Best of 2021: Our favourite Blu-ray & 4K UHD box sets of the year

While physical media sadly becomes more of a niche product with each passing season, this has been a truly remarkable year for Blu-ray and 4K UHD box sets. A number of highly anticipated franchises finally made their 4K debuts (including the Indiana Jones and early Star Trek films) and comprehensive genre box sets from the likes of Arrow Video and Severin focusing on particular filmmakers (The Dungeon of Andy Milligan) and specific sub-genres (All the Haunts Be Ours) essentially provided a film history class in one convenient box.

We’ve highlighted our favourite Blu-ray & 4K UHD box sets of 2021 below. Stay tuned for the rundown of our favourite individual releases next. Happy hunting!

All The Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium Of Folk Horror (Severin)

Following the tremendous success of Kier-La Janisse’s comprehensive folk horror documentary, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, Severin has unleashed a staggering companion set that any self-respecting horror fan will need to order immediately.  All the Haunts be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror brings together 19 (!) mostly under-seen folk horror films featured in Janisse’s engrossing documentary (including the doc itself). Titles include a new restoration of the ’80s classic Eyes of Fire, Ben Wheatley’s modern masterpiece A Field in England, along with folk horror films from Poland to Serbia just waiting to be discovered by new audiences. This doorstopper of a set features 12 Blu-rays, 3 CDs, and a 156-page accompanying book featuring new writing on the genre, poetry, photos, and more. If you were also fanatically adding films to your Letterboxd account while watching Janisse’s doc, this is the set of your dreams (or nightmares).

Battle Royale Limited Edition 4K UHD (Arrow Video)

Decades before Squid Game became a worldwide sensation based on the notion of kids killing each other for their own gain, Kinji Fukasaku shocked Japanese audiences with 2000’s unforgettable Battle Royale. Set in a dystopian Japan where teenagers are forced to fight each other to the death in an elaborate game set up by the government, the film remains as thrilling and disturbing today as when it was first released. Arrow Video has truly outdone themselves with this massive new Battle Royale 4K set which features the original film and its less-impressive sequel spread out over four discs. The set also includes a CD soundtrack, a 120-page book on Kinji Fukasaku, a playing card game, and plenty of other goodies. While you may have to hit up the secondary market to track down the limited edition set, this is far and away one of the coolest Blu-ray sets of the year, with stunning design and welcome 4K transfers of both films. Grab this and be the envy of all your (killer) classmates.

The Dungeon Of Andy Milligan Collection (Severin)

What a time to be a Blu-ray collector. It’s easy to take for granted that previously hard-to-find films are suddenly available in comprehensive box sets with spiffy new transfers, but the notion that grindhouse director Andy Milligan is the subject of a sprawling boutique Blu-ray collection is truly incredible. Known for sleazy, low-budget, and often incredibly violent cinematic oddities including 1968’s The Ghastly Ones and 1973’s sexually explicit Fleshpot on 42nd Street, Milligan is now set to be discovered by new generations of adventurous viewers with The Dungeon Of Andy Milligan Collection. Featuring 14 Milligan films spread over 8 Blu-ray discs, 10+ hours of extras, a CD soundtrack, and a 128-page book on Milligan by exploitation film expert Stephen Thrower, this is a vital new release for genre fans looking for a deep dive into Milligan’s demented universe.

Hammer Volume Six: Night Shadows (Powerhouse Films / Indicator)

Powerhouse Films/Indicator has been doing an incredible job presenting the legendary Hammer films in a series of stacked Blu-ray releases. Their latest, Hammer Volume Six: Night Shadows, features four Hammer horror titles from the early ’60s (The Shadow of the Cat, Captain Clegg, The Phantom of the Opera, and Nightmare). All four films are charmingly eerie, with strong performances (including Hammer regular and horror icon Peter Cushing in Captain Clegg) that should make this set something you’ll want to revisit each Halloween season. As usual with these Hammer sets, there is a ton of both newly-produced and vintage bonus material, along with a thick info-packed booklet for each release. While the Hammer films are available in a number of home video versions, no one treats these films with the care they deserve quite like Powerhouse Films/Indicator. Grab this one soon before it proves to be as elusive (and pricey!) as the previous editions in this line. *Note: this set is playable on Region 2 devices only.

Indiana Jones 4-Movie Collection 4K UHD

One of the last great franchise holdouts has finally made the jump to 4K! The beloved Indiana Jones films are finally available on 4K UHD, and they have never looked better. Each film is a revelation, with detail and colours springing to life like never before. The extras are carried over from the previous Blu-ray box set, but having classics like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in glorious 4K makes this a must-have collection. As a welcome bonus, the set includes digital copies for all four films, so you’re only ever a click away from having John Williams’ iconic score blasting forth from any device. Who knows, maybe this set will ever get you to reconsider 2008’s unfairly maligned Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull?

Middle Earth 6-Film Ultimate Collector’s Edition 4K UHD and Blu-ray (Warner Bros.)

While most Lord of the Rings fans likely jumped on last year’s excellent 4K collections of the Extended Edition LOTR and Hobbit trilogies, this Middle Earth “Ultimate Collector’s Edition” will lure you in just like Gollum to his precioussss. This set brings together both previously released trilogies along with beautiful new packaging, a bonus disc featuring the Alamo Drafthouse cast reunions for The Lord of the Rings (hosted by Stephen Colbert), postcards, and a 64-page booklet. With both the theatrical and extended editions for all six films spread out over a whopping 31 discs (!) and elaborate packaging that you can tweak to display in a number of ways, this is the one LOTR box set to rule them all (until the next eventual re-release, that is).

Shawscope Volume One – Limited Edition (Arrow Video)

Released just this week, Arrow Video’s incredible Shawscope Volume One Blu-ray set slides onto our best-of 2021 list just under the wire. This stacked box collects a dozen ’70s films from Hong Kong’s iconic Shaw Brothers studios, including kung fu classics like The Five Venoms and King Boxer, the wild kaiju action spectacular Mighty Peking Man, and many more. The majority of the titles feature new 2K restorations, which will be a revelation for anyone who first caught these beloved flicks on late-night TV or on murky VHS tapes. Add in a whack of new special features, two CDs featuring the soundtracks to a half-dozen films in the set, and a huge in-depth book to house the entire package, and you have one of the true must-have Blu-ray box sets of the year.

Star Trek: The Original 4-Movie Collection 4K UHD and Blu-ray set

It’s hard to believe it’s taken this long to get the classic Trek films on 4K, but Star Trek: The Original 4-Movie Collection more than makes up for the wait. Featuring the iconic first four films in the Star Trek franchise on 4K UHD for the first time, this is the best these films have ever looked on home video. Featuring new Dolby Vision presentations, these films look spectacular, with Star Trek: The Motion Picture benefiting the most from the 4K video upgrade. The audio and the extras remain the same from the already excellent 2009 Blu-ray discs (the majority of the extras for each film are available on the included Blu-ray versions) but the new 4K jump makes this a no-brainer for Trekkies the galaxy over. Let’s just hope this release spurs Paramount to release the rest of the films in the franchise on 4K next (yes, even if it means we need another copy of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier in our collections).

Star Trek: The Original Series: The Complete Series Steelbook Blu-ray set (Paramount)

It’s been a great year for Star Trek fans looking to upgrade their home video collections. Along with a stellar release of the original four films on 4K for the first time (see above), the complete original series also received a fancy new packaging upgrade. Star Trek: The Original Series: The Complete Series Steelbook Blu-ray set features the entire three-season run of the classic ’60s show in a snazzy new Steelbook collection. Each season gets its own retro-looking Steelbook, housing 6-7 Blu-rays each (the entire collection comes in at a whopping 20 Blu-ray discs) that all fit inside a cardboard outer box. The discs are exactly the same as the previous Blu-ray releases and feature impressive video and audio presentations along with a plethora of extras to dive into. While the content may be identical, this new Steelbook collection earns an easy recommendation for both diehard Trekkies and newbies alike.

Vengeance Trails: Four Classic Westerns Limited Edition (Arrow Video)

Arrow Video is best known for its work in the horror realm, but they’ve saddled up and gone deep into the world of westerns with the Vengeance Trails box set. The groundbreaking success of Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns in the ’60s inspired a number of European filmmakers to craft their own violent tales of solitary cowboys facing incredible odds, including four strong entries collected here: Massacre Time (directed by Lucio Fulci), My Name is Pecos, Bandidos, and And God Said to Cain. Running from 1966-1970, these four European Westerns are a great snapshot of the post-Spaghetti craze and stand on their own as singularly rewarding works of mayhem. Featuring new 2K restoration from the original 35mm prints, a slew of new extras including commentary tracks, interviews, and documentaries, and a thick booklet by author and critic Howard Hughes, Vengeance Trails is yet another knockout Blu-ray box set release this year by the always-dependable Arrow Video.

The World of Wong Kar Wai (Criterion)

Wong Kar Wai has made some of the lushest and outright beautiful films of our time, including classics like Chungking Express and In the Mood for Love. Criterion has now bundled 7 of Wong Kar Wai’s most celebrated films in this striking new box set. Featuring new 4K remasters of Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love, 2046, As Tears Go By, and Days of Being Wild (all approved by Wong Kar Wai himself), a wealth of new and archival extras and a stunning packaging design, The World of Wong Kar Wai is the perfect entry point into the sumptuous world of one of the great cinematic masters.