Editorials
2010 BLACK FRIDAY CHOPPING LIST: FILMS & TV
From kick-ass boxed sets to classics put out for the first time on DVD or Blu-ray, 2010 has been a pretty damn good year for horror releases on home video, and in the following “Film & TV” section of B-D’s Black Friday Chopping List we’ve selected a few of the best ones to come out in time for the holiday season. The wide variety of titles included here – from hit T.V. shows about hunky vampires, to a bizarre Japanese film about…well, what exactly?, to the Blu-ray boxed set to top all Blu-ray boxed sets – should cover practically any horror-loving fiend on your list. As for your grandmother, it might be best just to buy her a sensible blouse at JC Penney and call it a day.
COMICS & BOOKS | FILMS | MUSIC | TOYS | GAMES
List Price: $139.99 (standard)/$149.99 (for “Egg” packaging version)
Isn’t this just one of those things that you’d have a hard time buying for anyone else but yourself? This masturbatory boxed set is positively overflowing with hours upon hours worth of bonus features that includes material from all home video releases, all laserdisc releases, the 1999 “Legacy” release and 2003’s Alien Quadrilogy DVD boxed set. In addition, there are four hours of features that have never before been seen on any previous Alien release, period. If you’re feeling especially generous you can go the extra mile and splurge on the version encased in that nifty-looking “Egg” packaging, which also comes with a special edition “Alien” version of the Fox 75th Anniversary poster. So, are you salivating yet? Are ya? It’s ok, me too – just try not to drool all over the gift wrapping.
For the version with “Egg” packaging click here
List Price: $34.99
In case you hadn’t had enough with the original theatrical version, the “version you’ve never seen”, or any of the other versions of The Exorcist you’ve been able to get your hands on over the years, we now have The Exorcist on Blu-ray (finally!) with several hours of new extras. Disc 1 includes the 2000 “Director’s Cut” version, a new 3-hour making-of documentary on the movie (including never-before-seen footage from the set), and commentary by director William Friedkin, among other bonus extras. Disc 2 features the original theatrical version, along with commentaries by Friedkin and screenwriter/producer William Peter Blatty and the feature-length 1998 documentary Fear of God: The Making of `The Exorcist’. To top it all off, the discs are enclosed in a glossy hardback “book” that includes background information on the film, production stills, and actor and filmmaker bios. It’s a must-have for any serious horror fan.
List Price: $19.99
Dark Night of the Scarecrow, now being released for the first time on DVD (indeed, the first time in any home-video format), is a superb 1981 made-for-T.V. movie that has been virtually forgotten for far too long. Starring the excellent Charles Durning, the film is about a mentally challenged man accused of hurting a young girl in town, who is then tracked down and shot to death by a group of good ol’ boys as he hides inside the disguise of a scarecrow in his mother’s field. After the men responsible for his wrongful death – the girl in question was actually mauled by a dog – are let off scot-free by the local judge, they’re systematically hunted down and killed by a mysterious assailant, who foreshadows his arrival by planting a mysterious scarecrow near each of their homes before he comes for them. Overall, Dark Night of the Scarecrow is a terrifically atmospheric, criminally underrated classic that’s now finally being released to a new generation of horror fans, and it would make a great gift for anyone on your list who appreciates under-the-radar gems.
List Price: $39.95 (Blu-ray)/$29.95 (DVD)
Released for the first time ever on any home-video format in the U.S. just last month, House, a completely gonzo 1977 Japanese horror “classic” (depending on how you view that word) directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi, is a film that defies easy description. Essentially, the story involves a teenage girl who travels with six of her friends to the old home of her ailing aunt, where they are set upon by all manner of bizarre supernatural beings and possessed household items, including a bloodthirsty piano, deadly mattresses, and man-eating light fixtures. The effects are charmingly low-tech (apparently Obayashi intended for them to look as if they were drawn by young children) and the acting is, shall we say, not exactly of the highest-caliber, but nevertheless the psychedelic, batshit-insane nature of the film has given it quite a cult following through the years. The disc includes a commentary from House of the Devil director Ti West (an admirer of the film), an experimental short titled “Emotion”, and a featurette on the making of the movie in which Obayashi is interviewed. Best gifted to lovers of experimental, kook cinema.
Order by clicking here (Blu-ray)
List Price: $69.97 (Blu-ray)/$59.98 (DVD)
While it may not garner as much watercooler buzz as that other primetime vampire series True Blood, The Vampire Diaries has its own legion of fans (mostly of the “teenybopper” variety) and manages to score solid ratings week by week. Based on the book series of the same name by L.J. Smith, this is essentially the T.V. version of Twilight, with a gorgeous young cast and a storyline that follows a similar love triangle as the Stephanie Meyer series. The DVD set includes all fifteen episodes from the first season of the show, as well as numerous extras including unaired scenes, a gag reel, background information on the show’s development, commentary by series creator Kevin Williamson, and a downloadable audiobook of the novel Vampire Diaries: The Awakening, written by Smith. If you happen to have a teen/”tween”age girl in your household who can’t get enough of the “hunky” breed of vampire currently dominating pop culture (or perhaps an older friend of yours who counts the show as a guilty pleasure), then this is the gift for them.
Order by clicking here (Blu-ray)
List Price: $79.98 (Blu-ray)/$59.99 (DVD)
The “adult” equivalent of The Vampire Diaries, HBO’s sultry, over-the-top, nudity-loving True Blood is now in its third year and going stronger than ever. This set collects all 12 episodes from the second season, which continues to follow the supernatural goings-on of Sookie, vampire lover Bill and the rest of the quirky inhabitants of Bon Temps. In addition to the episodes the set boasts seven audio commentaries from cast and crew, including Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Ryan Kwanten, and series creator Alan Ball, as well as “The Vampire Report”, which gives an overview of the biggest “vampire news stories” from the past year.
Order by clicking here (Blu-ray)
I feel bad for people who never saw Grindhouse in the theater, the way it was meant to be seen…but at least the Blu-ray release gives them the next best thing. After a DVD release that saw both Death Proof and Planet Terror being put out individually, the Grindhouse Two-Disc Collector’s Edition Blu-ray is here to save the day, bringing the films are back together again the way they were meant to be seen. Extras include a behind-the-scenes look at the Planet Terror makeup effects, commentary by Robert Rodriguez, and two making-of featurettes that give a behind-the-scenes look at the production of both the Don’t and Thanksgiving trailers (directed by Edgar Wright and Eli Roth, respectively). While it was admittedly enjoyable to see the extended versions of both Death Proof and Planet Terror in their separate DVD releases, these two babies were meant to be viewed as a cohesive whole, making this a must-have for both fans of the films and anyone who missed out on the theatrical experience.
List Price: $29.97
While sequels Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness were released on Blu-ray previously, fans had to wait until this past August for the original to enjoy the same treatment. With transfers supervised by Sam Raimi, this Anchor Bay release looks and sounds spectacular, without thankfully losing the gritty feel of the original version. Sadly, however, it’s rather skimpy on the extras: while it includes all-new audio commentary from Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, and producer Robert Tapert, the “Limited Edition” Blu-ray (which is now tough to come by) actually included a second DVD disc that featured an hour-long retrospective on the making of the film, alternate takes, a reunion panel between the cast, and more. That’s the version to buy if you can manage to get your hands on it, but the single-disc edition alone is still worth the price for fans – at least until the entire trilogy is released in a boxed set.
List Price: $49.95 (Blu-ray)/$39.95 (DVD)
1955 classic The Night of the Hunter – sadly the only film actor Charles Laughton ever directed – has gotten the deluxe Criterion treatment in its Blu-ray release, with a gorgeous digital transfer of the film’s stunning black-and-white cinematography and a host of extras, including a full 2
Having grown up in a religious family, Christian movie night was something that happened a lot more often than I care to admit. However, back when I was a teenager, my parents showed up one night with an unusually cool-looking DVD of a movie that had been recommended to them by a church leader. Curious to see what new kind of evangelical propaganda my parents had rented this time, I proceeded to watch the film with them expecting a heavy-handed snoozefest.
To my surprise, I was a few minutes in when Denzel Washington proceeded to dismember a band of cannibal raiders when I realized that this was in fact a real movie. My mom was horrified by the flick’s extreme violence and dark subject matter, but I instantly became a fan of the Hughes Brothers’ faith-based 2010 thriller, The Book of Eli. And with the film’s atomic apocalypse having apparently taken place in 2024, I think this is the perfect time to dive into why this grim parable might also be entertaining for horror fans.
Originally penned by gaming journalist and The Walking Dead: The Game co-writer Gary Whitta, the spec script for The Book of Eli was already making waves back in 2007 when it appeared on the coveted Blacklist. It wasn’t long before Columbia and Warner Bros. snatched up the rights to the project, hiring From Hell directors Albert and Allen Hughes while also garnering attention from industry heavyweights like Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.
After a series of revisions by Anthony Peckham meant to make the story more consumer-friendly, the picture was finally released in January of 2010, with the finished film following Denzel as a mysterious wanderer making his way across a post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book. Along the way, he encounters a run-down settlement controlled by Bill Carnegie (Gary Oldman), a man desperate to get his hands on Eli’s book so he can motivate his underlings to expand his empire. Unwilling to let this power fall into the wrong hands, Eli embarks on a dangerous journey that will test the limits of his faith.
SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?
Judging by the film’s box-office success, mainstream audiences appear to have enjoyed the Hughes’ bleak vision of a future where everything went wrong, but critics were left divided by the flick’s trope-heavy narrative and unapologetic religious elements. And while I’ll be the first to admit that The Book of Eli isn’t particularly subtle or original, I appreciate the film’s earnest execution of familiar ideas.
For starters, I’d like to address the religious elephant in the room, as I understand the hesitation that some folks (myself included) might have about watching something that sounds like Christian propaganda. Faith does indeed play a huge part in the narrative here, but I’d argue that the film is more about the power of stories than a specific religion. The entire point of Oldman’s character is that he needs a unifying narrative that he can take advantage of in order to manipulate others, while Eli ultimately chooses to deliver his gift to a community of scholars. In fact, the movie even makes a point of placing the Bible in between equally culturally important books like the Torah and Quran, which I think is pretty poignant for a flick inspired by exploitation cinema.
Sure, the film has its fair share of logical inconsistencies (ranging from the extent of Eli’s Daredevil superpowers to his impossibly small Braille Bible), but I think the film more than makes up for these nitpicks with a genuine passion for classic post-apocalyptic cinema. Several critics accused the film of being a knockoff of superior productions, but I’d argue that both Whitta and the Hughes knowingly crafted a loving pastiche of genre influences like Mad Max and A Boy and His Dog.
Lastly, it’s no surprise that the cast here absolutely kicks ass. Denzel plays the title role of a stoic badass perfectly (going so far as to train with Bruce Lee’s protégée in order to perform his own stunts) while Oldman effortlessly assumes a surprisingly subdued yet incredibly intimidating persona. Even Mila Kunis is remarkably charming here, though I wish the script had taken the time to develop these secondary characters a little further. And hey, did I mention that Tom Waits is in this?
AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?
Denzel’s very first interaction with another human being in this movie results in a gory fight scene culminating in a face-off against a masked brute wielding a chainsaw (which he presumably uses to butcher travelers before eating them), so I think it’s safe to say that this dog-eat-dog vision of America will likely appeal to horror fans.
From diseased cannibals to hyper-violent motorcycle gangs roaming the wasteland, there’s plenty of disturbing R-rated material here – which is even more impressive when you remember that this story revolves around the bible. And while there are a few too many references to sexual assault for my taste, even if it does make sense in-universe, the flick does a great job of immersing you in this post-nuclear nightmare.
The excessively depressing color palette and obvious green screen effects may take some viewers out of the experience, but the beat-up and lived-in sets and costume design do their best to bring this dead world to life – which might just be the scariest part of the experience.
Ultimately, I believe your enjoyment of The Book of Eli will largely depend on how willing you are to overlook some ham-fisted biblical references in order to enjoy some brutal post-apocalyptic shenanigans. And while I can’t really blame folks who’d rather not deal with that, I think it would be a shame to miss out on a genuinely engaging thrill-ride because of one minor detail.
With that in mind, I’m incredibly curious to see what Whitta and the Hughes Brothers have planned for the upcoming prequel series starring John Boyega…
There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.
Looking for New Episodes of “Chucky” on Peacock? Here’s What Changed
‘Mountain Man’ – Joe Manganiello Will Battle Zombies in Upcoming Horror Movie
‘The Blair Witch Project’ – Original Stars Release a Statement Asking Lionsgate for Residuals & Recognition
‘Trap’ – Official Trailer Previews a Wild New Horror Experience from M. Night Shyamalan
‘Halloween: Illustrated’ Review: Original Novelization of John Carpenter’s Classic Gets an Upgrade
You must be logged in to post a comment.