November 27, 2018: This Week on DVD, Blu-ray & 4K Ultra HD
It’s another eclectic week of home entertainment releases, kicking off with the recent theatrical thriller, Searching. John Cho stars as a father desperately trying to find his missing daughter in the feature film debut of director Aneesh Chaganty, who also co-wrote Searching with Sev Ohanian.
Tom Hanks took home his first Academy Award for his performance in Jonathan Demme’s gripping AIDS drama, Philadelphia. In honor of the film’s 25th anniversary, Philadelphia makes its debut on 4K Ultra HD this week.
Children of the 1980s will rejoice as the entire Critters franchise comes together in a four-film box set from Shout! Factory’s Scream Factory label. The original 1986 film joins 1988’s Critters 2: The Main Course, 1991’s Critters 3 and 1992’s Critters 4. Packed with special features (including a combined six audio commentaries!), the new set is a dream for fans of the cult classic franchise. Critters 3 is doubly interesting for movie lovers, too, as it marks the first ever role for young star Leonardo DiCaprio!
If four Critters movies aren’t enough to sate your appetite for late 1980s mischievous creature features, Shout! also has just the double feature for you! Released in 1987, Munchies is producer Roger Corman’s answer to Gremlins and it’s even directed by Tina Hirsch, who edited the Joe Dante film. The double feature Blu-ray also includes Munchie, a bizarre in-name-only sequel released in 1992. There’s still a third film, though, Munchie Strikes Back, so hopefully Shout! will be bringing that one along as well before too long.
The Criterion Collection has two new additions with Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons and David Byrne’s True Stories. The former is Welles’ 1943 followup to Citizen Kane, adapting Booth Tarkington’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, while the latter offers a unique musical, combining Talking Heads songs with short stories inspired by tabloid newspapers.
Warner Archive has two great titles joining its ever growing catalogue. Lucille Ball plays the title role in 1974’s Mame, starring as an eccentric and wealthy woman whose world is turned upside down when she suddenly becomes the guardian of her young nephew. Meanwhile, Robert Altman’s bizzarre 1970 fantasy tale Brewster McCloud gets an HD upgrade.
But if you prefer later Altman, look no farther than Arrow Academy where 2001’s Gosford Park is joining the line. The all star whodunnit arrives with a host of special features, including two feature length audio commentary tracks.
Whether or you call it Zombie or Zombi 2, Lucio Fulci’s 1979 tale of terror is one of the subgenre’s very best. Where else can you can watch the undead battle a shark? Although not narratively related, Zombie was released in Italy as Zombi 2 so that the film could pose as a sequel to George Romero’s 1978 masterpiece, Dawn of the Dead, released there as Zombi. Blue Underground’s new 4K transfer is jaw dropping and the supplements on the 3-Disc set (available with a variety of different cover art options) make this far and away the definitive edition of the horror classic.
Small screen releases this week including the fifth season of The CW’s The 100 and two recent tv miniseries: Picnic at Hanging Rock and Sharp Objects. The former arrives, tragically, just days after the death of Nicolas Roeg, the director of the original film upon which Hanging Rock was based. Finally, Shout! Factory reissues Rhino’s long out of print eighth volume of Mystery Science Theater 3000 as the new episodes premiere on Netflix.
Silas Lesnick is the Senior Editor of Moviebill. He has been covering entertainment news out of Los Angeles for more than a decade. You can reach him via e-mail or on Twitter.
