DVD and Blu-Ray Releases for November 16, 2010

Hey Fiends!  Another week brings another Tuesday full of digital media.  This week we have hi-def versions of the second season of The Twilight Zone, as well as the Criterion release of The Night of the Hunter, Best Worst Movie and many more.  Click beyond the break!

All descriptions are from Amazon.com.

Don’t forget, anytime you buy from Amazon via the links provided, you help out DTB.  Thanks in advance!

Avatar (Three-Disc Extended Collector’s Edition)

Format: DVD | Blu-Ray
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Experience the spectacular world of James Cameron’s Avatar as never before with this all-new three-disc extended collector’s edition. The journey begins with three movie versions: the original theatrical release, the special edition re-release, and the exclusive extended cut not shown in theaters. And that’s just what’s on the first Blu-ray disc. The set’s bonus feature run more than eight hours and include over 45 minutes of deleted scenes; actor’s screen tests; on-location footage; feature-length documentaries on the film’s groundbreaking production; an interactive scene-deconstruction feature that lets you explore different levels of production for 17 scenes; a comprehensive guide to the world of Pandora; and more. The greatest adventure of all time just got bigger and better.

Avatar on Netflix

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Best Worst Movie

Format: DVD
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In 1989, a group of unknown Utah actors starred in what would be crowned the worst movie of all time: Troll 2. Now, after two decades of running from this cinematic disaster, the cast can no longer hide from the legion of followers who celebrate them for their ineptitude.

BEST WORST MOVIE, directed by Troll 2’s once-disgraced child star, Michael Paul Stephenson, unravels the stories of these unforgettable real-life characters and the colorful army of devotees who continue to revel in the film’s perfectly flawed brilliance. At the center of this celebrated documentary is the improbable story of a small-town Alabama dentist-turned-cult-movie-icon, and an Italian filmmaker who comes to terms (or doesn’t) with his internationally revered cinematic failure.

BEST WORST MOVIE is an affectionate and intoxicatingly fun tribute to the single greatest bad movie ever made and the people responsible for unleashing it on the world. The result is a hilarious and tender offbeat journey that pays homage to lovers of bad movies and the people who make them, while investigating a deeper story about the strange nature of celebrity, the catharsis of redemption and the humanity that exists in making even the worst movie ever made.

Best Worst Movie on Netflix

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The Complete Metropolis

Format: DVD | Blu-Ray (Available on November 23)
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Metropolis takes place in 2026, when the populace is divided between workers who must live in the dark underground and the rich who enjoy a futuristic city of splendor. The tense balance of these two societies is realized through images that are among the most famous of the 20th century, many of which presage such sci-fi landmarks as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner. Lavish and spectacular, with elaborate sets and modern science fiction style, Metropolis stands today as the crowning achievement of the German silent cinema. Kino International is proud to announce the DVD and long awaited first time ever Blu-ray release of the new restoration of Fritz Lang’s 1927 science fiction masterpiece METROPOLIS, now with 25 minutes of lost footage and the original Gottfried Huppertz score. This new 147-minute version (being released as THE COMPLETE METROPOLIS), opened theatrically in April 2010 earning over $350,000 at the box office, and since its original restoration, has gone on to earn $1,000,000 in theatrical ticket sales! When it was first screened in Berlin on January 10, 1927, the sci-fi epic ran an estimated 153 minutes. After its premiere engagement, in an effort to maximize the film’s commercial potential, the film’s distributors (UFA in Germany, Paramount in the U.S.) drastically shortened METROPOLIS, which had been a major disappointment at the German box office. By the time it debuted in the United States later that year, the film ran approximately 90 minutes (exact running times are difficult to determine because silent films were not always projected at a standardized speed). METROPOLIS went on to become one of the cornerstones of science fiction cinema foreshadowing BLADE RUNNER and THE MATRIX to name just a few recent examples. Testament to its enduring popularity, the film has undergone restorations in 1984 and again in 1987. The 2001 restoration combined footage from four archives and ran at a triumphant 124 minutes.

Metropolis Restored on Netflix
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Don’t Look Back

Format: DVD
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French director Marina de Van follows her boldly audacious debut In My Skin with the thriller DON’T LOOK BACK, another brave, disturbing plunge into darkness that plays with identity and body doubles a la David Lynch s Mulholland Drive and David Cronenberg s Dead Ringers. Author Jeanne (Sophie Marceau of The World Is Not Enough and Braveheart) has her new novel turned down and then begins to question everything. Was that table really located in that corner? Is this my husband? Is that my child? In a daringly cinematic moment that employs state of the art special effects, the character morphs into an entirely different actress (the luscious Monica Bellucci of The Matrix Reloaded, The Sorcerer s Apprentice, and The Passion Of The Christ,) and embarks on a determined quest to uncover the secret hidden in her past that has undermined her world. DON’T LOOK BACK marks the next stage of a truly unconventional talent.

Don’t Look Back on Netflix
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Exam

Format: DVD
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Like Saw for corporate go-getters, in EXAM eight young people vying for a sought-after job are locked together in a room and given one hour to finish their exam. But the exam is a blank piece of paper and the eight candidates soon realize their only competition isn t a q& a but each other. Hot rising talent Stuart Hazeldine is Hollywood s in-demand rewrite artist for top sci-fi and thriller fare and now he s established himself as a behind the camera threat with this brilliant genre spin highlighted by actor Luke (28 Days Later) Mably s swaggeringly solipsistic bad-boy charisma as the job applicant most likely to succeed by stabbing you in the back. Like Saw for smarties or the B-movie gem Cube, EXAM is one test you can look forward to bring your number 2 pencil and hope you don t get cut.

Exam on Netflix
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Exhibit A

Format: DVD
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Exhibit A tells the timely story of a normal family disintegrating under financial pressure, eventually driven to the unimaginable. All is not as it seems as the King family go about their day-to-day lives oblivious of the horror to come. Dad Andy (Bradley Cole) is nursing a secret that ultimately leads to terrifying consequences for them all. We witness these chilling events unfold through daughter Julia’s (Brittany Ashworth) video camera, which subsequently becomes Exhibit A. Exhibit A is inspired by the many men in real life who are known to their neighbors as devoted husbands and fathers, but for unknowable reasons suddenly decide to take drastic action to protect their loved ones.

Exhibit A on Netflix
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Fear Me Not

Format: DVD
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Dogme 95 trailblazer Kristian Levring (The King Is Alive) delivers his subtlest, most unnerving film yet. It s like a reverse image of Nicholas Ray s classic Bigger Than Life. Instead of watching a dutiful dad go crazy via medication, we watch a deeply uneasy father become utterly liberated when he takes some experimental anti-depressants. Too bad the experiment is ditched and they try to take his pills away. Ulrich Thomsen (Duplicity, TV s Alias) is the father even his wife and daughter treat warily in this remarkably taut and creepy look at one man s desperate desire to be comfortable in his own skin.

Fear Me Not on Netflix
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Metropia

Format: DVD
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METROPIA takes place in a not-so-distant but terrifying Europe. The world is running out of oil and the underground train systems have been connected, creating a gigantic subway network beneath Europe. In a suburb of Stockholm, Roger (Vincent Gallo, Buffalo ’66) tries to stay away from the underground because every time he enters, he hears a stranger’s voice in his head. Is someone trying to control him? To help him escape the disturbing web of the Metro, he looks to the mysterious Nina (Juliette Lewis, Whip It) but the further they travel, the deeper he’s involved in a dark conspiracy. This star-studded, ‘technically innovative’ (The New York Times) animated sci-fi thriller also features Alexander Skarsgard (True Blood), Stellan Skarsgard (Mamma Mia!) and Udo Kier (Shadow of the Vampire).

Metropia on Netflix
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The Night of the Hunter (The Criterion Collection)

Format: DVD | Blu-Ray
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The Night of the Hunter—incredibly, the only film the great actor Charles Laughton ever directed—is truly a standalone masterwork. A horror movie with qualities of a Grimm fairy tale, it stars a sublimely sinister Robert Mitchum (Cape Fear, The Friends of Eddie Coyle) as a traveling preacher named Harry Powell (he of the tattooed knuckles), whose nefarious motives for marrying a fragile widow, played by Shelley Winters (A Place in the Sun, The Diary of Anne Frank) are uncovered by her terrified young children. Graced by images of eerie beauty and a sneaky sense of humor, this ethereal, expressionistic American classic—also featuring the contributions of actress Lillian Gish (Intolerance, Duel in the Sun) and writer James Agee—is cinema’s quirkiest rendering of the battle between good and evil.

The Night of the Hunter on Netflix
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The Possession of David O’ Reilly

Format: DVD

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Compared favorably to The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, THE POSSESSION OF DAVID O’REILLY marks the UK as the next hot source for original, inventive horror. Giles Alderson stars as David O Reilly, a guy dumped by his girlfriend and looking to crash with his London friends for the night. Unfortunately, O Reilly is bringing more than emotional baggage because something a demon, a ghost, an alien? is stalking his every move. O Reilly knows more than he s admitting why else does he immediately pour a line of salt across the doorstep? but is he possessed or just nutters? Uneasiness soon ramps up into sheer fright in a movie that Pax Romano admitted left him surprised and scared witless. Watch it and if you are really brave invite your friends over to join you.

The Possession of David O’Reilly on Netflix

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RoboGeisha

Format: DVD | Blu-Ray
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The twisted geniuses behind The Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police present a tale of sibling rivalry, chainsaw faces, machine gun boobs, and butt blades.

Kikuke is a geisha known for her glamour and grace. Yoshie is her abused sister, banished to the shadows. When a mysterious corporation transforms their soft bodies into murderous machines, the rival vixens rush toward an ultraviolent final confrontation.
RoboGeisha on Netflix

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Shaolin Mantis

Format: DVD
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No Synopsis Given.

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The Twilight Zone: Season 2 [Blu-ray]

Format: Blu-Ray
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All 29 episodes of the second season of Rod Serling’s classic, groundbreaking series, now presented in pristine high-definition for the first time ever, along with hours of new and exclusive bonus features not available anywhere else! New, Blu-ray exclusive features: Rarely-seen, unofficial Twilight Zone pilot, “The Time Element,” starring William Bendix and Martin Balsam. Written by Rod Serling and hosted by Desi Arnaz for Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse. New 1080p transfer from the original camera negative and magnetic soundtrack. 19 new commentaries, featuring The Twilight Zone Companion author Marc Scott Zicree, author and film historian Gary Gerani (Fantastic Television), author and music historian Steven C. Smith (A Heart at Fire’s Center: The Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann), music historians John Morgan and William T. Stromberg, writer/producer David Simkins (Lois and Clark, Dark Angel), writer Mark Fergus (Children of Men, Iron Man), actor William Reynolds and director Ted Post Interviews with actors Dana Dillaway, Suzanne Lloyd, Beverly Garland and Ron Masak Tales of Tomorrow episode “What You Need” Vintage audio interview with Director of Photography George T. Clemens 1977 syndication promos for “A Stop at Willoughby” and “The After Hours” 18 Radio Dramas 34 Isolated Music Scores Episodes: King Nine Will Not Return, The Man in the Bottle, Nervous Man in a Four-Dollar Room, A Thing About Machines, The Howling Man, Eye of the Beholder, Nick of Time, The Lateness of the Hour, The Trouble with Templeton, A Most Unusual Camera, The Night of the Meek, Dust, Back There, The Whole Truth, The Invaders, A Penny for Your Thoughts, Twenty-Two, The Odyssey of Flight 33, Mr. Dingle, the Strong, Static, The Prime Mover, Long Distance Call, A Hundred Yards over the Rim, The Rip Van Winkle Caper, The Silence, Shadow Play, The Mind and the Matter, Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?, The Obsolete Man