I love a good genre movie. Whether it is a western, a horror flick, a film noir, a sci-fi film, or something else, genres give us a set of rules to follow. There is something comforting in knowing the basic elements of a film before it even begins. And yet, of course, the best genre films upend the rules and do something different.

John Carpenter is one of the greatest genre filmmakers ever. He remains one of the great masters. His best films – The Thing, Halloween, The Fog – I’ve seen dozens of times. They are endlessly entertaining.

Strangely, I’ve only seen Escape From New York once, and that was years ago. I remember loving it, but for reasons I now can’t fathom, I’ve never returned to it. I think with this new 4K UHD release from Shout Factory that will be rectified soon.

Also out this week that looks interesting:

Godzilla 4K UHD: Criterion has released this film a few times, once as a Blu-ray with their usual set of extras, then again as part of their big Godzilla boxed set (I own both of those) and now again in 4K (I won’t be purchasing this one).

White Christmas 4K UHD: My wife absolutely adores this musical starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney. I could live without it.

The Crow: This remake of the cult classic has gotten terrible reviews from both fans and critics.

Trap 4K UHD: A pretty fun, if ultimately quite goofy little thriller from M. Night Shyamalan. You can read my review here.

I Love Lucy: The Complete Series: I’m sure I’ve seen many episodes of this classic sitcom, but I can’t remember any of them. It just wasn’t a series I paid much attention to when I was a kid (when they endlessly reran it, I’m not old enough to have seen it when it originally aired.)

The Wizard of Oz 4K UHD: An undeniable classic gets yet another repackaging. I can’t count the number of times this has been released in a variety of formats.

Orphan Black: Echoes. The original series was utterly original and interesting and fantastic until it wasn’t. My wife and I watched the first few seasons and then it started getting bogged down inside its own endless conspiracy theories and we tuned out. I’m interested in this sequel series if only because it stars Krysten Ritter whom I love.