February 13th Blu-ray & DVD Releases Include HELLRAISER: JUDGMENT, DRAG ME TO HELL Collector’s Edition, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) Criterion Collection

2018/02/13 00:23:11 +00:00 | Heather Wixson

If you’ve been procrastinating on getting that special someone a gift for Valentine’s Day, perhaps you might be able to find a few ideas amongst this week’s Blu-ray and DVD releases. The big titles for February 13th include a pair of titles from Criterion—Night of the Living Dead in 4K and The Silence of the Lambs—and Scream Factory has put together a stellar Collector’s Edition set for Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell.

For those of you with an affection for cult cinema, there are brand new Blu-ray releases of several notable films, including Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, The Blood Spattered Bride, Night of the Seagulls, and a double feature of Chaos and Don’t Look in the Basement from the fine folks at Kino Lorber.

Recent titles arriving to various home entertainment formats this week include Blade of the Immortal and Hellraiser: Judgment, and for those who might have missed out on the earlier edition, Arrow Video is doing a new release of The Bird With The Crystal Plumage.

Other releases for February 13th include Inside (2018), Threads: Limited Edition, Teenage Cocktail, Atroz, Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend, Pretty Fine Things, and Dismissed.

Blade of the Immortal (Magnet Releasing, Blu-ray & DVD)

Manji, a highly skilled samurai, becomes cursed with immortality after a legendary battle. Haunted by the brutal murder of his sister, Manji knows that only fighting evil will regain his soul. He promises to protect a young girl named Rin and help her avenge her parents, who were killed by a group of master swordsmen led by ruthless warrior Anotsu. The mission will change Manji in ways he could never imagine... the 100th film by master director TAKASHI MIIKE.

The Blood Spattered Bride (Mondo Macabre, Blu-ray)

Susan, a young bride, travels with her husband to his family' ancient manor house in the far north of Spain. Susan is a virgin and is very hesitant about her husband's sexual demands. She is also disturbed by her unfamiliar surroundings and wonders if she will ever come to terms with her new married life. She is shocked to discover that all the old portraits of female members of her husband’s family have been locked away in the basement. When she finds them, she discovers that one of the portraits shows a woman holding a strange dagger. The woman’s face has been cut out of the painting. Her name is Mircala Karstein.

This atmospheric, gothic horror story is widely regarded as one of the very best vampire films ever made. Controversial in its day for sexual content and for extreme scenes of violence and gore, it was widely cut on original release. This brand-new version restores the film to its intended length and includes alternate scenes that have never been made available before. This is the first Blu- release of an acknowledged classic, one of Quentin Tarantino’s favourite films and an influence on his own Kill Bill.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Brand new 4k transfer from film negative
- English/ audio choice
- Newly created English subtitles
- Audio commentary by Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger
- Interview with cinematographer Fernando Arribas
- Two part interview with actor Simón Andreu
- Interview with Euro Gothic author Jonathan Rigby
- Original trailers and radio spots
- Deleted and alternate scenes
- Mondo Macabro previews

Drag Me To Hell: Collector’s Edition (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)

Christine Brown (Alison Lohman, Officer Downe) is on her way to having it all: a devoted boyfriend (Justin Long, Jeepers Creepers), a hard-earned job promotion, and a bright future. But when she has to make a tough decision that evicts an elderly woman from her house, Christine becomes the victim of an evil curse. Now she has only three days to dissuade a dark spirit from stealing her soul before she is dragged to hell for an eternity of unthinkable torment. Director Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead Trilogy, Darkman) returns to the horror genre with a vengeance in the film that critics rave is “the most crazy, fun and terrifying horror movie in years”, (Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly)!

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Disc One:

- NEW HD Master Of The Theatrical Cut Taken From The 2K Digital Intermediate
- Production Diaries - With Behind-the-scenes Footage And Interviews With Co-writer/director Sam Raimi, Actors Allison Lohman, Justin Long, David Paymer, Dileep Rao, Lorna Raver, Special Effects Guru Greg Nicotero, Director Of Photography Peter Deming, And More (35 Minutes)
- Vintage Interviews With Director Sam Raimi And Actors Alison Lohman And Justin Long (33 Minutes)
- TV Spots
- Theatrical Trailer

Disc Two:
- NEW HD Master Of The Unrated Cut Taken From The 2K Digital Intermediate
- NEW To Hell And Back – An Interview With Actress Alison Lohman (12 Minutes)
- NEW Curses! – An Interview With Actress Lorna Raver (16 Minutes)
- NEW Hitting All The Right Notes – An Interview With Composer Christopher Young (17 Minutes)
- Still Gallery

Hellraiser: Judgment (Lionsgate, Blu/Digital & DVD)

Three detectives attempt to solve a diabolical murder that sweeps them into the depths of hell in this next edition of the classic HELLRAISER series.

Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (Warner Archives Collection, Blu-ray)

Two college students driving coast to coast are lured off the main highway and onto a deserted Texas road. Here they are stalked by the menacing Leatherface and his demented family...a bizarre cannibalistic clan with blood on their hands and a feast on their minds. The students’ only chance for escape is a survivalist with enough firepower to blast Leatherface and the rest of the grisly predators to hell. A depraved shocker of intense terror from the gruesome beginning to the bloody finish.

Night of the Living Dead: Special Edition (Criterion Collection, Blu-ray & DVD)

Shot outside Pittsburgh on a shoestring budget, by a band of filmmakers determined to make their mark, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, directed by horror master George A. Romero, is a great story of independent cinema: a midnight hit turned box-office smash that became one of the most influential films of all time. A deceptively simple tale of a group of strangers trapped in a farmhouse who find themselves fending off a horde of recently dead, flesh-eating ghouls, Romero's claustrophobic vision of a late-1960s America literally tearing itself apart rewrote the rules of the horror genre, combined gruesome gore with acute social commentary, and quietly broke ground by casting a black actor (Duane Jones) in its lead role. Stark, haunting, and more relevant than ever, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is back.

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:

- New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director George A. Romero, co-screenwriter John A. Russo, sound engineer Gary R. Streiner, and producer Russell W. Streiner
- New restoration of the monaural soundtrack, supervised by Romero and Gary Streiner and presented uncompressed
- NIGHT OF ANUBIS, a never-before-presented work-print edit of the film
- New program featuring filmmakers Frank Darabont, Guillermo del Toro, and Robert Rodriguez
- Never-before-seen 16 mm dailies reel
- New program featuring Russo on the commercial and industrial-film production company where key NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD filmmakers got their start
- Two audio commentaries from 1994 featuring Romero, Russo, producer Karl Hardman, actor Judith O'Dea, and others
- Archival interviews with Romero and actors Duane Jones and Judith Ridley
- New programs about the film's style and score
- New interview program about the direction of ghouls, featuring members of the cast and crew
- New interviews with Gary Streiner and Russell Streiner
- Newsreels from 1967
- Trailer, radio spots, and TV spots
- PLUS: An essay by critic Stuart Klawans

The Silence of the Lambs: Special Edition (Criterion Collection, Blu-ray)

In this chilling adaptation of the best-selling novel by Thomas Harris, the astonishingly versatile director Jonathan Demme crafted a taut psychological thriller about an American obsession: serial murder. As Clarice Starling, an FBI trainee who enlists the help of the infamous Hannibal 'the Cannibal' Lecter to gain insight into the mind of another killer, Jodie Foster subverts classic gender dynamics and gives one of the most memorable performances of her career. As her foil, Anthony Hopkins is the archetypal antihero cultured, quick-witted, and savagely murderous delivering a harrowing portrait of humanity gone terribly wrong. A gripping police procedural and a disquieting immersion into a twisted psyche, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS swept the Academy Awards (best picture, director, screenplay, actress, actor) and remains a cultural touchstone.

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
- New 4K digital restoration, approved by director of photography Tak Fujimoto, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- Alternate 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- Audio commentary from 1994 featuring director Jonathan Demme, actors Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins, screenwriter Ted Tally, and former FBI agent John Douglas
- New interview with critic Maitland McDonagh
- Thirty-eight minutes of deleted scenes
- Four documentaries featuring hours of interviews with cast and crew
- Behind-the-scenes featurette
- Storyboards
- Trailer
- PLUS: A book featuring an introduction by Foster, an essay by critic Amy Taubin, pieces from 2000 and 2013 by author Thomas Harris on the origins of the character Hannibal Lecter, and a 1991 interview with Demme

Threads: Limited Edition (Severin Films, Blu-ray & DVD)

In September 1984, THREADS was aired on the BBC and shocked tens of millions of UK viewers. Four months later, it was broadcast in America and became the most watched basic cable program in history. After more than three decades, it remains one of the most acclaimed and shattering made–for–television movies of all time. Reece Dinsdale (Coronation Street), David Brierly (Doctor Who) and Karen Meagher, in a stunning debut performance star in this "graphic and haunting" (People Magazine) docudrama about the effects of a nuclear attack on the working –class city of Sheffield, England as the fabric of society unravels. Directed by Mick Jackson (THE BODYGUARD, TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE) from a screenplay by novelist/playwright Barry Hines (Ken Loach s KES) and nominated for seven BAFTA Awards, "The most terrifying and honest portrayal of nuclear war ever filmed" (The Guardian) has now been fully restored from a 2K scan for the first time ever.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

- Audio Commentary with Director Mick Jackson, Moderated by Film Writer Kier–La Janisse and Severin Films’ David Gregory
- Audition For the Apocalypse: Interview with Actress, Karen Meagher
- Shooting the Annihilation: Interview with Director of Photography, Andrew Dunn
- Destruction Designer: Interview with Production Designer, Christopher Robilliard
- Interview with Film Writer, Stephen Thrower
- US Trailer

ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK:

Atomic Punks (Worldwide MultiMedia, DVD)

Atroz (Unearthed Films, Blu-ray & DVD)

Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (Kino Classics, Blu-ray)

The Bird With The Crystal Plumage: Special Edition (Arrow Video, Blu-ray)

Chaos/Don’t Look in the Basement Double Feature (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray)

Cries of Ecstasy, Blows of Death (Pop Cinema/Something Weird, Blu/DVD Combo)

The Curse of the Mummy Cat (Cullen Studios, DVD)

Dismissed (Passion River, DVD)

Don’t F*** in the Woods (Gravitas Ventures, Blu-ray & DVD)

Francesca (Unearthed Films, Blu-ray & DVD)

The Incredible Hulk (2008) (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Blu/Digital)