New to View: Oct. 29

By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, Oct. 29, unless otherwise noted:
“J-Horror Rising: Limited Edition” (Blu-ray)
Details: 1999-2007, Arrow Video
Rated: R, violence
The lowdown: A four-disc set highlighting seven Japanese horror films that feature stories about vengeful ghosts, young women with supernatural abilities, the terror of technology and urban alienation and isolation.
The set’s titles are “Shikoku” (1999), “Isola: Multiple Personality Girl” (2000), “Persona” (also known as “Kamen gakuen”) (2000), “Inugami” (2001), “St. John’s Wort” (aka “Otogirisou”) (2001), “Noroi: The Curse” (2005) and “Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman” (2007).
“Shikoku” is a supernatural story about a young woman who, as a child, moved with her parents from their village. She has returned to take care of the family business and is sad to learn that her childhood friend drowned.
To her horror, she also discovers that her friend’s mother, a priestess, has been so overwhelmed with grief that she is performing rituals that will reunite her with her dead daughter.
“Isola: Multiple Personality Girl” centers on a young woman helping survivors of the 1995 Kobe earthquake. The woman, who can read the thoughts of others, encounters a girl with multiple personality disorder, one of which is Isola, a 13th-century dangerous personality who must be stopped since it is revealed she is linked to a series of deaths.
Danda, a student who is being bullied at school, adopts a porcelain mask as a result in “Persona.” His action spurs on others to do the same. The masks give people the freedom to change their personalities and reveal new ones.
Of course, this all leads to dangerous behavior and violence.
“Inugami” follows a young schoolteacher from Tokyo who takes a position in a small rural town. There he meets and falls in love with a young woman who comes from a large and unusual family.
Soon he learns of an ancient legend associated with the family — the curse of Inugami, the Dog God. He disbelieves the superstitions until a series of mysterious deaths plague the town. He must then confront the young woman and learn the truth.
In “St. John’s Wort,” a game designer and his girlfriend drive to a rundown mansion she has just inherited to film backgrounds for a new video game called St. John’s Wort.
The young woman soon discovers family secrets hidden within the mansion, which lead to a dark finale.
A well-known paranormal journalist disappears shortly after finishing a documentary in “Noroi: The Curse.” This is one of those found footage-fake documentaries akin to “The Blair Witch Project.”
It also involves a legendary demon, Kagutaba, that may be responsible for all the deaths and disappearances.
A suburban town is the setting for “Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman,” a vengeful spirit intent on kidnapping children to cut their mouths like her own.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture “Shikoku,” “Isola: Multiple Personality Girl,” “Persona,” “Inugami,” Noroi: The Curse” and “Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman”), 1.75:1 widescreen picture (St. John’s Wort”); Japanese 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 2.0 DTS-HD stereo (“Persona”); English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include commentary tracks on “Noroi: The Curse,” “Isola: Multiple Personality Girl,” “Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman,” “Iugami,” “St. John’s Wort” and “Shikoku”; a featurette on the J-horror genre at the turn of the millennium; interviews with filmmakers and actors; on-set footage; deleted scenes; video essays; archival making of featurettes; and behind-the-scenes footage.

Daiei Gothic: Japanese Ghost Stories (Blu-ray)
Details: 1959-68, Radiance Films
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A three-disc set featuring a trio of Japanese ghost stories that should send shivers up and down for spine for Halloween.
The movies are “The Ghost of Yotsuya” (1959), “The Bride from Hades” (1968) and “The Snow Woman” (1968).
A samurai’s wife, who died a miserable death, takes revenge on her husband in “The Ghost of Yotsuya.” And no wonder. Her husband killed her father to marry her, deceives her into leaving her sister, fathers her child, pays another man to seduce her and finally administers a poison so he can marry another woman.
The samurai is not a total villain, suffering pangs of conscience for his actions and seems to commit these heinous acts at the goading of his servant.
“The Bride from Hades” is a story of a young man, already engaged, who becomes infatuated with a beautiful woman he meets at a festival. Unknown to him, she is a ghost with cruel intentions.
“The Snow Woman” tells of a master sculptor and his apprentice who are caught in a snowstorm, but find shelter in an abandoned hut, where they are visited by the Snow Witch. She freezes the sculptor but takes pity on the apprentice, making him promise never to tell anyone what has happened.
Later, the apprentice meets and marries a beautiful young woman. They are happy and have a child. But the village official wants the wife for himself and, after the young man pays a fine on a trumped-up charge, the official tries to rape the wife.
The vile official is unaware, however, that the wife is actually the snow woman. Too bad for him.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; Japanese LPCM monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include an 80-page book with essays, reviews of the movies and ghost stories; an interview with filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa on “The Ghost of Yotsuya”; a commentary track on “The Bride from Hades” and an interview with filmmaker Hiroshi Takahashi; an interview with filmmaker Masayuki Ochiai and a visual essay on “The Snow Woman”; and six postcards featuring original archival imagery from the movies.

Trick ‘r’ Treat: Limited Edition (4K Ultra HD)
Details: 2007, Arrow Video
Rated: R, violence, language, sexual content
The lowdown: A horror-thriller anthology with interviewing stories set in a small town on Halloween that deals with the consequences of breaking Halloween traditions.
The film features an impressive cast, including Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Dylan Baker and Leslie Bibb.
The stories involve a young couple who arrive home from the night’s celebration with the young wife wanting to clean up the Halloween decorations in the yard; before midnight and pays the price for her transgressions; a local school principal who is a serial killer; a group of teens visit a flooded quarry where the parents of eight physically deformed children bribe a bus driver to dispose of them. The bus is driven off a cliff and into the quarry, the children are drowned and the driver disappears. But, on Halloween, the dead don’t rest.
Another story centers on five young women, four who dress in princess costumes and the fifth, a Halloween traditionalist, dons Little Red Riding Hood garb. It turns out the young women are not who they seem and, as an added bonus, the murdering school principal gets his just desserts.
The final entry deals with a curmudgeonly Halloween hater who, as the night progresses, encounters several eerie events, including an encounter with Sam, a grotesque young man who appears in each of the stories. It turns out the old man is actually the bus driver who disappeared.
The film features a coda that wraps up all the stories.
Technical aspects: 2160 ultra-high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture English 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a commentary track with director Michael Dougherty, conceptual artist Breehn Burns, storyboard artist Simeon Wilkins and composer Douglas Pipes; interviews with actor Quinn Lord who played Sam,  production designer Mark Freeborn, director of photography Glen MacPherson, costume designer Trish Keating, creature designer Patrick Tatopoulos; a tribute to the late make-up designer Bill Terezakis; an archival featurette with Dougherty, Burns and Wilkins; an archival interview with Dougherty on the making of the movie; an archival featurette with Dougherty and Pipes; an archival featurette with Dougherty and Rob Galluzzo of the “Shock Waves” podcast; a 1996 short film with commentary by Dougherty; an archival featurette narrated by Cox; deleted and alternate scenes with commentary by Dougherty; a school bus VFX comparison; a “Monster Mash” comic book set in the “Trick ‘r’ Treat” universe; a new commentary with Dougherty; and a collector’s booklet about the movie.

“The Classic Ghosts: 1970s Gothic Television” (Blu-ray)
Details: 1973, Kino Lorber-Kino Cult
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A two-disc set featuring five made-for-TV movies that aired late night on ABC.
The movies, preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, were shot on videotape.
The titles in the set are “The Haunting of Rosalind,” “The Screaming Skull,” “The Deadly Visitor,” “The House and the Brain” and “And the Bones Came Together.”
Among those appearing in these thrillers are Susan Sarandon, Beatrice Straight, David McCallum, Vincent Gardenia, Carrie Nye, Perry King, Gwen Verdon, James Keach, Hurd Hatfield and Laurence Luckinbill.
The creative team behind the movies was comprised mostly of women, including producer Jacqueline Bobbin and directors Lela Swift and Gloria Monty.
A nice group of features to watch this close to Halloween.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.33:1 full-screen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include interviews with Mark Quigley, the John H. Mitchell  television curator at the UCLA Film & Television Archive, Maya Montañez, head of the UCLA Film & Television Archive research and study center and Amanda Reyes of the “Made for TV Mayhem” podcast; and a demonstration of the two-inch video technology with David Crosthwait of DC Video.

Dogra Magra (Blu-ray)
Details: 1988, Radiance Films
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A Japanese horror film in which a young man awakens in a mental institution with no memory. He is told he killed his bride on their wedding day.
Two doctors, whose sanity comes into question, take turns studying his condition, thus making the patient more confused than when he arrived.
They finally connect his problem to a Chinese ancestor who killed his wife and painted her decomposing body. And they believe their young patient did the same.
The film, which is set in the 1920s, is somewhat confusing and murky, leaving you to wonder what reality is and what is hallucination. To really appreciate the movie, you need to pay close attention to everything that you see.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio stereo; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental options include an interview with director Toshio Matsumoto, a commentary track with Matsumoto, a visual essay by programmer and curator Julian Ross, instructions on chants featured in the movie and a booklet with essays about the movie.

American Movie (4K Ultra HD)
Release date: Oct. 15
Details: 1999, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment-Allied Vaughn
Rated: R, language, drug content
The lowdown: This documentary about Mark Borchardt, an aspiring filmmaker from Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, has gained a cult following as it follows Borchardt’s struggles over two years to overcome obstacles of all kinds to complete his movie.
Borchardt’s helpers are a diverse group, including his mother, 82-year-old uncle and a local cast recruited from friends and local theater people.
Borchardt is continually battling internal and external roadblocks, including bouts with alcohol and gambling, to complete “Coven,” his short horror film.
You have to admire Borchardt’s optimistic tenacity, ably captured by filmmaker Chris Smith. Critics were impressed, giving the film a 94 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
If you want to check it out, visit www.moviezyng.com or other online dealers, to find a copy.
Technical aspects: 2160p ultra-high definition, 1.33:1 full-screen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a commentary track with Smith and cast members, deleted scenes and Borchardt’s “Coven.”

Borderlands (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + digital)
Release date: Oct. 22
Details: 2024, Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Rated: PG-13, intense sequences of violence and action, language, suggestive material
The lowdown: Despite its all-star cast, headed by two-time Academy Award-winner Cate Blanchett, this adaptation of the popular video game bombed at the box office and with critics.
That is a surprise, since the cast also included Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, Edgar Ramirez, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu and the vocal talent of Jack Black.
Blanchett portrays Lilith, an infamous bounty hunter who, as is common in such stories, has a mysterious past. She returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of Atlas (Ramirez), the most powerful and evil individual in the universe.
Hart, Curtis, Greenblatt, Munteanu and Black is the team of misfits she organizes to help with her mission.
Even a 4K UHD disc of the movie cannot hide its obvious thin and formulaic story and characters.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p ultra-high definition, 2.39:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos and descriptive audio and French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, English, French and Spanish subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos and descriptive audio and French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, English, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a from game to screen, meet the team, high-tech hellscapes, fashion and action on Pandora, “Badonkadonk Time” and “All Aboard the Death Choochoo” featurettes.

Hi De Ho / Boarding House Blues (Blu-ray)
Details: 1947, 1948, Kino Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Two post-World War II features made to satisfy the demands of segregated theaters throughout the nation.
And while the budgets for these movies increased after the war, they still were ignored or denied access into the mainstream studio system.
The legendary Cab Calloway plays himself in “Hi De Ho” (1947) as a bandleader who must contend with a jealous girlfriend as well as gangsters as he climbs the ladder of success.
The storyline isn’t much, but the film’s finale — featuring a series of “soundies” with Calloway and his band, is very entertaining.
The great Jackie “Moms” Mabley stars in “Boarding House Blues” (1948) where she runs a theatrical boarding house in Harlem. Finances are bad, and she is in danger of losing her establishment.
To get the money she needs, Mabley and some of her boarders trick a producer into helping them put on a show that will feature many black specialty acts from the vaudeville era.
The double feature is a window to many famous and forgotten black entertainers who performed in the shadows of the mainstream movie industry.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.33:1 full-screen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental options include an introduction to “Boarding House Blues” by film historian Ina Archer, soundies musical shorts featuring Calloway and Lucky Millinder.

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot: Special Edition (Blu-ray)
Release date: Oct. 22
Details: 1974, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: R, violence, language
The lowdown: This crime thriller marked the directorial debut of Michael Cimino, who also wrote the screenplay.
Clint Eastwood stars as Thunderbolt, a legendary master thief, and Jeff Bridges is Lightfoot, a brash young drifter who gives the veteran criminal a new outlook on life when he becomes his partner.
Together the two, along with Thunderbolt’s former partners, Red Leary (George Kennedy) and Eddie Goody (Geoffrey Lewis), devise a scheme to rob the seemingly impenetrable Montana Armored Depository.
The scheme will test their endurance as well as the limits of their friendship.
The movie, which garnered an 89 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, costars Catherine Bach, Gary Busey, Jack Dodson, Burton Gilliam, Roy Jensen, Bill McKinney, Vic Tayback, Dub Taylor and Gregory Walcott.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 2.0 DTS-Master Audio monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials include a commentary track with film historian Nick Pinkerton and a “For the Love of Characters” featurette with Cimino.

Plenty (Blu-ray)
Release date: Oct. 22
Details: 1985, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: R, mature themes, language
The lowdown: This adaptation of David Hare’s play, stars Meryl Streep as Susan Traherne, an upper-class young Englishwoman who, during World War II, worked as an underground courier in occupied France — a dangerous job that she finds enlivening.
After the war, she returns to England where she cannot find anything as thrilling or fulfilling as her wartime experiences.
She moves from job to job, marries a career diplomat and continually feels dissatisfied. By today’s standards, it seems she is suffering from PTSD as she goes through periods of mental instability and depression. And nothing she does can shake those emotions.
The film’s top-flight cast include Sam Neill as her wartime lover, Sting as a lover in postwar England, Charles Dance as her husband as well as Sir John Gielgud, Ian McKellen and Tracy Ullman.
Hare adapted his play for the screen, and the film was directed by Fred Schepisi.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials include a conversation with Schepisi and a commentary track with film historians Julie Kirgo and Peter Hankoff.

Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
Caligula: The Ultimate Cut box set (4K Ultra HD) (Unobstructed View)
Didi (Blu-ray) (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment)

DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
The American Question (Gravitas Ventures)
Amityville: Where the Echo Lives (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Borderlands (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Circus of Horrors (Kino Lorber)
Only Murders in the Building: Season 4, Episode 10 (Hulu)
OCT. 30
American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez: Episode 8 (Hulu)
Midnight Family: Episode 7 (Apple TV+)
Shrinking: Season 2, Episode 4 (Apple TV+)
Where’s Wanda: Episode 6 (Apple TV+)
OCT. 31
The Box (Viaplay)
NOV. 1
A Greyhound of a Girl (Good Deed Entertainment)
Across the River and into the Trees (Level 33 Entertainment)
Before: Episode 3 (Apple TV+)
City of Dreams (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Disclaimer: Episode 5 (Apple TV+)
Don Q (Archstone Entertainment)
Freedom (Prime Video)
La Maison: Episode 8 (Apple TV+)
Music by John Williams (Disney+)
Our Dad, Danielle (Buffalo 8)
Reagan (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)

I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, 4K UHD, 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 at ReelBob or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.