“The Vanishing” was a 1988 Dutch production that surprised viewers when it was released. While it initially appeared to be a standard mystery concerning the whereabouts of a kidnapped woman and the husband desperate to find her, the feature ended up in some extremely dark places, including a sinister ending that’s one of the all-time greats in disturbing cinema. Hollywood eventually remade the picture in 1993, which didn’t work (making a key mistake by altering the resolution), and they seem to be trying again with “Last Seen Alive,” which isn’t an official reworking of “The Vanishing,” changing just enough to avoid a lawsuit. Once again, here’s a tale of a man driven to extremes while looking for his missing wife, only here the lead actor is Gerard Butler, which all but guarantees any sort of psychological nuance and suspenseful activity isn’t going to be part of the viewing experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Adam Sandler wants his own “Rocky,” and he achieves that goal in many ways with “Hustle.” It’s a basketball underdog story that returns the actor to a more dramatic role, building on his career-best work in “Uncut Gems” with another take on obsession, this time involving talent scouting for the NBA and all the difficulties of the position. There’s a defined feel-good quality to the effort, but director Jeremiah Zagar (“We the Animals”) and screenwriters Will Fetters and Taylor Materne actively work to introduce some emotionality to the endeavor, focusing on the characters and their growing frustrations and fears. “Hustle” has defined energy and an almost overwhelming love for basketball, and while it gets sugary on occasion, the picture remains as real as possible for this type of entertainment, also presenting Sandler with another chance to showcase his newfound command of seriocomic performances, making his moments count in the feature. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director David Cronenberg hasn’t crafted a feature in eight years, last seen on screen with 2014’s “Maps to the Stars,” and 2012’s punishing “Cosmopolis.” He’s a daring, original filmmaker, but Cronenberg ventured away from the darkness he’s usually drawn to, dealing with storytelling that didn’t feel like a natural fit for his sensibilities. He’s back to his obsessive ways with “Crimes of the Future,” which returns the helmer to a world of flesh and fixation, reworking the general mood of his 1970 picture, which shares the same title. Cronenberg revives his interest in the ways of human society and the pollution of mind and body, pushing the material into the worlds of performance art and detective fiction, emerging with a highly original vision for a sinister evolution. Appreciating the imagination of “Crimes of the Future” is easy, but the endeavor requires a bit more patience when getting through Cronenberg’s habitual storytelling coldness, which limits immersion into this peculiar world of surgical ecstasy. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Action cinema needs fresh faces. The genre hasn’t been keeping up with the times, recycling heroes (including the apparently indefatigable Liam Neeson) for a small audience, also dealing with basic revenge stories as the inspiration for mayhem. “Interceptor” provides a slightly different setting for its central showdown between good and evil, and it has inspired casting in Elsa Pataky, who’s appeared in junky endeavors before (including four “Fast and Furious” films), but she takes command of her own starring vehicle here, tasked with providing physical power and intimidation while playing a military captain defending a missile station from determined terrorists. Pataky certainly looks the part, and there are moments of inspired bodily destruction in “Interceptor,” which is just frenzied enough to supply an entertaining sit. It’s not a major submission of screen power, but co-writer/director Matthew Reilly has his moments with this B-movie viewing experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Actor/comedian Joel Kim Booster makes his feature-length screenwriting debut with “Fire Island,” working to craft his own take on a romantic comedy using a subculture few have attempted to capture. The material introduces the audience to the ways of a New York island made famous as a vacation destination for gay men looking to experience excitement and human contact while far removed from their everyday lives. Booster provides a vivid understanding of the ins and outs of the getaway, exploring the area and a large collection of characters in the endeavor, which looks to the works of Jane Austin and ‘90’s cinema as inspiration. When it wants to be, “Fire Island” is very funny, utilizing a talented and game cast to detail the social challenges of meeting new people and staying open to different experiences. There’s heart here too, with Booster looking to celebrate the subgenre, and while he has a sharp take on love and disasters, he’s a little too reliant on formula to connect the dots. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The poster for “Double Threat” features three characters holding weapons in a threatening manner, with the star, Danielle C. Ryan, the largest image of all, striking an action hero pose. The actual film isn’t nearly as exciting as its marketing, but a poster showcasing characters sitting in a car discussing their hopes and fears probably isn’t going to attract much attention. The picture being sold to the public isn’t exactly what “Double Threat” is, with writer CJ Walley and director Shane Stanley trapped between making a Lifetime original and something more aggressive, with occasional action sequences. The production goes a different way than the competition, hoping to engage viewers with tepid characterization instead of sheer force, creating an energetically acted but frustratingly restrained movie. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Unhuman” is introduced as a “Blumhouse Afterschool Special,” and it’s important to keep that description in mind while watching the feature. It’s a zombie movie in some ways, but writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan (who also directs) are trying to reach a different level of antagonism with the endeavor, amplifying the everyday horrors facing high school kids just trying to find themselves during a turbulent time of adolescence. The John Hughes-esque approach has potential, but the screenplay doesn’t develop its big ideas, with Melton and Dunstan struggling to find sincerity in a plot that’s mostly about grisly events happening to confused people. “Unhuman” starts off with some degree of mystery and storytelling energy, but the film eventually loses a level of playfulness, spending the last 45 minutes of the effort trying to make sense of the mess it’s created. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Chole Okuno made a strong impression in the anthology film, “V/H/S/94,” delivering the picture’s best segment, which combined a growing sense of mystery with disturbing discoveries, giving the endeavor a needed level of terror. For her feature-length debut, Okuno remains in the same frame of mind with “Watcher,” which also offers a slow-burn investigation of a potentially nightmarish situation. With more time to fill and paranoia to track, the helmer has some difficulty adjusting to the demands of the run time, often taking the longest route possible to fairly elementary concepts of suspense. “Watcher” isn’t a sustained nail-biter, but it does work well at times, delivering a few effective pressure points as the lead character experiences a growing sense of horror and dismissal, left alone to manage a potentially deadly position of exposure, with Okuno trying to stretch the “stranger in a strange land” atmosphere for as long as possible. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“There Are No Saints” comes from the mind of Paul Schrader, who’s certainly capable of making terrible pictures (“The Canyons,” “Dog Eat Dog”), and this is most definitely one of them. It’s Schrader’s version of a revenge movie, and one that teases elements of culture and religion while trying to compete in the marketplace with select action sequences. The feature doesn’t want to be generic, but it can’t fight fate, with director Alfonso Pineda Ulloa basically making an episode of a bad television show here, trapped by weak writing and vague characterization. “There Are No Saints” tries to be ruthless, butching up with salty language and rough treatment of women and children, but as a “Taken”-esque ride of violent interactions, it falls woefully short of VOD cinema standards, offering a steady display of tension-free scenes and flimsy filmmaking. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Directors Scott McGhee and David Siegel haven’t made many films over the course of their career, with “Montana Story” their sixth production since 1993. They’ve taken their time when developing projects, and the endeavors typically focus on human behavior during challenging times of familial strife or relationship fractures. Through titles such as “Bee Season” and “What Maisie Knew,” McGhee and Siegel have proved their commitment to telling stories about intimate connections and unresolved feelings, and “Montana Story” is no different, with the helmers using the wide-open spaces of the state to examine internalized pain, offering a tale of sibling communication after years spent apart. As with other McGhee/Siegel efforts, their latest is in no hurry to get anywhere, offering a slow flow of feelings and developing conflicts that doesn’t always translate into compelling cinema. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com