Mike Spring
Recap
Review
What’s New in Home Video & Pop Culture – March 11th, 2025
It’s a relatively normal week of releases this week, with the usual mix of theatrical releases, catalogue favorites, and offbeat new releases. We also have a few different graphic novels mixed in this week, so we’re hitting the “pop culture” part of the column with gusto! Read on!
In This Week’s Column:
- Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (4K Ultra HD + Digital)
- Trick or Treat (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Mirage Years, Sourcebook and IDW Collection Volume 6 (Graphic Novels)
- Panda Plan (Blu-ray)
- Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance (Blu-ray)
- Fear in the Philippines: The Complete Blood Island Files (Blu-ray)
- Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth (Blu-ray)
- The Unpetables: Book 2, Unbeatable in the City (Graphic Novel)
Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (4K Ultra HD + Digital)
The Movie:
I can imagine it’s hard for a movie studio to know what to do with a franchise once it’s run its course. For instance, Warner Bros. has Lord of the Rings. We got the original trilogy in the early 2000s, which lead to The Hobbit trilogy in the 2010s. But where do you go from there? It’s not like the films need to be remade, nor would it probably be worth the massive expense. So what’s the answer?
Well, I don’t know if it’s really the answer, but in this case, the answer Warner Bros. came up with is Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, an animated feature set 200 years before the time of The Hobbit. Told in a style that blends traditional hand-drawn animation (with an anime flair to it) with CGI-rendered backgrounds and special effects, the story follows two warring kingdoms with a Romeo and Juliet-style romance (sort of) at the heart of it.
The film isn’t bad, but I’ll be honest, it didn’t blow me away, either. I had to learn all new characters and the movie doesn’t do a great job of making me care about them. And like pretty much all of the other LOTR movies, it’s a bit too long (although thankfully it’s only around 2 hours and 15 minutes, not over three hours long like the live-action films.) The animation is also a bit odd; the hand-drawn characters sometimes seem jarring against CGI backgrounds that are almost photorealistic in many scenes. Overall it’s more enjoyable than not, but it didn’t truly capture my imagination.
The 4K Video/Audio:
LOTR: War of the Rohirrim looks and sounds very good in 4K, as an animated movie should. Blacks are deep and solid and image clarity is sharp, while colors are vibrant (although occasionally leaning a tad to the ‘too dark’ side of things for my tastes. I suspect that was the look the filmmakers were going for, however, rather than a fault with the transfer.) The surround soundtrack also bolsters the presentation, with a generous spreading out of surround effects through each satellite speaker. Dialogue is the focus here, and all of the voices sound crystal clear but also natural and lifelike. Music is full and powerful, and the low end bass channel gives a nice underlying rumble when needed. It’s a very strong A/V presentation overall.
The Bonus Features:
- Return to Helm’s Deep: History Becomes Legend
- Middle-earth & Anime: A Marriage of Creativity
- Héra: A New Hero for Middle-earth
Digital Copy Included: Yes
The Wrap-Up:
I don’t know that this is the movie that Lord of the Rings fans were waiting for, but it’s probably something many of them will at least enjoy. I doubt it’s going to be considered the next great chapter in the saga or anything like that, though.
Trick or Treat (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
The Movie:
Not to be confused with the popular 2007 horror movie Trick ‘r Treat, Synapse’s newest 4K Ultra HD cult classic release is Trick or Treat, a 1986 horror outing (about a deceased heavy metal rock star being resurrected as a vengeful spirit) that has its own unique charms.
There’s a lot of people associated with this movie that you wouldn’t expect to be. For one thing, it’s directed by Charles Martin Smith, a veteran character actor (Google him, you’ll know his face) who made his directing debut here. It also stars Marc Price as the long-haired, heavy metal-obsessed protagonist, Eddie; he’s best known for playing Michael J. Fox’s friend Skippy on Family Ties. Doug Savant of Melrose Place and Desperate Housewives fame plays the high school bully, while Eddie’s best friend Roger is played by Glen Morgan, who went on to be one of the major showrunners of The X-Files. And the film was written by Joel Soisson, who’s the king of disposable theatrical genre fare such as Dracula 2000, Piranha 3DD, Hollow Man II, and Highlander: Endgame among many others. Oh yeah, and Ozzy Osbourne has a cameo as a priest, while Gene Simmons shows up as a radio DJ.
Somehow all of that came together to make a movie that’s actually a surprising amount of fun, as we see Eddie first resurrecting and then running from the vengeful spirit of a dead heavy metal superstar. (He literally plays a record backwards to summon him, which is a great touch!) The film is slightly reminiscent of Wes Craven’s Shocker, but that movie actually came out a couple of years after this, so it’s not stealing any ideas. Synapse Films has released Trick or Treat this week as a terrific 4K Ultra HD release with a mountain of extra features, including a feature-length making-of documentary that includes interviews with most of the key players, including Smith and Price. The doc is almost as good as the main film itself!
The 4K Video/Audio:
Trick or Treat was not a big-budget blockbuster to begin with, so the 4K Ultra HD presentation does offer up some audiovisual upgrade, but it’s not a wholly new revelation in terms of A/V quality or anything like that. Image clarity is nice and sharp and the print is free of any blemishes or artifacts, and that’s what you would hope for. The color saturation is solid, with some moments where real vibrancy shines through. The surround soundtrack focuses mostly on music and dialogue, both of which sound great, but I wouldn’t expect to find a ton of surround activities in your speakers.
The Bonus Features:
- Audio commentary with director Charles Martin Smith, moderated by filmmaker Mark Savage
- Audio interviews with writer/producer Michael S. Murphey and writer Rhet Topham, moderated by film historian Michael Felsher
- Audio conversation with Paul Corupe and Allison Lang, authors of Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s
- Rock & Shock: The Making of “Trick or Treat” (81 minutes)
- In The Spotlight: A Tribute to Tony Fields featuring interviews with the late actor’s family and friends
- Horror’s Hallowed Grounds: The Filming Locations of “Trick or Treat” with Sean Clark
- “After Midnight” music video
- Theatrical Trailers, TV Spots and Radio Spots
- Still Gallery featuring optional audio interview with still photographer Phillip V. Caruso
- Vintage electronic press kit
Digital Copy Included: No
The Wrap-Up:
As a movie, Trick or Treat is a lot of fun. As a home video release, you really can’t go ask for much more, effectively getting a second feature film with the making-of documentary that’s included. This is a terrific release for fans of the movie or heavy metal and horror in general.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Mirage Years, Sourcebook, and IDW Collection Volume 6 (Graphic Novels)
The Books:
IDW has three new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles graphic novels out and there’s something for every kind of fan. First off, let’s start with my favorite of the bunch, The Mirage Years (1993 – 1995), a gorgeous new hardcover compendium. After the original Eastman and Laird-created 62 issues of TMNT finished it’s run, the series was relaunched by Mirage Studios with longtime Turtles creator Jim Lawson at the helm, writing and drawing. The series ran for 13 issues in full color (the first time the main Turtles book was published in color on a regular basis) and has been out of print for years and years. It’s a terrific saga that sees the Turtles starting out separated but eventually coming together to protect April from the madman Baxter Stockman. It’s one of my favorite runs of the Turtles because it captures the feel of the Eastman & Laird issues while also continuing the story into a new direction. I couldn’t have been more excited to get this book and I loved every page of it!
TMNT: Sourcebook is the collected hardcover edition of the four issue Sourcebook comic series, which basically is the TMNT universe’s version of Marvel’s Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe or DC’s Who’s Who series. Every single character in the ever-expanding IDW universe gets an entry here, and each one is chock-full of information including their history, skills, weapons, and tons of full color artwork. It’s not exactly light reading, almost like a textbook of the Turtles universe, but it’s incredibly in-depth and a great resource volume.
Finally, we have a paperback compendium in the form of The IDW Collection: Volume 6, a massive tome that continues the collection of the IDW series (and all its various spin-offs) in chronological order. This entry includes issues #45-50 of the ongoing series by Tom Waltz, Kevin Eastman, Mateus Santolouco, and Cory Smith; the Mutanimals mini-series by Paul Allor and Andy Kuhn; the 2015 Free Comic Book Day issue; and the Casey & April mini-series by Mariko Tamaki and Irene Koh. I’ll admit that I’m not the biggest fan in the world of the IDW inception of the Ninja Turtles overall, but I do find that diving into the universe in these big chunks with everything presented in order is the best way to read the entire saga.
The Specs:
The Mirage Years:
- Hardcover
- 360 Pages
- Retail Price: $59.99
Sourcebook:
- Hardcover
- 408 Pages
- Retail Price: $59.99
IDW Collection Volume 6:
- Paperback
- 384 Pages
- Retail Price: $39.99
The Wrap Up:
Any one of these three tomes is a must-have for die-hard Ninja Turtles fans, but for my money, it’s The Mirage Years that is absolutely essential for any collection. All three are great books, though, and worth checking out.
Panda Plan (Blu-ray)
The Movie:
I have a hard time being too hard on Panda Plan; while it’s clearly proof that Jackie Chan is far from the action superstar he was in his younger days, it’s also a movie squarely aimed at family and younger audiences rather than a hard-hitting action epic. In it, Chan plays an exaggerated version of himself wherein he’s been recruited to “adopt” a panda bear from a zoo as a publicity stunt. Unfortunately, said bear has also been targeted for abduction by some bad guys who want to make money of it, and when Jackie gets in their way, its wacky hijinks all around.
Chan is still pretty spry but he’s also 71 years old at this point; he can’t fly around and defy gravity like he used to. The panda CGI in the film is a little silly and a little cartoony, but again, I don’t think the filmmakers were going for ultrarealism in this instance. Between this and the horse movie he made a couple of years ago, Chan seems to be entering his “working with animals” phase, and while it’s not a complete disaster, I doubt that these are going to go down as classic films, either.
The Bonus Features:
- Trailer
Digital Copy Included: No
The Wrap-Up:
Die-hard Jackie Chan fans or fans who want to be able to show the younger viewers in their household a Chan movie without overexposing them to real violence will find Panda Plan at least watchable. For everyone else, though, it’s a bit of a chore to sit through.
Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance (Blu-ray)
The Movie:
I hesitate to boil films down into a simple tagline, but sometimes it’s the easiest way to describe a movie. Much like the first film, Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance is pretty much an action thriller in which the lead character is – quite literally – a blind swordsman. This sequel to the period action film that came out a couple of years ago sees said blind bounty hunter wandering the countryside when he comes upon a young girl whose brother has been murdered. She seeks revenge, and while he agrees to train her, he hopes to prevent her from going down the violent path.
Like the previous movie, Eye for an Eye 2 is a gritty action film that features some dazzling displays of sword fighting, which is something I really dig. It’s not really breaking any new ground, but if you want a cool action flick with plenty of dueling blades and a little bit of a story, you’ve come to the right place.
The Bonus Features:
- Trailer
Digital Copy Included: No
The Wrap-Up:
I’m not always a fan of period action pieces, which seems to be a staple of Asian action cinema these days; I prefer movies set in more modern times. That said, Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance is a violent action movie that adds a little heart that wasn’t in the first one in the form of the little girl. It doesn’t pull any punches and should find an audience on home video.
Fear in the Philippines: The Complete Blood Island Files (Blu-ray)
The Movie:
Severin Films continues to bring rarities and cult classics to cinephiles in style with their latest Blu-ray movie collection, Fear in the Philippines: The Complete Blood Island Files. This set collects four horror movies made in the Phillippines and gives viewers a ton of extra features to go with each one.
The four movies included are: Terror is a Man (a mad scientist transforms a panther into a man-beast hybrid), Brides of Blood (people try to survive an island run rampant with radioactive mutated creatures), Mad Doctor of Blood Island (man ends up on island with mad scientist creating zombies), and Beast of Blood (mad scientist creates creature who literally loses its head.) Blood was clearly a preoccupation for Filipino filmmakers in the 1960s. The four films come from 1959 (Terror), 1968 (Brides and Island), and 1970 (Beast), and many of them feature returning actors. The three “Blood” films also make up something of a trilogy, which is why the actors are the same and some of the story elements run through all three movies.
As you would expect, these are low-budget foreign films, so you have to go into them with an open mind and a love of B-movie filmmaking. But for historical context and a look at a different era and style of filmmaking, it’s a fascinating document.
The Bonus Features:
Terror is a Man:
- Man Becomes Creature – Interview With Hemisphere Marketing Consultant Samuel M. Sherman
- Dawn Of Blood Island – Interview With Co-Director Eddie Romero
- Terror Creature – Interview With Pete Tombs, Co-Author Of Immoral Tales
- When The Bell Rings – Interview With Critic Mark Holcomb
- Trailer + Poster And Still Gallery
Brides of Blood:
- Audio Commentary With Hemisphere Marketing Consultant Samuel M. Sherman
- Jungle Fury – Interview With Co-Director Eddie Romero
- Here Comes The Bride – Interview With Hemisphere Marketing Consultant Samuel M. Sherman
- Beverly Hills On Blood Island – Interview With Actress Beverly Powers
- Alternate Title Sequence And Title Card
- Teaser, trailer + Poster And Still Gallery
Mad Doctor of Blood Island:
- Audio Commentary With Horror Film Historians Nathaniel Thompson And Howard S. Berger
- Audio Commentary With Hemisphere Marketing Consultant Samuel M. Sherman
- Tombs Of The Living Dead – Interview with Pete Tombs, Co-Author Of Immoral Tales
- A Taste Of Blood – Interview With Critic Mark Holcomb
- The Mad Director Of Blood Island – Interview With Co-Director Eddie Romero
- Trailer + Poster And Still Gallery
Beast of Blood:
- Audio Commentary With Hemisphere Marketing Consultant Samuel M. Sherman
- Celeste And The Beast – Interview With Actress Celeste Yarnall
- Dr. Lorca’s Blood Devils – Interview With Actor Eddie Garcia
- Super 8 Digest Version
- Trailer, Radio Spot + Poster And Still Gallery
Digital Copy Included: No
The Wrap-Up:
I can’t say any of the movies in this set are going to make my list of Top 50 movies of all time, but there is some definite fun to be had, and the copious extra features make this a filmmaking class in a box. Hard to argue with that!
Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth (Blu-ray)
The Movie:
For a lot of younger moviegoers, our first exposure to Joseph Campbell came in literary discussions of Star Wars; it’s well documented that George Lucas drew heavily from Campbell’s dissection of the heroic journey for Luke Skywalker’s own journey. (In fact, there’s a near-hourlong bonus feature with George Lucas in discussion included, and the episodes of this series were filmed at Skywalker Ranch!) But beyond that association, I’m not sure how many people outside of academic circles have done a deep dive into Campbell’s work.
Released in 1988 on PBS, Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth was a six-episode series in which Campbell was joined by journalistic legend Bill Moyers to discuss the power of myths and stories. Over the course of six hours, the duo discussed everything you could imagine that made Campbell’s work so powerful and influential. The six episodes break things down into: The Hero’s Adventure (this is the one for all the Star Wars fans!), The Message of the Myth, The First Storytellers, Sacrifice and Bliss, Love and the Goddess, and Masks of Eternity. It’s fascinating stuff, and hearing these two intellectual and well-spoken men break down everything we understand about storytelling is priceless.
The Bonus Features:
- Two ‘Bill Moyers’ Journal’ Episodes
- The Mythology of Star Wars With Bill Moyer & George Lucas (55 minutes)
- 24-page booklet
Digital Copy Included: No
The Wrap-Up:
Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth is a history lesson on Blu-ray (also available on DVD) and it’s ten time more enjoyable and interesting than any textbook on the same material would be. This is definitely worth tracking down!
The Unpetables, Book 2: Unpetable in the City (Graphic Novel)
The Book:
I’ll admit, about five pages into The Unpetables, Book 2: Unpetable in the City, I was a bit overwhelmed. Author/artist Dennis Messner packs so much text and detailed artwork into each page that I was completely bowled over by the amount of information my brain was trying to process. That said, once I got through the introduction and the recap and the actual story started, things settled down and I ended up having a really good time with the book, and I’m not even in the target audience! If I was a younger reader, I can only imagine how obsessed I would have been with these books at that age.
The Unpetables follows two best friends Pigmund and Lizardo (a pig and an iguana, natch) who have escaped from a petting zoo and are now living the high life in the big city. In this book, they make their way to a revival movie theater where Pigmund falls in love with a cat named Saturday Matinee. But Maintenance Man Kenny (their nemesis from the first book) is still determined to bring them back to the petting zoo they came from.
There’s a bit of a Diary of a Wimpy Kid vibe to the book, in that there are large sections of text mixed in with tons of illustrations, but then also there’s a lot of word balloons to give it more of the feel of a comic book hybrid. Each page is densely packed with highly detailed illustrations and graphics and diagrams that you could pore over for hours if you were a younger reader with more free time and attention span than I have. Ultimately, the book is a lot of fun!
The Specs:
- Publisher:? Top Shelf Productions
- Paperback ?
- 108 pages
- Retail Price: $9.99
The Wrap Up:
If you have a young reader in your household between the ages of probably 6 and 14, I would imagine they will really like these books. There are two books currently out in The Unpetables series, but I would expect we’ll be seeing a whole lot more!
