THE POOP SCOOP: Boxes of Scares

🙀UNIVERSAL CLASSIC MONSTERS Limited Edition Collection on 4K Available October 3 from Universal.

Return to the world of Universal Classic Monsters with this new Limited Edition Collection on 4K and Digital on October 3, 2023 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. From the era of silent movies through present day, Universal Pictures has been regarded as the home of the monsters and this collection showcases 8 of the most iconic monsters in motion picture history including Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, Phantom of the Opera and Creature from the Black Lagoon. Exclusive to Amazon, this limited collection consists of book-style packaging with rare photos, bios, trivia, and original cover art by renowned artist Tristan Eaton. With eight classic films exploring the origins of the beloved Universal Monsters, each film has been digitally restored from high resolution film elements for the ultimate classic monster experience all in one exclusive collectible book.

🙀PARAMOUNT SCARES VOL. 1 Arrives on 4K Ultra HD October 24, 2023 from Paramount.

Get ready for a season of haunting entertainment with PARAMOUNT SCARES VOL. 1, Paramount Home Entertainment’s inaugural, limited-edition collection of chilling films, arriving October 24, 2023. Fans can plumb the depths of the horror genre with this collectible box set featuring five unforgettable movies, all in eye-popping 4K Ultra HD, along with over four hours of legacy special features and exclusive collectible items.  Housed in deluxe packaging, each of the following films is presented in a special sleeve with artwork exclusive to the collection: 

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)—Newly remastered on 4K Ultra HD, this iconic classic celebrates its 55th anniversary this year.  With groundbreaking camerawork and bone-chilling suspense, Rosemary’s Baby gave birth to the modern thriller. Widely considered to be one of the greatest horror films of all time, Rosemary’s Baby was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2014. 

Pet Sematary (1989)— Written for the screen by internationally renowned author Stephen King and based on his iconic bestseller, director Mary Lambert’s thrilling Pet Sematary electrified audiences upon its release in 1989, earning more than $57 million to become the highest grossing horror film of the time. The shocking depiction of unspeakable evil was remastered in 4K under the supervision of Lambert using the original film negative. 

Smile (2022)—This terrifying and inventive film from writer and director Parker Finn became a true horror phenomenon, earning more than $217 million at the global box office and becoming the #1 original horror movie of 2022.  A sequel is in development with Finn set to return as director. 

Crawl (2019)—Produced by Sam Raimi and directed by Alexandre Aja, this unexpected and suspense-filled creature feature took audiences and critics by storm with its story of a father and daughter trying to survive a hurricane beneath a house filling with water…and alligators.  With a budget of $13 million, Crawl generated more than $91 million worldwide. 

Mystery Title—Delivering even more suspense and surprise, the fifth film in the box set is a secret.  The fan-favorite movie makes its 4K Ultra HD debut with the release of this collection.

The PARAMOUNT SCARES VOL. 1 Limited-Edition 4K Ultra HD Box Set also boasts collectible items, including an exclusive, full-size Fangoria magazine produced especially for the release.  This special edition of the celebrated publication—“first in fright” since 1979—features a curated selection of new and classic articles from the magazine's archives.  The set also includes a Paramount Scares enamel pin, unique stickers, and access to a Digital copy of each film.

🙀THE WALKING DEAD Complete Collection arrives October 17 on Blu-ray and DVD from Lionsgate.

On August 25, the anniversary of the Wildfire Virus that destroyed the modern world – nearly wiping out the human race – a pandemic was declared in the universe of “The Walking Dead,” the Complete Collection of the two-time Primetime Emmy Award-winning TV series arrives on Blu-ray and DVD October 17 from Lionsgate. Created by Academy Award nominee Frank Darabont, “The Walking Dead” The Complete Collection follows the survivors of the walker apocalypse as they fight the dead and fear the living. The series features Norman Reedus (The Boondock Saints franchise, Blade II), Andrew Lincoln (Love Actually, Penguin Bloom, TV’s “Teachers” and “Afterlife”) and Academy Award® nominee Steven Yeun (Nope, Minari, Okja, Mayhem). “The Walking Dead” The Complete Collection includes all 11 seasons on 54 discs including a bonus disc containing a 42-minute documentary on the making of the final season, as well as a still gallery. The Blu-ray + Digital version will feature never-before-seen original packaging and disc artwork by Clio Award-winning artist Oliver Barrett.

INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY: A Nice Send-Off

INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY (Digital)

2023 / 155 min

FROM DISNEY

Review by Stinky the Destroyer

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is now available on Digital.

A lot of long-running franchises have one title that legendarily sucks (in some cases, more than one). However, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ain’t one of ‘em. I’m not quite sure what its naysayers were expecting, but maybe having any kind of expectations for “legacy” sequels is a bad idea to begin with. I learned that lesson long ago with The Phantom Menace. 

Spielberg may not have directed this one (James Mangold takes the reins here), but if nothing else, it feels more like a real Indiana Jones movie than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull or the abominable Temple of Doom (the ongoing reverence for that one still escapes me). And while we probably didn’t need a fifth film, it does give Indy a nice send-off. 

Leaving your cynicism at the door helps, of course. The film pays plenty of nostalgic fan-service through cameos, references to previous films and John Williams’ classic music cues. But aside from a flashback prologue featuring a (badly) de-aged Harrison Ford, the film makes no bones about the fact that times have changed since Indy’s glory days and he’s now an old man, and an amusingly crotchety one at that.

"Look! The jacket still fits!"

The film also gives us a good villain with Mads Mikkelsen as Jurgen Voller, a brilliant, cold-blooded Nazi archaeologist (the series was always best when letting Indy do some Nazi-punchin’). Also enjoyable is Phoebe Waller Bridge as Helena Shaw, Indy’s goddaughter who’s grown up to be an ethically questionable fortune hunter. While Voller wants the titular McGuffin to travel back in time and fix Hitler’s mistakes, she sees it as a massive payday. Indy, of course, thinks it “belongs in a museum.” 

With no expectations, I enjoyed the whole thing. Despite a daunting running time, the film is pretty fast moving and features a few impressive action set-pieces. Sure, one can point-out moments of wonky CGI, but really, every entry in the franchise has had moments where the special effects weren’t all that great. And while a skeptic with no sense of fun might balk at the franchise once-again delving into sci-fi territory, it's still more believable than a quest for magic rocks (the plot of Temple of Doom, a movie that even managed to forget about Indy’s fear of snakes).

Does Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny rank up there with the original Raiders of the Lost Ark? Of course not…what movie does? But as a nostalgic adventure with a lot of heart and humor, the film does its job quite nicely. And for some of us, it’s great to see Indy break-out the whip and fedora one last time.

EXTRA KIBBLES

THE MAKING OF INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY - Divided into 5 chapters, totaling just under an hour.

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN: 2020's Best Film in 4K

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN (4K UHD)

2020 / 114 min

FROM UNIVERSAL

Available at www.moviezyng.com

Review by Tiger the Terrible😸

Each Oscar season, I try to see as many of the major nominees as possible before the show, which makes it more fun to root for certain movies over others. For the 2020 Awards, I managed to see every movie nominated for Best Picture except Promising Young Woman. Nomadland won that year, but I was pulling for Judas and the Black Messiah.

I never actually sat down to watch Promising Young Woman until reviewing this 4H UHD release. No real reason…I just never got around to it. But if I had seen it prior to that Oscar night, this is the movie I would’ve been rooting for to win…not just Best Picture, but Carey Mulligan for Best Actress and Emerald Fennell for Best Director. But at least she won an award for her screenplay, which is well deserved.

Promising Young Woman is ostensibly a revenge film, but unlike any I've ever seen (and I’ve seen plenty). Mulligan plays Cassie, a medical school dropout who lives with her beleaguered parents and works as a barista. Each night, however, she cruises bars pretending to be completely hammered and luring men into trying to sexually assault her while she’s passed out. They’re horrified when Cassie reveals she’s completely sober, which says a lot about what type of people they are.

It turns out Cassie’s life-long best friend, Nina, was raped while drunk at a college party. Worse yet, the guy got away with it because his friends, lawyers and the college itself more or less swept the incident under the rug. Nina later killed herself, and ever since, Cassie’s dedicated her life to entrapping men attempting the same thing (most of whom claim they’re actually ‘nice guys’). 

Cassie does let her guard down when an old college friend, Ryan (Bo Burnham), re-enters her life and the two begin dating. That’s when she learns the man who raped Nina, Alex (Chris Lowell), is now an anesthesiologist and about to get married. So she comes up with a creative plan to finally hold everyone involved in the incident accountable, culminating with Alex himself.

"Some freak just ordered black coffee. What do I do?"

But Promising Young Woman is no common tale of retribution. How she avenges Nina is sometimes wickedly funny, occasionally shocking and, most significantly, quite revealing. Additionally, the narrative is a none-too-subtle commentary on a system that tends to favor the accused…especially if they happen to be men with bright futures. The excuses offered for such abhorrent behavior are both hilariously pathetic and alarmingly familiar.

At the film’s center is Mulligan’s excellent performance. As Cassie, she’s funny, sardonic, sympathetic and believable, the last quality being especially important during moments when plausibility could sometimes be called into question. But really, plausibility is of secondary importance to how the movie makes us feel. Seeing these people get what’s coming to them is extremely satisfying, yet it seldom involves any actual violence. As the story unfolds, we’re sometimes amused, other times enraged, often surprised…but always engaged. 

Of all the Best Picture nominees that year, Promising Young Woman was the best one. I simply didn’t know it at the time. But hey…better late than never. It's a bittersweet black comedy that’s as perceptive as it is entertaining. This release comes with a new 4K transfer, as well as the original Blu-ray. Of the two, the 4K sports a more vibrant overall picture, though the audio for both sound pretty much the same (at least to these ears). 

EXTRA KIBBLES

4K, BLU-RAY & DIGITAL COPIES

FEATURETTES - A Promising Vision (mostly featuring writer-director Emerald Fennell); Two-Sided Transformation (this one focuses on the Cassis character, as played by Carey Mulligan); Balancing Act. Each runs about 3-4 minutes each, and not too comprehensive.

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By writer-director Emerald Fennell.

THE POOP SCOOP: Upcoming Kibbles!

🙀THE WALKING DEAD Complete Collection arrives October 17 on Blu-ray and DVD from Lionsgate.

On August 25, the anniversary of the Wildfire Virus that destroyed the modern world – nearly wiping out the human race – a pandemic was declared in the universe of “The Walking Dead,” the Complete Collection of the two-time Primetime Emmy Award-winning TV series arrives on Blu-ray and DVD October 17 from Lionsgate. Created by Academy Award nominee Frank Darabont, “The Walking Dead” The Complete Collection follows the survivors of the walker apocalypse as they fight the dead and fear the living. The series features Norman Reedus (The Boondock Saints franchise, Blade II), Andrew Lincoln (Love Actually, Penguin Bloom, TV’s “Teachers” and “Afterlife”) and Academy Award® nominee Steven Yeun (Nope, Minari, Okja, Mayhem). “The Walking Dead” The Complete Collection includes all 11 seasons on 54 discs including a bonus disc containing a 42-minute documentary on the making of the final season, as well as a still gallery. The Blu-ray + Digital version will feature never-before-seen original packaging and disc artwork by Clio Award-winning artist Oliver Barrett. 

🎄SCROOGED 35th Anniversary 4K Ultra HD Arriving November 7th (with Never-Before-Released Special Features) from Paramount.

Comedy legend Bill Murray stars in the uproarious classic SCROOGED, celebrating its 35th anniversary this year and arriving for the first time ever on 4K Ultra HD from Paramount Home Entertainment on November 7, 2023 with never-before-released special features! Originally released on November 23, 1988, SCROOGED is an outrageously funny take on a beloved Dickens tale that has become a perennial holiday favorite.  The high-spirited and biting comedy follows a television executive with a heart of stone and features an all-star cast including Karen Allen, John Forsythe, Bobcat Goldthwait, Carol Kane, Robert Mitchum, and Alfre Woodard. This new release includes the remastered film in sparkling 4K Ultra HD, access to a Digital copy of the film, as well as over 50 minutes of never-before-released special features!  Take a journey with the ghost of Christmas past to discover behind-the-scenes featurettes and an insightful commentary by director Richard Donner, now on disc for the first time. 

😺SUBURRA Limited Edition Blu-ray & DVD Coming Sept. 26 from Unearthed Films.

Based on real-life events of the Mafia Capitale that occurred in 2011, SUBURRA follows the attempts to turn a small-town – owned by the Capitale – into the Las Vegas of Italy. Corruption, triple-crossing, blackmailing, AND murder all follow as politician Filippo Malgradi’s (Pierfrancesco Favino) plans to help a Mafia boss known as Samurai (Claudio Amendola) turn upside-down when Malgradi is involved with the death of a sex worker. An all-out war happens as Malgradi and others fight for their slice of power and money. Adapted from the 2013 novel of the same name by Carlo Bonini and Giancarlo De Cataldo, SUBURRA is a modern crime thriller in the tradition of the acclaimed TV series Gomorrah and Sollima’s own Sicario: Day of the Soldado.  The Blu-ray and DVD special features include The Making of Suburra - a two-hour full-length documentary; a production gallery; and a theatrical trailer, housed in a limited-edition slipcase.  

😺Jean-Luc Godard’s LE MÉPRIS (CONTEMPT) Available On 4K Blu-ray Sept. 26 from Lionsgate.

Celebrate the 60th anniversary of Jean-Luc Godard’s landmark movie Le Mépris (Contempt) with this first-ever 4K release. Weaving provocative storylines with a stunning visual style, Le Mépris is a movie within a movie. On the surface, the film is about a director (Michel Piccoli) whose wife Camille (screen legend Brigitte Bardot) falls out of love with him while he rewrites an adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey for an American producer (Jack Palance). But underneath this tale of a doomed romance lies Godard’s true subject: the commercial film industry, which he skewers in an unforgettable tour de force that is subversive, darkly comic, and completely original. The release features a special introduction by Colin MacCabe, an academic, film producer, and author of Godard: A Portrait of the Artist at Seventy.

BORSALINO: The Bullet-Ridden Bromance

BORSALINO (Blu-ray)

1970 / 125 min

FROM ARROW VIDEO

Review by Fluffy the Fearless😺

If nothing else, the 1970 French gangster epic, Borsalino, features the most amusing 'bromantic' meet-cute I’ve ever seen. François Capella (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and Roch Siffredi (Alain Delon) are two low-level criminals who initially clash over a woman, Lola (Catherine Rouvel). They commence beating the hell out of each other, then laugh and shake hands when the fight comes to a draw.

Realizing they’re stronger together, the two become fast friends and partners in crime, while Lola remains cheerfully content to see to their needs (which appears to involve a lot of cooking). At first, they earn the trust of a local gangster by forcing competitors out of the fish-marketing business. But Roch & François have ambitions beyond being enforcers, though a mob lawyer with political ties warns them not to overstep their bounds with other powerful bosses.

But they do that very thing by crossing Poli, one of Marseille’s most powerful kingpins. François courts the man’s young girlfriend, with dire consequences. Meanwhile, Roch orchestrates an attack on Poli’s meat-market business. And as they grow more powerful, so does their list of enemies, both criminal and political.

"Why yes...we are dressed to kill."

Despite the subplots and conflicts with a large variety of characters, Borsalino isn’t a particularly complex film. The relationship and bond between Roch & François is what ultimately drives the narrative. Though unrepentant criminals, we genuinely like these guys, even when torching local nightclubs, fixing boxing matches or sabotaging local businesses. Not quite two peas in a pod, François is the more laid-back and congenial of the two, while Roch is more intense and angry. But that dichotomy is part of what makes them interesting, and in a way, their relationship isn’t too far removed from the one in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. 

Borsalino is stylish, quick-paced and boasts enjoyable performances by the two leads. The jangling piano score by French jazz legend Claude Bolling is repetitive and grating, but doesn’t seriously detract from the fun of watching these guys' rise to power. A big hit in Europe, this bullet-ridden bromance remains comparatively obscure on this side of the pond, but for fans of mob movies, it’s worth checking out.

EXTRA KIBBLES

NOTE: Free Kittens Movie Guide was provided with a promo disc for review purposes. Physical supplemental material included with the final product (booklets, artwork, inserts, etc) were not available for review.

FEATURETTES - Dressing Down (interview with Elizabeth Costalo, who discusses the film’s costume design); The Music of Borsalino (composer/historian Neil Brand discusses the film’s score); Le Magnifique Belmondo (a gushing archival look at co-star Jean-Paul Belmondo’s career).

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By historian Josh Nelson.

TRAILER

IMAGE GALLERY

Stare Into the BLACK CIRCLE

BLACK CIRCLE (Blu-ray)

2018 / 103 min

FROM SYNAPSE FILMS

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

Back in the ‘90s, I used to make programs which were broadcasted on a local public access channel, mostly things I could shoot and edit myself. For one of them, I slapped a dartboard shaped black & white contrast pattern onto a turntable and shot it for 30 minutes. By happy accident, I discovered it did weird things to the eyes… staring at the spinning pattern for a short period and looking away created the illusion that the room was morphing & twisting out of shape.

Writer-director Adrian Garcia Bogliano does the exact same thing in the prologue to Black Circle, with an unseen narrator urging the viewer to stare at the image. Though I should sue the guy for plagiarism, the scene is a highly effective way to immerse the viewer, especially considering the film’s intriguing subject matter.  

The story itself is about siblings Celeste and Isa (Felice Jenkell & Erica Midfjäll) who acquire an old self-help record from the 1970s, which promises to improve the listeners life through a type of hypnosis. Listening to it each night for a week will supposedly take away all the negativity in your life. Instead, it convinces the girls that they’re being stalked by a monstrous entity.

"The bathroom's over there...second door on the left."

They seek out the woman who made the recording, Lina (Christina Lindberg), who gravely informs them it was part of a failed experiment. What listening to the record actually does is create a doppleganger that becomes stronger with each listen. Now Lina and her cohorts must use hypnosis to perform a sort of reverse-exorcism before the girls' doppelgangers grow strong enough to replace their hosts.

It’s a pretty cool concept, which Bogliano effectively presents with atmospheric direction and minimal special effects. There are also flashbacks interspersed throughout the story (the previous failed experiment from the ‘70s involving Lina’s sister), depicted through scratchy, 8mm-style imagery that renders them pretty chilling. While the narrative briefly throws-in the presence of Lovecraftian entities, that aspect of the plot isn’t really expanded on too deeply, nor is it ultimately all that necessary. 

For the most part, Black Circle is an atmospheric, surreal and creepy horror film that not only messes with viewers’ heads (literally and figuratively), it’s very well made on a limited budget. But who needs money when armed with wild ideas, a solid cast and creative ambition? So I guess I'll refrain from suing Mr. Bogliano, since he did a lot more with the spinning pattern than yours truly (and it probably wasn't my original idea, anyway).

EXTRA KIBBLES

SOUNDTRACK CD - 18 tracks of the original score. Comes with an insert with the track listing & credits. 

“DON’T OPEN YOUR EYES” - The original short film.

INTERVIEW - Director Adrian Garcia Bogliano interviews actor Christina Lindberg, who’s sort of a legend in Sweden.

MAKING-OF FEATURETTE

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By director Adrian Garcia Bogliano

STILL GALLERY

TRAILER

THE BOOGEYMAN: Stephen Who?

THE BOOGEYMAN (Digital)

2023 / 99 min

FROM 2OTH CENTURY STUDIOS

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

The Boogeyman is now available on Digital and on Blu-ray and DVD October 10.

I started reading Stephen King in high school. While The Stand and The Shining were some of my favorites (and still are), his short story collection, Night Shift, featured his freakiest work at the time. One tale in particular, “The Boogeyman,” was the first thing I ever read that truly scared the hell out of me.

Being that it was only eight pages long, had two characters and took place in a single room, I knew any feature-length movie adaptation would be seriously re-worked and padded out. And why not? Hollywood’s been doing that with King’s shorts since the ‘80s. But aside from the title, The Boogeyman bears absolutely no resemblance to its source material. I'm confident they could've left King’s name completely out of the credits with no worries of being sued for plagiarism. 

Whereas the story featured a desperate man telling a psychiatrist that his young children were killed by a closet-dwelling entity, the movie serves-up just another CGI monster, with troubled teenager Sadie Harper (Sophie Thatcher) as the main protagonist. Still mourning the recent death of her mother, Sadie’s relationship with Dad (Chris Messina) has become strained and she’s distanced herself from friends at school. When younger sister Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair) claims there’s a monster in her room, Sadie’s initially skeptical, at least until she encounters it herself and learns about the last family it killed.

The real terror of The Boogeyman...losing the remote.

An equal opportunity predator, this particular “Boogeyman” isn’t just partial to children. The story serves up victims of all ages. Hence, the film mostly consists of  characters Stephen King never created, including a gaggle of bitchy teenagers who don’t seem to serve any narrative purpose other than padding things out. 

But taken on its own terms, The Boogeyman isn’t completely without merit. Director Rob Savage maintains a grim, serious tone, tosses in a couple of decent jump-scares and wisely keeps his monster lurking in the shadows for most of the film (which is good, because when fully revealed, it’s more impressive than scary). And while King's terrifying tale has been rendered generic and predictable, it benefits from good overall performances (especially David Dastmalchian in a small but pivotal role). 

Featuring almost nothing from the original story, The Boogeyman basically boasts the author’s name strictly for brand recognition. But it isn't the first movie to do that, nor is it the worst. With tempered expectations, this is a fairly entertaining horror film, though I suspect viewers who have never read King’s story will enjoy it more than those who have. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

MAKING-OF FEATURETTE

GAG REEL