Normally I don’t announce too many Blu-ray releases, namely because there are so many, but these two that Criterion just announced really are must buys for fans, especially for those that have never seen before.

Jack Arnold’s The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), based on the book by Richard Matheson, is usually mentioned in the sci-fi genre, but is one that I will definitely argue that is really a horror film, but is really much more than that. As our hero Scott Carey slowly starts to shrink in size, he battles all sorts of obstacles, from real terrors like a cat or a spider that has now become huge to him, or the psychological impact as he tries to realize exactly what is happening to him.

Kaneto Shino’s 1964 film Onibaba is such an underrated classic that I couldn’t recommend it enough. It is a simple tale of two women struggling to survive in war-torn medieval Japan, having to kill wandering samurai and sell their belongings just to stay alive. An older woman awaits with her daughter-in-law for her son to return from the war, but really starts having doubts when his friend returns alone. Trying to keep her one companion from running off, she puts on a demonic looking mask to scare her and seals her fate.

Below are the specs for each of the releases.

• New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• New audio commentary featuring genre-film historian Tom Weaver and horror-music expert David Schecter
• New program on the film’s special effects by effects experts Craig Barron and Ben Burtt
• New conversation between filmmaker Joe Dante and comedian and writer Dana Gould
• Auteur on the Campus: Jack Arnold at Universal (Director’s Cut) (2021)
• Interview from 2016 with Richard Christian Matheson, novelist and screenwriter Richard Matheson’s son
• Interview with director Jack Arnold from 1983
• 8 mm home-cinema version from 1957
• Trailer and teaser narrated by filmmaker Orson Welles
• PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien
• Release date: October 19th

• On the Blu-ray: Restored high-definition transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• On the DVD: High-definition digital transfer, with restored image and sound and enhanced for widescreen televisions
• Audio commentary from 2001 featuring director Kaneto Shindo and actors Kei Sato and Jitsuko Yoshimura (Blu-ray only)
• Interview from 2003 with Shindo
• On-location footage shot by Sato
• Trailer
• Stills gallery featuring production sketches and promotional art (DVD only)
• Filmmaker’s statement from writer/director Kaneto Shindo
• English subtitle translation
• Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition (DVD only)
• PLUS: An essay by film critic Elena Lazic (Blu-ray only), a 2001 director’s statement by Shindo, and a version of the Buddhist fable that inspired the film
• Released date October 5th