April 2010 Horror Movie Blu-ray and DVD Guide

Posted by Peter Hall - April 3rd 2010 @ 1:04 pm

You don’t need any excuses.Â I suck for skipping February and March.Â Here’s April, though.

April 6th:

This is a solid week for horror movie Blu-rays, at least quantity wise.Â On the catalog front we’ve got Blus for BLOOD TIES: THE COMPLETE SERIES, DREAMSCAPE, THE RELIC, and Wes Craven’s original A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET.Â I know nothing about the first two, though I remember thinking THE RELIC was decent enough when I was in middle school — and if I thought it was only decent in middle school, it’s probably not going to hold up all that well.Â It’s been years since I’ve seen it, though, so I am curious to check it out again at some point.

I have the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET Blu sitting downstairs and I’ll be diving into it at some point this week for a longer review.Â It’s no super secret that it’s my favorite non-Carpenter, non-Cronenberg horror movie from the ’80s, though, so I’m really hoping Warner Brothers did right by the transfer.Â As far as special features go, I think it’s pretty much just a port of features from discs past.

The final horror Blu-ray for the week is Marcus Dunstan’s THE COLLECTOR, which you may remember is a movie I liked, oh, just a little bit last summer.Â I haven’t seen it since, but this is a definite buy for me.Â Strangely Amazon doesn’t appear to be selling it directly as of this writing, and I pretty much refuse to spend $30 on any single movie unless it’s an import, so sadly it may not be a release-day pick up for me.

On the non-HD front we’ve got just two titles to look at.Â The first is the British serial killer flick TONY, which I’ve heard nothing but good things about.Â No incredible ravings, but enough buzz to make it a top rental for the month.Â The other title is HIGH PLAINS INVADER, which is a Syfy premiere from a few months back that was picked up as part of the Maneater DVD series.Â It’s my goal to one day own the entire Maneater series because that’s just how my self-loathing ways roll.Â I’ll be keeping my eye on bargain bins for this one.

April 13th:

New Line has released a new NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET box set ahead of Platinum Dunes’ remake but the only thing that appears to be different about it is the packaging; and you know what’s bullshit about that?Â They’re using Jackie Earle Haley’s Krueger on the side, NOT Robert Englunds.Â Fuck that noise.

That’s okay, though, I’m not holding any grudges this week?Â Why?Â Because we’ve got muthafuckin’ ICE TWISTERS, that’s why!Â It’s actually not a bad little Syfy movie, either.Â I’ll watch anything that cursed network puts out on a Saturday night, but I rarely think the movies are actually any good.Â ICE TWISTERS, though, is well above average quality as far as Syfy premieres go.Â It’s got a good cast and a good balance of serious/silly going on.Â Worth the price of a rental.

I can’t really speak to the rest of the week’s discs, though.Â There’s a new Ed Wood Jr. Collection out that contains PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, GLEN OR GLENDA, NIGHT OF THE GHOULS, BRIDE OF THE MONSTER, JAILBAIT, and CROSSROAD AVENGER.Â Not bad for $22 if you’re an Ed Wood Jr. fan.Â After that we’ve got what looks like a Syfy movie, INFECTION: THE INVASION BEGINS, CREATURE OF DARKNESS and THE GREATEST AMERICAN SNUFF FILM, a title I can’t believe I just wrote.

April 20th:

It’s not really much of a horror movie, but considering it involves a serial killer and is directed by Peter Jackson, a good number of us are probably intrigued by THE LOVELY BONES.Â Well…don’t be.Â It’s overly long, poorly structured and routinely boring.Â And if you’re looking for a cool looking version of the afterlife, I’d say WHAT DREAMS MAY COME actually does a better job in that department.Â Good performances all around, though, and it’s an interesting footnote in Jackson’s filmography, but unless you’re a purist, it’s not worth actively pursuing.

The only other title of the week I’ve seen is GODSPEED, which isn’t a bad little indie thriller/revenge movie.Â The script is stretched a little thin to fill out the feature-length run time, but the performances are good and the movie is shot wonderfully.Â It’s not all that often you find a horror movie set in Alaska, yet alone an indie one.Â For that alone it’s an interesting curiosity.

The rest of the week is full of small titles you may have seen advertised in the pages of Fangoria, but that’s about it.Â The biggest of the bunch, and by biggest I mean funniest looking, is NEOWOLF, a movie about a band of werewolves.Â I’m not talking a band as in a pack, either; I’m talking a rock band of werewolves.Â Sold!Â As for the rest, take your pick of NECROSIS, SPRING BREAK MASSACRE (hey, it’s got Reggie Bannister in it…), BEGINNING OF THE END, BRAINCELL, FRATERNITY MASSACRE AT HELL ISLAND, and the miserable waste of Kristen Bell that is PULSE on Blu-ray.

April 27th:

Everyone knows that I don’t like Neil Marshall’s THE DESCENT, but I am looking forward to THE DESCENT: PART 2.Â I don’t know why, either, considering the early buzz has pretty much condemned it and at least one cast member is returning, but I kind of dug the trailer so this is still an April must-watch for me.

I think we all know that I’m going to see MEGAPIRANHA based on the title alone, but if you need other empirical evidence, just look at the cover.

I have a confession.Â I’ve never seen any of the vintage Troma movies.Â That’ll change this month with CLASS OF NUKE ‘EM HIGH on Blu-ray.

And lastly for the month we have a British thriller called DARK NATURE on Blu-ray as well as SYMPATHY, another movie I’ve never heard of, and TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE SEASON 3.Â That’s it, folks.

Netflixing the Month:

Tags: A Nightmare on Elm STreet, Beginning of the End, Blood Ties, Braincell, Class of Nuke 'Em High, Creature of Darkness, Dark Nature, Dreamscape, Fraternity Massacre at Hell Island, Godspeed, High Plains Invaders, horror blu-ray, horror dvd, Ice Twisters, Infection: The Invasion Begins, Megapiranha, Necrosis, Neowolf, Spring Break MAssacre, SYMPATHY, THE COLLECTOR, The Descent Part 2, The greatest American Snuff Film, THE LOVELY BONES, The Relic, Tony