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Highlighting Criterion’s newest releases is a remastered 4K UHD of Paul Brickman’s 1983 teen classic RISKY BUSINESS (99 mins., 1983, R), which served as a launching pad for Tom Cruise’s career, and is presented here in both its theatrical release version and – for the first time – a Director’s Cut that attaches the movie’s alternate ending, seen as a deleted scene in previous releases.

As a teen whose parents go away, entrusting him with complete control of his suburban paradise, Cruise is confident, cocky and thoroughly appealing, while Rebecca DeMornay is equally good as the hooker with a heart of gold who falls for our high school hero. An outstanding supporting cast (Bronson Pinchot, Curtis Armstrong, Richard Masur, Joe Pantoliano) adds the icing to the cake in Brickman’s box-office hit, which has aged well due to its mature script and insightful dialogue.

Criterion’s 4K UHD (1.85) features a new 4K scan from the OCN with Dolby Vision HDR and looks as outstanding as you’d hope, showcasing the movie’s slick visuals and offering a higher dynamic range that suits the movie perfectly. Tangerine Dream’s score is of the era but adds to the atmosphere via a strong DTS MA 5.1 mix, while new supplements produced by Criterion include recent interviews with producer Jon Avnet, casting director Nancy Klopper and editor Richard Chew.

Carried over from Warner’s Blu-Ray is a half-hour retrospective documentary on the picture’s production, offering insight from Brickman, Cruise, DeMornay, and Avnet, along with comments from admirers like “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” director Amy Heckerling and writer Cameron Crowe. A commentary with Cruise, Brickman and Avnet is carried over from that release as well, in addition to screen tests and the movie’s memorable trailer. Highly recommended!

GHOULIES II 4K UHD (90/91 mins., 1987, PG-13/Unrated; MVD): MVD once again turns back the clock with a new UHD remaster of “Ghoulies II,” the sequel to Empire Pictures’ low-rent “Gremlins” knockoff, which should entertain ‘80s nostalgia nuts.

While “Ghoulies II” is, in some ways, a superior film to the plodding, original “Ghoulies,” neither is what you’d call inspired genre entertainment – even by “Gremlins” rip-off standards, both fall below New Line’s superior “Critters” series. In fact, despite good intentions, the series only fulfilled its goofy potential with the unabashedly comic, guilty-pleasure favorite “Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College,” which hopefully will receive a UHD remaster at some point.

In the interim, MVD’s 4K UHD of “Ghoulies II” is out this month, following up MVD’s release last year of the original. Even though this sequel commits some of the same mistakes as its predecessor, II finds director Albert Band taking over the action, and quickening the pace (for the better) as a carnival finds itself overrun by John Carl Buechler’s creatures.

MVD’s 4K (1.85, 2.0 PCM stereo) includes both the theatrical cut and the 91-minute Unrated version, each with Dolby Vision HDR, fresh from new 4K scans of the OCN. Extras include a Making Of, interview with writer Dennis Paoli and deleted scenes. A retro artwork-adorned slipcover and mini-poster adds the icing on the cake for Ghoulies fans.

Fans of author Dean Koontz have long had a difficult time of it on the big-screen, with misfires like “Watchers” high on the list of busted cinematic adaptations of the writer’s works. In fact, one of the best of Koontz’s filmed adaptations was a 1997 Fox TV mini-series of “Intensity” starring Molly Parker which has basically fallen off the radar completely since its original broadcast.

Around the same time, Dimension Films boarded a movie adaptation of Koontz’s PHANTOMS (96 mins., 1998, R), the movie mixing in an ensemble cast of younger actors a la their recent smash horror hit “Scream.”

Journeyman horror helmer Joe Chappelle’s movie works off Koontz’s own script, following a pair of sisters who run into a deserted Colorado town and an ancient supernatural force bent on destroying humanity. Peter O’Toole nets top billing as an investigative journalist but the movie is carried by its young ensemble of Rose McGowan and Joanna Going as the siblings with Liev Schrieber and a particularly terrible Ben Affleck as the local law enforcement who go up against the “Ancient Enemy.”

Released during the January ‘98 dumping grounds to non-existent box-office, “Phantoms” became a punchline in one of Kevin Smith’s “Jay & Silent Bob” movies for Affleck’s performance – and admittedly, he’s entirely out of his element as the local sheriff. McGowan isn’t much better, but the film manages to be moderately watchable for what it is – at least until a dismal ending drains whatever fun Chappelle is able to generate in its mid-section.

Not nearly as good as the wacko Lawrence Kasdan version of Stephen King’s “Dreamcatcher,” “Phantoms” makes a 4K UHD premiere from Shout! The Paramount-licensed Dolby Vision HDR presentation (1.85, 5.1/2.0 DTS MA) is splendid, via a 4K scan of the OCN, with extras including new interviews with cinematographer Richard Clabaugh and producer Joel Soisson, the trailer, and a TV spot.

New on Blu-Ray

THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE Blu-Ray (120 mins., 2024, R; Lionsgate): Guy Ritchie returns with one of his better efforts of late, bringing back star Henry Cavill to play the real-life Gus March-Phillipps, a British naval hero whose team of spies helped lead the country past the Nazis after engaging in assorted clandestine affairs. Naturally, they did so under the top-secret auspices of Winston Churchill himself, with March-Phillipps’ exploits reportedly a key influence on Ian Fleming’s eventual creation of James Bond.

The movie is typical Ritchie, an at-times frenetic affair with plenty of explosions, action and associated machismo, which the picture serves up with appropriate visual flair and a more than capable ensemble cast – of course, it takes more than its share of liberties with recorded history, but what else would you expect from a pairing of Ritchie and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Lionsgate’s Blu-Ray (2.39) offers Dolby Atmos sound, a featurette, the trailer, and a Digital HD copy.

ABIGAIL Blu-Ray (110 mins., 2024, R; Universal): After the fallout from the aborted “Dark Universe” movie franchise that began – and promptly ended – with the Tom Cruise dud “The Mummy,” Universal continues to chart an uncertain course with its “Universal Monsters” – hitting it big with a Blumhouse take on “The Invisible Man” but sputtering with the silly horror-comedy “Renfield.”

Their latest concoction, “Abigail,” began as a new take on “Dracula’s Daughter” before being altered into a similarly bombastic vampire thriller by directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, which finds a group of thieves attempting to kidnap a 12-year-old aspiring ballerina – and soon wishing they never had. The performances from the likes of Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens and Kathryn Newton are appropriately broad in a movie that seems like it’s aiming more for a “Renfield”-type of comedy/horror mix than a serious new genre affair, and in that regard it works better than its predecessor. Alisa Weir’s performance in the title role is a standout and the movie’s ending manages to be sufficiently satisfying under the circumstances.

Universal’s Blu-Ray of “Abigail” (2.39) includes a 7.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack along with deleted/extended scenes; a gag reel; feature commentary; featurettes; a DVD and Digital HD code.

TRUE DETECTIVE: NIGHT COUNTRY Blu-Ray (379 mins., 2024; HBO): Alaska-set fourth “season” of the HBO crime drama stars Jodie Foster as a local detective who works with her partner (Kali Reis) to uncover what happened to nearly a dozen men who vanished while operating an arctic research station. As with the last couple of iterations of “True Detective,” it seems critics were more forgiving of the series’ shortcomings than audiences, who appeared to deride the series – albeit perhaps not quite as much as its second entry. HBO’s Blu-Ray (1.85, 5.1 DTS MA) is now available featuring “Night Country” with multiple behind-the-scenes featurettes, interviews and episode recaps.

CHALLENGERS Blu-Ray (131 mins., 2024, R; MGM/Warner): Director Luca Guadagnino spins a pretentious character drama that works only as a vehicle for Zendaya as a former tennis champ turned coach who wedges herself between her husband – a washed-up former champ (Josh O’Connor) – and his ex-best friend (Mike Faist), who’s also her ex-boyfriend. Guadagnino and writer Justin Kuritzkes’ movie is less interested in tennis than lots of “couples chat” and sex and nudity (there’s ample of the male variety for whatever reason), and goes on forever without enough variance in the dramatic story line for the movie to manage. Warner’s Blu-Ray serves up an ace in terms of 1080p video and Dolby Atmos sound but whiffs in the supplemental side without so much as a trailer to offer.

STRANGER’S KISS Blu-Ray (94 mins., 1983, R; Fun City Editions): Another rarely-screened film is unearthed by Fun City this month: “Stranger’s Kiss” follows the production of “Strange and Dangerous,” a low-budget mid ‘50s B-grade drama, being made by a director (Peter Coyote) who wants its lead performers (Victoria Tennant, Blaine Novak) to fall in love…with her mobster boyfriend (Richard Romanus) being none too happy with the results.

On-screen theatrics and off-screen drama meld in this picture which was inspired by the actual production of Stanley Kubrick’s early film “Killer’s Kiss.” Director Michael Chapman and actor Blaine Novak – who scripted with him – provide a terrific “backstage”-set drama with strong period atmosphere and a Gato Barbieri jazz score to match – exactly the kind of low-key, adult-oriented picture that seems to be completely out of favor in theatrical features today.

A Thorn EMI Home Video release back in the VHS era, “Stranger’s Kiss” debuts on Blu-Ray from FCE (185, mono) via a new, exclusive 4K restoration from its original 35mm internegative. Critic Walter Chaw provides a commentary with extras including a video essay by Chris O’Neill and interviews with Chapman, Novak, Tennant and producer Doug Dilge.

THE LINGUINI INCIDENT Blu-Ray (93 mins., 1991, R; MVD): Quirky, little-seen comedy from director/co-writer Richard Shepard follows hip NYC restaurant waitress Rosanna Arquette as she opts to rob her cash-flowing employers at the same time new bartender David Bowie needs a wife by the end of the week. The duo work alongside Arquette’s pal (Eszter Balint) to stage a robbery but things, naturally, don’t go as planned in a goofy film with an eclectic cast also including Andre Gregory and Buck Henry as the restaurant’s owners, with Marlee Matlin, Viveca Lindfors and Maura Tierney also popping up in support. Shepard has spent over 30 years wanting to recut the movie and this somewhat “reworked” edit has been here restored in 4K (1.78, 2.0 PCM mono) with extras including the director’s introduction; commentary with Shepard, Arquette and Balint; a solo commentary by Shepard; a full-length making-of documentary with all-new interviews; photo gallery; trailers; and a standard-def copy of the original theatrical version (98 mins.) which Shepard didn’t assemble.

THE CRIPPLED MASTERS Blu-Ray (91 mins., 1979; Film Masters): One martial artist lacking arms teams up with a martial art who doesn’t have legs in “The Crippled Masters,” a wild and woolly affair from Hong Kong and director Joe Law. A favorite of HK martial arts buffs for its crazy choreography and real stunts, “The Crippled Masters” finally makes its way to Blu-Ray with a brand-new restoration from Film Masters. The 1080p (2.35) transfer from archival elements is solid but fans hoping for an authentic English subtitle track of the movie’s original Mandarin audio may be disappointed in that the subtitles are derived from the movie’s English dub (which, to me, is the only way to experience this film). Extras include “Kings of Kung Fu; Releasing the Legends,” a Ballyhoo documentary; the 1982 trailer; liner notes by Lawrence Carter-Long; an archival collection of Something Weird-curated genre trailers; and the original, non-restored raw scan in HD for those who want the full grindhouse effect.

NEXT TIME: MGM catalog discs from CLASS to BOLERO. Until then, don’t forget to drop in on the official Aisle Seat Message Boards and direct any emails to our email address. Cheers!