Welcome to Home Again, where each and every Tuesday I’ll be running down some of the best genre releases coming to home media.
All info is from the excellent Blu-ray.com. This isn’t every genre release, just the ones I find interesting. For the full list, follow that link.
7/16
Shazam! (2019) – Warner Bros. – Check out my review!
Shazam! gets releases in Blu-ray/DVD, 3D Blu-ray, 4K, a Target exclusive DigiBook, and a Best Buy exclusive Steelbook.
Space: 1999: The Complete Series (1975-1976) – Shout Factory – As a card-carrying member of the Dragon Con American Sci-Fi Classics Track and as someone who was born while this show was on the air, I can’t very well overlook this American sci-fi classic. To the delight of its fans, this 70s outer space drama is getting the full HD treatment from the best of the best – Shout Factory.
This 13-disc set includes plenty of all-new bonus features as well as scads of previously released extra materials.
Titans: The Complete First Season (2018) – Warner Bros. – I thought that this show was excellent. Despite early signs of ridiculous over-grimdark-ness, Titans ended up presenting amazingly faithful modern interpretations of the characters. It presents a grittier, perhaps more realistic take on the Titans, but doesn’t shy away from being rooted in a comic book world.
We waited eagerly for each episode to drop, watching them as soon as possible all season. Titans isn’t wonderful in a Gotham way, it’s wonderful in a “Oh, they’re actually presenting comic book stuff in live action” way. Highly recommended, especially for the price – as of this writing Amazon has it for twenty-three bucks.
The Chill Factor/Demon Possessed (1993) – Arrow – While you can take your pick of the two awful titles for this movie, the synopsis sounds promising, if derivative:
The Exorcist meets the Winter Olympics in this tale of demonic possession and snowbound slashing from director Christopher Webster, producer of Hellraiser and Hellraiser II: Hellbound. For a group of young couples, a snowmobiling trip turns into a waking nightmare when one of their number is thrown from their vehicle and knocked unconscious. Seeking refuge in a nearby abandoned summer camp, the group find themselves holed up in a cabin filled with bizarre and ominous religious artefacts. As night falls, the discovery of a Ouija board amidst the dusty relics awakens a terrifying evil.
This is another one I’m putting on my “watch it for free” list.
Strays (1991) – Shout Factory – A family moves into an isolated house and are terrorized by a horde of stray cats in this made-for-TV movie.
I wish I could give you some kind of background or history on this, because it sounds like my next-to-worst nightmare. But it seems that history has forgotten Strays and whatever societal conditions that led to its release.
Hello Again (1987) – Kino Lorber – Shelley Long had a run of comedies in the mid-to-late 80s and I saw them all because my mom loves Shelley Long. When I was younger I couldn’t stand her on Cheers because I wasn’t yet old enough to get how amazing she actually was at playing Diane Chambers. But I always liked her in The Money Pit, Outrageous Fortune, Troop Beverly Hills, and this one.
I don’t remember a thing about Hello Again and as a matter of fact I didn’t even remember it existed until just now, but my mom might just be getting a copy for Christmas.
The Psychic (1977) – Scorpion Releasing – I’m fairly certain I used to own this Lucio Fulci flick as part of one of those multi –movie DVD collections, but I think it had a different title. It’s about a wife who develops psychic powers and discovers a skeleton in the wall of her home; probably put there by her weirdo husband.
Murder Rock/Demon is Loose/Murder-Rock: Dancing Death/Murderock – Uccide a passo di danza (1984) – Scorpion Releasing – Another lesser-known Fulci movie, I’m pretty sure I saw this as Demon is Loose and it may well have been part of that same set. Think Fame + Suspiria + Showgirls, uh, maybe? If it’s what I’m thinking of – and Wikipedia suggests it is – then it’s not great. But hey, bad Fulci is better than lots of stuff, right?
Other Titles Worth Noting
Moon 4K, Klute Criterion, The Baker’s Wife Criterion, Attack of the Robots
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