New Releases for January 27 2026

HOUSE PARTY (1990) (Criterion Collection)

In this dazzlingly imaginative teen comedy, the breakthrough feature debut by writer-director Reginald Hudlin, hip-hop duo Kid ’n Play bring their star power to the big screen as aspiring MCs preparing for the party of the year. When Kid’s father (Robin Harris) forbids him from attending Play’s party, Kid sneaks out anyway, kicking off a wild night full of dance-offs and rap battles, run-ins with bullies and cops, and a bit of romance. With an ensemble cast that also includes Tisha Campbell, AJ Johnson, Martin Lawrence, Daryl “Chill” Mitchell, and members of the music group Full Force, plus a hit soundtrack, House Party is a beloved, feel-good snapshot of early-1990s hip-hop culture that brought Black teenage experience to the mainstream, and that shines bright to this day. (BLU-RAY + 4K)

FREAKED (1993) 

Once a smug former child star, Ricky Coogin (Alex Winter) is now the unfortunate face of a shady megacorporation pushing questionable products in South America. But when Ricky and his misfit companions — the endlessly weird Ernie and idealistic Julie — take a wrong turn, they find themselves at a derelict roadside freak show run by the mad scientist/showman Elijah C. Skuggs (Randy Quaid). Skuggs doesn’t just run the show — he makes it. Using a volatile chemical blend and a flair for the grotesque, he transforms poor Ricky and friends into full-blown human oddities, adding them to his gallery of bizarre attractions. (BLU-RAY + 4K)

BIRTH (2004) (Criterion Collection)

Jonathan Glazer’s second feature is a haunting cinematic enigma that explores the mysteries of the heart. Nicole Kidman delivers a masterfully multilayered performance as Anna, a widow still mourning the death of her husband a decade earlier when she meets Sean (Cameron Bright), a ten-year-old boy who claims to be his reincarnation—leading her into a wrenching confrontation with her own unresolved grief and desires. Featuring painterly cinematography by Harris Savides and a hypnotic orchestral score by Alexandre Desplat, Birth plays its outré premise with unflinching sincerity, yielding a profound emotional reverie on the possibilities of love beyond the physical realm. (BLU-RAY + 4K)

ONCE A THIEF (1991) 

Once a Thief is an action/comedy/romance movie involving the plight of three master thieves (a la Pink Panther). All three were raised by the same father as street orphans. After a successful art heist followed by a pledge to make it the last crime ever for the trio, the plot revolves around the theft of a mysterious "cursed" painting and how its obsession affects the family. Directed by John Woo, and starring Cherie Chung, Chow Yun-Fat, and Leslie Cheung. (BLU-RAY + 4K)

WILD BEASTS (1984)

For his final work, Godfather of Mondo Franco E. Prosperi – writer/director of MONDO CANE, AFRICA: BLOOD AND GUTS and GOODBYE UNCLE TOM – took on the 'Nature Strikes Back' genre and delivered perhaps the most shocking movie of his controversial career, now in UHD for the first time ever: When PCP gets into the water supply of a city zoo, the drug-crazed beasts – including tigers, lions, cheetahs, hyenas and elephants, as well as seeing eye dogs and sewer rats – go berserk and rampage through the streets of Frankfurt. What follows is a terrifying mix of actual animal attacks (supervised by professional circus trainers) and over-the-top '80s Italian gore that remains "the greatest eco-revenge shocker in EuroCult history" (DVD Beaver). (BLU-RAY + 4K)