New DVD, Blu-ray and digital release highlights for the week of Oct. 4-10, 2021

It's beginning to look a lot like Halloween as the vast majority of this week's releases are horror films. Consider this a preview for a guide I'll be putting together later in the week highlighting recent horror DVD, Blu-ray, books, and bewitching artifacts.

Digital

• Old -M. Night Shyamalan's "Old" sees a group of strangers on holiday find themselves trapped on a secluded beach where they begin to age rapidly. Based on the graphic novel byPierre-Oscar Lévy andFrederik Peeters, "Old" is still very much a Shyamalan film as it offers its share of twists and red herrings. The film was fairly divisive. I'm on positive side. [Full Review + M. Night Shyamalan Interview]

New to DVD and Blu-ray

• Escape Room: Tournament of Champions -A direct sequel to the 2019 horror film, "Tournament of Champions" sees survivors Zoey (Taylor Russell) and Ben (Logan Miller) caught in another deadly game. The extended version of the film explore the origins of the puzzlemaker.
  
  
• Space Jam: A New Legacy -LeBron James is one of the world’s greatest basketball players. He’s not nearly as skilled in being a father. When James dismisses a business opportunity from Warner Bros. as one of the worst ideas he has ever heard, the project manager, Al G. Rhythm (Don Cheadle), has James and his son digitized and sucked into a virtual world. [Full Review]
  
  
• The Nevers: Season 1, Part 1 - HBO's latest series is a period drama with sci-fi/supernatural elements set in Victorian London in St. Romaulda's Orphanage, a home for women with special abilities.
  
  
• Little Vampire -Nominated for Best Animated Film at the 46th César Awards, "Little Vampire" explores the world of a vampire who has been 10 years old for 300 years. Bored with his life and his overprotective parents, Little Vampire sneaks out to explore the forbidden world and, if possible, make a friend or two. Previous adaptations ofAngela Sommer-Bodenburg's series of books were terrible. This one is good.
  
  
• Night of the Animated Dead - An animated version of George A. Romero's classic 1968 horror film about a zombie outbreak that traps a group of strangers in a farmhouse. The original is one of my favorite films. I'm not a fan of the animation used here and it's faithfulness to the original is a fatal flaw that makes me wish I'd just watch the original.
  
  
• Naked Singularity -John Boyega stars as a discouraged public defender in this courtroom drama that takes aim at the injustices of the justice system while the world begins to literally collapse around him. Sounds like the perfect time to try and pull off a heist. Co-stars Olivia Cooke,Bill Skarsgård, and Ed Skrein.

Catalog

• Audrey Hepburn: 7-Movie Collection - This must-own set features "Breakfast at Tiffany's," "Funny Face," "My Fair Lady," "Paris Sizzles," "Roman Holiday," "Sabrina," and "War and Peace."
  
  
• Universal Classic Monsters: Icons of Horror 4K UHD - I love the classic Universal monster movies and I'm excited to see what lurks in the shadows of 1931's "Dracula" (both its English and Spanish versions) and "Frankenstein," 1933's "The Invisible Man," and 1941's "The Wolf Man."
  
  
• Onibaba - Released in Japan in 1964, "Onibaba" is the story of an older woman and her daughter-in-law who survive the civil war conditions that surround them by killing lost samurai and selling their possessions. WhenHachi, a neighbor who has deserted the war, returns, the old woman becomes convinced that he is responsible for her son's death. Soon after a mysterious, masked samurai appears. "Onibaba" is a film draped in atmosphere and primal impulses.
  
  
• Awakening - Rebecca Hall stars in this 2011 ghost story about a woman who in post-World War I England travels to a boarding school to investigate and disprove reports that the ghost of a child haunts the school's halls.
  
  
• Halloween 1-5 4K UHD -With "Halloween Kills," in theaters on October 15, Shout! Factory is releasing the franchise's first five films on 4K UHD and Blu-ray. These releases feature new 4K transfers from camera negatives and, for the very first time, each film includes a Dolby Atmos mix for the audio. Only the original "Halloween" was previously released in 4K UHD (and this is a new transfer that was approved byCinematographer Dean Cundey). I'd argue that "Halloween" and "Halloween III" are must-own releases for any horror fan. I can't wait to see the new transfers.

Here's my interview with Jamie Lee Curtis about "Halloween Kills" and the legacy of the charactersLaurie Strode and Michael Myers.