Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

Prolific cult director Jess Franco returned to the world of Dracula with this gorgeous, surreal masterpiece.

Soledad Miranda is the focus of the film, playing Countess Nadine Carody, who’s set to inherit Dracula’s estate. Many of the story’s traditional roles are flipped, with Jonathan Harker’s role taken by Ewa Strömberg’s Linda Westinghouse. However, rather than trapping Linda in her castle, the Countess opens Linda’s sexual world with various sins of the flesh. The Van Helsing proxy here is Dr Alwin Seward (played with delightful zest by Dennis Price). The story isn’t as important as the visuals, however, with Franco filling the screen with flash and flesh.

Severin’s 4K restoration of Vampyros Lesbos is nothing less than stunning. It’s presented in German, but sounds fantastic, making the most of the celebrated score by Manfred Hübler and Sigi Schwab. The release is also packed with extra features (five hours’ worth!), some carried over from previous releases and some new. Kat Ellinger’s commentary track delves into the film’s themes and is enlightening and thoughtful, and another focuses more on Franco’s life and career. As is usual now with any serious Franco release, author Stephen Thrower (who wrote the final word on the director’s work with his two massive books) has some valuable input.

Vampyros Lesbos may be the gateway to the world of Jess Franco, but that stills comes with a caveat that it won’t be to the taste of many. If you love the bizarre and are not afraid of the erotic, this release is invaluable.

VAMPYROS LESBOS is out now on 4K UHD Blu-ray. 

Hot off the success of One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson is back on our watchlists with this 4K restoration and re-release of his 1997 classic, which, surprisingly given its stacked cast and bladder-testing 155-minute length, was only his second feature.

The story begins in 1977, and Marky Mark Wahlberg stars as high school dropout Eddie Adams, whose main asset in life is an extraordinarily large penis, along with great skill and stamina when it comes to using it. Attracting the attention of porn mogul Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds, who allegedly got on horribly with Anderson and fired his agent for recommending the job), Eddie renames himself Dirk Diggler and begins a high-flying career as a dirty movie star.

Diggler’s rise to fame, and subsequent flop into a worn-out low, marks the main thrust of the movie, while various stories following the ensemble cast add colour to the sprawling picture of this time and place. Everyone within the business finds their heydays are numbered – Horner tries to resist the dawn of home video, Amber (Julianne Moore) finds that her career choices make it difficult to ever see her kid again, and Buck (Don Cheadle) has many obstacles in his path to opening a stereo shop. There’s also a scene-stealing and career-defining turn from Heather Graham as Rollergirl, the porn star who never takes her skates off (everything else, though…).

It’s (like many of PTA’s later pictures) a meandering tale, but there’s so much going on at every point, and each scene is so meticulously crafted, that it never loses the attention (unlike some of PTA’s later pictures – looking at you, Inherent Vice). This isn’t a grim takedown of the porno industry, but an energetic and cheerfully satirical depiction of a gang of misfits trying to create something they can be proud of – and sometimes failing, but ultimately finding a family in the process. From this early point in his career, PTA shows a masterful ability to create characters who are messed-up and weird and often dumb, but layered and engaging and fun to spend time with. And that cast really is stacked; we’ve not even mentioned John C. Reilly William H Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Baker Hall, and the insane one-scene appearance from Alfred Molina…

Except for if you saw it on the big screen back in ’97, Boogie Nights has never looked better than on this new 4K version; the crisp image accentuates the warm, vibrant tones of the retro California setting.

The special features include two new American Cinemateque panels featuring PTA and John C Reilly, which are interesting but cover similar material to the two commentaries – one with PTA, one with multiple cast members – which are reused from previous Blu-ray and DVD releases. Other extras, all of which have been on previous versions, include the PTA-directed music video for Michael Penn’s Try, some extended footage featuring John C Reilly’s character, and almost half an hour of deleted scenes (as is usually the case, they were deleted for good reason, and aren’t really worth your time unless you’re a die hard fan).

BOOGIE NIGHTS is available now on 4K UHD, in standard and steelbook editions.

In 1981, amid the rising tensions of the Cold War, Polish director Andrzej Żuławski wrote and directed a film that would ultimately define his career. Having fled his native land following repeated conflict with the authorities, and suffering from deep depression after separating from his wife, Żuławski would channel his anger, sorrow, and frustration – along with the threatening socio-political zeitgeist – into Possession, a primal scream of psychosexual horror.

Possession tells a story of a tilted relationship on the verge of total collapse. Mark (Sam Neill) returns to his West Berlin apartment to discover that his wife, Anna (Isabelle Adjani), has been unfaithful in his absence. Following this confession, the couple’s marriage degrades into psychosis, with Anna and Mark’s communication growing frenzied, unhinged, and physically violent. While Anna’s behavior becomes increasingly deranged and unpredictable, Mark spirals into a destructive stupor of rage, guilt, and jealousy. And, peeling back the layers of their pain, the realities of Anna’s trysts prove darker than anyone could have imagined.

Two formidable lead performances synchronise with Żuławski’s dreamlike direction to create a hysterical hyper-reality, where every emotion, every sensation, every evocation is stretched to breaking point. Though this abstract storytelling style and violent audio-visual assault can be bewildering, even detaching, to some, Possession embraces the vulgarity, sewing convoluted dialogue, overwrought emotion, and piercing noise into its fabric. Possession piques curiosity with the mundane mystery of a failing middle-class marriage, before bursting the seams with physiological horror – executed in gory scenes of mutilation and murder.

Undoubtedly, Adjani is the beating, bleeding heart of the piece, delivering a full-throated, disturbing performance that would see her awarded Best Actress at both Cannes ’81 and Cesar ’82. Adjani’s harrowing physical action is married to her charged, vulnerable eroticism, creating an irresistible but wholly unpredictable personality. Anna is the proverbial wounded animal: cornered, confused, and extremely dangerous. Adjani’s frightening tour-de-force performance, much like Possession itself, leaves its stain on the viewer.

TF1 Studio has done splendid work for this new 4K remaster. Rebalanced contrast pulls light and dark – both characters in this visually thematic film – into distinction. Mark and Anna’s apartment is awash in whites, offering a stark, cold veneer to the couple’s key battleground. Darker locales, such as Anna’s derelict second home, have clearer detailing while not losing the darkness lurking in its corners and corridors. Vitally, this release may be the cleanest Possession has ever looked. The image is rich with grain, pulling details near and far into sharp focus. Additionally, the pinholes and tears featured in previous remasters are gone entirely. For standard Blu-ray users, this disc offers an upgrade from Second Sight’s OOP 2013 release.

Second Sight has put together a comprehensive package for Possession‘s 4K debut. Both the UHD and Blu-ray editions feature all of the extras from the 2013 release. These include two audio commentaries, one featuring Żuławski himself, as well as a host of contemporary and archival features on Possession‘s locations, score, poster art, and legacy. New to this release is an additional commentary from renowned authors Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Alison Taylor, along with featurettes from filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro and Diabolique editor Kat Ellinger.

Perhaps the most curious extra is the inclusion of Possession‘s 1983 U.S. cut, newly restored from an archival print. This version was shorn of a staggering 42 minutes and had its first and final act re-edited. Additionally, the cut was ‘treated’ to an Omen-esque choral score as well as some frankly bizarre solarisation effects – changes made by U.S. distributors in hopes of making the film a little more palatable to the multiplex crowd. Of course, this form is inferior to Żuławski’s vision, but it’s gratifying to have it included here as a morbid curiosity. The U.S. cut has optional commentary from Daniel Bird and Manuela Lazic. Finally, the Limited Edition includes a 220-page hardback book of essays, a reprint of the original shooting script, and a selection of art cards.

Boasting a stellar remaster and a suite of compelling special features, Second Sight closes out the year with this definitive editon of Żuławski’s celluloid nightmare. Thematically rich and sensually devastating, Possession takes mundane elements of human relations and drags them, shrieking and caterwauling, into the metaphysical – made flesh through its bold, uncompromising performances. Possession remains as powerful today as on its 1981 debut, set to provoke and fascinate audiences for decades more.

POSSESSION is available on UHD, Blu-ray, and three-disc limited edition from December 15th 2025.

Across 161 episodes broadcast between 1961 and 1969, The Avengers (starring Patrick Macnee’s John Steed and his various glamourous, assertive female assistants) cut a swathe through the decade. When its production budget increased from its fourth season onwards, it came to represent the very best of slick, stylish, wildly imaginative British adventure television.

The show came to an end in 1969 when American financing fell away, and Steed and his then-assistant Tara King (Linda Thorson) were last seen hurtling into space (and popping champagne corks) in the episode Bizarre. Their de facto boss Mother (Patrick Newell) broke the fourth wall by informing the audience that “they’ll be back”. He was right.

The Avengers (well, Steed at least) returned seven years later in a glossy new series with two new sidekicks – to take some of the physical strain from Macnee, now nearing his mid-fifties, Steed’s new best friends were high-kicking Purdey (Joanna Lumley in her star-making role) and eager-to-please Mike Gambit (the likable Gareth Hunt).

But The New Avengers arrived in a British TV landscape that was a little greyer and bleaker than the one it had exited in 1969. Broad escapist fare was out of favour – gritty investigators like Callan and The Sweeney had grown to represent a more austere and pessimistic new decade – and genre television wasn’t quite as upbeat (Doomwatch warned of the perils of new technology and Survivors decimated the world’s population).

The New Avengers tried its best to recreate the golden era in which the original had flourished, and the first thirteen-episode season has a handful of lively episodes that almost recapture the magic. The Last of the Cybernauts…?? is a rare episode that revisits the show’s own mythology, Sleeper sees much of London anaesthetised by a gang of robbers, Dennis Spooner’s Gnaws is a cheeky riff on the previous year’s box office phenomenon Jaws with a giant rat loose in the London sewers, and the very first episode The Eagle’s Nest sees Peter Cushing playing a scientist kidnapped by a Nazi cult determined to resurrect Hitler.

But many episodes are slightly plodding espionage fare like To Catch a Rat (enlivened by a sturdy guest appearance from original Avenger Ian Hendry) and The Tale of the Big Why. A second season of thirteen episodes followed in 1977, but funding required much of the series to film in France and Canada. The essential Englishness of the series was lost and the stories became even more mundane and forgettable.

For all its faults and the enduring sense that this was a ‘fish out of water’ series that didn’t quite fit in with the era it was made, there’s fun to be had here. The new trio are an endearing partnership, even if the bantering relationship between Purdey and Gambit veers towards the irritating and Steed is now more of a kindly father figure than the suave and charming ladies’ man of the original show. The 1960s Bentley is long gone but at least the umbrella and bowler remain in situ.

This new box set (Blu-ray and/or 4K) does the series more than justice with a plethora of new and vintage documentaries and features for fans to explore. The picture quality is astonishing of course; shot on 35mm, the episodes look bright and glorious and sharp. Bonus highlights include brand new commentaries (Lumley and stunt co-ordinator Cyd Childs on Sleeper, Big Finish’s Nick Briggs along with stunt performers Rocky Taylor and Henry Holland on The Last of the Cybernauts…??, amongst others), documentaries The Impact of The New Avengers: Reinvented for a New Era and Kicks, Flips & Spy Tricks: The Stunt Magic of The New Avengers, as well as fascinating convention footage from 2011 (especially stunt performer/writer/director Ray Austin) and a brief but warm retrospective on the series from Joanna Lumley. Also included are a commemorative booklet and a comic strip booklet.

It’s a generous package that more than does justice to a series that’s actually better than our memories might led us to believe, even if it doesn’t manage to capture the freewheeling zaniness and unfettered creativity of the 1960s incarnation.

THE NEW AVENGERS – SERIES 1 & 2 is available now on Blu-ray and 4K from StudioCanal.

In an attempt to reinvent the Frankenstein series, Hammer went back to the beginning with a new Doctor and a more comedic approach.

Victor Frankenstein (Ralph Bates) is a precocious, arrogant lothario who inherits the Baron title when he sabotages his father’s shotgun, leading to his death. As soon as he is back in the family castle, he’s setting up a laboratory to start his experiment to create life from human parts. His old school friend, Elizabeth (Veronica Carlson), moves into his castle when her father’s death leaves her homeless, putting bed-warming maid Alys (Kate O’Mara) feeling pushed out. Meanwhile, Victor’s creation (David Prowse) has gone on a rampage.

Giving writer Jimmy Sangster the director’s seat doesn’t really pay off for Hammer, since his mix of dark humour and horror doesn’t often hit the mark. Ralph Bates is an impressive new addition as the scientist, although Peter Cushing would return to the role in the final Hammer Frankenstein film in 1974. It’s a movie that rewards a revisit, particularly if you’ve not seen it for some years. Prowse’s monster doesn’t get an awful lot to do, only appearing in the final half-hour, but he’s an imposing presence (who gets a wry send-off).

As with the STUDIOCANAL 4K UHD release of Scars of Dracula, The Horror of Frankenstein comes with a rigid slipcase, a perfect-bound booklet, two posters, and a generous array of extras on the disc. These consist of a good mix of material previously available and a new chat between writers Clarisse Loughrey and Isaura Barbé-Brown, who give an enthusiastic appraisal of the movie.

If you’ve never seen The Horror of Frankenstein before, this release is the perfect chance to appreciate it.

THE HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN is out now on 4K UHD Blu-ray from STUDIOCANAL.

The 1980s were a great decade for fedoras. Just three years after Indiana Jones’ brought them back into style, Freddy Krueger paired his with a stripey jumper and pointy gloves, as Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street reinvigorated the slasher genre.

This 1984 classic follows the young residents of Springwood, Ohio, who are tormented in their dreams by the spirit of Krueger (Robert Englund), a child killer who was burned alive. This wouldn’t be Freddy’s first and only murder spree, as over the next decade, he starred in six slashtastic sequels.

All seven original Elm Street movies (let’s not talk about the remake) are now available on 4K UHD in a new box set. It’s a great opportunity to be reminded why the original was so great, and to revisit, or experience for the first time, the various follow-ups. While there are some inevitable diminishing returns – with films five and six being the series’ low points – there is something to appreciate in each movie, and the run ends on a high as the original writer-director returns for the marvellously meta Wes Craven’s New Nightmare.

There are two versions of the box set available – a limited-edition steelbook set, which includes both 4K UHD and Blu-ray discs, and a standard-edition version which just includes the 4Ks. The films look excellent in these new restorations; the details are sharp and the colours are vivid, and mercifully they haven’t gone over the top with grain reduction. There’s even a pair of retro-style blue and red anaglyph glasses included for the 3D bit in Freddy’s Dead!

The discs include all the extras from the previous Blu-ray editions, and two new featurettes of eight minutes each. These include new interviews with Robert Englund, as well as director Jack Sholder, writer/director Chuck Russell, and cinematographer Mark Irwin. It’s a small amount of new material for what’s otherwise an impressive set, but they do offer some interesting insights.

The last of the historical Hammer Dracula movies is presented in a fantastic 4K/Blu-ray edition from STUDIOCANAL.

Resurrected by the regurgitated blood of a bat, Count Dracula (Christopher Lee) once more puts fear into the locals living in the shadow of his castle. Even their attempt to burn his resting place to the ground backfires when all the women are killed by his bats of vengeance. When a disgraced womaniser, Paul Carlson (Christopher Matthews), arrives in the village, he’s forced to take shelter at the castle, becoming a prisoner there. His brother, Simon (Dennis Waterman), and his fiancée, Sarah (Jenny Hanley), come searching for him, leading to more danger.

Time has been kind to Scars of Dracula; pilloried by many over the years, it’s much more entertaining than you might think. Roy Ward Baker’s direction is solid and keeps things moving. While it’s essentially a retread of previous films, the inclusion of elements from Bram Stoker’s novel, such as Dracula climbing a building to reach his room and his command over animals, adds some fresh moments. It’s not the strongest of Christopher Lee’s tenure as Dracula by a long shot, but he’s still a captivating Count. Seeing future TV stars Dennis Waterman and Jenny Hanley in prominent roles (as well as the second Doctor, Patrick Troughton) alongside Hammer stalwarts such as Michael Ripper is a joy, too.

STUDIOCANAL’s new release includes the film presented on a 4K UHD as well as a regular Blu-ray. Both look fantastic. There’s also a nice booklet with new essays and a reprint of the original press book, and two posters. Extras on the disc include a couple of new featurettes (one an interview with Bram’s great-grand-nephew, Dacre Stoker, the other a conversation between two critics offering new perspectives on the film). Several other extras have been ported over from previous releases and are very welcome, making this release the ‘definitive’ version.

SCARS OF DRACULA is out now on 4K UHD. You can buy it here.