Night Swim

(2024) Forced into early retirement by a degenerative illness, former baseball player Ray Waller moves into a new house with his wife and two children. He hopes that the backyard swimming pool will be fun for the kids and provide physical therapy for himself. However, a dark secret from the home’s past soon unleashes a malevolent force that drags the family into the depths of inescapable terror. Vitals: Director: Bryce McGuire. Stars: Kerry Condon, Wyatt Russell, Amelie Hoeferle, Gavin Warren, Jodi Long. CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 98 min.,Horror Thriller, North American box office gross: $32,310 million, worldwide $52.071 million, Universal. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Code, VOD, Digital. Extras: “Masters of Fear” featurette; “Demons From the Depths”; “Into the Deep”; “Marco Polo”; feature commentary with co-writer/director Bryce Mcguire. Read more here.

Lisa Frankenstein

(2024) A coming of RAGE love story about a misunderstood teenager and her high school crush, who happens to be a handsome corpse. After a set of playfully horrific circumstances bring him back to life, the two embark on a murderous journey to find love, happiness … and a few missing body parts along the way. Vitals: Director: Zelda Williams. Stars: Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse, Liza Soberano, Henry Eikenberry, Joe Chrest, Carla Gugino. CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 141 min., Horror Comedy, North American box office gross: $9.774 million, 9.927 million, Universal. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray + Digital Code, VOD, Digital. Extras: Deleted scenes; gag reel; “Resurrecting the 1980’s”; “An Electric Connection”; “A Dark Comedy Duo”; feature commentary with director Zelda Williams. Read more here.

It’s a Wonderful Knife

(2023) In Angel Falls, Winnie Carruthers stops a psychotic killer but finds it makes her own life far from wonderful. After making a wish that she had never been born she finds herself in a parallel reality – one in which the killer is very much alive and active, and now must figure out how to stop the killer and return to her old life. Vitals: Director: Tyler MacIntyre. Stars: Jane Widdop, Jess McLeod, Joel McHale, Katharine Isabelle, William B. Davis, Justin Long. CC, MPAA rating: R, 87 min., Horror Comedy, North American box office gross: $.811 million, worldwide $1.302 million, RLJ. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray, VOD, Digital.

---

This Week’s Best Bets

This sensual and striking chronicle of a disappearance and its aftermath put director Peter Weir on the map and helped usher in a new era of Australian cinema. Based on an acclaimed 1967 novel by Joan Lindsay, “Picnic at Hanging Rock” (1975 — Australia) is set at the turn of the twentieth century and concerns a small group of students from an all-female college who vanish, along with a chaperone, while on a St. Valentine’s Day outing. Less a mystery than a journey into the mystic, as well as an inquiry into issues of class and sexual repression in Australian society, Weir’s gorgeous, disquieting film is a work of poetic horror whose secrets haunt viewers to this day. On 4k UHD + Blu-ray Combo. New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Peter Weir and director of photography Russell Boyd, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features. Read more here. From The Criterion Collection.

Buzzin’ the ‘B’s:

In “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” (2023), starring Nikolai Leon, Maria Taylor and Natasha Rose Mills, it’s five years since Christopher Robin abandoned his childhood companions, Winnie the Pooh and Piglet, and the woods in which they all played. Now an adult, Christopher has returned, with his fiancée Maria in tow, for a reunion with his old friends — only to find that in his absence, Pooh and Piglet have turned feral, silent — and murderous. What was once a joyous place of imagination and merriment becomes a violent battleground for survival in this audacious and terrifying spin on A.A. Milne’s beloved children’s stories. On Blu-ray from Scream Factory … From the dark corners of underground cinema, “In Hell Productions: The Films Of Vince Roth And Mick Nards” (1998-2002) unveils three tales of terror. “Nekro” takes you into the disturbing world of a necrophile serial killer, blurring lines between reality and twisted fantasy. “Six Pack that B..h” turns a simple errand into a nightmare, where ordinary meets the grotesque. “Don’t Go in the F…ing Woods” transforms a peaceful retreat into a survival against a relentless axe-wielding fiend. A series of the most audacious and extreme American underground films from the late ’90s and early 2000s, created by the visionary duo Vince Roth and Mick Nards. This collection, now available for the first time, offers an extensive array of exclusive content, featuring over an hour and a half of extras that include unprecedented behind-the-scenes footage and insights into the making of these films. Unveiled in their original, raw form, these shorts capture the essence of low-budget, underground exploitation cinema, showcasing an unapologetically intense and unfiltered creative vision. On Blu-ray from Massacre Video.

Foreign Films:

“The Abandoned” (2006 — Bulgaria, Russia), starring Anastasia Hille, Karel Roden and Valentin Goshev, begins in 1966, somewhere in Russia, with a wounded woman driving a truck to an isolated farm with two babies. Forty years later, the child travels back to her homeland in the wilderness of Russia, where she meets up with her twin. The twins end up trapped, terrified, and haunted by zombie-like ghosts of themselves. On Blu-ray from Unearthed Films) … It’s late at night in “Death Squad” (1985 — France), starring Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil and Lillemour Jonsson. In the notorious Bois de Boulogne Forest just outside Paris, a group of transsexual prostitutes offer their services to passing motorists. Suddenly we hear the roar of a powerful motorcycle engine kicked into life. Headlights pierce the darkness of the forest. Two bikes appear, their riders dressed in black leather, faces masked, heavily armed with assault rifles. The prostitutes scatter, chased by the riders who slaughter them in a hail of bullets before vanishing into the night. In the morgue, Inspector Gerard Lattuada, of the Paris Vice Squad, recognizes one of the dead as a police informant known as Dolores. He learns that a notorious crime boss called “The Greek” ordered the killing of Dolores to settle a grudge. As Lattuarda investigates further, he discovers that a psychopathic and sadistic hit man, employed by The Greek, is intent on taking over the Paris underworld by any means possible. Soon a violent and deadly gang war is in full swing. And soon Lattuada finds himself on a personal mission of vengeance when his sister falls victim to the psycho killer. One of the sleaziest and most violent crime films ever made in France, “Death Squad” gained much notoriety when it was classed “X” by the French censor. This is the first ever US release of the film and is fully uncut. Brand new 4k transfer from film negative, digitally restored. On Blu-ray from Mondo Macabro … In “Monster” (2023 — Japan), starring Ando Sakura, Nagayama Eita, Kurokawa Soya and Hiiragi Hinata, after a mother discovers that a teacher’s bullying is behind her young son’s sudden strange behavior, she storms into his school demanding an explanation. Continually left without satisfactory answers — and with an increasingly distressed child — she furiously escalates her concerns to the school board and the media. But as the story unfolds through the multilayered perspectives of mother, teacher, and child, the real truth gradually emerges — and proves much more complex than anyone could have expected. On Blu-ray from Well Go USA). Read more here … “The Roundup: No Way Out” (2023 — South Korea), starring Don Lee, Munetaka Aoki, Lee Jun-hyuk and Jun Kunimura, is the sequel to the 2022 box office phenomenon “The Roundup.” The film is set seven years after the events in “The Roundup,” which saw South Korean police detective Ma Seok-do and his team dispatched to Vietnam to extradite a dangerous Korean fugitive who was suspiciously eager to be incarcerated back home. In the new film, the lovable lunk Ma (Don Lee) joins a new squad to investigate a murder case at home. He soon learns this case involves busting dealers of a new synthetic drug called Hiper, and he starts to dig deeper. Meanwhile, the Japanese mafia boss behind it all, Ichizo (Jun Kunimura) won’t stop looking for trouble, and the Japanese drug distributor Ricky (Munetaka Aoki) and his gang come to Korea to join the chaos. Things are about to get out of hand. Third title in the crowd-pleasing “Crime City” (aka “The Outlaws”) film series. On DVD, Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo from Capelight. Read more here … “Special Silencers” (1982 — Indonesia) is a legendary entry into the Indonesian “cult film” canon. Chock full of crazy martial arts, unbelievably yucky special effects, a touch of black magic, and even torture by smelly shoes. This one has got it all. The plot is simplicity itself. A corrupt politician in rural Indonesia wants to impose himself as the boss of the local territory. To do this he has to eliminate the competition. To do that he uses his “special silencers” – small red pills apparently intended to enhance meditative states. But when taken with food or drink they erupt inside the victim’s stomach and emerge through the flesh like ragged, blood covered tree branches. It literally has to be seen to be believed. But that’s not all… the film features the dynamic duo (soon to be husband and wife) of Eva Arnaz and Barry Prima. Big stars in Indonesia at the time and both skilled martial artists. Seeing Eva kick bad-guy ass is a joy to behold. She, along with Barry, was one of the jewels in the crown of Indonesian exploitation cinema. This is the first ever video release of the film in its intended aspect ratio. On Blu-ray from Mondo Macabro.

---

All DVDs and Blu-rays are screened on a reference system consisting of an Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray Disc Player w/SACD & DVD-Audio, a Rotel RSX-972 Surround Sound Receiver, and Phase Technology 1.1 (front), 33.1 (center), and 50 (rear) speakers, and Power 10 subwoofer.