30 Days of Night 4K (2007)

        Director David Slade’s adaptation of the graphic (and graphically violent) vampire novel by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith is getting a 4K UHD / Blu-ray steelbook combo release from Icon, along with a separate standard Blu-ray release (with the same disc extras) for those of us who don’t need all the metal trimmings.

Barrow in Alaska is the northernmost town in the United States, and one that, every year, has to endure thirty days of continuous darkness before sunlight returns. So what better hunting ground for a literal boatload of vampires? Their human Renfield substitute (a great grubby performance from Ben Foster) ensures all mobile phones are burned, all dogs are killed (that's a warning for pet lovers) and the power to the town is cut, after which it’s up to Sheriff Eben (Josh Hartnett), his estranged wife Stella (Melissa George) and the few survivors to make it through the rest of the month until the sun comes back, begging the question: who will survive and what will be left of them?

Aside from being action and gore-packed, 30 DAYS OF NIGHT gives us some great, original (and especially nasty) vampires and sets out its own rules: it looks like only decapitation or sunlight will kill them, there’s no mention of crucifixes or holy water and if the town has a church no-one ever mentions it. At nearly two hours it’s a tiny bit long for what is essentially an action-heavy horror, but Slade really grabs his material with both hands and runs with it, making this an essential movie for vampire fans.

Icon’s 4K disc is a new restoration scanned on the Laser Graphics Director scanner with 16bit colour depth. For a film that is so dark so much of the time, the transfer really benefits from this and all the picture noise of previous releases is gone. 

The disc comes with a bunch of new interviews, including Slade (27 minutes) which includes his resisting of producer Sam Raimi’s suggestions he make the film funnier, composer Brian Reitzell (25 minutes), actor Mark Rendall who plays Jake Olsen (15 minutes) and creator and screenwriter Steve Niles (14 minutes).

Archival material has been ported over from the previous two disc DVD release including the commentary with Hartnett, George and producer Rob Tapert, and eight Making Of featurettes which vary in length from 4 - 8 minutes). The steelbook also comes with a booklet with new essays on the film and an A3 poster.

David Slade’s 30 DAYS OF NIGHT is out in 4K from Icon in a UHD / Blu-ray combo steelbook or single Blu-ray disc now

The Descent 4K Steelbook (2005)

"Spectacular 4K Restoration of a British Horror Classic"

Studio Canal have released a gorgeous three disc steelbook edition of writer-director Neil Marshall’s THE DESCENT, which comes with a bunch of new extras, a poster, and a plastic slipcover that complements (and interacts with) the steelbook cover art. So in between some pictures of the new packaging let’s take a look at what we get:

Disc One (UHD) and Two (Blu-ray)

A group of female friends including Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) and led by Juno (Natalie Mendoza) head off on a caving expedition, one year after the death by accident of Sarah’s husband and daughter. They all think they’re exploring a known cave system until a rockfall causes Juno to reveal that they are the first people to have ever gone down there. Trapped in the darkness and searching for a way out, they soon have something much worse to contend with.

THE DESCENT is a twenty first century British horror classic, one which relies on great acting, suspenseful direction, and everyone (production design, photography, special effects and music) all pulling their ‘A’ game. Studio Canal’s disc gives us the new 4K restoration from Pathé, scanned in 5K (according to the opening title card) from the original 35mm negative. And it looks spectacular - crisp and vivid, with scenes in near darkness (and there are a lot of them) losing no resolution and the blacks looking deep with no loss of picture quality.

Disc one comes with a mixture of UK and French trailers, the US alternate ending, and two archival commentary tracks, one with Neil Marshall and the cast (minus Natalie Mendoza who was working) and the other with Neil Marshall and the crew. 

Disc Three - The Extras

New extras consist of a new 47 minute documentary ‘What Lies Beneath’ with new interviews with Marshall, DP Sam McCurdy, Designer Simon Bowles, SFX man Paul Hyett and star Shauna Macdonald. There’s a ten minute interview with composer David Julyan about the score which has some fun reveals, and a 44 minute Neil Marshall ‘Masterclass’  - essentially an on stage interview - conducted at the 2026 Gérardmer Film Festival. 

Archival extras include a making of (41 minutes), Marshall interview (7 minutes), Marshall and Macdonald and Mendoza interview (10 minutes), Paul Hyett and the SFX team (12 minutes), Simon Bowles (10 minutes), caving reference footage (9 minutes), deleted and extended scenes (10 minutes), five minutes of outtakes and ten minuets of storyboard & scene comparisons.

The 4K restoration of Neil Marshall’s THE DESCENT is available in a three disc steelbook set from Studio Canal from 29th June 2026

The Cold Prey Trilogy (2006, 2008, 2010)

 

Second Sight are giving their lavish boxset treatment to the Norwegian slasher franchise that launched the international career of director Roar Uthaug (TROLL, TOMB RAIDER) and provided horror fans with a novel setting for murderous mayhem. Second Sight’s limited edition set comes with the three films on Blu-ray (1080p transfers on three separate discs), each with a set of extras, and you also get a 120 page book with new writing, five art cards, and a slipcase. So let’s take a deeper look at what we get:

Disc One: Cold Prey aka Fritt Vilt (2006)

Five friends set off for a snowboarding holiday on the Norwegian slopes. Unfortunately their fun is curtailed almost immediately when one of them, Morten Tobias (Rolf Kristian Larsen) manages to break his leg. Fortunately there’s somewhere to take him in the form of the rotting and long-disused hotel that’s just over the next rise, the one near which all manner of winter sports enthusiasts have disappeared. They settle in to some of the most disgusting hotel rooms committed to celluloid and pretty soon they’re being bumped off. Could it have anything to do with the child from the opening scene who mysteriously disappeared years ago?

In the extras director Rolf Uthaug says he pitched COLD PREY by playing the trailer for Marcus Nispel’s TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE remake and said “Now imagine that, but cold.” Which is kind of what COLD PREY is to an extent. But what could have been a generic slasher is kept fresh by good direction, an amazing location and likeable performances, especially from Larsen and final girl Ingrid Bolsø Berdal. It’s a must-see for slasher enthusiasts and was a deserved hit.

Second Sight’s Blu-ray is step up from previous DVD releases, but overall this is a pretty grainy low-res film so don’t expect anything spectacular, for this or the other two in the series. Extras include a new commentary from Uthaug and Berdal (in English in case you were wondering) and new interviews with the director (22 minutes) and star Ingrid Bolsø Berdal 19 minutes). There’s also an ‘alternate ending’ which is actually just the ending we see but fleshed out with storyboards for material they didn’t have the budget for, and featurettes on the visual effects (24 minutes) and behind the scenes (22 minutes), plus nine minutes of bloopers. The disc is rounded off with two short films: Mountain Rose Runs Amok (2 minutes) which is a brief amateur slasher piece and An Evening in the Green which is three minutes of jolly fun with a lawnmower and, as its director (Roar Uthaug) puts it ‘a bucket of pig intestines’. There’s also a music video but it’s not for the catchy end credits song.

Disc Two: Cold Prey II aka Fritt Vilt II (2008)

Unsurprisingly following in the wake of the success of the first film, COLD PREY II is to COLD PREY what Rick Rosenthal’s HALLOWEEN II was to John Carpenter’s original. Taking up where the previous film ended, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal’s Jannicke is taken to hospital. Soon the bodies of her friends are taken there too. And the body of the axe-wielding maniac. You can guess the rest. This one really is a bit too much by the numbers to make it interesting but if you love generic slashers you’ll probably still have a jolly hospital-based time.

Extras include a new commentary track from director Mats Stenberg (again, in English) as well as a 32 minute interview. There are also interviews with Ingrid Bolsø Berdal (11 minutes) and Roar Uthuag (4 minutes), who was associate producer on this one. There are also extended and deleted scenes (5 minutes), bloopers (3 minutes), and a behind the scenes featurette (34 minutes & goodness me the weather looked terrible).

Disc Three: Cold Prey III aka Fritt Vilt III (2010)

It’s prequel time! The little boy who would grow up to be the killer in the first two films kills his parents. Twelve years later a group of friends hiking in the area start to get bumped off by the ‘Mountain Man’. COLD PREY III is the most by the numbers of the lot and feels very much like a Texas Chainsaw ripoff. However we still get some impressive locations (and very little snow this time) making the Norwegian landscape the star of this one.

Extras this time include a new commentary track from Christer Andresen (a Norwegian associate professor of film studies specialising in Norway’s horror films and Phillip Escott of Second Sight, and a behind the scenes featurette (8 minutes).

The COLD PREY trilogy is available in a special limited edition set from Second Sight on Monday 6th July 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

Snakes on a Plane 4K (2006)

 

A glorious example of the type of film Roger Corman used to make and that the Italians used to rip off with equal gusto, Arrow Films are releasing David R Ellis' SNAKES ON A PLANE on 4K in both UHD and Blu-ray editions. 

FBI agent Neville Flynn (Samuel L Jackson) has to protect key witness Sean Jones (Nathan Phillips) in a federal prosecution case against crime boss Eddie Kim (Byron Lawson). Unfortunately Eddie loads the plane carrying Sean and Sam from Hawaii (it should have been the Philippines to add to the Corman vibe) back to LA with more kinds of venomous snake than could feasibly be smuggled onto an ocean liner let alone a Jumbo Jet. Cunningly disguised in  cardboard boxes and caused to run riot by the massive doses of mad snakey pheromones that the passengers’ flowery Lei neckwear has been doused in, it’s not long before a couple are having sex in the biggest aeroplane toilet ever become the first victims in what becomes utter chaos on board. 

Samuel gets mad and has to defend a cast including Julianna Margulies as the stewardess-who’s-going-to-law-school, Rachel Blanchard who was Robert Webb’s American girlfriend in Peepshow, and co-pilot David Koechner who dies horribly in this and went on to die horribly in FINAL DESTINATION 5 and PIRANHA 3DD. There’s lots of knockabout snakey fun, including a guest appearance from a massive anaconda that will have you marvelling at the crime syndicate’s smuggling skills before Troy (Kenan Thompson) has to land the plane with his PlayStation skills. 

SNAKES ON A PLANE does its job of being a feelgood ridiculous when-animals-attack exploitation picture extremely well. The fact that director David Ellis got the all clear to make a more ‘adult-oriented’ picture and took his film back to the cutting room to add a lot more gore and nudity should hopefully endear you further to the whole cobbled together cheesy grindhouse feel. It's ludicrous, over the top, nonsensical, and laugh out loud and as a consequence is one of the better films of its type.

Arrow have given SNAKES ON A PLANE a new 4K restoration, New extras include a commentary track from Max Evry and Bryan Reesman and a good 17 minute piece on both the tie-in novelisation for the film and tie-ins in general. Archival extras include a cast and crew commentary track (including Jackson and Ellis), making of (18 minutes), featurettes on the snake wrangling 13 minutes), the VFX (5 minutes) and the online publicity the film got before its release (10 minutes), plus 12 minutes of deleted and extended scenes. There's also a music video plus making of, five minutes of gag reel and the usual trailers, TV spots and image galleries. The limited edition also comes with a South Pacific Airlines safety instruction card and a collectors booklet with new writing on the film.

David R Ellis' SNAKES ON A PLANE is out from Arrow in 4K in both UHD and Blu-ray editions on Monday 19th January 2026