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Wednesday, 04 November 2026 15:55

Warner Clockwork teases The Devils on disc, plus Second Sight’s Day of the Dead, VinSyn’s Manhunter 4K & more REVIEWS!

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Ken Russell's The Devils (1971)

All right, we’ve got some good announcement news to report here today, but first as always we have a TON of new disc reviews to share with you…

I’ve turned in my looks at Victor Fleming’s Gone with the Wind (1939) in 4K UHD from Warner Bros. (with an assist by the late, great Barrie Maxwell), Robert Aldrich’s The Dirty Dozen (1967) in 4K UHD from Arrow Video, and Gore Verbinski’s Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (2025) in 4K UHD from Universal.

Stephen has begun—and is continuing—his epic in-depth reviews of all the films in Criterion’s The Complete Kubrick box set, which so far include Killer’s Kiss (1955), The Killing (1956), Paths of Glory (1957) and Spartacus (1960) in 4K Ultra HD.

And let me tell you, as someone who’s recently had the chance to compare Criterion’s 4K disc of 2001: A Space Odyssey (which features encoding by the great David Mackenzie of Fidelity in Motion) to Warner’s 4K release, there’s definitely an upgrade here.

Tim’s offered his take on W. Lee Wilder’s The Snow Creature (1954) on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome, Sébastien Vaniček’s Evil Dead Burn (2026) and Neil Jordan’s Interview with the Vampire (1994) in 4K UHD from Warner Bros., and Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs (1991) in 4K UHD from Criterion.

Dennis’ has delivered his thoughts on John Huston’s We Were Strangers (1949) on Blu-ray from Imprint Films and John Guillerman’s Death on the Nile (1978) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics (with an assist by Tim).

And Todd have taken a look at Ting Shan-His’s Blood Reincarnation (1974) and Julie Pacino’s I Live Here Now (2025) both on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome, as well as Chris Noonan’s Babe (1995) and George Miller’s Babe: Pig in the City (1998) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

More reviews are definitely forthcoming, including additional titles from Stephen’s exploration of The Complete Kubrick box, my joint review of Akira Kurosawa’s Stray Dog (1949) in 4K UHD from Criterion with Todd Doogan, and more. So be sure to keep checking back. [Read on here...]

Now then… the big news today is that our friends at the new Warner Clockwork label have finally begun teasing the home video (Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD) announcement for their restored Ken Russell’s The Devils (1971). Watch for the announcement to be made on 11/10 (next Tuesday). We think that the BFI will have their own disc SKUs in the UK early next year, and that Warner Clockwork will release the US SKUs under their own branding. But we’ll have to wait until next week to confirm that.

Also, the good people at Second Sight Films in the UK have begun teasing their own new 4K restoration of George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead (1985) for release on Blu-ray and 4K UHD next year. We have it on good authority that this release will correct many of the issues with Shout! Factory’s own recent 4K release (which Stephen reviewed here on The Bits back in June).

Vinegar Syndrome has announced that they’re releasing Michael Mann’s Manhunter: The Original 1986 Theatrical Version in 4K Ultra HD. You can pre-order it on their website now here. This will also include the Legacy Director’s Cut of the film. Unfortunately, it will not include Mann’s new The Final Cut version, which is exclusive to StudioCanal in the UK (and there’s currently no sign that this is being made available to a US distributor at the moment). So if you’re a fan of this film, you have to buy both SKUs.

I should add that there have been online rumors that The Devils and Manhunter: The Final Cut could both eventually get a US 4K release from Criterion next year. To be 100% clear, that’s not impossible, but nothing I’ve heard at the moment suggests this to actually be the case. So make your plans accordingly.

Also, Radiance Films has just announced their February slate, which includes Valerio Zurlini’s The Desert of the Tartars (1976) on Blu-ray, Jacques Rivette’s Le Pont du Nord (1981) on 4K UHD + Blu-ray, John D. Hancock’s Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971) on 4K UHD + Blu-ray, and Shinobi: Volume 3 (including Mist Saizo Strikes Back, The Three Enemies, and Mission: Iron Castle) on Blu-ray. Click here for more details. The street date for all is 2/22/27.

And Imprint Films has revealed a couple of new 4K Ultra HD catalog editions as well, including The Keep: Limited Edition (1983) and the Swamp Thing Collection: Limited Edition (1982-1990) on 1/20/27, and a New York, New York: Limited Edition (1977) on 11/25/26.

Okay, if you’re a Digital Bits Patreon subscriber, I’ll have a new My Two Cents: A Video Blog post up over there very soon. You can subscribe for as little as $6 a month, and it goes to help support our work here at The Bits (it’s really the only way we can afford to keep this website going), so if you’ve been a reader here for any length of time and find what we do valuable, please consider joining us there (click here)!

Stay tuned, friends…

- Bill Hunt

(You can follow Bill on social media on Twitter/X, BlueSky, and Facebook, and also here on Patreon)

 

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