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Hotel
Transylvania: Transformania
(2023/Sony Blu-ray)/Invaluable:
The True Story Of An Epic Artist
(2018/Synapse Blu-ray*)/The
Leech
(2022/Arrow Blu-ray*)/Loki:
The Complete First Season
(2021/Marvel Comics/Disney Steelbook Blu-ray Set)/Tenebrae
4K
(1982/Synapse 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray/*all MVD)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: A- Picture: B+ (Loki:
B-) Sound: B+ (Loki:
B) Extras: C+/B/B/C/B Main Programs: C+/B/C+/C+/B
And
now for more releases in time for the Halloween season...
We
start with the fourth installment of Sony's animated horror satire
series, Hotel
Transylvania: Transformania
(2023)
which is now out on Blu-ray disc. The silly yet spooky kid's film
has fun animation and characters and is easy to watch and enjoy
regardless of your age, and lands on the market just in time for the
Halloween season.
The
film features the voice talents of Brian Hull, Andy Samberg, Selena
Gomez, Kathryn Hahn, Keegan-Michael Key, and Steve Buscemi.
When
Drac goes to announce his retirement and leave Hotel Transylvania to
his monstrous daughter and her kooky human husband, Van Helsing's
Monsterification Ray goes wild and starts to turn monsters into
humans and vice versa. Drac and his son-in-law (one now human and
the other a monster) have to travel the world to an exotic location
to find a replacement for the ray so things can get back to normal.
The main message of the film is being able to accept others for their
differences and embrace them regardless of judgement.
Hotel
Transylvania: Transformania
is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4
AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and an English,
lossless DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) mix. The
animation is pretty polished and looks pretty good despite the fact
that this film didn't hit theaters.
Special
Features:
A
Hotel Transylvania Mini-Movie: Monster
Pets
Monster
Mash-Up: Making Hotel Transylvania: Transformania
Selena
vs. Andy:
A Hotel Transyl-Trivia Quiz
"Love
Is Not Hard to Find"
by YEИDRY Lyric Video
and
Filmmaker Commentary.
Hotel
Transylvania: Transformania
is pretty fun for a kid's film and made me chuckle on more than one
occasion. It's nice to know that there are still innocent children's
films out there that don't have some alternative agenda (which I feel
has sadly been the case with several Pixar productions in the past
few years), and can just be watched and enjoyed for their simplicity
and entertainment value alone.
Sam
Raimi's original The
Evil Dead
is no doubt a horror classic and has only grown more popular as the
years have gone by, but where would that classic status be without
some of the film's most iconic props that helped tell its gruesome
story? Invaluable:
The True Story Of An Epic Artist
(2018) is
a feature length documentary on SFX legend Tom Sullivan and
highlights his involvement in bringing The
Evil Dead
series to life.
The
film features all-new interviews with Bruce Campbell, Ted Raimi, Josh
Becker, Danny Hicks, Hal Delrich, Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Baker,
Theresa Tilly. The film is directed by Ryan Meade.
Invaluable:
The True Story of an Epic Artist
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 LPCM
2.0 Stereo. The transfer looks and sounds fine and is an upgrade
from the previous release.
Special
Features:
Other
Men's Careers:
A bonus documentary about the life of filmmaker Josh Becker
Vintage
Tom Sullivan "In
the Spotlight"
interview (1989)
Unedited
interview with Tim Philo, cinematographer (aka Director of
Photography) of The
Evil Dead
Extended
interview segments with Josh Becker
Promotional
Trailers
Ryan
Meade short films: Bong
Fly
and Cosmos
Locos
Bong
Fly:
Behind-the-Scenes
Snap
Shots:
Motion Stills Gallery
New
slipcover art by Joel Robinson
and
reversible cover art.
The
Leech
(2022)
was a big winner on the film festival circuit and is now on Blu-ray
from Arrow Video, which is a surprise as they normally don't release
modern films. The Christmas holiday themed horror/suspense film is
about a kind pastor who lets a homeless man stay in his home as an
act of kindness on Christmas, but his kindness is soon taken for
granted when the homeless man invites a few of his friends to the
party, eventually stripping the pastor of his holy stature and
driving him to the brink of his own sanity and values.
The
film stars Graham Skipper, Jeremy Gardner, and Taylor Gardner to name
a few.
The
Leech
is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4
AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and two audio mixes in
English, lossless DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) and
English LPCM 2.0 Stereo. The film is professionally shot and
produced and has a slick modern look that is translated well to the
1080p Blu-ray format.
Special
Features:
Feature
length audio commentary track with writer/producer/director Eric
Pennycoff and producer Scott Smith
Live
Chattanooga
Film Festival
audio commentary
Virtual
Q&A with director Eric Pennycoff and the cast at the 2022
Chattanooga Film Festival
Preaching
to the Void:
a brand new visual essay exploring The
Leech
and Pennycoff's earlier films by critic Anton Bitel
The
Voice of Reason:
a brand new video interview with Pennycoff and actor Graham Skipper
Introduction
and Q&A from the film's international premiere at FrightFest 2022
Exclusive
introductions to the film by Pennycoff and Skipper
The
Making of The
Leech:
behind-the-scenes footage from the film set
Rigo's
music video
Unfortunate,
The
Pod
and Phase
II:
three early short films by Pennycoff
Trailer
Reversible
sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Haunt Love
and
First
Pressing Only:
Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by
Julieann Stipidis.
The
DC and Marvel Comics live-action worlds do have one distinction, DC
did TV shows totally separate from their feature films, while Marvel
(belatedly under later owners Disney) decided to do TV series to
enhance the feature films and keep fans entertained until the next
feature was released. That latter strategy worked at first, but both
companies eventually lost control of their multiple universes,
worlds, planets, earths and endless storylines. Loki:
The Complete First Season
(2021) does what it can to explain some of those worlds on the Marvel
side with the long-term capacity of even a limited-episodes TV show.
However,
you need to know what happened before and in all this, most failed to
note that this was the first time in the genre's history a
supervillain got their own live-action TV show. Tom Hiddleston is
very talented, nailed the character from his introduction in the role
and can more than carry the lead work here as The Avengers capture
him, only for a Hulk flipout giving him a chance to escape, but that
may be short-lived as he crosses paths with a new organization.
We
get eight hour-long shows of this and it was successful enough to
lead to a new season upcoming, but being connected to the movies
actually may have restrained several wild, fun possibilities and
opportunities this set up could have delivered and the weekly TV grid
additionally holds things back. Now my expectations might be the
breakout of the next shows, but that just does not happen here.
Still, it has some moments and fans have, unlike many of the feature
films form both super-giants, seems to have made fans happy.
This
edition we got is actually the Disney Steelbook Blu-ray set and these
are fun for fans and superfans, with this one having some of the
better art I have seen with these, but I look forward to seeing the
4K edition down the line because this is the kind of show that
benefits from its bells and whistles, though it might be a little too
much CGI for its own good.
Loki
is not a cheap series to produce by any means and the 1080p 1.78 X 1
digital High Definition image transfer is not bad, but regular HD
just cannot capture all the detail and especially color range a
series produced with 12-bit Dolby Vision can deliver. The image is
fine and passable for what it is, but it cannot and does not have the
impact of the show at its best. The sound is also originally in
Dolby
Atmos 11.1 (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems) as is the
case for the 4K edition, but the Blu-ray editions offer DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes that are not bad, but you can tell
you are missing some sound. Still, the combo is fine for those not
bothered by missing some of the finer details or are not ready for 4K
yet.
Extras
are not bad, including (per the press release) Designing
The TVA:
Step into the incredible set of Loki:
Season 1
with Production Designer, Kasra Farahani, and Tom Hiddleston while
getting a sneak peek into Season
2.
The
Official TVA Orientation Video:
Miss Minutes explains the inner workings of the TVA timeline in her
orientation video.
Gag
Reel: Take a look at some of the fun outtakes on set with the cast
and crew of Loki:
Season 1.
Deleted
Scene: Loki's
Coronation:
Mobius reviews some moments from Loki's timeline, in which Frog Thor
makes an appearance during Loki's coronation.
Deleted
Scene: The
Standoff:
Loki holds Sylvie hostage against the TVA in a standoff.
and
Assembled:
The Making of Loki:
Loki explores the series centering on the MCU's chief mischief
maker.
And
now, the biggest classic for last. Many of Italian horror master
Dario Argento's films have seen several releases on physical media
over the years from various labels. Tenebrae
(1982) was one of the last remaining horror classics that needed the
4K UHD treatment and thankfully it is here from Synapse Films. We
are covering here the standard version which varies from the label's
3-disc set which is also available. Other Argento must-sees to
newcomers that are in a similar vein are Suspiria,
Opera,
Phenomena,
and Deep
Red
to name a few and which are reviewed elsewhere on this site.
In
Tenebrae,
an author goes to Rome to promote his new novel: Tenebrae,
but finds a copycat killer who is fashioning his murder spree over
the writings of the book, leading to some chaotic twists and turns!
The
film stars Anthony Franciosa, John Saxon, Joh, Steiner, Dara
Nicolodi, Christian Borromeo, Mirella D'Angelo, Veronica Lario, and
Ania Pieroni.
Tenebrae
4K is
presented in 2160p on 4K UHD disc with Dolby Vision/HDR10, an HEVC /
H.265 codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and restored
original lossless DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) Italian and English 2.0
Mono soundtracks, which look and sound fantastic here. The beautiful
cinematography by Luciano Tovoli (Suspiria)
is on full display as is the epic soundtrack by master composer
Claudio Simonetti. Also included is a 1080p Blu-ray version with
identical sound specs and aspect ratio. This presentation is a co
effort behind cult label giants Synapse Films and Arrow Video!
Special
Features are plentiful and include:
Original
Italian and English front and end titles and insert shots
Audio
commentary by authors and critics Alan Jones and Kim Newman
Audio
commentary by Argento expert Thomas Rostock
Audio
commentary by Maitland McDonagh, author of Broken
Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento
Yellow
Fever: The Rise and Fall of the Giallo,
a feature-length documentary charting the genre
from
its beginnings to its influence on the modern slasher film, featuring
interviews with Dario Argento, Umberto Lenzi, Luigi Cozzi and more
Being
the Villain,
a newly edited archival interview with actor John Steiner
Out
of the Shadows,
an archival interview with Maitland McDonagh
Voices
of the Unsane,
an archival featurette containing interviews with writer/director
Dario Argento, actresses Daria Nicolodi and Eva Robins,
cinematographer Luciano Tovoli, composer Claudio Simonetti and
assistant director Lamberto Bava
Screaming
Queen,
an archival interview with Daria Nicolodi
The
Unsane World of Tenebrae,
an archival interview with Dario Argento
A
Composition for Carnage,
an archival interview with Claudio Simonetti
Archival
introduction by Daria Nicolodi
International
theatrical trailer
Japanese
"Shadow"
theatrical trailer
Alternate
opening credits sequence
"Unsane"
end credits sequence
and
Image Galleries.
Dario
Argento's Tenebrae
is an Italian Horror classic that is a beautiful upgrade here by
Synapse films and future proofs the work of one of the most important
genre filmmakers of all time.
-
Nicholas Sheffo (Loki)
and James Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/