Stolen Face 4K (1952)

The first posh Hammer 4K release on UHD and Blu-ray for 2026 is Terence Fisher's STOLEN FACE, a film that will be fondly remembered by those who caught it on ITV afternoon screenings in the 1980s, or who bought the first UK Blu-ray release of Hammer's THE MUMMY and found it as a nice extra.

Philip Ritter (Paul Henreid) is a brilliant plastic surgeon who 'gives back' to society by correcting the scarred faces of prison inmates in the hope that good looks will prevent them offending again. It's an idea that was a bit daft in Universal's THE RAVEN nearly 30 years previously but the film treats it with an admirable straight face (sorry).

Ritter decides to take a short holiday and at a pub meets concert pianist Alice (Lizbeth Scott). The two fall in love. However Alice is due to be married to David (Andre Morell, always worth watching, even in a thankless role like this) and so she and the doctor cannot be. What's a plastic surgeon with the ability to change faces to do? Well if this was a Jess Franco film he'd find a willing victim and surgically alter their face to resemble the woman he can't have to satisfy his own perverse and vaguely mad desire. It isn't but that's what the film does anyway. Then Alice decides she can't marry David and returns to find Ritter married to her lookalike, who is already beginning to misbehave. Trouble ensues.

As is noted in one of the extras on here, STOLEN FACE pre-dates Hitchcock's VERTIGO and the Boileau & Narcejac novel the film was based on by several years. The angle it takes is an interesting one, playing up  the romance and lost love angles and being sympathetic to a man whose modus operandi would become the stuff of so many horror films of the next few decades. As a period piece it's well made and never less than interesting, with cast members including BBC comedy regulars Arnold 'Godfrey' Ridley and Richard Wattis, but modern audiences may find themselves baffled by the film's attitude to class and criminal behaviour.

As is frequently becoming the case with these releases, the real value for money here is in the extras. You get two versions of the film - the UK print with commentary from academics Cathy Lomax and Lucy Bolton, and the US print with commentary from former Hammer podcasters Lizbeth Myles and Paul Cornell. Both versions are actually more or less the same length (the US is slightly shorter by a matter of seconds) and the commentaries are aimed at listeners who haven't spent their lives studying every issue of Little Shoppe of Horrors. 

Talking of that splendid publication, its esteemed editor Richard Klemenson pops up to introduce an extremely valuable 39 minute audio interview he conducted with Hammer makeup artist Phil Leakey back in the day. Chris Alexander gives us 31 minutes on the life and career of Lisabeth Scott, and Thomas Doherty provides 37 minutes on the actions of the Un-American Activities Committee and how it affected UK cinema of the period. Alexandra Heller-Nicholas presents a visual essay on the film and its influences, all the way from Ovid through to film noir, and Liz Tregenza gives us 18 minutes on the history of costume designer Edith Head. 

The set comes with a book featuring new writing about the making of the film,  Lizbeth Scott, composer Malcolm Arnold, plastic surgery as related to the film, and a lot more. 

Terence Fisher's STOLEN FACE is out in 4K from Hammer in a limited edition two disc UHD and Blu-ray set on Monday 16th February 2026

Save the Green Planet! 4K (2003)

 

The 2003 Korean original that was recently remade by director Yorgos Lanthimos as BUGONIA is getting a two-disc 4K restoration release from Arrow Films.

Conspiracy theorist Lee Byeong-gu (Ha-kyun Shin) is convinced that pharmaceutical boss Kang Man-shik (Yun-shik Baek) is actually an alien from Andromeda, whose race intends to invade the earth. He kidnaps the man, shaves off all his hair so he cannot communicate with his fellow aliens, and imprisons him in the depths of Lee’s mountain hideaway where he tortures him.

But there’s other stuff going on as well. Lee’s mother has been in a coma for four years which again Lee believes is due to the aliens, whom he also blames for the death of his girlfriend. But a lot of other people from Lee’s past have gone missing, too, and the police are closing in on him. Is he mad, or is there something to what he believes?

A wildly original work that combines comedy, science-fiction, horror and more in a great big melting pot that’s unlike anything you’ve seen before, unless of course you’ve seen BUGONIA, in which case it’s worth pointing out that Lanthimos streamlines and calms down director Jang Joon-hwan’s vision somewhat. SAVE THE GREEN PLANET! has more screaming, graphic torture, and some scenes do go on a bit too long. There’s also the always controversial (and in this case I would argue unnecessary) use of real atrocity footage near the end, so be warned. 

Arrow’s set consists of two discs. The first is UHD and contains the new 4K restoration of the film along with two commentary tracks. The first is with the director and the star who reminisce about the production. The second is from critic and producer Pierce Conran and SFX artist Dan Pierce, both huge enthusiasts for Asian cinema in general and Korean cinema in particular. You also get a two minute introduction from the director and the 32 minute Q&Q from the 2024 BFI screening of the film.

Disc Two is a Blu-ray and contains new interviews with the director (28 minutes) and DP Hong Kyoung-pyo (16 minutes) as well as an unboxing video of the rare Korean DVD release that also included a soundtrack CD, filmstrip, flannel and bottle of menthol rub. There are also two short film from the director - Hair and Lazy Mirror, as well as a new interview with the director about his short film Imagine.

The rest of the extras are archival and include making of featurettes on the CGI (14 minutes), art design (23 minutes), SFX (9 minutes), makeup (5 minutes), stunts (14 minutes), music (15 minutes), behind the scenes (11 minutes), the circus performers (4 minutes) and some interviews (16 minutes). There are more archival interviews as a separate extra, totalling an extra 32 minutes in all. Then there’s  the promotional material including footage of the premiere (11 minutes), fan Q&A (19 minutes), and talks with fans (11 minutes). You also get nine deleted scenes with director introduction, trailers and still galleries including Hidden Images which is worth checking out. Arrow's limited edition set also comes with a double-sided poster, booklet and reversible sleeve. 

Jang Joon-hwan’s SAVE THE GREEN PLANET! is out from Arrow in a two disc set (one 4K UHD and one Blu-ray) on Monday 16th February 2026

The Visitor 4K (1979)

Arrow Films are bringing out the quite remarkable experience that is director Giulio Paradisi's THE VISITOR on 4K UHD. I tried to convey the quite awesome incoherence of this film 12 years ago in my review of Arrow's Blu-ray release. Looking back I don't believe I can top it, so here it is reproduced below, along with some updated pertinent info on the extras. 

How does one begin to describe THE VISITOR? Attempting a plot summary won't do, because that way lies madness. If I were to tell you who is in it that won't help either, because there's no way the mixture of star turns this movie features could possibly help give you a feel for how insane this film is. I could say it's from Ovidio Assonitis, who gave us TENTACLES - a daft Italian film about a monster octopus, and BEYOND THE DOOR  - a daft Italian OMEN ripoff that gets more incoherent as it goes on. Incoherent, now there's a word we can use to describe THE VISITOR. Mind you, that's a word we can also use to describe quite a lot of Italian exploitation cinema of the 1970s. But if any single movie can be described as the apotheosis of 1970s Italian incoherence, it is indeed, THE VISITOR.

In a galaxy far, far away (I think) John Huston awaits a dark shape that turns into a little girl while the sky turns the colour of tea being tipped into a glass of water. We cut to Franco Nero as Jesus addressing a room full of bald children. Enter John Huston looking vaguely normal. Just as we expect him to tell Mr Nero to get back to the psychiatric ward and leave the paediatric oncology patients alone we realise we are still on the other planet / galaxy / dimension / whatever. Jesus Franco (some delightful unintentional subtext there) has been relating the raison d'etre of everything we are about to watch, so we had better have been paying attention. In fact let's rewind and watch it again.

Sateen, Yahweh, flock of ravens, three survived, escape ship fell to earth, Sateen's genes, power of evil, etc etc. Got it? Never mind, now we're in Atlanta about to embark on a tour of the city's highlights thanks to some sort of deal the film-makers made with the mayor and made sure to point out in the very first caption onscreen. There's a basketball game that goes on for far too long, then we meet Lance Henriksen, who has been assigned by Mel Ferrer and his gang of evil lawyers (?) to get his girlfriend Joanne Nail pregnant. She carrying the genes of Sateen you see, and while she already has a foul-mouthed hawk-wielding daughter, a son is needed to...I don't know - fulfil a prophecy or something? Joanne doesn't want to get pregnant so when her daughter gets a gun for her birthday the little girl shoots mother in the back and paralyses her.

Joanne seems remarkably chipper for someone who will never walk again. Soon she's back home in her wheelchair while John Huston arrives from...I don't know...space? He's brought a group of bald men with him who proceed to erect some white sheets in a pleasing arrangement on top of a skyscraper. I still have no idea why. Mr Huston is here to stop / get the little girl & defeat the bad guys. I think. The daughter goes ice skating and flings some men around. There were meant to be elephants in this scene as well because the director thought people liked them.

Shelley Winters turns up as the anti Mrs Baylock and proceeds to serenade everyone with a traditional Negro folk song. John Huston arrives at the house, announces he's the babysitter and everyone believes him. Some more stuff happens that's so out there I really can't assemble it into any kind of logical sequence anymore, and I've only just watched the film. It all ends with...oh, but that would be telling. Actually it wouldn't but I can't actually remember. I think Jesus pops up again and the reason for the bald children is explained. Kind of. But actually not at all, really.

Plotwise THE VISITOR is an unbelievable mess, acting wise it's an unbelievable display of name stars giving their all to something where no-one could possible have had any idea what was going on. I was delighted to see that Arrow have retained their archival interview with screenwriter Lou Comici on their new release and it's still possibly the highlight of the entire disc, in which you get the feeling he had to write the script based on the gesticulations of a madman who couldn't communicate in any known language. And yet despite all this, the direction is really rather stylish. Immense care has been taken to compose shots for dialogue scenes that would otherwise be utterly disposable. The other planet is rather trippy. So are some effects in the sky we get to see at the end (I wasn't sure what was happening). Lance Henriksen gets attacked by a flock of birds & I'm sure the wooden one we see pecking at him is intended to be wooden. But why?

Arrow's 4K transfer looks even better than THE VISITOR's previous Blu-ray release. New extras include a commentary track from critics BJ and Harmony Colangelo who open by admitting they weren't alive during the 1970s (Arrow could easily have found film-savvy people who were but there you go) but feel the film emulates a lot of what that decade was about, a new visual essay from Meagan Navarro on the film's context within the exploitation cinema of the time (19 minutes) and another from Willow Catelyn Maclay discussing the influence of society's attitude to abortion that influenced both this and other 'devil child' movies (11 minutes). It's good to see Arrow have retained the interview with Lance Henriksen which is almost as funny as Lou Comici's and definitely worth a watch, as well as their interview with DP Ennio Guarnieri. There's also a booklet with new writing on the film.

Crazy, incoherent and trippy, THE VISITOR nevertheless makes you wish there had been more films made like like this, because whatever pioneering new form of film-making it was, it needed an awful lot of refining before it could be considered a viable entertainment medium. As it is you'll probably only be able to make it all the way through THE VISITOR's nearly two hour running time once. But you'll be showing bits of it to your friends forever.

Arrow Films are releasing the unique cinematic experience that is THE VISITOR on 4K UHD on Monday 16th February 2026

Jimmy and Stiggs (2025)

 

“Homemade Insanity”

It’s worth saying right at the start of this review that if you’re a fan of the films of exploitation auteur Joe Begos (VFW, BLISS, CHRISTMAS BLOODY CHRISTMAS) then you might like JIMMY AND STIGGS which, after its UK premiere at Frightfest last year, is getting a digital release from Blue Finch. If you’re not then you won’t, and if you’ve never seen a Begos film before this definitely isn’t the place to start. 

        Mr Begos comes across as the kind of person who, a little like the great Jess Franco, only feels comfortable when he’s making movies. Unfortunately also like Franco, it means some of those movies are borderline unwatchable, which you may well find is the case with JIMMY AND STIGGS.

Started during lockdown, the action of the film is confined to the flat of Jimmy (Begos). An out of work film-maker, Jimmy drinks a lot, swears even more, and takes a titanic amount of drugs. He’s also very into his exploitation cinema with nods to CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, porn director Alex De Renzy, and even the 1978 film SEX WORLD playing on the TV. 

Coming out of a massive bender (and soon to plunge into another one) Jimmy becomes convinced that aliens have invaded his flat and may have put an implant into him. When his friend Stiggs (Matt Mercer) arrives and the exits to the flat get mysteriously bricked off it’s time for a no-holds-barred neon lit showdown with a bunch of rubbery blue melon-headed monsters, despatching them in the most splattery ways imaginable.

JIMMY AND STIGGS last 83 minutes, and that’s with a couple of amusing fake trailers at the start as well. It still feels overlong. As you can see from the stills, much of the film is lit in gaudy pinks and blues and that, plus lots of flashing lights, may well get wearing pretty quickly depending on your tolerance. If your subtitles have a censoring facility for bad language switch it on and be astounded at the quantity of asterisks on the screen. It’s all loud, it’s all intense, and even with an effective Steve Moore score it’s all a bit much. But like I said, if you like, or rather if you love Joe Begos’ movies this one takes particular aspects of his film-making pretty much to breaking point. Here’s the trailer:

JIMMY AND STIGGS is out on Digital from Blue Finch Releasing on Monday 16th February 2026

Cry of the Banshee 4K (1970)

For the first in their ‘Hammer Presents’ line, in which Hammer Films are releasing classic British horror from other studios, we’re getting the American International Picture CRY OF THE BANSHEE in a 4K restoration, which is going to be available in a two-disc set of either two UHD discs or two Blu-rays.

We're in sixteenth century England, and magistrate Lord Edward Whitman (Vincent Price) divides his time between sentencing witches and dealing with his Jacobean tragedy of a family. One case of the latter leads to him disrupting a pagan ritual led by Oona (Elizabeth Bergner) in which a number of cultists are killed. Oona curses Whitman’s entire family to die by the hand of the ‘Banshee’ which manifests itself through foundling child groomsman Patrick Mower, and once the revenge is set in motion there’s no stopping it.

Famously (to BritHorror obsessives if no-one else) available in two versions, CRY OF THE BANSHEE is present here in both, which accounts for the two discs in the set. Disc one has the UK version (called ‘Director’s Cut) here, available in two aspect ratios (1.85:1 and 1.37:1) and will be the one most familiar to UK viewers who may well have encountered it on ITV screenings if not at the cinema. It’s a bit of a mess of a film, rambling and lacking focus, with the revenge plot only kicking on about halfway through. 

Disc two has the US (here called ‘Theatrical’ cut) which has both pros and cons. On the good side, the attack on Oona’s ritual has been moved right to the front of the film which is where it should be, and offers us a rare example of AIP messing round with a finished picture and actually doing something positive with it. However it loses Terry Gilliam’s weird opening animated titles and we get a pretty poor Les Baxter score replacing the UK one by Wilfred Josephs.

But, in either form, is CRY OF THE BANSHEE any good? Chris Alexander, who provides a commentary track on Disc one seems to think so, and he helpfully talks about the US edit as well. The film feels like a very uneasy follow-up to AIP / Tigon’s WITCHFINDER GENERAL, where part of the point was that witches aren’t real. Instead CRY OF THE BANSHEE plays along with the numerous rip-offs of that film which all wanted to have their cake (torturing of witches) and eat it too (they actually are witches, allowing for all sorts of demon shenanigans). Vincent Price hated the film, while the rest of the cast includes the likes of Pamela Farbrother (FRIGHTMARE), Michael Elphick (TV’s Boon), Hugh Griffith (that bottle probably contains the real stuff), Hilary Dwyer and Swedish film star Essy Persson who gets to go memorably mad. All that said, it’s definitely not the film to show someone to demonstrate why you love British horror films as they’ll likely be left scratching their heads as to its appeal.

Other extras include Kim Newman talking about the film for 13 minutes and on disc two the 18 minute interview with director Gordon Hessler has been ported over from the old MGM Midnight Movies release. You also get the usual image gallery, TV and radio spots and a trailer. 

Gordon Hessler’s CRY OF THE BANSHEE is being released by Hammer Films in both two disc UHD and two disc Blu-ray sets on Monday 9th February 2026

Dark Winds Seasons 1 - 3 (2022 - 2025)

Acorn International Media are releasing seasons 1 - 3 of the acclaimed Navajo Nation crime series on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital. Seasons 1 & 2 consist of six 50 minute episodes and Season 3 of eight episodes. Each season is also available separately, with Season 3 getting released at the same time as the box set. The show is based on the Leaphorn and Chee series of crime novels by Tony Hillerman and was originally shown in the UK on the U & Alibi crime drama channel. It's an excellent piece of work and if you've not encountered it yet, shouldn't be spoilt. Therefore I'm only going to supply the briefest plot outlines below of what you can expect from the boxset.

Season One - Discs 1 & 2

It's 1971 and Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon from AMERICANA, BONE TOMAHAWK and THE FOREVER PURGE) has the job of patrolling 27 000 square miles of Navajo Nation desert near Monument Valley with the help of very few staff including Sergeant Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten). When an elderly Navajo man is found dead with his eyes and liver gouged out beside a 19 year old girl who has apparently been frightened to death they are joined by new recruit Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) to investigate the crime. Meanwhile the FBI are investigating a helicopter raid on an armoured car (which opens the first episode) with the helicopter last seen heading over Navajo territory. Could the crimes be linked?

Season one of Dark Winds is only six episodes but packs a lot into its running time, quickly setting up its cast of regular characters and giving you enough incident and intrigue that by episode four you'll be wondering how they'll manage to resolve it all in two more episodes. Suffice to say they do. The locations and photography are stunning, the Navajo culture is presented in some depth but never at the expense of moving the plot forwards, and there's a welcome undercurrent of the supernatural and black magic at work as well. The only extra is on disc two but it's a decent 34 minute making of that includes an interview with executive producer Robert Redford.

Season Two - Discs 3 & 4

Jim Chee is given the job of finding a stolen lock box by Rosemary Vines (Jeri Ryan). Meanwhile at the local medical centre a man dying of cancer is blown up by a bomb placed in his car. It soon becomes apparent that the bomber has been to the town before and is now bumping off more people as part of a plot that involves the sinister 'People of Darkness' (the title of the Tony Hillerman novel this is taken from).

Season two doesn't have quite as complex a plot as part one but it's more action packed and delivers a number of memorable set pieces, including one at the local hospital as well as a long painful trek through the desert. Acorn's discs have no extras for this season.

Season Three - Discs 5 & 6

A teenaged boy goes missing. The police find some bloodstains and his abandoned bike with what look like machete gouges in the frame. Meanwhile Bernadette discovers what might be evidence of a human trafficking gang near the border, and an FBI agent (Jenna Elfman) could mean bad news for Joe Leaphorn.

Season 3 combines two Tony Hillerman novels - 'Dancehall of the Dead' and 'Sinister Pig', with the screenwriting bringing the plots of the two books together nicely. As well as guest stars like Bruce Greenwood there's an amusing cameo from Robert Redford (his final screen appearance) and George R R Martin. You can fill in your own response to Redford's line to his producer colleague. The sole extra on Acorn's disc is a good one - a 42 minute making of that helps make up for the lack of one on Season 2.

Overall, DARK WINDS is an excellent crime show that deserves to be better known, with fine acting (lead Zahn McClarnon is a standout but everyone brings their 'A' game to this) an intriguing setting and time period (Navajo Nation in 1971) and a sensitive and authentic-feeling portrayal of the indigenous people who live there without any of it ever getting in the way of the plot or the action, both of which are riveting. Top stuff, and apparently Season Four is on the way.

DARK WINDS Seasons 1 - 3 is out on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital from Acorn Media International on Monday 2nd February 2026