(All DVDs and Blu-ray discs that are mentioned in this article hit store shelves on Tuesday, January 4th. All theatrical films mentioned here will be released in theaters on Friday, January 8th.)

THIS WEEK’S NOTABLE DVD & BLU-RAY RELEASES:

Chuck: The Complete Second Season [DVD & Blu-ray] – Since I work five nights a week, I miss out on all the good T.V. shows that everyone else at work talks about, like Chuck. The Blu-ray (and DVD?) release boasts a laundry list of extras including “Declassified Scenes,” a Gag Reel, and multiple featurettes that discuss everything from the making of the show, the creation of its “best” action scenes, and a detailed look at the mythology of Chuck.

The Final Destination [DVD & Blu-ray] – The fourth and hopefully final installment of this once great horror franchise has teens eluding Death after they dodge a horrifying 3-D death at a NASCAR race. The Blu-ray has both 2-D and 3-D versions (with two pairs of cheap cardboard anaglyph 3-D glasses! Yay!) and contains the following features: An exclusive look at the new Nightmare on Elm St., two alternate endings, additional scenes, storyboards, “Body Count: The Deaths of The Final Destination” featurette, and additional content via BD-Live. The DVD has both versions of the film and only contains the “additional scenes” as an extra feature.

They Must Eat [DVD] – A social misfit named Sanford is given the task of defending his late Uncle Alistair’s estate from a pack of flesh-eating ghouls. Instead, this moron sort of “trains” the flesh-eating monsters to devour everyone and anyone that has ever wronged him. Hmm… kind of sounds like a sort of redo of The Pit. I couldn’t find much info about this film, but I can at least tell you that the DVD contains the “unrated” version of the film and is featured in widescreen.

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THIS WEEK’S CULT BLU-RAY RELEASES:
Battlestar Galactica: Season One
* Chuck: The Complete Second Season
D. Grayman: Season One, Part One
Dawn of the Dead (Re-release / DVD Combo)
Doom (Re-release / DVD Combo)
End of Days (Re-release / DVD Combo)
* The Final Destination
The Last Starfighter (Re-release / DVD Combo)
Street Fighter: The Movie (Re-release / DVD Combo)
Wicked Lake

THIS WEEK’S CULT DVD RELEASES:
Akiballion: Battlemaids of Akihabara – Complete Collection
Below the Earth’s Surface
* Chuck: The Complete Second Season
D. Grayman: Season 2, Part 2
Dr. Who: The Keys of Marinos (Story 5)
Dr. Who: The Twin Dilemma (Story 137)
* The Final Destination
Hellweek
Ironman: Armored Adventures, Vol. 2
Nighthead Genesis Lite Box
Petite Princess Yucie: Complete Collection
Ravage
Relative Evil
Spree
Superfriends: Season One, Volume One
* They Must Eat
Wu Tang Fury
You’re Under Arrest: Fast and Furious – Collection 2

THIS WEEK’S NEW THEATRICAL RELEASES:
Bitch Slap – A moronic-looking film that is supposed to be an homage to “girl-gangster” films of the 60′s and 70′s. This movie follows the exploits of four busty and violent women who are out to retrieve a diamond stash worth two-hundred million dollars. The only problem is that the diamonds are the property of a deadly underworld kingpin. The massive amounts of cleavage (not necessarily a bad thing) coupled with awful CGI effects has convinced me that this “thinking man’s throwback to B/Exploitation films” isn’t all it is cracked up to be. “Sadly” this one is only hitting theaters in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, so I’ll have to wait until it hits DVD to give it any consideration.

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Daybreakers – Finally, something that shows promise and helps those dreaded creatures of the night save face in a post-Twilight world! In the future, humanity is all but replaced as the dominant species on Earth by vampires. However, with humans nearly hunted to extinction (except for a large group of crossbow-toting freedom fighters), the vampires’ stash of blood is becoming dangerously low. While this won’t kill off the bloodsuckers, the lack of blood will surely cause them to revert to mindless killing machines. It’s up to one vampire scientist to either find a blood substitute that will support the world’s population, or team up with the human underground to find a cure for vampirism. This one is looking good and I am definitely going to shell out the money to see it this weekend!!

That’s all we get this week gang, and next week isn’t much better… in fact it sort of sucks. Rob Zombie’s aborted-fetus-of-a-sequel, Halloween II makes its DVD and Blu-ray debut, as does the critically acclaimed sci-fi thriller Moon. In theaters, we get to see a big-screen adaptation of Fallout 3 (just kidding!) called The Book of Eli. This post-apocalyptic film stars Denzel Washington as a lonely man who has been walking across America for over thirty years while protecting the fabled “Book of Eli,” a tome that holds the key to humanity’s survival. Check back next week for another dismal report on cult movie offerings and if you’re in the Northeastern sector of the United States like I am, keep warm! – The Vault Master