Hello, everyone! Tomorrow brings us a new round of horror and sci-fi home media releases, and we’ve got a look at what you can expect from this week’s titles. If you’re a Halloween fan, then Tuesday is a big day for you because Halloween Kills will be arriving via multiple formats, and its release also includes an extended cut of the film as well. For all you science fiction enthusiasts out there, you’ll definitely want to pick up Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Dune to enjoy at home and Kino Lorber is showing some love to Dario Argento’s The Card Player this week as well.

Other Blu-ray and DVD releases for January 11th include Lantern’s Lane, Fisher, Premutos: The Fallen Angel, and Basket Case: Standard Special Edition.

Basket Case: Standard Special Edition (Arrow Video, Blu-ray)

The feature debut of director Frank Henenlotter (Brain Damage, Frankenhooker), 1982’s Basket Case is a riotous and blood-spattered “midnight movie” experience, now immortalized in a lavish 4K restoration by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

Duane Bradley seems like a pretty ordinary guy. His formerly conjoined twin Belial, on the other hand, is a deformed creature who lives in a wicker basket. Arriving in the Big Apple and taking up a room at a seedy hotel, the pair set about hunting down and butchering the surgeons responsible for their separation.

Filmed on a shoestring budget against the backdrop of 1980s New York (where it played on the midnight movie circuit for over two-and-a-half years), Basket Case has clawed its way from its humble origins to become one of the most celebrated cult movies of all time.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:

  • 4K restoration from the original 16mm negative by MoMA
  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
  • Original uncompressed PCM mono audio restored from the original 35mm magnetic tracks
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • Audio commentary with writer/director Frank Henenlotter and star Kevin VanHentenryck
  • Archival audio commentary with Frank Henenlotter, producer Edgar Ievins, actress Beverly Bonner and filmmaker Scooter McRae
  • Basket Case 3-1/2: An Interview with Duane Bradley – short film by Frank Henenlotter
  • Me and the Bradley Boys – an interview with actor Kevin VanHentenryck
  • A Brief Interview with Director Frank Henenlotter – a strange 2017 interview with the director
  • Seeing Double: The Basket Case Twins – an interview with actresses Florence and Maryellen Schultz
  • Blood, Basket and Beyond – an interview with actress Beverly Bonner
  • The Latvian Connection – featurette including interviews with producer Edgar Ievins, casting person/actress Ilze Balodis, associate producer/special effects artist Ugis Nigals and Belial performer Kika Nigals
  • Belial Goes to the Drive-In – an interview with film critic Joe Bob Briggs
  • Basket Case at MoMA – footage from the 2017 restoration premiere
  • What’s in the Basket? – feature-length documentary covering the three films in the Basket Case series
  • In Search of the Hotel Broslin – archival location featurette
  • The Frisson of Fission: Basket Case, Conjoined Twins, and ‘Freaks’ in Cinema – a video essay by Travis Crawford
  • Slash of the Knife (1976, 30 mins) – rarely seen short made by Frank Henenlotter featuring many of the same actors from Basket Case, including optional audio commentary with Frank Henenlotter and playwright Mike Bencivenga
  • Basket Case and Slash of the Knife outtakes
  • Belial’s Dream (2017, 5 mins) – animated short by filmmaker Robert Morgan
  • Extensive Image Galleries
  • Trailers, TV & Radio Spots
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sara Deck

The Card Player: Special Edition (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray)

Dario Argento (Suspiria) returns to classic form with this vicious thriller about a serial killer who taunts police with online video poker. But for every round the cops lose, a kidnapped girl is mutilated live via webcam. Now an Italian detective and an Irish forensics expert (Liam Cunningham, TV’s Game of Thrones) must race against time to trap the killer. The stakes are murder and the hunt is on for the psychopath known only as THE CARD PLAYER.

Special Features:

-Audio Commentary by Film Historians Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson

-Interview with Director/Screenwriter Dario Argento

-Interview with Screenwriter Franco Ferrini

-Interview with Set Designer Antonello Geleng

-Interview with Actress Fiore Argento

-Limited Edition O-Card Slipcase

-Trailers

-In English and Italian with English Subtitles

Dune (2021) (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, 4K Ultra HD/Blu/Digital, Blu/Digital & DVD)

A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, “Dune” tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

Bonus Content:

The Royal Houses

Filmbooks: House Atreides

Filmbooks: House Harkonnen

Filmbooks: House Harkonnen

Filmbooks: The Fremen

Filmbooks: The Spice Melange

Inside Dune: The Training Room

Inside Dune: The Spice Harvester

Inside Dune: The Sardaukar Battle

Building the Ancient Future

My Desert, My Dune

Constructing the Ornithopters

Designing the Sandworm

Beware the Baron

Wardrobe from Another World

A New Soundscape

Halloween Kills: Extended Cut (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, 4K Ultra HD/Blu/Digital, Blu/Digital & DVD)

The Halloween night when Michael Myers returned isn't over yet. Michael manages to free himself from Laurie Strode's (Jamie Lee Curtis) trap to resume his ritual bloodbath. As Laurie fights for her life from injuries from her last encounter with Michael, she inspires her daughter Karen (Judy Greer), granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak), and all of Haddonfield to rise up against their unstoppable monster. The vigilante mob then sets out to hunt Michael down, once and for all. Evil dies tonight.

Bonus Content:

  • Includes 4K UHD, Blu-ray and a digital copy of Halloween Kills (Subject to expiration. Go to NBCUCodes.com for details.)
  • Features Dolby Vision and HDR10 for Brighter, Deeper, More Lifelike Color
  • Includes 2 Versions of the Movie: Theatrical and Extended with Alternate Ending
  • Gag Reel
  • Deleted and Extended Scenes
  • Haddonfield's Open Wounds
  • The Kill Team
  • Strode Family Values
  • 1978 Transformations
  • The Power of Fear
  • Kill Count
  • Feature Commentary with director/co-writer David Gordon Green and stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Judy Greer

ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK:

  • Fisher (Maelstrom Films, Blu-ray & DVD)
  • Lantern’s Lane (Vertical Entertainment, DVD)
  • Premutos: The Fallen Angel 2-Disc Extended Director’s Cut (Unearthed Films, Blu-ray)
  • Heather Wixson
    About the Author - Heather Wixson

    Heather A. Wixson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, until she followed her dreams and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A 14-year veteran in the world of horror entertainment journalism, Wixson fell in love with genre films at a very early age, and has spent more than a decade as a writer and supporter of preserving the history of horror and science fiction cinema. Throughout her career, Wixson has contributed to several notable websites, including Fangoria, Dread Central, Terror Tube, and FEARnet, and she currently serves as the Managing Editor for Daily Dead, which has been her home since 2013. She's also written for both Fangoria Magazine & ReMind Magazine, and her latest book project, Monsters, Makeup & Effects: Volume One will be released on October 20, 2021.