With Christmas over for another year, it’s once again time to think about treating yourself, and if you’re a collector, there are a lot of ways you can do that in the coming weeks. As always, release dates are subject to change, but as of right now, these are the titles you should expect to arrive this month – which means that you should probably think about clearing space on your shelf for them.
Monday, 6th January
The first steelbook to arrive in 2025 will be the 4K rerelease of Se7en, the first of several David Fincher efforts that’ll be getting the steelbook treatment. Look out for Panic Room and The Social Network in a few months’ time.
Staying with 90s thrillers for a moment, Arrow Video are kicking off the year with the Limited Edition 4K of The Usual Suspects, which comes with a collector’s booklet and a double sided poster with gorgeous new artwork. This week, Arrow also has a limited-edition Blu of Rampo Noir, an anthology film adapting four stories by Japan’s master of the macabre Edogawa Rampo.
Finally, this week also sees the 4K remaster of Sam Raimi’s delightful revisionist western The Quick And The Dead – starring Sharon Stone, Russell Crowe and a young Leonardo DiCaprio – make its long-awaited Ultra HD debut.
Monday, 13th January
The next set of Disney+ steelbooks begin rolling out this week, with Marvel's Hawkeye series arriving in 4K Ultra HD. Three more titles from the streaming service will make their physical media debuts by the end of February.
Arrow has spread their new launches across the month, and this week, it’s the limited-edition Inglourious Basterds 4K set leading the way. This two-disc set comes with 60-page ‘Films & Filmmakers’ collector’s book, double-sided fold-out poster, a replica of the Nation’s Pride Premiere programme booklet, a La Louisianne beermat, three postcard sized double-sided art cards and a Strudel recipe card – that's a bingo!
Trippy 60s William Shatner horror Incubus also makes its way to our screens from Arrow this week, but they’re not the only studio resurrecting underrated cult titles. 1970s crime comedy Mikey and Nicky – fast developing a reputation as one of the best of its decade – arrives in the Criterion Collection, and director Stuart Gordon’s suitably bonkers King Of The Ants arrives from Treasured Films.
Monday, 20th January
The consensus was that Smile 2 was much better than the first, and you’ll get to see for yourself this week as the 4K steelbook arrives. However, that’s the only modern blockbuster, as this week is all about the cult classic thrills.
Nutty Jennifer Lopez horror The Cell is Arrow’s big launch this week, and epic French New Wave drama The Mother and the Whore is the landmark title being inducted into the Criterion Collection. 88 Films has a suitably stacked week, led by the 1986 Tony Leung-starring romantic mystery Love Unto Waste; the boutique label is also offering remasters of vintage gothic romps (Haunted House Of Horror), a Japanese true crime anthology (Love and Crime), a supernatural Hong Kong love story (Rouge).
Finally, we have four launches from Indicator, including vintage Columbia crime film Edge Of Eternity – an early film by Dirty Harry director Don Siegel! - the multi-Oscar nominated adventure The Lives Of A Bengal Lancer, Humphrey Bogart WWII epic Sahara, and John Wayne western The Shepherd of the Hills.
Monday, 27th January
The next Disney+ title to get a physical release is the second season of Loki, which leads this week’s crop of new titles. A very different film arriving on 4K is the influential Japanese psychological thriller Cure, which Masters of Cinema are releasing alongside Running On Karma, a crime thriller from acclaimed filmmaker Johnnie To.
Arrow closes out the month with an underrated Sam Raimi effort – The Gift, starring Cate Blanchett – and a revisionist Hammer horror, Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter. The BFI are releasing two Akira Kurosawa classics (Stray Dog and High and Low), and Criterion are putting out Richard Pryor’s semi-autobiographical directorial effort Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling.
Finally, Severin are putting out three 4K remasters of sexploitation comedies from Russ Meyer – Vixen, Supervixens, and Beneath the Valley of the Ultra Vixens – while Radiance are releasing two underseen Italian titles (Weak Spot and Il Posto) and a Japanese crime classic (Underworld Beauty).
