Connect with us

Home Video

Amazing! 15 Alfred Hitchcock Classics Hit Blu-ray In ‘The Masterpiece Collection’

Published

on

Nice! I’m not exactly sure how much this box will cost, but I imagine it will be worth it to many of you cinephiles out there. Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection looks like it will be a gorgeous master class in suspense. Out of the 15 films included in the set, only Psycho and North By Northwest have previously been released on Blu. The set is out on September 25th, 2012, so you have a few months to save up.

Digitally restored from high-quality film elements and presented in perfect high-definition picture and sound, Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection brings the Master of Suspense’s best work to home audiences as it’s never been seen before. This ultimate collector’s set features 13 films previously unavailable on Blu-ray, a collectible 50-page book featuring storyboards, costume sketches, correspondence, photographs, and much more. Plus a treasure trove of over 15 hours of documentaries, filmmaker commentaries, interviews, screen tests, trailers and a new documentary The Birds, Hitchcock’s Monster Movie, enough to satisfy even the most ardent Hitchcock fan.

One of the most influential and revered cinematic innovators of all time, Alfred Hitchcock had a profound and lasting impact on modern moviemaking. Renowned for his signature wit, thrilling plots, pioneering camerawork and original editing style, Hitchcock’s masterful ability to wring every drop of suspense out of each scene is still studied and emulated by filmmakers around the world. He was nominated for five Best Director Academy Awards, and four of his films (all of which are included in this collection) appear on AFI’s prestigious “100 Years…100 Movies” list.

Head inside to take a look at the films and special features along with the box art.

Saboteur (1942)

This riveting wartime thriller stars Robert Cummings as a factory worker who is falsely accused of sabotage and sets off on a desperate, action-packed cross-country chase to clear his name.

Bonus Features:

Saboteur: A Closer Look

Storyboards: The Statue of Liberty Sequence

Alfred Hitchcock’s Sketches

Production Photographs

Theatrical Trailer

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

This thriller about a young woman (Teresa Wright) who comes to suspect that the uncle (Joseph Cotton) she idolizes may in fact be a murderer was considered Alfred Hitchcock’s personal favorite.

Bonus Features:

Beyond Doubt: The Making of Hitchcock’s Favorite Film

Production Drawings by Art Director Robert Boyle

Production Photographs

Theatrical Trailer

Rope (1948)

Two friends strangle a classmate and then hold a party for their victim’s family and friends while their former teacher (James Stewart) becomes increasingly suspicious that his students have turned his intellectual theories into brutal reality.

Bonus Features:

Rope Unleashed

Production Photographs

Theatrical Trailer

Rear Window (1954)

James Stewart and Grace Kelly star in this voyeuristic masterpiece about a photographer who becomes obsessed with watching his neighbors and discovers a possible murder.

Bonus Features:

Rear Window Ethics: An Original Documentary

A Conversation with Screenwriter John Michael Hayes

Pure Cinema: Through the Eyes of The Master

Breaking Barriers: The Sound of Hitchcock

Hitchcock-Truffaut Interview Excerpts

Masters of Cinema

Feature Commentary with John Fawell, author of Hitchcock’s Rear Window: The Well-Made Film

Production Photographs

Theatrical Trailer

Re-Release Trailer Narrated by James Stewart

Blu-ray exclusives: BD Live, Pocket Blu

The Trouble with Harry (1955)

While no one really minds that Harry is dead, everyone has a different idea about what should be done with his body in this quirky mystery starring Shirley MacLaine and John Forsythe.

Bonus Features:

The Trouble with Harry Isn’t Over

Production Photographs

Theatrical Trailer

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

James Stewart and Doris Day star as a vacationing American couple who accidentally become involved in an international assassination plot and must take matters into their own hands after their son is kidnapped.

Bonus Features:

The Making of The Man Who Knew Too Much

Production Photographs

Trailers

Vertigo (1958)

James Stewart and Kim Novak star in this dizzying web of mistaken identity, passion and murder involving an acrophobic detective and the mysterious blonde he rescues from the San Francisco bay.

Bonus Features:

Obsessed with Vertigo: New Life for Hitchcock’s Masterpiece

Partners in Crime: Hitchcock’s Collaborators

Hitchcock / Truffaut Interview Excerpts

Foreign Censorship Ending

The Vertigo Archives

Feature Commentary with Associate Producer Herbert Coleman, Restoration Team Robert A. Harris and James C. Katz, and Other Vertigo Participants

Feature Commentary with Director William Friedkin

100 Years of Universal: The Lew Wasserman Era

Theatrical Trailer

Restoration Theatrical Trailer

BD Live, Pocket Blu (Blu-ray Exclusive)

North by Northwest (1959)

Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint star in this edge-of-your-seat thriller about an adman who gets plunged into a realm of spy and counterspy and is abducted, framed for murder, chased and crop-dusted.

Bonus Features:

Feature Commentary by screenwriter Ernest Lehman

The Master’s Touch: Hitchcock’s Signature Style

Cary Grant: A Class Apart

North by Northwest: One for the Ages

Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North by Northwest

Music-only audio track

Stills gallery

Theatrical trailers and TV spot

Psycho (1960)

Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh star in this shocking classic about an unsuspecting visitor to the Bates Motel who falls prey to one of cinema’s most notorious psychopaths, Norman Bates.

Bonus Features:

The Making of Psycho

Psycho Sound

In The Master’s Shadow: Hitchcock’s Legacy

Hitchcock-Truffaut Interview Excerpts

Newsreel Footage: The Release of Psycho

The Shower Scene: With and Without Music

The Shower Scene: Storyboards by Saul Bass

The Psycho Archives

Posters and Psycho Ads

Lobby Cards

Behind-the-Scenes Photographs

Production Photographs

Theatrical Trailer

Re-release Trailers

Feature Commentary with Stephen Rebello (author of Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho)

The Birds (1963)

‘Tippi’ Hedren and Rod Taylor star in this horrific tale of nature gone berserk when thousands of birds flock into a seaside town and terrorize the residents in a series of deadly attacks.

Bonus Features:

Deleted Scene

Original Ending

The Birds: Hitchcock’s Monster Movie – New! (Blu-ray Exclusive)

All About The Birds

Storyboards

Tippi Hedren’s Screen Test

Hitchcock-Truffaut Interview Excerpts

The Birds Is Coming (Universal International Newsreel)

Suspense Story: National Press Club Hears Hitchcock (Universal International Newsreel)

Production Photographs

100 Years of Universal: Restoring the Classics

100 Years of Universal: The Lot

Theatrical Trailer

BD Live, Pocket Blu (Blu-ray Exclusive)

Marnie (1964)

‘Tippi’ Hedren stars as Marnie, a compulsive liar and thief, who winds up marrying the very man (Sean Connery) she attempts to rob in this psychological thriller that races to an inescapable conclusion.

Bonus Features:

The Trouble with Marnie

The Marnie Archives

Theatrical Trailer

Torn Curtain (1966)

Paul Newman and Julie Andrews star in this action-packed thriller about a world-famous scientist who goes undercover to get top-secret information and ends up running for his life from enemy agents.

Bonus Features:

Torn Curtain Rising

Scenes Scored by Bernard Herrmann

Production Photographs

Theatrical Trailer

Topaz (1969)

John Forsythe stars as an American CIA agent who hires a French operative to travel to Cuba and investigate rumors of Russian missiles and a spy codenamed “Topaz”.

Bonus Features:

Alternate Endings

Topaz: An Appreciation by Film Historian and Critic Leonard Maltin

Storyboards: The Mendozas

Production Photographs

Theatrical Trailer

Frenzy (1972)

In this morbid blend of horror and wit, the “Necktie Murderer” has the London Police on red alert and an innocent man (Jon Finch) is on a desperate quest to find the real criminal and clear his own name.

Bonus Features:

The Story of Frenzy

Production Photographs

Theatrical Trailer

Family Plot (1976)

Chaos ensues in this suspense-comedy when a phony psychic and her not-so-bright boyfriend cross paths with a slick diamond merchant and his beautiful girlfriend.

Bonus Features:

Plotting Family Plot

Storyboards: The Chase Scene

Production Photographs

Theatrical Trailer

Home Video

Gateway Horror Classic ‘The Gate’ Returns to Life With Blu-ray SteelBook in May

Published

on

One of my personal favorite horror movies of all time, 1987’s gateway horror classic The Gate is opening back up on May 14 with a brand new Blu-ray SteelBook release from Lionsgate!

The new release will feature fresh SteelBook artwork from Vance Kelly, seen below.

Special Features, all of which were previously released, include…

  • Audio Commentaries
    • Director Tibor Takacs, Writer Michael Nankin, and Special Effects Designer & Supervisor Randall William Cook
    • Special Effects Designer & Supervisor Randall William Cook, Special Make-Up Effects Artist Craig Reardon, Special Effects Artist Frank Carere, and Matte Photographer Bill Taylor
  • Isolated Score Selections and Audio Interview
  • Featurettes:
    • The Gate: Unlocked
    • Minion Maker
    • From Hell It Came
    • The Workman Speaks!
    • Made in Canada
    • From Hell: The Creatures & Demons of The Gate
    • The Gatekeepers
    • Vintage Featurette: Making of The Gate
  • Teaser Trailer
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • TV Spot
  • Storyboard Gallery
  • Behind-the-Scenes Still Gallery

When best friends Glen (Stephen Dorff) and Terry (Louis Tripp) stumble across a mysterious crystalline rock in Glen’s backyard, they quickly dig up the newly sodden lawn searching for more precious stones. Instead, they unearth The Gate — an underground chamber of terrifying demonic evil. The teenagers soon understand what evil they’ve released as they are overcome with an assortment of horrific experiences. With fiendish followers invading suburbia, it’s now up to the kids to discover the secret that can lock The Gate forever . . . if it’s not too late.

If you’ve never seen The Gate, it’s now streaming on Prime Video and Tubi.

Continue Reading