Happy October, gang! With the Halloween season now officially underway, we have an incredible day of horror and sci-fi home entertainment releases to enjoy. Arrow Video has put together three stunning special edition sets for Children of the Corn, Don’t Torture A Duckling, and The Suspicious Death of A Minor, but we also have several other modern cult titles debuting as well, including Popcorn, 976-EVIL, and The Hidden.
For all you Charles Lee Ray enthusiasts out there, Cult of Chucky and the Chucky: Complete 7-Movie Collection both come home on Tuesday, and Scream Factory is also releasing the recent indie horror thriller Jackals on Blu-ray.
Other notable home entertainment titles bowing on October 3rd include American Horror Story: Roanoke, A Ghost Story, Haunters: The Art of the Scare, Little Shop of Horrors: The Director’s Cut, iZombie: The Complete Third Season, and Vampyr: Special Edition.
976-EVIL (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Blu-ray)
Director Robert “Freddy Krueger” Englund dials up a gothic tale of high-tech horror in 976-EVIL. High school underdog Hoax Wilmoth (Stephen Geoffreys, Fright Night ) fills up the idle hours in his seedy little hometown fending off the local leather-jacketed thugs, avoiding his overbearing mother (Sandy Dennis ) and dreaming of a date with trailer park temptress Suzie (Lezlie Deane). But his quietly desperate life takes a terrifying turn when his cousin introduces him to an unusual new hobby - phoning in for his Horrorscope. Hoax is hooked up with a compellingly hideous demonic force that slowly begins to overtake his entire life and now there’s more than just a phone bill to pay for anyone who ever dared cross “the neighborhood nerd”.
Children of the Corn: Special Edition (Arrow Video, Blu-ray)
HE WHO WALKS BEHIND THE ROWS. From the mind of celebrated horror author Stephen King, the man behind such classic terror tales as The Shining, Carrie and It, comes one of his most chilling offerings yet Children of the Corn.
A young couple on a road trip find themselves lost in the backroads of rural Nebraska, eventually winding up in the seemingly abandoned town of Gatlin. But the town is far from empty as the pair soon discover, it’s inhabited by a twisted cult of murderous children thirsty for another blood sacrifice...
Adapted from King’s eponymous short story first published in 1977 and starring Linda Hamilton (The Terminator) and Peter Horton (thirtysomething), Children of the Corn has gone on to spawn one of the most enduring horror franchises of all time.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
Cult of Chucky (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Blu/DVD/Digital HD & DVD/Digital)
Confined to an asylum for the criminally insane for the past four years, Nica (Fiona Dourif) is wrongly convinced that she, not Chucky, murdered her entire family. But when her psychiatrist introduces a new group therapy tool — a "Good Guy" doll — a string of grisly deaths plague the asylum and Nica starts to wonder if maybe she isn't crazy after all. Andy (Alex Vincent), Chucky's now-grown-up nemesis from the original Child's Play, races to Nica's aid. But to save her he'll have to get past Tiffany (Oscar-nominee Jennifer Tilly), Chucky's long-ago bride, who will do anything, no matter how deadly or depraved, to help her beloved devil doll.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The Hidden (Warner Archive Collection, Blu-ray)
Something hideous is changing law-abiding citizens into monstrous, hyperviolent psychopaths. Now, only Kyle MacLachlan (Dune, Twin Peaks) and Michael Nouri (Flashdance) can halt the terrifying rampage of The Hidden!
A series of bizarre, inexplicable robberies and murders have L.A. police detective Tom Beck (Nouri) totally baffled. And it doesn’t help when mysterious FBI agent Lloyd Gallagher (MacLachlan) tells him that a demonic extraterrestrial creature is invading the bodies of innocent victims – and transforming them into inhuman killers with an unearthly fondness for heavy-metal music, red Ferraris and unspeakable violence! This chilling, high-velocity sci-fi horrorshow that captures a long-gone and way-gone Los Angeles has emerged from the shadows to epitomize '80s cult cinema - and now it's looking show room fresh!
Special Features:
Commentary by Director Jack Sholder and Tim Hunter
SFX Footage with commentary by Jack Sholder
Theatrical Trailer (HD)
Jackals (Scream Factory, Blu-ray & DVD)
From director Kevin Greutert (Saw 3D: The Final Chapter) comes a disturbing vision of a fractured family that will do anything to get the son they love back from the unspeakable evil that has taken control of his mind.
When Justin Powell (Ben Sullivan) is captured by two ski-masked men and dragged back to a secluded cabin, it’s anything but a standard kidnapping. Waiting for Justin at the cabin is his father (Johnathon Schaech, That Thing You Do!), mother (Deborah Kara Unger, Crash, Silent Hill), brother (Nick Roux), and former girlfriend (Chelsea Ricketts). Together, they are dedicated to freeing him from the sinister brainwashing he’s undergone at the hands of a vicious cult known as The Jackals.
With the help of Jimmy Levine (Stephen Dorff, Blade), an experienced cult deprogrammer, the family does their best to bring Justin back to reality … but their plans go awry when the cult descends upon the cabin, demanding Justin back. A vicious battle unfolds, testing familial loyalties and unleashing a bloodbath from which no one is safe.
Popcorn: Special Edition (Synapse Films, Blu-ray)
What could be scarier than an all-night "Horrorthon"? A group of film students finds out when they stage just such an event at an abandoned movie palace. In addition to the three features MOSQUITO, THE ATTACK OF THE AMAZING ELECTRIFIED MAN and THE STENCH, they decide to screen a bizarre short called THE POSSESSOR, whose creator, Lanyard Gates, killed his family and set the theater on fire after its first showing. Maggie (Jill Schoelen, THE STEPFATHER) has been having frightening dreams that seem to be connected to THE POSSESSOR, and as the festival proceeds, the nightmare comes true for her and her friends as they are stalked and slain by a mysterious killer. Has Gates survived to continue THE POSSESSOR's deadly legacy?
A loving homage to 50s/ 60s B-movies (the trio of flicks shown at the Horrorthon all have accompanying William Castle-style gimmicks), POPCORN is also an insanely fun horror/comedy in its own right. Pseudonymously written by Alan Ormsby (CAT PEOPLE, DEATHDREAM), who directed the films-within-the-film, it celebrates the joys of old-fashioned creature features and 80s-style stalk-and-slay, with a great cast additionally including Dee Wallace (THE HOWLING), Tony Roberts (AMITYVILLE 3-D), Ray Walston (THE STAND), Malcolm Danare (CHRISTINE) and Kelly Jo Minter (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 5). Pop some popcorn of your own and settle in to watch this new high-definition transfer, which comes with a box full of bonus features!
Special Features:
Vampyr: Special Edition (Criterion Collection, Blu-ray)
With Vampyr, Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer channeled his genius for creating mesmerizing atmosphere and austere, unsettling imagery into the horror genre. The result a chilling film about a student of the occult who encounters supernatural haunts and local evildoers in a village outside Paris is nearly unclassifiable. A host of stunning camera and editing tricks and densely layered sounds creates a mood of dreamlike terror. With its roiling fogs, ominous scythes, and foreboding echoes, Vampyr is one of cinema's greatest nightmares.
BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
- High-definition digital transfer of the original German version of the film, from the 1998 restoration by Martin Koerber and the Cineteca di Bologna, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- Alternate version with English text
- Audio commentary featuring film scholar Tony Rayns
- Carl Th. Dreyer, a 1966 documentary by Jorgen Roos chronicling Dreyer's career
- Video essay by scholar Casper Tybjerg on Dreyer's influences in creating Vampyr
- Radio broadcast from 1958 of Dreyer reading an essay about filmmaking
- PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by critics Mark Le Fanu and Kim Newman, a piece by Koerber on the restoration, and a 1964 interview with producer and actor Nicolas de Gunzburg
- AND: A book featuring Dreyer and Christen Jul's original screenplay and Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 story 'Carmilla,'; a source for the film
ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK:
13 Demons (Cinedigm, DVD)
A Ghost Story (Lionsgate, Blu/Digital & DVD)
American Horror Story: Roanoke (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Blu-ray & DVD)
Bram Stoker’s Dracula: 25th Anniversary Edition (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 4K Ultra HD/Blu/Digital)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 25th Anniversary Edition (20th Century Fox, Blu/Digital HD)
Chucky: Complete 7-Movie Collection (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Blu-ray & DVD)
Devil's Whisper (Vega Baby, DVD)
Don’t Torture A Duckling: Special Edition (Arrow Video, Blu/DVD Combo)
Haunters: The Art of the Scare (The Brain Factory, Blu-ray)
iZombie: The Complete Third Season (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Blu-ray & DVD)
Kill Another Day (Echo Bridge, DVD)
Little Shop of Horrors: The Director’s Cut (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Blu-ray)
The Midnight Man (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, DVD)
Night of the Living Dead: 50th Anniversary Edition (Mill Creek Entertainment, Blu/Digital)
Shortwave (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)
Stone Cold Dead (Kino Classics, Blu-ray & DVD)
The Survivalist (Shout! Factory, Blu-ray / DVD)
The Suspicious Death of A Minor: Two Disc Special Edition (Arrow Video, Blu/DVD Combo)
Vincent Price Collection: 5 Frightening Features (Mill Creek Entertainment, DVD/Digital)
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.
Daily Dead's Official Podcast! Daily Dead's Official Podcast!
