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Twice a month Joe Lipsett will dissect a new Amityville Horror film to explore how the “franchise” has evolved in increasingly ludicrous directions. This is “The Amityville IP.”

Less than a year after the possessed lamp made its debut, Canada delivers the fifth entry in the Amityville franchise…and the result is a little ho-hum.

I’m still unsure at what point I need to start grading on a new curve, but now that the films have moved entirely into the realm of made-for-tv, there’s a noticeable shift in quality. While The Evil Escapes suffered from over-lit scenes but at least attempted to connect its narrative back to the original house, The Amityville Curse is the first film to basically retain the name and mostly jettison the rest.

I say “mostly” because there is an offhand remark in a scene set at Daughery’s, the local tavern, when a...

Sometimes it’s like they read your mind—or just notice upcoming releases as you do. Whatever the case, I’m thrilled that the release of Terence Davies’ Benediction played (I assume!) some part in a full retro on the Criterion Channel this June, sad as I know that package will make me and anybody else who comes within ten feet of it. It’s among a handful of career retrospectives: they’ve also set a 12-film Judy Garland series populated by Berkeley and Minnelli, ten from Ulrike Ottinger, and four by Billy Wilder. But maybe their most adventurous idea in some time is a huge microbudget collection ranging from Ulmer’s Detour to Joel Potrykus’ Buzzard, fellow success stories—Nolan, Linklater, Jarmusch, Jia Zhangke—spread about.

Criterion Editions continue with Bertrand Tavernier’s Round Midnight, Double Indemnity, and Seconds, while Chameleon Street, Karen Dalton: In My Own Time,...

Screaming, flying ‘Autonomous Mobile Swords’ have decimated the enemy in a war on a far-off planet, but now the pesky smart weapons are self-evolving into ever more cruel and deadly new iterations. Peter Weller and Jennifer Rubin head a cast of desperate soldiers in this adaptation of an early story by Philip K. Dick — that perhaps addresses an aspect of the arms race? The show remains a cult favorite of fans of violent sci-fi adventures. Disc extras interview the filmmakers on Screamers’ decade-long path to the screen.

Screamers

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1995 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 108 min. / Street Date January 29, 2019 / 29.99

Starring: Peter Weller, Roy Dupuis, Jennifer Rubin, Andrew Lauer, Charles Edwin Powell, Ron White, Michael Caloz.

Cinematography: Rodney Gibbons

Film Editor: Yves Langlois

Original Music: Normand Corbell

Written by Dan O’Bannon, Miguel Tejada-Flores

From the short story ‘Second Variety’ by Philip K. Dick

Produced by Charles W. Fries, Antony I. Ginnane,...