Home Market Releases for October 2nd, 2018

October 2, 2018

It’s an off week on the home market with no blockbusters to deal with. There are two solid midlevel hits, The First Purge and Sicario: Day of the Soldado, but neither of those are Pick of the Week contenders. (Ant-Man and the Wasp is also coming out this week, but only on Video on Demand). There are some high quality picks: Leave No Trace, Three Identical Strangers, Molly, The Spiral Staircase, and Hyouka. It was a close race, but in the end, I went with Leave No Trace Blu-ray as Pick of the Week.

Barry: Season One - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Bill Hader stars as a hitman who is unhappy with his life. He travels to Los Angeles for his next target, an aspiring actor. He joins him in his acting classes, at first, just to get close to his target. Then, he realizes that acting is his true calling and he wants to give up being a hitman. The reviews are fantastic and fans of the star will certainly want to pick it up. On the other hand, it is only getting a DVD release and the lack of extras hurt.

The Catcher Was A Spy - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Video on Demand
Busted Oscar-bait. It is coming out on VOD this week and maybe DVD as well. Amazon is having issues. If you like the cast, then perhaps it is worth a rental, but that’s as enthusiastic as I can get.

DC Super Hero Girls: Legends of Atlantis - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
This franchise has been a hit for the DC brand; however, they usually don’t have any reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, so it is hard to tell if this one is better or worse than the last one.

Dragon Ball Super: Part Five - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
We are about halfway through the run of this show. Although to be more accurate, we are halfway through this particular run of Dragon Ball, but there will be more installments coming soon.

The First Purge - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD, Blu-ray Combo Pack, or 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
Video on Demand
This is the biggest hit in the franchise, at least internationally and worldwide. Extras include a trio of featurettes and deleted scenes. Also coming out this week is a franchise Box Set.

Good Witch: Season Four - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
This franchise has lasted for 10 TV movies and five seasons and counting. There are very few reviews for any of the films / seasons on Rotten Tomatoes, but the ones I saw were positive.

Leave No Trace - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Video on Demand
Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie play a father and daughter who live off grid. When they are forced to rejoin society, they instead decide to escape together and go back to the woods. This film earned some of the best reviews of the year and it did extremely well for a limited release. Extras on the DVD / Blu-ray include a making of featurette, behind-the-scenes featurette, deleted scenes, etc. That’s more than enough to be a Pick of the Week contender.

Molly - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
A post-apocalytpic film starring Julia Batelaan as the titular Molly. In the movie, she’s on the run from marauders who want her for their fighting pit. The film looks right up my alley, but there are no reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. There’s not even a page on Rotten Tomatoes. I might have to blind buy this one.

The Originals: Season Five - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Video on Demand
A spin-off of The Vampire Diaries. I was never a fan of that show, so I didn’t bother trying this one. That said, its reviews are great, so fans of the show will be happy to complete their collection this week. Also coming out this week is the complete series box set.

The Night Stalker - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
The Night Strangler - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
A pair of TV movies from the 1970s starring Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak, an investigative reporter who has a knack of coming across supernatural serial killers. Both movies are worth checking out. Additionally, both Blu-rays have a new audio commentary and interview featurettes, so they are easily worth picking up.

Rosario + Vampire: The Complete Series - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
A Harem Anime about a boy who accidentally gets enrolled in a high school for monsters. However, if the school finds out he’s human, he will be executed for trespassing. The reviews are good, but not great. There are no real extras, but the price is half as much as the previous Blu-ray release for this title.

SailorMoon S: The Movie - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray Combo Pack
This is one of the most popular Anime franchises of all time. Even people who are not fans of Anime, or animation in general, likely know about this Magic Girl series. The 1994 movie is coming out on a Blu-ray combo pack this week, but it is currently unavailable on Amazon. Even so, it is selling really well.

Shetland: Season Four - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Video on Demand
A Scottish police procedural series. Like most similar imports, the price-per-minute is very high. Additionally, unlike some similar shows, you can’t look at the DVD as six separate TV movies either, which justify the price somewhat.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD, Blu-ray Combo Pack, or 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
Video on Demand
This film is much weaker than the original film. It turned a stellar film into a generic action movie. The only extras are a trio of featurettes. If you like action films, it is worth picking up.

The Spiral Staircase - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
A classic thriller from the 1940s about a serial killer targeting women with physical deformities. The extras are good, for a film that’s over 70 years old, with an audio commentary track and the 1945 radio play version of the story. If you are a fan of films of the era, it is certainly worth picking up.

Three Identical Strangers - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD, or Blu-ray
Video on Demand
It has been an amazing year for documentaries at the box office and this one is one of the best. It tells the story of three identical triplets who only learned the others existed when they went to college. It starts out as a fun little story about discovering family you didn’t know existed, then there’s a hard twist. Extras are really good for a documentary with an audio commentary track and a Q&A featurette. It is easily worth picking up and a contender for Pick of the Week.

Vikings: Season 5, Volume 1 - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Great show, but I hate split-season TV on DVD releases.

Christmas Releases - Buy from Amazon:
A Bramble House Christmas - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Christmas At Holly Lodge - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Christmas Next Door - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Dead by Christmas - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Dashing Through the Snow - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Dragons Holiday: Gift of the Night Fury - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Engaging Father Christmas - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Home: For the Holidays - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Karen Kingsbury’s Maggie’s Christmas Miracle - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Merry Madagascar: Holiday Double Feature - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Shrek the Halls: Holiday Double Feature - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
It’s October, so that means it is Christmas!

Blu-ray Releases - Buy from Amazon:
Ace in the Hole: The Criterion Collection - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Age of Consent - Reviews / Cactus Flower - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Battle Girl High School - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Blood Fest - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Corpse Prison: Part One - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Feral - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Free! Movie Collection - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Halloween: Steelbook - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
The Naked Prey: The Criterion Collection - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Ocean’s Franchise - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Pop Team Epic: Season One - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Rififi - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Tales from the Hood 2 - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
The two Criterion Collection releases are the best secondary Blu-ray releases of the week.

4K Ultra HD Releases - Buy from Amazon:
2 Fast 2 Furious - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
The Fast and the Furious - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
The First Purge - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
Sicario: Day of the Soldado - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
Step Brothers - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
The cover for The Fast and the Furious has “the original” on it. They’ve messed up the naming for this franchise so much that they have to remind people which one came first.

TV on DVD Megasets - Buy from Amazon:
Courage Cowardly Dog - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Hyouka - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
The Originals - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Rescue Me - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Saved By The Bell - Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Soul Food - No Reviews - Buy from Amazon: DVD
You can tell Christmas is coming, because there is a flood of Complete Series Megasets on this week’s list. Both volumes of Hyouka were named for Pick of the Week, so that’s clearly the release I would recommend the most, but only if you didn’t grab them individually.

Video on Demand - Buy from Amazon:
Ant-Man and the Wasp - Reviews - Video on Demand (Movie Only) or Video on Demand (With Bonus Features)
The Darkest Minds - Reviews - Video on Demand
Death Race: Beyond Anarchy - No Reviews - Video on Demand
Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot - Reviews - Video on Demand
McKellen: Playing the Part - Reviews - Video on Demand
Tales from the Hood 2 - Reviews - Video on Demand
I put in a request for Ant-Man and the Wasp, so hopefully the screener is on its way.

C.S.Strowbridge

Filed under: DVD and Blu-ray Releases, Home Market Releases, The Night Stalker, The Darkest Minds, Ant-Man and the Wasp, The First Purge, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, The Catcher Was A Spy, Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, Leave No Trace, Three Identical Strangers, Feral, Blood Fest, Tales from the Hood 2, The Night Strangler, Engaging Father Christmas, Karen Kingsbury’s Maggie’s Christmas Miracle, A Bramble House Christmas, Christmas Next Door, Fast and the Furious, Ocean's Eleven, The Purge, Ben Foster, Bill Hader, Darren McGavin, Thomasin McKenzie