Evil Dead (2013, Sony Pictures, R/NR, 91/96 min.). This intense reboot of the 1981 film, “The Evil Dead,” which was written and directed by Sam Raimi (his feature debut), starred Bruce Campbell and was produced by Rob Tapert, has all three men as its producers and they hand-picked director Fede Alvarez (“Alien: Romulus”), who co-wrote this film with Rodo Sayagues and Raimi. It is a film with a high gross level and three scenes I could bare to watch, including when an arm is self-amputated. There also is blood vomiting into another’s face and nail gun attacks.

This release contains both the theatrical version and the five-minute-longer unrated version, as well as five featurettes and an audio commentary. The story still contains the demon-summoning Book of the Dead, but missing is the Ash character, played by Campbell, who went on to also appear in the “Army of Darkness” projects

Five friends return to a broken-down former family cabin in the remote woods to help one undergo cold-turkey drug use cutoff. They are siblings Mia (Jane Levy of TV’s “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist”) and David (Shiloh Fernandez of “Red Riding Hood”), David’s girlfriend Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore of TV’s “Supernatural”), friend Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci of TV’s “Physical,” “You”) and Eric’s girlfriend Olivia (Jessica Lucas of “Cloverfield,” “Pompeii”).

In the basement they find dead cats and Eric finds the blood-stained Book of the Dead and reads aloud the incantation that summons forth a demon that sets out to destroy all five of the humans so its master can be raised from hell. As the increasingly intense attacks against each other transpire, Eric locates the book’s solution: either a live burial, dismemberment or burning of the possessed person. The book itself cannot burn.

The film also has a shocking historical opening in which a woman hiding in the woods is captured, brought to her father and then is burned and shot by him. The scene advises the audience they are in for a rough ride, but it is one worth taking if one is into horror. The special effects are outstanding. Early on, the film relies on loud sound scares.

Extras include audio commentary by actors Levy, Pucci and Lucas, writer-director Alvarez and writer Sayagues; and featurettes on the directing (7:25), the reboot (9:50), the difficulties of making the film, especially for the actors (8:13), the Book of the Dead (5:07) and Levy’s video diary of makeup and a day on set (9:13). Both Tapert and Campbell talk in the extras. Grade: film 3.5 stars; extras 3 stars

Rating guide: 5 stars = classic; 4 stars = excellent; 3 stars = good; 2 stars = fair; dog = skip it

Purchase link for some titles: https://moviezyng.com?bg_ref=ApLKdWV51k

Thorns (2023, Vantage Media, Blu-ray, R, 82 min.). An ex-priest working for NASA is sent to investigate the remote Iron Mountain Observatory that went silent after receiving a radio signal from deep space. He discovers that signal has set in motion the biblical end of times. The creepy film is written and directed by Douglas Schulze (“The Dark Below,” “Mimesis”).

The film includes a couple of transformations that look a bit like the sadomasochistic Cenobites in the “Hellraiser” film series, which is fitting because Archbishop Jenkins is played by Doug Bradley, who played Pinhead in eight “Hellraiser” films.

The ex-priest is Gabriel Goodman (Jon Bennett of “Time’s Up!”), who gets several video calls from Jenkins during his visit to the observatory. When Goodman arrives, he finds the observatory practically deserted, with numerical writing on the doors and pages from a Bible affixed to the walls inside. He then sees a man, who has been repeatedly banging his head against a wall, write “Hell is here.”

Presumedly, the man is observatory director Dr. Malick (Bo Shumaker), who has stabbed out his eyes and placed them inside a Bible.

Goodman also finds a mute nun, Sister Agnes (Cassandra Schomer of “Kentucky Roses,” “Highlight 2020”), shackled and locked in the basement. She warns of the awakening of hell, which Goodman at first believes is a previously undiscovered planet that the probe has found. Grade: film 2.25 stars

Theatre Fantastique: The Complete Three Seasons (2014-2017, 2025-2026, Hollinsworth Productions, Blu-ray, NR, 3 hours 22 min.). The series ran for three seasons and 16 episodes on YouTube, winning a Rondo Award. It was created, written and directed by Ansel Faraj (“Todd Tarantula,” “The Great Nick D”). It features adaptations of classic works by Edgar Allan Poe, H.G. Wells and H.P. Lovecraft, as well as original tales of suspense and dark comedy. The episodes range from 8 to 14 minutes.

The Poe adaptations include his “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Descent into the Maelstrom.” There also are tributes to Poe and TV’s “Dark Shadows.” The vampire Nosferatu shows up to draw blood from a prostitute in another episode. One of the best of the originals is the dark comedy “The Happy Home of the Murderous Mahones,” in which the wife tries to kill her husband, but instead an innocent visitor dies. Then a nosey neighbor delays taking care of the body.

Most of the episodes feature Christopher Pennock (TV’s “Dark Shadows”) in a variety of roles. Elyse Ashton (“The Watermelon”) and Kelsey Hewlett (“Helicopter Mom”) also are in numerous episodes.

The bonus feature is a remembrance of Pennock, who played either Gabriel Collins, Jeb Hawkes, John Yaeger, Sebastian Shaw and Cyrus Longworth, as well as doing the opening voiceover, in 126 episodes of “Dark Shadows” in 1970 and 1971. Pennock died in February 2021. Grade: series 3.25 stars

Mutant Genesis, aka Mutant aka Bian ti (China, 2024, Cleopatra Entertainment, DVD, NR, 92 min.). In 2150, artificial intelligence has mutated, replaced humans’ control of the earth and begun the eradication of humans. The surviving humans fight a desperate battle with the artificial intelligence army. The film was written and directed by Li Qilin and can be watched in the original Chinese or in English.

Patrick Tam (“Beast Cops,” “Ip Man 3”) plays Capt. Jin Yi of the remaining human resistance. Jin and other soldiers are saved by An’Xin (Dai Si Daisy of TV’s “I Am Nobody”), who unsurprisingly turns out to be the daughter of Dr. Zhurong, developer of the AI matrix Simu. She then helps Jin reach the remaining resistance headquarters, where he is given a computer control that will enable the destruction of Simu and all its robotic forces, if installed in Simi’s mainframe.

The movie is derivative and often resembles a video game. The whole basic premise comes from “Terminator,” but it also uses “Matrix” style movement to avoid bullets and introduces a couple of lightsabers, borrowing from “Star Wars.” Even the box cover borrows from “Alien.” Grade: film 2.25 stars

S.W.A.T. Firefight (2011, Sony Pictures, Blu-ray, R, 88 min.). This rather routine, unexciting film does OK with the S.W.A.T. training, but the enemy plot is super silly, with the enemy announcing his plans by phone to the good guy in advance.

The good guy is Los Angeles S.W.A.T team member Sgt. Paul Cutler (Gabriel Macht of “The Spirit,” TV’s “Suits”), whom we first see when his squad rescues partygoers from two men with guns. Afterwards, Cutler is assigned to train and certify S.W.A.T. team members in Detroit, an assignment he accepts reluctantly, but with the proviso he be upgraded to lieutenant.

The bad guy is secret government assassin Walter Hatch (Robert Patrick of “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” TV’s “Peacemaker,” “Tulsa King”), who is involved in an armed domestic dispute with his girlfriend. The girlfriend takes the gun and kills herself, making Hatch vow revenge on Cutler and the team he is training. It does not help that the Detroit S.W.A.T. leader (Giancarlo Esposito of “The Usual Suspects,” TV’s “Breaking Bad” as Inspector Hollander) is against Cutler having any control over his men.

Before the Hatch incident, Cutler had bounced Justin Kellogg (Nicholas Gonzalez of TV’s “The Good Doctor,” “Resurrection Blvd.”) from the squad and brought in its first female, Lori Barton (Shannon Kane of “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Brooklyn’s Finest”). Cutler also develops a rather fast relationship with the Detroit Police’s Kim Byers (Carly Pope of TV’s “Popular”), making her a target for Hatch.

The extra is a look at the actor training and on-set action (8:43). Grade: film 2 stars; extra 1 star

Auntie Mame (1958, Warner Archive Collection, 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray, NR, 143 min.). The film, directed by Morton DaCosta (“The Music Man”) and based on Patrick Dennis’ 1955 novel, whose central characters were the young boy Patrick Dennis and his eccentric Aunt Mame, earned star Rosalind Russell her fourth Oscar nomination and third Golden Globe award. Russell also starred in the original Broadway show as Mame, earning a Tony Award nomination. The work later was turned into the musical “Mame,” starring Angela Lansbury on Broadway, and then the musical film “Mame,” starring Lucille Ball, in 1974.

After the kaleidoscope opening credits, 10-year-old Patrick Dennis (Jan Handzlik, also of the Broadway stage version) is orphaned by the sudden death of his father Edwin and is sent to live with his Aunt Mame (Russell of “His Girl Friday,” “Gypsy”) in Manhattan. The year is 1928 and lawyer Dwight Babcock (Fred Clark of “Sunset Boulevard,” “White Heat,” “A Place in the Sun”) is appointed his trustee, to look over Patrick’s inheritance and his proper schooling.

Mame lives in a huge apartment – which she never loses despite being financially wiped out by the Great Depression – and lives a rather bohemian lifestyle. She initially enrolls Patrick in Acacius Page’s school in Greenwich Village, which the students and adults attend naked. Page is played by Henry Brandon of “The Searchers.” “The Ten Commandments” and “Assault on Precinct 13.” However, soon Burnside has Patrick enrolled in a male boarding school. When Patrick first meets Burnside, he already is mixing him martinis.

Mame sort-of dates lawyer Lindsay Woolsey (Patric Knowles of “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” two “Wolfman” films), but never gets around to becoming engaged. Her best friend is usually inebriated actress Vera Charles (Coral Browne of “The Ruling Class,” “The Killing of Sister George”).

After Mame loses all her money in the stock market crash, she tries – hilariously – several failed jobs, but one leads her to marriage with Southern oilman Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside (Forrest Tucker of “Sands of Iwo Jima,” “The Abominable Snowman,” “The Crawling Eye”), whom she then travels the world with, before he falls to his death on the Matterhorn. One of the film highlights is Mame’s humorous participation in a fox hunt on Burnside’s plantation.

Back home, Mame is encouraged to write her biography and gets sucked into have sham editor Brian O’Bannion (Robin Hughes of “Dial M for Murder”) as her co-writer, while Agnes Gooch (Oscar-nominated Peggy Cass, who also played Gooch on Broadway and was nominated for a Tony) becomes her dictation secretary, a very comic role. As Mame tells Gooch, “Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death.”

Meanwhile, Patrick is now 19, in college and played by Roger Smith (“Man of a Thousand Faces,” TV’s “77 Sunset Strip,” “Mister Roberts”). To Mame’s horror, Patrick has fallen in love with still society snob Gloria Upson (Joanna Barnes of “Spartacus,” two “The Parent Trap” films), whose parents Doris and Claude (Lee Patrick and Willard Waterman) are against a famed Jewish musician buying the land next to their home. There is some fun as the two families come together at Mame’s apartment, but overall, the last section of the film is a letdown.

In addition to the Oscar nominations for Russell and Cass, the film received nominations for Best Motion Picture, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography (Harry Stradling) and Best Film Editing.

The extra is the ability to watch the film with only Bronislau Kaper’s score. Grade: film 3.25 stars; extra 1.5 stars

Looney Tunes Collector’s Vault Volume 3 (1930-1969, Warner Archive Collection, 2 Blu-rays, NR, 353 min., release on Sept. 8). This third volume contains 50 more shorts remastered on Blu-ray for the first time, including the very first Looney Tune (“Sinkin' in the Bathtub”) and Merrie Melodie (“Lady, Play Your Mandolin!”), as well as uncut fan favorites that have been unavailable for decades. Beloved characters include Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd. One short that is becoming more topical is “Ballot Box Bunny.”

Sixteen of the shorts are making their first disc appearance, with an additional two cartoons making their first appearance on a North American home video release. The inclusion of "Sinkin' in the Bathtub" marks the first time in 18 years that a short featuring Bosko appears on an officially licensed Looney Tunes home media release. Bosko, created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Isling, appeared in 39 Looney Tunes shorts.

The set includes audio commentaries by animation experts. Grade: collection 3.5 stars

Perfect Strangers: The Complete Series (1986-1993, Warner Bros., 17 Blu-ray discs, NR, 61 hours 15 min.). A high strung and cynical man's life is never the same after his naive but good-natured cousin comes from the Mediterranean to live with him. When Balki Bartokomous, who hails from the goat-herding country of Mypos, arrives unexpectedly at his cousin Larry Appleton's Chicago apartment, cultures clash … with perfect comedic timing. They are fifth cousins three times removed. Balki soon joins Larry as a clerk at the Ritz Discount Store, located on the ground level of their apartment building. Their boss is Donald "Twinkie" Twinkacetti (Ernie Sabella), an unscrupulous miser who is also their landlord.

Balki is played by Bronson Pinchot (“True Romance,” “Risky Business,” two “Beverly Hills Cop” films), while Larry is played by Mark Linn-Baker (“My Favorite Year,” “Noises Off …”). Other frequent cast members are Jennifer Lyons (Melanie Wilson of “Facing the Enemy”) as Larry’s girlfriend, Mary Anne (Rebeca Arthur of “Scrooged”) as Balki’s girlfriend, and newspaper advice columnist Lydia Markham (Belita Moreno of two “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” films, TV’s “George Lopez”). Moreno also played Mrs. Edwina Twinkacetti in the first two seasons.

In season three, Larry acquires a reporter job working out of the basement of the Chicago Chronicle, a fictional metropolitan newspaper, and helps Balki get a job in the Chronicle mail room.

The set includes all 151 episodes of the eight seasons. Grade: complete set 3.25 stars