The final weeks of the year are always an odd collection when it comes to disc releases. All the big names and deluxe sets are scheduled for November and early December, when the gift-giving plans are made and the holiday dollars are spent. What’s left are, well, the leftovers.
Case in point: Insidious: Chapter 2 (Sony, Blu-ray+DVD Combo, DVD, Digital), which (as the title suggests) isn’t exactly in the holiday spirit. Director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell (who originally made their name with the original Saw) reunite the cast of the first Insidious – Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne and Barbara Hershey – for a story that tries to explain the “why” of the events from the first film. The Lambert Family is still haunted by malevolent spirits so with a team of ghostbusters they try to find the source, which leads them into a series of haunted house and spooky set pieces.
With the featurettes “Peripheral Vision: Behind the Scenes” and “Ghostly Transformation” and a bonus Ultraviolet Digital HD copy of the film. The Blu-ray also includes three additional featurettes and the three-part webisode series “Insidious: Spectral Sightings.”
Caesar Must Die (Kino Lorber, DVD), a docudrama hybrid from the filmmaker team of Paolo and Vittoria Taviani, follows the production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar staged inside Rome’s Rebibbia Prison with a cast drawn from the inmates of the maximum security prison. The film isn’t exactly documentary, it follows the project from audition and rehearsal to public performance, and the Tavianis measure the effect of the play on the players themselves as they draw from their own pasts to play the figures of Shakespeare’s drama. Italian with English subtitles.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Don Jon (Fox, Blu-ray Combo, DVD, On Demand), a modern romantic comedy starring Gordon-Levitt as a New Jersey party boy with a porn addiction that gets in the way when he falls for Jersey girl Scarlett Johansson. It turns out that real women put demands on a guy. It’s available via Cable on Demand on December 24 and on Blu-ray and DVD a week later on December 31. The discs feature three shorts from Gordon Levitt’s HitRECord project of collaborative productions and the Blu-ray Combo
Also arriving in the final day of 2013 is the comedy Hell Baby (Millennium, Blu-ray, DVD), the directorial debut of Reno 911 creators and Night in the Museum screenwriters Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon (who take supporting roles in the film), and Ursula Meier’s Sister (Kino Lorber, DVD), a drama set at a Swiss ski resort starring Léa Seydoux and Gillian Anderson (French and English with English subtitles).
More New Releases:
The Berlin File (CJ Entertainment, Blu-ray, DVD)
Una Noche (IFC, DVD)
Love, Marilyn (Docurama, DVD)
More Than Honey (Kino, Blu-ray, DVD)
CBGB (XLrator, Blu-ray, DVD) (Dec 31)
Last Love (Image, Blu-ray, DVD, Digital) (Dec 31)
InAPPropriate Comedy (Freestyle, DVD) (Dec 31)
Sweetwater (Arc, DVD) (Dec 31)
Zombie Hamlet (Level 33, DVD) (Dec 31)
Shaolin Warrior (Lionsgate, DVD) (Dec 31)
Ritual (Lionsgate, DVD) (Dec 31)
Ninja 2: Shadow of a Tear (Millennium, Blu-ray, DVD) (Dec 31)
Freedom Force (Vertical, DVD) (Dec 31)
Cassadaga (Archstone, DVD) (Dec 31)
Sanitarium (Image, DVD, Digital) (Dec 31)
VOD / On Demand exclusives:
The indie horror film You’re Next (Lionsgate) comes to Digital HD, VOD, and Cable On Demand on Friday, December 27, before disc and just in time for the holiday season.
Also available for digital download in advance of disc is the acclaimed indie drama Fruitvale Station (Anchor Bay, Digital HD, Tuesday, Dec 31), the comedy A.C.O.D. (Paramount, Digital HD, Friday, January 3) and the horror remake Carrie (Fox, Digital HD, Friday, January 3)
Christmas week brings Don Jon to Cable On Demand a week before disc and the horror film Open Grave in advance of theaters.
Premiering on Cable on Demand on January 3, 2014, same day as theaters, is the thriller The Best Offer with Geoffrey Rush and Jim Sturgess and the drama Jamesy Boy with Mary-Louise Parker and Ving Rhames. Arriving weeks in advance of disc is the comedy Thanks For Sharing with Gwyneth Paltrow and Mark Ruffalo.
Also available via Cable On Demand:
Despicable Me 2
Insidious: Chapter 2
Mischief Night
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (Dec 31)
Calendar of upcoming releases on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital, and VOD