Hazbin Hotel: Season One (2024/A24 Blu-ray Set)/Coyotes (2025/Decal Blu-ray)/Empire Of the Dark (1990/VCI Blu-ray w/DVD*)/The House With The Laughing Windows 4K (1976*/**)/The Mask 4K (1994/New Line/Warner/**both Arrow 4K Ultra HD Blu-rays)/Mirror Life: Modern Zombies (2024/Cleopatra DVD/*all MVD)

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

Next up are horror and fantasy entries, some with animation, you should know of....

Hazbin Hotel: Season One (2024) is a new animated series I had not heard of, a would-be comical tale of how Satan and other demons fall from heaven and instead of going straight to hell itself, lands up at the title locale. It is supposed to give the rest of them a chance to redeem themselves, but will they? Can they or should they be?

Selling itself as an 'adult' animated series and apparently gaining some kind of audience (it was not cancelled after this season,) you know all kinds of kids and children will have access to it and it is not so smart, advanced or mature to strike me as an adults-only affair. Guess the makers and marketers are trying to cover their you-know-whats and maybe get the Beetlejuice, The Addams Family or Hotel Transylvania audience, but in any way this show is like them, it is without without any of the fun or irony.

Of course, it could become a cult hit or take off soon, but the former is much more possible than the latter. The other problem is that it is far too much like so many other animated series we've seen on top of all the anime shows you can site and more than a few Adult Swim shows, so I just could not get into it and did not think it worked. Now you can see for yourself, but if so, do not have any high expectations for it and see what you think. Its just not very memorable.

Extras include audio commentary tracks for all eight episodes with Creator Vivienne Medrano, Animation Director Skye Henwood, and Art Director Sam Miller, plus a fold-out poster, exclusive foil or cracked ice promo card for Hazbin Hotel Trading Cards.

Justin Long and Kate Bosworth star in Coyotes (2025) which pits a wealthy Los Angeles family community against bloodthirsty coyotes and raging California wildfires. The film is a mix of slasher archetype / social commentary and suspense with moments of levity and eye popping gore when things get intense. Though the coyotes are obviously very digital looking, the filmmakers do a good job of building suspense around them leading up to the attacks. The film's biggest problem is the limitless number of coyotes and how artificial they look on shots lasting longer than a few seconds.

The film stars Justin Long, Katherine McNamara, Kate Bosworth, Mila Harris, Brittany Allen, Norma Nivia, Norbert Leo Butz, and Keir O'Donnell to name a few. It is directed by Colin Minihan.

Special Features only offer Meet the Pack: Behind the Scenes with the Makers.

Coyotes has an interesting premise and a few comical moments, but is overall pretty forgettable.

Steve Barkett's indie horror / adventure film Empire of the Dark (1990) gets a Blu-ray / DVD combo release from the good people at VCI. The ambitious genre film certainly takes a few pages from The Devil's Rain, Midnight, The Evil Dead, and other genre films of the time as inspiration and manages to pull off a few really cool moments. Unfortunately there are some groaner moments that really show the film's age and limitations. That being said, it's evident that the filmmakers were determined and pulled off something interesting regardless.

Empire of the Dark stars Steve Barkett, Richard Harrison, Dawn Wildsmith, John Henry Richardson, and Joseph Pilato. The film centers on a private detective who encounters a sadistic cult, ninjas, and monsters in this genre mash-up.

Highlights are some of the stop-motion and low budget special effects that are pretty good but With Barkett having so many hands in the production and starring in it himself, I think he took some liberties to put himself in some of the action movie scenarios like kissing and saving the damsels in distress and ultimately saving the world. Steve Barkett doesn't have a lot of charm as a leading man and is certainly no Bruce Campbell, even if he desperately wants to be in this film. The acting on the whole is pretty bad with some obviously more experienced actors than others.

Special Features include Audio Commentary Tracks

Chattamonga Film Festival Virtual Interview

Black Tea: A Short Film by Laura Barkett McQuay

Night Caller: Short Film by Steve Barkett

Splat from the Past Retro Podcast Interview with Steve Barkett

The Aftermath Trailer

Empire of the Dark Trailer

Steve Barkett Interview with Buster Crabbe (Flash Gordon)

and a Fan Made Poster.

It's evident that a lot of heart, blood, sweat, and tears went into this film production, but it's not really that great of a movie from a narrative or character standpoint. It has some interesting special effects and moments that are pretty impressive, but overall it doesn't stick with you.

Pupi Avati's The House With The Laughing Windows 4K (1976) is one of the more unusual, early giallo thrilelrs from Italy and it starts with a very gruesome, slow motion torture killing of a mostly nude man (in monochrome; to cut back the color of the blood) by stabbing that turns out to be related to religion, art and San Sebastian.

Then we go to full color as Stefano (Lino Capolicchio) is an art restoration man there to fix some rare frescoes just after this killing takes place, initially unbeknownst to him. The artist before him went mad and started killing and torturing people, or did he? He is blamed ands when a series of brutal murders continues like the first we see, he starts to wonder if the 'artist' has returned.

Avati was trying to do something different and interesting early on in this cycle, the cast and locales are a plus and I admire some of the risk taken here. Unfortunately, it starts to run out of steam around the half-way mark and starts to become too predictable, obvious and ultimately disappoints, made worse by not being able to justify or make the graphic opening pay off. I will not say much more as not to spoil things, but the great Kat Ellinger in her new Art of Suffering visual essay hits the nail on the head as she often does. Make sure if you are interested, you watch the whole film before taking her work here in.

Extras include a brand new audio commentary by critics Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson

• Brand new audio commentary by critics Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth

• Painted Screams, a brand new feature-length documentary on the film directed by Federico Caddeo, featuring interviews with co-writer/director Pupi Avati, co-writer Antonio Avati, assistant director Cesare Bastelli, actors Lino Capolicchio, Fancesca Marcia

• La Casa e Sola, a brand new visual essay by critic Chris Alexander

• The Art of Suffering, a brand new visual essay by critic Kat Ellinger

• Italian Theatrical Trailer

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Peter Strain

• Double-sided foldout poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Peter Strain

• and an illustrated perfect bound collector's booklet featuring new writing by Matt Rogerson, Willow Maclay, Alexia Kannas, Anton Bitel, and Stefano Baschiera.

Jim Carrey in Chuck Russell's The Mask 4K (1994) is a character that really resonated with me at a young age. The film is basically a live action cartoon and I feel like this is the movie that really cemented him into the pop culture mainframe. He had already done Ace Ventura: Pet Detective amongst other roles on television, but The Mask showed that he had the chops to be a movie star along with Dumb and Dumber which came out shortly after. Based on a Dark Horse comic of the same name (but of which is much darker and more violent), The Mask on 4K UHD from Arrow Video is one of the year's highlight releases for me and long overdue on the format.

The film also stars Cameron Diaz, Peter Riegert, Peter Greene, Amy Yasbeck, and Richard Jeni. It's directed by Chuck Russell (Nightmare on Elm Street 3, Eraser, The Blob remake) and features amazing special effects by Industrial Light and Magic and the makeup talent of Greg Cannom.

Stanley Ipkiss (Carrey) works at a bank and lives a less than spectacular life. One day by chance he comes across an ancient mask. When he puts the mask on he transforms into a green faced real-life Looney Tunes character and seeks justice by all those that have done him wrong. His new persona also attracts the woman of his dreams (Diaz) who is involved with a dirty mob that run a night club that she works at. It's up to The Mask and Stanley Ipkiss to come together to right wrongs, save the girl, and save his city from evil takeover.

Limited Edition Special Features include:

Archive audio commentary with Chuck Russell

Archive audio commentary with Chuck Russell, New Line co-chairman Bob Shaye, screenwriter Mike Werb, executive producer Mike Richardson, producer Bob Engelman, ILM VFX supervisor Scott Squires, animation supervisor Tom Bertino and cinematographer John R. Leonetti

The Man Behind the Mask, a newly filmed interview with Chuck Russell

From Strip to Screen, a newly filmed interview with Mike Richardson, Mike Werb and Mark Verheiden

Green Faces Blue Screens, a newly filmed interview with visual effects supervisor Scott Squires

Sssssssplicin'!, a newly filmed interview with editor Arthur Coburn

Ask Peggy, a newly filmed interview with actor Amy Yasbeck

Toeing the Conga Line, a newly filmed interview with choreographer Jerry Evans featuring never-before-seen rehearsal footage

Terriermania, a new video essay by critic Elizabeth Purchell on canine sidekick Milo

Archival featurettes Return to Edge City, Introducing Cameron Diaz, Cartoon Logic, What Makes Fido Run, The Making Of, on-set interview bites with the cast and director and B-Roll footage

Deleted scenes, with optional commentary by director Chuck Russell

Theatrical trailer

Image gallery

Reversible sleeve featuring two original artwork options

Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and original production notes

Double-sided fold-out poster featuring two original artwork options

and six postcard-sized reproduction art cards.

The Mask is one of my all time favorite '90s movies and this 4K UHD from Arrow takes the cake with beautiful packaging and a wealth of new extras along with archival extras as well. Very pleased with this release! Long overdue!

The ultra low budget zombie thriller, Mirror Life: Modern Zombies (2024) is a mix of found footage and narrative and centers on a young woman looking for her lost brother who has gone missing after getting mixed up with an experimental drug trial. Those who take the drug basically become zombies after fits of rage. Mimicking the style of 28 Days Later and even a few Romero references in there for good measure, Mirror Life: Modern Zombies focuses on the cause of a zombie outbreak.

The film stars stars Courtney Cavanaugh (George and Tammy, Chicago Fire), Kazy Tauginas (Equalizer 2, John Wick), Cuyle Carvin (Zero Day starring Robert De Niro), Lawrence Ballard (Inventing Anna, The Politician), Marc Reign (Law And Order), Victor Verhaeghe (Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies, Boardwalk Empire), Tationna Bosier (Stalker) and Brian O'Neill (The Bourne Legacy).

Special Features: Trailer, Slideshow, Deleted Scenes, Outtakes and a feature length audio commentary track.

Mirror Life: Modern Zombies is better than most ultra low budget films in the same genre and wears its inspirations on its sleeves. It has an interesting concept even if the special effects are nothing to write home about.

Now for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.85 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Windows 4K is often very impressive and has a consistent atmosphere, but there are also flaws in the film that may be permanent (including some softness that is not part of the style of the film) and the surviving materials might have a few minor issues as well. The color is by Technospes, not Technicolor, but looks pretty good. A merger of the Spes and Technostampa labs, the work holds up well, though the opening shot is a sort of dark gray sepia tone.

The Italian PCM 1.0 Mono sound is the weakest of the films on the list from the original monophonic theatrical sound release, yet I wondered if a 2.0 Mono track would have been warmer and better. Still, not bad and worth a look in 4K no matter what you land up thinking about the film.

The Mask 4K is presented in 2160p on 4K UHD disc with HDR10, an HEVC / H.265 codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and lossless audio tracks in the Dolby Atmos format, plus original DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 audio, lossless stereo audio. The stunning new transfer is from a new 4K restoration from the original camera negative by Arrow Films approved by director Chuck Russell. The film is presented in Dolby Vision and HDR and looks and sounds miles better than any previous release with realistic tones and undeniable detail. The soundtrack is one of the highlights of the film with a very interesting sound design that compliments The Mask's many personalities.

The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on Hazbin Hotel look pretty good for the semi-anime animation style that also wants to look like DC Comics animation, with decent color, though nothing extraordinary. At least it is consistent. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes on each episode are also very consistent, well recorded and mixed, but again nothing outstanding in that either. Technically competent, viewing should be just fine, especially if you land up liking the series.

Coyotes is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4 AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and a lossless, English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) mix. The sound and image on the disc is solid for the 1080p Blu-ray format with no audible or visual errors.

Empire of the Dark is presented in 1080p high definition on 2K Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4 AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and an English LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit) Stereo and (rarely used format) LPCM 5.0 multi-channel mix. Also included is an anamorphically enhanced, standard definition DVD with a lossy 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio mix. The fact that this was shot on film and not on video definitely helps make it feel like a bigger production than it likely was. That being said, the restoration here isn't terrible considering the age of the elements.

Mirror Life: Modern Zombies is presented in anamorphically enhanced, standard definition (480i) on DVD with a 1.78:1 widescreen aspect ratio and a lossy 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio mix. The presentation is up to par for DVD with compression issues evident and native to the format.

- Nicholas Sheffo (Hazbin, Windows 4K) and James Lockhart

https://letterboxd.com/jhl5films/