Home Video
Open Road’s ‘The Grey’ Gets Jam-Packed Home Video Release
When a plane crashes in the remote Alaskan wilderness, the survivors must battle extreme weather conditions, devastating injuries and a pack of rogue wolves in order to stay alive in the riveting action adventure The Grey (review), coming to Blu-ray Combo Pack with UltraViolet, as well as DVD, Digital Download and On Demand on May 22, 2012, from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Starring Academy Award-nominee Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List, Taken), The Grey pits man against nature in a non-stop, life-or-death battle.
Directed by Joe Carnahan (The A-Team, Smokin Aces), the film also features Dermot Mulroney (J. Edgar, Big Miracle), Frank Grillo (Warrior, Minority Report), James Badge Dale (Shame, The Departed), Joe Anderson (Across the Universe, Love Happens), Dallas Roberts (3:10 to Yuma, Walk the Line) and Nonso Anozie (Atonement, RocknRolla).
The Grey Blu-ray Combo Pack delivers the film in perfect hi-def picture and perfect hi-def sound and features bonus content including deleted scenes and feature commentary by co-writer and director Joe Carnahan and editors Roger Barton (Transformers: Dark of the Moon) and Jason Hellmann (G-Force). The Blu-ray Combo Pack also includes UltraViolet, a DVD, and a Digital Copy of the film – so consumers can truly enjoy the movie anytime, anywhere, on the device of their choice! UltraViolet is the revolutionary new way for consumers to collect movies and TV shows and put them in the cloud. From there, they can download and stream instantly to computers, tablets and smartphones. In addition, consumers can redeem a Digital Copy of the film from a variety of retail partners, who offer many viewing options including iTunes, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch,Android, connected televisions, Blu-ray player apps, and more! “Liam Neeson stars as John Ottway, a sharpshooting wolf hunter who becomes an unlikely hero, leading a group of oilrig roughnecks on a death-defying backwoods trek through the Alaskan wilderness. When a plane transporting them to Anchorage crashes on a remote mountaintop, eight survivors must find their way back to civilization or perish in a frozen wasteland. With Ottway as their guide, the ravaged group faces hostile terrain with limited supplies. Most terrifyingly, they are stalked by a pack of fierce and cunning wolves. In order to survive, they will have to turn the tables on the ferocious predators in an unparalleled wilderness adventure.”
BONUS FEATURES ON BLU-RAY & DVD:
Feature Commentary with Co-Writer/Director Joe Carnahan and Editors Roger Barton and Jason Hellmann
Deleted Scenes
BONUS FEATURES EXCLUSIVELY ON BLU-RAY:
UltraViolet: The revolutionary new way for consumers to collect movies and TV shows, store them in the cloud, and download and stream instantly to computers, tablets and smartphones. Currently available in the United States only.
Digital Copy: Viewers can redeem a digital version of the full-length movie from a choice of retail partners to watch on an array of electronic and portable devices.
U-Control:
Picture-in-Picture: Featuring pre-visualization and storyboard comparisons of some the film’s most exciting scenes.
pocket BLU App: The popular free pocket BLU app for smartphones is now even better with newly updated versions for iPad, Android tablets, PC and Macintosh computers, with features made especially to take advantage of the devices’ larger screens and high resolution displays.
Advanced Remote Control: A sleek, elegant new way to operate your Blu-ray player. Users can navigate through menus, playback and BD-Live functions with ease.
Video Timeline: Users can easily bring up the video timeline, allowing them to instantly access any point in the film.
Mobile-To-Go: Users can unlock a selection of bonus content with their Blu-ray discs to save to their device or to stream from anywhere there is a Wi-Fi network, enabling them to enjoy content on the go, anytime, anywhere.
Browse Titles: Users will have access to a complete list of pocket BLU-enabled titles available and coming to Blu-ray. They can view free previews and see what additional content is available to unlock on their device.
Keyboard: Entering data is fast and easy with your device’s intuitive keyboard.
BD-LIVE: Access the BD-Live Center through your Internet-connected player to access the latest trailers, exclusive content and more!
Home Video
‘Herencia Diabólica’ – 1993’s “Mexican Child’s Play” Finally Has a Blu-ray Release [Review]
Did you know that there is a Child’s Play-inspired film from Mexico? If you didn’t, you can thank Vinegar Syndrome’s new label Degausser Video for making 1993’s Herencia Diabólica available for the masses to watch. Or at least for the VS hardcore fanbase, Chucky completists and anyone else who needs something like this in their lives.
Director Alfredo Salazar, known for his writing connection to the 70s Santo film series, also serves as the writer here to bring us a film seemingly inspired from the Child’s Play franchise. While it has been recently labeled as the “Mexican Child’s Play” (there’s a special feature on the disc with that very title), the killer doll concept is where the comparison should start and end. Despite having some seeds planted by that franchise, Salazar delivers a story that blossoms into something unique.
Tony (Roberto Guinar) receives a letter informing him that his aunt has died, and he has inherited her estate in Mexico. He quits his job and uproots his life in New York with his wife Annie (Holda Ramírez) to relocate south of the border and move into his new crib. Now I know what you’re thinking, what person just quits their job and drags their wife to another country without having reliable monetary income? Tony does, everyone, Tony does.
And what’s the first thing they do once they arrive in Mexico and check out the estate? They hit the bedroom, naturally. We are treated to a sex scene with an erotica song that feels like a knockoff of “Sadness” by Enigma (remember them?). Sounds fun and all, but the scene takes place completely in the dark and we see absolutely nothing. Maybe that’s why the sexy-time tune was pumping, so we could know what was exactly going down.
While Tony goes on a job interview, Annie explores the estate’s grounds in a tedious chore to experience, going room by room, plodding along. But it does lead us to her discovery of our antagonist—the evil clown doll, Payasito! Of all the things in the house, she decides to bring this monstrosity down to show Tony when he gets home. What an exciting way to celebrate (sic)! Then out of nowhere, she spouts off some exposition about rumors that Tony’s aunt dabbled in the dark arts and now we know where our title Diabolical Inheritance (the English translation for Herencia Diabólica) originates. For those of you who keep score for things like that.
Before proceeding with this review, you really need to visualize what Payasito looks like to truly embrace the rest of the film’s shenanigans. While Chucky resembles a cute ginger child, Payasito resembles a small clown that is much larger in stature than Chucky. That’s because Payasito is performed by an actor (Margarito Esparaza) in clown cosplay whenever he’s on the move (like Mannequin 2), and makes some really horrible facial expressions. Chucky dresses in “Good Guys” overalls and a striped shirt, but Payasito wears a new wave Santa hat while sporting a Sgt. Pepper jacket and Peter Pan tights. As you can now tell, he is quite beautiful.
Back to our story, Payasito begins to spook Annie cerebrally until she becomes unnerved to the point of having a complete mental break down, making her easy prey to eliminate. She dies but the unborn child survives, with Tony believing that her death was caused by her mental instability. Fast forward some years later and the couple’s surviving spawn has grown into child Roy (Alan Fernando), who at this point has already bonded with Payasito to help him over the loss of his mother. Dun-dun-duuunnn!
Meanwhile wealthy Tony remains single, still grieving his late wife, until his blonde assistant Doris encourages him to move on with his life and start seeing other people. And by other people, she naturally means herself. As the old Kanye West song lyric goes, “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger…”, and it seems that she might be until we learn more about her character. Doris is played by the stunning Lorena Hererra who has an extremely extensive resume in Mexico, and she carries most of the film quite well during the feature’s second half. The singer and former Playboy centerfold for their Mexico edition is by far the most recognizable face in the cast.
Doris and Tony do indeed hookup and she moves into La casa de Herencia, where she does her best to impress Roy and lessen his obsession with the doll. There is a scene where they go to a nearby park without Payasito that is filled with famous fairytale figures, such as Pinocchio, Cinderella and King Kong! What, you didn’t know King Kong is a fairytale? Me neither. But Roy continues to be obsessed with Payasito after their trip, much to Doris’ chagrin.
Her actions to separate him from Roy gets Payasito angry, setting up the film’s most memorable scene. We already know that Payasito is a devil doll like Chucky, but now we learn he also has the power to invade people’s dreams like Freddy Krueger! Does Payasito enter the dream world and concoct a creative way to kill Doris in her sleep? No, he harnesses his power to sexually assault her instead. Yes that actually happens. After she awakens, Doris grabs the doll and tosses him into a lake, only to find him waiting for her by the time she gets back to the house. So now we know he also maintains the ability to “transport” like Jason Voorhees too. This doll is the total package!
More insanity happens before we close out the film with the longest victim chase sequence ever. It makes the previously mentioned painful house search scene seem like an eyeblink. It feels like it’s the film’s entire third act, filled with so much padding that you could soundproof an entire three-story house.
So how’s the transfer? Considering it was created using a mix of VHS and film source elements from 1993, they did one heck of a job! The work they put into it is especially noticeable in the dream invasion sequence, with the pulsing multi-colored psychedelic visuals. Super trippy stuff. Even the film’s score provides a pretty chill vibe, during the times when Payasito isn’t on the prowl.
If anything you read has piqued your interest in the very least, you should give it a shot. But if not, it is best to leave this doll on the shelf.
Herencia Diabólica is now available to purchase at VinegarSyndrome.com.
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