Blu-ray / 4K review roundup: The best new cult home video releases

With major streamers like HBO and Disney+ continuously removing films and TV shows from their services, there has never been a greater time to cultivate your physical home video library. With that in mind, our latest Blu-ray / 4K review roundup is focused exclusively on new catalogue cult titles that any self-respecting film fan will immediately want to add to their shelves.

From long-awaited 4K editions of genre classics like The Last Starfighter and From Beyond to unearthed treasures like The Vagrant starring the late Bill Paxton, these are the best new Blu-ray and 4K cult releases out now.

Dragonslayer 4K UHD Steelbook (Paramount)

Time to coincide with the recent release of Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Paramount has unearthed the 1981 fantasy film Dragonslayer in an impressive new 4K UHD steel package. Beloved in fan circles, Dragonslayer remains a criminally underappreciated fantasy film that should hopefully gain a wider audience with this stellar release.

Directed by Matthew Robbins (Batteries Not Included), Dragonslayer stars Peter MacNicol (Ghostbusters II) as Galen Bradwarden, a wizard’s apprentice forced to battle a dragon menacing the medieval village of Urland in the 6th century.

Featuring incredible special effects by ILM, Dragonslayer is a revelation in 4K, especially for those of us who grew up watching the film on beat-up VHS tapes or via mangled full-frame cable TV presentations. The new Dolby Atmos mix is an immersive and room-shaking experience, and Paramount has put together a nice selection of new bonus material including a commentary track with director Matthew Robbins and genre icon Guillermo Del Toro.

A classic fantasy tale just waiting to be re-discovered, Paramount’s Dragonslayer comes highly recommended.

The Dunwich Horror Blu-ray (Arrow Video)

Unlike Stewart Gordon’s gory From Beyond — another H.P. Lovecraft adaptation reviewed in this round-up — 1970’s The Dunwich Horror takes a more psychedelic approach to Lovecraft’s classic story.

The Dunwich Horror was directed by Daniel Haller, who served as set designer for Roger Corman’s gothic Edgar Allan Poe adaptations including House of Usher and The Pit and the Pendulum, and brings that sense of gothic doom to this classic supernatural tale.

The film stars a young Dean Stockwell as Wilbur Whateley, a man with a mysterious past who lures the trusting Nancy Wagner (Sandra Dee) into his family’s estate after procuring the Necronomicon from her (never a good idea). Simmering with dread and unease, The Dunwich Horror is one of the most faithful Lovecraft adaptations to ever hit the screen. It may feel tame for modern horror audiences who grew up on the like of Stewart Gordon’s bloodier Lovecraft adaptations, but Arrow Video’s superb new package more than makes the case for this out-there cosmic horror gem.

With a beautiful new 2K transfer and some in-depth extras (including a feature-length Lovecraft discussion with film historian Stephen R. Bissette and horror author Stephen Laws that should be mandatory listening for Lovecraft devotees), The Dunwich Horror has never looked better.

The Dunwich Horror Blu-ray extras

New audio commentary by Guy Adams and Alexandra Benedict, creators of the audio drama Arkham County
The Door into Dunwich, a new conversation between film historian Stephen R. Bissette and horror author Stephen Laws in which they discuss The Dunwich Horror, Lovecraft, and their memories of seeing the film on release
After Summer After Winter, a new interview with science fiction and fantasy writer Ruthanna Emrys, author of The Innsmouth Legacy series
The Sound of Cosmic Terror, new interview with music historian David Huckvale in which he takes a closer look at Les Baxter’s score for The Dunwich Horror
Theatrical trailer
Image gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Luke Preece
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by film critics Johnny Mains and Jack Sargeant

From Beyond 4K UHD / Blu-ray (Vinegar Syndrome)

Stuart Gordon’s gore-soaked adaptation of the H.P. Lovecraft story gets the deluxe 4K UHD treatment courtesy of Vinegar Syndrome.

1986’s From Beyond reunites the late great director Stewart Gordon with genre icons Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator) for this fluorescent and goopy descent into madness.

Lovecraft often wrote about creatures that exist beyond the boundaries of what humans can experience or describe, which naturally, has made his work quite difficult to bring to the screen. Gordon tackles that head-on with From Beyond, which revolves around some scientific mumbo-jumbo about an experimental tool called The Resonator that allows mere mortals to interact with creatures from outside our dimension.

Not surprisingly, things don’t go according to plan, turning Dr. Edward Pretorius (Ted Sorel) into a dimension-hopping creature that fellow doctors Crawford (Combs) and Katherine (Crampton) have to contain in order to save their own sanity.

Vinegar Syndrome brings this horror classic to life with an excellent 3-disc collection featuring From Beyond in glorious 4K (with HDR!) along with the film on a Blu-ray disc and a third Blu-ray disc of extras. The highlight of the new features is Re-Resonator: Looking Back at From Beyond, a 97-minute making-of featuring extensive new interviews with the cast & crew. With a stunning new transfer and hours of extras, From Beyond is one of the best horror reissues from a very stacked year.

From Beyond 4K UHD / Blu-ray Extras

Newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative
Commentary track with director Stuart Gordon and the cast
Commentary track with screenwriter Dennis Paoli
“Re-Resonator: Looking Back at From Beyond” (97 min) – a brand new making-of documentary featuring interviews with actors Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton and Ken Foree; screenwriter Dennis Paoli; producer Brian Yuzna; film editor Lee Percy; composer Richard Band; foley artist Vanessa Ament; effects supervisors Michael Deak and Anthony Doublin; effects artists William Butler, Gabriel Bartalos, John Naulin and Robert Kurtzman
“A Director’s Perspective” (9 min) – reflections with director Stuart Gordon
“Stuart Gordon on From Beyond” (20 min) – a 2012 interview with the director
“A Tortured Soul” (18 min) – a 2013 interview with actor Jeffrey Combs
“The Doctor Is In” (14 min) – a 2012 interview with actress Barbara Crampton
“Paging Dr. McMichaels” (20 min) – a 2013 interview with actress Barbara Crampton
“An Empire Production” (7 min) – a 2013 interview with executive producer Charles Band
“Multiple Dimensions: The Creatures & Effects of From Beyond” (23 min) – an effects focused featurette from 2013
“Monsters & Slime: The FX of From Beyond” – an effects focused featurette from 2012
“Gothic Adaptation” (16 min) – a 2012 interview with screenwriter Dennis Paoli
Storyboard-to-film comparisons with director Stuart Gordon (9 min)
Interview with composer Richard Band (4 min)
Trailer
Still gallery

The Last Starfighter 4K UHD Limited Edition (Arrow Video)

The Last Starfighter, one of the greatest ’80s sci-fi classics, finally comes to 4K UHD via Arrow Video.

Released in 1984, The Last Starfighter ignited the dreams of a whole generation with its tale of restless teenager Alex Rogan (Lance Guest) who is so good at the “Starfighter” video game that he’s recruited into a real-life space battle. As it turns out, the “Starfighter” game was designed to seek out those with the skills to help the inter-planetary Star League battle the evil Ko-Dan Empire, which transports Alex from his hum-dum life in a trailer park into an other-worldly battle for the stars.

Directed by Nick Castle (who astute genre fans will also know as “The Shape” — aka Michael Myers — in John Carpenter’s Halloween), The Last Starfighter is an endlessly rewatchable sci-fi classic that still holds up nearly 40 years later.

Arrow Video debuts The Last Starfighter on 4K UHD with a great Dolby Vision transfer, and a slew of new and archival features including multiple audio commentaries, in-depth interviews with the cast & crew, and more. For anyone who grew up in the ’80s (or wishes they did), this version of The Last Starfighter is a must-have.

The Last Starfighter 4K UHD Limited Edition Extras

Audio commentary with star Lance Guest and his son Jackson Guest
Audio commentary with Mike White of The Projection Booth podcast
Archival audio commentary with director Nick Castle and production designer Ron Cobb
Maggie’s Memories: Revisiting The Last Starfighter – interview with actor Catherine Mary Stewart
Into the Starscape: Composing The Last Starfighter – interview with composer Craig Safan
Incredible Odds: Writing The Last Starfighter – interview with screenwriter Jonathan Betuel
Interstellar Hit-Beast: Creating the Special Effects – interview with special effects supervisor Kevin Pike
Excalibur Test: Inside Digital Productions – interview with sci-fi author Greg Bear on Digital Productions, the company responsible for the CGI in The Last Starfighter
Greetings Starfighter! Inside the Arcade Game – an interview with arcade game collector Estil Vance on reconstructing the Starfighter game
Heroes of the Screen – archival featurette
Crossing the Frontier: The Making of The Last Starfighter – archival 4-part documentary
Image galleries
Theatrical and teaser trailers
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matt Ferguson
Collector’s booklet featuring writing by Amanda Reyes and sci-fi author Greg Bear’s Omni magazine article on Digital Productions, the company responsible for the CGI in The Last Starfighter
Limited Edition slipcover featuring newly commissioned artwork by Matt Ferguson

The Vagrant Blu-ray (Arrow Video)

Bill Paxton left us much too soon, but fans of Paxton’s work in classics like Aliens and After Dark can now sink their teeth into The Vagrant, a bonkers ’80s cult classic now available on Blu-ray from Arrow Video.

Directed by Chris Walas (best known for his iconic effects work on Gremlins and The Fly), The Vagrant is a wild 1992 satire starring Paxton as Graham Krakowski, a meek accountant who finds he is sharing his new fixer-upper home with an unruly vagrant (Marshall Bell). As their confrontations begin to escalate, Graham slips further and further into insanity as he goes head-to-head with the vagrant in an all-out battle for his home (and sanity).

Co-starring the great Michael Ironside and executive produced by the legendary Mel Brooks, The Vagrant is a pitch-perfect black comedy with an off-the-wall performance by Bill Paxton at its center.

Arrow Video has rescued The Vagrant from the depths of obscurity with a clean new 2K transfer and a nice heaping of new extras, including an audio commentary by director Chris Walas.

A relatively unseen cult-classic ripe for discovery, The Vagrant is a wonderfully demented ride and a fitting tribute to the late Bill Paxton. Highly recommended.

The Vagrant Blu-ray Extras

Vagrant Memories, a new interview with director Chris Walas
You are in Hell, a new interview with star Marshall Bell
Barfus, Homicide, a new interview with star Michael Ironside
Handling His Property, a new interview with star Colleen Camp
Theatrical trailer
Image gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Robert Hack
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by film critic Chris Hallock and Vagrant super-fan James Pearcey