THE FOLLOWING WAS WRITTEN BY MY FRIEND AND COLLEAGUE ALONSO DURALDE. YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT HIM HERE.
WHAT’S NEW ON 4K/BLU/DVD IN FEBRUARY: NOW YOU SEE ME 3, SCARLET WARNING 666, NETWORK, AND MORE!
NEW RELEASE WALL
Now You See Me: Now You Don’t (Lionsgate): A movie about magicians seems like an anomaly in this era of digital effects, where anything is possible on the screen. (I’m reminded of the character in Radio Dayswho gets annoyed with his wife’s love of Charlie McCarthy: “He’s a ventriloquist on the radio! How do ya know he isn’t moving his lips?”) Still, the legerdemain capers of the Now You See Me crew have captivated audiences enough to get to a third entry, and this time, the Horsemen discover a new group of young illusionists are using deepfakes to frame the retired magicians for a series of crimes. If nothing else, it’s fun to watch Oscar-nominated screenwriter Jesse Eisenberg still fully commit to these frothy shenanigans.
Also available:
The Carpenter’s Son (Magnolia): Nicolas Cage has played a wide variety of roles over the course of his career, so why not Jesus’ stepfather?
Cloud (Criterion Premieres): Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s gripping and darkly funny thriller sees an internet scam artist face the wrath of those he’s cheated.
Deathstalker (Shout Studios): This reimagining of the Roger Corman sword-and-sorcery franchise snuck up on critics as a goofy and charming surprise.
Fifty Shades: 3-Movie Collection (Universal): Now in 4K, and if this is of interest to you, then go for it.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (Universal): More creepy adventures with defunct animatronics.
Frontier Crucible (Well Go USA): This Western thriller features supporting turns from William H. Macy and Thomas Jane.
A Little Prayer (Music Box): Nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards, this low-key drama sees dad David Strathairn getting involved when his son (Will Pullen) cheats on his daughter-in-law (Jane Levy).
Little Trouble Girls (Kino Lorber): Catholic students grapple with sexual attraction, possibly to each other, during a choral retreat.
Predator: Badlands (20th Century): A pint-sized predator seeks to prove himself, with the help of damaged droid Elle Fanning in this entertaining spin on the venerable franchise from filmmaker Dan Trachtenberg, who previously set the series onto a fascinating new path with Prey.
Regretting You (Paramount): The latest entry in the Colleen Hoover cinematic universe follows a mother and daughter rebuilding and reshaping their lives after a devastating accident.
Rental Family (20th Century): Brendan Fraser stars as an American actor in Japan who finds his groove working for an agency where performers are hired to assume the roles of family members.
Sisu: Road to Revenge (Sony): This sequel follows a Finnish soldier on a mission to fulfill his vendetta against a Soviet commander (Stephen Lang).
The Summer Book (Music Box): Charlie McDowell (The One I Love) directs Glenn Close and Joachim Trier regular Anders Danielsen Lie in this story of a young girl and her grandmother spending a memorable summer on an island off the coast of Finland.
NEW INTERNATIONAL
All the Names of God (Myriad): A terrorist takes a cab driver hostage in this Spanish thriller.
The Time It Takes (Distrib): In this Italian drama, a filmmaker attempts to reconnect with his adult daughter, who is spiraling out of control.
NEW DOCUMENTARY
The Secret Lives of Bill Bartell (We Got Power): Documentarian David Markey (1991: The Year Punk Broke) captures a fascinating figure from the early years of LA punk who might not be a household name but nonetheless often found himself in the right place at the right time. From his prankish band White Flag (a parody of hardcore superstars Black Flag) to his creation of punk label Gasatanka Records (a take on the popular label Casablanca), Bartell existed within the musical world while also observing it with some irony, all the while living as a closeted gay man. Peppered with insightful interviews from musicians and industry figures who knew him personally, this is a riveting portrait of the most interesting guy you’ve never heard of.
Also available:
Flathead (IndiePix): A septuagenarian returns to his small Australian hometown and reflects on his life choices and regrets.
She Was Here (Virgil): The life and premature death of Poltergeist actress Heather O’Rourke, as recalled by JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Zach Galligan, Linda Purl, and others who knew her.
NEW GRINDHOUSE
Scarlet Warning 666 (Grindhouse): This infamous and bizarre cult artifact from writer-director-producer-star-singer Palmer Rockey gets the full treatment with this new 4K restoration and three-disc set. Filmed in Dallas in 1974 and originally released as It Happened One Weekend, this would-be horror extravaganza anticipated The Room by being so bad that audiences found it hilarious, with a filmmaker all too willing to lean into the joke so long as butts kept going into seats. An essential facet of an infamous corner of cinema history.
Also available:
America 3000 (KL Studio Classics): 1986 post-apocalyptic adventure features cult icon Laurene Landon.
American Yakuza (Arrow): Viggo Mortensen stars as an FBI agent who finds himself drawn into Japanese organized crime.
Bakterion (Vinegar Syndrome): Also known as Panic, this Italian-Spanish monster movie makes its 4K debut.
Bullet in the Head / Once a Thief (both Shout Selects/Radial): New 4K releases of films that show the many sides of director John Woo: the former is a gritty crime drama set in war-torn Saigon, while the latter is an elegant, Hitchcockian caper. (And no one wears a tux like Chow Yun-Fat and Leslie Cheung.)
Date with a Vampire (Visual Vengeance): This shot-on-video saga of a bisexual bloodsucker luring men and women to their doom gets its first Blu-ray release.
Dead Boyz Can’t Fly (Vinegar Syndrome Archive): A trio of sociopaths invades an office building only to find themselves facing a Vietnam-vet janitor with PTSD in this sleazy classic.
Demonwarp (Vinegar Syndrome): It’s a cabin-in-the-woods tale with a Sasquatch-ish monster, and a supporting turn from George Kennedy for good measure.
Double Impact / Knock Off (both MVD Rewind): Two new 4Ks featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme, the latter directed by HK legend Tsui Hark.
Duel to the Death (88 Films): Sixteenth-century swordsmen from China and Japan compete to be the greatest, and the two fiercest competitors fight to keep the contest untainted from outside influences; directed by Ching Siu-tung (A Chinese Ghost Story).
The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee: Collection 3(Severin): Think you’ve seen the complete cinematic output of the British screen legend? This latest collection includes teensploitation (Beat Girl), horror (The Hands of Orlac), giallo (The Virgin of Nuremberg), family fun (Arabian Adventure), and comedy (A Feast at Midnight), along with the documentary The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee, part of the 16 hours of special features contained herein.
Forbidden: Game of Love (Mondo Macabro): A pair of university students find themselves imprisoned by their professor in Eloy de la Iglesia’s erotic thriller.
Force: Five (MVD Rewind): Before it was a joke in Pulp Fiction, it was an actual movie, an action saga about a martial-arts team rescuing a politician’s daughter from a cult leader’s island stronghold.
Friday the 13th Part II (Paramount): The first appearance of Jason Voorhees, now in 4K.
Garden of Love (Unearthed Films): A woman is compelled by the ghosts of her murdered family to seek vengeance against their killers.
The Ghost (Severin): Barbara Steele stars in this 1963 classic, available in 4K for the first time.
I Hate My Body (Mondo Macabro): A former death-camp surgeon implants a man’s brain into a young woman’s body in this bonkers 1974 fave from Spain.
Ilsa, the Tigress of Siberia (Kino Cult): More erotic adventures of the authoritarian enabler you love to hate.
Man Finds Tape (Magnet): This new found-footage horror saga debuted at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival.
Mimic (KL Studio Classics): Guillermo del Toro’s buggy classic, now in 4K.
The Power of Darkness (Mondo Macabro): A man in Buenos Aires becomes convinced the blind are conspiring to take over the world in this Argentine cult oddity from 1976.
Retribution (Severin): Guy Magar’s horror film makes its 4K debut, both in its theatrical version and in an unrated director’s cut that was rescued days before its intended destruction.
She Shoots Straight (88 Films): A Hong Kong policewoman faces off with Vietnamese gangsters in this action gem from Corey Yuen.
Silent Night, Deadly Night (Cineverse): This second reboot of the 1980s holiday-horror franchise earned glowing reviews in its festival run.
Trap House (Decal): Dave Bautista and Bobby Cannavale star in this story of the teen children of DEA agents using their parents’ gear and intel to take down the cartel.
The Visitor (Arrow): Considered one of the looniest Italian sci-fi-horror tales ever spun, this film’s eclectic supporting cast includes Lance Henriksen, Franco Nero, Shelley Winters, and Sam Peckinpah.
Wildcat (Decal): Y’all didn’t nominate Kate Beckinsale for an Oscar for her brilliant turn in Love and Friendship, and now we have to watch her star in Taken rip-offs.
NEW CLASSIC
Network (The Criterion Collection): Every time something terrible happens at the juncture of news media and corporate ownership – and it’s practically a daily occurrence these days – it’s hard not to think of Paddy Chayefsky’s scalding, prophetic screenplay for this satire that retains its power even after five decades. Faye Dunaway won a well-deserved Oscar as a driven network entertainment chief who takes over the news division after their leading anchorman (Peter Finch, also honored by the Academy) has an on-air crack-up. With a top-flight ensemble that also features Beatrice Straight (also an Oscar-winner), William Holden, Ned Beatty, Conchata Ferrell, and the recently-departed Robert Duvall and Marlene Warfield, this forever remains one of the greatest movies about TV. The new Criterion edition includes a new 4K restoration, a new documentary about director Sidney Lumet, and an essay by political commentator and cultural observer Jamelle Bouie.
Also available:
3:10 to Yuma (The Criterion Collection): The 4K debut of this legendary Western from director Delmer Daves.
10 Rillington Place (Mill Creek): Before he was the well-meaning caretaker of Jurassic Park, Sir Richard Attenborough played a terrifying serial killer in this chiller.
All the President’s Men (WBD): New 4K release of this film, celebrating a moment in history when the Washington Post had a full staff and was ready to speak truth to power.
Ben-Hur (WBD): Charlton Heston drives a chariot and meets the messiah, now in 4K.
Body of Evidence (Vinegar Syndrome): Attorney Willem Dafoe attempts to exonerate Madonna on charges of murdering a man through sheer sexual intensity – but is he her next victim?
Boxcar Bertha (Cinématographe): While director Martin Scorsese gives his own film a bad rap in the recent Mr. Scorsese documentary, his collaboration with producer Roger Corman nonetheless has its defenders and its place in cinema history, integral to the filmographies of both artists. Barbara Hershey and David Carradine star as lovers turned fugitives, and this edition features a new 4K restoration (overseen by Scorsese), as well as never-before-seen interviews, video essays, storyboards, and essays from leading critics, including Robert Daniels, Bilge Ebiri, Beatrice Loayza, and Glenn Kenny.
Broadway on the Big Screen Collection (Warner Archive): A very mixed bag of stage-to-screen adaptations, including The Boy Friend, Brigadoon, Damn Yankees, Guys and Dolls, Gypsy, and The Pajama Game.
Dead Again (KL Studio Classics): After wowing the world with his take on Henry V, Kenneth Branagh paid tribute to old Hollywood mysteries with this loopy whodunit, now in 4K.
Excalibur (Arrow): This new 4K of John Boorman’s stunning take on the Arthurian legend includes new interviews, a behind-the-scenes doc by Neil Jordan, and a new commentary from David Kittredge, whose documentary Boorman and the Devil (about the making of the infamous Exorcist 2: The Heretic) you absolutely must see when it opens later this year.
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Cult Epics): The live-action version of the Japanese novel about a high-schooler who discovers she can time-travel, a tale that’s also been adapted for TV and an anime version.
Hanky Panky (Mill Creek): Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner fell in love in real life while playing lovers on the run in Sidney Poitier’s otherwise forgettable comedy.
Iphigenia (Radiance): Irene Papas stars in Michael Cacoyannis’ 1977 adaptation of the Greek tragedy.
Jack Benny Comedy Classics (KL Studio Classics): The legendarily thrifty comedian would appreciate that this disc offers two movies for the price of one: Man About Town and Artists and Models.
The Japanese Godfather Trilogy (Radiance): Toshiro Mifune and Sonny Chiba appear in Sadao Nakajima’s sprawling organized-crime epic.
Lookin’ Italian (Severin): What director Guy Magar called his “tribute to Martin Scorsese” features an eclectic cast, including early appearances by Matt LeBlanc and Denise Richards, alongside Lou Rawls.
Lubitsch Musicals (The Criterion Collection): The director’s famous “touch” extended to song-and-dance as well as musicals; this collection includes The Love Parade, Monte Carlo, The Smiling Lieutenant, and One Hour With You, the first and last of which have been restored to 4K.
The Man Who Wasn’t There (The Criterion Collection): If there’s such a thing as an underrated Coen Brothers movie, it might be this grimly comic noir, starring Billy Bob Thornton and featuring outstanding cinematography by the legendary Roger Deakins.
Mean Girls (Paramount): 4K is happening, but “fetch” still isn’t.
A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (KL Studio Classics): You wouldn’t expect a standard teen comedy from River Phoenix and director William Richert, and you don’t get one, despite the breeziness of the key art.
Nightcrawler (Shout Studios): Jake Gyllenhaal’s creepy turn as an amateur Los Angeles news cameraman, now in 4K.
Peter Sellers: Early Classics (KL Studio Classics): Before Kubrick and Clouseau, Sellers was already making a name for himself in British comedies like I’m All Right, Jack; Man in a Cocked Hat; Heavens Above!; Two-Way Stretch; and The Wrong Arm of the Law.
Playtime (The Criterion Collection): If you can’t see Jacques Tati’s masterpiece in 70mm, this brand-new 4K release from Criterion is the next best thing.
Ray (KL Studio Classics): Jamie Foxx’s Oscar-winning turn as the legendary Ray Charles, now in 4K.
Rockers (MVD Rewind): 4K debut for the reggae-themed feature that always gets paired with The Harder They Come in rep-house double features.
Scott Joplin (KL Studio Classics): The success of The Sting inspired this biopic of the ragtime genius, played here by Billy Dee Williams.
Small Soldiers (Paramount): Joe Dante’s action-comedy, now in 4K.
Somewhere in Time (KL Studio Classics): Swoon anew to Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour’s time-traveling romance – and John Barry’s unforgettable score – in a new 4K release.
The Vultures (KL Studio Classics): Legionnaire Jean-Paul Belmondo battles Nazis in this 1984 action-comedy.
Westworld (Arrow): Well before Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton’s first stab at tourism-gone-wrong would later spawn the HBO series; this new 4K of the 1973 horror satire features a new interview with star Richard Benjamin conducted by screenwriting legend Larry Karaszewski, as well as a new interview with James Brolin, a celebration of the film from Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, and a new commentary from filmmaker and historian Daniel Kremer.
A Woman Under the Influence (The Criterion Collection): New Criterion Blu-ray of the essential Gena Rowlands-John Cassavetes collaboration, now available separately from the label’s Cassavetes box set.
NEW TV
Dexter: Resurrection: The Complete First Season(Paramount): Michael C. Hall’s killer-of-killers is off to new adventures while also reckoning with the ghosts of his past in the first season of this reboot series.
