October 3 Blu-ray, Digital and DVD Releases

Welcome to ComingSoon.net’s new Blu-ray, Digital and DVD column! As you can see we’ve added a video player at the top highlighting this week’s releases, and you can find more detailed write-ups of different titles below! You can click each highlighted title to purchase through Amazon!

New Movies on Blu-ray/DVD

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Disney)

Johnny Depp returns to his signature role of Captain Jack Sparrow for a fifth outing, and it only took five movies for the character to devolve from rock star pirate to sad, Dudley Moore-esque drunk. Fortunately, directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg bring an old school Disney fun to the proceedings, Javier Bardem hams it up gloriously as the ghostly Captain Salazar, and Kaya Scodelario is terrific as the smart and brave Carina.

A Ghost Story (Lionsgate)

Oscar winner Casey Affleck wears a sheet over himself for most of the running time as a ghost looking after his living wife, played by Rooney Mara. Directed by David Lowery, this meditative haunting story earned stellar reviews.

The Book of Henry (Universal)

Star Wars: Episode IX‘s recently-fired director Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World) helmed this critical and box office calamity about a gifted boy who goes to great lengths to protect the girl next door. Naomi Watts, Jaeden Lieberher, Jacob Tremblay, Sarah Silverman and Lee Pace star.

Cult of Chucky (Universal)

This seventh entry in the long-running Child’s Play franchise features Chucky (again voiced by Brad Dourif) terrorizing a mental institution where the wheelchair-bound Nina (Fiona Dourif) is in residence. Its up to Andy (Alex Vincent) to once again stop his not-so-beloved Good Guy doll. While somewhat reinventing the franchise, this one is very much for the fans and is not for those uninitiated to this franchise’s campy ways. The disc comes with a cool lenticular cover! Click here to read our full review of Cult of Chucky!

Jackals (Scream Factory)

Deborah Kara Unger, Jonathan Schaech and Stephen Dorff star in this harrowing horror thriller about a family who tries to deprogram their son from brainwashing by a dangerous cult. They seclude him in a cabin… until the cult descends upon them.

Criterion Corner

Vampyr (Criterion Collection)

The folks at Criterion have outdone themselves again with this deluxe release of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1932 vampire chiller. In it, we follow a young man named Allan Gray who is obsessed with the occult as he stumbles on a castle where two sisters are in mortal danger from a real ghoul. Dreyer’s constantly-panning camera floats through surreal, often legitimately-disturbing scenes made all the more eerie by the slightly washed-out look of the damaged print (the original negatives have been lost). That’s not to say that Criterion hasn’t worked wonders cleaning up the new high-def transfer as best as anyone of this era has ever seen it, and have seamlessly added digital English text to certain scenes. They’ve also loaded the disc with extras, including a documentary on Dreyer as well as a supplementary book containing the original screenplay and the 1872 source novel “Carmilla,” by Sheridan Le Fanu.

Reissues

Children of the Corn (Arrow)

Those looking for more of a Stephen King fix after IT are in luck, as Arrow has issued a deluxe Blu-ray edition of the cult classic 1984 film version of Children of the Corn. Based on King’s short story that appeared in “Night Shift,” it follows a couple (Peter Horton and Linda Hamilton) who stumble on a farm town where all the adults have been killed by the children, led by a little religious zealot named Isaac (John Franklin). The terror tale went on to spawn seven sequels, but the original is still the most effective. The disc includes a slick new 2K transfer, two audio commentaries and several new retrospective documentaries, PLUS the original fold-out theatrical poster with the scythe and a booklet featuring two essays, including one by ShockTillYouDrop contributor Lee Gambin. Click here to read our full review of Children of the Corn!

976-EVIL (Sony)

Robert “Freddy Krueger” England’s directorial debut came with this 1988 movie that, while not well received at the time, has since gained a cult following. Fright Night‘s Stephen Geoffreys gives a memorable performance as a nerd who calls a satanic hotline and becomes possessed. The film is notable as the screenwriting debut of Oscar winner Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential) and for Kevin Yagher’s make-up effects.

Superman: The Movie: Extended Cut (Warner Bros.)

Richard Donner’s superhero classic made its TV debut with 40 extra minutes of footage that is now being made available in a two-disc set alongside the Special Edition.

New On Digital HD

Girls Trip (Universal)

With over $134 million at the box office, this wild comedy about friendship and sisterhood led by Regina Hall and Queen Latifah proved to be one of the big sleeper hits of the year.

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (Paramount)

Al Gore’s Oscar-winning documentary that helped win him the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize returns for a sadly much-needed follow-up. With the struggle to make the U.S. Government and citizens recognize the urgency of climate change, it doesn’t hurt to get a refresher course.

New to 4K

Warm Bodies 4K (Lionsgate)

We recommend this 2013 zombie romance because it’s heartfelt, gory fun, and also because the author of this column appears as a fat zombie in it… see? (far left)

TV on Blu-ray and DVD

Those looking for some TV to binge on this week have four new sets to choose from: Vikings: Season 4 Volume 2 (Fox), American Horror Story: Roanoke (Fox), iZombie: Season 3 (Warner Bros.) and House of Cards: Season 5 (Sony)

Movie News

Marvel and DC

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