MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (4K) and the Sword of Silliness (in a good way)

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (4K UHD)

2026 / 140 min

Alliance Entertainment

Review by Princess Pepper😺

When this arrived for review, what I mostly felt was dread. I’m old enough to remember watching - and generally hating - He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, a cheap, crappy cartoon series that was cynically produced to promote a line of Mattel toys. However, it clicked with kids back in the day, enough that we were subject to a live action movie…which was also terrible but managed to earn a cult following over the years.

On the other hand, the original Pete’s Dragon was Disney at its worst but the remake was a wonderful surprise. So even though 2026’s Masters of the Universe looked like a feeble attempt to cash in on a brand name that was relevant 40 years ago, there was always that small chance it wouldn’t suck. Still, I put-off watching it as long as possible. As much as I love reviewing films, sometimes it feels like an actual job. 

But you know what? This particular “job” ended up being an unexpected snow day because Master of the Universe is a lot of fun, even though the movie sorta depends on one’s familiarity with an ancient franchise (probably a big reason it didn’t connect with modern audiences in theaters). Both an enjoyable action-fantasy and an affectionate send-up of itself, the film strikes a similar blend of action and comedy that made Thor: Ragnarok such a goofy good time. In fact, this one ended up being more entertaining than the last several Marvel movies.

Adam attends a Raiders game.

An origin story, of sorts, this simply-plotted film features awkward young Adam Glenn (Christopher Galitzine), who grew up on Earth after evil sorcerer Skeletor (Jared Leto) took over his home planet of Eternia and now cruelly rules over. Having lost and later recovered his Sword of Power (an amusing subplot itself), Adam’s later found by childhood friend Teela (Camila Mendes), who brings him back home to lead a rebellion against Skeletor. Meanwhile, Skeletor covets the sword, which will give him godlike powers.

I found myself caring far less about the plot (which is perfunctory and not particularly original) than the film’s healthy sense of humor and its subversive depiction of these iconic characters. Die hard fans might take issue with the more comedic aspects, such as poking fun at the franchise’s inherent silliness and some hilarious double entendres (you’ll never view Fisto the same way again!). Starting with Adam himself, played with dopey charm by Galitzine, the main characters are well-conceived and engaging. Even Skeletor himself is amusing, particularly his suggestive descriptions of Adam’s physical attributes.

At the same time, Master of the Universe never quite descends into camp or self-parody. As funny as things often get, it’s still an action film with epic aspirations and copious amounts of CGI-driven mayhem. At nearly two-and-a-half hours, it’s too long for its own good, exacerbated by post-credit scenes hinting at a sequel or two (which probably isn’t gonna happen), but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

BEHIND-THE-SCENES PROMOTIONAL GALLERY is a collection of several promo pieces.

MASTERS OF LIGHT: SKIES OF ETERNIA DRONE SPECTACLE highlights a pretty impressive drone show created to promote the film.

DEAD SOULS: Alex Cox's Last?

DEAD SOULS (Blu-ray)

2025 / 88 min

Kino Lorber

Review by Princess Pepper😺

Dead Souls is being touted as cult legend Alex Cox’s final film. I don't know whether or not he’s just pulling our lariats (to paraphrase another legend), but if it is indeed his last, he’s going out on a fairly high note, which for me is a pleasant surprise.

To be honest, I’d forgotten all about the guy. As much as I loved Repo Man and Sid & Nancy, I kinda checked-out when subsequent efforts, such as Walker and Straight to Hell, were damn-near unwatchable. Like those films, Dead Souls is a western, a genre Cox has always had an affinity for (especially spaghetti westerns). But this time around, he blends together black comedy, homage, satire and his quirky flourishes quite nicely.

Inspired by a 19th Century Russian novel, Cox casts himself as Strindler, a meek enigmatic old man who arrives at a small town to collect the names of Mexican laborers who’ve died under the employ of various locals…and he’s willing to pay handsomely for them. Claiming to work for the government (though he doesn’t say which one), his presence initially has the powers-that-be worried he’s investigating a recent incident in which an immigrant was killed, but he assures them he’s not. In fact, Strindler's ultimate purpose is a revelation I wouldn’t dream of revealing here. I will say, however, that the viewer won’t see it coming and Strindler isn’t quite who he seems.

"Regular or with Crunch Berries?"

The narrative is somewhat episodic, with Strindler and hired wagon driver Borracho (Zander Schloss) being the only constants throughout the film. While most sequences are related to the overall plot, there are a few asides that, if someone weren’t familiar with Cox’s oddball sensibilities, might elicit WTF? responses. More specifically, an out-of-the-blue musical number is thrown in, as well as a flashback sequence done in stop-motion animation. Then there’s that jarring moment when Strindler briefly appears to be transported to the present day, where his services are solicited by the government (one of Cox’s none-too-subtle jabs at our current administration).

At the same time, Dead Souls tells a fairly straightforward story (for Cox, anyway) and serves as an affectionate tribute to classic spaghetti westerns, especially the overall aesthetic (gotta love those opening credits). Strindler himself is a uniquely engaging character full of secrets and surprises, anchored by the director’s amusing performance. Though the film is comparatively light on action, it’s occasionally punctuated by sudden bursts of violence, some of which are kind of funny.

Dead Souls ultimately doesn’t rank among Alex Cox's greatest cult classics, but it’s certainly the most entertaining one that I’ve seen in a long time (granted, I’ve largely ignored most of his 21st Century output). Bizarre diversions and social commentary notwithstanding, it even plays quite well as a straight western.    

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES - Behind-the-Scenes: VFX Creation at Tippett Studios focuses on how the cantina explosion and the stop-motion sequence were created (the latter is mostly a montage); The 'documentary featurette' features writer-director Alex Cox introducing the crowd funding videos he made (with a cameo by his dog).

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By writer-director Alex Cox.

TRAILER

Here Comes the BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR in 4K

BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR (4K + Blu-ray)

1990 / 96 min

Ignite Films

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

Historically, Bride of Re-Animator has never been as highly revered as the original cult classic. But that didn’t dissuade the good folks at Ignite Films from putting together a new 4K boxed set that’s just as awesomely packaged and packed with goodies as their 2025 Re-Animator set, along with an equally impressive restoration.

But while Bride never reaches the delirious heights (or depths) of the original, it’s still a pretty good film, something you can’t really say about a majority of horror sequels, especially those which negate events in the first film in order to exist. So while no plausible explanation is given for how Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) and Dr. Carl Hill (David Gale) manage to return for this one, isn’t it great to have them back anyway?

And because the narrative itself is cohesive and engaging, with creative allusions to more than just H.P. Lovecraft’s source material, Bride never feels brazenly slapped together like, say, Highlander II (our vote for the most insultingly illogical sequel of all time). Largely taking place some months after Re-Animator, West and beleaguered partner-in-crime Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) are now doctors at the same institute. After the havoc they caused before, one would think these two wouldn’t even be allowed back in the building. 

They’re also up to the same undead shenanigans, with West obsessed with assembling a woman made from recovered body parts and using his reagent to bring her back from the dead. Dan is initially horrified, but West coerces him by using the heart of his dead girlfriend, Meagan (Barbara Crampton’s character in the first film), in the newly assembled creation. Meanwhile, vengeful cop Leslie Chapham (Claude Earl Jones) remains suspicious of what happened at the institute all those months ago, and more amusingly, Dr. Hill (or at least his head) is back and batty (!) and looking to get even with West.

Bride is seldom as uninhibited and audacious as Re-Animator, but still serves up plenty of black humor, amusing dialogue and, of course, a supreme amount of splatter. If anything, there’s a greater emphasis on comedy in this one, my personal favorite moment being the eyeball/finger critter West assembles on a whim. Clearly drawing inspiration from Bride of Frankenstein, the film sometimes plays like an affectionate homage. And if I didn’t know better, I’d suggest this film may have been a bit influential in its own right. Just look at Dan’s character late in the film, with his open shirt and flowing hair…he looks a hell of a lot like Kenneth Branagh’s flowery depiction of Dr. Frankenstein five years later. 

"Oh, bartender..."

Still, this one falls short of the first film, and with hindsight, that was probably inevitable. Brian Yuzna’s direction is serviceable, but he lacks Stuart Gordon's chutzpah, which was a big part of what made Re-Animator such a wild ride (and a cult classic). The narrative is also a little more meandering, especially during the first half, which throws in a superfluous new love interest for Dan. By and large, though, Bride of Re-Animator is a decent sequel, perhaps the best we could’ve hoped for, with another wonderfully snotty performance by Combs (still the franchise’s MVP).

Ignite films has released Bride of Re-Animator in four different editions (one of which includes a Finger Creature collectible figure!). We reviewed the Deluxe Edition 3-disc set, which offers two cuts of the film, a 4K restoration of the unrated version and an HD restoration of the rated version. There are also three audio options (5.1, 2.0 and original mono). Overall, the movie looks and sounds better than ever. But the best part is the abundance of new and archival bonus material (outlined below). All the new stuff is included on the 4K disc, and it’s substantial. So while the movie itself isn’t as good as the original, this boxed set is a must own for anyone who loved Ignite’s Re-Animator 4K release.

EXTRA KIBBLES

UNRATED (4K & Blu-ray) & R-RATED (Blu-ray) VERSIONS

TILL DEATH DO US PART: MAKING BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR is an excellent new hour-long retrospective documentary, featuring behind the scenes footage and interviews. 

EXTENDED INTERVIEWS are individual interviews expanded from the aforementioned documentary, featuring director Brian Yuzna, actors Bruce Abbott, Kathleen Kinmont, Jeffrey Combs and Fabiana Udenio. 

4 AUDIO COMMENTARIES - 1) NEW: By comedian/actor “Sarah Squirm” (Sarah Sherman) (4K only); 2) By director Brian Yuzna (Blu-ray); 3) By Yuzna, actor Jeffrey Combs and most of the make-up FX team (Blu-ray); 4) By actors Jeffrey Combs and Bruce Abbott (Blu-ray).

ARCHIVAL KIBBLES - Brian Yuzna Remembers Bride is an interview with the director; Splatter Masters is a look at the make-up effects; Getting Ahead in Horror is a making-of featurette; Behind the Effects.

DELETED SCENES - Meg is Re-Animated also includes on-set footage; Carnival Sequence is actually more of a still gallery with commentary from various cast & crew.

SUPPLEMENTAL BOOK - This is a beautifully designed hardcover book that includes an intro by Brian Yuzna, a collection of comments from cast & crew, 4 new essays, cast & crew credits, vintage photos.

5 COLLECTOR’S ART CARDS - Featuring stills from the movie.

LOCKER: Not A Perfect Storm

LOCKER (Blu-ray)

2025 / 99 min

Lumina Films

Available at MovieZyng.com

Review by Stinky the Destroyer😾

I’m sure a lot of you recall the recent Titan disaster, where a submersible imploded on its way down to see the Titanic, killing its owner/operator and four others who paid a few hundred-grand for the privilege of being turned into salt water puree. 

Not to make light of the tragedy, but as subsequent news revealed, there were already safety concerns about the sub’s construction, which were largely ignored by the owner. Later, I watched a Netflix documentary that painted this man as a villain…arrogant, overconfident and reckless, which is far more characterization than Locker offers.

Inspired by the incident, this is a fictionalized telling of the same story. Four guys, including the pilot/owner Marcus Graves (Vincent Donato) and his terrified son, David (Matt Visciglio), head down to Titanic and end up stuck on the ocean floor. Taking place entirely inside the submersible, they are forced to deal with depleting oxygen, carbon monoxide poisoning and the dwindling hope of rescue…with a little death and insanity along the way. Speculatively and structurally, Locker is like a low budget variation of The Perfect Storm.

"On the bright side, fellas, we still have HBO."

Considering the already limited cinematic possibilities of its claustrophobic setting, one would think writer/director Peter Ninos might have put a little more effort into creating engaging characters, whether the audience likes them or not. But the closest he comes is throwing in a smug YouTuber whose reaction to every life-threatening crisis is dripping with sarcasm. In fact, the only character who plausibly faces the reality of impending death is David. Even Marcus is mostly just a talking head providing exposition, and the narrative barely suggests he might be responsible for their predicament. 

99 minutes is a long time to spend in a dark, tight space with dull characters whose ultimate fate is a foregone conclusion. Like The Perfect Storm, the film speculates what it must have been like for the ill-fated people involved in a real life tragedy. But unfortunately, Ninos fails to make us care what happens to them. There are documentaries about the same incident that are far more compelling.

THE AGENCY - SEASON ONE: Espionage Without the Upgrade (which suits us just fine)

THE AGENCY - SEASON ONE (DVD)

2024 / 495 min

Paramount

Review by Carl, the Couch Potato😽

Back in the day, I remember there being a lot of A-list actors who wouldn’t be caught dead doing television unless their careers were waning. For the most part, you had your TV actors, then you had your movie stars, and if you wanted to see the latter do their stuff, you had to pay for it. 

And in a way, you still do, with scores of famous faces typically associated with the big screen popping up in their own TV series, the big difference being that few of them are served up for free. Seeing the likes of Harrison Ford doing turns on 1923 or Shrinking is gonna cost you a streaming subscription for the privilege. 

A show like The Agency requires even more. It’s not enough to simply have Paramount+. You have to upgrade your subscription to include Showtime. Is the show worth the extra effort (and money) just to enjoy this impressive cast led by Michael Fassbender, Richard Gere, Jodie Turner-Smith and the always awesome Jeffrey Wright? Probably not, because there are times when these 10 episodes throw so much plot at you - without providing a hell of a lot of clarity - that waiting a whole week for the next installment runs the risk of having you play catch-up for half the episode.

But being able to binge it all on DVD helps, not only because the multiple plot threads remain fresh in our minds, but the show maintains the urgent tone necessary to be just compelling enough to keep the viewer charging forward. And trust me, both are important because, storywise, The Agency is all over the place and doesn’t always seem concerned whether or not we can easily follow along. In a nutshell, the series is about the London branch of the CIA and the current three crises it’s facing. The first, about the sudden disappearance of an undercover operative known as “Coyote,” is the most compelling. The hows, whys and what’s at stake eventually turn his rescue into a race against time. 

"You need to leave. You're scaring away the pigeons."

Elsewhere, the increasingly complicated (and sometimes meandering) relationship between CIA agent Brandon Colby (Fassbender) and Sudanese professor Samia Zahir (Turner-Smith) only gets interesting once her superiors begin to suspect his real identity. Last and least is the subplot involving the training and infiltration of young recruit Daniela Morata (Saura Lightfoot-Leon) into Iran. While occasionally harrowing, sometimes it seems unnecessarily inserted into the overall story arc, not helped by a character who isn’t all that interesting or likable in the first place.

Most of these characters are pretty ruthless when it comes to their jobs, essentially forsaking personal lives and humanity for the sake of something larger at stake. A lot of the time, none of the main characters really even trust each other, which leads to the one thing The Agency does very well: It makes working for the CIA look like a terrible occupation, living in a near-constant state of stress, paranoia and fear.

Even though the viewer might need a flow chart to keep track of every character and story development, The Agency lends itself fairly well to binge watching. While a few plot threads are left open-ended, the Season One does sort of conclude with a sense of closure, making this DVD set an enjoyable evening-or-two of espionage without having to upgrade a subscription.

CITIZEN VIGILANTE: Garbage Message, Garbage Movie

CITIZEN VIGILANTE (Blu-ray)

2026 / 88 min

Event Film

Review by Stinky the Destroyer😾

Never mind that Citizen Vigilante reveals its anti-immigrant stance (with the subtlety of a hammer) in the first five minutes. Or that the film essentially blames all violent crime on Islamic extremists enabled by the “woke left.” Or that the protagonist is a privileged white man who vocally condemns a migrant family’s “archaic value system” before blowing them away. Or that this is the film neo-Nazi narcissist Elon Musk loved so much he served it up on Twitter for free. Or that the star of this hatefest had recently torpedoed his own career with allegations of sexual abuse and cannibalism.

Maybe some of you are fine with all that. Hell, maybe this is the kind of movie you’ve been waiting for, one with a message that speaks to the darkest regions of your heart. If so, I sure hope I don’t know any of you personally. But regardless of where you plant your flag, Citizen Vigilante is simply a bad movie, which probably shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, this epic atrocity was written, produced, directed and shot by the notorious Uwe Boll. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, Boll is a German auteur who’s managed to make films for over 30 years without ever learning how. 

Armie had the choice of doing a cat food commercial or a Uwe Boll film. He now realizes he chose wrong.

The quasi-comprehensible plot focuses on stone-faced property owner Michael Sanders (Armie Hammer, who displays one emotion). When he isn’t evicting poor people from his properties, he’s fast becoming a global hero by taking the law into his own hands, killing rapists and murderers (all foreigners of color), as well as public officials who’ve set them free. In the interim, he goes on the internet and spews jingoistic bile about taking the country back. Trying to stop him is dedicated Interpol cop Henry (Costas Mandylor), though we really don’t see him do anything throughout the entire film.

In fact, even would-be thrillseekers might be disappointed by the overall lack of action, and that Sanders does more talking than killing, putting us to sleep with laborious, jingoistic monologues (I get the impression Sanders is simply a conduit for Boll to voice his own personal grievances). Elsewhere, the film is poorly paced, structurally baffling, lazily written and apparently edited with a weed whacker. And hypocritically, the narrative sometimes belies its own message, as when Sanders slaughters an entire team of cops, and in another scene where he intentionally causes the death of an innocent motorist to prove a point to the judge he’s abducted. Or is Boll saying a little collateral damage is okay, so long as those nasty immigrants suffer?

Whatever the case, Citizen Vigilante is an awful film, even by Boll’s subterranean standards. Narratively vapid, technically inept and morally repugnant, this one doesn’t even qualify as so-bad-it’s-good...save for a hilarious sex scene where Sanders stops mid-coitus to complain about mold on the walls.

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTE - Costas Mandylor on Uwe Boll, where the actor spends two minutes gushing how brave and ballsy the director is.

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By writer-director Uwe Boll.