This Week on Blu-ray: October 12-18

For the week of October 12th, Shout Factory is releasing its massive Friday the 13th Collection box set. Releasing in the year the original Friday the 13th celebrates its 40th anniversary, this 16-disc box set collects all 12 films in the Friday the 13th film series thus far, with the first four films newly remastered from 4K scans. There's also hours and hours of new and archival bonus content, including audio commentaries, documentaries and interviews, deleted footage, and even alternate versions, including the ability to watch Friday the 13th Part III in true stereoscopic 3D via Blu-ray 3D. In fact, the bonus content in this set is so extensive, it even required two additional bonus discs just dedicated to additional extras!

Then, we have two new 4K UHD upgrades. First, from Lionsgate, is Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream. Presented in its Director's Cut, this harrowing tale of love and lonliness celebrates its 20th anniversary with a new 4K Dolby Vision picture and new Dolby Atmos sound, as well as new extras, including the featurettes "Ellen Burstyn on Requiem for a Dream" and "Transcendent Moments: The Score of Requiem for a Dream".

Next, we have Neill Blomkamp's District 9 coming to UHD Blu-ray from Sony. Available in both standard and Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook editions, District 9 also features new extras and a new Dolby Atmos soundtrack. In his review, Martin Liebman writes that "...even as an upscaled UHD the picture finds plenty of ways to impress beyond a general, and appreciable, uptick in overall clarity. Clothing gains some tactile improvements, as do furnishings, books, scientific equipment, and the like seen in labs and offices while the worn down Prawn shacks and encampments, filled with litter and decaying structural odds and ends, showcase high yield definition, allowing the audience to better absorb the conditions in which they live. Human skin displays with fine intricacy and more readily visible intimacy. Several of the most stable scenes in the movie absolutely shine. Many intimate character close-ups are immaculate, rising well above the rest of the content, which is still, by-and-large, excellent."

Next up, we have a brand new remaster from Arrow Video for Kevin Smith's cult classic Mallrats. Smith's follow-up to his debut film Clerks starred Shannen Doherty and Jeremy London and featured early roles for Jason Lee, Joey Lauren Adams and Ben Affleck, as well as the return of what would become Smith's two most iconic characters, Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith himself). For this new release, Arrow have given both the theatrical and extended cuts of the film a new remaster, which was approved by director Kevin Smith and cinematographer David Klein. In addition to a new introduction and new interviews with Smith, Mewes and Klein, Arrow have also provided a second disc with a third version of the film--a new assembly of the film's TV cut, featuring hilarious overdubbing for a network television airing. This limited edition release also includes a collector's booklet and a fold-out poster with a replica of the blueprints seen in the film.

TV aficionados are not left out with Sony's release of El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, available exclusively in SteelBook packaging. Written and directed by Vince Gilligan, the creator of Breaking Bad, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Moviecontinues the story of Jesse Pinkman, who, in the wake of his dramatic escape from captivity, must come to terms with his past in order to forge some kind of future. The Blu-ray features several extras, including Blu-ray exclusives like an audio commentary with Vince Gilligan and Aaron Paul, deleted and extended scenes and a gag reel, as well as a making of documentary.

Finally, Batman fans will be able to re-visit a classic story in a new way with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment's Blu-ray release of Batman: Death in the Family. The central tale in this collection of shorts first appeared in the comics in 1988 and was famously accompanied by a telephone vote to decide the fate of Jason Todd, the then-current Robin. To that end, this disc marks WBHE's first foray into interactive storytelling and will allow viewers to choose how the story progresses using their remote controls. Audio commentaries for multiple shorts are also included to round out the disc.