This week in Physical Specimens, our biweekly round-up of new physical media and 4K reviews, we catch up with some of May’s best new 4K UHD releases, including a box set of Blaxploitation favorites and the most prominent release yet of a genuine American masterpiece.
Killer of Sheep
The biggest home media story of May was Criterion’s release of Charles Burnett’s excellent (and once very hard to see) film Killer of Sheep, which arrived on May 27 in both 4K and Blu-ray editions. Long unavailable due to music licensing issues, Killer of Sheep is a document of a specific time and place dealing with timeless struggles and desires. Henry G. Sanders plays an underpaid slaughterhouse worker in Watts in the ‘70s, breaking his body working long hours to make barely enough money to support his family. Stan can’t sleep but never feels fully awake, and Burnett follows him, his family, and his friends and neighbors through a number of short vignettes. Burnett’s unsentimental, slice-of-life look at working class Black America avoids flash and melodrama, with believable, transfixingly human performances by its largely amateur cast, and a particular facility for capturing the private world of children. It’s a masterful film that matches Bresson in its minimalism and laser-focused attention to detail and evokes Altman in how it lets us eavesdrop unhurriedly upon its natural, fully realized world. Killer of Sheep is fiction with the power of documentary, and a true classic that’s now more accessible than it’s ever been.
Killer of Sheep Original Release: 1978 Director: Charles Burnett Format: 4K UHD Blu-ray Label: Criterion Release Date: May 27, 2025
Blaxploitation Classics, Vol. 1 (Across 110th Street / Black Caesar / Hell Up in Harlem / Coffy / Sheba, Baby / Truck Turner)
Shout Factory’s one-stop Blaxploitation starter pack bundles 4K restorations of UA’s Across 110th Street with five films from American International Pictures, one of the biggest producers of the genre. As with any collection, it’s very hit-or-miss. As the one non-AIP movie, Across 110th Street is a bit of an outlier; it’s not quite as sensationalistic as the others, and its violence is grittier, uglier, and heavier. The empathy it shows for its criminals and its forthright depiction of racist cops (including producer Anthony Quinn’s aging captain) became standard themes in Blaxploitation. It doesn’t celebrate those criminals, though, and in Yaphet Kotto’s new detective lieutenant it sees the police force as a redeemable institution. AIP’s movies immediately veer in a different direction, with Larry Cohen’s Black Caesar making Fred Williamson’s Harlem crime lord look like the coolest, smoothest, best-dressed superhero ever; James Brown’s original songs help with that, obviously. Cohen’s skewed sense of humor regularly pops up in Black Caesar’s quick-and-dirty—and only occasionally ludicrous—story of the rise and fall of Tommy Gibbs. It makes Gibbs sympathetic by depicting the cops not just as racist but as bigger criminals than Gibbs himself, who becomes a hero to his fellow native Harlemites. A scene where Gibbs’ men effortlessly massacre a pool party full of dozens of Italians is exactly what you expect from a Cohen movie—ridiculous, funny, subversive, and just plain cool as hell. That scene is improbably improved upon in the rushed sequel Hell Up in Harlem, which came out mere months after Black Caesar and totally feels it; in Harlem’s one truly great scene, Gibbs and crew scuba dive to another mob boss’s Miami home, and then slaughter them with the help of two gun-toting old ladies masquerading as the help. Sadly Harlem is otherwise a disjointed, slapdash affair that’s barely connected to the original; Edwin Starr’s music can’t compare to Brown’s, either. Next up is Coffy, where Pam Grier’s nurse-turned-vigilante allows herself to be routinely objectified while trying to take down the men who turned her community into a violent, drug-addled mess. Grier’s starpower is undeniable but Coffy is an uncomfortable watch that tries to dress its titillation up with fake empowerment. Sid Haig, Allan Arbus, and Booker Bradshaw make for an entertaining trio of stylish villains, though. Grier also stars in Sheba, Baby, which isn’t as violent as Coffy, and ditches the coastal metropolises for Louisville, Kentucky, which makes it stand out from other works in the genre. Too bad it’s a dull, sloppy misfire. And finally there’s Truck Turner, the best movie in this set and one of the best of the entire genre. Isaac Hayes plays Turner, a former football star turned put-upon bounty hunter just barely scraping by; a bail jumping pimp dies during a pursuit, and his madam (an astounding Nichelle Nichols, relishing every single line) puts a hit out on Turner. Matching Nichols’ gleeful villainy every step of the way is Kotto, playing the flamboyant but steely pimp Harvard Blue, in a role requiring an entirely different skill set than his turn in Across 110th Street. It’s Hayes’ picture, though, and Truck Turner isn’t a typical Blaxploitation hero; despite his imposing presence, he’s a bit of a schlub, a working class guy whose clothes smell like cat piss and gets beat up almost as badly as the guys he’s fighting. Truck Turner is smart, fun, and genuinely hilarious, with inventive action scenes and the ability to make violence feel both comical and, when necessary, truly tragic. If you see one movie from this box, make it Truck Turner; don’t pass up Black Caesar or Across 110th Street, though.
Across 110th Street Original Release: 1972 Director: Barry Shear
Black Caesar Original Release: 1973 Director: Larry Cohen
Hell Up in Harlem Original Release: 1973 Director: Larry Cohen
Coffy Original Release: 1973 Director: Jack Hill
Sheba, Baby Original Release: 1975 Director: William Girdler
Truck Turner Original Release: 1974 Director: Jonathan Kaplan
Format: 4K UHD Blu-ray Label: Shout Factory Release Date: May 20, 2025
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and all that, but it’s hard to imagine who would want to rescue Vice Squad from the county dump. Gary Sherman’s ‘82 crime flick is unrepentant sleaze, a deeply unpleasant sewer dive driven almost entirely by sexual violence. Despite his character’s one-note misogyny and cartoonish villainy, Wings Hauser is perversely charismatic as the psychopath Ramrod, a pimp who prowls Hollywood in tacky Western wear and a Ford Bronco with his nickname emblazoned on the spare tire cover—two affectations that make him look like a failed country singer. (He also kind of looks like pro wrestler Sting when he takes the face paint off.) He has a tendency to beat his prostitutes to death, including Ginger (played by original MTV VJ Nina Blackwood), whose death incites friend and fellow sex worker Princess (Season Hubley) to take Ramrod down, with the help of cynical vice detective Tom Walsh (Gary Swanson). Hubley had experience breathing life into a thankless role as a prostitute from her excellent turn in Paul Schrader’s Hardcore, and her performance, along with Hauser’s, is the best thing about Vice Squad. Weirdly enough, this trash ultimately treats Hubley’s character with more respect than Hardcore does, even though it turns her into a victim of some unnecessarily voyeuristic violence in the last act, and despite Schrader’s movie being a far better one. Exploitation can be fun and funny, and it should feel like everybody’s getting away with something, and that’s all lacking in Vice Squad, a cheap, ugly, sordid film that still somehow developed a cult following. They’ll probably be glad it’s in 4K now, I guess.
Vice Squad Original Release: 1982 Director: Gary Sherman Format: 4K UHD Blu-ray Label: Kino Lorber Release Date: May 13, 2025
Prophecy
John Frankenheimer’s eco-minded creature feature came out just over two years after the Love Canal environmental disaster was discovered, which no doubt influenced this unique sci-fi horror film. A Native American tribe in Maine is embroiled in an increasingly violent dispute with a logging company determined to destroy their ancestral forest. The EPA sends scientist Robert Foxworth to study the project’s ecological impact; his classical cellist wife Talia Shire comes with him, hiding the fact that she’s pregnant from her avowedly anti-child-having husband. Meanwhile, loggers are going missing, and they blame the local indigenous population (whose activist leader is played by, uh, Italian-Irish-American Armand Assante), who claims to have nothing to do with the disappearances, blaming them on a mythical spirit who protects the land. Let’s just say they’re both wrong, and add that mixing bears with toxic waste isn’t the smartest idea. It’s sad that an almost 50-year-old movie could be considered too “woke” today, but that would happen with Prophecy, whose sympathetic leads are a government scientist dedicated to stopping large companies from harming the environment and an indigenous political activist. Politics and issues take a backseat to good old fashioned mauling during the third act, when grotesque mutant bears start tearing through a small group of survivors one by one. Prophecy doesn’t really say much about the issues it raises, other than a perfunctory “harming the environment is bad,” but it at least has a little something to hang its story on besides just random wanton violence. The creature models are appropriately disgusting, and come off even better today, after a few decades of CGI supplanting these kinds of practical effects. And the opening moments, when an emergency rescue squad searches the forest at night, their flashlights the only thing cutting through the dark, act like a darker, more sinister predecessor to E..T.’s infamously ominous flashlights.
Prophecy
Original Release: 1979 Director: John Frankenheimer Format: 4K UHD Blu-ray Label: Kino Lorber Release Date: May 20, 2025
Notable Recent and Upcoming 4K Releases
Bolded titles are recommended.
June 3, 2025
Brazil, 1985, Criterion Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, 1974, Shout Factory Dirty Work, 1998, Vinegar Syndrome Freaky Tales, 2024, Lionsgate The Golden Child, 1986, Vinegar Syndrome Jade, 1995, Vinegar Syndrome Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, 1985, Criterion Monkey Shines, 1988, Shout Factory Naked Came the Stranger, 1975, Vinegar Syndrome When Evil Lurks, 2023, Shudder
June 10, 2025
11 Rebels, 2024, Well Go USA Air America steelbook, 1990, Lionsgate The Dead Zone steelbook, 1983, Shout Factory Dr. Jekyll and the Werewolf, 1972, Mondo Macabro Drop, 2025, Universal Gwen and the Book of Sand, 1985, Deaf Crocodile Films Lord of Illusions, 1995, Shout Factory The Return of the Living Dead, 1985, Shout Factory Sean Connery 007 James Bond Collection, 1962-1971, Warner Bros. Swordfish, 2001, Arrow Video When Titans Ruled the Earth, 2010-2012, Arrow Video The Wiz, 1978, Criterion A Working Man, 2025, Warner Bros.
June 17, 2025 DeepStar Six, 1989, Kino Lorber Jaws 50th Anniversary, 1975, Universal Jurassic Park Trilogy, 1993-2001, Universal Jurassic World Trilogy, 2015-2022, Universal Sabrina, 1954, Kino Lorber The Way of the Gun steelbook, 2000, Lionsgate
June 24, 2025
Arbor Day, 1990, Terror Vision Bring It On, 2000, Shout Factory Daleks’ Invasion Earth: 2150 A. D., 1966, Severin Dark City, 1998, Arrow Dr. Who and the Daleks, 1965, Severin Eaten Alive!, 1980, Severin Fascination, 1979, Powerhouse The Gentle Gunman, 1952, Powerhouse High Society, 1956, Warner Bros. I Know What You Did Last Summer, 1997, Sony Jack the Ripper, 1959, Severin JFK, 1991, Shout Factory Last Cannibal World, 1977, Severin Lethal Weapon, 1987, Warner Bros. Longlegs steelbook, 2024, Decal Releasing The Monkey, 2025, Decal Releasing A Minecraft Movie, 2025, Warner Bros. MouseHunt, 1997, Kino Lorber Novocaine, 2025, Paramount Palindromes, 2004, Radiance The Peacemaker, 1997, Kino Lorber Road Trip, 2000, Kino Lorber St. Elmo’s Fire, 1985, Sony The Ship That Died of Shame, 1955, Powerhouse The Shiver of the Vampires, 1971, Powerhouse Slave of the Cannibal God, 1978, Severin Snow White, 2025, Disney / Buena Vista Sorcerer, 1977, Criterion Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, 1993, Criterion Total Extermination: The Peter Cushing Doctor Who Collection, 1965-1966, Severin Films
Senior editor Garrett Martin writes about videogames, TV, travel, theme parks, wrestling, music, and more. You can also find him on Blue Sky.
