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Nothing screams the holiday season quite like a few hilarious horror movies. Here’s a look at a trio now available on Blu-ray disc.
bad-tempered (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, R, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, 111 minutes, rated $34.98) — Horror maestro James Wan (“Saw,” “The Conjuring” and “Insidious”) is back behind the scenes to offer a twist on his favorite genre in a monstrous thriller.
The plot begins when a psychiatric patient named Gabriel kills the staff by using his pure acrobatic power and controlling electricity.
Enter modern-day Seattle and a pregnant Madison Lake Mitchell (Annabelle Wallis) dealing with an abusive husband is beaten and wakes up to find his wife dead, nearly decapitated.
A shadowy entity appears and begins to follow him, while at the same time he begins to have disturbing visions of other murders orchestrated by the serial killer entity.
Let’s ignore the obvious as to why a single woman would continue to live alone in a house with obvious malice and just appreciate her fall into insanity.
Mr. Wan orchestrates a creature feature from the “Psycho” and “The Manitou” (check it out, guys) traditions and makes a surprisingly unexpected, jaw-dropping spin.
Sadly, the disappointing ending comes down with a hurried rumble and nearly knocks over the spooky and bloody fun.
The best extras: Viewers only have a 14-minute overview of the production, but there’s plenty of screen time to explain that Mr. Wan wants to go back to his low-budget, independent roots and make a 1980s-style horror movie he’d love to see.
He comments on the evolution of the story, explains the themes, visions of Mitchell using the spider camera and robo-camera, and the terrifying creature. All supported by interviews with the lead actors, screenwriter, visual effects artists and tuners.
Haunt: Special Edition (Ronin Flix, rated R, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, 92 minutes, $24.99 — A loving tribute to the haunted houses of the Halloween season, the 2019 work from producers Bryan Woods and Scott Beck (the writers of “A Quiet Place”) offers a brutal sniper return, now re-released in high definition and packed with extras.
On Halloween night, a group of female college students go out, grab a few men, and find themselves in an extreme horror-themed haunted house maze with typical horrors.
It’s about having fun until real masked, murderous lunatics dressed as devils, clowns, ghosts and witches organize a maze of surprises.
They play deadly games with their prey, leading to violent encounters as many in the group make fatal mistakes in decision-making while trying to escape.
Let’s be serious, it’s hard to find new surprises in a horror world directed by Jordan Peele, Rob Zombie and James Wan, but surprisingly, viewers get an entertaining story with plenty of atmosphere, a little scare, a few twists. Occasionally, a moment of silence was observed for “Saw”, “House of 1000 Corpses” and “Halloween”.
The best extras: Two optional comments begin the cavalry, with Mr Woods and Mr Beck diving into their efforts first. They begin by explaining that listening to other creators’ tracks is their film school, especially when listening to songs by Eli Roth (the producer of “Haunt”).
However, the informative piece focuses on how to make a horror movie, down to the concept, script evolution, casting, timing, budgeting, and details during the actual production shoot.
The other piece is fun but not quite as informative and features the three serial killers in the film – Damian Maffei (devil), Justin Marxen (clown) and Chaney Morrow (ghost) interviewed by horror expert and creator Justin Beahm.
Complementing the commentary pieces are a 32-minute overview of the production explored through the directors, and Zoom interviews with the many actors (often very serious and one even shed tears over the positive experience), the composer, and the make-up effects artist.
Then, two Q&A sessions with live audiences (about 45 minutes in total) feature the cast and filmmakers in one, and the producers and even Mr.
Viewers also get a truly unique glimpse into the filmmakers’ world in their debut, “The Sleepover,” the six-minute, extraterrestrial invasion short they made while in seventh grade in Iowa.
Other notable extras include a 10-minute Director’s Diary (cell phone videos and Instagram posts) and 13 minutes of deleted scenes (with optional directorial commentary).
werewolves (RLJ Entertainment, unrated, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, 97 minutes, $28.96) — An obscure virtual reality video game was perfect fodder for a live-action, horror-comedy mystery going to high-definition disc.
Director John Ruben and screenwriter Mishna Wolff’s loose adaptation takes the intriguing storyline from medieval times to the present and finds Finn Wheeler (Sam Richardson), a lovable forest ranger, reassigned to the desolate, snowy little town of Beavertown, where he quickly meets the new best. fellow postal worker Cecily Moore (Milana Vayntrub).
Also after encountering eccentric townspeople like obsessive craftsman Trisha Anderton (Michaela Watkins) and reclusive Emerson Flint (Glenn Fleshler), a fierce blizzard drains the town’s power and the generators mysteriously break from visible sabotage.
The residents move into the town’s sprawling cottage for the night, but after finding the trampled remains of the inn’s owner’s missing husband, they begin to realize that one of them may have been a werewolf.
Lycanthrope or not, it’s clear that the suspects are all insane and each has an agenda and can cause violent antics.
With “Fargo” a twist with “Schitt’s Creek” and “The Thing”, “Werewolves Within” offers a playful mix of genres with a committed (i.e. must be committed) ensemble cast.
The best extras: Since digital streaming has become so commonplace, it’s worth reminding home entertainment companies that it takes a bit of extra for viewers to buy a Blu-ray disc these days.
The first issue here is that owners get zero extras on the Blu-ray disc. Considering the fun cast, I find it hard to believe that even a Zoom call with some players couldn’t be put together. Or how about a brief introduction to the movie’s video game roots?
Then, owners get no code to own the movie digitally via a streaming service.
What’s the point of spending the extra money on a disc when viewers can watch the movie once for $9.99 or less through one of the many services? The movie is fun, but not big enough to add to a permanent library.
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