Mark Costello

Film critic @AVForums | Blu-rays, 4Ks, and the joy of reversible artwork | Thinks Zebraman deserves a Criterion

[Mark Costello @CostelloCritic]

It’s turning into a hell of a new release couple of weeks…
#physicalmedia

[Mark Costello @CostelloCritic]

Happy VSU day everybody! Get rocking those magnet clasps!
#physicalmedia

[Mark Costello @CostelloCritic]

@OmarZambon @AVForums @FilmsRadiance @Eurekavideo @BFI @StudiocanalUK Yeah I'm on that like a tramp on a chip on Day One my man. Day fucking one.

[Mark Costello @CostelloCritic]

Top 10 Blu-rays (UK) for June 2026 https://t.co/0JA8JFN0LY via @AVForums

A batshit insane month for UK 1080p releases this month - check out my round up over at AVForums where you can see what I thought of new releases from @FilmsRadiance, @Eurekavideo, @BFI, @StudiocanalUK and more...

[Mark Costello @CostelloCritic]

Lacking in the hallucinogenic psychadelia of Jean Rollin's earlier work, 1982s The Living Dead Girl is a strangely poignant tale that sees a young woman revived from her death by the hoary modernity of toxic sludge, yet awoken as neither zombie nor vampire despite a desire to devour her victims and shower in their blood.

Some super charming low-fi gore effects deliver Herschell Gordon Lewis levels of high velocity viscera, but its the woozy lost love between the newly raised Francois Blanchard and her childhood friend and now paramour Marina Pierro that provides unexpected emotional heft. The push-pull between Pierro doing everything to keep her new love found and Blanchard's realisation of what she has become and her desire to die once again is oddly potent and Rollin manages to capture a deep sense of doomed longing with very little script or even real character work.

Other characters flit around the edges, notably a nod to the director's newly acquired American money with some US tourists seemingly trying to inconvenience things, but this is much more a sad tale of love lost, found and doomed to be lost again. Rollin's emptiness of form for once is matched brilliantly by the melancholic ambience of his central duo. And it leaves behind an odd little film for sure, but one that sees me thinking about it several days after the credits long since rolled...

And of course the image on this @indicatorseries UHD blu-ray is simply astonishing. As are the masses of extra features including a fantastic interview with the great Stephen Thrower that told me everything I needed to know about the film and then some…a superb release.

#PhysicalMedia

[Mark Costello @CostelloCritic]

Lucky enough to watch the new @Eurekavideo blu-ray release of Madhouse (1974).

While the camp is very much present, this is tinged with something more melancholy, as if a lament for the fading era of the classic British gothic is being sung alongside exploring the toll a lifetime of typecasting can take on an actor. Meta-commentary with its use of clips from some of Vincent Price's previous films is strong, while it drips with the irony of Peter Cushing playing someone desperate for the kind of iconic role the star had so many of in his locker.

Grisly deaths, surprisingly effective make-up effects and a woozy atmosphere that blurs the line between reality and fiction keeps the whole thing lively and heady, even if genre fans will spot the identity of the masked killer far too easily.

But its a fascinating proto-slasher that feels like the exact hinge between bidding farewell to the classic gothic of the 60s and early 70s and ushering in the future of Black Christmas that was waiting less than a year later. Price and Cushing delivering on all cylinders, this is an absolute treat.

A great HD presentation with lurid, sumptuous colours, a crystal clear original mono track, and an extras package that features a new commentary, video essay, archival making of and introduction and this is a release that is sure to feature highly in my upcoming Top Ten 1080p releases for June over at @AVForums.
#physicalmedia

[Mark Costello @CostelloCritic]

Never heard of this…but if it’s got a Graham Humphries cover and sells at a reassuringly ridiculous price, I’m in…
#PhysicalMedia

[Mark Costello @CostelloCritic]

https://t.co/9icL9bk5lj
July 5, 1985
✅ 160
✅ 120
✅ 120
✅ 120
✅ 85
➕ 200
🏆 805

Dammit…🤬

[Mark Costello @CostelloCritic]

I cracked Actorle #1544 in 1/8 in just 0:42! 🎬
🟩
Think you can beat my time? 👉 https://t.co/8nrMApDTsD
#Actorle #MovieChallenge

[Mark Costello @CostelloCritic]

Framed #1549
🎥 🟩 ⬛ ⬛ ⬛ ⬛ ⬛

https://t.co/EiMzivfBd6

Boom.

[Mark Costello @CostelloCritic]

Masters of the Universe Movie Review https://t.co/eTxWkY6fsJ via @AVForums

I thought this would be terrible...I was wrong...very, very wrong. An absolute blast of an old fashioned good time with nothing other than being thoroughly entertained the only mission...

[Mark Costello @CostelloCritic]

@OmarZambon Ha, my thoughts whilst watching it was so dark! It’s James Gunn’s Slither on new 4K.

[Mark Costello @CostelloCritic]

#nowwatching #physicalmedia

Anyone else feel this new UK 4K is really dark? I mean REALLY dark? I know I’m watching on a projector but man, this is one of the darkest images I’ve seen yet in my cinema room…

[Mark Costello @CostelloCritic]

@imajicaman Yeah I think I will have a play. Have never needed to touch it before but I’ve seen some online videos that show average light levels barely reaching 30 nits! Thanks man, will see if this improves things…

[Mark Costello @CostelloCritic]

Cinema is littered with any number of great double acts...Fred and Ginger, Hepburn and Tracy, Redford and Newman...even De Niro and Pesci. But Sheldon Lettich's monumental Double Impact (1991) contains three of them...

First, JCVD and Bolo Yeung. They may have only fought across two films, but surely they're in contention for leadership of cinema's greatest fight club.

Next up we have JCVD and JCVD in the greatest portrayal of identical twins ever to grace our screens. Michael B. Jordan should just hand JCVD his Oscar now...I mean, he didn't even use hair gel, the only surefire way of telling twins apart, the rank amateur...

And finally, Corey Everson's thighs. If Michelangelo had seen these, we'd all be looking at a rather different famous marble sculpture in Florence right about now.

Add in Geoffrey Lewis, who gives good throupling after his work with Clint and Clyde, and Alonna Shaw, who surely served as Bryce Dallas Howard's trainer for heel-running thanks to her impeccable work outrunning an entire army of goons and JCVD across multiple moving junks, before swimming to safety without her nude pumps even considering leaving her feet, and this is obviously an all-timer without even breaking into a sweat...

And if anyones interested, the 4K image on the @88_Films UHD blu-ray is absolutely stunning.
#physicalmedia

[Mark Costello @CostelloCritic]

@wiseguy_ocb Yeah they do. I’m just waiting for them to upgrade all their Van Dammes to 4K…

[Mark Costello @CostelloCritic]

Double the Van Dammage this Saturday morning…👊🏻
#physicalmedia

[Mark Costello @CostelloCritic]

@letterboxd Had a kinda old school week this week…
#LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched