Saturday, January 14, 2023

MCBASTARD'S FAVORITE RELEASES OF 2022


MCBASTARD'S FAVORITE RELEASES OF 2022!

I though 2022 was a pretty great year for horror and genre TV and cinema, especially for re-issues of cult-classic on 4K UHD. This is a year that brought us 80's action-adventure classic Cloak & Dagger, the ultimate creature-feature Alligator, Argento's superior gialli Tenebrae and Four Flies on Grey Velvet and the paranoid sci-fi classic Invaders from Mars to the 4K format in gorgeous editions - that's fucking awesome. We also had some great box sets emerge with Severin leading the way IMO with the All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror, a massive set collecting folk horror tales from around the world - this set is easily my favorite release of the whole year, and I am still gleefully pouring through it's contents. Additionally Vinegar Syndrome release two Forgotten Gialli sets that are total catnip for Eurocult whodunit fans., and thwey;'re certainly my favorite series of sets coming from VS. 

New horror releases at the cinema and on VOD were in abundance and of pretty high quality as well, I loved the Predator prequel Prey, we got two carnage filled Christmas horrors that filled me with ghoul-tide cheer, Matt Reeve's delivered a visceral Batman film that takes the character back to it's dark detective roots with a cool David Fincher vibe, and Ti West's double header of X and Pearl were absolutely stunning throwbacks to totally different eras that I absolutely adored.

The TV and streaming options this years were also plentiful for genre  lovers, USA's Chucky's second season was a whizz-banger, James Gunn's Peacemaker was an ultra-violent slice of anti-hero awesomeness, we had several cool Star Wars properties over at Disney+ that hit my sweet spot, and HBO actually wowed me with their Game of Thrones prequel series, which I went into with a lot of doubts initially. Netflix had a full-tilt programming schedule that included Tim Burton's wonderful Wednesday series, the atmospheric and eerie Archive 81. and Guillermo del Toro's horror anthology series Cabinet of Curiosity was also stacked with top tier talent and delectably dark stories.  

A few notes about my top 15 lists for this year before we get into it proper - there's no number one, it's just a list of the stuff that brought the biggest smiles to my face in no particular order, which I kept to fifteen each, not necessarily the best A/V presentation or stuffed to the max with extras. 

FAVORITE NEW FILMS OF 2022
  1. THE BATMAN
  2. THE NORTHMAN
  3. THE BLACK PHONE
  4. X 
  5. TROLL
  6. NOPE 
  7. PREY
  8. CHRISTMAS BLOODY CHRISTMAS
  9. BARBARIAN
  10. PEARL
  11. THE MENU 
  12. DAY SHIFT 
  13. VIOLENT NIGHT 
  14. WHITE NOISE 
  15. HELLBENDER 

BEST OF TV & STREAMING SERIES 2022
  1. CHUCKY (USA) 
  2. THE BOYS (Amazon)
  3. STRANGER THINGS (Netflix) 
  4. PEACEMAKER (HBO Max)
  5. AMERICAN HORROR STORY: NYC (Hulu)
  6. HOUSE OF THE DRAGON (HBO)
  7. OBI-WAN KENOBI (Disney +)
  8. ANDOR (Disney+)
  9. THE SANDMAN (Netflix) 
  10. GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S CABINET OF CURIOSITIES (Netflix) 
  11. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (Showtime) 
  12. WEDNESDAY (Netflix) 
  13. OUTER RANGE (Amazon) 
  14. ARCHIVE 81 (Netflix) 
  15. SWEET TOOTH (Netflix) 

FAVORITE  BOX SETS/COLLECTIONS 2022
  1. NASTY HABITS: THE NUNSPLOITATION COLLECTION (Severin Films)
  2. UNIVERSAL CLASSIC MONSTERS: ICONS OF HORROR COLLECTION VOL. 2 4K UHD (Universal)
  3. FORGOTTEN GIALLI VOL. 4 (Vinegar Syndrome) 
  4. FORGOTTEN GIALLI VOL. 5 (Vinegar Syndrome) 
  5. THE EUROCRYPT OF CHRISTOPHER LEE COLLECTION 2 (Severin)
  6. ALL THE HAUNTS BE OURS: A COMPENDIUM OF FOLK HORROR (Severin) 
  7. SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT COLLECTION (Vestron Video) 
  8. HORROR HIGH & STANLEY DOUBLE-FEATURE (Vinegar Syndrome) 
  9. GOTHIC FANTASTICS: FOUR ITALIAN TALES OF TERROR (Arrow Video) 
  10. CARRY ON COLLECTION 1 (1958-1960) (Via Vision Entertainment)
  11. THE COUNT YORGA COLLECTION (1970-1971) (Arrow Video) 
  12. THE CAT AND THE CANARY (1939) & THE GHOST BREAKERS (1940) DOUBLE-FEATURE (Eureka Classics)
  13. GIALLO ESSENTIALS: BLACK EDITION (Arrow Video) 
  14. MANIACAL MAYHEM (Three films starring Boris Karloff) (1936-1951) (Eureka Entertainment)
  15. SHAWSCOPE: VOLUME 2 (Arrow Video)
FAVORITE BLU-RAYS OF 2022
  1. GHOSTWATCH (1992) (101 Films)
  2. A HAUNTED TURKISH BATHHOUSE (1975) (Mondo Macabro)
  3. DEATH GAME (1977) (Grindhouse Releasing) 
  4. WHORE (1991) (Imprint Films)
  5. CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE (1976) (Synapse Films) 
  6. MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD (1973) (Cauldron Films) 
  7. THE MUMMY (1959) (Second Sight Films) 
  8. THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM (1962)(Warner Archive) 
  9. CONTRABAND (1980) (Cauldron Films) 
  10. L.A. AIDS JABBER (1994) (Visual Vengeance) 
  11. THE KINDRED (1987) (Synapse Films) 
  12. DR. LAMB (1992) (Unearthed Films) 
  13. HOTEL FEAR (1976) (Mondo Macabro)  
  14. SON OF THE WHITE MARE (1981) (Eureka Entertainment) 
  15. IN THE FOLDS OF THE FLESH (1971) (Mondo Macabro)

FAVORITE 4K UHD OF 2022
  1. THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER (1982)(Scream Factory)
  2. FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET (1971) (Severin Films)
  3. CLOAK & DAGGER (1984) Vinegar Syndrome)
  4. THRILLER; A CRUEL PICTURE (1973) (Vinegar Syndrome)
  5. TENEBRAE (1982) Synapse Films)
  6. FRIGHT NIGHT (1985) (Sony)
  7. GOD TOLD ME TO (1976) (Blue Underground) 
  8. THE COMPANY OF WOLVES (1984) (Scream Factory)
  9. INVADERS FROM MARS (1953) (Ignite Films) 
  10. ALLIGATOR (1978) (Scream Factory) 
  11. CHRISTMAS VACATION (1989) (Warner Bros.) 
  12. A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983) (Warner Bros)  
  13. DRIVE (2011) (Second Sight Films) 
  14. HEAVY METAL (1981) (Sony) 
  15. PULP FICTION (1994) (Paramount)



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