4K X FOUR
Arrow’s HD release of Wes Craven’s family vs mutant cannibals shocker THE HILLS HAVE EYES (8 November) doesn’t add anything new to the 2016 Blu-ray, bonus-wise – unless you count the screenplay in printed form, not on DVD-ROM. You also get six postcards, a poster and a booklet. We said: “Utilises its barren, eerie location to the full and has a second half of relentless screaming terror.” A traumatised TV reporter visits a country resort only to encountr werewolves in Joe Dante’s THE HOWLING (out now). The bonuses on this Studiocanal edition are totally different to their old Blu-ray, but the only fresh one is a featurette on Dante’s career. You also get a poster, five art cards and booklet. We said: “Oddball characters and in-jokes aplenty, but when Dante removes tongue from cheek it can be surprisingly tough.” Don’t get too excited about MIDDLE-EARTH: THE ULTIMATE COLLECTOR’S EDITION (out now). There’s just one disc of bonuses. It includes three cast reunion conversations (30-40 minutes each), plus a Cannes Film Festival presentation reel. No “appendices” either, so you’ll want to keep your Extended Edition Blu-rays. Surely Orson Welles’s finest hour, THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE (out now) sees a planet-eating giant bot threatening their world. Additions to the 2016 Blu-ray’s bonuses: a feature-length storyboard version, and a 10-minute piece in which rocker Stan Bush does acoustic versions of two songs. We said: “This surreal, hair-metal soundtracked toy ad is arguably the most ‘80s film ever made.”