LATEST ADDITIONS

It’s easy to see why the likes of Bruce Willis and Forrest Whitaker were attracted to this debut feature by writer/director Aaron Harvey. Indeed, with its intricate plotting and tricky narrative structure, Catch .44 often feels like the bastard offspring of Elmore Leonard and Quentin Tarantino. Unfortunately, there are a few too many self-referential jokes (like the one about Bruce Willis’ album... Urgh!) that spoil the fun and take the edge off the film. The BD itself boasts an attractively detailed AVC 2.40:1 1080p encode and surprisingly forceful Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track. The disc also offers up an interesting chat-track from writer/director Harvey and editor Richard Byard.

Obviously created to cash-in on the Twilight-inspired trend for supernatural romance, this MTV-produced show should be awful. And for its first few episodes it teeters on the brink of failure. But then something unexpected happens – as the central mystery hits high-gear it starts to really embrace its horror roots and becomes downright enjoyable.

Cult label Arrow Video has pulled out all the stops with this three-disc edition of Lucio Fulci’s legendary shocker. The Blu-ray disc includes a restored AVC 2.40:1 1080p presentation of the film that suffers a little from the digitised look familiar to Arrow releases (but still marks a general improvement in this regard for the company) accompanied by LPCM 2.0 Italian and English tracks, two commentaries and a series of interviews (including a general piece celebrating the ‘Ladies of Italian Horror’). This content is replicated in SD on an accompanying DVD platter. A second DVD offers a Q&A, deleted scene and various vintage trailers.

I’ve heard a lot of extraordinary sound in my time. Niagara Falls’ roar, the rumble of the geothermal heat release vent outside Reykjavik, and even a sonic boom from Concorde. All of which is why I adore REL, and the monstrous subwoofers it makes, so much.