Shout! Factory in May

One of the reasons I started writing again is because I miss the opportunity to turn people's attention to new things. I, unlike the earlier iteration of Primitive Offerings, didn't want to limit myself to just music, mostly because it's not the only thing I love.

I LOVE movies.

I LOVE physical media.

I LOVE the forgotten and the obscure, the weird and the dismissed.

So it's natural that I have a long running love affair with Shout! Factory and their staggering catalog of Blu-ray and DVD releases. Like my favorite record labels, and my favorite publishers, Shout! Factory puts great care into bringing under-exposed films and television to life for collectors and fans. They've got some pretty awesome releases in May that you should probably know about.

May 5
This week's slate focuses on a pair of World War II titles, just in time for the anniversary of D-Day. Lancaster Skies is a British indie film from 2019, telling the tale of a fighter ace who joins a bomber crew. I expect this will be some serious plane porn, considering the producer scratch built the entire bomber interior so it could be easily shot.
Next up is a 4K/Blu-ray release of D-Day: Normandy 1944 [75th Anniversary Edition]. This originally came out in 2014, and despite the narration of Tom Brokaw (easily my least favorite news anchor of all time), it was a really good watch with tons of footage I'd never seen before. It should look incredible with the new 4K scan.
Last, but definitely not least, is the Scream Factory release Exorcism at 60,000 Feet, a direct-to-video banger that looks fucking incredible. The plot reads like a golf course joke: a priest, a rabbi, and the crew of an transcontinental airliner join forces to fight a planeload of demonic possessions. The cast includes Adrienne Barbeau, Lance Henriksen, and Bill Moseley, and it's a mash-up of disaster movie & horror. Director Chad Ferrin has a pretty decent track record for tongue-in-cheek horror; I'd probably watch this at least twice.
May 12

If you've never bought anything from Shout! Factory, here's a good opportunity to jump onboard. As the North American distributor for Studio Ghibli, Shout! is the home for all of Miyazaki's Blu-ray and DVD releases. They're reissuing their combo packs for Ponyo and Howl's Moving Castle in limited edition steelbooks. I know folks who exclusively collect this packaging format, and the previous steelbook releases from Shout! always look great, so Bob's your uncle.
There was no way I was ever going to see Idle Hands when it came out in 1999; it looked like a total teeny bopper stoner horror comedy. I was a fucking idiot; it pretty gory, and has a really strong cast. So I expect I'll probably cop this Scream Factory Collector's Edition and trade out my old DVD. It looks like they got every lead except Jessica Alba back for the commentary, too.
I like a number of the films that have been distributed under the Shout! Studios banner. The Tiger Hunter, Izzy Gets the F*ck Across Town, the Rabid remake: all of these have hit my sweet spot, and I think it's great that these smaller films have gotten picked up and (hopefully) benefit from Shout!s strong distribution. I laughed a few times during the trailer for Lazy Susan, but I can't lie: I'm not sure how Sean Hayes playing a woman for 90 minutes is going to be. I get the feeling this could be real hit or miss, but I also know Mrs. Ape Mummy has requested a copy, so I'm watching it regardless.
May 19

What can I say about The Good Place that hasn't already been said better by someone who gets paid for the pleasure? If you need a copy of the final season on DVD, or the complete series on Blu-ray, they come out on the 19th. Much like Parks & Recreation, this is something I'll want to have on hand for when the Internet goes out, or I want to lend it out to my mom to binge. The Blu-ray looks like it has some solid extras on it, including gag reels and extended episodes.
I know very little about Promare, save for the pedigree of the production team. But Kill la Kill was a good watch, the reviews on AnimeNewsNetwork are positive, and apparently it involves firefighting. Shout! is releasing a standard combo pack and a handsome-looking limited edition steenbok.
I've really gotten into Hammer Films over the past year; I'd never had access or friends who were desperate to show me some of the master works, so it's been a joy to discover these. 1964's The Evil of Frankenstein was the first collaboration between director Freddie Francis and star Peter Cushing, and this Collector's Edition from Scream Factory looks like a pretty incredible release. You get a 4K restoration of the film, a TV cut from a 16mm print, a featurette on Freddie Francis, and Hammer's 1958 pilot episode of Tales of Frankenstein. Apparently, if you preorder this through the Shout! website, you'll also get an 18" x 24" poster of the new artwork. Nice get.
I can't remember when I first saw Danger: Diabolik; it must have been the mid-90s, at a buddy's house on the Maryland/Pennsylvania border, but it grabbed my attention like little else at the time. I saw it again as the final episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (pre-revival), which led me down a rabbit hole of Euro-spy films. So I'm jazzed to see a Blu-ray edition come out here in the States. This is not a good movie, but it IS a fun one.
May 26

Shout! Select has a trio of releases rounding out May, starting with a Blu-ray edition of 1992's A Midnight Clear. Shout! Select focuses on slept-on films, and I think this is a great example. Directed and written by Keith Gordon, it is a killer anti-war movie with a really strong, really 90s cast (Gary Sinise! Ethan Hawke! John C. McGinley! Kevin Dillon!). I don't think I've ever seen a home video copy out in the wild; I'll look to grab a copy of this at release.
I'm not a fan of The Deer Hunter, which is weird, because I celebrate John Cazale's entire catalog. It's just a huge bummer to me; I'm sure that's the intent, and, yeah, I know, Vietnam War films are typically not at all uplifting. BUT I'm into giving this 4K/Blu-ray a shot - wait, it's 183 minutes long? Jesus, that's gotta be the reason I'm not a fan. Who did you think you are, Michael Cimino? Francis Ford Copolla? Erich von Stroheim? Fuck off, pal.
On the other hand, I'm a HUGE fan of Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. It's a rad late-period Sidney Lumet movie. It might be my favorite Philip Seymour Hoffman performance, and the cast is super deep - Michael Shannon is, like, seventh billed. I think it got slept on due to cruddy distribution by THINKfilm; I'm fairly certain it only played Baltimore for a week, if at all. The extras on this Blu-ray haven't been announced yet, but regardless, this is a must watch.
Finally, I think Scream Factory has finally run out of John Carpenter movies to reissue. And while it's low on my list of must-haves, I'll still end up with this Collector's Edition of Escape From L.A. Lots of fun features on this release, including a Bruce Campbell interview. The one I'm looking forward to is the interview with visual effects artist David Jones; I'm looking forward to some face palming over the first generation CG that most people bitch about. It's going to be boss watching this 4K restoration on a big screen.

Ugh, so many words. And it's late. If you don't have a place locally to buy movies from, you can hit up the Shout! Factory website to cop any or all of these. It's worth signing up for their e-mail list; they regularly have sales on their website.