MST3K: Volume XXXIV
DVD
Starring Joel Hodgson, Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Trace Beaulieu
Not Rated | 480 Minutes
Shout! Factory
Release Date: December 1, 2015

“100 years of solitude, 100 years of solitude! Take one down, pass it around, 99 years of solitude!”

In the 34th collection of episodes from the cult comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000, Joel Hodgson, Michael J. Nelson, Tom Servo (Kevin Murphy), and Crow T. Robot (Trace Beaulieu) endure unspeakable cinematic horrors. In this collection of American International Pictures releases, you’ll find sea serpents, colossal beasts, she-creatures, and your garden-variety assortment of imps, witches, and streetwalkers.

MST3K: Volume XXXIV features two episodes from the Comedy Central era with Joel Hodgson as host and two from the Sci-Fi Channel run with Mike Nelson. It’s a solid, eclectic mix of episodes spanning seasons three and eight. Continue reading for detailed synopses of each episode.

Goodnight Mommy
DVD | Blu-ray
Director: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala
Writers: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala
Cast: Susanne Wuest, Elias Schwarz, Lukas Schwarz
Distributor: RADiUS
Rated R | 99 Minutes
Release Date: December 1, 2015

Written and directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, Goodnight Mommy is horror film selected as the Austrian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards.

After undergoing cosmetic facial surgery, a mother (Susanne Wuest, Judas Goat) returns to her isolated lake house and her ten-year-old twins, Elias and Lukas (Elias and Lukas Schwarz). Swathed in bandages, only the mother’s eyes and mouth are visible. After she begins to exhibit strange behavior, the twins suspect the woman in bandages isn’t who she says she is.

Their suspicions are confirmed when the boys discover an old photograph of their mother with a mystery woman who shares similar physical traits. Believing that the woman living in their house is an impostor, the twins tie her to the bed and refuse to let the woman go until she tells them where their real mother is. But what if she really is their mother? How can she convince them?

The Bat
Restored Edition DVD
Directed by Crane Wilbur
Starring Vincent Price, Agnes Moorehead, Lenita Lane, Darla Hood
Film Chest
Release date: November 12, 2013

In The Bat, the 1959 murder mystery from director Crane Wilbur, Vincent Price might have made top billing, but the iconic horror actor takes a back seat to Agnes Moorehead, who headlines here years before her famous turn as Endora on TV’s Bewitched (which is how my generation grew up knowing her). Moorehead stars as Cornelia Van Gorder, a popular murder-mystery novelist who rents a mansion called The Oaks, where she experiences terror and intrigue more intense than any of the stories that she’s written.

Cornelia arrives to The Oaks for the summer with a team of servants, but when word quickly spreads of a killer on the loose, dubbed “The Bat,” the frightened staff flees town, leaving behind just the writer and her longtime maid and confidant Lizzie Allen (Lenita Lane) at the mansion. Soon after, the masked killer, donning gloves with steel-clawed fingertips, breaks into the mansion and releases a bat, which bites Lizzie. Fearing rabies, the ladies phone a local doctor, Dr. Malcolm Wells (Vincent Price), who then becomes involved in trying to catch the killer.

Aladdin
Diamond Edition Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack
Directors: John Musker and Ron Clements
Cast: Robin Williams, Scott Weinger, Linda Larkin, Gilbert Gottfried, Douglas Seale, Frank Welker
Music: Alan Menken; Lyrics: Howard Ashman
Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Release date: October 13, 2015

Disney’s Aladdin was part of the studio’s great animated musical boom in the 1990s that saw massive hits with Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid (released November 1989). While Walt Disney Pictures’ animated wing had cornered the market previously with classics like 1939’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and 1940’s Pinocchio, Aladdin began a new trend that would propel the studio even further — signing on major celebrities to their voice cast. In this case, they snagged the great comedic actor Robin Williams.

For Aladdin, Williams, who had had recent success with dramatic roles in Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, Awakenings, and The Fisher King, voiced Genie, a spirit with phenomenal cosmic powers, and as we learn, itty bitty living space (he lives inside a magic lamp!). What could have been just another retelling of a classic tale — for this, the story of Aladdin in the Arabic folktale One Thousand and One Nights — accompanied by catchy tunes, was instead transformed into something much more captivating, humorous, and lovable thanks to Williams’ voice work.

iZombie – The Complete First Season
DVD
Starring Rose McIver, Malcolm Goodwin, Rahul Kohli, Robert Buckley, and David Anders
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Release Date: September 29, 2015

iZombie returns to The CW for season 2 in less than a week, so if you want to catch up on all things perky zombie medical assistant, you need to purchase iZombie – The Complete First Season. All 13 lively episodes are on 3 discs, and include deleted scenes, as well as the SDCC 2014 iZombie panel with creators Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero-Wright, and stars Rose McIver, Malcolm Goodwin, Rahul Kohli, Robert Buckley, and David Anders.

Check out what’s included in the DVD below.