailer

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Acorn Media investigates the quirky with THE BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES: SERIES 12 (review)

City slicker detective Mike Shepherd has taken over the police department of rural Brokenwood and with his partners investigate bizarre murder cases with a roster of quirky suspects in this fish out of water show inspired by NORTHERN EXPOSURE.

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

THE BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES - SERIES 12 DVD specs:

• Six feature-length episodes on three dual-layer DVDs
• 16:9 Anamorphic 1.78:1 Widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English HoH Subtitles
• Cast Interviews:
• Neill Rea
• Fern Sutherland
• Jarod Rawiri 

Eureka ventures INTO THE FOREST: FOLKTALES AT DEFA (review)

East Germany's state DEFA film studio mounted a series of enormously-popular fairy tale adaptations with opulent production values, bizarre quirks, and socialist messaging that have remained entertaining and even attained cult status.  In THE DEVIL FROM MILL MOUNTAIN, an evil miller sabotages his competition but the benevolent spirits of the woods help a young woman expose his bad deeds.  In THE SINGING RINGING TREE, a prince ventures out to obtain a magical tree for a haughty princess but an evil dwarf has other plans for the couple.  In RUMPELSTILTSKIN, a young maiden is entrapped by her lazy, greedy father into the lie of spinning gold from straw for the King, but a magical imp offers to help her for a price.  In LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD, a young girl on her way to her grandmother's house through the woods has more to fear than just a wolf.  In THE DEVIL'S THREE GOLDEN HAIRS, a blacksmith's assistant must venture into Hell to trick the Devil and win the hand of a princess and save his village.

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

INTO THE FOREST: FOLKTALES AT DEFA Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One:
• The Devil from Mill Mountain:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• German LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historian Michael Brooke
• The Singing Ringing Tree:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• German LPCM 2.0 Mono
• English (1964 U.K. TV Narration) LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• "Fairytales and Nightmares" interview with writer, broadcaster, and Fortean Times columnist Bob Fischer 
• "Interview with a Princess" interview with actress Christel Bodenstein
• Disc Two:
• Rumpelstiltskin:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• German LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by Sam Goff, editorial director for Klassiki and host of The Klassiki Kino Club podcast
• Little Red Riding Hood:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• German LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• "The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats" 1990 cut-out animation by Otto Sacher adapted from the Brothers Grimm story by the DEFA Studio for Animation Film
• Disc Three:
• The Devil's Three Golden Hairs:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 Widescreen
• German and English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• "DEFA and the Devil" video essay by film and literature scholar Mary Going 
• "The Magic Scissors" 1956 silhouette animation by Bruno J. Böttge inspired by traditional folktales and produced by the DEFA Studio for Animation Film 
• "Sleeping Beauty Was a Beautiful Child" 1987 short puppet animation by Katja Georgi adapted from Sleeping Beauty by the DEFA Studio for Animation Film
• Limited edition box set of 2,000 copies featuring a hardbound slipcase featuring new artwork by Carly A-F, reversible inner sleeves featuring new artwork for each film by Carly A-F, and 60-page collector’s book featuring a new essay on DEFA’s approach to folktales by East German film historian Sebastian Heiduschke, new notes on each film in this set by DEFA Märchenfilm experts Sonja Fritzsche, Qinna Shen and Elizabeth Ward, plus the Brothers Grimm stories that inspired The Singing Ringing Tree, Rumpelstiltskin, Little Red Riding Hood and The Devil’s Three Golden Hairs. 

88 Films champions Shaolin in a SHAWSCOPE TRIPLE FEATURE (review)

88 Films' SHAWSCOPE TRIPLE FEATURE presents a late entry Chang Cheh "Venom Mob" film in TWO CHAMPIONS OF SHAOLIN as two young monks bent on vengeance get entangled in the intrigues between the Shaolin Temple and a brother sect loyal to the Qing Dynasty.  In Tong Kai's SHAOLIN PRINCE, two princes are separated at birth when their father is slaughtered by a rival lord.  One is raised as a monk unaware of his true identity while the other is raised by a prime minister to retake the throne.  Ti Lung and Derek Yee star.  In Tong Kai's SHAOLIN INTRUDERS, two martial arts heroes believe a female warrior is being framed for the murders of the chiefs of the four big martial arts families.  Derek Yee and Jason Pai Piao star.

REVIEW LINK: 88 Films (U.K.) Region B Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

SHAWSCOPE TRIPLE FEATURE Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One - Two Champions of Shaolin:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen
• Mandarin and English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by Asian film expert Frank Djeng and filmmaker Michael Worth
• Theatrical Trailer
• Image Gallery
• Disc Two - Shaolin Prince:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen
• Cantonese and English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• "The Shaw Legacy - Derek Yee on Acting and Directing" interview
• Image Gallery
• Disc Three - Shaolin Intruders:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen
• Mandarin and English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• "Mystery in the Monastery - Ricky Baker on Shaolin Intruders"
• Image Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer
• Comes in a limited edition slipcase with artwork by "Kung Fu Bob" O'Brien and double-sided posters for each film.