As we continue our warp speed trek into the new year, the blu-ray and 4K action begins to heat back up this week of January 15th with a good slate of offerings sure to tickle the fancy of hi-def movie buffs.
Let's get started with a couple of films making their home video debuts this week. The Halloween horror family pic Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween is getting a blu-ray + DVD + Digital release in addition to a 4K Ultra HD version thanks to Sony Pictures while 20th Century Fox is blessing Robert Redford's Old Man and the Gun with a blu-ray + DVD + Digital release. The PG-13 version of Deadpool 2 called Once Upon a Deadpool is getting a blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD release this week as well.
As usual, Shout Factory is leading the way again this week with a handful of releases that get our attention. The Brian DePalma classic Obsession is getting a collector's edition release that features new commentaries and featurettes. The little horror thriller Saturday the 14th starring Richard Benjamin, Paul Prentiss and Jeffrey Tambor also gets a blu-ray release.
Shout Factory is giving its special brand of love to 1966's The Plague of the Zombies as well as to 1987's Howling III: The Marsupials.{googleads}
Sylvester Stallone's thriller Cliffhanger is getting a 25th Anniversary 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital release thanks to Sony Pictures which features a new 4K restoration of the film from the original camera negatives.
Criterion is getting in on the action this week with a brand new restoration of Alfred Hitchcock's 1946 thriller Notorious while Mill Creek is putting out a sweet little Retro packaging version of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Last Action Hero that looks like a VHS case.
The Pink Panther Cartoon Collection: Volume 4 is getting a blu-ray release from Kino Lorber that includes: 22 shorts, audio commentaries, and a featurette.
Our most wanted 4K Ultra HD / blu-ray for the week of January 15th, 2019 comes to us from Universal Studios in the form of the 4K Ultra HD + blu-ray + digital release of David Gordon Green's Halloween that stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, and Andi Matichak. The release contains a plethora of deleted scenes, and featurettes. Add this one to your collection now. Also featured this week is a separate blu-ray + DVD + Digital release of the film as well as a Best Buy Exclusive Steelbook 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital HD.
Notorious (Blu-ray)
Criterion
Street Date: January 15, 2019
Ingrid Bergman stars as Alicia, an alluring woman of ill repute recruited by Devlin (Cary Grant), a suave but mysterious intelligence agent, to spy for the U.S. Only after she has fallen for Devlin does she learn that her mission is to seduce a Nazi industrialist (Claude Rains) hiding out in South America.
Blu-ray Details:
- Brand new 4K resoration of the film, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Audio commentaries from 1990 and 2001 featuring Alfred Hitchcock scholar Marian Keane and film historian Rudy Behlmer
- New interview with Hitchcock biographer Donald Spoto
- New program about the film's visuals with cinematographer John Bailey
- New scene analysis by film scholar David Bordwell
- Once Upon a Time . . . "Notorious," a 2009 documentary about the film featuring actor Isabella Rossellini; filmmakers Peter Bogdanovich, Claude Chabrol, and Stephen Frears; and others
- New program about Hitchcock's storyboarding and previsualization process by filmmaker Daniel Raim
- 1948 newsreel footage of actor Ingrid Bergman and Hitchcock
- 1948 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of Notorious, starring Bergman and Joseph Cotten
- Trailers and teasers
- An essay by critic Angelica Jade Bastién
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital HD)
Sony Pictures
Street Date: January 15, 2019
Be careful what you wish for. With their after school junk business, best friends Sonny and Sam hope to find treasure in other people’s trash. But when cleaning out the old Stine house, they open a locked book that frees a supernatural nightmare – Slappy! Now, with the help of Sonny’s sister Sarah, they’re in a race against time to get the sinister dummy and all the creatures he’s brought to life back into the pages before he unleashes total pandemonium!
Blu-ray Details:
- Gag Reel
- Three Deleted Scenes
- Five Featurettes
- Thrills & Chills – The Making of Goosebumps 2
- Meet The Monsters
- Science With Slappy
- Junk Brothers – Call Now
- Slappy's Audition
- Three Slappy-Oke Sing Alongs
The Old Mand and the Gun (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD)
20th Century Fox
Street Date: January 15, 2019
Based on the mostly true story of Forrest Tucker (Robert Redford), from his daring prison escape at age 70 to a string of heists that confounded authorities and enchanted the public. Wrapped up in the pursuit are detective John Hunt (Casey Affleck), who is captivated by Forrest’s commitment to his craft, and the woman (Sissy Spacek) who loves him despite his criminal ways.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary By Writer/Director David Lowery
- Everything Else We Shot
- Prison Cats
- On Filmmaking
- 31 Wake-Ups
- Joining The Hunt
- Gallery
Cliffhanger (25th Anniversary Edition / 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital HD)
Cony Pictures
Street Date: January 15, 2019
Sylvester Stallone, John Lithgow, Michael Rooker, Janine Turner and Ralph Waite star in this high-altitude avalanche of action: a nonstop adventure peaked with suspense and capped with heart-quaking terror. For Rocky Mountain Rescue, the mission is almost routine: locate five climbers. With the woman he loves (Turner) and his best friend (Rooker), Gabe Walker (Stallone) braves the icy peaks only to discover that the distress call is really a trap set by merciless international terrorist Eric Qualen (Lithgow). Now millions of dollars and their own lives hang in the balance. Against explosive firepower, bitter cold and dizzying heights, Walker must outwit Qualen in a deadly game of hide-and-seek.
Special Features:
- 4K restoration of the film from the original camera negative
- Personal Introduction from Renny Harlin
- Audio Commentary with Director Renny Harlin and Sylvester Stallone
- Audio Commentary by the Technical Crew
- Deleted Scenes
- Stallone on the Edge: The Making of Cliffhanger - Featurette
- Special Effects: Sarah's Fall & The Helicopter Explosion - Featurette
- Storyboard Comparisons
- Trailer Introduction by Renny Harlin
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Once Upon a Deadpool (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD)
20th Century Fox
Street Date: January 15, 2019
From the studio that brought you Anastasia and Ever After comes a fairy tale that doesn’t go by the book. Everyone’s favorite disreputable Super Hero returns with a twist on Deadpool 2 that the whole gang can enjoy.
Special Features:
Saturday the 14th (Blu-ray)
Shout Factory
Street Date: January 15, 2019
It's the second unluckiest day of the year.
Pennsylvania is beginning to look a lot like Transylvania in the horror spoof Saturday The 14th! John (Richard Benjamin, Love At First Bite) and Mary (Paula Prentiss, The Stepford Wives) can't believe their good fortune when they inherit the vast estate of John's recently departed uncle. Sure, it's a fixer-upper. But there's nothing that can't be taken care of with a fresh coat of paint, a little dusting ... and maybe an exorcist! It turns out that they've just moved into the most eerie house in Erie, PA — and one that some loathsome looky-loos are simply dying to take off their hands! Monsters, mayhem, and mirth descend upon the house — and only a mysterious book can save this everyday normal family from Saturday's paranormal activity.
Special Features:
The Plague of the Zombies (Blu-ray)
Shout Factory
Street Date: January 15, 2019
In a remote 19th-century Cornish village, an evil presence lurks within the darkness of the witching hour. A mysterious plague relentlessly consumes lives at an unstoppable rate. Unable to find the cause, Dr. Peter Tompson enlists the help of his mentor, Sir James Forbes. Desperate to find an antidote, they instead find inexplicable horror: empty coffins with the diseased corpses missing! Following a series of strange and frightening clues, they discover a deserted mine where they discover a world of black magic and a doomed legion of flesh-eating slaves ... the walking dead!
Special Features:
- New Audio Commentary with filmmaker Constantine Nasr and author/film historian Steve Haberman
- New Audio Commentary with author/film historian Troy Howarth
- New Restored Audio
- World of Hammer – Mummies, Werewolves & The Living Dead
- Raising the Dead: The Making of The Plague of the Zombies
- Restoration Comparison
- Theatrical Trailers
- Still Gallery
Howling III: Marsupials (Blu-ray)
Shout Factory
Street Date: January 15, 2019
Long ago, the now-extinct marsupial wolf (a.k.a. Tasmanian Tiger) roamed the Australian Outback. Today, a werewolf colony that has descended from these marsupials has taken over the land. This race of human-like creatures roams the outback, preying on the unsuspecting to feed their growing numbers. The race for survival is on as the humans struggle to contain these out of control creatures.
Special features:
- New Digital Transfer Sponsored By The National Film And Sound Archive Of Australia
- New Audio Commentary With Writer/Director Philippe Mora, Moderated By Filmmaker Jamie Blanks
- New A Conversation With Philippe Mora – An Interview With The Writer/Director
- Vintage Interviews From The Documentary Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! By Director Mark Hartley
- Theatrical Trailer
Obsession (Collector's Edition)
Shout Factory
Street Date: January 15, 2019
This riveting mystery/thriller by Brian De Palma (Raising Cain, Carrie) will leave you breathless. A tenth wedding anniversary celebration ends tragically when Michael Courtland (Cliff Robertson, Charly) discovers that his wife (Geneviève Bujold, Dead Ringers) and 9-year-old daughter have been kidnapped. When an attempt to thwart the captors goes awry, Courtland's wife and daughter are never recovered. Several years later, while vacationing in Florence, Courtland falls in love with a young woman who is an exact double of his dead wife. On the eve of their wedding, the woman disappears and Courtland finds a ransom note ... a duplicate of the one found several years earlier.
- New Audio Commentary With Author Douglas Keesey (Brian De Palma’s Split-Screen: A Life In Film)
- New Producing Obsession – An Interview With Producer George Litto
- New Editing Obsession – An Interview With Editor Paul Hirsch
- Obsession Revised – Vintage Featurette Featuring Interviews With Director Brian De Palma, Cliff Robertson, And Geneviève Bujold
- Theatrical Trailer
- Radio Spots
- Still Gallery
Last Action Hero (Retro VHS Packaging)
Mill Creek
Street Date: January 15, 2019
Danny Madigan (Austin O’Brien) knows the first three Jack Slater movies by heart and the fourth one is just about to be released. With the aid of a magical ticket, Danny gets to know the latest movie really well, literally speaking. While watching the opening action sequence during an advance screening, Danny is transported right into the movie! While on the other side of the silver screen, Danny becomes the sidekick of Jack Slater (Arnold Schwarzenegger), the toughest cop on the police force. Complications arise while Jack and Danny are working on the case, when one of the bad guys gets a hold of Danny’s magic ticket and escapes out of the movie into the real world. Now Danny and his hero Jack Slater must chase the arch villain in the real world, a world where evil guys can actually win!
The Pink Panther Cartoon Collection: Volume 4 (Blu-ray)
Kino Lorber
Street Date: January 15, 2019
Having established himself as a bone fide TV star in 1969-70, the Pink Panther returns to the fine art of making theatrical shorts in 1971. Helping the Panther recapture his silver-screen luster are established directors Hawley Pratt (A Fly in the Pink), Gerry Chiniquy (Salmon Pink, Pink Aye), and Art Davis (Pink Tuba-dore). Joining their ranks are veteran Warners helmer Robert McKimson (Pink Da Vinci) and artful behind-the-scenes DePatie-Freleng multi-tasker Art Leonardi (Pink Plasma, Pink Campaign). Still in touch with the Temper of the Times, the Panther amusingly tackles a few then-trending 1970s topics such as environmentalism and animal-rights advocacy.
Special Features:
- 22 shorts in chronological order (63-84) - all with original audio (no laugh tracks)
- Audio commentaries for 12 selected shorts, by author Mark Arnold, historian Jerry Beck, filmmaker Greg Ford and cartoon writer William Hohauser
- Pink Patter with Art Leonardi (14:53)
- Reversible Blu-ray Art
And now for our MOST WANTED ON BLU-RAY AND 4K for the week of January 15, 2019
Halloween (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital HD)
Universal Studios
Street Date: January 15, 2019
Jamie Lee Curtis returns to her iconic role as Laurie Strode, who comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago.
Special Features:
- Deleted Scenes
- Extended Shooting Range
- Shower Mask Visit
- Jog to a Hanging Dog
- Allyson and Friends at School
- Cameron and Cops Don't Mix
- Deluxe Banh Mi Cops
- Sartain and Hawkins Ride Along
- Back in Haddonfield: Making Halloween
- The Original Scream Queen
- The Sound of Fear
- Journey of the Mask
- The Legacy of Halloween