Welcome to Mandatory and ComingSoon’s weekly Binge and Buy, a Digital HD, Blu-ray and DVD column for the week of September 18th! You can find detailed write-ups of different titles released this week, including a number of new films, reissues, combo packs and TV seasons, none of which you can live without.
New Movies on Blu-ray/DVD
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard return to the park to save the remaining dinosaurs endangered by an active volcano. The Blu-ray includes Pratt’s Jurassic Journals and much more!
Siberia
Keanu Reeves stars as an American diamond trader in Russia who begins a love affair while searching for his missing partner.
Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum
Based on the local legends and stories of people who’ve visited the real-life abandoned hospital, this Korean horror flick follows the crew of a horror web show who plan to stream live from inside the asylum.
Criterion Corner
My Man Godfrey
The Criterion Collection reissues on Blu-ray this sparkling Depression-era screwball comedy starring William Powell as a “forgotten man” that comes into the lives of a wealthy Manhattan family. The disc features outtakes, Depression-era newsreels and a Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of the film from 1938.
Reissues
Big Wednesday
Warner Archive issues John Milius’ autobiographical and overlooked 1978 surfing film starring William Katt, Jan-Michael Vincent and Gary Busey. The disc features a retrospective doc and a commentary by Milius.
Cabin Boy
This Chris Elliot vehicle became something of a national punchline when it was released in 1994, but its reputation as a cult fantasy goof has only grown with time. Kino Lorber’s fantastic new Blu-ray edition features a new interview with Elliot and director Adam Resnick, as well as a commentary by the two as they talk about how the project evolved out of originally being a movie for its producer Tim Burton to direct.
The Hired Hand
Part of a string of semi-independent films made at Universal after the success of Easy Rider that also included American Graffiti and Silent Running, Peter Fonda’s directorial debut is an elegiac neo-western co-starring Warren Oates. It follows a man who abandoned his family to explore the open territory who decides to return home.
Horrors of Malformed Men
Cult director Teruo Ishii (Blind Woman’s Curse) helmed this 1969 film, a nightmarish, hallucinogenic tale drawn from the fevered imagination of Japan’s celebrated pioneer ofero-guro (erotic grotesque) literature, Edogawa Rampo.
Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead & Phantasm IV: Oblivion
The third and fourth film in director Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm saga come to Blu-ray in new editions that even The Tall Man would approve of.
Scream For Help
Directed by Michael Winner (Death Wish) and written by Tom Holland (Fright Night), this 1984 thriller follows a young girl who uncovers a plot by her stepfather to murder her wealthy mother.
Boris Karloff Collection (DVD)
This is the fabled package of four films that Boris Karloff made towards the end of his career as co-productions between Columbia Pictures and Mexico’s Azteca Films. Unable to travel to Mexico due to ill health, Karloff shot footage for all four pictures in America under the direction of cult movie fave Jack Hill. Includes Dance of Death, Torture Zone, Alien Terror and Cult of the Dead.
New on Digital HD
Sicario: Day of the Soldado
Federal agent Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) once again calls on the mysterious Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) to escalate the drug war in unscrupulous ways.
Beyond the Sky
(in theaters and VOD/Digital HD on September 21)
Chris Norton has been hearing about alien abductions his entire life, but in his gut, he knows they aren’t real. Setting out to disprove the alien abduction phenomenon once and for all, he attends a UFO convention to meet alleged abductees and reveal the truth behind their experiences.
American Dresser
Academy Award Nominee Tom Berenger (Platoon) plays John Moore, a recently widowed, hard-edged Vietnam veteran who takes the ride of a lifetime. He fixes up his American Dresser motorcycle and sets out on a cross-country road trip with his best friend, Charlie (Keith David).
TV on Blu-ray and DVD
Murdoch Mysteries: Home For the Holidays
Dashing detective William Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) must solve a holiday whodunit in this feature-length special of the award-winning mystery series set in Edwardian Toronto.
Ben 10: Omni-Tricked
While on a seemingly endless summer vacation with his Grandpa Max and Cousin Gwen, Ben Tennyson discovers an alien watch, the Omnitrix. This amazing device gives Ben the ability to transform into any one of ten spectacular and powerful aliens!
Madam Secretary: Season 4 (DVD)
It’s never politics as usual for Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord (Téa Leoni). In Season 4, McCord faces everything from international issues to personal upheavals.
