Happy December, readers! This month’s home media arrivals are kicking off in high fashion, as we not only have several holiday-themed horrors coming our way this week, but we also have several recent titles coming home to boot. If you’re looking to dabble in the dark side of Christmas, All the Creatures Were Stirring (coming to DVD ahead of its Blu-ray release in January), Slay Belles, Christmas Blood, Dead by Christmas, and Elves are all hitting various formats on Tuesday, and if you missed them in theaters, you can catch up with both The Nun and The Happytime Murders this week as well.
Fans can also look forward to revisiting season 2 of Westworld this week, and Scream Factory has teamed up with IFC Midnight for the release of Elizabeth Harvest and What Keeps You Alive on both Blu-ray and DVD. Other notable titles arriving on December 4th include Snowflake, ’Til Death Do Us Part, The House That Never Dies: Reawakening, and Nightshift.
All the Creatures Were Stirring (RLJE Films, DVD)
Ho, ho, no! The joyful spirit of the holidays is about to take one dark turn after another. From sadistic office parties and last-minute shopping nightmares, to vengeful stalkers and immortal demons, there’s plenty out there to keep you from getting out of bed to see what’s under the tree this holiday season. Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians) and Jonathan Kite (“2 Broke Girls”) headline a sensational ensemble cast in this devilish stocking stuffer of a movie.
Christmas Blood (Artsploitation Films, DVD)
Christmas is a time of peace, love and family. But not for Norway as a psychopath dressed in a Santa Claus suit has been terrorizing them for the past 13 years. For as soon as the caroling starts, this demented Kris Kringle dispenses bloody ax blows regardless of whether you've been bad or good. As the holiday approaches on one snow-covered town filled with revelers, a pair of detectives work against time to find and arrest this bearded serial killer. Will they manage to stop this demented St. Nick before he kills again? Director Reinert Kiil (The House, Whore) delivers a dark, disturbing and bloody holiday thriller.
Elizabeth Harvest (Scream Factory/IFC Midnight, Blu-ray & DVD)
In Elizabeth Harvest, Elizabeth (Abbey Lee, The Neon Demon), a beautiful young newlywed, arrives at the palatial estate of her brilliant scientist husband Henry (Ciarán Hinds, Justice League). Ensconced in modernist luxury with an obedient — if slightly unsettling — house staff (Carla Gugino, Gerald’s Game and Matthew Beard, The Imitation Game), she has seemingly everything she could want. But one mystery tantalizes her: what is behind the locked door to Henry’s laboratory that he has forbidden her to enter? When an inquisitive Elizabeth dares to find out, everything she thought she knew about her husband — and about herself — will change.
The Happytime Murders (Blu/DVD Combo & DVD)
The Happytime Murders is a filthy comedy set in the underbelly of Los Angeles where puppets and humans coexist. Two clashing detectives with a shared secret, one human (Melissa McCarthy) and one puppet, are forced to work together again to solve the brutal murders of the former cast of a beloved classic puppet television show.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The Nun (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, 4K Ultra HD/Blu Combo, Blu/DVD Combo)
When a young nun at a cloistered abbey in Romania takes her own life, a priest with a haunted past and a novitiate on the threshold of her final vows are sent by the Vatican to investigate. Together they uncover the order’s unholy secret. Risking not only their lives but their faith and their very souls, they confront a malevolent force in the form of the same demonic nun that first terrorized audiences in “The Conjuring 2,” as the abbey becomes a horrific battleground between the living and the damned.
Slay Belles (Epic Pictures, Blu-ray)
It's Christmas Eve, and three cosplaying women are breaking into Santa Land for some partying and fun! What they didn't expect was to come across the malevolent Christmas demon Krampus! The girls must team up with Santa Claus himself (played by THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW's Barry Bostwick) to battle the creature and save the world!
What Keeps You Alive (Scream Factory/IFC Midnight, Blu-ray & DVD)
How much can you really know about another person? The unsettling truth that even those closest to us can harbor hidden dimensions drives this thrillingly unpredictable, bloodstained fear trip. Jackie (Hannah Emily Anderson) and Jules (Brittany Allen) are a couple celebrating their one-year anniversary at a secluded cabin in the woods belonging to Jackie's family. From the moment they arrive, something changes in Jules' normally loving wife, as Jackie begins to reveal a previously unknown dark side — all building up to a shocking revelation that will pit Jules against the woman she loves most in a terrifying fight to survive. Defying expectations at every turn, Director Colin Minihan (reuniting Jigsaw cast members Anderson and Allen) delivers a nerve-twisting cat-and-mouse thriller built around a shattering tale of heartbreak and betrayal.
ALSO AVAILBLE THIS WEEK:
Dead by Christmas (Honey Releasing/Walking Shadows, DVD)
Elves (Uncork’d Entertainment, DVD)
The House That Never Dies: Reawakening (Well Go USA, DVD)
Nightshift (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, DVD)
Snowflake (Artsploitation Films, Blu-ray & DVD)
’Til Death Do Us Part (Gravitas Ventures, Blu-ray & DVD)
Westworld: Season Two: The Door (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, 4K Ultra HD/Blu Combo, Blu/DVD Combo & DVD)
Heather A. Wixson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, until she followed her dreams and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A 14-year veteran in the world of horror entertainment journalism, Wixson fell in love with genre films at a very early age, and has spent more than a decade as a writer and supporter of preserving the history of horror and science fiction cinema. Throughout her career, Wixson has contributed to several notable websites, including Fangoria, Dread Central, Terror Tube, and FEARnet, and she currently serves as the Managing Editor for Daily Dead, which has been her home since 2013. She's also written for both Fangoria Magazine & ReMind Magazine, and her latest book project, Monsters, Makeup & Effects: Volume One will be released on October 20, 2021.
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