The 9 best 4K releases in March

March is overflowing pinch underrated movies getting loving transfers to Blu-ray and 4K UHD. One of my apical 10 films — a pop-rock philharmonic group successful an alternate-reality New York — drops successful nan mediate of nan month, and is bookended by awesome retro horror, a seldom printed John Woo film, a ’90s clip capsule, and a Hitchcockian cult classical from nan 2000s.

Each month, successful an effort to thief you find your adjacent favourite discs, we curate a database of our astir anticipated releases. We haven’t had nan opportunity to effort these discs conscionable yet, but if you want nan general thumbs up, nary worries — successful nan coming months we will statesman our rolling database of nan champion Blu-rays and 4K UHD discs of nan year. But each of these releases has imaginable and comes from a explanation we’ve enjoyed successful nan past.

Our astir anticipated disc of March 2023

Image: Universal Pictures

Streets of Fire (4K UHD + Blu-ray) — March 14, 2023

Walter Hill’s lost masterpiece Streets of Fire doesn’t consciousness rather truthful mislaid these days. Thanks to a mates of constricted Blu-ray releases, much regular appearances astatine repertory movie theaters, and a skyrocketing estimation connected Letterboxd, nan ’80s pop-rock philharmonic has received nan afloat cult-classic position it’s agelong deserved.

The movie has Diane Lane belting stone anthems and Willem Dafoe pinch a fresh I tin only picture arsenic rockabilly leather kink. But nan logic to watch this movie complete and complete and complete is nan first guitar-shredding 10 minutes — and nan last. Hill shoots concerts arsenic good arsenic immoderate of nan champion euphony documentarians, converting your surviving room into nan champion spot successful nan house.

This disc, from Shout Select, includes two feature-length documentaries and a bunch of different retro featurettes, for illustration euphony videos and on-air promos.

The large Blu-ray and 4K UHD releases for March 2023

Image: Lionsgate

John Wick 1-3 Stash Book Collection — Feb. 28, 2023

The John Wick movies are an absolute blast, and I can’t hold for for nan fourth one later successful March. Until then, we person this awesome caller steelbook group to tide america over, successful a “stash book” container that is simply a replica of Wick’s ain from John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum. The book looks for illustration a monolithic Russian tome, pinch belief iconography connected nan screen and a fewer pages of matter inside. Once you flip done capable of them, you’ll find 3 steelbooks hidden inside, on pinch a brace of photographs of John’s mislaid loved ones.

The group includes each 3 movies, behind-the-scenes footage, deleted scenes, and audio commentary from Keanu Reeves and head Chad Stahelski. —Pete Volk

The House That Screamed (Blu-ray) — March 7, 2023

I hadn’t heard of this movie earlier popping it into my Blu-ray player; now I’m a convert. What looks for illustration a tawdry schoolgirls-in-trouble thriller is really a amazingly restrained blend of Hitchcockian psychosexual enigma and gothic horror.

Director Narciso Ibáñez Serrador creates a 19th-century French boarding schoolhouse that feels for illustration nan astir beautiful and cozy prison. Doors and windows are ever locked. Girls adjacent to nan headmistress service arsenic spies and enforcers. And nan fewer men who person occasional logic to sojourn nan grounds each transportation questionable motives, which is simply a problem erstwhile girls commencement disappearing.

Phenomena (4K UHD + Blu-ray) — March 14, 2023

Dario Argento’s proto-slasher has a astonishing magnitude successful communal pinch The House That Screamed: nan European all-girls boarding school, nan unnerving section men, and nan caller woman who seems each excessively alert that things are astir to spell very, very wrong. For each nan similarities, nan differences are conscionable arsenic stark: Jennifer Connelly plays nan girl of an internationally celebrated actor, she befriends a hyper-intelligent chimp, and she communes telepathically pinch a cloud-sized swarm of flies.

This typical version includes 3 cuts of nan movie. I urge starting pinch nan longest cut, nan Italian version. The shortest cut, nan Creepers cut, removes truthful overmuch of nan movie that ironically you’d person to person seen different versions for it to make an ounce of sense.

Image: DreamWorks Pictures

The Prince of Egypt (4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital Copy) — March 14, 2023

Back successful 2018, we said pinch head Brenda Chapman for The Prince of Egypt’s 20th anniversary. “We were trying to make films that weren’t emotion for illustration they were conscionable for children,” said Chapman. “We wanted to make films that everyone would spell see. We wanted to opportunity we tin make a play successful animation and it not conscionable beryllium wherever parents driblet their kids disconnected astatine nan theatre for illustration they utilized to, aliases conscionable usage them arsenic babysitters. We wanted to do thing that reached much adults.”

The result, a DreamWorks Animation philharmonic adjustment of nan Book of Exodus, is simply a beautiful and audacious epic condensed into a lightning-fast 99 minutes. Hopefully this 4K merchandise will springiness it nan attraction to ocular and audio fidelity it deserves.

The group includes a making-of, a mates of featurettes, and a head commentary featuring Chapman.

Image: Criterion Collection

Last Hurrah for Chivalry (Blu-ray) — March 14, 2023

John Woo is yet returning to nan Criterion Collection, albeit not pinch nan films that fans would expect. Criterion DVDs of Woo’s iconic pairing, Hard Boiled and The Killer, person been retired of people for years. Rather than move them to modern formats, Criterion has produced a astonishment 2K integer restoration of Woo’s play movie Last Hurrah for Chivalry. The play precedes Woo’s gun-heavy action films, eschewing them for swords, and has been difficult to watch successful nan U.S. — fto unsocial astatine precocious resolution.

The Criterion version includes an audio question and reply pinch Woo and a brand-new English subtitle localization.

Image: DreamWorks Pictures

Red Eye (4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital Copy) — March 21, 2023

After launching nan Nightmare connected Elm Street and Scream series, head Wes Craven took a little detour into thrillers pinch nan delightfully watchable Red Eye. On a cross-country flight, Cillian Murphy kidnaps Rachel McAdams by threatening to execution her father, Brian Cox. The only measurement out: governmental assassination!

The two-disc group includes caller commentary from nan film’s editor, Patrick Lussier; a mates of caller featurettes; a making-of; a gag reel; and an aged commentary from nan precocious Wes Craven himself.

Party Girl (Blu-ray) — March 28, 2023

My first occupation retired of assemblage was arsenic nan PA connected a canceled sitcom. Every day, I took nan subway to nan agency successful Queens, packed nan snack room for nan writers, and cleaned up aft Parker Posey’s mini but digestively progressive dog. At first, I hated it. How dehumanizing. But successful time, I came to recognize thing very important astir this gig. A privilege, if you will. I sewage to watch Parker Posey work, some down nan scenes and successful beforehand of nan camera. And beloved reader, she is arsenic awesome and confounding arsenic each azygous 1 of her characters. Years later, I lived successful a mini flat successful her neighborhood. We ate brunch often astatine nan aforesaid place. She near her purse location 3 times and I returned it to her, and each time, she went, “Oh, convey you! How’d I hide that?”

Why did I tally into Parker Posey truthful much? Lower Manhattan operates by its ain cosmic laws! Which is, successful immoderate mini part, nan constituent of this film.

Anyway, Party Girl is nan eventual Parker Posey movie, and it is successful nan moving for nan astir ’90s movie committed to celluloid. It’s for illustration Girls done nan lens of Gen X. I adore it and americium truthful happy to spot it get a promising constricted version Blu-ray. Finally, I tin cheque retired its slayer costume creation successful HD.

Violent Streets: The Umberto Lenzi/Tomas Milian Collection (Blu-ray) — March 28, 2023

I person ne'er seen a crime movie much unapologetically sadistic and nasty than Umberto Lenzi’s Almost Human. Where astir genre entries halfway connected nan detective, Lenzi focuses nan mostly of this pitch-black movie successful nan protector of sociopath Giulio Sacchi (played by Tomas Milian). Sacchi stinks arsenic a petty crook, truthful he makes nan bold determination to alternatively skip correct to crime boss. Turns retired that’s not truthful difficult for a soulless slayer pinch nary consciousness of shame. Milian’s return connected Sacchi is terrifying, echoing Pinkie successful Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock, and seemingly group nan groundwork visually and stylistically for De Niro’s Travis Bickle successful Taxi Driver, which would debut 2 years aft this film.

Violent Streets contains Almost Human, on pinch 4 further collaborations betwixt nan head and actor, a brace of commentaries, complete a twelve interviews, a fewer soundtrack CDs, and more. It’s an fantabulous introduction into nan Poliziotteschi/Euro crime subgenre. Just beryllium prepared to beryllium shocked.