Halloween Blu-Ray/DVD Reviews
It's that time of year again.. BFFs gather to celebrate All Hallows Eve with a spooked-out film festival in living rooms, dorm rooms or, heck, shown in your backyard on a ghostly sheet taped to your garage wall! We've got killers in the woods, "monsters and aliens", a demonic gypsy curse and we throw a buff Wolverine into the witches brew just for spice!
From Universal Home Entertainment
Drag Me to Hell - Blu-Ray Unrated Director's Cut
Sam Raimi, the director of the Spider-Man films, first came on the scene with his Army of Darkness and Evil Dead films. He goes back to his roots bigtime with this tale of a modern, ordinary young career woman (Alison Lohman) who makes one big mistake in order to further her career only to see the decision bite her in the bum in the form of an horrific gypsy curse! Can her cute boyfriend (Justin Long) save her? Can she save herself?
Special Features: This Blu-Ray set contains both unrated and PG-13 cuts of the film but I'd pass on the bloody unrated since it's is just very yucky and kinda upsetting. The PG-13 version is just as good.
"Production Video Diaries" is a very cool set of features that is a behind-the-scenes treasure. Justin Long is the host for this extra and covers everything from special effects, make-up, stunts to designing the sound. There are cast and crew interviews that are a hoot plus lots of footage from set including Alison trying to act while a hose is stuck up her nose for a bloody scene, some laughs with the spooky gypsy woman played delightfully by Lorna Raver and, how do you make a live goat behave anyway? This thorough "making of" covers it all.
Wrapping Up: Drag Me to Hell is 1980's-style retro-horror at its best. It's witty, funny, creepy-crawly and scary as heck at times all within a PG-13 rating.... or watch the unrated version.. eeeeew. This is a shocker with something for everyone at your home horror movie marathon! Buy it for your collection or certainly rent this Halloween season!
From DreamWorks Home Entertainment
Monsters Vs. Aliens and Bob's Big Break (in 3-D) Blu-Ray
In contrast to Drag Me to Hell, what's more fun than an almost 40-foot woman, a blob, a sea creature and a moth saving the planet from a crazed alien scientist and his mega-machines? Not much this Halloween! And the film has the voices of Reese Witherspoon and Seth Rogen among a stellar cast, to bring these colorful guys to life.
Special Features: This Blu-Ray looks and sounds super perfect in 2-D and you get glasses for the 3-D "Bob" extra. There are tons of extras! Too many to review in detail so we'll be brief:
"B.O.B.'s Big Break" - is in 3-D or 2-D if ya just hate those glasses. Story goes: Dr. Cockroach celebrates B.O.B.,'s birthday by turning him into a bomb! There are other escape attempts that are hilarious. Very cute as blue-jello blob B.O.B. gains crazy new powers. Really sweet extra.
Also in 3-D is "Paddle Ball: a game asking the player to match an audio description to a character and find that character's icon before time runs out. Harder than it sounds and kinda fun!
In 2-D is "Audio Commentary" by the producer and directors and these guys are fun! You learn all kinds of weird details about everything from lead Ginormica's hair-do hassles to the making of the most difficult scenes. Well worth a listen.
"Animator's Corner" is a "picture in picture" feature that sits in the corner of your screen during the running of the film with nifty snippets of the actors doing their voice work and different sketches of the characters and tons of interviews about how most of the scenes were conceived and brought to life. Lots of fun info. I'd recommend watching the movie by itself first, then watching later with this feature on!
"Trivia Track": You get a lot of fun info about production that make this feature worth a listen and watch. How tall exactly is Ginormica, how many times does Reese say "amazing"? You get an alternate ending for one character. Cute!
"Deleted Scenes"- There are three, one entire battle that wasn't in the film and a scene in which the Pres tries to blame the friendly monsters for trashing San Francisco rather than aliens. These are over animated storyboards. You see Seth Rogen as B.O.B., doing his thing and more. Also interesting.
"Tech of MVA" is skipable since it seems to be selling how cool 3-D and HP are in the film.
"Modern Monster Movie Making" is the true making-of featurette with shots of the actors goofing off while recording and how San Francisco was studied in detail for the animators to re-create. You watch an animator walk around a model city to get the "feel" of giant Ginormica, etc. Fun.
"Karaoke Music Party" is only six minutes long and you read the words on screen and can sing along with Dr. Cockroach and the Missing Link hard rockin' to the classic "Born to be Wild" and Ginormica singing "I Will Survive" and oddly, B.O.B. singing "More Than a Woman". Short and cute.
"Dreamworks Video Jukebox" is a collection of music videos from other DreamWorks movies like Shrek, Over the Hedge, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and more.
Wrapping Up: This fun animated film is an homage to all those funny 1950's monsters and aliens films that you love to laugh at on the late, late show on TV and it also has a lot of heart and a "brotherhood" message, beautiful animation and, although the plot wanders at times, it's a great, more light-hearted addition to your Halloween marathon and a must for your animation collection. The cute B.O.B. addition in 3-D makes it an even more attractive package. I'd go for it.
From 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Ultimate 2-Disc Edition-Blu-Ray
This title has been out for a little while but we wanted to include it in our Halloween review round-up because, hey, it features a nifty gang of X-Men, which, in some circles, are called monsters, it has fun action, a love story, looks awesome in Blu-Ray and what would be cooler knocking (uh scratching?) at your door this Halloween than buff Hugh Jackman with his adamantium claws? The tale fills you in on how a weird but sweet kid and his more nasty older bro became Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber) and ended up arch enemies.
Special Features: Many. "Audio Commentary" with likable director Gavin Hood who fills us in on his several production challenges like getting actor Jackman to hear his direction when Hugh was submerged in a water tank etc. Kinda interesting but save it for after Halloween. A second commentary track features producers who talk of weird little production challenges.. again, okay but check it out later.
"Ultimate X-Mode" is another of the picture-in-picture extras that can run in the corner during the film. All the little featurettes add some fun knowledge about the characters especially and the look of the film. There is some fun behind-the-scenes footage and hand-sketched storyboards along with some trivia. Overall, this is worth a listen/watch but all could have been put into one big "making of" featurette instead of dividing them up.
"Live Lookup" is kind of neat. If you are watching the film on your computer and want to pause it and look up something about an actor you see or a film he was in you can pull up the info on IMDB. Kind of fun for a second watching of the film especially but more for a personal watch and not for a bunch of pals gathered around a bigger screen on Halloween.
"Deleted and Alternate Scenes" run about 10 minutes and wow, there is a very different version of a big confrontation scene near the film's end that is well-worth a look. The other deleted scenes are fun to watch and nice to fill in with director Hood's commentary on them.
"The Roots of Wolverine": A Conversation with Stan Lee and Len Wein" is just what it sounds like. You learn about the origin of the comic book character from the guys who know best. You learn who thought up "adamantium" and get an argument as to whether "Wolvie" is really a mutant or an artificial version etc. Fun for comic fans or the curious.
"Wolverine Unleashed: The Complete Origins" goes on with the Wolvie legend and a different idea for the movie story. You see buff Hugh Jackman training and becoming the character and a bit about his claws and the weird adamantium tank. Kinda neat.
"Weapon X: Mutant Files" is a ton of short featurettes that examines each character with lots of actor footage with Hugh, Liev Will.i.Am, hot Taylor Kitsch and Ryan Reynolds. I liked this one a lot.
"The Thrill of the Chase: The Helicopter Sequence" provides details on how one of the most bombastic scenes was accomplished. Interesting and fun visually.
"Fox Movie Channel Presents - World Premiere" shows the premiere of the film in fan-chosen Tempe, Arizona of all places. Short and fun to check out.
Wrapping Up: I like Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds. I admit it. I think this movie has something for everyone; a nice love story, hot-looking guys in fun if not totally original action sequences and some actual character development which is rare today in a big action picture. It's a fun change of pace for your Halloween movie fest. Rent or buy if you like Hugh or "Wolvie".
From Anchor Bay Entertainment
The Shortcut - DVD
This direct-to-DVD scarefest is much better than most I've seen lately. It's also PG-13 for the younger crowd but scary enough for older teens. It's produced by a branch of Adam Sandler's company and cute James Franco's younger brother Dave of TV's "Privileged" and "Greek" is in the film as well as Disney hottie Drew Seeley from Another Cinderella Story with Selena Gomez.
Story goes: A shortcut through the woods saved a lot of time getting to school, but no kids growing up in a suburban neighborhood dared to take it. The trail ran within sight of a scary house with an eerie old man who would accost travelers with a shovel and an ominous message to stay away. Town legend said he was involved in the disappearances of some kids long ago. Now, some of the local teens are joined by a hot new teen guy in town and decide to find out the truth about the old man and his possible continuing murder spree.. but all is not what it seems...
Special Features: Only one. "Audio Commentary" by director Nicholaus Goossen gives info on a lot of production details and struggles and the guy is kinda funny. He talks also about Adam Sandler's suggestions for the movie. Not bad at all.
Wrapping Up: Acting is pretty good. Characters are developed well. Dialogue is believable and there is a nice little twist at the end that you may or may not see coming and the film is just creepy; a great choice for Halloween especially. Go rent it at least.
Keep checking back for more scary/monster movie reviews as we receive the DVDs/Blu-Rays. If we get more, we'll try to cover before Halloween in Part II!
