Vintage sci-fi is one of those reliable genres that seems to find a receptive audience on any home video format you can think of. 4K UHD has been awaiting the likes of some perennial sci-fi favorites, and Arrow Video has stepped up to the plate by releasing numerous ‘70s and ‘80s titles in the last couple of years – with “Logan’s Run” looming in the near future, for which I was excited to contribute an essay on Jerry Goldsmith’s classic score.
In the meantime, fans of Charlton Heston and dystopian futures can relish Arrow’s 4K UHD remaster of SOYLENT GREEN (102 mins., 1972, PG; Arrow), a somewhat dated and occasionally tedious exercise in early ‘70s sci-fi, opening with a montage setting up a future world where overpopulation has taken its toll on the planet. There, Heston’s pre-Rick Deckard cop is hot on the trail of a murder that relates to the production of “Soylent Green,” a food ration that’s the only thing keeping most of the world alive.
Veteran director Richard Fleischer helmed all kinds of movies during his long career, many of them underrated and most of them watchable, but “Soylent Green” never quite fulfills the potential of its premise, and is accentuated by an often heavy-handed Fred Myrow score. On the plus side, Leigh Taylor-Young is fetching as the female lead, Edward G. Robinson bids the silver screen goodbye in his last film performance, while the film’s oft-parodied conclusion is sure to generate a few yucks for anyone who remembers the Saturday Night Live sketch which spoofed it.
Not as much fun as another Heston futuristic fantasy produced around the same time (“The Omega Man”), “Soylent Green” hits UHD (2.39, mono) in a suitably grimy, detailed transfer preserving the film’s scope dimensions. This isn’t a flashy looking film but it plays well here with Dolby Vision HDR, while the movie’s mono audio is presented crisp and unadulterated. Extras include archival extras (vintage featurettes including a publicity party held for Robinson, plus an interesting commentary from Fleischer and Taylor-Young) and assorted new Arrow additions. Among the latter is a commentary with Michael Brooke and Johnny Mains; an archival Heston on-stage interview circa the mid ‘80s at the BFI (audio only), and another on-stage BFI interview with Fleischer, this time a decade later with video; image galleries; and a booklet featuring writing from Frank Collins and Alexandra Heller-Nicholas.
Another MGM release from the era, THE OUTFIT (105 mins., 1973, PG; Arrow), features Robert Duvall as a thief, just released from prison, who learns that his brother – with whom he knocked over a bank owned by a crime syndicate – was recently executed by said organization. With an old associate (Joe Don Baker) and his girlfriend (Karen Black) at his side, Duvall’s Earl Macklin takes matters, and vengeance, into his own hands in a fiery story of retribution.
Based on a novel by genre great Donald E. Westlake – writing under his Richard Stark pseudonym – “The Outfit” is a sturdy and watchable picture from director John Flynn (“Rolling Thunder,” “Lock Up”). Flynn wasn’t much of a visual stylist but his direct, no-nonsense approach adds grit and realism to Westlake’s story of small-time thieves trying to one up the mob in the Midwest, and the performances follow a similar line. Duvall is appropriately one-note here – in keeping with Westlake’s intentionally “flat” written protagonist – but Baker is quite excellent, dialed down but seemingly more human than in other roles he essayed throughout the ‘70s.
Scored by Jerry Fielding, “The Outfit” also features Joanna Cassidy and Robert Ryan, and should appeal to Westlake aficionados and devotees of ‘70s crime thrillers. Arrow’s Blu-Ray restoration (1.85, mono) from the original 35mm negative results in a satisfying transfer with heavy amounts of grain evident. Extras include an alternate edit of the film which ends on an earlier, more ambiguous beat; commentary from critic Jeddiah Ayres and Mike White; an appreciation of Westlake from Levi Stahl; a video essay on the film from Walter Chaw; a featurette by Alissa Marmol-Cernat and Shay Dennis; a 2013 interview with Walter Hill on Flynn; image galleries and booklet notes.
Featuring one of Charles Bronson’s more “engaged” performances from the 1970s, RED SUN (114 mins., 1971, PG; Arrow) is not just an offbeat affair but a highly entertaining one. Bronson stars as a thief who robs, with the help of dashing French gunslinger Alain Delon, a train transporting the visiting Japanese ambassador to the U.S. In fact, Delon himself takes off with a sword meant as a gift to the U.S. President, leading a reluctant Bronson to work with one of the ambassador’s samurai guards (Toshiro Mifune) in tracking it down.
Helmed by James Bond vet Terence Young in an “international” package assembled by American producer Ted Richmond, “Red Sun” was the work of four different screenwriters with a cast that also includes Ursula Andress and Capucine. While the pedigree might sound like any number of “all-star” ‘70s movies with the stars’ headshots in small boxes on the bottom of the movie poster, “Red Sun” plays well – in fact, the film is quite breezy and surprisingly coherent given its varied cast, crew, and Spanish shooting locations. Chief among the pleasures is Bronson, a lot looser here and displaying more of a sense of humor than usual, and Mifune playing opposite each other; Delon is superb also, though one wishes there was even more of him and his villainous exploits.
With an effective Maurice Jarre score punctuating the action, “Red Sun” should hold high appeal to western fans and Bronson buffs, and Arrow’s 4K UHD (1.85, mono) offers a slightly tweaked version of Studio Canal’s recent 4K restoration. Details are crisp and the natural colors at-times appropriately muted in the Dolby Vision HDR presentation, with extras including a new commentary by C. Courtney Joyner and Henry Parker; new visual essays from Jose Arroyo, Daisuke Miyao, and Mark Gallagher; archival segments on the picture’s production; trailers; and booklet note contributions from Bronson expert Paul Talbot and Moya Luckett.
A movie portraying ‘90s American (white) men as angry, bitter and disillusioned, Joel Schumacher’s FALLING DOWN (112 mins., 1992, R; Warner) is a superficial exercise that seems to have tricked some critics into believing it’s about more than it really is. Like they say, the more politics you bring into the picture, the more talking points you’ll believe are there.
But I never really bought that. Yes, Michael Douglas gives an admirable performance in this Schumacher picture, and yes, the movie would love to be a treatise on the inherent rage of the white American male circa 1992. Yet, the picture’s in-your-face messaging is so clearly obvious on the part of the director and writer Ebbie Roe Smith that the movie comes off more as a glib updating of “Death Wish” instead.
Arrow’s 4K restoration (2.39, 4.0/2.0) is at least sensational: Andrzej Bartkowiak’s cinematography and Schumacher’s widescreen preference are both on full display and this new UHD with Dolby Vision HDR heightens the visual appearance of the film throughout. An archival commentary has been carried over from previous releases while new extras include interviews with Smith, composer James Newton Howard and a locations featurette. Douglas also appears in an archival interview while the trailer and booklet commentary from Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Simon Ward completes the package.
New From Film Masters
Fans of ‘50s sci-fi should check out Film Masters’ latest release: a double-disc Blu-Ray pairing George Pal’s speculative DESTINATION MOON (91 mins., 1950) with B-grade favorite FLIGHT TO MARS (72 mins., 1951).
“Destination Moon” may be dated – in a good way – but it’s a fascinating first “serious” foray into portraying space travel. Offering a script co-written by Robert A. Heinlein and beautiful matte work from Chesley Bonestell, “Destination Moon” was George Pal’s first box-office smash: produced for Eagle-Lion, the movie portrays American industrialists and scientists leading the charge to blast off for the moon, eschewing government involvement. These elements remain topical even if the picture’s portrayal of space travel are firmly anchored to the best information and speculation experts believed to be accurate during its time.
Culled from a 4K scan of 35mm archival elements, “Destination Moon” (1.37, mono) looks great for a movie that’s been in the public domain for decades. The image offers strong detail despite some noise reduction and offers crisp mono audio, the movie benefiting from a score by frequent Pal collaborator Leith Stevens. Extras include commentary by Justin Humphreys; an excellent new documentary by Ballyhoo on the picture’s production and legacy; a 35mm restored trailer; and a pressbook gallery.
While “Destination Moon” had the benefit of Technicolor filming and elaborate FX work for its time, FLIGHT TO MARS was a quickie production shot in less than a week. Its silly plot line involving mankind’s first journey to Mars – and the crew’s subsequent discovery of underground-living humanoids – doesn’t compare to “Destination Moon”’s comparatively serious (if stilted) characters, but it’s still an amusing secondary feature, housed by Film Masters on its own Blu-Ray in a 4K restoration of its Cinecolor hues. Extras include another commentary by Justin Humphreys and an “extended edition” of Ballyhoo’s “Interstellar Travelogues” documentary, plus the archival doc “Walter Mirsch: From Bomba to Body Snatchers,” the original trailer, and Sloan De Forest’s booklet notes.
New From MVD
One of the Band family’s biggest box-office hits, their winter 1985 release TROLL (82 mins., PG-13; MVD) offers the once-in-a-lifetime cast of Michael Moriarty, Sonny Bono, Shelly Hack, Julia Louis-Dreyfus (and her husband, Brad Hall), WKRP’s Gary Sandy and June Lockhart, not to mention “Neverending Story” star Noah Hathaway and “V” child starlet Jenny Beck. It’s a nutty fantasy romp written by ex-”Starlog” journalist Ed Naha, with a few disturbing scenes (including little-person Phil Fondacarlo’s “rebirth” as a mustached-baby elf!), “Gremlins”-esque antics and an “Omen”-esque symphony penned by Richard Band.
“Troll” was one of the most expensive outings for Band’s short-lived Empire Pictures label and managed to net a few surprisingly positive reviews upon its theatrical release, leading to moderate box-office returns and solid home video receipts in the months and years afterwards. I fondly recall seeing it a couple of times at the Lincoln Mall General Cinema in northern RI – the only Empire movie I ever saw on the big-screen – and it holds up today as an agreeable B-movie from its era.
Reissued this month as an MVD Shop Exclusive release in the label’s Rewind Collection, “Troll” offers the same MGM HD master (1.85, 2.0 stereo) seen in Scream’s out-of-print 2018 Blu-Ray. MVD’s disc reprises the same a/v presentation along with the disc’s lengthy, 50-minute Making Of that offers not just a look at how “Troll” came to be, but also how Charles Band fashioned his Empire label. Sporting comments from Band, Ed Naha, director John Carl Buechler and others, this is an engaging doc that’s as much fun as the film itself. A still gallery, trailer, and collectible mini-poster are also on-hand in a single disc thankfully absent its overhyped, in-name-only sequel “Troll 2” which has been oversold as an unintentional comic masterpiece but is really not that much fun at all.
Radiance New Releases: Romolo Guerrieri’s THE DOUBLE (91 mins., 1971) follows Giovanni (Jean Sorel) after he’s shot by a mysterious man in a parking garage — then proceeds to flashback to his life and times, from personal to business obligations. This intentionally choppy Guerrieri thriller is one of the stranger giallo efforts given its storytelling technique, and is properly analyzed as part of the genre here by the great Tim Lucas in an exclusive commentary track. Radiance’s Blu-Ray (1.85, mono) also includes a 4K restoration from the OCN with Italian and English dubbed soundtracks; an archival interview with Guerrieri and star Ewa Aulin; an appreciation from critic Stephen Thrower; an easter egg; and liner notes by Nathaniel Thompson.
Also due out from Radiance later this month is Shinji Terayama’s THE BOXER (94 mins., 1977), the story of a washed-up fighter (Bunta Sugawara) who thinks he might have a legitimate shot at redemption by training a young boxer (Kentaro Shimizu) with questionable talent. This fascinating Japanese response to “Rocky” offers its own brand of grit, grime and sense of loss, with Radiance’s Blu-Ray (1.78, Japanese mono) housing a new digital transfer, plus an interview with composer J.A. Seazer, a visual essay from critic Tom Mes, and booklet notes by Maria Roberta Novielli.
Visual Vengeance New Releases: Hong Kong genre specialist Cheng Cheh’s 1984 martial arts/horror hybrid THE NINE DEMONS (98 mins.) kicks off Visual Vengeance’s latest releases. The Shaw Brothers vet employed techniques he learned at the legendary studio in order to add style to this low-budget fantasy affair filled with zesty action choreography and gory make-up effects. A new 2K transfer (1.78, mono) from original film elements graces VV’s Blu-Ray along with commentary by Justin Decloux and Dylan Cheung; a video essay on James Wu Kuo-Ren; an interview with actor Yu Tai-Ping; a podcast episode; plus a “dirty VHS” version, dubbed English audio and the original Chinese language among other goodies like a mini-poster and booket notes.
The 1989 shot-on-video, low-budget SCREAM DREAM (69 mins.) tried to take advantage of the ‘80s “Satanic Panic” that gripped the nation with a heavy metal singer named Michelle Shocked turning into a hungry demon after being fired from her band. An SD transfer (1.33, stereo) from best-available elements is included here along with director Donald Farmer’s commentary, interviews with the cast and special effects artists, vintage Q&A excerpts with the director and reversible cover featuring original VHS artwork.
Troma New Releases: With the men of Tromaville sidelined by a virus, the “Super Tromettes” gather to save the city in RISE OF THE SUPER TROMETTES (92 mins., 2025, Not Rated), an appropriately raunchy affair from the Troma folks. Special features include Lloyd Kaufman (who else) and “Mercedes the Muse” introducing the film, a mini Making Of doc, an Albanian filming featurette and more (1.78, 5.1)…SUGAR COOKIES (91 mins., 1971) receives an all-new “Tromatic Special Edition” as this early lesbian-exploitation thriller includes archival interviews with Lynn Lowery, Mary Woronov and Lloyd Kaufman, plus an earlier introduction by Kaufman, the trailer and additional extra features (1.85, mono).
STARBRIGHT Blu-Ray (148 mins., 2025, PG-13; MVD): Italian filmmaker Francesco Lucente’s latest comes to home video featuring the movie on Blu-Ray (“from the original 4K Dolby Vision/Dolby Atmos master”) and a copy of the soundtrack CD by Ludek Orizhal. The lengthy fantasy-drama features John Rhys-Davies, Diego Boneta and Alexandra Dowling, with MVD’s Blu-Ray also sporting a Making Of, deleted scenes, bloopers, trailers, and Lucente’s short “This Old Man.”
Also New & Noteworthy
LEE CRONIN’S THE MUMMY 4K UHD (134 mins., 2026, R; Warner): Oddball attempt to modernize the old “Mummy” mythos reportedly turned off Universal so much (as a co-producer with Blumhouse) that they opted to nix their involvement in the film, leaving it to New Line alone to market and release. Ultimately, the studio also added its director’s name to the title so as to not confuse it with the Universal’s own “Mummy” revival (with Brendan Fraser and friends) coming out in 2028.
By then, it’s highly doubtful anyone will still be talking about LEE CRONIN’S THE MUMMY, though truthfully this is superior to Universal and Blumhouse’s previous modernization of a Universal Monster — the anemic “Wolf Man” (faint praise as that may be).
Cronin’s effort, which was shot in Ireland and Spain (doubling for New Mexico!), finds a family of an American journalist (Jack Reynor) haunted by the disappearance of their young daughter — only to have her returned, disfigured and clearly possessed by an Egyptian curse stemming from one of their old neighbors in Cairo.
Cronin’s movie is a weird mix of “The Exorcist” and his own “Evil Dead Rise”, thrown together with some Egyptian supernatural components, and to his credit, the script offers a few interestring surprises and a genuinely fresh ending. Alas, Cronin is also his worst enemy in terms of the material’s execution: at 134 minutes this is a strenuously overlong, slow-going affair that isn’t helped by ugly cinematography, an emphasis on unnecessary gore, and a charisma-challenged cast of unknowns.
With a more capable cast and efficient director, Cronin may have been able to make a modern updating of “Poltergeist” here with a family facing an unknowable terror, but too much of his “Mummy” is slow-going, unpleasant and gross.
Warner’s 4K UHD (2.39) includes a superb Dolby Atmos soundtrack, commentary from Cronin, deleted scenes (where a good 30 minutes+ of the finished film should have ended up), featurettes, and a Digital HD code.
A far more substantial genre exercise is Curry Barker’s OBSESSION (109 mins., 2026, R; Universal), the indie horror darling that has gone onto become one of the year’s more remarkable box-office performers. Outgrossing many, far more expensive box-office disasters from this summer, Barker’s film — about a young man (Michael Johnston) whose magical wish to have his crush (Indie Navaretta) fall madly in love with him results in a horrific case of “you get what you wish for” — is undeniably well acted and presented. It’s not especially my kind of horror movie — proving to be increasingly downbeat and bleak as it plays out — but it’s a tight package for what it’s trying to do. Universal’s 4K UHD offers both Dolby Vision HDR (1.5:1) and Dolby Atmos audio, with Barker’s commentary, interviews, a Blu-Ray and Digital HD code rounding out the combo pack.
THE CRYING GAME 4K UHD/Blu-Ray (112 mins., 1992, R; Criterion): Neil Jordan’s multi-tiered drama became a huge hit on both the critical and art-house circuits in the early ’90s. Beyond its much-discussed twist and associated sexual themes, Jordan’s film offers a compelling lead turn from Stephen Rea, a former IRA man weary of his past actions, and Jaye Davidson as “Dil,” a mysterious girlfriend of a hostage who died under the watch of Rea’s character. With romantic elements and questions of identity being mixed with an overarching political thriller set in early ’90s Northern Ireland, Jordan’s film became one of his defining successes, and has been remastered with Dolby Vision HDR (2.39) in Criterion’s new UHD (and remastered Blu-Ray). Supplements include commentary with Jordan, new interviews with Jordan and Rea, a 2005 Making Of, alternate ending, and a 2.0 DTS MA soundtrack.
YOUNG MOTHERS DVD (105 mins., 2025; Music Box): Acclaimed filmmaking brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s latest outing, “Young Mothers,” won the Best Screenplay prize at Cannes a year ago. As with the duo’s previous work, this is a sensitive and believable drama about a group of young women in a Belgium shelter who look ahead to the trials and tribulations of motherhood, through each character’s respective lens and personal background. Uplifting but not overly sentimental, “Young Mothers” is well-acted and realized, and debuts on DVD from Music Box (1.85, 5.0 French with English subtitles) with a bonus Q&A with the siblings, an image gallery and trailer.
In Theaters
DISCLOSURE DAY (**): Steven Spielberg made his mark — and changed cinema forever — by producing a handful of early blockbusters that were marked by warm, human characters who were always believable and relatable. Whether it was Martin Brody in “Jaws” or Roy Neary in “Close Encounters,” Spielberg’s characters came off like people you knew or wanted to know — everymen who, in the best sense of the word, rose up to meet the challenge of taking on great white sharks or meeting friendly aliens from beyond the stars.
Somewhere along the line Spielberg lost that connection with his characters, alternating his career over the last quarter-century roughly between making self-important and often overpraised “serious movies” like “Lincoln” and “The Post” with “popcorn fare” that hasn’t, frankly, been much fun. Sure, “Minority Report” was okay, but did it turn into the “Next Raiders of the Lost Ark” as some people theorized its first-teaming of Spielberg and Tom Cruise was going to?
DISCLOSURE DAY is Spielberg’s 35th feature and has arrived with a great deal of promise, yet it’s sadly a case of Spielberg going through the motions in nearly every way. John Williams’ hard-working score tries to grasp onto whatever it can to provide human interest, yet it’s a hodge-podge of familiar fragments eventually done in by the fact that virtually nobody in this picture looks, acts, or sounds like a normal human being.
Emily Blunt plays a Kansas City weather forecaster who suddenly begins speaking in clicks and possessing all kinds of ESP powers which she uses to find a guy (Josh O’Connor) who himself is fleeing a shady government agency of some kind and its nefarious leader, played by Colin Firth. You know he’s bad because Williams’ score starts channeling Kylo Ren the second he appears on-screen to stop O’Connor from spreading his tapes disclosing alien existence and Roswell to the public at large — in one of the movie’s few inspired bits, he even has footage of Jackie Gleason with Richard Nixon!
O’Connor spends most of this movie running around breathlessly with his own girlfriend, an ex-nun played by Eve Hewson who looks pretty but is pretty blank in this role (I wouldn’t ever say she only got this job because she’s Bono’s daughter but, being honest, it had to have helped). But, then again, blank is an apt word to describe O’Connor himself here as the British actor delivers a flat performance. His “man on the run” never engages as other Spielberg protagonists have in the past, yet it’s Blunt’s performance that fails to anchor this movie.
In her defense, it’s not entirely the actresses’ fault, as the role requires Blunt to go from phony “weather girl” shtick to an insanely high IQ and level of empathy that, maybe back in the ’70s or ’80s, would’ve worked with an actress like Sally Field who could’ve filled both comedic and dramatic elements. Blunt simply doesn’t possess that kind of range, coming off as unconvincing when called upon and unable to make you feel any kind of true emotional release as it becomes clear that “Disclosure Day” isn’t going to disclose much of anything as you make your way through its 145 minute run time. Most of this movie is filled with a lot of talk and not the kind of action you paid your hard-earned summer dollars to see.
Other roles are likewise scattershot: Firth offers little but hammy villainy and Colman Domingo is blah as the the know-it-all scientist who seems to be grinning in nearly every scene. Literally the only person who resembles an actual human being here is Wyatt Russell, playing Blunt’s musician boyfriend — his reaction shots are often funny and Kurt and Goldie’s son delivers some of the only relatable moments in the entire film. (Sadly, the movie really never finds a purpose for him and he’s entirely discarded by the time the picture finishes on its “nope, it wasn’t worth the build-up” ending)
“Disclosure Day” was, likely, doomed right off the bat having to work from a script by David Koepp, who has written some of Spielberg’s worst films, and being saddled yet again by the kind of ugly cinematography by Janusz Kaminski that has marred too may of Spielberg’s works in the wake of “Schindler’s List.”
Together, they make for a visually unappealing film that’s further compounded by a script that makes little sense. This especially pertains to the dumb sequence late in the movie where Domingo’s scientist reconstructs Blunt’s childhood home for reasons that eluded me…the character says it’s to “open a portal” but I have no idea what the point of it was, other than having Blunt’s heroine turn the entire house invisible so the heroes could escape from Firth and company in a mad dash to the finish line.
This sequence was obviously meant for Spielberg to have “fun” as government agents flail around and fall over against invisible walls and doors, but ultimately it’s a sad throwback to Elliott and his friends frolicking on their bikes and eluding the bad guys at the end of “E.T.” — back when Spielberg was at the top of his game and the popcorn wasn’t stale.
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