PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE from Scream Factory, Summer 2014

This is biggest news in catalog Blu-ray bringing something long-awaited back into print in the USA. The only way to get Phantom of the Paradise on Blu-ray (or at all, for that matter) has been an all-region French import that I insist could look better and include better extras. Scream Factory will undoubtedly knock it out of the park, based on their amazing track record.

Brian DePalma's Phantom of the Paradise is a favorite film of not only fussy film writers like myself, but brilliant filmmakers like Guillermo del Toro, who spoke to me about it briefly on Screen Time #18 (Subscribe: iTunes/RSS). The brief Phantom bit comes while discussing Phantom star Paul Williams' work on the upcoming Pan's Labyrinth stage musical.

Daily Grab 45: Lorre

Peter Lorre's big English-language breakthrough role came in 1934's The Man Who Knew Too Much, which director Alfred Hitchcock later remade with James Stewart in the lead. My attachment to Peter Lorre accounts for a lot of why I prefer the original over the remake. The cold, reptilian indifference that he radiates is pure malevolent magic. I've become more and more fond of Hitch's early British work of late.

Criterion's new Blu-ray restoration is stellar, and a great example of why they do early 20th Century film restoration better than just about anyone. I'm glad to see the Restoration Demonstration extra feature come back into the fold especially (alongside about 20 minutes of Guillermo del Toro talking Hitch).

The Daily Grab 29: Creature of Creatures

I recently interviewed Guillermo del Toro on Screen Time, one of the highlights of my professional life. We talked a fair amount about the classic Universal Monsters movies. For me, the guy with stitches and neck bolts will always be the definitive monster...if he's even the one you consider the monster in his story.

"The Strain" Motion Comic on Geek & Sundry

MTV Geek reports that in advance of the recently-announced TV deal for The Strain, co-created by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, it's coming to Geek & Sundry in another form as of tomorrow. I've been a big fan of what they've done with their premium YouTube channel thus far, and this looks to continue that trend nicely.