New Blu-Ray Releases: 'Red Sparrow', 'Game Night', 'The Strangers: Prey At Night', 'The Hurricane Heist'

How can a film this sadistic, and this sleazy, be so...dull? Francis Lawrence directs Jennifer Lawrence in this unpleasant spy-thriller – the type of film that an expert in subversiveness like Paul Verhoeven could've done something brilliant with, perhaps. Alas, Francis Lawrence is no Verhoeven, and as a result, Red Sparrow feels stagnant.Jennifer Lawrence deserves credit for challenging herself, but between this and the much-better mother!, she might want to try out a light comedy for a change, instead of spending two-plus hours getting the crap kicked out of her on screen. Lawrence plays a Russian ballerina who gets recruited into the spy trade. You might think this will result in a film that turns Lawrence into a take-no-prisoners ass-kicker, like Atomic Blonde. Incorrect! Instead, Lawrence spends the bulk of this movie being brutalized – sexually assaulted, tortured, threatened, and even leered at by her creepy, incestuous uncle. It makes for a nasty film.There's nothing wrong with a film being nasty, mind you. But such grungy subject matter needs a steady hand, and director Francis Lawrence doesn't quite have that. To his credit, Lawrence takes care to make sure the many sexually-tinged scenes in the film aren't overly titaliing, so it never feels like Jennifer Lawrence is being exploited. But in some ways, this also creates a cold disconnect that makes everything seem even more disagreeable. It's all too sterile; too lifeless.Still, in an age of constant comic book franchises and other sequels, Red Sparrow stands apart as a singular, adult-driven film. It's just a pity it's not very good.

Special Features to Note:The Red Sparrow Blu-ray release comes loaded with plenty of features all about the making of the film. A feature dubbed "New Cold War" serves as an overview, focused on the production of the film, and how it came to be. Director Francis Lawrence says he fell in love with the book that inspired Red Sparrow "immediately", revealing that what he really loved was the authenticity that the book presented. This authenticity is due to the fact that author Jason Matthews worked for the CIA for decades before writing the book.Beyond this, there's a feature on the cast. It's revealed here that the project was first brought to Jennifer Lawrence's attention when she was only 20, and the film didn't get made until she was 27 – in other words, Lawrence stuck with this for a long time. There's also a lot of talk here about how the film's subject matter pushed Lawrence to new limits.There's a feature on "Visual Authenticity", devoted to the shooting locations, and director Francis Lawrence's attempt to give the film scale by shooting on wide anamorphic lenses. At the same time, Lawrence wanted to ground the film as a more personal story. Whether or not he succeed is up to you to decide.On top of all this, there are 10 deleted scenes. We got a shot of co-star Joel Edgerton running through an underground tunnel, which Francis Lawrence says he cut for energy; a pre-main-title scene where Jennifer Lawrence's sleazy uncle goes to Edgerton's apartment to snoop around; a scene where Jennifer Lawrence gets fired from the Bolshoi ballet, which director Francis Lawrence cut because Lawrence ultimately felt they didn't need it, since it's established later that Lawrence has been fired. And so on. Many of these deleted scenes are quick – some are even less than a minute long. The recurring theme from Francis Lawrence's commentary on these deleted scenes is that they were cut for pacing, and because they didn't add much to the film overall. So it goes.

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Wow, a lot of you slept on this bad boy, and I'm a bit disappointed. The Strangers: Prey At Night can't hold a candle to the excellent slow-burn horror flick The Strangers, and in many ways, this film is a sequel in name-only. But it's still a ton of fun. While the first Strangers was all about mood and dread, Prey At Night is more interested in paying homage to '80s slasher films.Horror homages are a dime a dozen these days – some filmmakers think all they need to do to interest horror audiences is create a vintage movie poster and throw some synth on the soundtrack. But Prey At Night actually understands the sub-genre it's referencing, which makes for an enjoyable modern slasher flick.Prey At Night finds a family – parents Christina Hendricks (woefully underused) and Martin Henderson, and kids Bailee Madison and Lewis Pullman – staying in a secluded trailer in a deserted trailer park. Unfortunately, the three masked Strangers are there, too, and they proceed to stalk and slaughter everyone in their way. It's simple but effective, and director Johannes Roberts pulls out all the stops to make it work, including throwing some great-looking split diopter shots in. The real star of the film, though, is the music. Adrian Johnston's score is so John Carpenter-inspired that he might want to pay Carpenter some royalties. Is it derivative? Absolutely! But it works. On top of that, there are some great '80s tunes thrown in as well.Overall, this film was a nice surprise. The first Strangers is better, but I truly think that in a few years, Prey At Night is going to earn its place as a modern slasher fave for fans of the genre.

Special Features to Note:The Strangers: Prey At Night Blu features an alternate ending...which isn't much better than the actual ending. The scene plays out mostly the same, with lead Bailee Madison in the hospital with her comatose brother. In the theatrical cut, the scene ends when someone – presumably one of the surviving Strangers – knocks on the closed hospital door room. Here, the scene goes on a bit longer. After the knock, the door slowly opens, revealing...an empty hallway. There's also a bloody smiley face painted on the door. Then, one by one, the lights in the hall go out, and then the light in the hospital room goes out as well, cutting to black. We hear Madison's character scream. And that's it! It makes no sense, so let's move on.Beyond this, there's a music video (really? why?) and two very brief looks inside the movie, both about 2 minutes long total. If you're looking for some sort of depth, you won't find it, sadly. Instead, this is just the cast quickly giving you a synopsis of the film. I would've liked more, but hopefully in 10 years or so, Scream! Factory will put out a more substantial disc.There's also a feature about the film's music, which is arguably the true star of the film. Director Johannes Roberts specifically mentions the John Carpenter influence, saying he really wanted that Carpenter-vibe from the score. He also talks about the great '80s tunes that turn up on the soundtrack. This is a brief feature, but I am glad Roberts acknowledged the very obvious Carpenter influence. To not do so would've been laughable.

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Look, when your film is called The Hurricane Heist, you only need to deliver two things: hurricanes, and heists. Hurricane Heist has both, so I guess it's a success. Rob Cohen helms this goofy-as-fuck action flick that's like a combination of Twister and the first Fast and the Furious film (which Cohen directed). Toby Kebbell, using perhaps the worst southern accent I have ever heard in a movie, plays a meteorologist who gets caught up in the middle of a gang's plan to boost $600 million from a U.S. treasury facility during a deadly hurricane.This results in scene after scene of CGI clouds descending upon CGI locations, causing CGI destruction. To Hurricane Heist's credit, it know how stupid this all is, and never tries to be anything else. It leans into its dumbness, so much so that there's not one, but two different scenes where the storm clouds in the sky suddenly transform into the shape of an GIANT, GRINNING SKULL. Folks, as I watched that CGI skull form in the sky, I couldn't help but mutter "Oh, hell yeah" under my breath. The Hurricane Heist!

Special Features to Note:The Hurricane Heist Blu-ray includes a making-of feature. Here, director Rob Cohen says he wanted to "get into" the storm, whatever that means! Cohen also says he prefers storyboards to pre-viz, and says that he thinks pre-viz ultimately looks like a cartoon. Of course, this is rather ironic, because everything in the film looks like a cartoon.The most interesting feature on the Blu-ray is a nearly half-hour interview with Cohen. This isn't about Hurricane Heist, but rather Cohen's long career – he's been in the movie making business for 47 years. Cohen is not a household name, but he's had quite a career, helming films like DragonHeart and the first Fast and the Furious movie. Even if you don't like Cohen's movies, he's a fascinating guy, and watching him talk about his career is a treat.Beyond that, we get a VFX reel that shows how the (awful) special effects were created, and some minor deleted scenes.

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Also on Blu-ray this week: Annihilation. See our full review of the Blu-ray here.