It's that time of year again. Time to list out our favorite home video releases of 2025.
2025 was a huge year for home video releases. We got a ton of films making their 4K Blu-ray debut along with the huge news of Shout Factory acquiring the Golden Princess library that features films like HARD BOILED, THE KILLER, CHINESE GHOST STORY, and so much more. Each of these releases feature brand new 4K restorations and boat loads of special features.
However, I will not be buying these Shout Factory 4K Blu-ray releases for a multitude of reasons:
- I can not justify the pricing on some of these releases. There is no reason for both HARD BOILED and THE KILLER to carry $65 retail prices. People have been waiting a decade-plus for these releases and the are locked behind ridiculous pricing. Many people will say "At least you can get them for $45 on Amazon." I'm sorry but that should have been the retail price for them to begin with. Sure, some of the releases have reasonable prices like the A BETTER TOMORROW trilogy and CITY ON FIRE, but many of these releases carry stupid pricing.
- Shout Factory is known for sending out scratched discs and then giving people shit when they want replacements. Now that Shout has gotten rid of their webstore so now you have to go through Gruv, who I hear is not the best with the customer service, so getting a replacement for a scratched disc seems like a chore. A chore I refuse to go through.
- Arrow Video is releasing these films in the UK on 4K Blu-ray and so far, they have been better releases. The packaging is better, the subtitles are better, and we get more special features on top of the ones that Shout produced. They are also a lot cheaper. I have preordered Arrow's HARD BOILED release and it cost me $35. This gets me the same transfer and special features from the Shout along with a few new features, better packaging with really beautiful cover art, a hard shell outer box, a double sided poster, lobby cards, and a booklet. All of these for at least $10 cheaper than the Shout release and it will be scratchless.
I know there will be people who will discount this list because I didn't include their favorite releases but that's ok. If you don't want to see what I have to say about the releases I loved this year, that's cool. You do you. I am just happy you clicked on this list and read this far.
10. Masters of the Universe: Revelation / Revolution (Mill Creek) I was not a big fan of REVELATIONS when it hit Netflix in 2021. I saw it as a slap in the face to the original series, created and headed by a guy who "had no love for He-Man." I picked this SteelBook up (which I am happy I did because it apparently is now out of print), I figured I would give the series another shot. As I watched it, I realized it is not a sequel to the original series but an alternate timeline where He-Man and Skeletor actually want to kill each other. Anyhoo, I love this SteelBook. The artwork is gorgeous and it comes with an episode guide, which is something we don't see very much anymore. Definitely worth picking up if you can find it for a reasonable price.
9. Sorcerer (4K) (Criterion) For years, we have been stuck with a less than stellar blu-ray of William Friedkin's underrated masterpiece. It wasn't until 2025 that we would get a proper home video release. This 4K blu-ray features a brilliant transfer and some truly amazing special features including the documentary FREIDKIN UNCUT. This is a dual format release so you get a blu-ray of the film as well.
8. Cruising (4K) (Arrow Video) When Arrow Video announced their original Blu-ray for William Friedkin's CRUISING, it was supposed to come with a slew of special features. Apparently, Warner Brothers and Friedkin killed all of the new special features outside of a new commentary with Friedkin and Mark Kermode (although Friedkin says this is BS, I don't believe him as he is known for spouting out BS about the various releases of his films). He did mess with the color timing on both THE FRENCH CONNECTION blu-ray and THE EXORCIST 4K Blu-ray. I also believe this is BS because this release, done after his passing, is stacked with special features. The color timing on the film is also corrected. This is the release we should have gotten in the first place.
7. The Stuff (4K) (Arrow Video) I love THE STUFF. I remember a friend of mine telling me about the opening scene and I knew I had to see the film. It was everything I imagined it to be and it has been in my life, on various home video formats, ever since. This blu-ray corrects some of the omissions from the original blu-ray from Arrow Video (like the Larry Cohen commentary track) and adds in some features including a preview cut of the film featuring half an hour of previous unseen footage.
6. Blaxploitation (Imprint Films) One of the things that we are sorely missing from our (American) home video releases are Blaxploitation films. Sure, we get some here and there but there are so many films that are stuck on DVD (like THE MACK. How does THE MACK not have a blu-ray release?) Imprint Films has come to the rescue with four films (THE LEGEND OF NI***R CHARLEY, THE SOUL OF NI***R CHARLEY, SUPER FLY T.N.T., and DETROIT 9000) all making their worldwide Blu-ray debut. Each film comes with a brand new commentary track along with a new interview for three of the four films (no love for DETROIT 9000 outside of the commentary track and theatrical trailer). I had a lot of fun going through this release and I know fans will too.
5. The Long Kiss Goodnight (4K) (Arrow Video) THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT is another film that has been stuck with a less than stellar Blu-ray release but Arrow Video has come to the rescue again with this wonderful release. We get brilliant picture and sound along with two new commentary tracks, a bevy of interviews, a few visual essays and some vintage interviews and a making of. The film is one of the best action films of the 1990s and it has finally been given the respect it deserves.
4. Rumpelstiltskin (4K) (Terror Vision) In 1993, a friend of mine and I became obssessed with the film LEPRECHAUN. We watched this film way too many times and we were even able to talk my dad into taking us to see part 2 when it hit theaters in 1994 (my dad hated the film so much, he refused to take me to see horror films unless it was something he also wanted to see.) So, let me tell you how happy I was when Mark Jones' (the director of the original LEPRECHAUN) new film, RUMPELSTILTSKIN, hit theaters in November of 1995. It was a film I needed to see badly enought to skip school the weekend after the film released in theaters. While the film wasn't nearly as good as LEPRECHAUN, it was good in its own right. The film has been stuck with a very lackluster, full frame DVD but Terror Vision saw to remedy that with this 4K Blu-ray release. For the first time, the film was presented in it's original aspect ratio of 2.39:1, the previous releases were presented in 1.33:1 full frame) and has been given a wealth of special features.
3. Bloody Legend: The Complete Cliff Twemlow Collection (Severin Films) I had never heard of Cliff Twemlow when Severin Films dropped the trailer for this collection earlier in 2025. I watched the trailer and knew this release needed to be in my collection. While not every film in this set is good, they are all at the very least interesting. Some of them were shot on film, some were shot on video, but they all present something interesting. On top of the special features and various versions of a few of the films, we get a wonderful documentary about Twemlow that was way more interesting than I thought it would be.
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trilogy 4K (Arrow Video) One of my favorite memories is the release of the original TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES film in 1990. I remember the anticipation, the theater experience, and the nerding out with my friends after the film. The film is one of the best films of the 1990s and while I don't have the love for the sequels that I have for the first film (the second one is fun enough while the third film is truly awful), I was more than happy to pick up this Arrow Video release. These were films that had been stuck with barebones dvd and blu-ray releases (at least here in the States as elsewhere in the world each film got a commentary track, at the very least). Here we get the films looking gorgeous in 4K (especially the first film, which has always been a problem when getting the right look on home video) and a ton of special features including the nunchukas-less UK version of the first film (which is a very interesting watch) along with beautiful packaging. This is a must own for fans and will go on to be the definitive release of all three of the films.
1. Jimmy & Stiggs (4K) (The Horror Section) JIMMY & STIGGS came out of left field for me. I saw the first part of the trailer in front of a horror film I saw earlier in the 2025 but stopped watching it when I realized it was something I really wanted to (I am a huge Joe Begos fan and I like to be surprised by films by not knowing very much about them before I enter the theater.) The film quickly became my favorite film of 2025 but I didn't expect it to also be my favorite home video release of 2025. The film looks absolutely gorgeous in 4K and this release contains a ton of special features that are worth the time (including a 2 1/2 hour fly on the wall documentary chronicling the film's production) I loved going through this release and look forward to doing it again in the future.
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