New Releases for Tuesday, November 19, 2019

The Divine Fury

Genre: Horror/Action

Directed by: Joo-hwan Kim

Run time: 129 minutes

Rating: Unrated

Format: Blu-Ray

The Lowdown: When you talk about high-concept mashups that should never, ever work, it might make sense that this pitch would be doomed to failure – a devout exorcist and an atheist/mixed-martial-arts fighter team up to fight demons after the MMA fighter receives the holy gift of the stigmata.

I’ll wait for you to stop laughing.

Yet, here’s the thing. Against all odds, against a towering hurdle of improbability, writer-director Joo-hwan Kim’s CGI-heavy fright-fight-fest soars, hooking you early and refusing to let go. The Divine Fury is like a long-lost buddy-cop cult classic from the 1980s that’s been hermetically sealed for two decades.

The special effects pop with effective demon scares. The fight choreography works. The paternal dynamic between Father Ahn (Sung-Ki Ahn), the exorcist, and Ji-sin (Do-Hwan Woo), the stubborn brawler, plays true.

No one is more surprised than me to say this, but BVB highly recommends you seek The Divine Fury out and give it a watch.

The Stuff You Care About: Hot chicks – Not really, surprisingly.

Nudity – No. Gore – Minimal.

Drug use – No.

Bad Guys/Killers – Demons.

Buy/Rent – Rent it.

Abbott & Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection: 80th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory, 2,273 minutes, Unrated, Blu-Ray): This incredible collection includes 28 classic films starring the incomparable Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, which were released by Universal Pictures between 1940 and 1955.

For my money, the reason that this is a must-own set for any horror aficionado is the inclusion of seven classic Abbott & Costello horror and/or sci-fi-based comedies, most of which have never been made available on Blu-Ray disc before, including Hold That Ghost, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, Abbott and Costello Go to Mars, Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy.

Also Available:

Blinded by the Light

Hitchhike to Hell

Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll

The Fan

Rock ‘N’ Roll High School: 40th Anniversary Edition Steelbook

Animal Among Us