A Place For Film: Episode 51 - Physical Media Isn't Dead, It's Undead: Blu-ray Reviews for October 2021

Footage Not Found: The IU Cinema Podcast

Full transparency: all Blu-rays reviewed were provided by Kino Lorber, Arrow Video, and Synapse Films.

Finally, the best month of the year is here: OCTOBER! The one I’ve been waiting for, folks. There’s nothing quite like the thrills and chills of a month marinated in the macabre. As the days dwindle and the nights grow longer, it’s nice to sit down with a spooky story or two to keep you company and to keep you and your loved ones on your toes. Who knows what creeps around every conspicuous corner? Horror movies are always a fun and communal way to let the hairs stand up on your neck and get your pulse pounding and your stomach churning without having to go out and find a masked killer to get the job done. So that is why I bring you some of the wildest, weirdest, and most weighty selections this column has seen to date.

Joining us this month is Synapse Films with their reissue of Lamberto Bava and giallo giant Dario Argento’s nightmare-inducing (and nightmare-logic-infused) horror duology Demons and Demons 2. Arrow Video comes in swingin' with a substantial piece of film history and a fresh collection for non-weeby western eyes: the Yokai Monsters Collection, featuring the entire trilogy of the influential yokai monster movies produced by Daiei, the studio behind Gamera, as well as exhaustingly prolific auteur Takashi Miike’s 2005 yokai free-for-all, The Great Yokai War, which begs the question "What if there was a great yokai war?"

The final addition to my reviews this month -- as well as my pick of the month -- comes from Kino Lorber, but not in the form of a film. No, ma’am. We are treading into the uncharted territory of TV and TV movies with, if not the granddaddy of “monster of the week” television shows then certainly the cool uncle of them, Kolchak: The Night Stalker. For such a momentous occasion I decided to bring back past guest, Lotus operations & visual arts manager, radio DJ, and The X-Files aficionado Amanda Hutchins to talk about the sizable impact this show has had on TV and film as a whole, its never-ending delightfulness, its fascinating pedigree, and how it embodies the more “fun” side of the Halloween season.

Take a listen... if you dare.

You can find the rest of the months reviews in written form on the IU Cinema blog