From the Big Screen:

Presence

(2025) It’s there before the family even moves in. It witnesses the family’s most intimate uncomfortable moments. It navigates the family’s new house at supernatural speed. It pays unusual attention to Chloe, the teenage girl who is neither her mother’s nor her brother’s favorite. It wants no, it needs something. And as time goes on, the presence pieces together how it might accomplish its goal. Vitals: Director: Steven Soderbergh. Stars: Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, West Mulholland, Julia Fox. CC, MPAA rating: R, 85 min., Horror, Theatrical release date: January 24, 2025., North American box office gross: $6.8 million, worldwide $8.7 million, Decal — Neon. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD, VOD, Digital. Read more here.

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This Week’s Highlights:

Writer-director Bruce Robinson and star Richard E. Grant, the cracked comic geniuses behind the cult favorite “Withnail and I,” reteamed for “How to Get Ahead in Advertising,” a diabolically dark satire of runaway capitalism in Margaret Thatcher–era England. Grant gives a virtuosically crazed performance as an ambitious advertising exec whose latest assignment -— devising a campaign for a pimple cream —- has him on the edge of a nervous breakdown. When he sprouts an enormous boil on his shoulder -— one that not only talks but has evil ambitions of its own — a twisted battle of wills ensues. With fantastically fleshy body-horror effects and flourishes of gonzo surrealism, this tour de force of verbal jousting and physical comedy is a caustic Jekyll-and-Hyde tale for the greed-is-good 1980s. On Blu-ray, with 2K digital restoration, supervised by director of photography Peter Hannan, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. Read more here. From The Criterion Collection … “Withnail and I” (1987) is the ultimate cult British comedy, Bruce Robinson’s semi-autobiographical cinematic bender is a feast of delectably florid dialogue delivered with deadpan relish by stars Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann as, respectively, Withnail and “I,” a pair of perpetually soused, unemployed actors in 1960s London who, desperate to escape their nightmarishly grimy flat, embark on a hilariously misbegotten country getaway beset by menacing locals, bare cupboards, and a randy uncle -— all of which they may be able to withstand as long as they don’t run out of alcohol. While Robinson’s dazzling script yields quotable moments galore, it’s the film’s bittersweet evocation of a friendship gradually unraveling that gives this beloved end-of-youth tale its lasting poignancy. On 4K UHD + Blu-ray, Blu-ray, with new 4K digital restoration, supervised by director of photography Peter Hannan, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack. In the 4K UHD edition: One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features. Read more here. From The Criterion Collection.

Buzzin’ the ‘B’s:

After dying, coming back, taking Manhattan and dying again, Jason Voorhees is now back as a body snatcher in “Jason Goes to Hell [Limited Edition]” (1993), an impossibly fun slice of campy supernatural slasher action. Jason Voorhees is finally dead! Or is he? After being blown to smithereens in a sting operation, the infamous killer’s body is taken to the morgue in Youngstown, Ohio. But Jason can’t be killed so easily, and his still-beating heart possesses the body of the coroner performing his autopsy. The now body-hopping Jason begins hacking and slashing his way back to his stomping ground of Crystal Lake, where his last living relatives, Diana, her daughter Jessica and her newborn baby Stephanie still reside. Only by them can he be truly killed, and only through them can he be reborn, and Jason is determined to return to full power. Can the last remaining Voorheeses survive long enough to finally send Jason to hell for good? Featuring fan favorite Kane Hodder as Jason and spectacular special effects by industry legends Howard Berger, Robert Kurtzman and Greg Nicotero of KNB EFX Group, “Jason Goes to Hell” is a madcap entry in one of the most lasting and entertaining franchises of all time. On 4K UHD. Read more here. From Arrow Video/MVD Entertainment … It is now time for Jason Voorhees to boldly go where no serial killer has gone before in “Jason X [Limited Edition]” (2001), a spectacular sci-fi twist on the “Friday the 13th” franchise brought to life by legendary special effects supervisor Jim Isaac (“Gremlins,” “eXistenZ”). The year is 2455, humanity has left an overly polluted Earth for a new planet they’ve christened Earth II. A crew of scientists on an expedition to Earth I discover a research facility near Camp Crystal Lake where Jason Voorhees’ body has been cryogenically frozen. They decide to bring him back on their spaceship, but in so doing seal their doom. As they depart once again for the furthest stars, the masked maniac awakens, ready to kill again. With fan favorite Kane Hodder returning as Jason this time sporting a new space age look, and some of the most creative kills in all of slasherdom, “Jason X” is a rollicking blast from take-off to landing. On 4K UHD. Read more here. From Arrow Video/MVD Entertainment … With World War II raging around them, Gene, an injured American pilot, and his fiancée Penny, an OSS agent, find themselves stranded on a remote estate in “Fog of War” (2025), starring Jake Abel, Brianna Hildebrand, Géza Röhrig, John Cusack, Mira Sorvino, David Gere, Julia Ebner and Chris Maher. As the Allies plan the D-Day Invasion, the couple become aware of a Nazi spy hiding amongst them with stolen documents bound for Germany. Unsure of who to trust, and facing danger around every corner, they must uncover the spy’s identity as the outcome of the war hangs in the balance. On DVD, VOD, Digital from Decal Releasing. Due May 23. Read more here.

Foreign:

When ruthless drug kingpin Wei Yunzhou tightens his grip on the city, fear and chaos spread in “Hunt the Wicked” (2024 — China), starring Tse Miu, Andy On, and Jing Gu. Law enforcement has failed to bring him down — until Huang Mingjin steps in. Determined and relentless, he takes on the criminal empire, facing brutal enforcers and deadly traps at every turn. As the battle intensifies, fists and bullets fly in a relentless fight for justice. On DVD, Blu-ray, VOD, Digital from Well Go USA. Read more here … In “The Rapacious Jailbreaker” (1974 — Japan), set during the free-for-all chaos after World War II, black marketeer Ueda (Hiroki Matsukata) is robbed of a stash of morphine. He takes his brutal revenge, but is arrested for murder and sentenced to 20 years. He escapes and is caught, but no matter where they send him, Ueda won’t let prison walls stop him. Directed by Masaru Shiga, a master of the genre, and based on the real exploits of a seven-time prison escapee, this ranks as one of the rawest entries in the 1970s cycle of Japanese true-account crime films. On Blu-ray from Radiance/MVD Entertainment … Living at home with his mother, bachelor house painter “Themroc” (1973 — France), (Michel Piccoli) leads a dull life. One day, after an unearned run-in with his boss, the usually docile Themroc rebels and dismantles his myopic world. Made on a shoestring budget with no intelligible dialogue, Claude Faraldo’s cult, taboo-busting satire about a French, blue-collar worker-turned-urban caveman anarchically eviscerates mid-century labor and gender politics. Never released on home video in the US, “Themroc” is both a savage commentary on the post-1968 protest movements and a precursor to French extreme cinema. Newly presented on Blu-ray from a 4K restoration. On Blu-ray from Radiance/MVD Entertainment.

Special Interest:

Why do film cuts work? Why do people around the world – even children – so effortlessly understand them? In real life we don’t instantly jump from one viewpoint to another. Such a bizarre disruption of reality would be nauseatingly jarring. And yet, most viewers don’t even notice the hundreds or thousands of edits in their favorite films and shows. “The Cinema Within” (2024) is a feature-length documentary that delves into the psychology of film editing – the mystery of how and why an edited movie feels so natural and so effortlessly makes sense. Drawing on the insights of editor Walter Murch, scholar David Bordwell, and a varied group of perceptual scientists, the documentary explores the idea that in film’s earliest years, the most common edits were instinctively shaped to fit the contours of human perception – and that this might explain why, more than a century later, most modern-day filmmakers still rely on these exact same techniques. But in the remote mountains of Turkey, a young researcher – and a group of people who have never seen a film before – put this deepest of cinematic ideas to the test. On DVD, VOD, Digital. From First Run Features. Read more here … “Abby’s List, A Dogumentary” (2023) is the story of 14-year-old Whippet Abby and her human, Mark, as they embark on an epic cross-country road trip. From captaining a yacht to riding It’s a Small World, making friends with a dolphin and a deer, even peeing on the world’s tallest trees, Abby does it all! By the way, whose list is this anyway … Abby’s or Mark’s? As the journey unfolds, we realize that all they really want is quality time together. And incredibly, the universe intervenes. Abby starts aging in reverse, and their three-week bucket list trip morphs into the three-year journey of their lives. On DVD, VOD, Digital, from Freestyle Digital Media. Due May 23. Read more here.

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