Get Smart Season 4
Maxwell Smart finally gets the girl in this 4 disc collection of the fourth season of the 1960s TV show. Agent 99, you could've done so much better.

Red Dwarf: Back To Earth - The Director's Cut
The surprisingly not-terrible reunion of the late 80s, early 90s comedy comes to America in the "As it's meant to be seen" format fans would rather watch. Expect behind the scenes footage and the traditional Smeg-Ups to round out the package.

Oct 13
Land of The Lost
Will Ferrells's not-especially-well-received remake of the classic TV series may not have made much of a dent in the box office earlier this year, but somehow we wouldn't be too surprised if it found a (potentially stoned) enthusiastic audience awaiting it on DVD.

Oct 20
Blood: The Last Vampire
Swordplay! Vampires! Violence! They're all coming to your house, as Chris Nahon's take on the Japanese anime gets released on DVD and Blu Ray.

Drag Me To Hell
Sam Raimi's return to off-kilter horror promises to be even more fun on DVD; it's a re-edited "unrated" version.

Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen
Michael Bay's ridiculously successful Robots In Disguise sequel gets multiple editions as it transforms into something you can take home: There's a single disc DVD, double disc DVD and double disc Blu Ray. We'd recommend the latter, if possible, for that authentic HD overwhelming robot carnage effect.

Oct 27
Adult Swim: In A Box
A truly bizarre seven disc set, collecting Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Volume Two, Space Ghost Coast To Coast: Season Three, Moral Orel: Season One, Robot Chicken: Season Two, Metalocalypse: Season One, Sealab 2021: Season Two, and the pilot episodes for The Best Of Totally For Teens, Cheyenne Cinnamon, Korgoth Of Barbaria, Perfect Hair Forever and Evan Dorkin's awesome Welcome To Eltingville, none of which made it to series. Don't ask. Just buy it.

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan
Edward James Olmos' after-the-fact TV movie promises to fill in some of the gaps in just what the cylons' plan actually was, and this DVD version promises footage that won't be shown on Syfy when it airs November. So that's even more gaps filled in, I guess?

Like the movie preview, we've split this preview into months (and, inside those months, into weekly releases), but with releases still unconfirmed and unannounced, we've pushed November and December together. Don't worry; it'll make sense when you click on the links below.

September
October
November/December

Sort of like a mix of Buffy, Vampire Hunter D, and Abel Ferrara's version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (which also takes place on a military base), Blood is a ninja romp with style. Saya is a half-demon who has been a schoolgirl for seemingly hundreds of years, working occasionally with the mysterious "Council" to off evil creatures who walk among humans. In particular, these demons seem to enjoy impersonating teenagers, high school teachers, and members of the US military stationed in Japan. Which kind of makes sense, actually.

From the moment Saya arrives at the base high school, we know awesomeness will ensue. We've already seen that the kids at the school are racist and mean, making fun of Soya's soon-to-be-bestie Alice and calling everyone who isn't American a "Jap." The 1970s setting adds an extra dimension of weird to the movie. We know that the Vietnam War is happening off-screen, and it gives the Council members - who pretend to be CIA - an air of retro creepiness. Plus Alice is always sneaking off to groovy rock concerts, and Saya to her probably seems like just another far-out, glam creature - Grace Slick with a sword.

Based on a popular manga of the same name, Blood is a thoroughly international production. It was written by Chris Chow (scribe behind Jet Li's Fearless) directed by a crazy French guy named Chris Nahon, and stars Korean pop idol Gianna Jun as Saya the half-demon schoolgirl. Soya's sidekick Alice is played by American Allison Miller, most recently seen in the short-lived TV series Kings. And most of the movie is in English.

When Alice discovers that her classmates are demons, and then her father is murdered by a Council member gone rogue, Alice goes rogue herself. She sees Saya doing mega-sword fighting with an entire bar full of demons and decides to team up with the monstery loner to fight bad guys. Who exactly the bad guys are is a little unclear. Obviously the demons are bad, as are the military people who cover up her father's death. Also the council guys are bad too.

So everybody is bad, which is great because we get more scenes of Saya kicking and swording the shit out of everybody. Though this movie clocks in at a modest 90 minutes, even I have to admit that some of the fight scenes were a bit too long. I love monsters fighting monsters, and schoolgirls fighting vampires, but endlessly slicing people's faces in two - sigh. Especially when the blood all looks like the zero-G blood from Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country. Big pellets of CGI goop erupting from monster necks, gullets, arms, whatevers? Cool the first time, but a bit wearying after a while.

Eventually it emerges that there is a really, really, really bad person named Onigen (whom I kept thinking was named Onigiri, which made me hungry). And Saya is off to kill Onigen, who is like the Big Bad of the demon world and also killed Saya's dad.

The flick may be cheesy, but the team behind Blood pulls out all the stops and manages to have a final showdown almost worthy of (dare I say it?) Swordsman II. Well OK, it was a pale echo of Swordsman II, but it still gave me that warm, happy feeling that comes from watching demonic ladies with swords floating and zooming and stabbing and screaming mean things at each other.

If nothing else, Blood is a nice antidote to your Twilight blues. No shiny vampires here, and all the girls have traded their mopey diaries for samurai swords.

Blood opens tonight in select theaters in the United States.

Rotten Tomatoes has an exclusive gallery of Tuis' concept art from Blood: The Last Vampire, as well as other recent movies like Dragonball Evolution. Blood: The Last Vampire is hitting select U.S. cities this Friday, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Cambridge, Mass., Honolulu, Chicago, Las Vegas, Dallas, Houston Seattle and Washington, D.C. A complete list is here.

More of Tuis' amazing concept art can be found at both links, below.

[Alex Tuis and Rotten Tomatoes]

Thirst
You know Park Chan-Wook's work from Old Boy, but I'm really curious to see this director's take on self restraint, religion and lust, through the lens of a vamped-out priest. We've got a look at the latest one sheet from the movie as well as the trailer. The movie itself has been getting praised for style, but a little roughed up over edits and pace - yeah, it's Park Chan-Wook, I'm still going to go see it. The film will be released in select theaters on July 31.

Official Synopsis:

Sang-hyun (The Host) is a priest who cherishes life; so much so, that he selflessly volunteers for a secret vaccine development project meant to eradicate a deadly virus. But the virus takes the priest, and a blood transfusion is urgently ordered up for him. The blood he receives is infected, so Sang-hyun lives – but now exists as a vampire. Struggling with his newfound carnal desire for blood, Sang-hyun's faith is further strained when a childhood friend's wife, Tae-ju (Kim Ok-vin), comes to him asking for his help in escaping her life. Sang-hyun soon plunges into a world of sensual pleasures, finding himself on intimate terms with the Seven Deadly Sins.

Thirst Red Band Trailer:

Blood The Last Vampire
Based on the Manga series, Blood follows a 400-year-old halfling vampire slayer. She spends her life killing vampires, but hopes that this time she'll be able to execute Onigen, the evil patriarch of all vampires. Oh and she makes a little friend along the way.

Clip:

Humpty Dumpty

From the director of Snakes on a Plane comes the new monster flick Humpty Dumpty. The plot is as simple as it gets: an alien female lands on Earth, a bunch of rednecks sexually assault the poor dear and she gives birth to a hybrid human/alien creature who rips apart the country side seeking justice. The MySpace for the film is full of frightening concept art, posters, and sounds from the film. I'm insanely excited for this over-the-top Deliverance meets Close Encounters of the Third Kind premise; it could be brilliant or god awful (My bet is both). The release date is set for sometime in 2010.

2084

In the near future, the entire population is forced to become quarantined shut-ins (for our own good naturally) by the government. A viral infection is sweeping the nation, and the only course of action is permanent quarantine. Thanks to Fangoria for pointing out this movie, which is all about the madness people must endure after being sheltered inside their homes for years and years. Above are a few stills from the independent feature.

Blood: The Last Vampire

Check out the trailer for the female movie version of Blade (Comic Blade not being a vampire/human halfie)!

Here is the "official" synopsis (from MovieWeb):

On the surface, Saya is a stunning 16-year-old, but that youthful exterior hides the tormented soul of a 400-year-old "halfling." Born to a human father and a vampire mother, she has for centuries been a loner obsessed with using her samurai skills to rid the world of vampires, all the while knowing that she herself can survive only on blood like those she hunts. When she is sent onto an American military base in Tokyo by the clandestine organization she works for, Saya immediately senses that this may be her opportunity to finally destroy Onigen, the evil patriarch of all vampires. Using her superhman strength and her sword, she begins to rid the base of its evil infestation in a series of spectacular and elaborate showdowns. However, it is not until she forms her first human friendship in centuries with the young daughter of the base's general that Saya learns of her greatest power over Onigen may well be her ability for human connection…

I have to say, the final battle scenes look interesting, if not beautiful, but I'm a little iffy about the overall premise as it's been done sufficiently to death. Still, nothing wrong with more vampire flicks...