The third Tuesday of October is yet another busy day of home entertainment releases for horror and sci-fi fans, as we have several special edition presentations of various cult classics to look forward to, as well as a few recent film releases as well. The team at Scream Factory have put together a thorough collector’s edition of Child’s Play that arrives on October 18th, and they have also teamed up with IFC Midnight for the recent indie horror thriller, What We Become.
Arrow Video has put together a two-disc special edition Blu-ray/DVD combo pack for The Bride of Re-Animator that streets this week, and Kino Lorber is resurrecting The Pit in HD (which is a title I’d highly recommend to cult film fans). Criterion has also assembled a stunning set celebrating several films from Guillermo del Toro, as well as a 10th anniversary Blu-ray / DVD release of Pan's Labyrinth, and there’s also a double feature release of the Waxwork films, which arrives on October 18th as part of Lionsgate’s Vestron Video Collector's Series.
Other notable releases for Tuesday include the fourth season of Bates Motel, Independence Day: Resurgence, Vampyres, The Caretaker, Nighthawks (which is more of a thriller, but is still very worthy of adding to any home collection), and several Warner Home Video titles that were previously Best Buy exclusives, as Stephen King’s IT, Cat’s Eye, and Salem’s Lot (1979) are finally making their way to other retailers.
The Bride of Re-Animator: Two-Disc Special Edition (Arrow Video, Blu/DVD Combo)
The success of Stuart Gordon's hit horror-comedy Re-animator meant that a sequel was all but inevitable. The resulting follow-up, Bride of Re-animator this time helmed by director Brian Yuzna (Society, Return of the Living Dead III) would prove that there was a good deal more life (and death) left in the story of Dr. Herbert West and his ghoulish exploits.
It has been eight months since the bloody massacre at the Miskatonic medical school. Unperturbed by the disastrous outcome of his previous meddling with the dead, Dr. West (again played by Jeffrey Combs) continues his research into the phenomenon of re-animation; only this time, he plans to create life starting with the heart of his young protégé Dan's dearly deceased, Meg Halsey. Surely nothing could go wrong?
With special effects master Screaming Mad George (the man behind the infamous "shunting" sequence of Society) on hand to contribute a host of characteristically weird and wonderful creations, Bride of Re-animator is a more than worthy successor to Stuart Gordon's original cult classic.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
Child’s Play: Collector’s Edition (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)
"The "chills come thick and fast" (Los Angeles Times) in this riveting, jolt-a-minute thriller about an innocent-looking doll inhabited by the soul of a serial killer who refused to die. From the director of Fright Night, Child's Play comes complete with "excellent special effects" (Leonard Maltin) and a slew of special features that make this Blu-ray your "friend to the end!"
In this "clever, playful thriller" (The New York Times), only six-year-old Andy realizes that Chucky is responsible for a spate of gruesome murders, including that of his unsuspecting babysitter. But the real terror takes hold when the deranged doll becomes determined to transfer his evil spirit to a living human being... Andy!
Bonus Features:
DISC ONE:
DISC TWO:
Nighthawks: Collector’s Edition (Shout Select, Blu-ray)
Sylvester Stallone and Rutger Hauer star in this riveting story of suspense and intrigue that starts in London, continues in Paris and reaches its chilling conclusion on the streets of New York.
When Europe’s most feared terrorist (Hauer, The Hitcher) explosively announces his presence in Manhattan, two elite undercover cops (Stallone and Billy Dee Williams) are assigned to stop him before he strikes again. But the ruthless terrorist has other plans for the city: and the detectives.
This edge-of-your-seat thriller, directed by Bruce Malmuth (Hard to Kill), also stars Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman), Persis Khambatta (Star Trek: The Motion Picture), Nigel Davenport (The Island of Dr. Moreau) and Joe Spinell (Maniac).
Pan's Labyrinth (The Criterion Collection, 10th Anniversary Blu-ray / DVD)
"An Academy Award–winning dark fable set five years after the end of the Spanish Civil War, Pan’s Labyrinth encapsulates the rich visual style and genre-defying craft of Guillermo del Toro. Eleven-year-old Ofelia (Ivana Baquero, in a mature and tender performance) comes face to face with the horrors of fascism when she and her pregnant mother are uprooted to the countryside, where her new stepfather (Sergi López), a sadistic captain in General Franco’s army, hunts down Republican guerrillas who refuse to give up the fight. The violent reality in which she lives merges seamlessly with a fantastical interior world when Ofelia meets a faun in a decaying labyrinth and is set on a strange, mythic journey that is at once terrifying and beautiful. In his revisiting of this bloody period in Spanish history, del Toro creates a vivid depiction of the monstrosities of war infiltrating a child’s imagination and threatening the innocence of youth."
The Pit (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray)
Brand New 2K Restoration! Jamie wouldn’t kill anyone... unless Teddy told him to! Twelve-year-old Jamie (Sammy Snyders, Tom Sawyer of TV s Huckleberry Finn and His Friends) is one creepy kid... he has a perverse obsession with sex, his only friend is an evil teddy bear, and he's the only one who knows about the hole in the forest where he feeds raw meat to a ravenous pack of mutant troglodytes. Jamie will teach everyone a lesson: the kids who teased and bullied him, the mean old lady down the street, even his pretty new babysitter. Soon they - and his entire town - will face the flesh-eating horror of The Pit! The one and only directorial effort by Lew Lehman with a script by documentarian Ian A. Stuart and featuring a wonderful cast that includes Jeannie Elias (Nomads), Sonja Smith (Videodrome) and Richard Alden (The Sadist).
Bonus Features include Interview with Star Sammy Snyders, Interview with Star Jeannie Elias, Interview with Screenwriter Ian A. Stuart, Audio Commentary by Film Historian Jason Pichonsky and Trailer.
Trilogía de Guillermo del Toro (Cronos/The Devil's Backbone/Pan's Labyrinth): Special Edition (Criterion, Blu-ray & DVD)
Throughout a career that encompasses both visually arresting art-house hits and big-budget Hollywood spectacles, director Guillermo del Toro has continually redefined and elevated the horror genre with his deeply personal explorations of myths and monsters. These three Spanish-language films, each a tale of childhood in troubled times, showcase his singular fusion of the fantastic and the real. Drawing inspiration from a rich variety of sources, from Alfred Hitchcock to Francisco de Goya, the gothic-infused stories collected here—populated by vampires, ghosts, and a fairy-tale princess—make evident why del Toro is considered the master cinematic fabulist of our time.
Special Features Include:
Waxwork/Waxwork II: Lost in Time (Lionsgate, Blu-ray)
WAXWORK: Inside the wax museum a group of teenagers are aghast at the hauntingly lifelike wax displays of Dracula, the Wolfman, the Mummy, and other character members of the Horror Hall of Fame. Each display is perfectly grotesque, yet each is missing one thing . . . a victim! Admission to the WAXWORK was free but now they may pay with their lives! One by one, the students are drawn into the settings as objects of the blood thirsty creatures. They are now part of the permanent collection.
WAXWORK II: LOST IN TIME: Having escaped the fiery destruction of the original Waxwork, Marl (Zach Galligan, Gremlins) and Sarah (Monika Schnarre, TV’s “Beverly Hills, 90210”) face another grueling ordeal in WAXWORK II, when Sarah is accused of murdering her stepfather. Fleeing through the doors of time in a desperate search for proof of her innocence, the two lovers find themselves caught in the eternally recurring battle between good and evil. Together they must stop one of the most powerful and demonic figures of all time — Lord Scarabus.
WAXWORK SPECIAL FEATURES:
WAXWORK II: LOST IN TIME SPECIAL FEATURES:
What We Become (IFC Midnight/Scream Factory, Blu/DVD Combo)
The Johansson family (mom, dad, their rebellious teenage son, and young daughter) are looking forward to a quiet summer in their idyllic suburban town. But in the blink of an eye, things go from blissful to berserk when a horrifying plague tears through the community. After a string of grisly deaths, the government puts the neighborhood on lockdown. But one thing soon becomes terrifyingly clear: you can’t quarantine the apocalypse. This nightmarish, blood-soaked shocker establishes sharply drawn, recognizably real characters: and then watches what happens when they’re put through the wringer to survive.
ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK:
Bates Motel: Season Four (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Blu-ray & DVD)
Body Snatchers (1993) (Warner Home Video, Blu-ray)
The Caretaker (Level 33 Entertainment, DVD)
Doctor Who: The Weeping Angels (BBC Warner, DVD)
Hillbilly Bloodbath (Bayview Entertainment, DVD)
Independence Day: Resurgence (20th Century Fox, 4K Blu, 3D Blu, Blu & DVD)
The Return of Dracula (Olive Films, Blu-ray)
Salem’s Lot (1979) (Warner Home Video, Blu-ray)
Special Effects (Olive Films, Blu-ray)
Stephen King’s Cat’s Eye (Warner Home Video, Blu-ray)
Stephen King’s IT (Warner Home Video, Blu-ray)
Vampyres (Artsploitation Films, 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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