We told you yesterday about how the biggest film hitting DVD and Blu-ray this week is Black Panther. There are other great flicks hitting home video this week as well though, here’s a look at some of the most noteworthy titles that are also now available!
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (Collector’s Edition)
The cult fave blend of “Star Wars” and “Doc Savage” features Peter Weller as physicist-surgeon-rock ‘n’ roll star Buckaroo Banzai, who saddles up with his allies, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, to stop an invasion of Earth by aliens from the 8th Dimension, under the leadership of a mad scientist (John Lithgow). Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, and Christopher Lloyd also star in this exciting, satirical sci-fi tale.
There’s a perfectly good explanation as to why Dr. Peter Blood’s (Kieron Moore) return to his hometown of Cornwall coincides with the disappearances of several locals–it’s because he’s using them as unwilling subjects in the gruesome experiments he’s conducting in an abandoned mine. It seems the doc believes he can bring people back to life by giving them the hearts of those he deems less deserving of life (well, with a last name like Blood, you were expecting a humanitarian?). Great British chiller co-stars Hazel Court, Ian Hunter.
It’s Alive Trilogy
First, in It’s Alive (1974), look out, a fanged mutant baby is on the loose! He’s killed all the doctors in the delivery room! He got to the milkman too (but first raided his truck!). A first-class shocker that’ll rattle you! John Ryan, Sharon Farrell, James Dixon star. Classic cult shocker written and directed by Larry Cohen and scored by Bernard Herrmann (no joke). Then, It Lives Again (1978) is a scary sequel from writer/director Cohen that gives us more killer babies on the loose–a whole playpen full of them! The father from the original film tries to stop this new breed of irksome infants. Frederic Forrest and Kathleen Lloyd are some new, not-so-proud parents. Finally, in It’s Alive III: Island Of The Alive (1987), five years after the fanged, cannibalistic children are taken to a deserted island, they become hungry…and homesick! Michael Moriarty, Karen Black, Laurene Landon, Gerrit Graham, Macdonald Carey star.
Zero Mostel stars as Inspector Hoku Ichihara, a bumbling Japanese sleuth who fantasizes about being a powerful samurai. Is the heroic detective up to the task of tracking down a band of criminals who’ve stolen a high-tech experimental robot? Probably not, but he’s been assigned to the job anyway. Filmed in 1969 but not released for seven years, this hilarious mystery spoof also stars Bradford Dillman, Sorrell Booke, Keiko Kishi, Gawn Grainger.
Sweeping and action-packed, this Biblical saga follows the titular Israelite hero (Taylor James) as he takes on evil Philistine ruler King Balek (Billy Zane) and his ruthless son, Rallah (Jackson Rathbone). Endowed by God with unimaginable physical strength, Samson nevertheless falls victim to the charms of Delilah (Caitlin Leahy), a beautiful Philistine seductress enlisted to capture him. Rutger Hauer, Lindsay Wagner, Frances Sholto-Douglas also star.
When he agreed to a role in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission established in post-Apartheid South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Forest Whitaker) maintained his belief that no one was beyond redemption. He’d find that principle sorely tested as he became involved in the appeal of viciously unrepentant murderer Piet Blomfeld (Eric Bana). Stunning speculative take on the Michael Ashton play “The Archbishop and the Antichrist,” co-scripted by the playwright and director Roland Joffé, co-stars Jeff Gum.