The remake of The Evil Dead is a rarity, it is a remake that pleased critics and horror fans and is our Recommendation of the Week. The DVD and Blu-ray release contends the usual array of behind the scenes featurettes.
First Release
- Evil Dead (2013) (DVD and Blu-ray)
- 42 (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Bullet to the Head (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Wild Bill (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Solomon Kane (DVD and Blu-ray)
Re-Release
- Lord of the Flies (1963) (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Arlington Road (1999) (Blu-ray)
- Kidnapped (1974) (Blu-ray)
Evil Dead (2013) (DVD and Blu-ray) *Recommendation of the Week*
Directed by Fede Alvarez
Written by Fede Alvarez, Rodo Sayagues, Diablo Cody (uncredited) (screenplay), Sam Raimi (original screenplay)
Starring: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lous Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, Elizabeth Blackmore
The original The Evil Dead movie is cult classic, made Sam Raimi the directing force he is today and considered an essential horror-comedy. Raimi has decided to produce the remake himself and recruited Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Alvarez to make his directional debut for a darker and more serious version of The Evil Dead.
Evil Dead follows a group of five friends who go to a cabin in the woods as they try and help one of them, Mia (Jane Levy, Suburgatory), overcome her drug addiction. But when the group discovery the Book of the Dead they awaken dormant demons who are out for blood.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 63% (good)
Metacritic Rating: 57/100 (average)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 7.0/10 (read our review)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Making Life Difficult - The Intense and Physically Exhausting Creation of the Film; Directing the Dead - Director Fede Alvarez Re-imagines a Cult Horror Classic; ; Being Mia - The Physical and Psychological Transformation into "Evil Mia"
Amazon Price: $16.99 (DVD), $22.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content 3 stars, Video 4.5 stars, Audio 4.5 stars, Extras 2.5 stars, Replay 3 stars (out of 5). Rent It.
This week’s releases contents the likes of the sports movie 42 and British crime movie Wild Bill whilst from the Criterion Collection offers the re-release of the original adaption of Lord of the Flies.
42 (DVD and Blu-ray)
Written and directed by Brian Helgeland
Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Harrison Ford
Jackie Robinson is always going to be a sporting hero for being the first African-American to play Major League Baseball. Chadwick Boseman stars as Robinson when he gets recruited by Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford), the General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers for the 1947 season. But Robinson has to overcome racism from the stands and his own teammates and prove himself on the field.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 77% (very good)
Metacritic Rating: 62/100 (good)
DISC DETAILS
Amazon Price: $14.99 (DVD), $22.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content 3 stars, Video 4.5 stars, Audio 4.5 stars, Extras 1.5 stars, Replay 2.5 stars (out of 5). Recommended.
Bullet to the Head (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)
Directed by Walter Hill
Written by Alessandro Camon (screenplay), Alexis Nolent (graphic novel ‘Du Plomb Dans La Tete’)
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Sung Kang, Sarah Shahi, Jason Momoa
Based on a French graphic novel, Du Plomb Dans La Tete, Bullet to the Head marks Sylvester Stallone’s first attempt to make a movie outside his trademark franchises for the first time since Rocky Balboa. It also marks the return of Walter Hill, the director of movies like The Warriors, 48 Hrs. and Southern Comfort.
Set in the criminal underworld of New Orleans Jimmy Bobo (Stallone) is a hitman who lives by a certain set of rules. When his partner is killed and he is nearly killed by another hitman, Keegan (Jason Momoa, Game of Thrones). Bobo ends up teaming up with a Washington D.C. Police Detective, Taylor Kwon (Sung Kang, The Fast and Furious series) who want to investigate the death, leading them to discover a wider conspiracy.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 47% (average)
Metacritic Rating: 48/100 (average)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 4.0/10 (read our review)
DISC DETAILS
Amazon Price: $22.99 (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content 3 stars, Video 3.5 stars, Audio 5 stars, Extras 1 stars, Replay 2.5 stars (out of 5). Rent It.
Wild Bill (DVD and Blu-ray)
Directed by Dexter Fletcher
Written by Dexter Fletcher, Danny King
Starring: Charlie Creed-Miles, Will Poulter, Sammy Williams
Dexter Fletcher is best known for his role as Soap in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking. He has now made his directional debut with the critically acclaimed Wild Bill.
Bill Hayward (Charlie Creed-Miles, Harry Brown) is out on parole after an eight year prison sentence and finds his sons, 15-year-old Dean (Will Poulter, The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader) and 11-year-old Jimmy (Sammy Williams) have been fending for themselves after their mum has abandoned them. Bill is forced to become a father and protect Dean when he ends up working for a local drug dealer.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 100% (excellent)
DISC DETAILS
Amazon Price: $18.93 (DVD), $26.96 (Blu-ray)
Solomon Kane (DVD and Blu-ray)
Directed by Michael J. Bassett
Written by Michael J. Bassett (screenplay), Robert E. Howard (character)
Starring: James Purefoy, Max von Sydow, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Pete Postlethwaite
Robert E. Howard is best known as the creator of Conan the Barbarian: his other major creation was Solomon Kane. James Purefoy of Rome fame stars as Solomon, an English mercenary in 1600 who renounces violence after a demon tells him his soul is bound for Hell. But when a Puritan family he befriends is murdered and the daughter, Meredith (Rachel Hurd-Wood, Peter Pan, 2003) is kidnapped by a cult, Solomon is forced back into action.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 65% (good)
Metacritic Rating: 48/100 (average)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 5.0/10
DISC DETAILS
Amazon Price: $10.96 (DVD), $15.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content 2.5 stars, Video 4 stars, Audio 4 stars, Extras 2.5 stars, Replay 2.5 stars (out of 5). Rent It.
Lord of the Flies (1963) (DVD and Blu-ray)
Directed by Peter Brook
Written by Peter Brook (screenplay), William Golding (novel)
Starring: James Aubrey, Tom Chapin, Hugh Edwards
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is considered a classic piece of English Literature and the Criterion Collection is re-release the 1963 version as a plane clashes in a uninhabited tropical island, leaving a group of young boys having to fend for themselves. The boys split into two factions lead by Ralph (James Aubrey) who wants to build shelter and act by the way of the law and Jack (Tom Chapin) who wants to hunt and have fun.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 100% (excellent)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 5.5/10
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: New, restored 4K digital film transfer, supervised by Gerald Feil; Audio commentary featuring director Peter Brook and more; Audio recordings of William Golding reading from his novel Lord of the Flies; Deleted scene, with optional commentary and reading by Golding; Interview with Brook from 2008; Collection of behind-the-scenes material; New interview with Feil; Excerpt from Feil's 1972 documentary The Empty Space; Something Queer in the Warehouse, a piece composed of never-before-seen footage; Trailer; PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Geoffrey Macnab
Amazon Price: $20.97 (DVD), $27.97 (Blu-ray)
Arlington Road (1999) (Blu-ray)
Directed by Mark Pellington
Written by Ehren Kruger
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack
Arlington Road is a paranoid thriller about Michael Faraday (Jeff Bridges), a history professor who specialists in terrorism and became a conspiracy theorist after his wife was killed in a botched FBI raid. Michael befriends his new neighbors, Oliver and Cheryl Lang (Tim Robbins and Joan Cusack): but he soon suspects Oliver is a terrorist.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 62% (good)
Metacritic Rating: 65/100 (good)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Commentary with Director and Jeff Bridges; Hidden Vulnerability: The Making of Arlington Road; Alternate Ending; Theatrical Trailers
Amazon Price: $9.49 (Blu-ray)
Kidnapped (1974) (Blu-ray)
Directed by Mario Bava
Written by Allesandro Parenzo
Starring: Riccardo Cucciolla, Don Backy, Lea Lander, Maurice Poli, George Eastman, Erika Dario
Last but not least is the re-release of the Italian Kidnapped (or Rabid Dogs in some territories), a crime thriller about three violence criminals kidnapping a young woman, a middle-aged man and a child after a robbery goes wrong and forces them to drive them outside Rome.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 71% (good)
DISC DETAILS
Amazon Price: $24.95 (Blu-ray)
