Constantine: The House Of Mystery (2022/DC Showcase/Warner Blu-ray)/Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941/MGM/Warner Archive Blu-ray)/Girl's Nite Out (1982/Arrow*)/Living Dead At Manchester Morgue (1974/Synapse/*both MVD Blu-ray)/Row 13 (2021/Well Go Blu-ray)

Picture: B+/B/B/B+/B+ Sound: B+/C+/B/B+/B+ Extras: B/C-/B/B/D Main Programs: B/C+/C+/C+/C+

PLEASE NOTE: The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.

This reviewer really digs the concept of this new animated special from DC / Warner Brothers that starts out in the real world in a DC themed comic book shop and transports the viewer into a House of Mystery comic book that sets the scene for some very cool DC animated shorts featuring some of the label's most infamous characters.

Constantine: The House of Mystery (2022) features fan favorite actor Matt Ryan as the voice of Constantine (and who embodied him in the short lived live action series a few years ago and other CW DC shows.) In the film, the Earth has been destroyed by the evil God Apokolips and Constantine has come up with a plan to rewrite Earth's fate by using The Flash and some of his own magic to hopefully spare some of humanity's pain and anguish. The plan doesn't go as intended and he ends up banished to the House of Mystery where he is stuck with his best friends. Although they aren't there to have fun and hang out with him, they unwillingly turn into vicious creatures that rip him limb from limb! Stuck in this fun-haunted house of sorts, he is forced to replay horrific scenarios over and over again as a form of sadistic punishment thanks to the god Spector. It's a pretty fun animated short and is lifted directly from the pages of the comics.

An impressive voice cast includes Camilla Luddington (Grey's Anatomy) and Ray Chase (Licorice Pizza) reprise their roles from Justice League Dark: Apokolips War as Zatanna and Jason Blood/Etrigan, respectively, while Robin Atkin Downes (The Strain) and Damian O'Hare (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl) reprise their roles from Constantine: City of Demons as Negral and Chas, respectively. In addition, Grey Griffin (Scooby-Doo franchise) and Lou Diamond Phillips (La Bamba, Longmire, Young Guns) join the cast of the short, which is directed by Matt Peters (Injustice) from a script by Ernie Altbacker (Batman: Hush).

Also featured are other animated DC shorts including Kamandi: The Last Boy On Earth!, The Losers, and Blue Beetle. All of which are fun, but not quite as entertaining as the spotlight piece above featuring Mr. John Constantine.

Constantine: The House of Mystery is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4 AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1, and an English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) lossless mix. The animation is familiar and nothing too fancy, but certainly up to par with previous DC animation releases and maybe similar to the style of the '90s Batman animated series respectively. Unlike other animated features from the label, this one appears to be Blu-ray only, which is fine all things considered.

Special Features:

DC Showcase: One Story At A Time featurette

It's always nice to see members of the Justice League: Dark getting some attention by DC and this fun animated short collection is worth the price point.

Victor Fleming's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) is one of the lushes attempts at making a film out of the Robert Lewis Stevenson classic, with MGM getting one of their hottest directors with three of the biggest stars around and a trio that could have had some great chemistry in telling this classic tale again. But there are a few issues. MGM was following the filmmaking code very closely here, so it restricts and twists the narrative into something it is not, so you have to have read the book to really read between the line, yet they were closely following Paramount's amazing 1931 version with Frederic March, maybe too closely. So despite it being the first full year of Film Noir and the realities of WWII starting to sink in, this plays more like a safe version of the classic.

So MGM certainly spends the money on sets, costumes and production values, something many of the other versions could not afford. Then you have Spencer Tracy in the dual roles, an actor capable of it, though a stretch since this is not his genre, so who cares if the make-up has not aged as well as the better work at Universal. For him to be in any monster make-up was very shocking and a risk for its time, because actors like him did not do these things.

Then you have two of the greatest female big screen icons of all time, Ingrid Bergman (who was about to have her scandals) and Lana Turner (hot from the start with her scandals with no signs of stopping) always doing memorable work that most actresses could not pull off or even attempt to get and do. And of course, two of the most beautiful women in cinema history in a class by themselves, women who the camera always loved unconditionally and defined, then redefined the persona of women on celluloid.

Well, with all that, you'd think MGM might have been able to do something more than they got done here, which is still a solid-enough retelling of the tale, but the missed opportunities here could make for a separate essay (maybe as liner notes on a copy of the actual novel?) but I still enjoyed seeing this one for the first time in eons and I have never seen it look this good, so the playback quality of this disc is just further evidence of my points about these legends.

The supporting cast includes Donald Crisp, Ian Hunter and C. Aubrey Smith and it is British enough to also convince. More than just a film for completists, this version of Hyde should be seen (especially now this way) to really enjoy what does work, what almost works and what could have been. Glad its restored!

The 1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image transfer rarely shows the age of the materials used, as Warner has once again delivered a solid restoration with plenty of depth, detail and a great grey scale. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix is as good as the film will probably ever sound, but it just shows its age and only so much can be done about that. The combination is just fine.

An Original Theatrical Trailer is sadly the only extra.

Arrow dusts off and redelivers Girl's Nite Out (1982) also known as The Scare Maker, a forgotten '80s slasher that they have painstakingly re-assembled thanks to a producer's print of the film and other elements. VERY '80s in just about every way, the slasher is a bit predictable yet fun and has a twist ending that's all too common after its initial '80s theatrical release on the heels of the original Friday the 13th movie. I can totally see this film playing at a drive-in theater or on 42nd Street back in its prime days in New York City.

A bunch of normal high school kids (some of which are on a basketball team) do what high school kids do best: party, have sex, and generally misbehave. But when an unknown killer dressed as their basketball mascot starts killing them one by one, the list of suspects starts to grow thin. Who of these mischievous teens will survive? If any?

The film features a few familiar faces including Hal Holbrook (Creepshow), Rutanya Alda (Amityville II: The Possession), Julia Montgomery (The Kindred) and Lauren-Marie Taylor (Friday the 13th Part 2).

Girl's Nite Out is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with a 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio and an original uncompressed PCM Mono audio mix as well. This is a 2K remaster from the original film elements and as mentioned with a title card at the head of the film, Arrow went through a lot of headaches getting this print looking as good as it can here. This is the quintessential version of this film that isn't too be missed if you're a fan! There is some grain and damage to the film print as the warning before the film suggests, but it adds more to the presentation of the film than detracts from it giving the type of film this is.

Special Features:

Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

Brand new audio commentary with genre film critic/author Justin Kerswell and film historian/author Amanda Reyes

Staying Alive: a brand new video interview with actress Julia Montgomery

A Savage Mauling: a brand new video interview with actress Laura Summer

Alone in the Dark: a brand new video interview with actress Lois Robbins

It Was a Party!: a brand new video interview with actor Paul Christie

Love & Death: a brand new video interview with actors Lauren-Marie Taylor and John Didrichsen

Archival video interview with actress Julia Montgomery

Archival audio interview with actress Rutanya Alda

The Scaremaker Alternate Title Card

Original Trailers

Reversible sleeve featuring original artwork and newly-commissioned artwork by Justin Osbourn

and First Pressing Only: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Michael Gingold.

Living Dead At Manchester Morgue (1974) also known as Let Sleeping Corpses Lie and Don't Open the Window gets a deluxe restoration from Synapse Films in this collectible new Blu-ray edition. Previously available in a steelbook edition, this new single disc Blu-ray release is presented in a sleek black case and (presumably) the same disc as the steel book. This film has never really been too widely available and so that makes this edition that much more special and one not to miss.

The film stars Cristina Galbo, Ray Lovelock, Arthur Kennedy, Aldo Massasso, and Giorgio Trestini.

Two travelers uncover a plot where an agricultural machine is bringing the dead back to life. It's up to them and a local detective to wipe them out before the undead spread!

Living Dead at Manchester Morgue is presented in 1080p on Blu-ray disc from a new 4K restoration from the 35mm film negative and a new English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless 5.1 surround mix exclusive to this release. The transfer is pretty nice throughout considering the age and condition of the film and it translates fine onto Blu-ray here. The film is VERY British so keep that in mind and you will have a good time!

Special Features:

Two audio commentaries featuring authors and critics Troy Howarth, Nathaniel Thompson and Bruce Holecheck

Restoration of the true original English language theatrical mono mix

Jorge Grau - Catalonia's Cult Film King (89 mins.): This extensive feature-length documentary explores the life and films of director Jorge Grau

The Scene of the Crime: Giannetto De Rossi in Discussion from Manchester (16 Minutes)

Giannetto De Rossi: Q&A at the Festival of Fantastic Films, UK (43 Minutes)

Theatrical trailer, TV spots and radio spots

For more on the Blue Underground version, see our review here:

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10306/The+Living+Dead+At+Manchester+Morgue+(1974

Lastly, Row 13 (2021) is an interesting Russian thriller that is mostly set on a doomed aircraft. The story starts when an 8-year-old girl survives a horrific plane crash, losing her mother in the process. Fast forward twenty years and the little girl is now a woman (Svetlana Ivanova) with a child herself whom is around the same age she was when she experienced this trauma. She faces her fears and gets back on an airplane again only starts to find some odd coincidences between the original tragic flight from her childhood and the present. Is this woman who we think she is or are most of these horrific visions just products of her imagination?

The film also stars Wolfgang Verny, Ekaterina Vikova, Marta Timofeeva, Anatoly Kot, and Yola Sanko with direction by Alexander Babaev.

Row 19 looks and sounds fine on Blu-ray disc and is presented in 1080p high definition with a 2.39:1 and a lossless Russian language DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 mix with English subtitles. There is also an English dubbed track as well. The film is nicely photographed and presented here and looks fine in HD with no noticeable or glaring errors.

No extras.

Row 19 has some decent production value and a nice performance by Svetlana Ivanova, but some of the computer generated effects are a bit weak and the ending is a bit weird. Still, with a short run time of just over an hour and an interesting premise that's not your typical 'disasters on a plane movie', the film is worth checking out.

To order the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Warner Archive Blu-ray, go to this link for it and many more great web-exclusive releases at:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20

- Nicholas Sheffo (Hyde) and James Lockhart

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