New DVDs & Blu-rays for 01/12/2016!

Welcome to another weekly report on what's new on DVD & Blu-ray! This week is a little light on genre fare (looks like Scream Factory took a week off), but there's a few diamonds in the rough. The above average werewolf flick HOWL is now out on Blu-ray, as is the highly anticipated sequel to SAMURAI COP, namely SAMURAI COP 2: DEADLY VENGEANCE!

The bulk of this week's genre releases are mostly mainstream flicks, such as THE MARTIAN, HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 2, SINISTER 2, and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION. As you can see, there's really not too much to excited for, but hang in there because February and March are chock full of the stuff we all love and want to own!

For the full list of this week's releases, scroll on down!


NEW TO DVD & BLU-RAY
Contracted: Phase II (Blu-ray/DVD combo)
Hotel Transylvania 2
The Martian
Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension
Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance (Blu-ray/DVD combo)
Sherlock: The Abominable Bride


NEW TO BLU-RAY
Bolero / Ghosts Can't Do it (Double Feature)
Howl
Meadowoods


NEW TO DVD
Crumbs
Hands of the Ripper
High Kick girl
Journey to the Center of Time
Kong Fu Zombie
Mosquito-Man
Painkillers
Silent Retreat


NEW MULTI-FILM COLLECTIONS ON DVD
The Alien Files: 4 Out-of-This-World Movies
Contains: Night Skies, Alien Hunter, John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars, and The Day the World Ended.

Ernest's Wacky Adventures
Contains: Your World As I See It and Ernest's Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2.

Queens of Scream: 4-Movie Thrill-Fest
Contains: I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Cave, Vacancy, and When a Stranger Calls.

Ultimate Ernest Collection
Contains: Ernest in the Army, Ernest Goes to Africa, Your World As I See It, Hey Vern - It's My Family Album, and Ernest's Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2.

Trailer Round Up: HOWL, FREAKS OF NATURE, and STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS!

This has been a really solid year for the Horror genre, at least on the indie side of things. While studios continue to foist remakes and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY sequels upon us, the smaller guys are delivering the goods! THE FINAL GIRLS was great! TALES OF HALLOWEEN was fun, though had its share of flaws; the same goes for A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY! I've been hearing nothing but great things about DEATHGASM, and Eli Roth's THE GREEN INFERNO has quickly garnered a cult following of its own!

With that said, here's a few new genre flicks to keep an eye out for. Oh and.... STAR WARS!!!

TRAILER #1: HOWL
Good werewolf flicks are few and far between, especially these days. In the 80s we had THE HOWLING, SILVER BULLET, TEEN WOLF, and AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. In the 90s we had BAD MOON, WOLF, and ahm... PROJECT METALBEAST?

Then in the 2000's there was a resurgence of lycanthrope cinema with the UNDERWORLD films, the GINGER SNAPS trilogy, Wes Craven's terrifically awful CURSED, and Neil Marshall's action-packed DOG SOLDIERS.

And now we have HOWL, a tale about a train stuck in the middle of nowhere, and under attack from werewolves! I'm not sure I'm sold on the werewolf designs yet (I call them "Rawhead Rex-Wolves"), but it looks like it could be a gory good time! It's been released in the UK with a stateside DVD/Blu-ray release likely sometime in 2016! I can't wait to sink my teeth into this one!



TRAILER #2: FREAKS OF NATURE
Sony's latest is due out in time for Halloween (in select theaters and Video On Demand October 30th), and it looks like it could be a lot of fun. When aliens invade the town of Dillford, Ohio, the citizens must pull together to fight them off. This proves problematic because the town's population is made up of humans, zombies, and vampires! Watch humanity and the undead pull together to fight a common foe in this new Horror-Comedy!



TRAILER #3: STAR WARS - THE FORCE AWAKENS
December cannot get here fast enough! STAR WARS characters new and old unite for the seventh film in the franchise! Though the Galactic Empire is defeated, a new power has risen from its ashes! Who is Kylo Ren? Who is in charge of the new stormtrooper legions?! And who are the heroes that will rise up to challenge the new villains?!

I'm nervous (who wouldn't be after the disastrous prequels?) but also excited. I think J.J. Abrams was the right man for the job, and I hope that he breathes new life into the franchise. I want more quality STAR WARS movies dammit!

Scope out that newest official trailer below, and let the feelings of nostalgia wash over you!


That's it for now! Check back again soon for more news, trailers, and more!