This Week in Blu-ray / DVD Releases: Justice League vs. Teen Titans, Forest

By John Law

April 12th 2016, 11:58am

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

This Week: Justice League, Teen Titans…let's get it on! Also: Revisiting the Bride of Re-Animator, and the ho-hum return of Heroes.

► Batman vs. Superman was last month’s beef. Now it’s time for JUSTICE LEAGUE vs. TEEN TITANS. DC’s latest original animated flick finds the League concerned about Titans member Raven, whose dad is the demon Trigon. The Titans, with new member Robin, feel protective of her. Enough to throw down with the likes of Supes, Batman and Wonder Woman. Features the voicework of Jon Bernthal, Rosario Dawson and Jason O’Mara. DC’s animated movies have been hit and miss lately, though the next one – an adaptation of ‘The Killing Joke’ – may be the most anticipated of them all.

► Horror movies released in January have earned their stigma, and THE FOREST did little to change things. Inspired by a real place in Japan, it follows an American girl (Natalie Dormer) who gets a call from Japanese police fearing her twin sister is dead after entering a forest where people routinely kill themselves. Whatever promise the concept holds quickly crumbles once she arrives in Japan and the usual supernatural silliness begins.

► Considering how little anyone cared about ‘Heroes’ near the end, it was a genuine surprise when NBC dropped a teaser for HEROES REBORN during the 2015 Super Bowl. That’s pretty much where the surprises stopped, as the show’s second act was as clunky, confusing and melodramatic as the original series. Noah Bennett (Jack Coleman) returns to lead a new group of superhumans following a terrorist attack in Odessa, which has the government clamping down on them. A handful of the original cast returns, but without Zachary Quinto and Hayden Panettiere, there’s even less reason to watch. Not surprisingly, NBC shut it down again.

► Many will insist 1990’s BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR is superior to the original classic. I’m not one of them, but they insist for a reason – it’s a gonzo sequel bringing back Jeffrey Combs as the demented doctor, this time convincing his assistant to let him use his dead fiancée’s heart to re-animate a new body. Of course, the severed head of Dr. Hill (David Gale) is back, with a few modifications. Three-disc limited edition includes 2K restoration of the rated and unrated versions, commentary from Combs and director Brian Yuzna, and a new featurette with Yuzna looking back on the film.

► Netflix is cranking out so much stuff now, it’s easy to completely miss something like GRACE AND FRANKIE. A show with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, no less. They play two women in San Diego who can barely tolerate each other but find themselves connected when their husbands (Sam Waterston and Martin Sheen) announce they’re in love with each other. Back in the early ‘80s this would have been the #1 show on TV, and I’m not remotely kidding. Despite a ho-hum reception it has been renewed for a second and third season.

► French-Belgian thriller THE LADY IN THE CAR WITH GLASSES AND A GUN has Freya Mavor taking her boss’s car for a joyride to a seaside town, where everyone seems to know who she is. More weird is the body in the trunk, making her the lead suspect in a murder. Based on a Sebastien Japrisot book first made into a movie in 1970.

► Cult Epic’s special edition of the 1993 German horror flick SCHRAMM includes an introduction from director Jorg Buttgereit, commentary from him and star Florian Koemer, a making-of doc and three short films by Buttgereit. Uncut version of his last horror movie, about the last days of a cab driving serial killer nicknamed the ‘Lipstick Killer.’

► Shout Factory! Has already given the deluxe treatment to John Carpenter’s classics. Now it’s time for scraps like his pointless 1995 remake of VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED, which even he dismissed as a contractual obligation. Adding gore (not to mention color) makes this considerably less eerie than the 1960 classic. It’s best known as the last movie Christopher Reeve made before his horse riding accident. Special Edition includes a making-of with Carpenter, on set interviews and behind the scenes footage.

Also out this week: