For the week of March 15th, For the week of March 15th, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment will release Emerald Fennell's film Promising Young Woman, starring Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Laverne Cox, Clancy Brown, and Jennifer Coolidge. Originally premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2020, the film's planned April 2020 theatrical release was scrapped due to the coronavirus outbreak in the US. Eventually, the film did receive a theatrical release in December 2020, to critical acclaim and several awards nominations, including Golden Globe Nominations for Best Motion Picture - Drama and Mulligan for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama.
Universal's Blu-ray of Promising Young Woman contains three featurettes, an audio commentary with Fennell and a DTS-HD MA 7.1 audio track. Reviewing the disc, Martin Liebman says that the audio track "is dynamic, essentially of reference quality, and the clear-cut technical highlight on this disc...The combination of surround immersion and subwoofer output to the deliberately muddy background musical elements are seriously impressive...Such musical strength remains for the duration as aggressive Pop songs, both in a few more club environments and as overlaid audio, all present with exceptional definition and detail. The track is fully active and well capable of delivering any element, musical or otherwise, with tremendous gusto ".
Also coming this week from Universal is Adam Mason's Songbird, starring Alexandra Daddario, Jenna Ortega, Demi Moore, Bradley Whitford, and Paul Walter Hauser. Studio description: In the terrifying thriller Songbird, the COVID-23 virus has mutated and the world is in its fourth year of lockdown. Infected Americans are ripped from their homes and forced into quarantine camps known as Q-Zones, from which there is no escape, as a few brave souls fight back against the forces of oppression. Amid this dystopian landscape, a fearless courier, Nico (KJ Apa), who's immune to the deadly pathogen, finds hope and love with Sara (Sofia Carson), though her lockdown prohibits them from physical contact. When Sara is believed to have become infected, Nico races desperately across the barren streets of Los Angeles in search of the only thing that can save her from imprisonment...or worse.
Universal's Blu-ray of Songbird contains extras such as an audio commentary and deleted scenes, amongst others.
RLJ Entertaiainment has three releases this week. First is Steven Kostanski's horror comedy PG: Psycho Goreman, starring Matthew Ninaber, Kristen MacCulloch, and Rick Amsbury. Synopsis: Siblings Mimi and Luke unwittingly resurrect an ancient alien overlord who was entombed on Earth millions of years ago after a failed attempt to destroy the universe. They nickname the evil creature Psycho Goreman (or PG for short) and use the magical amulet they discovered to force him to obey their childish whims. It isn't long before PG's reappearance draws the attention of intergalactic friends and foes from across the cosmos and a rogues' gallery of alien combatants converges in small-town suburbia to battle for the fate of the galaxy.
RLJ Entertainment's release of PG: Psycho Goreman contains several extras, including a director's commentary and several interviews, featurettes and image galleries. Randy Miller's review for the disc, with high marks all around, is available here.
Also from RLJ this week is Tate Steinsiek's Castle Freak (2020), a remake of the 1995 film of the same name, starring Clair Catherine, Kika Magalhães, Jake Horowitz, and Emily Sweet. Description: After she's permanently blinded in a tragic car accident, Rebecca's receives some bizarre news: her long-lost-mother has recently passed away, leaving her their family's ancestral castle. Traveling to the estate with a group of friends, Rebecca hopes it will be an opportunity for her to reconnect with a past she never knew—and a mother who seemingly left her behind. When mysterious happenings begin to occur and her friends begin to die, Rebecca must unravel her family's mysterious history before she too falls prey to the Castle Freak.
Finally from RLJ is the UK TV mini-series Des (2020), starring David Tennant, Daniel Mays, and Jason Watkins. Description: David Tennant stars in a bone-chilling true-crime drama focusing on one of the most infamous serial killers in UK history – Dennis Nilsen. Known as the 'kindly killer', Nilsen was a local civil servant who spent five years murdering boys and young men he met on the streets of Soho from 1978 to 1983. He would meet and befriend these men before offering them food or lodgings for the evening back at his North London flat. When he was finally caught on 9 February 1983, Nilsen had murdered a total of fifteen men over a period of five years, making him Britain's most prolific serial killer of the time.
Next this week, Lionsgate Home Entertainment has three new releases, beginning with Alex McAulay's thriller Don't Tell a Soul, starring Fionn Whitehead, Jack Dylan Grazer, Mena Suvari, and Rainn Wilson. Don't Tell a Soul was originally scheduled to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2020 before that event was cancelled. It eventually premiered in September 2020 at the Deauville American Film Festival in France, before being released digitally in January 2021. Synopsis: While stealing money to help their sick mother (Mena Suvari), teen brothers Matt and Joey (Fionn Whitehead and Jack Dylan Grazer) are surprised by Hamby (Primetime Emmy® Award nominee Rainn Wilson), a security officer who gives chase and is then trapped in a well. Over the next few days, Joey and Hamby forge an uneasy relationship. Hamby tells Joey he'll keep quiet if Joey sets him free. But Hamby holds another secret, one that will threaten Joey and his family, in this twist-filled, cat-and-mouse thriller.
Lionsgate's Blu-ray features a Dolby Atmos audio track and the featurette "Flesh & Blood: Creating Don't Tell A Soul".
Also from Lionsgate this week is Alan Ritchson's thriller Dark Web: Cicada 3301, starring Alan Ritchson, Conor Leslie, and Kris Holden-Ried. Studio description: This intense, high-speed cyber-thriller is based on a series of mysterious, unsolved real-life events. It starts as genius hacker Conner discovers Cicada 3301, an online treasure hunt that could be a recruiting tool for a secret society. Soon Conner, art-expert friend Avi, and secretive librarian Gwen are dashing from graffiti sites to ancient libraries to uncover real-world clues. But they must outrun aggressive NSA agents, also hot on the trail of Cicada, who want the glory for themselves.
Finally this week, Quiver Films will release Andrew Lawrence's action thriller Money Plane (2020), starring Adam Copeland, Kelsey Grammer, Thomas Jane, and Denise Richards. Synopsis: A professional thief with $40 million in debt and his family's life on the line must commit one final heist - rob a futuristic airborne casino filled with the world's most dangerous criminals.