New to View: June 26

By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, June 26, unless otherwise noted:
The Curse of the Cat People (Blu-ray)
Details: 1944, Scream Factory
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Academy Award-winning director Robert Wise made his debut behind the camera with this follow-up to 1942’s “Cat People.”
The movie stars Kent Smith, reprising his role as Oliver Reed, who is now remarried and living in Tarrytown, N.Y.
Reed has a 6-year-old daughter, Amy, who has suddenly become withdrawn and speaks of interacting with her new “friend.” Her father worries that it may be the spirit of Irena (Simone Simon), his first wife who believed herself to be descended from a race of Cat People.
The movie is more fantasy than horror as Wise and co-director Gunther V. Fritsch create more psychological than physical terror.
The film, made by RKO, was produced by Val Lewton, who made a string of successful horror-thriller features in the early and mid-1940s.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.33:1 full-screen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials include two commentary tracks and excerpts from an audio interview with Simon.

Bowling for Columbine: Special Edition (Blu-ray)
Release date: June 19
Details: 2002, The Criterion Collection
Rated: R, violence, language
The lowdown: Filmmaker Michael Moore examines the lover affair between Americans and their guns in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre in this provocative documentary.
Moore, a card-holding member of the National Rifle Association, travels throughout the country talking to gun owners, NRA members, shooting survivors and then-NRA president Charlton Heston.
This Academy Award-winning documentary created much controversy, which Moore fully embraced.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus offerings include a new documentary about the making of the film, interviews with Moore, his 2002 return to Colorado, a 2002 episode of “The Charlie Rose Show” featuring Moore, a 2000 segment of Moore’s TV series, “The Awful Truth” and an essay by critic Eric Hynes.

The Addiction (Blu-ray)
Details: 1995, Arrow Video
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Abel Ferrara directed this vampire feature set in New York and starring Lili Taylor as a graduate student bitten on the neck by Annabella Sciorra.
Taylor’s Kathleen Conklin soon develops an aversion to sunlight and a craving for human blood.
Ferrara’s art house vision of the genre makes the film interesting viewing, supported by its black-and-white photography and a supporting cast featuring Christopher Walken.
The movie is a near-allegory about the impact of heroin addiction, as Walken’s vampire helps Kathleen use meditation and fasting to control her urges.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a documentary about the film by Ferrara, an archival behind-the-scenes look at the movie, an interview with filmmaker Brad Stevens and a new interview with Ferrara.

Spinning Man (Blu-ray + digital)
Details: 2018, Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Rated: R, language, sexual references
The lowdown: Guy Pearce stars as a distinguished college professor who, through circumstantial evidence, is considered the prime suspect in the disappearance of a 17-year-old girl.
A veteran detective, played by Pierce Brosnan, begins looking into the professor’s life and past relationships with female students, while the professor’s wife, played by Minnie Driver, begins questioning not only his alibi, but past events in their lives.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.40:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH, English and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a behind-the-scenes look at the film, a commentary track and deleted scenes.

The Endless (Blu-ray)
Details: 2017, Well Go USA Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A thriller about two brothers who receive a cryptic message that causes them to revisit the UFO death cult they escaped years earlier.
Instead of finding the closure they sought, the brothers are forced to reconsider the cult’s beliefs when they are confronted with unexplainable happenings surrounding the cult’s site.
In the course of their dealings, the truth about the brothers’ lives are revealed.
Technical aspects: 2.39:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and English 2.0 Dolby digital stereo surround; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental offerings include a making of featurette, a commentary track, a behind-the-scenes look at the movie, deleted scenes, VFX breakdowns and extended bonus scenes.

Vigil (Blu-ray)
Details: 1984, Arrow Video
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: An acclaimed New Zealand feature that marked the directorial debut of Vincent Ward that centers on an 11-year-old girl who believes the stranger who appeared at the exact time her father fell to his death is the devil.
The stranger and the girl’s mother become lovers, which heightens the youngster’s distress about her father’s death.
The girl sets out to protect her family and homeland from this intruder.
The movie was the first New Zealand feature to be played in the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English LPCM monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include an extract from a 1987 TV documentary on New Zealand cinema, an on-set report from another New Zealand TV show, an appreciation by film critic Nick Roddick and a booklet about the movie.

China Salesman (Blu-ray)
Details: 2017, Cleopatra Entertainment
Rated: Unrated
The lowdown: What could be more exciting than a cinematic face-off between former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson and action icon Steven Seagal?
Well, you can see for yourself in this thriller, based on a true story, set in North Africa, where a Chinese engineer struggles against a corrupt competitor over a lucrative telecom deal.
Tyson’s Kabbah is a local tribesman, while Seagal’s Lauder is a mercenary on the opposite side.
Sure, this isn’t art, but it’s not that dull, either.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby digital surround.
Don’t miss: An image slideshow is among the extras.

Ascent of Evil: The Story of Mein Kampf
Details: 2018, EPF Media
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This documentary looks at the history of this infamous book written by Adolf Hitler while imprisoned for the 1923 failed coup attempt in Munich.
The book, which outlines Hitler’s political ideology and goals for Germany, is still available in libraries, at universities, on the Internet and even in some bookstores.
The movie uses historical footage, photographs and interviews with scholars to plunge deeply into this hateful tome and reveals how it came to be written and its legacy of murder, death and destruction unleashed upon the world.
Technical aspects: English and French language tracks.

Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
Dogs of Democracy (EPF Media)
Searching for Victor “Young” Perez: The Boxer of Auschwitz (EPF Media)
Sheikh Jackson (Cleopatra Entertainment)

FOR KIDS
Big Hero Six: The Series (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment)

DIGITAL DOWNLOADS, STREAMING or VOD
Isle of Dogs (Fox Home Entertainment)
Rampage (Warner Home Video)
W. Kamau Bell: Private School Negro (Netflix)
Harvey Street Kids (Netflix, June 29)
Proof, Series 1 & 2 (Acorn TV, July 2)
Like Father, Like Son (Acorn TV, July 2)
The Tale (HBO Home Entertainment, July 2)

Coming next week: Blockers

I am a member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook. My movie reviews also can be found at Rottentomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.