Hello, everyone! We’re back with another rundown of this week’s horror and sci-fi home media releases. If you haven’t had a chance to check out Don Mancini’s Chucky TV series, you can finally catch up with it as of this Tuesday (or just indulge in all of it whenever you want, too—we don’t judge here). Arrow Video is giving Kenneth Branagh’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein the 4K treatment, and Kino Lorber is keeping busy with an assortment of releases on the 12th as well, including New Year’s Evil, Tentacles, and a Dr. Phibes Double Feature. IFC Films is also set to release their psychological thriller The Novice on Tuesday, too (and it’s great).
Chucky: Season One (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, Blu-ray & DVD)
The notorious Chucky slashes his way to television in a killer new series written and executive produced by creator Don Mancini, who penned the iconic film franchise. After teenage loner Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur) discovers a vintage 'Good Guy' doll at a suburban yard sale, a quiet American town soon erupts into mayhem as a blood-chilling murder spree begins to spill everyone's deepest and darkest secrets. While Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif) unleashes havoc, familiar faces from his past return and threaten to reveal his shadowy origins as a seemingly ordinary child who somehow became the legendary murderous doll.
Bonus Content:
Dr. Phibes Double Feature (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray)
THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES (1971) Meet Doctor Phibes: a one-time concert musician who’s now an all-time crazed murderer. In this clever, crypt-kicking classic, horrormeister Vincent Price (The Raven, The Last Man on Earth) plays a diabolical doc seeking the ultimate in revenge with precision creepiness and surgical wit. Watch Dr. Phibes live up to his promise: “Nine killed her, nine shall die, nine eternies in doom!” After a team of surgeons botch his beloved wife’s surgery, leaving her for dead, the emotionally distraught Dr. Phibes creatively concocts a fatal prescription for revenge. Using the Good Book as his guide, Phibes unleashes a score of old testament atrocities—from a plague of locusts to an attack of rats—on his enemies that climax in what may be one of the eeriest endings on screen record! Robert Fuest (And Soon the Darkness) directed this darkly comic shocker that features Joseph Cotten (Baron Blood), Hugh Griffith (So Evil My Love), Terry-Thomas (The Green Man) and Virginia North (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service) as the doc’s evil assistant Vulnavia.
PHIBES RISES AGAIN (1972) Flesh Crawls! Blood Curdles! Phibes Lives! This sequel to The Abominable Dr. Phibes again features Vincent Price (Scream and Scream Again, House of the Long Shadows) as one of his most perfect horror villains in his long list of evil-doers. The eminent Dr. Phibes awakens from a decade of suspended animation and heads to Egypt with his mute aide-de-camp Vulnavia and the corpse of his dead wife. To resurrect his spouse, Phibes gets up to his usual, diabolical tricks: cleverly murdering people in strange and heinous ways to invoke a magical incantation. But once he is in the tomb of the dead Pharaohs, the good doctor discovers that his pursuit of an afterlife may be foiled by his nemesis who wants to end the reign of this sadistic surgeon of gore. Robert Fuest (The Devil’s Rain) directed this spine-tingling romp that features Robert Quarry (Madhouse), Peter Jeffrey (Ring of Bright Water), Fiona Lewis (Tintorera) and Hugh Griffith (Cry of the Banshee), with guest stars Peter Cushing (The Skull), Beryl Reid (The Killing of Sister George) and Terry-Thomas (Danger: Diabolik).
Blu-ray Extras Include:
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: 4K Special Edition (Arrow Video, 4K Ultra HD)
Kenneth Branagh leads an all-star cast including Robert De Niro, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Hulce, Ian Holm, John Cleese and Aidan Quinn in his definitive cinematic version of Mary Shelley’s classic tale of gothic terror.
At the turn of the 19th century, visionary scientist Victor Frankenstein (Kenneth Branagh) embarks on an obsessive quest to conquer the mysteries of human mortality. But his hubristic bid to create life out of death goes hideously wrong, and succeeds only in begetting a deformed monster (Robert De Niro). Horrified by what he has wrought, the scientist attempts to destroy his creation, but fails. Rejected by his creator and shunned by the world of man, the tormented creature swears vengeance against Frankenstein and his family. As the monster begins to enact his murderous revenge, Victor must face a terrible reckoning with the tragic consequences of attempting to play God.
Mary Shelley's seminal novel is one of the most adapted books of all time, and this retelling faithfully goes back to the original source, lushly transforming the story's twin themes of love and death into a darkly operatic gothic romance. Unlike many versions of Shelley's novel, Branagh's adaptation understands that Frankenstein's misbegotten creation is as pitiable as he is monstrous, and never loses sight of the human tragedy lying at the core of its horrific tale. Filled with sweeping, atmospheric visuals and powerfully emotional performances from an award-winning ensemble of acting talent, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein stands as a landmark interpretation of this enduring masterpiece.
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
New Year’s Evil: Special Edition (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray)
On a totally punked-out New Year’s Eve, vivacious TV hostess Diane “Blaze” Sullivan counts down the hours to midnight. But as her show progresses, every hour, on the hour, a savage maniac slashes up a new female victim. As the trail of mutilated bodies spreads throughout the city, it becomes apparent that the psychopath’s ultimate target is Blaze herself. Desperate to stop the bloody rampage, the police frantically seal off the ongoing televised festivities. But the killer is quicker than they suspected—and he’s also the last one anyone suspects. So join the holiday season’s deadliest celebration with a New Year’s resolution to stay alive! Starring Roz Kelly (TV’s Happy Days), Kip Niven (Magnum Force), Grant Cramer (Hardbodies), Louisa Moritz (Death Race 2000), Taaffe O’Connell (Galaxy of Terror) and Teri Copley (TV’s We Got It Made), New Year’s Evil is a killer party you’ll never forget from director Emmett Alston (9 Deaths of the Ninja, Demonwarp) and producers Golan-Globus (Enter the Ninja, Runaway Train).
Special Features:
The Novice (IFC Films, DVD)
An obsessive college freshman joins her university's rowing team and undertakes an extreme physical and psychological journey to make it to the top varsity boat, no matter the cost.
Tentacles (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray)
It’s angry. It’s hungry. It’s extremely well-armed—and it’s descending on a small seaside town to sample the local cuisine! When a giant, bloodthirsty octopus emerges from the deep, John Huston (Winter Kills), Shelley Winters (Bloody Mama), Bo Hopkins (White Lightning) and Henry Fonda (Meteor) do all they can to keep the marine menace from turning their sleepy village into a one-stop snack-shop. Cult movie maven Ovidio G. Assonitis, the twisted mind behind Beyond the Door, The Visitor, Madhouse and The Curse, serves up a slimy scare-fest with a pounding score by Italian genre great Stelvio Cipriani (A Bay of Blood, What Have They Done to Your Daughters?). It’s a fast-paced thriller that’ll grip you with relentless terror—and never let go!
Special Features:
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.
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