Mark Costello

@ShogunFilms The new Second Sight 4K blu-ray of The Devil’s Candy 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻

What movies are you watching this weekend?

Great review for the new 4K of THE GENERAL on the AVForums: avforums.com/reviews/genera… from @CostelloCritic It's exciting to see people's reactions to the release now that it's being shipped out 🙂

@letterboxd #lastfourwatched

Happy #LetterboxdFriday! Time to post your #LastFourWatched 👎

Underworld = The Matrix (all long leather coated, slow mo and e-mo draped vibe) + classic Hammer Film Productions gothic horror (all aural histrionics, thunderous atmosphere and a script with more holes than your average wheel of Emmental). If the studio from Bray were making films in the early 00s, Underworld would have been very much their jam. As it was and still is mine…

Now watching…and it’s more than just a little bananas… #physicalmedia

So…tell me there’s been a better theatrical week (or even several weeks if those last week positions are correct) for the whole of cinema…I dare you…

TRANSCENDING DIMENSIONS ＃次元を超える directed @toyodatoshiaki is picked as the Bluray Pick of the Month @AVForums! Out on bluray May 25th!! Order @Terracotta_Dist

All in a weeks work… #physicalmedia

@imajicaman @AppleTV Totally agree Mark - it’s like Carpenter’s The Fog reimagined by the Coens. Scary and witty. In like a flint for the rest of it…

We're 3 episodes into #WidowsBay via @AppleTV - excellent so far. #Apple Recommended.

Top 10 Blu-rays (UK) for May 2026 avforums.com/reviews/top-10… via @AVForums Another month, another batch of excellent blu-rays are released into the UK physical media market for our delectation. I hope my round up helps with some purchasing decisions and especially this month, with so many stellar releases from @BFI, @Criterion, @thirdwindow, @88_Films, @hammerfilms, @FilmsRadiance and @Eurekavideo. 4K may be the brightest and shiniest of physical media, but lets not overlook the trusty 1080p blu-ray, still delivering some excellent films and packages from around the world. #physicalmedia

My ★★★ review of Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971) on @letterboxd: boxd.it/efSznp Gone is the silent, stalking figure of Christopher Lee...in his place is the striking sexual presence of Valerie Leon, embodying both modern-day girl about town and ancient priestess with aplomb. On paper, it’s a strong concept, but the execution is undeniably muddled. Character motivations are not just often but always opaque - this sense of uncertainty in why characters are doing what they're doing becomes so pervasive it almost functions as a character in its own right. How much of this stems from the film’s troubled production is open to debate. But whatever the cause, the result is a film that can be difficult to follow, even as it remains oddly compelling. Much of that comes down to Leon, who is magnetic throughout, leaning into both sides of the dual role - the detached, privileged daughter and the ancient, malevolent force - with a presence that holds the film together even when much of the surrounding narrative falters. And despite all its issues, the film remains an engaging watch. There are flashes of effective horror, some inventive deaths and enough atmosphere to sustain interest, helped in no small part by Leon’s commanding central performance. Not top-tier Hammer, then - but as far as cinematic mummies go, it remains one of the more intriguing, if imperfect, incarnations. And the new 4K UHD blu-ray from @StudiocanalUK looks as ravishing as Leon. Another win for #physicalmedia.

@OmarZambon 🤣

@CostelloCritic No, that's not true. I am for buying Legacy of Rage twice on blu-ray without realising.

That look on the right is the one I’ve just given myself realising I’ve nabbed the 1080p release instead of the 4K one… #physicalmediamonday

@OmarZambon Because I’m an idiot…🤪

@CostelloCritic Oh dear Mark, how'd that happen?

Doctor Blood's Coffin (1961, UK 2026 Blu-ray from Hammer Studios) Marketing loves a ‘first’…but even the most enthusiastic publicist might struggle to sell Doctor Blood's Coffin as “one of the first two zombie films shot in colour” with a straight face - particularly when its lone ‘zombie’ appears for barely three minutes. Kieron Moore returns to his quaint Cornish village, where his father serves as the local GP, after studying biochemistry in Vienna. Rather than putting his skills to immediate use, he idles, much to the frustration of the community, including Hazel Court’s recently widowed nurse. Of course, his apparent lack of ambition masks something far more sinister, hinted at in the film’s opening prologue: clandestine experiments conducted under cover of darkness and at the horror of elderly professors. Directed by Sidney J. Furie, the film often unfolds at a distinctly unhurried pace, as though half the production decamped to the local pub between takes. Scenes stretch on well beyond their natural endpoint, with lengthy excursions through mines, around mines, and on top of mines, even as villagers begin to disappear. That said, the film is often delightfully charming. Furie makes excellent use of the Cornish locations, and the Eastmancolor photography lends the whole affair a striking visual appeal. Moore’s earnest intensity and Court’s poised, quietly radiant presence help create an engaging focal pairing, while occasional bursts of genuinely odd surgical experimentation add a welcome edge of unease. When the film finally lurches toward its climax, it does so with a kind of gleeful absurdity - less the product of scientific hubris than something closer to childish, petulant overreaction. Still, the make-up effects are impressively handled, and the climactic ‘zombie’ has a decayed physicality that feels surprisingly ahead of its time, anticipating the rotting aesthetic later popularised by Lucio Fulci. There’s an unmistakable strain of British tweeness running throughout - from village search parties conducted with halves of bitter still in hand to the genteel rhythms of rural life - but it’s that very contrast, between cosy setting and macabre subject matter, that gives the film its peculiar flavour. Uneven and often sluggish, Doctor Blood’s Coffin is nonetheless held together by its performances, its visual appeal, and just enough flashes of the bizarre to keep it from sinking entirely. And as for the disc, in my upcoming monthly blu-ray round up at @AVForums, this gets top marks for picture quality, with an absolutely superb restoration continuing the remarkable hit-rate for @hammerfilms . Shame we only get an audio commentary and a smattering of trailers mind... #physicalmedia

#letterboxdfriday #lastfourwatched A viewing week to match my actual week…

Becoming Led Zeppelin 4K Blu-ray Review avforums.com/reviews/becomi… via @AVForums Sadly, this great documentary is a physical media fail - an SDR grade, a single trailer as an on-disc extra and despite some funky off-disc extras (guitar picks!), nowhere near worth the £60 RRP being asked for it. Not when the 4K version is also available on UK iTunes for £4.99 today... Not releasing this on either 1080p or standard 4K disc is forcing physical media fans to purchase this ridiculously priced 4K product. When there's so many physical media wins, the fails stand out even more...