Two gooey, gory horror movies from the MGM vault make their high definition debut on Blu-ray from Shout! Factory's Scream Factory horror imprint.

The Curse:

The first film follows a boy named Zach Hayes (Wil Wheaton) who lives on the family farm with his mother Frances (Kathleen Jordon Gregory), father Nathan (Claude Akins), younger sister Alice (Amy Wheaton) and dim-witted older brother Cyrus (Malcolm Danare). Nathan does what he can to raise his cows and grow a decent apple crop and is a deeply religious man, while his wife has eyes for the hairy worker who lives nearby. Cyrus constantly bullies Zach and his parents more or less permit it, leaving Alice as the only one in the family he seems to have much of a connection with.

All of this family drama is turned up a notch when a giant meteor lands on the farm. When Zach and the town doctor, Alan Forbes (Cooper Huckabee), discover it they soon learn that whatever is leaking out of the thing is getting into the water. Before you know it, anyone and anything that has come into contact with the water is starting to… mutate. The animals attack, the apples are full of worms, there are some nasty growths coming out of Frances' cheek and Nathan is just getting to be flat out abusive. Meanwhile, Forbes and a predatory real estate mogul named Charlie Davidson (Steve Carlisle) are trying to buy up as much land in the area as possible while a member of the Tennessee Valley Authority named Willis (John Schneider of The Dukes Of Hazzard!) does what he can to stop things from getting even crazier than they already are.

This is a pretty decent watch, a well-paced horror movie that does a fine job with its ultra-rural settings and an interesting cast. Will Wheaton does fine work in what is basically the lead role, he's believable and we feel for him, wanting both he and Alice (played by his younger sister) to make it through all of this. The rest of the Hayes clan are fairly despicable with Gregory doing fine work as the randy housewife, Danare is pretty gross in all the right ways as Cyrus and good old Claude Akins steals a few scenes as the patriarch of the family. John Schneider is perfectly fun in his supporting role while Steve Carlisle and Cooper Huckabee are effectively shifty in their respective parts.

Directed by David Keith (he of Firestarter and White Of The Eye fame), and featuring both Lucio Fulci and Ovidio G. Assonitis in the producers credits, this one moves at a pretty good clip and it features some impressive and effectively gross special effects work from a clearly talented crew. The after effects that get those who drink the water don't wind up leaving much to the imagination! It might be a little on the predictable side, as far as the story is concerned, but that never takes away from the movie's entertainment value.

The Curse: The Bite:

A sequel to the first film in name only, this film is rightly infamous for some pretty intense special effects work courtesy of none other than Screaming Mad George!

The time around, the story follows two lovebirds, Clark (J. Eddie Peck) and Lisa (Jill Schoelen), who are taking a trip through the desert together. Without realizing it, they drive through what was once a test site for military nuclear experiments completely unaware that the place is infested with horribly irradiated mutant snakes! Of course, soon enough one of them is bitten, that would be Clark while changing a flat tire, and he too starts to change… to mutate… from man into snake monster! They try to get help from the strange local doctor named Harry Morton (Jamie Farr) but it doesn't do any good. Clark's bite has turned his hand into something inhuman and completely sinister! Good thing there's a town sheriff (Bo Svenson) around to keep an eye on things!

This one is a little light on plot but it more than makes up for that with some pretty insane special effects set pieces. As Clark starts to mutate and his bitten hand literally starts to change into a mutant snake head, things get pretty gross, but that all adds to the fun that this movie provides. The film doesn't waste any time, it moves at a very good clip and how can you not enjoy seeing Jamie Farr and Bo Svenson show up in a movie like this? They're both a lot of fun here, while Peck is quite good as the very pained male lead and pretty Jill Schoelen just fine as his understandably concerned significant other.

Video:

The Curse arrives on Blu-ray in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed at 2.35.1 widescreen and it looks really nice. Colors are frequently very impressive, detail is generally pretty strong and black levels are nice and deep. There's a good bit of grain here but not much in the way of print damage and the image doesn't look to have been blasted with any heavy noise reduction nor is there any obvious edge enhancement.

The second film, also presented in AVC encoded 1080p framed at 2.35.1, was transferred from the only remaining elements and that was a 35mm print. It doesn't look amazing and it isn't nearly as clean or colorful as the first movie but it's perfectly watchable. Detail isn't as strong here and things are a big grittier looking but this is still clearly a legitimate HD offering even if it's from a less than perfect source.