1974's "Death Wish" was an adaptation of a novel by Brian Garfield, who expressed his disappointment in the picture, which turned out to be a major hit for the producers. Tapping into a growing feeling of disillusionment in the criminal justice system and fear concerning rising crime rates, "Death Wish" found its moment, offering viewers a crude summation of Garfield's ideas, sold with reliable steeliness from star Charles Bronson. There wasn't more story to tell, but there was more money to be made, inspiring new producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus to revive the brand name eight years later, bringing back Bronson and director Michael Winner to revive vigilante escapism. "Death Wish II" restores Paul Kersey to full power, but there's no material to support the character, who once again embarks on a mindless hunt for big city scum. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

As explained in the supplementary material on this UHD release of 1988's "FleshEater," Co-writer/director/star Bill Hinzman was interested in cashing in on his own cult fame as the first zombie found in George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead," aware that his face was forever associated with the horror classic. "FleshEater" was soon born, with Hinzman endeavoring to create his own epic with a lunch money budget, reviving his old undead ways to fuel what's basically a loose remake of "Night of the Living Dead," offering the fanbase a return to the ways of rural survival. The helmer certainly delivers with gore and exploitation elements, but he's not a storyteller, with the feature coming to a dead stop one too many times, making for a tedious viewing experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Roger Corman is known for recycling anything he can to keep producing genre entertainment for a cult audience, and he does it again with 1991's "Dead Space," which is a remake of 1982's "Forbidden World." Characters have been slightly reworked, but the plots are basically the same, following a man of action as he goes up against a mutated monster in the middle of nowhere. Of course, such a setting allows Corman to keep the effort as low budget as possible, tasking director Fred Gallo ("Dracula Rising") to figure out ways to make tight hallways, labs, and living spaces interesting for 75 minutes of screen time. It's a challenge Gallo can't conquer, as most of "Dead Space" is repetitive and silly, but he has a committed lead performance from Marc Singer to help keep the endeavor somewhat palatable, with the actor trying to make extended nothingness look exciting. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Breeziness is not a quality normally associated with adult entertainment, but 1984's "Stiff Competition" breaks away from the bleakness of the industry by offering something fun to watch while still meeting expectations for carnal activity. Director Paul Vatelli creates a spoof of sporting world competitiveness with the endeavor, embracing a "thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat" atmosphere of rivalries and personalities clashing over a most unusual test of skill. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Cineastes and scholars often praise, borderline worship, films from the 1970s, and understandably so. It was a decade of challenging endeavors, respecting audience intelligence and patience, with studios and talent taking risks to deliver textured, meaningful work. But there were stinkers too, a lot of them, with 1972's "Bluebeard" (an adaptation of a French folktale) caught between a desire to appear like a sophisticated production and the cold reality of its campy-ish approach to horror. It's a deeply weird serial killer story, and one with a confused sense of tone and morality, rendering the picture quite ridiculous as it strives to explore an absurd figure of evil with a straight face. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2019's "Other Music" is a documentary about a store in New York City that meant the world to its customers. Other Music specialized in album sales, opening its doors in 1995, when the music business was red hot, giving owners Josh Madell and Chris Vanderloo a chance to create a space catering to a more obsessive type of music fan interested in burgeoning sounds and scenes. In 2016, Other Music closed, with directors Puloma Basu and Rob Hatch-Miller picking up cameras to cover the establishment's final six weeks of life, trying to make sense of this special relationship between the business and its loyal customers. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Communion" was a 1987 book written by Whitley Strieber, with the author detailing his experiences with alien abduction, working with hypnosis to make sense of his blurred mind, helping to identify what happened to him. The book was marketed as "A true story," but there were many doubters when it came to Strieber's experiences, but that didn't stop the title from becoming a major best-seller, attracting those curious about the "grays" and their experimental interests in humans. A film adaptation was quickly assembled, with Strieber taking on the role of screenwriter, transforming the novel into an accessible mystery with a slight horror atmosphere, making sure to emphasize the journey of a man encountering alien activity and all the psychological problems that followed. Director Philippe Mora ("Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf," "Pterodactyl Women from Beverly Hills") is in an unenviable position to turn the nightmares and therapy into a workable movie, which is a task he fails. "Communion" deals with a dubious subject matter and it turns it all into ridiculousness, relying on Walken to use his thespian jazz to make the drab production magically interesting, but the actor deliberately pushes the effort into campiness, joined by Mora, who transforms alien interests into a terrible puppet show. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2019, director Ken Burns oversaw the creation of "Country Music," looking to understand an American sound as it developed over the course of the twentieth century. Burns is back with "Benjamin Franklin," returning to the formation of a nation, once again digging to the roots of American history, this time focusing on the efforts of a single man who, as a boy, wanted to learn everything he could, hoping to shape his own education, which would take him on a most unique ride of power and position. The documentary is divided into two chapters, going from Franklin's first days to his last, and in between resides an astonishing list of achievements that turned the subject into something of a celebrity during his extremely long life. As with previous documentaries from Burns, there's more to Benjamin Franklin than the basics in wit and electricity, with the two-parter working to understand his vices and prejudices, along with his doubts, especially with his own family. "Benjamin Franklin" provides the comfy sweater style and presentation common to all Burns productions, but it offers a slightly more aware comprehension of the man and his legacy, hoping to appreciate his shortcomings as a way to understand the full extent of his atypical life. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1984's "The Violent Breed" plays like a movie that was made when another production wrapped early, giving the producers a chance to reuse the locations and the cast, hastily arranging another shoot. The screenplay is credited to Nino Marino and Fernando Di Leo (who also directs), but there's little evidence of a story or ideas, and characters aren't fleshed out in the least. Someone, somewhere wanted a quickie actioner with little to no effort put into dramatic entanglements, and that's what "The Violent Breed" is. Things go boom and actors make pained faces, but a greater understanding of motivation and stakes is ignored, with Di Leo quickly assembling vague conflicts to inspire some jungle mayhem. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1979's "Screams of a Winter Night" is notable for being one of the few horror films of the era to offer frights to a wider audience, securing a PG-rating for this drive-in release. It's also a picture that was heavily edited, with the anthology feature dropping one of its segments after a test screening, losing nearly 30 minutes from the run time (the segment has been restored on this Blu-ray). Such severe cutting is usually a problem for most movies, but less time with "Screams of a Winter Night" is actually a good thing, as director James L. Wilson isn't too familiar with the benefits of pacing, preferring to play the endeavor as slowly as possible, thinking often unbearable stillness somehow equals suspense. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There are not a lot of ways to approach a werewolf story, with freshness lacking when it comes to the details of transforming bodies and vicious appetites. Writer/director Sean Ellis ("Cashback," "Anthropoid") searches for a new take on a monster movie, and he finds it with "The Cursed," which brings such terror to the late 1800s, offering a story about land seizure, denial, and grief. There's also the occasional sequence of stalking between predator and prey, but Ellis doesn't go overboard with his moments of violence. Instead, he elects to take the slow-burn route, playing tribute to Hammer Films and their deliberate ways of exploring an unfolding nightmare. "The Cursed" isn't always riveting, but it comes together as an intelligent study of werewolf fantasy and threat, doing something different with a well-worn concept. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com