The following article was written by my friend and colleague Alonso Duralde. You can learn more about him HERE.
WHAT’S NEW ON DVD/BLU-RAY/4K IN MAY: BLACK BAG, BLAXPLOITATION, AND BUGS!
NEW RELEASE WALL
Black Bag (Universal) / Presence (Decal-NEON): Steven Soderbergh offered moviegoers two of the best films of 2025’s first quarter (although, to be fair, Presence made its debut at Sundance 2024). Both written by the legendary David Koepp, these movies technically fall under the category of “genre films,” although they’re both richer in character and theme than a cursory description might suggest. Presenceinvolves a family moving into a haunted house – and everything we see in the film is from a poltergeist’s POV – but it’s as much about trauma and the cracks in the familial relationships as it is about spooky ghosts. The smart and sexy Black Bag deserved to do better at the box office; if we want non-IP movies aimed at adult audiences, those adult audiences have to get off the couch and buy tickets. One hopes this cerebral caper about espionage and marriage, starring Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett as spies who get an erotic charge out of the secrets they keep from one another, finds its
fanbase at home.
Also available:
The Alto Knights (WBD): Robert DeNiro plays a pair of mobsters (but they’re not twins) in this familiar-feeling mob saga written by Nicholas Pileggi (Goodfellas) and directed by Barry Levinson.
Better Man (Paramount Presents): UK pop sensation Robbie Williams throws a banana peel under the rock-star biopic by portraying himself as a CG ape in this daring musical.
Bottoms (KL Studio Classics): One of 2024’s best films finally gets a physical-media release; this tale of date-hungry high-school lesbians is one of the most flabbergastingly outrageous comedic exercises since Heathers.
Captain America: Brave New World (Marvel/Disney): Anthony Mackie wields the shield while president Harrison Ford hulks out in this Marvel saga.
The Day the Earth Blew Up (Ketchup): Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, together again, in this animated sci-fi comedy that hearkens back to the glory days of Looney Tunes.
Dune: Part Two (WBD): Denis Villeneuve’s star-studded, star-spanning adaptation of the Frank Herbert novel continues to blow our collective minds.
The End (Decal-NEON): Tilda Swinton and George MacKay star in this envelope-pushing post-apocalyptic musical, the narrative debut from documentarian Joshua Oppenheimer.
Lilo & Stitch (Disney): The one upside to Disney’s insistence on making live-action remakes of their animated classics is that we also get new 4K reissues of those animated classics.
Mickey 17 (WBD): Robert Pattinson gets cloned over and over again in Bong Joon Ho’s satirical sci-fi extravaganza.
Queer (A24): Luca Guadagnino’s other 2024 masterpiece was this bold adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ novel, which allowed Daniel Craig to explore a whole other side of his screen acting (and provided scene-stealing supporting roles for Drew Droege and Jason Schwartzman.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Decal-NEON): Mohammad Rasoulof’s made-in-exile political drama about life under Iranian theocracy ranks among the most blistering thrillers of recent years.
The Woman in the Yard (Universal): Danielle Deadwyler grapples with her own trauma and with the mysterious lady who has suddenly appeared in front of her house in this moody and metaphorical chiller from director Jaume Collet-Serra.
NEW INDIE
Beth + Jeremy and Steve (Freestyle): This 1980s-set festival fave deals with the love triangle that unfolds between an unhappily married couple and the high-school swimmer who pines for the wife.
NEW INTERNATIONAL
In My Skin (Severin): Marina de Van’s 2002 feminist body-horror saga shocked audiences upon release and remains provocative today. With a reputation that has only grown over the decades, the film makes its global 4K/Blu-ray debut with a two-disc set that’s loaded with commentaries, interviews, a video essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, and much more.
Also available:
Being Maria (Kino Lorber): Anamaria Vartolomei plays actress Maria Schneider, exploring the rise and fall of her career in the wake of her legendary turn in Last Tango in Paris.
The Colors Within (GKIDS): Three girls come of age and learn their true powers by forming a band in this acclaimed anime feature.
The Empire (Kino Lorber): Undercover aliens do battle in a French small town in the latest outrageous comedy from Bruno Dumont.
Las Tres Sisters (Kino Lorber): Three sisters repair and strengthen their familial bonds on a road trip through Mexico.
My Motherland (Icarus): Screen legend Fanny Ardant plays a Parisian who opens up her apartment to an Afghan refugee.
The Quiet Ones (Magnet): This crime drama is based on the true events behind the biggest heist in Danish history.
NEW DOCUMENTARY
Room 666 / Room 999 (Janus Contemporaries): At the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, Wim Wenders asked some of the world’s leading filmmakers, “Is cinema a language about to get lost, an art about to die?” In 2022, Lubna Playoust posed that same question to a new generation of directors (including Wenders), and now both documentaries are captured in this new collection. Separated by decades, both movies offer insight about the state of the art and its future from those most involved in making that future happen.
Also available:
American Delivery (Kino Lorber): Director Carolyn Jones examines the nation’s maternal health crisis and what steps can be taken to make childbirth safer.
Diane Warren: Relentless (Greenwich): Portrait of one of this generation’s most successful and iconic songwriters.
Fish War (Virgil Films): A close look at clashes between commercial fisherman and environmental stewards in the Pacific Northwest.
The Human Pyramid and The Punishment: Two Films by Jean Rouch (Icarus): A pair of docs from the legendary and groundbreaking non-fiction filmmaker.
Iconic Women of Country (Mercury): Kitty, Patsy, Dolly, Loretta, Trisha, and Wynonna are among the 14 legends celebrated here.
Mogwai: If the Stars Had a Sound (Greenwich): A look at the first quarter-century of the popular Scottish band, from their humble roots to the recording of their tenth studio album, during lockdown in Glasgow.
Still Playin’ Possum: Music & Memories of George Jones (Mercury): If the recent George and Tammyminiseries whetted your appetite for more of this country legend, this April 2023 features many of today’s brightest country stars celebrating Jones and his music upon the tenth anniversary of his passing.
NEW GRINDHOUSE
Blaxploitation Classics, Vol. 1 (Shout Studios/Shout Select): A stunning 4K 12-disc collection, featuring some of the most indelible examples of this groundbreaking genre that defied conventional show-business wisdom, fired up generations of movie fans, and gave opportunities to extraordinary Black artists on both sides of the camera. The set includes Across 110th Street; Black Caesar; Hell Up in Harlem; Coffy; Sheba, Baby; and Truck Turner.
Also available:
Body Odyssey (IndiePix): Jacqueline “Jay” Fuchs stars as an obsessive fortysomething competitive body builder whose strict regime and psychological tension sends her into the depths of body horror.
Crack in the World (KL Studio Classics): A dying scientist’s attempts to reach Earth’s magma layer may destroy the whole planet in this 1965 disaster classic.
The Crazies (Lionsgate): A new 4K of the 2010 remake of George A. Romero’s horror classic.
Eva Man/The Return of Eva Man (Mondo Macabro): Corpses, Fools and Monsters authors Willow Catelyn Maclay and Caden Mark Gardner provide a new commentary track to this outrageous act of cinematic gender defiance.
Jason Goes to Hell / Jason X (both Arrow): New 4K releases of two latter-day Friday the 13th sequels, both packed with enough extras to fill Crystal Lake.
Kick-Ass (Lionsgate): New 4K of the violent superhero saga starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (Raro): This gritty policier examines the lives of undercover officers in mid-1970s Rome.
Pete Walker Crime Collection (Kino Cult): This set pays tribute to the legendary UK B-movie icon, featuring titles like Die Screaming, Marianne; Cool It, Carol!; Moon (aka Man of Violence); and The Big Switch (aka Strip Poker).
Prophecy (KL Studio Classics): New 4K of John Frankenheimer’s a-bear-but-make-it-gory horror fave.
The Prosecutor (Well Go USA): Don’t let the powdered wig fool you – Donnie Yen’s
barrister is here to kick some ass.
The Rapacious Jailbreaker (Radiance): Sadao Nakajima’s mellifluously titled 1974 crime thriller follows the adventures of a convicted murderer who refuses to remain locked up.
Screamboat (Deskpop): Remember when Steamboat Willie entered the public domain, and you just knew someone was going to turn it into a slasher movie? Here it is.
Steppenwolf (Arrow): This ain’t Herman Hesse; a mother and an immoral ex-cop team up to locate her son in a post-apocalyptic hellscape in this genre-fest fave.
Terror in the Fog: The Wallace Krimi at CCC(Eureka): German studio CCC created a bumper crop of crime sagas based on the works of British author Edgar Wallace and his son Bryan Edgar Wallace, and this collection of five films comes loaded with commentaries, extras, and English-dub soundtracks.
Vice Squad (KL Studio Classics): A new 4K of the legendary 1980s sleazefest gut-punch, anchored by an unforgettable performance by Wings Hauser as a sociopathic pimp.
NEW CLASSIC
Entertaining Mr. Sloane (Severin): Long unavailable on US home video, this Joe Orton adaptation makes its North American Blu-ray debut in a set that includes more than four hours of special features, including new interviews with Malcolm McDowell and Maxwell Caulfield (both of whom played Orton’s Mr. Sloane onstage) as well as an archival interview with Orton biographer John Lahr (Prick Up Your Ears). When a voracious woman-of-a-certain-age (played by the great Beryl Reid of The Killing of Sister George) brings home the sexy Sloane (Peter McEnery), she soon finds herself competing with her posh brother (Harry Andrews) for the houseguest’s attention.
Also available:
The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (KL Studio Classics): Kim Novak stars in a post–Tom Jones take on Daniel Dafoe’s lusty heroine.
The Andromeda Strain (Arrow): New 4K of Robert Wise’s intense adaptation of Michael Crichton’s sci-fi horror.
Audie Murphy Collection IV (KL Studio Classics): Three more from the war-hero-turned-Western-star:The Kid from Texas, The Cimarron Kid, and Drums Across the River.
Falling in Love (Fun City Editions): The powerhouse duo of Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro headline this beloved rom-dram from director Ulu Grosbard; this Blu debut features a new commentary track and (first pressing only) new essays.
House of Psychotic Women, Rarities Collection Vol. 2 (Severin): This box set of tales of women on the verge includes Michael Winterbottom’s Butterfly Kiss, Joseph Strick’s The Savage Eye, Juraj Herz’ Morgiana, and Eloy de la Iglesia’s The Glass Ceiling, all in new scans and featuring new supplementary material.
I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead (KL Studio Classics): Clive Owen reteams with his Croupier director Mike Hodges on this revenge drama, co-starring Charlotte Rampling, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Malcolm McDowell.
Killer of Sheep (The Criterion Collection): Charles Burnett’s landmark American indie gets the full Criterion treatment.
Kingpin (KL Studio Classics): Woody Harrelson and Bill Murray display bowling chops (and some unfortunate hairdos) in this Farrelly Brothers comedy, now in 4K.
Nate and Hayes (KL Studio Classics): This pirate comedy boasts an early John Hughes screenplay, before he became the king of Shermer, Illinois.
Ramona (Kino Classics): Dolores Del Rio scorches the screen in this 1928 drama.
Scent of a Woman (Shout Studios): A new 4K of the film that earned Pacino his Oscar.
Star Trek: 10-Movie Collection (Paramount): This box set makes a great Father’s Day gift for dads who boldly go.
Themroc (Radiance): Michel Piccoli stars in this controversial absurdist comedy – told entirely in grunts and groans – about a man who drops out of society and turns his apartment into a cave.
The Three Musketeers/The Four Musketeers (The Criterion Collection): A new Criterion 4K of Richard Lester’s two-part adaptation of the classic adventure tale, a sweeping, bawdy, hilarious affair boasting an all-star cast.
Wan Pipel (Cult Epics): This 1976 drama courted controversy with its depiction of an interracial love triangle.
Wayne’s World 2 (KL Studio Classics): Two times the schwing, now in 4K.
What Lies Beneath (Scream Factory): A new 4K of the Michelle Pfeiffer-Harrison Ford thriller for the film’s 25th anniversary.
The Wind Will Carry Us (The Criterion Collection): A new restoration of the 1999 Abbas Kiarostami classic.
Withnail & I / How to Get Ahead in Advertising(both The Criterion Collection): A pair of 1980s classics teaming writer-director Bruce Robinson and his brilliant leading man Richard E. Grant.
Wonder Dogs! (Kino Classics): If you’re hooked on dog videos online, check out nearly eight hours’ worth of canine superstars from the dawn of cinema.
NEW TV
Ants! / Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo / Terror Out of the Sky (KL Studio Classics): If you love 1970’s made-for-TV horror movies – and if you do, you should absolutely check out the podcast Sam Pancake Presents the Monday Afternoon Movie – here’s a nifty trio of creepy crawlers and other things that go bump in the night, accompanied by hairstyles and fashion choices that will haunt you forever.
Also available:
Fallen (MHz): The creator and star of The Bridgereteam for this new Stockholm-based procedural.
Masters of the Universe: Revelation + Revolution(Mill Creek): A new steelbook featuring the revival of He-Man and the whole Castle Greyskull gang.
Outlander: The Complete Seventh Season (Sony): The time-traveling historical romance-adventure just keeps going strong.
Ultraman Trigger: The Complete Series (Mill Creek): More adventures (and a movie) featuring Japan’s kaiju-fighting superhero.
Yellowjackets: Seasons One & Two Collection (Paramount): If you haven’t caught up with the addictive thriller series, here’s a great way to get up to speed between seasons.
Yellowstone: Season Five, Part Two (Paramount): Closing the book on John Dutton.
