For the week of April 8th, Well Go USA will release a Blu-ray for Hirokazu Kore-eda's Monster (怪物) (2023), starring Sakura Andô, Eita Nagayama, Mitsuki Takahata, Shidô Nakamura and Yûko Tanaka.
Description: After a mother (Ando Sakura) discovers that a teacher's bullying is behind her young son's sudden strange behavior, she storms into his school demanding an explanation. Continually left without satisfactory answers—and with an increasingly distressed child—she furiously escalates her concerns to the school board and the media. But as the story unfolds through the multilayered perspectives of mother, teacher, and child, the real truth gradually emerges—and proves much more complex than anyone could have expected.
Well Go USA's Blu-ray of Monster contains a trailer. For a full disc breakdown, read Jeffrey Kauffman's Blu-ray review.
New on Blu-ray from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is Doom Patrol: The Complete Fourth and Final Season (2022-2023) a three-disc set with all twelve episodes. Extras include the featurettes Unsung Heroes, Transformation Patrol and Off-Off-Broadway. On the same day, Warner will release Doom Patrol: The Complete Series (2019-2023), an eleven-disc box-set with all four seasons.
New on Blu-ray from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is Zelda Williams' Lisa Frankenstein, starring Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse, Liza Soberano, Henry Eikenberry, Joe Chrest and Carla Gugino.
Description: A coming of RAGE love story about a misunderstood teenager and her high school crush, who happens to be a handsome corpse. After a set of playfully horrific circumstances bring him back to life, the two embark on a murderous journey to find love, happiness … and a few missing body parts along the way.
Universal's Blu-ray of Lisa Frankenstein contains filmmaker commentary, deleted scenes, a gag reel and the featurettes Resurrecting the '80s, An Electric Connection and A Dark Comedy Duo.
Also new on Blu-ray from Universal is Bryce McGuire's Night Swim, starring Kerry Condon, Wyatt Russell, Jodi Long, Amélie Hoeferle, Gavin Warren and Eddie Martinez.
Description: The producers of M3GAN high dive into the deep end of supernatural horror with NIGHT SWIM. Wyatt Russell stars as a former major league baseball player, forced into early retirement by a degenerative illness, who moves into a new home with his wife (Oscar® nominee Kerry Condon) and their two children. The new home comes complete with a backyard swimming pool, but a deep secret surfaces and unleashes a malevolent force that will drag the family into the inescapable depths of terror.
Universal's Blu-ray of Night Swim contains a DTS-HD MA 7.1 audio track. Extras include filmmaker commentary and the featurettes Masters of Fear, Demons from the Depths, Into the Deep and Marco Polo.
New from RLJE Films, in association with Shudder, is Tyler MacIntyre's It's a Wonderful Knife, starring Jane Widdop, Joel McHale, Justin Long, Jess McLeod, Katharine Isabelle and William B. Davis.
Description: A year after saving her town from a psychotic killer on Christmas Eve, Winnie Carruthers' life is less than wonderful — but when she wishes she'd never been born, she finds herself in a nightmare parallel universe and discovers that without her, things could be much, much worse. Now the killer is back, and she must team up with the town misfit to identify the killer and get back to her own reality. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE by way of SCREAM.
RLJE Films' Blu-ray of It's a Wonderful Knife contains two filmmaker commentaries, a making of featurette, storyboards, trailers and more. For a full disc breakdown, read Randy Miller's Blu-ray review.
New on Blu-ray from MUBI is Aki Kaurismaki's Fallen Leaves (Kuolleet lehdet), starring Jussi Vatanen, Alma Pöysti, Martti Suosalo, Matti Onnismaa, Sakari Kuosmanen and Alina Tomnikov.
Description: Master filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki (Le Havre, The Other Side of Hope) returns with his latest deadpan gem FALLEN LEAVES, a luminous ode to romance and moviegoing. In modern-day Helsinki, two lonely souls in search of love meet by chance in a local karaoke bar. However, the pair's path to happiness is beset by numerous obstacles – from lost numbers to mistaken addresses, alcoholism, and a charming stray dog. Finland's Best International Feature Film entry to the 96th Academy Awards. Winner of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize.
MUBI's Blu-ray of Fallen Leaves contains a Q&A with Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen, as well as a trailer. Also included is a booklet with "The World According to Aki Kaurismäki".
New on 4K UHD and Blu-ray from Capelight Pictures International and MPI Home Video is Lee Sang-yong's The Roundup: No Way Out (범죄도시3), starring Ma Dong-seok, Lee Jun-hyuk, Munetaka Aoki, Lee Beom-soo and Kim Min-jae.
Description: The beast cop Ma Seok-do returns — This time, to the Metro Investigations! Seven years after the roundup in Vietnam, Ma Seok-do (Don LEE) joins a new squad to investigate a murder case. Soon, he finds out this case involves busting a synthetic drug and starts to dig deeper... Meanwhile, the guy behind it all—Joo Sung-chul (LEE Jun-hyuk)—doesn't stop looking for trouble, and the Japanese drug distributors, Ricky (Aoki MUNETAKA) and his gang, come to Korea to join the chaos. Things are just about to get out of hand...It's time to wipe out the bastards again — If they want trouble, give 'em trouble!
Note: In the United States, the second film in the series, The Roundup (범죄도시2) (2022), is available on Blu-ray from MPI Home Video, but the first film in the series, known in English as The Outlaws (범죄도시) (2017), has so far only been released on Blu-ray with English subtitles in South Korea, and is currently out-of-print.
Turning to catalog titles, Kino Lorber have a Blu-ray for Lou Breslow's You Never Can Tell (1951), starring Dick Powell, Peggy Dow, Joyce Holden, Charles Drake, Albert Sharpe and Lou Polan. Sourced from a 2K scan of a 35mm fine grain, Kino presents You Never Can Tell with a new audio commentary by film historians Michael Schlesinger and Darlene Ramirez.
Also from Kino is a Blu-ray for Abner Biberman's The Looters (1955), starring Rory Calhoun, Julie Adams, Ray Danton, Thomas Gomez, Frank Faylen and Russ Conway. Sourced from a 2K scan of a 35mm fine grain, Kino presents The Looters with a new audio commentary by film historian Toby Roan.
Then from Kino is a Blu-ray for Hampton Fancher's The Minus Man (1999), starring Owen Wilson, Janeane Garofalo, Mercedes Ruehl, Dwight Yoakam, Sheryl Crow and Dennis Haysbert. Sourced from a 2K scan of an 35mm interpositive, Kino presents The Minus Man with a new audio commentary by Hampton Fancher and producer Fida Attieh (moderated by entertainment journalist / author Max Evry) and the film's theatrical trailer.
Coming to 4K UHD from the Criterion Collection is Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), starring Rachel Roberts, Vivean Gray, Anne-Louise Lambert, Jacki Weaver, John Jarratt and Dominic Guard. Sourced from a new 4K master (supervised and approved by Peter Weir and cinematographer Russell Boyd), Criterion presents Picnic at Hanging Rock with DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio and HDR on the 4K UHD disc. Extras include an interview with Peter Weir, a making of program, an introduction by film scholar David Thomson, an on-set documentary, Weir's 50-minute film Homesdale (1971) and a trailer for the main feature. Also included is an essay by author Megan Abbott and an excerpt from film scholar Marek Haltof's book Peter Weir: When Cultures Collide (1996). For full disc breakdowns, read Svet Atanasov's 4K UHD review.
Coming to 4K UHD from Paramount Home Media Distribution is John Guillermin's King Kong (1976), starring Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin, Jessica Lange, John Randolph, René Auberjonois and Julius Harris. Sourced from a new 4K master, Paramount presents King Kong with DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio and Dolby Vision HDR. An included Blu-ray contains the extended TV cut of the film, with DTS-HD MA Mono audio.
Finally this week, Shout Factory has a remastered Blu-ray for Stephen Hopkins' Lost in Space (1998), starring William Hurt, Mimi Rogers, Heather Graham, Lacey Chabert, Jack Johnson and Gary Oldman. Sourced from a 2K scan of an 35mm interpositive, Shout presents Lost in Space with a new interview with Stephen Hopkins and writer / producer Akiva Goldsman. Legacy extras include two audio commentaries, deleted and additional scenes, featurettes and a trailer.