It’s a fine week for cult TV at your local DVD shoppe (and no, we’re not talking about the short-lived Juliana Marguilies legal drama Canterbury’s Law). This week sees the release of the strike-abridged first season of Breaking Bad, AMC’s mordantly funny and frequently moving series about a cancer-ridden chemistry teacher’s adventures in meth-cooking in suburban New Mexico. The new season begins March 8th, but since the first season’s only seven-episodes long, it should be a snap to catch up. (That is, unless you get distracted by two other cult-y TV items arriving this week: the Australian mockumentary series Summer Heights High and the final installment of the first cycle of Futurama made-for-DVD movies.)
It’s not a bad week for cult movies, either. The seminal animated feature Akira makes its Blu-ray debut, as does the legendary car-chase movie Vanishing Point and Dario Argento’s classic giallo The Bird With The Crystal Plumage. (Argento’s lesser-known Four Flies On Grey Velvet arrives on plain ol’ DVD as well.) The original version of The Last House On The Left, Wes Craven’s sadistic re-imagining of Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring, gets a new special-edition DVD, and last year’s heavily ironic-ized sexploitation homage Viva makes its first appearance on home video (though it feels like something that should’ve been put out by Something Weird a few years ago).
So that’s plenty of quality entertainment right there, and we haven’t even mentioned the fine documentaries Chris & Don. A Love Story (about the long-lasting relationship between legendary gay author Christopher Isherwood and his California beach-rat lover, artist Don Bachardy) and Dear Zachary: A Letter To A Son About His Father (about a favor to an old friend that turns into a complicated family drama). Or the controversial Blu-ray edition of The French Connection, which director William Friedkin has reportedly scribbled all over, just because he can. Talk about breaking bad….
Akira
Honneamise Blu-ray, $49.98
The Bird With The Crystal Plumage
Blue Underground Blu-ray, $34.95
Breaking Bad: The Complete First Season
Sony, $39.95