While streaming services continue to remove titles from their libraries and generally devalue legacy content (read: any movie released before 2000), physical media increasingly becomes a reliable source for people to watch what they want, when they want. As collectors ourselves, The A.V. Club is committed to providing a monthly look at the best new home video releases—from the biggest blockbusters to must-see obscurities—as companies from Warner and Sony Pictures to Vinegar Syndrome and Criterion Collection keep cinephiles’ shelves full of DVD, Blu-ray, and UHD discs.
What’s spinning in October, you ask? Highlights include Jordan Peele’s sci-fi/horror hit Nope, Pete Davidson in Bodies Bodies Bodies, the 4K debut of several classic Universal Monsters movies, a 4K collection of three Halloween franchise movies, and a remastered Blu-ray of everyone’s favorite spoof film: Airplane!
The Halloween 4K Collection (1995-2002)
Available October 4Just in time for Halloween (the holiday) and the final showdown between Laurie Strode and Michael Myers in comes this collection of 4K Halloween-movie debuts: Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later and Halloween: Resurrection. Both the theatrical and coveted Producer’s Cut of Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers are included in this set. 1998's Halloween H20: Twenty Years later features the return of Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, and we’re here for the new 4K restoration of this thrilling sequel. The less we think about Halloween: Resurrection starring Busta Rhymes the better we feel, but a new 4K restoration of the much-maligned 2002 sequel is included in this set. It’s worth a look only for an extended cameo by Curtis at the beginning in what we thought at the time was her final turn as Laurie Strode.
Watcher (2022)
Available October 4Fans of It Follows and its star Maika Monroe will want to check her out in , a slow-building thriller about a young woman who moves into a city with a serial killer on the loose while a neighbor in the building next door stares at her through the window. It’s a shame that the movie is only getting a Blu-ray and not a 4K UHD release from IFC Films, but we’ll take it.
Available October 4This seminal spoof comedy that pokes fun at all of those self-serious disaster movies of the 1970s has been released on Blu-ray several times before, but this edition features a new 4K restoration of the hilarious movie. Again, we just wish it were also available on 4K UHD, but hopefully that is in the works. stars Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Peter Graves, Lloyd Bridges, and Leslie Nielsen as the deadpan Dr. Rumack.
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
Available October 11In celebration of the classic film’s 60th anniversary, Universal is releasing the 4K UHD debut of , starring Gregory Peck in his Oscar-winning role as Southern lawyer Atticus Finch. The disc features a new 4K restoration of the film with HDR and a new documentary, To Kill A Mockingbird: All Points Of View, about the enduring legacy of the movie. Also sold separately is a limited-edition gift set with a 44-page booklet, four international theatrical poster cards, and a film-strip replica.
Universal Classic Monsters: Icons Of Horror Collection Vol. 2 (1932-1954)
Available October 11The 4K restorations of Universal’s Classic Monsters continues with this scary-good box set featuring the 4K UHD debuts of The Mummy, The Bride Of Frankenstein, Phantom Of The Opera and Creature From The Black Lagoon (we’re going to hang on to the previous Blu-ray edition of Creature From The Black Lagoon, however, because it includes a Blu-ray 3D presentation). This new Icons of Horror Collection has hours of behind-the-scenes documentaries about each of the four movies.
Lost Highway (1997)
Available October 11The Criterion Collection is putting out the 4K UHD debut (and a Blu-ray) of David Lynch’s nightmarish , starring Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, Balthazar Getty and Robert Blake. The 4K UHD features a new 4K restoration of the 1997 neo-noir supervised and approved by Lynch, a new DTS-HD master audio soundtrack, and a Dolby Vision/HDR presentation of the movie. Both the 4K UHD and Blu-ray editions contain the feature-length documentary Pretty As A Picture: The Art Of David Lynch as well as other extras.
The Limey (1999)
Available October 11If you are a fan of Steven Soderbergh’s crime film starring Terence Stamp, start planning your trip to the nearest Best Buy. Lionsgate is releasing a special 4K UHD SteelBook edition of the movie exclusively at Best Buy on October 11. The disc features a new 4K restoration of the film and several commentary tracks, but the real selling point here is the cool SteelBook case and slip.
Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
Available October 18If you wait a week to pick up The Limey at Best Buy, you could also snag yourself a copy of on 4K UHD, which appears to be a Best Buy exclusive. The comedy-horror offering from A24 stars Pete Davidson in a story about a hurricane party that goes south fast. The movie is also available a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack from other outlets, such as Amazon.
American Movie (1999)
Available October 18 is a 1999 documentary about the trials and tribulations of Wisconsin-based filmmaker Mark Borchardt as he tries to make his short horror film, Coven. The Chris Smith-directed movie won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival but has only been released on VHS and DVD, the latter of which costs considerable coin if you can find it. All of that is remedied on October 18 with the Blu-ray debut of American Movie by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, so you can stop saving for that expensive DVD copy on eBay.
The Return Of The Living Dead (1985)
Available October 11This cult-favorite comedy-horror directed by Dan O’Bannon about zombies with an insatiable appetite for “braaaaains” is finally making its debut on 4K UHD from Scream Factory. The disc features a new 4K restoration from the original negative and a Dolby Vision/HDR presentation of the zombie flick. Included in the combo pack is a Blu-ray with the workprint version of the movie, featuring 20 additional minutes of footage (presented in standard definition). The extras disc also includes numerous behind-the-scenes featurettes that were available on previous Blu-ray editions of .
Eyes Of Laura Mars (1978)
Available October 18Kino Lorber will release the Blu-ray debut of Irvin Kershner’s , a supernatural mystery-thriller starring Faye Dunaway as a world-famous fashion photographer with the uncanny psychic ability to see with her mind’s eye the murders of several people she knows. Extras include a making-of featurette, audio commentary by Kershner, three remastered TV spots, and a limited-edition O-card slipcase.
Nope (2022)
Available October 25In Jordan Peele’s , a group of inland-California gulch residents have a terrifying encounter with an extraterrestrial threat. After a successful run in theaters, Nope makes its 4K UHD and Blu-ray debut on October 25, just days before Halloween. Extras include several making-of featurettes, deleted scenes and a gag reel. The 4K UHD is also available as a Walmart exclusive (with different packaging) as well as a Best Buy-exclusive SteelBook for collectors.