Posted in: 4K/Blu-Ray, Movies | Tagged: 4k, 4k ultra hd, back to the future, back to the future 2, blu-ray, Pride & Prejudice

Blu-ray On My Mind: Frankenstein, & Universal Releases Galore

Blu-ray news and reviews for the week include del Toro's Frankenstein, Back to the Future, Pride 7 Prejudice, and more.

Blu-ray and physical media are important to many collectors and me, and while it can be a chore these days to get your hands on the discs, nothing brings a bigger smile to my face than cracking open a new Blu-ray. Every Friday, we will review the week's announcements and news in physical media, highlight the labels still unearthing films that have somehow never been released, and review new discs we have added to our collections. Let's dive into the week, shall we?

Blu-ray News For The Week

• Disney has set a January 9 release date for Tron: Ares on 4K Blu-ray. The release will include three deleted scenes, five featurettes, and a Dolby Atmos audio track. The release will come in both a regular edition and a Steelbook, of course.
• Arrow Video has revealed its February releases, including Excalibur (1981), Westworld (1973), The Visitor (1979), American Yakuza (1993), and Save the Green Planet! (2003), The Sana Collection (2023-2024), and Peking Opera Blues (1986). The big one for me personally is Excalibur, one of my dad's favorite films and one I have seen countless times. This release includes a new 4K restoration of the film, both the theatrical and television cuts of the film, a booklet, a poster, and art cards. That is a must-buy.
• After rumors of their demise were proven wrong, Scream Factory and Shout! Factory have revealed their February releases. They include Prison On Fire 1 & 2 (1987-1991), The Big Heat (1988), Dead Silence (2007), Deathstalker (2025), and Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001).
• Director Guillermo del Toro teased something interesting last week. In response to a question about a deleted scene from his new film Frankenstein on X, he revealed that the film will indeed get a physical media release. That is exciting news, as we all know Netflix is, shall we say, fickle about which projects get a physical release.

Reviews of the Week

My pick-ups this week are all courtesy of Universal Home Video. Thank you to them for sending over some of their big releases for this holiday season, including the documentary The Americas, the new Back to the Future 40th anniversary set, the How the Grinch Stole Christmas Steelbook, the new 20th anniversary release for Pride & Prejudice, and Amazon exclusive sets for Scarface and Five Nights at Freddy's.

The Americas, narrated by Tom Hanks and featuring a score by Hans Zimmer, is one of those discs that you put in to show off the power of your home theater system. The series is one of the prettiest presentations I have ever seen, and that is saying something since when this aired, it already looked fantastic on cable/streaming. The real treat here is the behind-the-scenes doc included on the disc that shows what it took to film the series. Just incredible stuff.

Steelbook releases are still all the rage, and these three are great ones. These Amazon-exclusive sets for Scarface and Five Nights at Freddy's come with a metal sign to hang on the wall and are housed in a kind of briefcase, which is a nice touch. The discs for both are the same as the regular 4K Blu-ray release, so the only upgrades here are the packaging and the limited availability of the sets. Both films look good on 4K, though FNAF has some issues here and there that are not the disc's fault, just bad lighting choices by the filmmakers where some humans look… less human. The Grinch Steelbook offers a really fun art choice and includes the newer transfer of the film, an upgrade over the initial 4K release. The new edition includes a 25th-anniversary conversation with Ron Howard, Taylor Momsen, and more, which is neat as well and more in-depth than I thought it would be.

The two standouts this week are also anniversary releases. The Pride & Prejudice 20th anniversary release is the same disc as before, but now includes a really cool oversized book-style packaging and 42 pages of behind-the-scenes content, from photos and interviews with the cast to looks at the costumes and a forward written by director Joe Wright. The presentation is a mixed bag, though, as far as the disc is concerned. While an upgrade from the regular Blu-ray release, there are some noticeable drops in quality in some spots, and the fact that it is not an upgraded transfer is disappointing. Color grading could have been improved. Still, I like this version better than the beloved Colin Firth version, so I am happy to have this one on the shelf.

Finally, we have the big 40th anniversary set for Back to the Future. All three films are included here, and are indeed the identical discs from the earlier, separate release, but those are extraordinary releases and must-owns, so if you don't own them already, now is the time. All the extras are the same as well, so the legacy features are worth the price as well. What they get you with is the included Blu-ray or new special features, which include over 90 minutes of new featurettes, including a tour of filming locations, a TCM panel, and a plea from the cast and crew to try and help them find the red guitar Michael J. Fox played at the Under the Sea dance from the end of the first film. At this point, this is the definitive upgrade of the trilogy, and once you own this, you are probably good forever.

That is all for this week. Next week, we return with more news and what we picked up during the November Criterion Collection sale and on Black Friday.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!