Batman Hush 4K (2019/DC Comics 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray*)/Curse Of La Llorona (2019/Blu-ray w/DVD/*both Warner)/Daredevil Drivers (1938/Warner Archive DVD)/Drive-In Delirium: Dead At Dawn + With A Vengeance (2019 compilations/Umbrella Region Free Import Blu-rays)/Vanishing Shadow (1944/Universal/MVD/VCI Blu-ray)/Vault (2019/Lionsgate Blu-ray)

4K Ultra HD Picture: A Picture: B+/B+ & B-/C/B/B/B/C+ Sound: A & B+/B+ & B-/C/C+/C+/C+/C Extras: B/C+/D/C-/C-/C-/C- Main Programs: C+/B-/C/B/B/C+/C-

PLEASE NOTE: The Drive-In Delirium Import Blu-rays are now only available from our friends at Umbrella Entertainment in Australia and can play on all Blu-ray players, while the Daredevil Drivers DVD is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner Archive series. All can be ordered from the links below.

We have plenty of action ahead in these new releases...

We start with the new animated DC Comics release, Batman Hush 4K (2019) and is based on one of the Dark Knight's most notable graphic novels of the same name, which features incredible art by Jim Lee and is a must read if you're a fan of Batman.

The animated film directed by Justin Copeland (Reign of the Supermen) isn't too bad or kid friendly as its a PG-13 entry in DC's darker direct to video animated film series. This two disc set includes both the 4K Ultra HD presentation and the 1080p Blu-ray presentation of the film, complete with digital copy.

Batman: Hush features the voices of Jason O'Mara, Jennifer Morrison, Jerry O'Connell, Rebecca Romijn, and Rainn Wilson.

Batman faces many of his old adversaries along with a new one named Hush, a man to whom Bruce Wayne shares a troubled past with. While he attempts a relationship with Selina Kyle (Catwoman), he ends up facing off against Superman, Joker, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Bane, and others along the way, all the while uncovering the mystery behind Hush's identity and motives.

One thing about these animated adaptations that I think could be improved would be to literally animate the existing artwork and panels from the graphic novel. The impact of the story isn't the same without the trademark Jim Lee artwork despite being the story being similar. I'm sure this animated style/method is more economic and likely faster but bringing that original artwork to life would make more sense and be more interesting. Just a thought.

A digital copy is also included.

Special Features (per the press release) include:

DC Showcase: Sgt. Rock (Animated Short) - From executive producer and director Bruce Timm comes the first new DC Showcase animated short since 2011's Catwoman, bringing DC Comics' gritty World War II hero to animated life in an all-new adventure.

Batman: Love in Time of War (Featurette) - Dangerous. Seductive. Villain. Hero. This is the story of Selina Kyle and the relationship she has forged with the world's greatest detective.

Audio Commentary - Executive Producer James Tucker, Director Justin Copeland and screenwriter Ernie Altbacker share their thoughts and insights on Batman: Hush.

A Sneak Peek at the next DC Universe Movie, Wonder Woman: Bloodlines - An advanced look at the next animated film in the popular DC Universe Movies collection.

From the DC Vault - The Batman/Superman Hour: The Underworld Underground Caper

From the DC Vault - The Batman/Superman Hour: Partners in Peril

Batman Hush is a pretty fun animated feature, but isn't quite the strongest entry amongst other Bat movies. I still think The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Gotham at Gaslight are a bit stronger and closer to the books so I would start there if you're new to these animated adventures.

Next up, from a producer of The Conjuring series comes The Curse of La Llorona (2019), a spooky new R-rated fright fest that is a bit more interesting than you might expect. While the story is pretty similar to other films of the like, there are a few pretty effective sequences that make it stand out. One scene in particular features two kids trapped in a car with the locks coming undone by the spirit outside.

The film stars Linda Cardellini, Roman Christou, Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen, Raymond Cruz, and Marisol Ramirez.

Set in 1973 Los Angeles, a social worker (Cardellini) ends up investigating a case where a mother is attempting to protect her kids from a cursed spirit, but is obviously misunderstood as abusing them. As the curse spreads to her own children, Cardellini ends up facing off against the supernatural curse. Raymond Cruz does a good job of playing a priest that helps her along the way.

Special Features include:

The Myth of La Llorona

Behind the Curse

The Making of a Movie Monster

Deleted Scenes

and Storyboards

Not completely original, but better than The Insidious series and The Conjuring sequels, I'd give The Curse of La Llorona a spin if you like ghost stories.

B. Reeves Eason's Daredevil Drivers (1938) is a quickie B-movie about reckless racing car track drivers who get into trouble off the track as well, but feel they are so good, they can get away with anything. Dick Purcell is the excellent driver and Charley Foy his expert mechanic. They get involved in a feud between bus companies which includes one sabotaging the other, plus Purcell gets a potential love interest.

The story is basic, but the car racing, down to amusing model work and obvious back projection work all over the place, is a hoot and the cast has enough energy to make this worth a look if interested. Warner Archive has issued this on DVD and Gloria Blondell, sister of Joan Blondell, one-time voice of Daisy Duck and co-star of the 1953 early hockey movie White Lightning, makes her feature film debut here. She more than holds her own.

There are sadly no extras.

For a good while, first on DVD and now on Blu-ray, the Umbrella label has been issuing the most ambitious collections of movie trailers for many years now. They have added two new volumes, running of six hours each and worth checking out. Drive-In Delirium: Dead At Dawn (with sci-fi, horror, mystery, Ken Russell, William Castle, slasher, psychological thrillers, supernatural, British, counterculture, comedies, B-movies and exploitation films) and With A Vengeance (reactionary action, blaxploitation, tough cops, gangsters, Cold War, chase, exotic lands, spaghetti westerns, apocalyptic films, bad 1980s films) deliver 120+ glimpses into films when they were more ambitious, fun and exciting.

These lean towards newer films more than previous collections we've covered, but that's fine. One might think that mighty be it, but as long as they can find more trailers, and more than a few here are European trailers, we might just get more of these fun, handy sets.

Save TV commercials and vintage animation designed to speak to drive-in customers, a listing of all the trailers in small print on the inside of the Blu-ray case cover is the only extra each disc offers.

The Vanishing Shadow (1944) is a Saturday Morning Serial/Chapter Play that Universal released during the WWII years, but never gets into the war itself. Instead, it is about an invention that renders the user invisible (love the easy visual effect they came up with that is somehow more charming and fun than most digital effects we get now) and becomes a device everyone wants and our lead hero needs when he is falsely accused of murder. The cliffhanger endings of most of the chapters are not bad and we get a killer iron robot (no advanced substances then) in the last few chapters.

What's not to love?

VCI was issuing these serials when most home video companies could have cared less and now they are getting them all on one or two discs, one Blu-ray in this case and it is an amusing romp worth your time, cheesy effects, bad acting, sped up fights, rear projection and wacky music included. Hope we get more of them.

Though the case lists more, the only extras we get are a Poster/Photo Gallery, recently discovered Original Theatrical Trailer and brief liner notes on the inside of the sleeve by Ralph Tribbey.

Tom DeNucci's Vault (2019) looks promising in some ways with two unknown leads, Don Johnson and a not-there-enough Chazz Palminteri in a story about New England Italian gangsters from the 1970s, but after a decent set-up. It goes bad quickly and never recovers in its 99 minutes. Palminteri is the real life head of the crime syndicate at the time, who gets arrested, but he is hardly in the film and Johnson as well as Vincent Pastore of The Sopranos (et al), cannot save this low-budget romp that goes nowhere fast, hardly feigns its decade and is quickly forgotten.

The logo and packaging ape a recent HBO Scorsese series that was not about the mob, but that does not help either. This one is better skipped.

Deleted Scenes, a Behind The Scenes featurette, and audio commentary by DeNucci and Director of Photography Sam Ellertsen are the extras.

Now for playback performance. Batman Hush is presented here in 2160p HEVC/H.265, HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on 4K Ultra HD disc with a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and a superb English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit) track. While the difference between the 4K UHD and the also included 1080p Blu-ray disc aren't as night and day as live action films, there is still a difference in sharpness and a bit more color depth. (The audio track is the same on both discs.)

The Curse of La Llorona is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and several audio tracks including English Dolby Atmos 11.1 lossless sound, (a Dolby True HD 7.1 mixdown for older systems; both 48kHz, 16-bit), and lossy English Dolby Digital. The detailed sound design shows through nicely on this release and is pretty effect on a nice sound system. Also included is a lesser (and highly compressed) standard definition DVD release of the film and a digital HD copy.

The 1.33 X 1 black & white on Drivers is in aged shape, though I like the look of the film and even the editing is interesting, but this and its lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono sound are down a generation and a little weak. Though a B-movie, I hope this gets restored at some point.

We get various aspect ratios with in 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on both Delirium Blu-rays as expected for all the trailers shown and they do look good, but in both cases, they use lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (and maybe simple stereo in a few later cases) sound instead of a lossless codec and it is an odd choice.

The 1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image transfer on the chapters of Vanishing Shadow can vary in quality with some print flaws, frame jumps and oddly weak black and white in more than a few shots, but it looks decent overall accompanied by PCM 2..0 Mono that shows its age a bit more. This is about what I expected and its fine for its age and under the circumstances.

The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on the Vault DVD starts out looking good in the beginning, but after a nice intro, becomes a more generic HD shoot and never recovers. The lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is dialogue-based and lacks a consistent soundfield, even sounding too low in volume for its own good. It makes for an odd combo, but does not work.

To order either of the Drive-In Delirium Import Blu-rays or any past entries in the growing series, go to this link for them and more hard to find releases at:

http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/

...and to order the Daredevil Drivers Warner Archive DVD, go to this link for them and many more great web-exclusive releases at:

http://www.wbshop.com/

- Nicholas Sheffo and James Lockhart (Batman, Curse)

https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/