Our Most Wanted on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD This Week

Details: By Frank Wilkins; 28 January 2019

Reign of the Supermen

And another hi-def hello to all our fellow physical media geeks out there. Welcome to the weekly look at our most wanted titles coming to blu-ray and/or 4K Ultra HD.

This week in blu-ray gets a big boost - with regards to quantity, anyway – with no fewer than six major release films making home video debuts with blu-ray and/or 4K Ultra HD editions. And four of those films make our most wanted list this week.

First up is the supernatural psychological horror film titled Suspiria, directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Dakota Johnson, which gets a blu-ray + digital release. Another new film debuting this week is the Disney fantasy film The Nutcracker and the Four Realms which hits us with both a Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD release as well as a 4K Ultra HD edition. {googleads}

Lionsgate's foray into military action with the submarine thriller Hunter Killer gets a blu-ray + DVD + digital copy and a 4K Ultra HD release while the Glenn Close drama The Wife debuts on home video with a blu-ray release from Sony Pictures. If you haven't seen this one, you might want to pick up a copy as Close's performance is absolutely magnificent and garnered the actress a best actress nomination at this year's Oscars.

Rounding out the new releases making our most wanted list this week is the Russell Crowe/Nicole Kidman drama Boy Erased which bows to home video with a Blu-ray + Digital HD edition which comes with a handful of featurettes and bonus material.

The big news this week however, and the bit of news that gets us most excited, comes from the good folks over at Vinegar Syndrome who have been super busy of late. The film restoration and preservation company has three fantastic films making our most wanted list this week.

The first of those is the gag and gore filled horror comedy There's Nothing Out There which gets a brand new 2K restoration from an interpositive. Included on the release, which is housed in a cool slipcover and is limited to 2,000 units, is a handful of new interviews and commentaries in addition to a dozen or so other bonus items. Nutracker and the Four Realms Next up from Vinegar Syndrome is another slipcover limited edition release of the Greydon Clark horror film called Uninvited which features a new 4K restoration from the 35mm original camera negative and the limited edition slipcover release of 1984's Splatter University. Collector's might want to jump on this one early as it is limited to just 1500 copies. The film also features a new 2K restoration from the 16mm original camera negative.

Criterion has a very cool release this week in the form of Norman Jewison's 1967 mystery/drama classic In the Heat of the Night which stars Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, and Lee Grant. Criterion has given the film a brand new 4K restoration with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack. The release also features several new interviews, an audio commentary and a handful of other bonus features.

Shout Factory comes up big this week with its release of the 1995 sci-fi horror film called Screamers which gets a blu-ray release that features four new interviews while Disney is re-releasing the Ron Howard fantasy film, Willow in a new multi-screen edition. Though this release appears to be a straight re-release of the 2013 blu-ray edition, this time around the release comes in a blu-ray + Digital Code that gives the viewer a Movies Anywhere code for digital download and ownership. This is the first time the film has been offered digitally.

Our Most Wanted

And finally, our Most Wanted title on blu-ray / 4K Ultra HD this week. Warner Bros. is releasing a blu-ray + DVD + Digital and a 4K Ultra HD edition of the animated DC superhero movie Reign of the Supermen which continues the storyline from the 2018 animated film The Death of Superman. The release features a Dolby Vision HDR presentation of the film, a Lex Luthor featurette, a DC Universe sneak peak, and a couple of bonus features.

Suspiria (Blu-ray + Digital Copy)

Lionsgate Films

Street Date: January 29, 2019

A darkness swirls at the center of a world-renowned dance company, one that will engulf the artistic director, an ambitious young dancer, and a grieving psychotherapist. Some will succumb to the nightmare. Others will finally wake up.

Blu-ray Details:

"The Making of Suspiria" Featurette
"The Secret Language of Dance" Featurette
"The Transformations of Suspiria" Featurette

Nutcracker and the Four Realms (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital HD)

Disney / Buena Vista

Street Date: January 29, 2019

In "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms," Clara travels along a golden thread, presented at Drosselmeyer's (Morgan Freeman) annual party, eagerly searching for a one-of-a-kind key that will unlock a music box that holds a priceless gift. When she enters a mysterious parallel world, Clara encounters a Nutcracker soldier named Phillip (Jayden Fowora-Knight), a gang of mice and three Realm regents, including the Sugar Plum Fairy (Keira Knightley). Ultimately, she must brave the ominous Fourth Realm, home to the tyrant Mother Ginger (Helen Mirren), to retrieve the key and return harmony to the unstable world.

Blu-ray Details:

On Pointe: A Conversation with Misty Copeland – Copeland shares the thrill of portraying one of her favorite characters in a whole new way.
Unwrapping "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" – Dive into the production design, sets, costumes and more that helped transform a beloved ballet into an adventurous movie.
Deleted Scenes – The Stahlbaums Arrive– As the Stahlbaums enter the Christmas Eve ball, the butler attempts to announce them to the assembled guests; Follow Your Ribbon- Drosselmeyer encourages a reluctant Clara to go find her gift; Clara Asks About Her Mother– Sugar Plum gives Clara a tour of her mother's bedroom; Left, Left, Left, Left, Left– Wandering lost in the forest, palace guards Cavalier and Harlequin quarrel about which way to go; Out with the Old– Sugar Plum makes sweeping changes to the palace decor.
Music Videos – "Fall on Me" Performed by Andrea Bocelli Featuring Matteo Bocelli– Experience superstar tenor Andrea Bocelli and his son Matteo Bocelli performing their first duet together in this uplifting song. "The Nutcracker Suite" Performed by Lang Lang– Get swept up in a series of images from the movie, set to Tchaikovsky's music and featuring world-renowned pianist Lang Lang.

Hunter Killer (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital Copy)

Lionsgate Films

Street Date: January 29, 2019

From the producers of The Fast and the Furious and Olympus Has Fallen, the film is a high-stakes action-thriller, taking audiences deep beneath the Arctic Ocean to sneak through enemy waters and stop WWIII from becoming a reality. Deep under the Arctic Ocean, American submarine Captain Joe Glass (Butler) is on the hunt for a U.S. sub in distress when he uncovers a secret Russian coup threatening to dismantle the world order. With crew and country on the line, Captain Glass must now assemble an elite group of Navy SEALs to rescue the kidnapped Russian president and sneak through enemy waters to stop WWIII.

Special Features:

Dolby Vision HDR Presentation of the film
Dolby Atmos Audio Track
Audio Commentary with Director Donovan Marsh
"Surface Tension: Declassifying Hunter Killer" (Two-Part Featurette)

The Wife (Blu-ray)

Sony Pictures

Street Date: January 29, 2019

After nearly forty years of marriage, Joan and Joe Castleman (Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce) are complements. Where Joe is casual, Joan is elegant. Where Joe is vain, Joan is self-effacing. And where Joe enjoys his very public role as Great American Novelist, Joan pours her considerable intellect, grace, charm, and diplomacy into the private role of Great Man's Wife.

Joe is about to be awarded the Nobel Prize for his acclaimed and prolific body of work. Joe's literary star has blazed since he and Joan first met in the late 1950's. The Wife interweaves the story of the couple's youthful passion and ambition with a portrait of a marriage, thirty-plus years later—a lifetime's shared compromises, secrets, betrayals, and mutual love.S

Special Features:

Q&A session with author Meg Wolitzer and Glenn Close
Keeping Secrets: Glenn Close on The Wife
In Conversation With Cast of The Wife: Q&A featuring Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce, Annie Starke, Christian Slater and Björn Runge

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Boy Erased (Blu-ray + Digital HD)

Universal Studios

Street Date: January 29, 2019

Boy Erased tells the courageous story of Jared Eamons (Lucas Hedges), the son of a Baptist pastor in a small American town, who must overcome the fallout of being outed to his parents (Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe). His parents struggle with reconciling their love for their son with their beliefs. Fearing a loss of family, friends, and community, Jared is pressured into attending a conversion therapy program. While there, Jared comes into conflict with its leader (Joel Edgerton) and begins his journey to finding his own voice and accepting his true self.

Special Features:

Deleted & Extended Scenes
Jared Revealed - Featurette
Becoming the Eamons - Featurette
Man Consumed: Joel Edgerton - Featurette

There's Nothing Out There (Slipcover Limited to 2,000 / Blu-ray + DVD)

Vinegar Syndrome

Street Date: January 29, 2019

Mike is always getting in the way of fun. His obsession with horror movies and their rules dictates that no matter where he goes, he can't help but expect to find a monster lurking around every corner. But this time, his paranoia might be justified…

After being invited to a remote lodge, along with some friends, Mike immediately begins to sense that something isn't right, but none of his friends believe him. Unfortunately, they're dead wrong, and a slimy alien frog monster has indeed landed in the nearby woods and set out to fulfill it's mission of killing all human males and mating with females. Can Mike convince his friends that there IS something out there, before the men have their brains sucked out and the women are carrying green mutant fetuses?

Check out the special features included with this release!

Special Features:

Brand new 2K restoration from an interpositive
"There's A Movie Out There" – new interview with writer/director Rolfe Kanefsky and editor Victor Kanefsky
"40 Years Of Cutting" – new interview with Victor Kanefsky
New interview with actor Craig Peck
Brand new group commentary with director Rolfe Kanefsky, Joe Lynch (filmmaker), Jeff Reddick (filmmaker) and others
Archival '20th anniversary' commentary with Rolfe Kanefsky
Archival group commentary with Rolfe Kanefsky, Victor Kanefsky, Craig Peck, Mark Collver and others
Commentary with The Hysteria Continues!
Archival interview with Rolfe Kanefsky
"Copycat" – a short film about the film's influence
"Murder in Winter" – an early feature film by Rolfe Kanefsky (Blu-ray only)
"Just Listen" – an early short film by Rolfe Kanefsky
"Mood Boobs" – a short film by Rolfe Kanefsky
Behind the scenes of "Mood Boobs"
Theatrical trailer
Music video
Production stills gallery
Behind the scenes rehearsal footage
Pre-production footage and video storyboards
Original cast auditions
Animation test footage and deleted shots
Reversible cover artwork

Uninvited (Slipcover Limited to 2,000 / Blu-ray + DVD)

Vinegar Syndrome

Street Date: January 29, 2019

At a secluded biochemical lab, which runs cruel tests on animals, a seemingly innocent looking cat has just escaped, but beneath its furry exterior, a terrifying monster has been seeded, emerging to brutally maim and kill anyone it finds threatening. Discovered by a group of teenage spring breakers and brought aboard a luxury yacht bound for the Cayman Islands, the cuddly fluff ball quickly begins gnawing away at the ship's guests and crew. But to make matters even worse, it's soon revealed that the cruise's host, a renowned multimillionaire, is in fact on the run from the law and won't return the boat to shore, killer mutant cat be damned!

Special Features:

New 4K restoration from the 35mm original camera negative
Commentary track with director Greydon Clark
Alternate International edit (93min)
"That Darn Mutant Cat!" – an interview with cinematographer Nicholas von Sternberg
Original theatrical trailer
Reversible cover artwork

Splatter University (Slipcover Limited to 1,500 / Blu-ray + DVD)

Vinegar Syndrome

Street Date: January 29, 2019

Lt. Cobretti (Sylvester Stallone) is a one-man assault team whose laser-mount submachine gun and pearl-handled Colt .45 spit pure crime-stopping venom! Director George P. Cosmatos (Rambo: First Blood Part II, Tombstone) teams up again with Stallone for this thriller pitting Cobretti against a merciless serial killer. The trail leads to not one murderer but also an army of psychos bent on slashing their way to a "New Order" – and killing a witness (Brigitte Nielsen) along the way. Fortunately, her protector is Cobra, a man who delivers vigilante justice like no other!

Special features:

NEW 2K RESTORATION FROM THE 16MM ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE

Commentary track with director Richard W. Haines
Commentary with The Hysteria Continues!
Audio interview with composer Christopher Burke
Still gallery
Theme song
Script gallery
Radio spots
Original trailer
TV spot
Reversible cover artwork

In the Heat of the Night (blu-ray)

Criterion

Street Date: January 29, 2019

Synopsis: Passing through the backwoods town of Sparta, Mississippi, Philadelphia detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) becomes embroiled in a murder case. He forms an uneasy alliance with the bigoted police chief (Rod Steiger), who faces mounting pressure from Sparta's hostile citizens to catch the killer and run the African American interloper out of town. Director Norman Jewison splices incisive social commentary into this thrilling police procedural with the help of Haskell Wexler's vivid cinematography, Quincy Jones's eclectic score, and two indelible lead performances—a career-defining display of seething indignation and moral authority from Poitier and an Oscar-winning master class in Method acting from Steiger. Winner of five Academy Awards, including for best picture, In the Heat of the Night is one of the most courageous Hollywood films of the civil rights era.

Brand new 4K restoration of the film with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interview with director Norman Jewison
New interview with actor Lee Grant
New interview with Aram Goudsouzian, author of Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon
Audio commentary from 2008 featuring Jewison, Grant, actor Rod Steiger, and cinematographer Haskell Wexler
Turning Up the Heat: Movie-Making in the '60s, a 2008 program about the production of the film and its legacy, featuring Jewison, Wexler, producer Walter Mirisch, and filmmakers John Singleton and Reginald Hudlin
Quincy Jones: Breaking New Sound, a 2008 program about Jones's innovative soundtrack, including its title song sung by Ray Charles, featuring interviews with Jones, lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and musician Herbie Hancock
Trailer
PLUS: An essay by critic K. Austin Collins

Screamers (Blu-ray)

Shout Factory

Street Date: January 29, 2019

The year is 2078. The man is rebel Alliance Commander Col. Joseph Hendrickson (Peter Weller), assigned to protect the Sirius 6B outpost from ravage and plunder at the hands of the New Economic Bloc. His state-of-the-art weaponry are known as Screamers; manmade killing devices programmed to eliminate all enemy life forms. Screamers travel underground; their intent to kill announced by piercing shrieks. They dissect their victims with precision, then eradicate all traces of the carnage. They are lethal. Effective. Tidy. And somehow, they are mutating … self-replicating into human form … and slaughtering every beating heart on the planet.

Special Features:

New Northern Frights – an interview with director Christian Duguay
New Orchestrating the Future – an interview with producer Tom Berry
New More Screamer Than Human – an interview with co-writer Miguel Tejada-Flores
New From Runaway to Space – an interview with actress Jennifer Rubin Theatrical Trailer

Willow (Blu-ray + Digital HD)

Disney / Buena Vista

Street Date: January 29, 2019

When young Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis; Harry Potter franchise) finds an abandoned baby girl, he learns she is destined to end the reign of the wicked Queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh; "Upstairs, Downstairs"). In order to protect the child, Willow must team up with a rogue swordsman (Val Kilmer; Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) and overcome the forces of darkness in the ultimate battle of good versus evil!

Special Features:

And now for our MOST WANTED ON BLU-RAY AND 4K for the week of January 29, 2019

Reign of the Supermen (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital Copy)

Warner Bros.

Street Date: January 29, 2019

The world must cope with the loss of Superman – and the sudden emergence of four would-be heirs to the title – in the all-new, action-packed Reign of the Supermen, part of the popular series of DC Universe Movies.

Reign of the Supermen finds Earth's citizens – and the Man of Steel's heroic contemporaries – dealing with a world without Superman. But the aftermath of Superman's death, and the subsequent disappearance of his body, leads to a new mystery – is Superman still alive? The question is further complicated when four new super-powered individuals – Steel, Cyborg Superman, Superboy and the Eradicator – emerge to proclaim themselves as the ultimate hero. In the end, only one will be able to proclaim himself the world's true Superman.

Special Features: