Argento's OPERA (1987) debuts on Blu-ray in Japan...

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Kadokawa/Eclipse is set to release Dario Argento's Opera (Terror at the Opera) (1987) on Blu-ray in Japan on July 25th. Unfortunately, details on supplements either haven't been announced yet or perhaps this edition, along with a new DVD, might be barebones. However; this both marks the film's debut on Blu-ray anywhere and the first time a release has been seen on DVD or BD in Japan.

These editions are also being heavily touted as the 107 minute uncut version, as the Japanese theatrical release was cut by some twelve minutes. The Blu-ray is advertised as featuring English audio, but only in standard Dolby Digital Mono. Both editions have Italian as their main tracks, with the BD in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, but only with Japanese subtitles.

Here's the Amazon.jp listing for the Blu-ray with a pre-order price of about $37 USD. The picture format on the listing incorrectly states 1.78:1, which I'm assuming is a mistake like many new Amazon listings tend to be. Eclipse's BD/DVD trailer is seen below (in the film's correct aspect ratio).

Impressions of the Japanese Blu-ray of Dawn of the Dead (Theatrical Version) (1978)

Unlike my thoughts of Scream Factory's Day of the Dead (1985) Blu-ray, I'll cut to the chase. Although I will say that I'm a huge fan of Dawn of the Dead and own multiple releases across different formats from various countries. Being still in the stoneage, I lack a BD-ROM, so sorry, no direct screenshots. I viewed this BD on a calibrated Panasonic TC-P50VT25 plasma and Samsung HL-P5085W (720p) DLP using an non-modded Sony BD-P185 (the disc loaded up quickly with zero issue).

First, the specifications, as reported here, the encode is indeed MPEG-4 AVC on a 50GB disc. Bitrates tend to mean nothing, but megabytes per second never seems to dip below thirty-five and spike into the forties. The English 5.1 track is in lossless Dolby TrueHD with their recent 96kHz upsampling feature (confirmed 96kHz by my Onkyo, hovering around 2.0mbps). Both the English and Japanese Dub 2.0 are standard 640kHz Dolby. All three tracks sound fine but the 5.1 track has a distinct harshness at times due to the age of the film. Two sets of non-forced Japanese subtitles, not even on by default when selecting English audio.

The only extras are three original US trailers/teasers in full frame standard definition. There are twenty-five chapter stops and the total feature runtime is 2:07:02. Just to compare the Arrow Video UK runs 2:07:03 while the Anchor Bay US runs 2:07:06. There appears to be nothing different about the Japanese disc and other releases of the theatrical version. The Blu-ray case is a thicker style case with a small flyer advertising a few other horror discs from Stingray.

On to the good aspects of Happinet/Stingray's transfer. Overall, the image quality is noticeably improved over both the Anchor Bay and Arrow BDs. Both of those suffer from varying degrees of digital noise reduction, employed as part of a quick "remastering", only hampering fine detail. The Anchor Bay BD especially looks downright blurry. The lack of this on this Happinet BD with healthy grain structure leads to clothing and facial detail being much more lifelike and look less like watching video. On those grounds, this is certainly the best the film has ever looked on home video.

However; this new BD sadly has a few very obvious picture issues. The worst being blown out contrast levels. Contrast is elevated overall, but the real problem is that any direct light source, gleam from reflective surface, and sometimes even the sky in outdoor shots blooms and burns an intense solid white. It becomes distracting and actually hard to look at. Very reminiscent of Sony's recalled Robocop (1987) Blu-ray which also suffered similarly blazing hot white levels.

One of the more obvious examples is the fluorescent tube right outside the door where the group is holding up. It's so super fucking bright there's distortion to the shots it's featured in. The same light on the Anchor Bay and Arrow looks perfectly normal. As noted, this problem also appears in the sky at times, totally blanking out clouds. Especially apparent in the shot of the zombie climbing out of a junker while Roger's trying to hotwire one of the BP trucks. The sky behind the zombie is so bleached white that it almost obscures him. And again the sky in both the US and UK discs looks fine in this regard.

This generally bright contrast only exacerbates what print damage is present. I'm not one to throw a bitchfest over some lines and flecks (both the US and UK have such damage), but there's a really odd anomaly that appears repeatedly throughout. As pictured above, "rainbowing" aliasing pops up to the center right of the frame. It only lasts for a frame or two and takes on different "blob" or line shapes that sometimes move in a strobing fashion before disappearing. The most effected portion of the film is when the young SWAT member commits suicide up until Roger escapes to the basement for relief. Can anyone identify what could be causing this? I'm at a loss to whether it's on the print or haywire digital encoding. Both displays I viewed this BD on exhibited this and I've never seen anything quite like it. Regarding the other "normal" damage, it's interesting this presentation doesn't share any of same wear-and-tear seen on the Anchor Bay or Arrow.

Color is also a bit wonky, but I'm unsure if it's "creative" colorgrading done to this transfer or inherent to the print used. Some shots lean toward a greenish tint, while others reddish, yet others neutral. Sometimes shots within the same sequence have different hues.

An example being when the old priest surprises Peter and Roger in the tenement cellar. The shot of the priest looks normal while the very next shot of the two SWAT members aiming their rifles at him leans red. Or the climax before zombified Stephen reaches their hideout. The shots of Peter telling Fran about Stephen are very warmly hued, then suddenly after the door is wrenched open, the color turns cool. This isn't a massive issue, but the Anchor Bay and Arrow definitely have more consistent, but probably still not "accurate" color schemes.

So it's really a judgment call. The increase in detail is very clear and fantastic to finally see after all these years. Yet the problems described above are also quite apparent. With Anchor Bay's DVD/BD distribution license recently expiring, it's up to how long you're willing to wait for a better or worse Blu-ray re-release. Although if you're a fanatic you'll of course want this edition as it's not just a simple port of an existing transfer (like Happinet's Day of the Dead BD). You can certainly see the potential for a truly fantastic presentation of Dawn of the Dead in this release, but ultimately we're not quite there.

Some quick thoughts on Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)

Picking up shortly after the events of the first film, Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai Lambert (Rose Byrne) start anew with their children in the home of Josh's mother, Lorraine (Barbara Hersey). Amidst lingering questions over who, or what, killed Elise (Lin Shayne), it becomes clear the family is still under otherworldly threat. Only an unexplained occurrence buried in Josh's past can save them, as the malevolence targets Josh himself to serve its own dastardly ends.

Back when Insidious was fresh, I wrote this review proclaiming the film a "sign of health in modern horror." Repeat viewings have only strengthened this praise, but its positive qualities simply don't carry over in this ho-hum, but amazingly box office successful follow-up. It's surprising this sequel has an association via director and lead to the vastly superior The Conjuring (2013), review here, released theatrically a short time prior. Although director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell aren't entirely to blame. A potential sea change in this brand of horror could be the cause of this follow-up feeling too overfamiliar.

Despite its intriguing premise, Insidious 2 is too self-indulgent, rolling out vital twists without much more consideration than any of its other beats. Insidious geared itself toward a grand reveal of a parallel spirit dimension and this build toward something so ominous greatly helped smooth over the film's issues with barreling through finer details. There's nothing that mysterious in this sequel which, even if the film was on par with the first, would relegate it to feeling smaller. The biggest reveal, again played out with little sense of importance, just leads to the narrative messily skipping across dimensions and timelines. And not to get too into spoiler territory, but Lin Shayne does make an appearance only for her character's vast knowledge and circumstance to be completely wasted.

The most chilling scene, Barbara Hershey's Lorraine recalling a brush with an apparition while working as a hospital nurse, is also the simplest scare illustrating the "less is more" mantra that made the first film more effective. It's not uncommon for a sequel to branch out, but the story soon bloats, becoming laughable at times, causing any concern for the characters and unsettling atmosphere to become muddled. Insidious did a fantastic job of straddling this line, never quite becoming so far-fetched as make one become very aware they're sitting in front of a horror movie. So in a very "theatrical horror show" sense this sequel succeeds, though you'll probably likely forget about it soon afterward much like other labored ghost flicks in recent years.

One of the best horror films of 2013, The Conjuring, is really to blame for my sour reaction to Insidious 2. By that's film's precise simplification of the poltergeist formula, Wan's effort here feels antiquated in all its bloat. It'll be interesting to see how things shake out between the eventual sequels of both series. If Conjuring 2 keeps up the quality and beats Insidious 3 to the box office, the third coming of "The Bride in Black" might perform significantly less if it continues this over-the-top routine. Of course, this 6.8 IMDB-rated sequel made a shit pot full of money, so what do I know? If you're a fan of the first Insidious, best remain content considering it as a standalone and view The Conjuring as James Wan's logical evolution. Just pray the recent news of three Conjuring spin-offs doesn't mar that series.

Second Update on Happinet Japan's Dawn of the Dead Blu-ray Box (w/ screenshots!)

(click for full size, not zoomed or resized)

Thanks goes to my buddy Christian for the quick work with these screenshots comparing all three versions across four Blu-ray editions (US/UK/JP/FR). Tentatively based off these few captures, it looks like Happinet Japan has stepped up and surpassed the previous Theatrical Version Blu-ray offerings (JP marks the first-ever Extended Version Blu-ray). Here's my impressions based off these shots:      

• Theatrical Cut: Both Anchor Bay US and Arrow Video UK (darker contrast levels) are from the same master, probably originally made for Anchor Bay's 2003 DVD. 
• Theatrical Cut: Both the US and UK suffer from excessive digital noise reduction (AB more so), automatic scratch correction, and digital artifacts from weak encoding.
• Theatrical Cut: The Happinet JP doesn't have these problems and exhibits damage (perfectly fine trade-off in my opinion), but is zoomed-in a little on all sides while bumping out the widescreen aspect ratio to 1.78:1. It also might suffer from some blown out contrast, note the intensity of the light above the biting zombie. However; color, overall contrast, tonality, and detail look clearly improved. Finally!
• Extended Cut (Japanese): Based off the one capture provided, it appears to be virtually identical to the Japanese Theatrical (at least with regards to framing).
• Argento Cut: Both the French and Japanese sadly appear to be identical with grid-like mosquito noise (not grain). The Japanese is a bit more detailed with the noise level and has better contrast.

Update on Happinet's 35th Anniversary Dawn of the Dead Blu-ray Box from Japan

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EDIT: Just ordered the Theatrical Version Blu-ray from Amazon.jp, so of course I'll do a follow-up with impressions!

Here's an update to this September entry detailing Happinet's plans to release a three Blu-ray set of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978) back on December 3rd. That date slipped to the 20th, and I've just started to see images from Japanese collectors getting their copies within the last week. The images below are from catalina.blog.so-net.ne.jp.

Initial reports indicate generally good quality of all three high definition transfers, some are stating the Theatrical Version just looks fair, but I haven't found any screenshots to get a better gauge. The back specs do confirm all three versions being 1080p HD encoded with MPEG-4 AVC with all featuring English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (w/ 96kHz upsampling) and 2.0 tracks. The supplemental material is still skimpy with mostly theatrical trailers/teasers previously available on Anchor Bay's DVDs and Blu-ray.

Although if the image quality of the transfers is great, advertising claims "state of the art" restorations, then this set will certainly be worth picking up. There's certainly room for improvement beyond both the Anchor Bay and Arrow Video UK Blu-rays. Regardless, this set's packaging is fantastic, reminiscent of Bandai Emotion's stunning silver "Perfect Collection" LaserDisc set from 1995 (seen here). The Blu-ray cases also appear to be the thicker, more conventional DVD style not seen stateside. I'll keep abreast of information and screenshots, but I'm waiting before ordering until hearing more definitive word. Check the first link above for Amazon.jp and CDJapan seller links if you're bold enough to order straight away.

Some quick thoughts on Dead in Tombstone (2013)

Betrayed and brutally slain by his own outlaw gang over control of a town, Guerrero (Danny Trejo) descends into Hades for his sins, but strikes a deal with Satan (Mickey Rourke) to trade the six souls of his murderers to save his own from damnation. Resurrected yet very much mortal, the black angel digs himself forth from his earthen tomb to exact vengeance, but he only has twenty-four hours to kill 'em all...

Before tearing into this dog, I must thank the kind folks over at HorrorTalk.com for the opportunity to win this Blu-ray combo. Upon receiving it a few days ago I was at first was baffled before realizing I had entered their contest! You'll soon see that my review isn't colored from the pleasant surprise of actually winning something for once.

Danny Trejo in an action "horror western" was an inevitability, but the Western genre is deceptively complex. To produce even a "decent" example a convincing drama needs to be constructed around punctuated violence. The screenplay, penned by the duo behind the awful killer clown slasher Drive Thru (2007), instead strings along action sequences with scattered bits of shallow exposition. In that respect, Dead in Tombstone succeeds and shows how well a measly five million dollars, and major studio backing, can be utilized. The Deadwood aesthetic is in full effect with a western town backlot and actors drenched in that unnatural "readymade rustic" grit. Frenzied editing hampers most nuance of the camerawork, but the sound design is extremely impressive and the film never once sounds its low cost.

Trejo seems well aware he can phone-in these DTVers with his now widely recognized marquee and unique badass visage. So the veteran actor doesn't even try beyond mumbling one-liners with his more expressive lines coming off totally unbelievable. Hearing him act surprised at his gang's betrayal or the realization he's in Hell actually provokes chuckles. He's definitely no Bronson.

The supporting cast is sketchy as well with Mickey Rourke lumbering along looking like he's given up on himself in a boring turn as Beelzebub. Anthony Michael Hall appears as the gang's new leader responsible for Guerrero's murder, and while not given much, his grizzled performance makes one wish he were in Trejo's role instead. Dina Meyer, the only actress to appear besides some background boobs, provides a thankless performance as a shorn woman out to avenge the murder of her husband at the gang's hands.

Finally, there's a few weird odds-and-ends like the story never making the effort at a redemption arch for Guerrero. He's just a nicer shade of scumbag that instructs his gang to limit collateral damage. Nice guy, eh? Satan is apparently a dumb yet trustworthy emperor of the damned, failing to realize the gang's souls are already condemned before making the deal and ultimately granting Guerrero's life back.

The film makes a point of showing us Guerrero's dual three-barreled engraved revolvers (pictured), but we only see him use a single Smith & Wesson Model 586. A revolver of precisely machined parts introduced over a hundred years (1981) after this film's depicted time. Way to go, prop master. Also unexplained is Rourke obviously being dubbed by a voice actor for the entire scene of Satan's deal with Guerrero, only for his natural voice to appear in later scenes.

Unless you're a Trejo diehard or hate Westerns, it's safe to pass on this made-for-Redbox quickie. Although billed as a "horror western", the only thing horrifying is how much of a wasted opportunity this represents. More consideration toward Guerrero's internal plight and maybe even a lack of Trejo as lead could have resulted in one of the best low budget Westerns in years. Instead Dead in Tombstone feels spearheaded by a pair who believe gunfights and explosions are the only thing the genre is good for.

Halloween's 35th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray Has Shed That Damn Cardboard!

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This might seem like a small detail, but I knew I'd pass upon finding out Anchor Bay's recent 35th Anniversary Halloween (1978) Blu-ray came packaged in a cardboard digi-pak that housed the disc in a freakin' envelope. Blu-ray does have a hardcoat meant to resist scratching (and protect an incredibly sensitive data layer), but after years of collecting the DVD format, I still get antsy over the prospect of disc contact. Inevitably the disc will receive a degree of wear, especially over repeated viewings if slipped in and out of its sleeve. Not to mention every copy I spotted in-store had dings to the cardboard.  

So this regular Amaray case release stuck to my hand until bagged when spotted at Best Buy today. There's an identical steelbook edition released by Anchor Bay in the United Kingdom; however, I personally don't care much about going out of the way to collect esoteric and rare BDs. This standard case release also might indicate the digi-pak being a limited run, so if you're a collector snatch one up soon. It may not be as eye-catching, but I'm glad to slip it next to the slew of other releases of this classic in my collection.              

Code Red's Just Before Dawn (1981) Blu-ray is up for Pre-order

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Update: That was quick, this and their Voices from Beyond (1991) Blu-ray have begun shipping!

Code Red DVD have decided to dip their toe into the Blu with Jeff Lieberman's great heyday slasher Just Before Dawn. Unlike the old Shriek Show SE with quite a number of edits, the 1.78:1 widescreen presentation is promised to be uncut for the first time on stateside digital disc. Also included will be an international extended version which I'm assuming might be the longer cut previously found on the now scarce British Odeon Entertainment DVD.

No word yet on whether both versions will be presented in high definition. CR's limited Blu-ray is available for pre-order here with a tentative date of "when it's finished". It's still unclear how many copies this release will be limited to, but a single press run is usually about three thousand. As always support Code Red (they're basically just one guy), and I'm sure this release will live up to expectations, fingers crossed!

Five friends set out for a weekend camping excursion, to drink, frolic and skinny-dip on an isolated piece of land one of them has inherited. Despite ominous warnings from local forest ranger (GEORGE KENNEDY, AIRPORT, DEATHSHIP), strange backwoods families, and a hollering drunken hunter (Mike Kellin, SLEEPAWAY CAMP) claiming to have witnessed his friend’s evisceration by the hands of "Demons", they trek further into the foliage.

Beautifully shot, extremely eerie, and with a horrifying twist that will make you wonder...Will any of them survive those dark hours Just Before Dawn? Starring Gregg Henry (MEAN DOG BLUES, RICH MAN POOR MAN), Deborah Benson (SEPTEMBER 30, 1955), Jamie Rose (TV's LADY BLUE), Chris Lemmon (TV's THUNDER IN PARADISE), and Ralph Seymour (UNDERGROUND ACES). CODE RED proudly presents JUST BEFORE DAWN painstakingly restored from the original 35mm internegative.

Some thoughts on Scream Factory's Day of the Dead (1985) Blu-ray

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Originally, I was planning to write a little about George A. Romero's Day of the Dead, but you're probably already aware of its positive attributes. It was one of the first horror movies I remember seeing on my weekend tape rental raids back in middle school. I loved this sequel from the first sitdown, with no knowledge of the ever-diminishing baggage it carries with longtime Romero fans, and see it as equal to Night and Dawn while furthering the commentary in much bleaker terms for mankind. Of course, back then my thirteen-year-old self just thought it was the most freakin' awesome/goriest zombie movie ever.

So naturally I've bought every subsequent U.S. video release starting with Anchor Bay's first DVD release from 1998 (roughly a year after the format debuted). What seemed like several long years later, yet only 2003, AB released their two-disc "Divimax" DVD edition. While most lavished praise upon the disc's picture quality, I found colors looked far too washed out even compared to the vintage MEDIA VHS. Then in 2007; shortly after the Blu-ray format debuted, AB released the film in their initial BD rollout. Despite again receiving praise, the picture still seemed too drab and any jump in detail or color was negligible over the standard definition Divimax presentation. It was also obvious the same HD master created in 2003 was simply brought to Blu-ray years later.

Finally this past September, Scream Factory released their Collector's Edition Blu-ray, promising a new 1080p transfer derived from a fresh telecine of 35mm materials. Now, despite this effort, some supposed videophiles are still bitching about the transfer. Claims have been bounced around about the prior dull color scheme of Anchor Bay BD being more "accurate" while others discount the SF transfer entirely due to very slight vertical stretching of the picture (which looks more proportionally correct in my opinion).

I'm not going to blindly blow Scream Factory, they have their share of just fair looking titles, but they've finally rectified what was an ultimately weak effort from Anchor Bay. The color has been brought back, sometimes maybe a touch too much, but the prior AB transfer was too bright and so desaturated the picture simply looked lifeless and flat. The improved color of the SF helps heighten the sense of depth, clothing especially exhibits this, and clarity from a lack of digital filtering, which the AB was caked with, is so great you can sometimes see the make-up on the actors. It's not a perfect presentation, the compression could be better for those with giant front projection set-ups, but this new Blu-ray is no doubt a step-up visually.

The sound quality is a complicated story. It's well known the Anchor Bay DVD and BD suffer from several (small) edits to dialogue and sound effects. These were mistakenly made during the creation of 5.1 mix for the Divimax release. This surround mix was accomplished by taking several sources of the original monaural (or "1.0") and separating the dialogue, foley (sound effects), and John Harrison's score into individual "stems" and then mixing these together with care in staging certain sounds around the five audio and subwoofer channel (or "5.1") soundfield to create a "true" surround sound track. The unfortunate edits were in the best available source for the dialogue stem and went unnoticed during the mastering of the 5.1 track.

The Scream Factory BD doesn't include this surround track, instead opting for the original monaural sound that doesn't have these edits, but there's a trade-off. This 1.0 track, despite being presented in lossless DTS, sounds noticeably worse than the Anchor Bay disc. Dialogue is often very harsh and limited in range, especially Lori Cardille, and there's a constant low background hiss that's completely absent in the AB mix. There's even several pops in the audio similar sounding to a vinyl stylus crackling over a dusty groove. The dialogue in the AB mix clearly sounds more spacious with nearly no raspiness. The overall audio experience is also preferable with the Anchor Bay. It's one of the better mono into surround upmixes with zero unoriginal effects added. So the choice is yours, but it's easy to see most choosing the Scream Factory for the lack of edits. That still doesn't change the fact it usually sounds worse than a VHS.

Although if you have the Anchor Bay Blu-ray and don't love Day of the Dead, you can probably stick with it. But fans are going to want to check out this new Scream Factory edition. The new BD also includes an brand new eighty-five documentary, produced by Red Shirt Pictures, entitled World's End: The Legacy Of Day Of The Dead. This great look into Day manages to be the one golden supplement this film really needed. Many cast and crew members are interviewed with every production stage explored with a satisfying focus on the actors. Interestingly, the film clips in this supplement are taken from the Anchor Bay transfer (and the difference is clear). All of the other extras from the AB disc are included. I imagine in a few years a new super deluxe 4K Blu-ray will appear with even superior picture/sound quality, but for now this fan is definitely happy. Worth picking up.

Some quick thoughts on The Conjuring (2013)

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Always late to the party, I finally checked out James Wan's surprise theatrical phenom the other night and I'm hard-pressed to add anything new to the chorus of praise. The Conjuring intentionally hearkens back to the '70s possession spree, and like the best examples of that cycle, skillfully focuses on the ordeal in very human terms. Surprising considering the latest genre darling at the helm carved his name with power tools and butchered bodies.

The warm reception this throwback received globally speaks to this quality. Mainstream horror has recently become oversaturated with dwelling upon the immediate suffering of whatever the threat, be it ghost or monster or madman's trap, has chosen to attack with little concern for the psychological aftermath. The old "keep the blood runnin' down the screen" mantra.

That's not to say genre movies need to be after-school specials, but as proven by the most lasting horror staples, the easiest method to garner an audience's respect is through well-honed characters. Wan never lets attention stray from those often desperately trying to help, even in the most intense scenes of horror, rather than the obvious terror of the afflicted. This only makes the bond with reality stronger, as most have experienced the struggle of trying to help others in at least potentially serious circumstances, rather than dissolving into a scene of grisly violence probably alien to the average person. An defining aspect shared with The Exorcist (1973), The Omen (1976), and The Changeling (1980).

"...but we prefer to be known simply as Ed and Lorraine Warren."

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga do a tremendous job as the Warrens at humanizing people, a demonologist and a psychic, often portrayed on film as eccentrics. The pair ground their performances with the usual banter and stresses of a married couple as do Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston as the Perrons, the family under extraordinary circumstances. So the viewer, even dunderheaded tweens, quickly grow to trust their opinion even with their subtle religious methodology (likely to provoke debate for years much like The Exorcist).

It's also refreshing that while the Perron's children are targeted, they don't become the vessel of possession like many screen ghost stories have driven into the dirt in recent years. Of course, if this is all supposed to be true, that's not something that can be accredited to creativity. As a related aside, I've read negative comments solely predicated on whether or not the real Warrens or Perrons are being honest, if you're basing your opinion of the film on that, you're frankly stupid.

If there was a gripe, it's the demon witch ladies looking too typical of "old hags" with grey skin, frizzed hair, and runny mascara. Maybe that's just from years of listening to Art Bell with verbal depictions of the demonic entities being far more unsettling than wigged-out shopping cart ladies. Still, the scares are certainly there and Wan delivers an experience that'll actually creep you out by "the dead hour" far more than some TV show of teens with dowsing rods in green night vision. The Conjuring is one of those rarities that belongs to an elite group, playing off basic fears, that again re-establishes the staying power of the horror genre. It'll be a classic in short order.

Zombie Hunter (2013), Codeword for Everything Bad about Modern DTV Horror

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Well, nearly everything. If you've been following BoGD long enough, you're aware I'm not too hard of zombie flicks. As long as the actors suit their characters well enough and the action is fairly consistent, a given effort can still be highly entertaining even if story remains hunkered down in one location for the entire runtime. It's what one of the aspects of Romero's Night of the Living Dead that makes it so enduring to this day.

So there's no ill will toward Zombie Hunter for obviously being about zombies, even with popularity of the current mainstream zombie craze running on just three wheels and a snapped axle (outside of The Saga of Rick Grimes). Director, writer, and producer K. King's debut concerns a small band of survivors who've escaped to the desert expanse after a new drug turns much of the population into either undead shamblers or beastly "hybrids" that look directly ripped from the Resident Evil series (only rendered in terrible CG that looks much worse than what's the norm for TV commercials nowadays).

Okay, that doesn't sound too bad, the ol' dependable "fight for survival" set-up. Yet what makes this crowdfunded project so agonizing is its ridiculous overreliance on computers in post-production. Literally every gimmicky CG trick is used ad nauseum here. At first it seems like they're trying to create the now tired "faux-grindhouse" aesthetic, but it begins to feel like it's an attempt to make up for the many shortcomings on-screen. A couple of these instances in this tier of filmmaking are fine, but not so much that it becomes the core of the film. Since, you know, it's a movie and not a spastic music video. This flash gets so abused that it's amazing a real car was used to perform a real flip instead of some clunky 3D model for the high speed accident.

A great example happens early on when our hero, Hunter (Martin Copping), reflects on his lost wife and young child as he's cruising the badlands in his black 1987 Camaro SS. Instead of a quiet moment focusing on an actor doing his job, we mostly get an over-the-shoulder view of moving images of his two loved ones across his windshield. It's simply goofy, and like every other digital crutch leaned upon, pulls you right out of the movie. Maybe it's for the better since Copping, who happens to be Australian, has all the charisma of a completely monotone Mad Max once his mouth opens. At least a mostly shirtless Danny Trejo is used to good effect wildly swinging an axe through corpses in slo-mo. However; Machete's scant few scenes don't match the prominence he's given on the DVD cover...

This isn't enough to save Zombie Hunter. It's a soulless chore that's seemingly preoccupied with creating cool posters (and an end credit sequence) that display far more creativity than the actual product. This crap also proves horror fans should bitch about CG period and not just when it doubles as blood. And on that note, what all gore fans have lusted after, the zombie blood is a shade of screaming hot neon pink...?!?

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EVIL ED (1995) "Special ED-ition" DVD/Blu-ray (Potentially) Coming...

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Several years ago I posted this entry, Speaking of Evil Ed (1995), talking about Anders Jacobsson's gory Swedish import, Evil Ed, and how a newly assembled trailer advertising a special edition suddenly popped up on YouTube that looked uploaded by the director himself. Now it appears that he's trying to raise money to give his film, and his country's first ever splatter picture, deluxe treatment with a new DVD/Blu-ray.

As outlined below by Jacobsson over on the SE's Big Change kickstarter campaign below, there's hopes of a new HD telecine, a longer cut, and loads of extras. With two months to go to raise $30k, it'll be a tough road but here's to hoping funding can be procured. It's a great little send-up of the censorship woes genre cinema faces and clever homage to a plethora of horror classics. Not to mention the handful of previous DVDs being of rather poor quality and mostly out-of-print now (the two US DVDs and rated/unrated VHS are all cut too). There's also been a Facebook page set up for the project.

"Now it is time to refresh the old movie and re-scan the negative to High Definition. Our goal is to produce a special edition, with better picture and sound quality and lots of extra content:

• Two never before seen scenes including a scissored foot, miserable disembodied head, and an angry wife.
• A full 3 hour length documentary about the making of the movie, including interviews with the cast and crew and never before seen behind the scenes material.
• A commentary track with the producers and the director.
• A lot of deleted scenes, old promotional material (including old interviews from Swedish television, posters and trailers) and photos from the shoot.

We have wanted to make a complete and improved version of Evil Ed for many years, but it has been impossible due to lack of funding. No distribution companies are willing to take a risk by funding the project. Therefore we have decided to ask you, the fans, for help. With your support we can finally make the Ultimate EDition of Evil Ed. If our goal is reached all excess funding will go towards the creation of the spinoff Loose Limbs: The Anatomy of Fear, which is currently in pre-production."

Some quick thoughts on MANIAC (2012)

A young psychopath with mommy issues, Frank (Elijah Wood), cruises the city in his dingy serial killer van brutally murdering and scalping attractive women. Eventually, a photographer (Nora Arnezeder) befriends him out of interest in his vast vintage mannequin collection for her upcoming exhibition. It's only a matter of time...before this film is considered a classic of the horror genre?

Taken at face value (like the mostly jokey outline above), Alexandre Aja and Grégory Levasseur's remake, directed by cohort Franck Khalfoun, of William Lustig's controversial 1980 grinder appears to wear everything on its sleeve. Two of the biggest "re-imagining" sins pop up almost immediately with elements only hinted at in Lustig's original expanded upon to the point it feels their being spoon-fed. And then an almost textbook stereotypical screen portrayal of a serial killer is strutted around like the ancient concept is groundbreaking. It's enough to make anyone whose seen a couple solid celluloid depictions of murderers gripe that it's just another dumbed down remake.

There's the danger of losing the audience Aja and Levasseur straddle with casting such a deceptively superficial light on Frank and his motivations. The pair take great pains in delving into his infatuation with the restoration of mannequins, once his family's business. This, and haunting memories of his brazenly promiscuous mother, feeds into his unstoppable quest for female victims to adore his life's work with. All of this is plainly spelled out in a compact narrative, much though Frank's own point-of-view perspective, that doesn't seem to make room for mystery or speculation. Yet throwing Maniac off as just another hollow serial killer outing that again tries to reinvent the wheel Norman Bates first began rolling would be in error.

Like their debut feature, Haute tension (High Tension) (2003), the writing pair have added a little climatic revelation that adds unexpected dimension to their main character. It's one of the few things not touched upon directly in the feature with the burden resting on the lead and Khalfoun to bring out with subtlety. And do they ever. Elijah Wood provides such a sense of nuance throughout, especially with regard to this twist, that his Frank rivals the iconic killers fashioned by Anthony Perkins in Psycho (1960), Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu in The Vanishing (1988), and Ted Levine in The Silence of the Lambs (1991). If Wood's performance wasn't impressive enough, the care at which he handles this additional depth only proves what seemed like curious casting a stroke of brilliance.

But this might go flying over the heads of those that view this Maniac as a simplified knock-off concerned only with matching the misogyny and bruality of the original. And while Lustig and Spinell's potent sledgehammer approach still carries impact, this remake outwits the rough caricature seen in 1980 by refining what made Frank so chillingly real. The much more focused exploration of what drives his murderous inclinations and outward meekness of Wood's Frank combine to make this one of the best horror films of the last few years. Maybe even hindsight might provide Maniac with the status of a classic of the genre in the future. It's only a matter of time...

Dawn of the Dead - 35th Anniversary Ultimate Blu-ray Box slated for Japan in December

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Happinet Pictures has slated the Japanese Blu-ray debut of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead as both region free individual Blu-rays of each version and a region free "Ultimate Edition" box set for release on December 3rd, 2013.

The box set is being touted as the world debut of all three versions on Blu-ray featuring new "state of the art" HD restorations produced this year. The set also includes a sixteen page booklet. The separate discs and set are available for pre-order on both Amazon.jp and CDJapan. Here's the tentative specifications for the three individual Blu-rays.

127 Minute U.S. Theatrical Version

• 1.78:1 Widescreen
• English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 & 2.0
• 2 US Theatrical Trailers
• US TV Spot

139 Minute Extended Version ("Director's Cut")

• 1.78:1 Widescreen
• English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 & 2.0
• European Theatrical Trailer
• 2 German Theatrical Trailers

119 Minute European (Argento) Version

• 1.78:1 Widescreen
• English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 & 2.0
• Japanese "Thursday Movie Theater" Broadcast Dub (TrueHD 2.0)
• Audio Commentary by Claudio Simonetti, Alessandro Marenga, and Claudio Fiano
• 2 UK TV Spots
• Japanese Threatical Trailer (1979)
• Japanese TV Spot (1979)

New Evilspeak DVD from Code Red and My Take on the Blu-ray Situation...

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A new Special Edition DVD of Eric Weston's Evilspeak (1981), where a geeky yet demonically computer-possessed Clint Howard goes on a horrifically gory rampage, has just recently put up on Code Red DVD's online shop.

This new release sports an new transfer from a high definition telecine of a newly discovered 35mm interpositive of the U.S. version that features all the gore but is still missing around ten minutes of exposition seen on Anchor Bay's out-of-print British two-disc DVD release. Anchor Bay's old stateside disc is identical to this Code Red except the gore was composited in from a poorer quality theatrical print. The CR disc also features a new commentary from Weston and interviews with Howard, Don Stark, and Joe Cortese.

This is great news considering the aftermarket price range of prior out-of-print DVDs, but some are pissed that Code Red's head, Bill Olsen, has been quite ornery when presented with questions over a possible Evilspeak Blu-ray release. To quote the man himself, "Problem with EVILSPEAK Blu is that I have to re-create the whole menu & etc. It would've been a lot cheaper if I did both at the same time. This why I rather do barebone/movie only to keep the budget low. also I need to get a 4th storage place to keep 1,000 Blu for that title, since I must press 1,000 Blu at a time, unlike DVD which is 500 per pressing. I doubt it'll sell 1,000 copies, people only buy CODE RED when it's [out of print]."

...merely because its my favorite Code Red release.

If you've been following Code Red on Twitter (@CODEREDDVD), you're probably aware of Olsen's rather combative nature. I'm not going to make excuses for him, but I'm tired of the overreaction to his stubbornness with releasing onto Blu-ray. As I've touched upon before, BD seems have just become more "another format" and less the premium way of seeing movies and I remain unconvinced that it's the best investment for tiny outfits like Code Red (who is basically just Olsen). It is however strange CR just announced plans for BDs of Just Before Dawn (1981), Voices from Beyond (1991), and Nailgun Massacre (1985). I wouldn't fret about the current status of Evilspeak since if these perform well it's a safe bet it'll eventually appear. Although I can't see the point in Voices from Beyond on Blu-ray out of being a terrible waste of time that looks shot through gauze. Sorry, Fulci fanatics...

What really irks me is a few voices proposing a Code Red boycott due to Evilspeak only arriving on standard definition (for now). I'll agree a Blu-ray would be nice, especially since this is advertised as being downconverted from a HD master, but just because you're into the format doesn't grant you a right to be a total dick to others that don't follow your narrow opinion. Frankly, I'm sick of hearing such arrogance from rabid BD fans. Unjustified bashing of the format from those misinformed does occur, and I can see how that's irritating, but there's many that see the benefits of Blu-ray, and maybe even own a player and library, yet don't get so far up its ass that the actual content becomes secondary to defending the honor of the latest video medium that probably won't have the longevity of DVD.

At this point with the continuing rise in popularity of streaming media, movie fans should all be thankful distributors like Code Red are still trudging along at all. Disc-based media's days, even for your precious Blu-ray, are sadly numbered and I'd much rather see small distributors continue forward as long as possible--be it on Blu-ray or DVD or both. Those choices are far preferable to the delusion of calling a list of titles from a tiny box attached to the Internet your "collection". Even the assholes will miss DVD when it's gone...

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Some quick thoughts on Zombie Massacre (2013)

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Stop me if you've heard this one before. A team of mercs each with specialized skills are assembled to plant a nuclear explosive after a black toxic rain falls in an industrial town in Romania turning its inhabitants into raging undead. After infiltration they discover that the device, set for denotation in under an hour, is hardwired into their only truck and can't be deactivated. Setting out on foot to find a fast way out of the area, they discover a few other survivors and the daughter of the head scientist responsible for the outbreak who might also hold the antivirus to stop the plague's spread.

Pardon getting all stupidly philosophical for a moment, but as a horror fan, there comes a time when you realize it's simply all been done. Very rarely do examples come along with even a single revelatory concept. The genre is constantly cannibalizing itself and the best that can hoped for is a continual stream of standout films with enough twists on old tropes to keep inching the genre forward. As such, most of us have learned to see value in movies that provide entertaining takes on nothing new and that's perfectly fine because that's a large percentage of what horror is.

Then we have backwash like Luca Boni and Marco Ristori's Zombie Massacre which doesn't fall into either of these categories. This sad effort, that you could literally fast forward through without missing anything, represents an almost total reversal of the budding positive qualities of the pair's 2011 debut, Eaters (thoughts here). That feature has a sense of enthusiasm that manages to outshine rough patches most likely due to being their first time out. Sure, overall Eaters was just another formulaic zombie movie in a popular (yet now waning) era of the subgenre, but ZM takes such modern direct-to-video walking dead formalism to an unprecedented height.

Far too much faith is placed in the cardboard hired as actors as we endure thickly accented gibberish from characters we never grow to care about (people who disliked the Evil Dead remake because of "unlikeable" characters, see this and then say that). Eaters was talky as well, but you could tell everyone in front of the lens gave a damn even if you didn't know Italian. This never happens in ZM and it quickly devolves into the same ol' cheap zombie movie claptrap shoveled by actors who eat by driving to endless casting calls with the best they'll ever achieve being "Silent Tough #4" buried in the credits of some moderately budgeted Hollywood production.

Intermixed into this boredom are encounters with running packs of zombies being mowed down in short order. The make-up is great but there's hardly any time to appreciate the work with the frenzied editing of the action and the ugly desaturated appearance of the entire film destroying any subtly by the artists. The one female hand-to-hand "expert" on the team, who looks a bit like martial arts legend Cynthia Rothrock, ends up especially embarrassing because it's obvious the actress doesn't have the background and the movie doesn't mask her lack of skill. She flings swords around with less zeal than the Star Wars Kid as her undead victims do the Harlem Shake while falling. Actually, why not just dump many of the needless actors and get Rothrock kicking decomposed ass for ninety minutes? The first image in your mind after reading that was way more awesome than anything ZM offers.

Besides of the make-up, and I know this sounds ridiculous, but the military garb and equipment by Italian outfitters S.O.D. Gear is more interesting in looking "correct" and functional than any of the individuals wearing them. One of my weird pet-peeves is military gear in movies that doesn't look right when worn or used by actors but for all this boring waste does well, boring that aspect is nailed down. And yes, that ad above is real and they should be proud.

Boni and Ristori state in the featurette on the Blu-ray that this movie was essentially a favor to Uwe Boll for all he did for the distribution of Eaters. That's great but it's hard not to wonder whether they truly had their hearts into this movie that was originally an ultimately cancelled video game. There's even a short, unrelated sequence before the end credits of topless zombie babes attacking three of Eaters' principal actors poolside. After sitting through Zombie Massacre, it's like waking up from a coma and I would have much rather have seen that movie instead. Hopefully these guys have more creative freedom next round (Eaters 2, please). Once again, bigger isn't always better...

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Limited "Possessed" Blu-ray Set of Evil Dead (2013) Announced for Japan

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Sony has unveiled plans for a limited BD/DVD digi-pak set and double feature Blu-ray featuring both The Evil Dead (1981) and its remake for October 9th in Japan. The limited set will run about $50USD, looks to have the same content as the stateside Best Buy exclusive set, and has a listed runtime of 91 minutes (presumably the U.S. theatrical cut). Complete details, albeit in Japanese, are available at Sony Pictures Japan.

Evil Dead '13 and The Plague of Fanboyism (Or did you even watch the original, bro?)

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Okay, The Evil Dead (1981) is a foundational modern horror film with ripples of influence still felt throughout the genre. And yeah, it's the masterclass in independent filmmaking that kindled many a horror fanatic's obsession from its Deadite wick and provoked a generation of budding filmmakers to pursuit their own gory visions on celluloid (and digital video). I remember, along with you if you're of a certain age, my prepubescent self being blown away by how thrilling, frightening, and gory Raimi's cornerstone was upon seeing it for the first time (on VHS!).

So I get why many horror fans treat the original as their baby as I did as well for years. Although at a certain point it's important to develop objectivity even toward such an "untouchable" stalwart of horror. It's certainly a classic, but the off-base claims many have making in the wake of Fede Alvarez's remake are headache inducing. Originally, I was going to do a more straight "thoughts/review" entry. However; after viewing Fede Alvarez's remake last night and surfing around for opinions afterward, it's tough to not address the abundance of thirteen-year-old kid elitism and minute nitpicking. To be blunt, it's wise to not sound like an ill-informed idiot especially when trying to critique why you intensely dislike something.

The original Evil Dead was never intended to be campy or funny nor it is either of those even when viewed today. The characters and script delivered by extremely green actors aren't as amazing as you remember. Ashley J. Williams definitely wasn't the badass, idiot savant "Ash" seen in the sequels (nor did he cut his hand off or have a chainsaw-equipped arm in '81, dumbasses). What the original does have is virtuoso Sam Raimi making intense love to everything with his lens while toying with audience expectations by purposely staging moments where you know a character is making an obvious mistake in judgment (i.e. - Cheryl leaving to return raped, Scotty leaving to return fucked up, Ash being a total pussy). Seeing these same truths and more concerning Raimi's classic repeatedly thrown at Evil Dead '13 only as severely butthurt complaints seriously makes one wonder how many "fans" of the original have actually seen the original. The sheer amount of asinine hate thrown this remake's way is astonishing.

What might be the most ridiculous (again, repeated) charge from the whiners is that the remake is "too gory and the gore has no purpose." Excuse me, but since when did horror fans become born castrated and when did gore necessarily require purpose? Oh, that's right; that convoluted, seven film long series where a dying cancer patient puts individuals through brutal tests of self mutilation to avoid awful deaths so that they find inner strength if they survive had a purpose behind all the screaming, right...? We can play this dumb game all day folks.

And listen, I'm sorry that the Deadites weren't instead wood fairies that guided the young people to their enchanted land of Hadeselia to see little chubby imps muse poetic about stealing left socks and souring milk before its expiration date. Yes, it's a shame Campbell couldn't have made a cameo and evoked his Old Spice Guy character as the treacherous king of Hadeselia, Cullen Laurent Meyers. I'm also sorry it wasn't a somber dissertation on the perils of heroin addiction in the twenty-something American population narrated by Maya Angelou with the Deadites as metaphor for the potential beast in those besieged by its grip. All that sound stupid? Well, it sounds about as stupid as claiming something with the title EVIL (fucking) DEAD has too much nonsensical gore. If anything, it needed more since just like in '81, it's simply demons rippin' youngins asunder and thankfully not for tween girls or offensively high-minded in its aspirations.

As a remake respectful to the source material, Evil Dead '13 checks off all the right points. It maintains the nastiness of the original while mixing in story elements of Evil Dead 2 (1987). The new extensions, mostly involving one of the characters suffering narcotics withdraw, are built around the familiar and literally seem like logical, alternate paths Raimi could have taken but just didn't think of them at the time. Instead of Sam's directorial style being aped yet again, Alvarez almost entirely avoids trick shots and one gets the sense Raimi gave the young director a wide creative berth behind the camera. The fantastic score by Roque Banos strongly recalls Joseph LoDuca's work with all its contemplative piano taps and punctuated trumpeting. Despite Tapert, Raimi, and Campbell producing; every technical aspect stands on its own while also paying quiet homage. The summation is a remake that feels very much part of the Evil Dead fabric without any lingering sense of being a modernized cash-in. Now if only the naysayers would get off their horses made of premium grade bullshit and realize that if it had to be done, the surrounding circumstances are quite possibly the best a "re-imagining" has ever been granted.

That's not to say I'm calling out all that gripe as wrong, but just please explain why like you have some sense and knowledge about the original trilogy. I even have quibbles, mostly over a few dumb lines at key moments, but I refuse to throw a tantrum over what's otherwise a quality, well-directed horror film (remake or not). The deluge of quick "worst movie ever" criticism smacks of prissy fanboys blindly grabbing at whatever nitpicks, even if they don't exist, in ultimately meaningless outrage.

There's even some going so far as to complain about the possessed posing as human again to deceive the living. Of course, let's conveniently forget this occurs multiple times in each of the original trilogy. Yes, you're so cool fervidly defending the "honor" of a series that (gasp!) still remains on Earth even with this remake's existence. Honest, you can set all four movies all nice n' stuff together on a shelf and your fifteen different editions of the first three won't spontaneously combust, I promise. Lastly, if Army of Darkness 2 ever becomes a reality, get out your prettiest lipstick and kneepads not for Sam and Bruce, but for Fede and all those who worked on Evil Dead. Here's to the new series shoving it up the troll's asses.

Blu-ray has gotten stale...but I'm unsure exactly why... (long ramblin' entry)

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Maybe this was inevitable. Maybe it's just me. Either way, the Blu-ray format has become stale. Which feels strange to say since I was an early adopter of Blu-ray (and HD DVD), possess two players, and a couple hundred BDs. I also championed the formats and understand their merit as a potentially fantastic means of home entertainment. I can talk your face off with a litany of technical mumbo-jumbo regarding Blu-ray and put up a good argument as to why you should buy into it if you haven't already.

Yet lately I find myself not caring as nearly as much about the format. It's gotten to the point that it's tough to fathom paying even twenty bucks for a single movie on disc. It's not a cash or Netflix issue, it's more a "why pay that much nowadays" issue. And I can hear it now, "Dude, do you realize how much DVDs were when they first came out?" Of course, remember all those Anchor Bay horror multi-packs of previously released individual titles a couple years ago? Yep, I bought all those when new when they averaged twenty-five to thirty a pop. That might be a big part of the reason. There comes a certain point where you start wondering about weird abstracts like how and when a given film was shot versus the benefit of seeing it in 1080p or simply whether it's worth upgrading to the Blu-ray over the good ol' DVD. Even with brand new titles, if the movie was shot to look dull as dish water, I'll gladly opt for the standard def coaster and save a couple bucks.

Then there's dealing with the marketplace reality of the format compared to its technical potential. As time has passed, Blu-ray has become less a means providing a truly premium viewing experience to being another home video medium to move product. Naturally, that's what it always has been, but there's been this ongoing "settling effect" between what purists want and what the general public accepts as enough quality to warrant buying Blu-rays. So more-and-more I find myself disappointed in new titles with regards to their video quality. Good but not great is the new mantra...

Not to pick on Scream Factory, they have some great titles, but their output so far has exhibited this phenomena. Much like the U.K.'s Arrow Video, SF seem to place more focus on cranking out titles and getting the presentation surrounding the movie itself perfect. The problem is that they don't appear to be concentrating on providing definitive video transfers and as far as I can tell all of their titles have utilized licensor-provided HD masters (like Universal and MGM). In other words, they haven't created any new masters from fresh telecines, only pre-existing ones of varying quality and age.

Take their They Live Blu-ray for example, the same pasty transfer wouldn't have received such high marks by most BD review sites if weren't for the extras, the nifty cover, and attractive slipcover. It would be another wishy-washy BD effort from Universal if they had handled it instead. That's the thing, most can't seem to resist the thrill of "Wow, [insert cult classic] is coming to Blu-ray!" while heaping praise upon Scream Factory for the simple fact they're releasing favorites to get to the heart of the matter.

Better than DVD but mediocre for Blu-ray simply isn't good enough. I'm tired of the whole inevitably double or triple-dip game, if the quality isn't there from a master created years ago, it doesn't matter how cool the cover or extras are. I'll wait until the film's treated right and that goes for all Blu-ray releases. I'm not expecting something shot decades ago to look like 2011 material, but I want the best approximation currently possible of what the film material actually looks like represented on Blu-ray. No digital tampering or filtering.

If anyone can recall the days of LaserDisc and early days of DVD, you may remember how willing major studios were with licensing out even their big titles to smaller distributors. Eventually, once the DVD format really began cranking, this willingness contracted and studios produced their own editions to reap the format's immense popularity. Now that DVD is in decline and catalog titles don't have the moving power they once had (blame Netflix and the like), we're now back to the old days and another gripe.

I've already mostly covered this in this old entry about Twilight Time's limited edition BD of Fright Night (1985). This exclusivity deal still pisses me off especially considering their trumped up "limited" runs, inflated price points, and the aftermarket driving the prices far into the rarefied air of "go fuck yourself with the disc". Sorry, it's garbage like this that sucks the fun out of the format to such an extent that I had to mention it.

What makes this even more irritating is how Mill Creek Entertainment, known for their recent cheap DVD/BD collections at Wal Mart, has also acquired some licenses from Sony. What do they do with them? Pair them up onto double feature Blu-rays with decent transfers at a fraction of the cost of Twilight Time's holier-than-thou releases, like Mr. Sardonicus (1961)/The Brotherhood of Satan (1971) with a list price of only $9.98. That's what it should have been all along instead of giving elitist collectors another reason to be pricks with Twilight's faux-valuable releases.

As you tell, I don't ascribe to those who purport that we should "thankful" distributors care at all to release these catalog titles onto Blu-ray. Steaming video has altered the home video landscape, but given how cutthroat the niche market has been, that's a weak excuse. Yet compared to streaming, I'll pick physical media any day even if I've gotten bored with Blu-ray. It's just the wavering commitments to quality and annoyance of history repeating itself that personally hamper the enjoyment I once found. Not to mention the sheer nostalgia and "discovery" factor of owning vintage VHS certainly beats the pants off ordering a brand new Blu-ray off a pallet of thousands, no matter how hipster that might sound...

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A Slew of Horror Coming to Blu-ray from Happinet in Japan...

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Happinet is set to debut From Beyond (1986) and Dolls (1987) on August 2nd, Flesh for Frankenstein (1973) and Tourist Trap (1979) on September 9th, Blood for Dracula (1974) and Dracula (1979) on October 2nd, and Halloween II (1981) and Castle Freak (1995) on November 2nd onto Blu-ray. Each sport 1080p transfers in their respective aspect ratios and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks (English 5.1/2.0 DTS-HD MA for Halloween II).

Supplemental material for From Beyond nearly mirrors MGM's Special Edition DVD including a Stuart Gordon interview, Richard Band interview, Editing Room featurette, and theatrical trailer (absent is the audio commentary). Dolls includes an exclusive Stuart Gordon interview and theatrical trailer.

Supplemental material for Tourist Trap mirrors the Full Moon/Koch Media DVD with an audio commentary and interview with David Schmoeller and theatrical trailer. Dracula '79 appears to have zero supplements (not even a theatrical trailer).

Supplemental material for Flesh... and Blood... mirror the now out-of-print US Image Entertainment DVDs with audio commentaries by Paul Morrissey, Udo Kier, and film historian Maurice Yacowar, screen tests (w/ commentary by Morrissey), photo galleries (w/ commentary by Morrissey).

Supplemental material for Halloween 2 represents a stripped down version of the stateside Shout Factory Blu-ray with Deleted Scenes, Alternate Ending, TV/Radio Spots, and theatrical trailer while Castle Freak mirrors the Full Moon DVD with Videozone featurette and trailer.