Five Gems Still Not on DVD, Blu-Ray, or 4K UHD

With many calling the death of physical media and some studios switching over to streaming for some of their titles, the market for collectors is as interesting as ever. What with the theaters closing, studios are rushing to release a lot of their films on new formats or present them in a new way for movie fans. Sadly there haven’t been a lot of really big unveilings in terms of titles unleashed. Save for a few surprises here and there (“Rad,” “The Gate II,” “36.15 Code Père Noël”), it’s all more of the same ad nauseum (Do we really need yet another edition of “E.T.” or “Back to the Future”?) there are still so many movies out there that have yet to see a release on Blu-Ray, 4K UHD, and yes, even Standard DVD.

That said, these are five very good movies that deserve a home media release.

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V for Vendetta (2006) [4K UHD/Blu-Ray/Digital]

Based on Alan Moore’s influential graphic novel, “V for Vendetta” is a movie that’s managed to carry much of his influence in to film form. Despite his usual protests and dismissal of the big screen adaptation, “V for Vendetta” is a richly developed action thriller with immense substance and still relevant commentary about fascism. It’s stunning with James McTeigue and the Wachowskis manage to accomplish with such an engaging adaptation.

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The Last Starfighter (1984): Remastered [Blu-Ray]

Nick Castle’s science fiction adventure film is one of my all time favorite “Star Wars” rip offs. It’s a film that fully embraces the hero’s journey trope and has a damn good time with it, bringing in robot clones, big headed aliens, and a pretty great mythology begging for a franchise. “The Last Starfighter” thankfully hasn’t lost any of its luster even in the midst of the glut of “Star Wars” wannabes, and it’s still a big personal favorite of mine.

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#Alive [#Saraitda] (2020)

It’s hard to re-imagine or re-think the zombie movie, especially in the times where just about everyone has thought of everything. Director Il Cho’s “#Alive” is basically the sequel that “Train to Busan,” should have been, “#Alive” is such a great mix of “28 Days Later,” “The Night Eats the World,” and “Dawn of the Dead ’04.” While it doesn’t re-invent the wheel it manages to offer a fun, exciting, and creepy movie about the pros and cons of modern technology and the value of human contact.

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Suffering Through the “Zombie Bloodbath” Trilogy

The “Zombie Bloodbath” trilogy is the sheer apex of garbage zombie movie fodder. It topples even “Night of the Living Dead: Resurrection.” The trilogy is something you’ll be forgetting minutes after, as only an hour after viewing these I can’t truly recollect the plots. There’s really no sense of arc, continuity, or overall cohesive storytelling here, as the zombies take center stage in films where characters are a sheer after thought. In the first Zombie Bloodbath from 1993, at a remote radioactive plant, its workers suffer the outbreaks of a chemical spill which turns them into—what else? Zombies.

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