Friday the 13th 4K (1980)

“Grand Guignol Plus Giallo Equals Seminal Splatter Classic”

Warners are bring out Sean S Cunningham’s remarkably successful horror film on 4K in steelbook and standard editions, with the steelbook having the film on both UHD and Blu-ray.

Watching the film again, with the movies that inspired it now available in 4K editions of their own, it’s easy to see how many of the elements of Mario Bava’s 1971 BAY OF BLOOD is in Cunningham’s film. However, FRIDAY THE 13TH differs in a number of significant ways, and it’s very much due to those differences that the film was likely so successful.

First - the victims. Instead of a bunch of scheming grown-ups like the Bava film (and indeed many a giallo) instead FRIDAY THE 13TH gives us a bunch of likeable and essentially innocent teenagers, practically none of whom realise that someone is out to get them until it’s too late. Second is Harry Manfredini’s score which, as John McCarty put in his book Splatter Movies, sounds like ‘Bernard Herrmann but with half the orchestra'. But apart from a bit of irrelevant banjo near the beginning it’s music that never lets up, right until the end when it’s used to play a trick on the audience that must have worked perfectly back in the day. 

And finally, and some would argue most importantly, and the thing that really set the film apart in 1980, there’s the Grand Guignol aspect, with Tom Savini’s makeup creations jaw-dropping in a ‘How DID they do that?’ when the film was originally released and still holding up pretty well on 4K now,  the big trick being that Cunningham’s camera never lingers on them for any longer than necessary. 

Warners’ 4K gives a slightly crisper and more vivid look to the daylight scenes and, significantly, you can see a bit more of what’s going on in the darker scenes with no problems with picture noise. Extras are all archival and include the Sean S Cunningham commentary, making of (22 minutes), 2008 panel reunion (22 minutes), Sean Cunningham interview (nine minutes), Lost Tales From Camp Blood Part I (8 minutes), The Friday the 13th Chromicles (21 minutes), Behind the Gore (10 minutes) and Fresh Cuts - New Tales from Friday the 13th (14 minutes). 

Sean S Cunningham’s FRIDAY THE 13TH is out now on 4K in steelbook (UHD and Blu-ray) and standard editions (possibly UHD only - check the disc as the press release isn’t clear) now. 

Little Shop of Horrors 4K (1986)

           To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of director Frank Oz’s film version of the off off Broadway musical - that was itself inspired by a film that has become a legend in itself - Warner Bros. are bringing out LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS on 4K UHD in standard, steelbook and collector’s editions.

Why is the original film a legend? Made in 1960 and the brainchild of writer Charles B Griffith (who also voiced Audrey the man-eating plant) and producer-director Roger Corman, it's the story of browbeaten Seymour Krelborn who works in a flower shop and finds fame when he discovers a ‘strange and interesting new plant’ which turns out to need human blood to survive.  Allegedly it was shot over just a couple of days. (“We were going to play tennis,” quipped Corman, ever the showman, “but it was raining”).

The film was eventually turned into a musical and then into a big budget Hollywood picture with Rick Moranis as Seymour, Ellen Greene as the woman he loves, Vincent Gardenia as Mr Mushnik the flower shop owner, and Levi Stubbs and about forty other people as Audrey the Man-Eating Plant. Despite featuring memorable toe-tapping songs and likeable characters, preview audiences were upset with the original ending, and so more than ten minutes of complex and extensive effects work (and one of the songs) were sacrificed and a new ending filmed, which was then what audiences got to see when the film was released.

This is being mentioned because Warners’ new 4K gives you the option of playing the original director’s cut (103 minutes) or the version that was seen in cinemas (94 minutes). There’s an archival Frank Oz commentary on the theatrical version, with the original ending separate with an accompanying commentary amongst the ported over extras.

New to this disc is a featurette (15 minutes) in which Frank Oz and Ellen Greene share their memories of making the film, and a new piece on the creation of Audrey II (eight minutes). Otherwise extras are archival including Frank Oz discussing the director’s cut from 2012 and nine minutes of deleted scenes and out-takes.

If you go for the collector’s version you get the film on UHD and Blu-ray discs in a steelbook as well as two posters, a 34 page booklet, 4 character cards and 2 behind the scenes cards. You can also get the steelbook alone, or a standard edition which contains the UHD disc only. 

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS is out in 4K from Warner Bros. in collectors, steelbook and standard UHD editions on Monday 19th October 2026

Evil Dead 4K (2013)

 

        Studio Canal are releasing Fede Alvarez’s remake of the Sam Raimi classic in a special two disc UHD edition that will also include a booklet, poster, slipcase and O-ring with the credits on to keep the slipcase free of them. Both versions of the film - theatrical (just over 91 minutes) and unrated cut (just over 96 minutes) are in 4K, with other special features all on disc one.

Four friends meet up at a remote cabin with the intention of helping the fifth, Mia (Jane Levy) to go cold turkey with her heroin addiction. The cabin is in quite a state, but that’s nothing compared to the basement, where they discover numerous dead cats hanging from the ceiling, and what looks like a book wrapped in barbed wire.

Presumably unable to resist the lure of an unopened book that’s been bound in human skin, Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) cuts the wire off, opens it up, and is pretty soon uttering some familiar words to fans of the franchise. Before you can say ‘Necromicon’ something is rushing through the grim forest and taking up residence inside Mia, but it’s not long before the demonic presence is causing others to hack off their faces and arms and generally causing mayhem.

EVIL DEAD 2013 does it’s absolute best to be as bloody and as painful as possible, especially if you watch the unrated cut (which of course you should). Other than that its greatest strength is in not trying to slavishly remake the original. It’s far slicker than the Raimi film, of course, and lacks that nightmarish quality that had so many of us rewatching it time and again in the early 1980s. But in terms of gore and grue for a modern audience it does a good job.

New to this release is a short, decent talking head piece on the movie from critic Chris Tilly where he talks about the film & ties it into EVIL DEAD RISE and EVIL DEAD WRATH at the end. Otherwise extras are all archival, including a commentary track from Alvarez, co-writer Rodo Sayagues and actors Levy, Pucci, and Jessica Lucas (Olivia). There are a host of featurette interviews, including Alvarez (seven minutes and four minutes), Levy (nine minutes and two minutes) and Bruce Campbell (nine minutes) as well as two interviews with producers Rob Tapert, Bruce Campbell and others (ten minutes and five minutes). Finally there’s an on-stage Q&A from The Ritzy in Brixton from 2013 with Alvarez and Levy. 

Fede Alvarez’s EVIL DEAD is out from Studio Canal in a two disc UHD set (ie no Blu-rays) on Monday 19th October 2026

The Screaming Skull (1958)

“Welcome Blu-ray Release of a Minor Unsung Classic”

It’s time to follow the bouncing a skull as Eureka releases director Alex Nicol’s ‘AIP Does REBECCA - Sort Of’ on Blu-ray. The limited edition release of 2000 also comes with a booklet featuring new writing on the film by Jon Towlson.

Eric Whitlock (John Hudson) brings his new bride Jenni (Peggy Webber) back to his country mansion. We learn that Jenni has just been released from a sanatorium where she’s been recovering from the death of her parents by drowning. It turns out Eric first wife Marion (a nice touch as this is adapted from the story of the same name by Francis Marion Crawford) also drowned, after first falling and hitting her head so hard she crushed the base of her skull.

Jenni starts the see the skull, and yes it screams. Or is it just the peacocks in the garden? Could the shifty gardener Mickey (director Alex Nicol) have anything to do with it? Or is it just another ‘drive the rich wife mad to inherit everything she owns’ plot?

Well, THE SCREAMING SKULL may have a few surprises in store for you as its story unfurls, surprises that will be extremely welcome to fans of the EuroGothic horrors that followed in its wake in the 1960s and 1970s. In fact, the combination of small cast plus single location with impressive architecture plus lead actress role that requires extreme behaviour plus director playing a mentally challenged gardener will have fans wondering if Jess Franco was inspired by this one.

The film seems to have poor ratings on internet review sources like imdb but don’t believe them. The final twenty minutes of this contain at lease two bits that will cause anyone kindly disposed to this sort of thing to get shivers and then nod with pleasure at a job well done. 

Eureka’s disc comes with a 13 minute introduction by Stephen Laws who sets the scene nicely, and doubly so for British film fans of a certain age who will be able to easily sympathise with his hunt to watch this one, and his frustration at it never being shown on British television. There’s also a 29 minute piece from Mary Going on the film and gothic cinema, in which she compares it to Hitchcock’s REBECCA as well as mentioning the kind of ad campaign beloved of William Castle that the film used. Finally there are a couple of scratchy trailers sourced from Something Weird Video. 

THE SCREAMING SKULL is out on Blu-ray from Eureka in a limited edition of 2000 on Monday 19th October 2026

Plan Nine From Outer Space (1957) and Bride of the Monster (1955)

“Definitely Not the ‘Worst Film Ever Made’ ”

The BFI are releasing, in a two disc Blu-ray set, two of legendary director Edward D Wood, Jr’s unique forays into fantasy motion picture making. If you grew up during the 1980s then you’ll probably be aware of the renewed interest Wood’s movies were afforded during that decade, albeit as part of ‘Worst Movies of All Time’ lists. Well hopefully needless to say there are far, far worse films out there than Wood’s, and even if Eddie's do lack a certain technical competence, they are never less than watchable and also showcase valuable final performances (although it’s pretty much a cameo in one) of horror superstar Bela Lugosi. So let’s take a look at the set.

Disc One: Plan Nine From Outer Space (1957)

Aliens are determined to stop humankind before it can become advanced enough to making universe-destroying bombs. They do this by zooming over Hollywood in their flying saucers and bringing three people back from the grave. No it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but just sit back and enjoy the sight of TV ‘horror host’ Vampira staggering around a graveyard to little effect, pro-wrestler Tor Johnson as a police inspector doing his very best with the dialogue, fake-looking sets, a script that feels as if it was written in a hell of a rush and, of course, the sight of poor old Bela Lugosi in his last filmed footage. 

But there is something about PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE that keeps bringing people back to it, and it’s not a desire to poke fun at it but instead genuinely enjoy it for what it is. There’s a sincerity here amongst all the incompetence, a sincerity to entertain and a profound desire by Ed Wood to be a film-maker when such a career was probably beyond his abilities (although he does show some competence as an editor).

The BFI’s disc comes with two commentaries, an archival USA track from David DeCoteau and Ted Newsom, and a new British track from Ken Hollings and Vic Pratt. The opinions from either side of the Atlantic compliment each other nicely making them both worth a listen. Hollings returns for a 12 minute video essay Criswell Predicts 2026 in which he talks about the ‘psychic’ before moving onto other aspects of the film. There’s also Mark Kermode’s BFI introduction (four minutes), a 1950s documentary on UFOs (14 minutes) and 96 minutes of archival interviews wit Wood associates Dolores Fuller, Kathy Wood, Stephen C Apostolof and Joe Robertson. Bela Lugosi Leaves the Sanitarium is six minutes of newsreel footage of the star, and you also get a trailer and image gallery.

Disc Two: Bride of the Monster (1955)

As a bonus we also get what is probably Wood’s most accomplished film, with certainly his biggest budget. Somewhere in the everglades (probably) mad scientist Dr Eric Vornoff (Bela Lugosi) has been carrying out research to create a race of atomic supermen. So far he has made Tor Johnson, who needs to be controlled with a whip. Into his world come reporter Janet Lawton (Loretta King) and policeman Dick Craig (Tony McCoy) who put a stop to Vornoff’s experiments and ensure his pet octopus enjoys a hearty meal.

BRIDE OF THE MONSTER is almost a normal B picture for the era, but it’s the almost that makes it interesting, that and one scene where Lugosi has a monologue that’s moving because you know the actor is doing his absolute best for his director. It’s no classic (and nowhere near as odd as its sequel, NIGHT OF THE GHOULS) but if you liked PLAN NINE then you will very likely enjoy this too.

As with PLAN NINE we get two commentary tracks: an archival USA track from David DeCoteau and Ted Newsom, and a new British track this time from William Fowler and Vic Pratt, in which I was pleased to learn I’m not the only one to  have made the connection between Max Casella in Tim Burton's ED WOOD and Dougie Howser, MD.

Other extras include a bizarre three minute short film called WHITE LITE and a one hour Children’s Film Foundation production from 1972 called KADOYNG about an alien visitor. Familiar faces in that include Gerald Sim and Bill Owen. There’s also a trailer and image gallery. Finally, the BFI's set comes with a booklet that includes essays on PLAN NINE & producer J Edward Reynolds, Ed Wood's relationship with 'Bunny' Breckinridge, the climate in which the films were made, BRIDE OF THE MONSTER, Ed Wood at the Scala, and a charming piece from Jan Mathey about actor Paul Marco. 

Ed Wood’s PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE and BRIDE OF THE MONSTER are out from the BFI in a double disc Blu-ray set on Monday 19th October 2026

Wuthering Heights: The House of the Damned (2026)

“Emily Bronte: Italian Gothic Horror Style!”

Yes indeed, while this new version of Emily Bronte’s novel is British (and boasts some fabulous location work), fans of classic horror cinema will most likely be reminded of some of the classic Italian gothics of the 1960s and early 1970s while watching this. And that’s meant as the highest of compliments.

Anyone who has read Wuthering Heights will know how easy it should have been to turn it into a horror movie. Yes despite AIP filming their own version in 1970 (with Timothy Dalton and Anna Calder-Marshall) even that was light on the scary stuff. But never mind because here comes director Rebecca J Matthews (aka Becca Hirani) and writer Liana Failla’s operatic, blood soaked version that goes well over the top and probably isn’t the one to show your kids to introduce them to classic literature. Or then again, perhaps it is.

The story is told from the point of view of Mr Lockwood (Ross Townsend-Green), new tenant on the estate of Wuthering Heights, who calls on his landlord at ‘the big house’ to introduce himself, only to find the place populated by shifty servants and a very hairy and morbid Heathcliff indeed. Through a series of clever flashbacks and transition devices we are told the familiar tale, with more than a couple of variations in the plotting to keep things interesting.

WUTHERING HEIGHTS: HOUSE OF THE DAMNED is obviously low budget, but benefits immensely from the locations and the fact that everyone seems to be taking the endeavour exactly the right kind of seriously. Sky Cheema’s Heathcliff is closer in appearance to the novel that possibly any other version, while Townsend-Green gets the kind of role played by John Richardson or Mark Damon in any number of gothics of the 1960s. 

Matthews / Hirani piles on the atmosphere and sets out her table stylistically from almost the first scene. In the novel the first time we see Cathy (here played by Elle O’Hara) it’s her ghost tapping at the window. In WUTHERING HEIGHTS: THE HOUSE OF THE DAMNED Cathy’s ghost smashes the window, grabs Mr Lockwood and sprays blood everywhere. There. Now you know if you want to watch it. Rippingly good low budget modern gothic horror. 

WUTHERING HEIGHTS: THE HOUSE OF THE DAMNED is out from Signature Entertainment on Digital on Monday 19th October 2026