THE FOLLOWING IS WRITTEN BY MY FRIEND AND COLLEAGUE ALONSO DURALDE. YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT HIM HERE.
WHAT’S NEW ON 4K/BLU/DVD IN APRIL: DUST BUNNY, FACES OF DEATH, UFORIA AND MORE!
NEW RELEASE WALL
Dust Bunny (Lionsgate): Visionary TV mogul (and, full disclosure, personal friend) Bryan Fuller makes his big-screen directorial debut with all of the clever scares and gloriously overstated art direction that fans have come to love in cult favorites like Pushing Daisies and Hannibal. The latter’s star Mads Mikkelsen plays a hit man who gets an unusual assignment from his young neighbor (talented newcomer Sophie Sloan): kill the monster under her bed, the one who’s already eaten her parents. Mikkelsen finds himself facing off with not only the thing in the floorboards but also his irritated boss (a deliciously droll Sigourney Weaver). One of the best first films in recent memory.
Also available:
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony): If awards entities took horror films seriously, Ralph Fiennes’ bravura turn in this apocalyptic sequel would be part of the for-your-consideration conversation.
Die My Love (Mubi): Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson play a violently unhappy couple in Lynne Ramsay’s bleak domestic drama.
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (Universal): A handful of strangers find themselves following Sam Rockwell – is he a time traveler, or merely a raving lunatic? – in a quest to save the future in this entertaining comedy-adventure.
Highest 2 Lowest (A24): Spike Lee and Denzel Washington take a stab at remaking Kurosawa’s High and Low, and it’s A$AP Rocky who steals the show.
Islands (Greenwich): Boozy former tennis pro Sam Riley works at a Canary Islands resort and gets involved in guest Stacy Martin’s marital woes.
Jimpa (Kino Lorber): Non-binary teen Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde) upsets mom Hannah (Olivia Colman) by choosing to live with Hannah’s dad (John Lithgow) for a year in Sophie Hyde’s drama.
Mercy (Amazon MGM): Another generic Chris Pratt action movie, only this one has the added sting of being pro-AI propaganda.
Primate (Paramount): A house full of young adults versus one rabid monkey in a chillingly effective horror tale.
Resurrection (Criterion Premiere): The latest from Bi Gan (Long Day’s Journey into Night), a sci-fi saga in which the cinema is used to revive the lost art of dreaming among the mankind of the future, earned a prize at Cannes 2025.
Send Help (20th Century): Mousy assistant Rachel McAdams becomes her boss Dylan O’Brien’s alpha when the two crash on a deserted island in Sam Raimi’s wonderfully tense horror-comedy.
NEW INDIE
Castration Movie I (Muscle): The first chapter of trans filmmaker Louise Weard’s ongoing drama cycle took the festival world by storm, and now home viewers can watch this outrageous and ambitious opening salvo in what’s currently being described as a trilogy.
Micro Budget (Factory 25): A would-be filmmaker from Iowa moves to L.A. and learns the hard truths about indie filmmaking in this mockumentary, featuring comedy legends Jon Gabrus, Bobby Moynihan, Maria Bamford, Kate Flannery, and Chris Parnell.
Silver Star (Indican): A 20-year-old would-be bank robber and her hostage, a pregnant 18-year-old, bond during a disastrous and potentially deadly road trip.
NEW INTERNATIONAL
Dracula (1-2 Special): Radu Jude, the bad boy of the Romanian New Wave, takes on everything from the rise of AI to his home country’s manipulation of history and legend, particularly as it has to do with a legendary impaler. The movie follows a hapless troupe of performers who regularly perform a sexy “Dracula” show for bored tourists, interspersed with an inept filmmaker who creates hideous images and ridiculous plot twists after assigning them to Chat GPT. Another brilliantly dark comedy and scathing social satire from one of this generation’s most caustic filmmakers.
Also available:
My Neighbor Adolf (Cohen): A Holocaust survivor living in 1960s South America is convinced that his new neighbor is the Führer (Udo Kier) in this comedy-drama.
The Ties That Bind Us (Icarus): This winner of the César award contemplates the nature of family as three disparate characters come together to form a unit.
NEW DOCUMENTARY
Mr. Nobody Against Putin (Kino Lorber): Newly-minted Oscar winner examines life in Russia for a
closeted teacher, who captured on video the slow but steady encroachment of propaganda and indoctrination into his local school in the months leading up to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Stirring and heartbreaking, this film makes a perfect companion piece to My Undesirable Friends, Part I: Last Air in Moscow, currently streaming on Mubi.
NEW GRINDHOUSE
Faces of Death (Vinegar Syndrome Archive): The title was recently repurposed for a narrative horror films, but here’s the original documentary – or is it? – available for the first time in 4K. Controversial due to the crackdown of “video nasties” at the dawn of VHS culture in the United Kingdom, this legendarily sleazy 1978 film purports to show actual deaths recorded on film, although what you get is shots of corpses, as well as some genuine demises happening far from the camera. A big hit at slumber parties of yore, this infamous “mondo” movie remains present in the public imagination, and this new release offers a commentary track with the director, featurettes on its production and ongoing legacy, and a 40-page book with new essays.
Also available:
Adventure Calls!: Karl May at CCC (Eureka): New Blu-ray box set of the popular German author’s 1960s Westerns, all starring Lex Barker.
Bohachi Bushido: Code of the Forgotten Eight(Mondo Macabro): 4K debut of the pulpy, sexy samurai saga.
Colony Mutation (Visual Vengeance): A wife injects her unfaithful husband with a serum that makes his body parts separate from his torso, with each becoming a hideous, independent creature hunting for women to quench their hunger. Shot in Super 8!
Death Ship (KL Studio Classics): Ghost Nazis sink a cruise liner in this 1980 horror fave, now in 4K.
Escape from Death (Vinegar Syndrome): New 4K of Enzo Milioni’s giallo, produced under the “Lucio Fulci Presents” banner.
Eurocrime Rarities, Vol. 1 (Vinegar Syndrome Labs): A trio of Italian imports, including The Day of the Cobra (starring Franco Nero and Sybil Danning), The Rascal’s Gang, and The Iron Commissioner.
The Eye (Arrow): North American 4K premiere of the Pang Brothers Hong Kong chiller, later remade in the US starring Jessica Alba.
The Forbidden City (Well Go USA): Mei arrives in Rome looking for her missing sister and finds herself battling the Italian underworld in this award-winner from Gabriele Mainetti.
The House of Seven Corpses (Kino Cult): Faith Domergue stars as an actress who makes the mistake of reading the Tibetan Book of the Dead on a horror-movie set; co-stars John Ireland and John Carradine, first time in 4K.
Ilsa, The Wicked Warden (Kino Cult): The latest 4K release of the naughty adventures of Dyanne Thorne’s evil whip-wielder, this time written and directed by Jesús Franco.
Jess Franco: From Bangkok with Bullets (Severin): And speaking of Mr. Franco, here’s a new box set focused on a pair of his low-budget movies (featuring extensive use of Thailand-shot exteriors): Trip to Bangkok, Coffin Included (making its global Blu-ray debut) and Bangkok, Date with Death.
Mutant (Vinegar Syndrome): A trio of cult legends – Wings Hauser, Lee H. Montgomery, and Bo Hopkins – star in this Film Ventures International cheapie about a quiet small town hiding a creepy secret.
Nightlife (KL Studio Classics): Anne Beatts (SNL, Square Pegs) co-wrote this tongue-in-cheek tale of a newly revived vampire (Ben Cross), the woman (Maryam d’Abo) he’s pursuing, and the doctor (Keith Szarabajka) she loves.
The Paranormal (Visual Vengeance): A zombie movie spills out into reality and only a paranormal investigator can stop it in this shot-on-video combination of The Last Action Hero and Night of the Living Dead.
Saurians (Visual Vengeance): Construction blasting brings forth a pair of dinosaurs in this charmingly wobbly, low-budget Super 8 production.
The Slime People/The Crawling Hand (VCI): Host your own drive-in double feature with a new 4K of these vintage creature features: Leonard Maltin himself calls Crawling Hand “Good for a few laughs, anyway,” while noting that “BOMB” The Slime People“talks itself to death.”
Smother (IndiePix): It’s a cabin in the woods, haunted by generational trauma – maybe if you can go home again, you shouldn’t, in this German import.
So Young, So Lovely, So Vicious (Raro): This 1975 Italian exploitation drama sounds like Bonjour Tristesse, only hornier and with more lesbianism.
Soldier (Arrow): Kurt Russell stars as a troop of the future, abandoned on a waste planet and taken in by its inhabitants, in Paul W.S. Anderson’s action tale, written by David Webb Peoples and co-starring Jason Lee, Jason Isaacs, and Connie Nielsen.
Souls Chapel (MTS): A drifter in the backwoods of Kentucky chooses the wrong church to provide sanctuary in this horror Western.
Stone Cold (KL Studio Classics): Brian Bosworth (and his mullet) go undercover in a biker gang in his big attempt at becoming an action hero, now in 4K.
Suzzanna: Empress of Darkness (Severin): Box set features the North American premiere of four films featuring “Indonesia’s Ultimate Queen of Horror” plus an award-winning documentary about the franchise.
Ténèbres Françaises (Vinegar Syndrome Labs): A quartet of dark Gallic genre movies, including Les Cousines, Who? (starring Romy Schneider), The Secret(starring Jean-Louis Trintignant and Philippe Noiret), and Golden Night (starring Klaus Kinski).
The Ugly (Unearthed Classics): A psychiatrist evaluates a serial killer in this Kiwi shocker.
Vampire Time Travelers (Visual Vengeance): This shot-on-video campus horror tale fully leans into genre spoofery.
Voices from Beyond (Severin): Three-disc collection spotlighting the 4K release of Lucio Fulci’s penultimate feature.
Wandering Ginza Butterfly Collection (Arrow): A pair of 1970s Japanese action classics featuring a kick-ass female lead.
Watch Me Sleep (Wild Eye): A man installs a camera in mother’s coffin and discovers that something diabolical is trying to get out.
NEW CLASSIC
UFOria (KL Studio Classics): When we talk about “lost films,” we generally think about disintegrated silent movies or a movie like The Magnificent Ambersons that the studios wrested away from their creators. But more recent movies can also fall by the wayside – the 1980s comedy UFOria got rave reviews (and a scant theatrical run from Universal, who didn’t know what to do with it), and apart from one VHS release (on one of those MCA tapes that warned that not all of the original music was included), this cult charmer has been MIA for four decades. Finally, there’s this new 4K/Blu-ray of this distinctively quirky American comedy, starring Fred Ward as a grifter and a drifter torn between the fake revival meetings of charlatan Harry Dean Stanton and girlfriend Cindy Williams’ sincere belief that aliens are coming soon to take her away. I saw this movie in its original run and never forgot about it; this new physical-media version (and it’s still not streaming) is cause for celebration.
Also available:
Boarding Gate (Magnet): Asia Argento and Michael Madsen star in Olivier Assayas’ tale of seduction and assassination.
Gilda (The Criterion Collection): Rita Hayworth’s hair-toss ranks among the screen’s sexiest moments, but there’s no shortage of unspoken passion between Glenn Ford and George Macready, the other two sides of this noir classic’s central love triangle.
Hold That Ghost (KL Studio Classics): Haunted-house shenanigans from Abbott and Costello, now in 4K.
House Calls (KL Studio Classics): Before the sitcom came this charming love story between Glenda Jackson and cranky doctor Walter Matthau.
House of Cards (KL Studio Classics): This suddenly relevant thriller stars George Peppard as an American boxer who stumbles upon a rising neo-fascist movement in Europe.
Innerspace (Arrow): This 4K debut of the hilarious Joe Dante sci-fi comedy – in which shrunken jet pilot Dennis Quaid gets injected into the body of nerdy grocery clerk Martin Short – features loads of new commentaries and extras.
John Singleton’s Hood Trilogy (The Criterion Collection): New box set highlighting Boyz n the Hood, Poetic Justice, and Baby Boy, with lots of new Criterion goodies.
Kinuyo Tanaka Directs (Eclipse/Criterion): Six films from the groundbreaking Japanese female director, which took an uncharacteristically hard look at the nation’s systemic gender biases: Love Letter, The Moon Has Risen, Forever a Woman, The Wandering Princess, Girls of the Night, Love Under the Crucifix.
Liebestraum (Cinématographe): New release of the Mike Figgis thriller features a restored director’s cut making its Blu-ray debut.
Malfeasance: Four Films by Yves Boisset (KL Studio Classics): A quartet of classic French crime thrillers, with new commentaries: Angel’s Leap(starring Jean Yanne, Senta Berger, and Sterling Hayden), Mad Enough to Kill (with Michael Lonsdale and Tomas Milian), The Woman Cop (featuring Miou-Miou), and Rise Up, Spy (with Lino Ventura and Michel Piccoli).
The Man Who Reclaimed His Head (KL Studio Classics): Claude Rains stars as a pacifist writer exploited by a politician in this anti-war drama.
The Minh (Kino Classics): King of the serial Louis Feuillade (Judex, Les Vampyrs, Fantômas) spins a wild yarn about a Frenchman and his Vietnamese bride-to-be hunting for treasure while eluding mercenaries and hypnotists.
Moneyball (Sony): New 4K of the dad-movie fave about the business of baseball, starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill.
Monty Python’s Life of Brian (The Criterion Collection): Don’t let another Easter pass by without this hilarious religious spoof from the Monty Python troupe.
Nashville (Paramount): New Blu-ray release of the Robert Altman classic.
The Phantom (KL Studio Classics): One of the more oddball attempts to cash in on the success of Batman, featuring Billy Zane as Lee Falk’s purple-clad jungle avenger, now in 4K.
Point Blank (The Criterion Collection): One of the great neo-noirs – and one of the great L.A. movies of all time – John Boorman’s tense, stylish classic is now in 4K.
Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (KL Studio Classics): Despite the title, this Fred Ward action saga didn’t spawn a franchise, despite some fun stunts. (Maybe Joel Grey in yellowface didn’t help.) 4K debut.
Randy & the Mob (Lightyear): Actor-writer-director Ray McKinnon followed up his 2001 Oscar-winning short The Accountant (included on this disc, and also sold separately) with this 2007 organized-crime comedy that featured an early starring turn from Walton Goggins.
Romancing in Thin Air (Radiance): A movie star and an innkeeper find love after both experiencing loss, in this rare romance from legendary action director Johnnie To.
Runaway Train (KL Studio Classics): One of the few Venn diagram overlaps between “Cannon Films” and “Oscar nominee” came with Andrei Konchalovsky’s rousing adaptation of a Kurosawa script, starring Jon Voight and Eric Roberts, now in 4K.
The Second Twin (KL Studio Classics): This restoration of the French thriller features a new commentary from critic Simon Abrams.
Sleepers (WBD): First time 4K release of Barry Levinson’s all-star thriller, featuring Robert De Niro, Kevin Bacon, Brad Pitt, Dustin Hoffman, and Jason Patric.
Stardust (Paramount): A very different De Niro in this fantasy, featuring young Charlie Cox and Henry Cavill.
The Stöned Age (Lionsgate Limited): A pair of rockers have one crazy night in this ’90s cult comedy.
The Thief of Bagdad (Kino Classics): Douglas Fairbanks does his thing in this legendary 1924 swashbuckler.
Throw Momma from the Train (KL Studio Classics): Danny DeVito’s Hitchcock-influenced dark comedy, now in 4K.
Trouble in Paradise (The Criterion Collection): Anyone looking for an introduction to “the Lubitsch touch” could start with this dazzlingly sophisticated and witty comedy about a thief (Herbert Marshall) torn between a pickpocket (Miriam Hopkins) and his wealthy target (Kay Francis).
NEW TV
Task: The Complete First Season (WBD): The acclaimed HBO series starring Mark Ruffalo makes its physical-media debut.
