Masters of Cinema gets THE LAST WARNING (review)

Years after a famous actor was murdered on stage in the middle of his performance and his body never found, a producer reunites the cast and crew to restage the play with a lurking phantom threatening that history will repeat itself in THE LAST WARNING.  From the director of THE CAT AND THE CANARY and shot on the sets of Lon Chaney's PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

REVIEW LINK: Eureka/Masters of Cinema (UK) Region B Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

THE LAST WARNING Blu-ray specs: 

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• Arthur Barrow Music Score DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo
• English Intertitles
• Audio Commentary by horror and fantasy authors Kim Newman and Stephen Prince
• "Paul Leni and THE LAST WARNING" video essay by John Soister
• Collector's Booklet featuring an essay by Philip Kemp and Arthur Barrow's notes on the score
• The first 2,000 copies come with a limited edition slipcover
  

Kino Lorber is HELL BENT (Review)

Before John Wayne, Harry Carey was John Ford's archetypal hero in a series of mostly-lost silent adventures.  In HELL BENT, Carey is an outlaw who finds a reason to go straight when he falls for a dance hall girl whose brother becomes entangled in a stagecoach robbery.

REVIEW LINK: Kino Lorber (US) Region A Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

HELL BENT Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• Music DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo
• English Intertitles
• Audio Commentary by film historian Joseph McBride
• Archival 1970 audio interview with John Ford by Joseph McBride, author of "Searching for John Ford: A Life"
• "A Horse of a Mary?" video essay by critic Tag Gallagher
  

Kino Lorber takes aim at STRAIGHT SHOOTING (review)

Harry Carey is the original "good bad man" cowboy turned by a pair of hazel eyes in John Ford's feature film debut STRAIGHT SHOOTING in which cattlemen go to war with homesteaders over the land in this 1917 western.

REVIEW LINK: Kino Lorber (US) Region A Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

STRAIGHT SHOOTING Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• Music DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo
• English Intertitles
  
• Audio Commentary by film historian Joseph McBride, author of "Searching for John Ford: A Life"
• "Hitchin' Posts" fragment of a 1920 John Ford film preserved by the Library of Congress
• "Bull Scores a Touchdown" video essay by film critic Tag Gallagher
• Essay booklet by film critic Tag Gallagher
  

Indiepix hits the town with THREE COMRADES (review)

After being chewed out for their flagging performance in a slow economy, three young phone salesmen hit the town for drinks, but their increasingly aggressive behavior spirals out of control into a climax of violence in this Russian look at toxic masculinity.

REVIEW LINK: Indiepix (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD-R (DVDCompare)

THREE COMRADES DVD-R specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 Widescreen
• Russian LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• Burnt-in English Subtitles
• Theatrical Trailer

Second Run goes GHOST HUNTING (review)

Filmmaker Raed Andoni places an ad in a Ramallah newspaper seeking former prisoners of the Moscobiya Dentention Centre for a film project in which they will reconstruct the centre from memory in which they will reenact and confront their experiences.

REVIEW LINK: Second Run (UK) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

GHOST HUNTING Blu-ray specs: 

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 Widescreen
• Arabic DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English Subtitles
• Interview with director Raed Andoni
• Booklet featuring an essay by Gareth Evans
  

Cineventures' Best of 2020 Blu-ray and DVD List

With over two hundred reviews this year and even more worthy product, it was hard to narrow down my favorites to just ten. The two top ten releases consist of films making their Blu-ray debut while worthy upgrades are listed among the honorable mentions.

TOP TEN EXPLOITATION:

• TIE: DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS, Blue Underground (US) Region ALL 4K Blu-ray/Region ALL Blu-ray/CD Soundtrack and HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY, Blue Underground (US) Region ALL Blu-ray/CD Soundtrack
• Daughters of Darkness available from Amazon 
• House by the Cemetery available from Amazon (also as Blu-ray 4K reissue)
• DAWN OF THE DEAD, Second Sight (UK) Region B Blu-ray, available from Amazon (also as Blu-ray 4K edition).
• SEVEN WOMEN FOR SATAN, Mondo Macabro (US) Region ALL Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• SHIVERS, Vestron Video/Lionsgate (US) Region A Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• THE SIN OF NORA MORAN, The Film Detective (US) Region ALL Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• THE COMPLETE LENZI/BAKER GIALLO COLLECTION, Severin Films (US) Region A Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• MACABRE, 88 Films (UK) Region ALL Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• THE BEAST AND THE MAGIC SWORD, Mondo Macabro (US) Region ALL Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• FORGOTTEN GIALLI: VOLUME 1, Vinegar Syndrome (US) Region ALL Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• MY BLOODY VALENTINE, Scream Factory/Shout! Factory (US) Region A Blu-ray, available from Amazon

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• DEADLY MANOR, Arrow Video USA (US) Region ALL Blu-ray, available from Amazon. 
• MALABIMBA, Vinegar Syndrome (US) Region ALL Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• DREAM DEMON, Arrow Video USA (US) Region ALL Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• ASSIGNMENT TERROR, Scorpion Releasing (US) Region ALL Blu-ray, available from Ronin Flix.
• SWEENEY!/SWEENEY 2, Kino Lorber (US) Region A Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• TIE: NIGHT OF OPEN SEX, Severin Films (US) Region ALL Blu-ray + CRIES OF PLEASURE, Severin Films (US) Region ALL Blu-ray
• Night of Open Sex available from Amazon.
• Cries of Pleasure available from Amazon.
• ARMOUR OF GOD II: OPERATION CONDOR, 88 Films (UK) Region B Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• P.O. BOX TINTO BRASS, Cult Epics (US) Region A Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• SHINING SEX, Severin Films (US) Region ALL Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• CECILIA, Blue Underground (US) Region ALL Blu-ray, available from Amazon.

TOP TEN ARTHOUSE/MAINSTREAM: 

• TENDERNESS, Second Run (UK) Region ALL Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• GOODBYE, DRAGON INN, Second Run (UK) Region ALL Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• MADE IN HONG KONG, Eureka (UK) Region B Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• SÉRIE NOIRE, Film Movement, Region A Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• RAINING IN THE MOUNTAIN, Eureka (UK) Region B Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• BLACK RAINBOW, Arrow Video USA (US) Region ALL Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• CLAUDE SAUTET & ROMY SCHNEIDER DUO: CÉSARE ET ROSALIE/LES CHOSES DE LA VIE, Film Movement (US) Region A Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• ZU: WARRIORS FROM THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN, Eureka (UK) Region B Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• TIE: BUSTER KEATON: THREE FILMS - VOLUME TWO, 1924-1926, Eureka (UK) Region B Blu-ray + BUSTER KEATON: THREE FILMS - VOLUME THREE, 1923-1927, Eureka (UK) Region B Blu-ray.
• Buster Keaton: Three Films - Volume Two, 1924-1926 available from Amazon.
• Buster Keaton: Three Films - Volume Three, 1923-1927 available from Amazon.
• HOUSE BY THE RIVER, Kino Lorber (US) Region A Blu-ray, available from Amazon. 

HONORABLE MENTIONS: 

• VALERIE AND HER WEEK OF WONDERS, Second Run (UK) Region ALL Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• THE WOMAN IN BLACK, Network (UK) Region B Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• UNDER THE SHADOW, Second Sight (UK) Region ALL Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• ALASTAIR SIM'S SCHOOL FOR LAUGHTER, Film Movement (US) Region A Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• THIS GUN FOR HIRE, Eureka (UK) Region B Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• THE CHICKEN CHRONICLES, Kino Lorber (US) Region A Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• WALKABOUT, Second Sight (UK) Region B Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• CRISS CROSS, Eureka (UK) Region B Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• THREE EDGAR ALLAN POE ADAPTATIONS STARRING BELA LUGOSI, Eureka (UK) Region B Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
• THE THOUSAND EYES OF DR. MABUSE, Eureka (UK) Region B Blu-ray, available from Amazon.
  

Paramount Pictures accepts MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE COMPLETE SERIES (review)

Long before the overblown Tom Cruise franchise, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE was a fun television series in which a team tackled operations involving disguises, manipulation, and impersonation in order to foil military coups, nuclear war, and syndicate warfare.  Peter Graves, Leonard Nimoy, Martin Landau, Lynda Day George, Barbara Bain, Peter Lupus, and Greg Morris star.

REVIEW LINK: Paramount Pictures (US) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: THE ORIGINAL TV SERIES Blu-ray specs:

• Seven seasons on fourty-six BD50 Blu-ray discs
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
  
• English DTS-HD Master 5.1, French and German Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Audio
• Optional English SDH, French, and German subtitles