You know it’s a massive week of important Blu-ray releases when there are two new titles from Criterion and neither is in the number one position on our Top 5 list! Shocking! We’ve had some big weeks lately but this might just be the most incredible one of all. Hope you’ve been saving up.

1. THE ALIEN ANTHOLOGY

The brand new Alien Anthology Blu-ray set from Fox is perhaps the finest collection of films and supplemental material ever assembled in a single home video package! Special Edition disc producer Charles de Lauzirika, the genius behind the endlessly impressive ultimate Blade Runner set from a few years back, has really outdone himself here. In addition to brand new, stunning high-def transfers of the first two films, de Lauzirika has reassembled and recreated sound elements for the Alien³: Special Edition audio track, including re-recording dialogue with the original actors from those unfinished scenes that were inserted into the cut, to deliver an experience far more akin to a polished, final release film than has ever been seen before. Oh, and did I mention that each film is afforded two different cuts? And did I mention that there are over 60 hours of extras spread over the 6-discs? And did I mention that this is probably the best boxed set, perhaps even the best Blu-ray title of the entire year?

Yeah, the Alien Anthology Blu-ray set is pretty much the best thing ever. You need to grab it up today. Right now. Get going!!

The special features are too voluminous to list here. For full details, read our breakdown of the set: Alien Anthology Blu-ray Boxed Set Officially Announced and Detailed

Amazon: $89.99

2. BACK TO THE FUTURE: 25TH ANNIVERSARY TRILOGY

If this Back to the Future: 25th Anniversary Trilogy Blu-ray set had been released on any other day of the year, it most likely would have won the crown and taken the top spot on my Top 5 list. But competing against the juggernaut that is the Alien Anthology, Marty McFly and Doc Brown will have to settle for number two. Universal won’t send me a review copy, so I’m relying on the reviews of others here, to recommend this set on anything other than the fame of the films alone. But for all intents and purposes, it looks like this set is a pretty good one, featuring all new high-def transfers for the three films and a crap-load of new special features.

Amazon: $47.99

3. HOUSE

Without the two killer boxed sets of popular films warring it out for the top slots, this would easily have been my number one pick of the week. As I said in the Top 10 New Blu-ray Discs for Halloween 2010 list, it feels like I’ve been awaiting the Criterion Collection edition of House for almost a year now. It’s not a particularly scary film for modern audiences but it is incredibly imaginative and super-fun for a horror film. Criterion has, of course, pulled out all the stops here, delivering a stunning, cleaned up transfer and crisp, clean audio, along with a host of brand new special features that are sure to please any fan.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
• Constructing a House, a new video piece featuring interviews with director Nobuhiko Obayashi, story scenarist and daughter of the director Chigumi Obayashi, and screenwriter Chiho Katsura
• Emotion, a 1966 experimental film by Obayashi
• New video appreciation by director Ti West (House of the Devil)
• Theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: An essay by Chuck Stephens

Amazon: $34.99

4. PATHS OF GLORY

I don’t think I really need to push Paths of Glory too hard on any film fans out there. This is a brand new Criterion Blu-ray disc of a classic Stanley Kubrick film starring Kirk Douglas. That should be enough hot button keywords right there to tell you that you need to grab this one up as soon as possible! As per Criterion’s usual treatment, the film has never, ever looked this brilliant and vivid and has never been afforded so many insightful special features as on this Blu-ray disc. Paths of Glory is a must for every film fan!

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
• New audio commentary by critic Gary Giddins
• Television interview from 1979 with star Kirk Douglas
• New video interviews with Kubrick’s longtime executive producer Jan Harlan, Paths of Glory producer James B. Harris, and actress Christiane Kubrick
• Excerpt from a French television program about real-life World War I executions similar to the events dramatized in Paths of Glory
• Theatrical trailer
• PLUS: An essay by Kubrick scholar James Naremore

Amazon: $29.49

5. STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS – THE COMPLETE SEASON TWO

I’d really love to say that I’m so over Star Wars, after the years of suffering through the dreadful prequel films but damn, if these animated Clone Wars episodes don’t keep me coming back for more! Why can’t I quit you, Star Wars?! Why?!

This new Complete Season Two boxed set picks up directly from the Season One set we reviewed last year, with fantastic transfers in the never-before-seen, director approved aspect ratio, amazing digi-book packaging full of artwork and a ton of great special features.

READ MORE: Star Wars: The Clone Wars The Complete Season Two Blu-ray set officially announced

Amazon: $41.99

WARNER DIRECTOR COLLECTIONS: Oliver Stone Collection, Martin Scorcese Collection

Warner is releasing two new Director Collections today, featuring three films each from Oliver Stone and Martin Scorsese. At a discount, both are a good value for the money. Each box consists of a single Blu-ray case with three trays inside. The discs are all re-packaged from previous releases. I’ve only gotten my hands on the Scorsese set so far and can confirm that Goodfellas, The Departed and The Aviator all match up to the versions already in stores, with the same transfers and all the special features intact. I’ll update the post when I get a look at the Stone set in the near future.

If you already own any of these films, you’ll probably want to give these sets a pass and pick up the remaining titles on a holiday sale or something. If you don’t have any three in either box and you can find a good deal on a set, grab it up!

Amazon: $42.49, $54.99

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Clicking an image will take you to Amazon.com where you can learn more about and purchase the Blu-ray disc:

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I have to express my disappointment, however, that the studios have yet to dig deep into their catalogue releases to afford us nice, new high-def transfers of horror classics like the iconic black-and-white Universal monster films of the thirties and forties, or those fantastic, blood-red Eastman-color Hammer spectacles from the fifties and sixties. It’s a shame that such important classics perpetually get treated like second-class citizens by the major studios. I mean, even the DVD releases of groundbreaking Hammer releases The Curse of Frankenstein and The Horror of Dracula have only been offered in bare-bones, albeit relatively handsomely-transferred DVD editions. Why not assemble a new special feature packed collector’s edition Blu-ray, while some stars of the films are still willing and able to participate? And though Universal’s classic monster DVD editions are wonderful to behold, brimming with documentaries and commentary tracks, they could really use a high-def face lift, if you ask me.

All right, sorry for the rant. I know it’s only a matter of time before all of those amazing films find their way to Blu. I just hope we see them sooner rather than later. In the meantime, check out all the awesomeness now available to us in high-def. Some of these discs, newly released and listed below are truly great and are must-haves for all film fans!

Happy Blu-Halloween!

10. IT’S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN

The third prime-time animated Charlie Brown special has been a Halloween classic for almost fifty years now. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown was released in 1966 and looks pretty decent on Blu, considering its age. The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack also includes It’s Magic, Charlie Brown as well as a short 14-minute featurette on the history of the animated specials.

Amazon: $18.49

9 . MANIAC

William Lustig‘s Maniac is one crazy-ass serial killer flik. It’s got Joe Spinell giving a sometimes nuanced, sometimes crazy performance of a lifetime as murderer Frank Zito and more gory make-up effects than you can shake a stick at, thanks to Dawn of the Dead splatter-guru Tom Savini. The new Blu-ray from Blue Underground looks pretty grim (black crush, noise and an overall dull image presentation) but packs a wallop in the extras department, with two commentary tracks, a host of interviews in HD and more spread over this two-disc set.

Amazon: $17.99

8. VAMPIRE GIRL VS. FRANKENSTEIN GIRL

I don’t want to beat a dead horse here but I think FUNimation‘s Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl is a pretty fun little piece of fluff. I covered the Blu-ray release in more depth in the full review of the disc (which you can read in full here) so I don’t want to go overboard heaping the praise on this bad boy, but let me just say in short, that if you think you might enjoy seeing monsters that look like attractive Japanese schoolgirls hacking away at each other while showers of blood spray the screen red, well, you’re in for a treat!

Amazon: $19.49

7. SPLICE

Ahhhh Splice. It’s been a week since my viewing of this film and I still don’t know how I feel about it. It’s pretty creepy, that’s for sure – following Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley‘s misadventures with genetic mashups and the strangely attractive, sometimes naked girl-thing that the experiments produce. The disc looks and sounds pretty great and has a few featurettes that give a fairly decent look behind the scenes of the production. All in all, pretty cool, in a gross, Cronenberg kind of way…

Amazon: $26.99

6. RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD

BRAAAAAIIINNNSSS!!! I’m pretty sure that no zombie had ever moaned for brains before Dan O’Bannon‘s groundbreaking Return of the Living Dead. Am I wrong? These are some damn chatty living dead! The film is equal parts horror and comedy and eighties rock and roll through and through. The Blu-ray presents the film looking and sounding way better than ever and includes a nice selection of bonus features (commentary, featurettes, zombie-subtitles and more). Fans will want to scoop this one up immediately!

Amazon: $11.49

5. THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW

I can’t get over just how stunning the Rocky Horror Picture Show disc looks and sounds on this newly released Blu-ray disc. I mean, I’m not a huge fan of the film. I’ve seen it a number of times over the years but never, ever has it been so visually vivid or sonically dynamic! The image is derived from a 2K/4K master struck from the original camera negatives and the audio is presented in a haunted-house rocking DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1! This is one amazing Blu-ray disc, packaged in a really nice hardcover digi-book and brimming with special features. It’s a must-have for any fan of the film!

Amazon: $18.49

4. HOUSE (HAUSU)

I feel like I’ve been waiting for this Criterion Collection Blu-ray release of House (also known as Hausu in its native Japan) forever! After almost a year of hints that the film would join the collection, House finally hits shelves this week and it is tremendous. As you’d expect from any Criterion release, the film has never looked or sounded so good and never been released in any home video edition that featured as many special features as this. For a full rundown of the disc, read our previously published article here: Criterion announces October Blu-ray titles: Seven Samurai, The Magician, Paths of Glory, House, The Darjeeling Limited

Amazon: $34.99

3. POLTERGEIST

This isn’t the first release of Tobe Hooper‘s (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) Poltergeist on Blu-ray. In fact, the initial 2008 digi-book release is superior to this newly released one in one critical way – the hardcover digi-book packaging! That said, this is a great, genuinely spooky movie, with a solid script and some wonderful performances. The Blu-ray disc is the same as in the 2008 package, featuring a really rock-solid transfer, a surprising killer Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio track and a 30-minute, two-part look at real-life ghost hunters.

Amazon: $15.99

2. PSYCHO

Alfred Hitchcock‘s horror classic Psycho has never looked or sounded better than on this brand new, remastered 50th Anniversary Blu-ray edition. The previously available DVD transfer was sorely lacking and Universal has gone to great pains to improve upon it for the films high-def debut. The robust collection of supplemental material is truly impressive, featuring all of the DVD extras in addition to a brand new commentary track, “Hitchcock/Truffaut” audio interviews and a couple of featurettes.

Amazon: $17.99

1. THE EXORCIST

This incredible two disc Blu-ray edition of The Exorcist is, hands down, the finest new horror release on the format this season. Aside from the fact that the film is probably the best of the bunch on my list, the rest of the package also reigns supreme, featuring a gorgeous, hardcover digi-book, both versions of the film (original theatrical and extended cuts) and so many special features it’ll make your head spin (pun intended)! Read our previously published article for a full breakdown of the 2-disc Blu-ray set details: The Exorcist coming to Blu-ray in October.

Amazon: $25.99

ALSO NEWLY AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY THIS HALLOWEEN
Clicking an image will take you to Amazon.com where you can learn more about and purchase the Blu-ray disc:

READ MORE: Top 10 New Blu-ray Discs for Halloween 2009

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