This wasn't my first time watching The Craft, but it may as well have been. Outside of its poster art and that ‘light as a feather, stiff as a board' scene, I couldn't recall anything about its characterization or plot. In hindsight, I should have recognized that as a red flag, but I instead shrugged my forgetfulness off as what inevitably happens with the passage of time. But this film debuted in the late 90's, sharing its moment in cinema with the likes of Scream, Cruel Intentions, and Clueless, which I remember just fine. So what was it about this one that managed to escape me completely? Scream Factory's latest release offered me the perfect opportunity to find out.

Sarah Bailey just moved to Los Angeles and she's having a rough time transitioning to her new school. A lot of people are superficial or rude, and one guy pretends to like Sarah so he can shamelessly besmirch her reputation ju...Read the entire review

While many films have been given numerous iterations on home video, some have been in dire need of an upgrade. Warner Bros treatment of 2001: A Space Odyssey has left film fanatics scratching their heads for a long time, because despite having a reputation as one of the best science fiction flicks ever made, if not one of the best from any genre, the studio hasn't shown it any love since 2007's simultaneous HD-DVD and Blu-ray releases. Well, those people can finally stop wishing and start watching, because 2001's fiftieth anniversary is being celebrated with a bang. Over six months had been spent cleaning the original negative as a starting point, and after careful cleaning and color-timing had been done based on original notes, those involved wound up with the most stunning presentation of 2001 the world has ever seen. If there's any question if this was the treatment Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece des...Read the entire review

It's been a while since Halloween fans really had something to look forward to. It's been twenty years since Halloween H20, sixteen since Halloween: Resurrection, eleven since Rob Zombie's take, and four years since the entirety of the franchise found its way to Blu-ray. You'd think that'd be the end of it, but thanks to the horror genre slaying at the box office again, we're finally getting a new movie. Not just any movie, mind you, but a direct follow-up to John Carpenter's unbeatable classic. It brings Jamie Lee Curtis back to the fold, ignores the sequels, and its trailers have left people chomping at the bit for the return of Michael Myers. It was a no brainer for Lionsgate to capitalize with a 4K UHD release, and it's a welcome upgrade in some respects.

If you've never seen Halloween, you should consider rectifying that as soon as possible. Some minor continuity errors and a few moments of...Read the entire review

When Jurassic Park hit theaters in 1993, I saw it no less than four times. I was also in an IMAX theater twenty years later when Universal gave it the 3D treatment, and having the opportunity to see it on the big screen again literally brought tears to my eyes. So yes, when it comes to dinosaurs running amok on Isla Nublar (or any of its affiliate islands), I'm something of a junkie. Jurassic Park, in fact, is up there as one of my all-time favorite films, even if the sequels have been less than stellar. The Lost World was decent but not great and Jurassic Park 3, while an awful film overall, was still at least entertaining. I know people are split down the middle with Jurassic World, but I thought it was a true return to form, so much so that I was really excited to see how Fallen Kingdom would fare. After all, any excuse to have this franchise back on the big screen was a good one… or so I thought....Read the entire review

The Return of the Living Dead franchise has had a rough time on Blu-ray. Despite multiple releases of the original classic in North America, music licensing issues prevented that region of the world from receiving the original theatrical audio track. Importing from the UK was an option, but why should anyone have to (but I did and haven't regretted it since)? Then it took years for a sequel to follow, but the distributor that handled it skipped over the second installment and went straight for the third, leaving quite the hole in horror collections everywhere. So, people wondered when they'd see Return of the Living Dead Part II come to the format, but fortunately for these folks the time for wondering is over. Scream Factory have always excelled at fulfilling our genre wish lists over the years, and they continue that tradition by giving this film the treatment its fans deserve. Whether the movie itse...Read the entire review

Video games can be wonderful, yet terrible things. They're the fastest evolving source of entertainment in the world, yet if you'd like to take advantage of all the advancements as they come along, you've got to spend a considerable amount of money on the latest tech. Even so, gamers are still waiting for graphics to achieve true photorealism and for virtual reality to become more than a fad propped up by a mountain of shovel ware. But what if games weren't about pixels, but instead bending our consciousness to a developer's will? That's all well and good if you'd like to drive a Ferrari or go into outer space, but what if horror's your bag? That's the question 1994's Brainscan attempts to answer.

As a young boy, Michael Brower (Edward Furlong) was in a horrible car crash that claimed the life of his mother and severely injured his leg. We catch up with him in his teenage years where he runs an ...Read the entire review

It's been more than a quarter century since the Man of Steel perished at the hands of Doomsday, and boy, was it a big deal. Not just in the DC Universe mind you, but in the mainstream media. The coverage and hype for Superman's alleged final appearance was unprecedented, and because people who never read a comic in their life were compelled to buy in to this historical event, the issue made over thirty million dollars on its first day of release, ultimately going on to sell over six million copies. The Superman series took a three-to-four month hiatus to make his death seem permanent, but it wasn't long before a new storyline emerged to focus on his eventual return.

Not exactly a shocker, right?

Nor was it when Warner Bros. decided to capitalize on the fatal bout time and time again. Most people are familiar with Batman v Superman's live-action take, but it left fans disappointed, and no...Read the entire review

Very seldom have we seen such a ginormous collection of work from a single actor appear on 4K all at the same time, but Paramount had apparently decided that June should be Tom Cruise month. I'm certainly not complaining, because to have the entire Mission: Impossible franchise on the format (minus the film now in theaters) is a real treat. Seemingly not enough, the studio has finally seen fit to release 2012's Jack Reacher on 4K UHD. Its sequel, Never Go Back, has been available on ultra-high def since the beginning of 2017, so fans and completionists now have reason to celebrate. Of course, the biggest question when any catalog title gets released is if the upgrade is worth it. Paramount has a fairly solid track record with 4K thus far, but then again, even they've had faults. So, how does Jack Reacher fare?

Before we get to the video portion of this review, let's talk about the film itself. I...Read the entire review

I'd imagine studio executives were a little pessimistic when Guillermo del Toro had pitched the idea for Pacific Rim. At the time, North America's last major bit of exposure to monster cinema was 1998's Godzilla, and considering that both fan and critical reception had been nothing short of abysmal, Hollywood was probably happy to leave that genre behind. Of course, Godzilla wasn't the problem, but rather that the movie had failed to entice. Matthew Broderick was a tough sell as the main protagonist in a monster movie, and Godzilla looked so far removed from any of Toho's iterations that it drowned people's expectations to the point of disinterest. But when Guillermo del Toro - a man with a reputation for coupling wonderfully fantastical visuals with good stories - says he wants to make a movie about monsters fighting giant robots, you'd have to be a fool to say no. Fortunately for all involved, Pacifi...Read the entire review

The Lara Croft we've known since the mid-nineties has changed considerably in the last five or six years. Originally, she was hyper sexualized with body proportions that didn't make sense, she dual wielded pistols instead of archeological tools, and didn't take crap from anyone or anything. She was a versatile badass to the extreme, but that was when the video game industry was trying to sell gameplay and attitude over character development and plot. Still, Paramount brought Croft to the big screen in 2001, and they decided to make it a mindless action romp. It was an extremely flawed take, but still quite a bit of fun. But when Crystal Dynamics rebooted the Tomb Raider games in 2013, they knew ‘flashy and dumb' just wasn't going to cut it. Lara needed to resonate as an actual human being, and they pulled it off. Now, with their third game coming out this fall, Warner Bros. decided they'd take a stab...Read the entire review

Seeing how The Strangers had been received since its premiere in 2008 has been interesting, to say the least. Rotten Tomatoes aggregate ‘Tomatometer' scores it at a measly forty-five percent, while the audience echo the sentiment at a paltry forty-seven. Aggregate sites are problematic in that they only take an overall ‘yay' or ‘nay' into consideration and virtually none of the context, and while many on the internet are smart enough to know that, scores this low are still perceived as film repellant. And yet, over the last ten years The Strangers has gained something of a cult following. I'm not sure where the disconnect is - it's just one of those love it or hate it things, I suppose - but count me among the folks that loved it. It was unapologetically relentless and one of the best home invasion flicks I had seen in years. A few months after its release, fans were excited to learn that Rogue P...Read the entire review

For the last couple of seasons, South Park's creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone decided to dabble in serialization, and why not? At this point, the fictional town and characters they've created are rich enough to carry the weight of that burden, and honestly, the approach worked (although some fans would disagree). Trey and Matt just had so much material to work with in the PC bubble that they decided to roll with it. But the show runners finally had enough and decided to go back to their simpler ‘one and done' formula, because that's where their comfort zone was. But now that we've seen how the grass looks on the serialized side of the fence, does returning to one-off storylines actually benefit the show in its twenty-first season?

South Park defies answering that question neatly, because while it largely returns to its stand-alone episodic roots, it still keeps certain plot threads from pre...Read the entire review

It's difficult to argue that Ridley Scott has had an amazing run as a filmmaker, and yet, people do. He's given the world more than a handful of amazing films, but because toxicity reigns supreme on the internet, instead of acknowledging these accolades, people instead choose to complain about the projects that weren't as well received. But regardless of their penchant for whining from social networking platforms, when Scott was on his game, nobody else could even come close. Alien is heralded as one of the best sci-fi / horror experiences of all time. Blade Runner may not have grabbed people at the time of its release, but its core concept and themes have kept people talking for decades. Black Hawk Down is probably the most powerful example of a modern war film there is. But the movie that a majority of the filmgoing audience can agree upon is Gladiator, a relatively simple story which took place on a...Read the entire review

Musicals have been pretty popular on home video in the last few years, thanks to the likes of Hairspray, Rent and Sweeney Todd. When we're talking about withstanding the test of time though, there's only one word that comes to mind, and Grease is that word! It's impressively spawned numerous revivals, including one that hosted a reality television show to find its leading cast, and a theatrical sequel that... well, anyone would drink a pint of whiskey to try and forget. There's no question that Grease is still as influential and iconic today as it ever was. The real question is if this 40th anniversary Blu-ray release is worth your hard earned money or not. After all, we've supposedly seen the definitive version of the film on DVD, because, you know, a leather jacket slip cover has to imply definitive, right?

There's not much I could honestly say about Grease that hasn't been said before. John T...Read the entire review

Classic film fans go gaga for Marilyn Monroe, especially on Blu-ray. And why wouldn't they? She's one of the most iconic actresses of all time, having starred in a number of wonderfully entertaining films. Up until now, the format has seen a healthy dose of her filmography, with titles like The Seven Year Itch, Some Like It Hot, How to Marry a Millionaire, There's No Business Like Show Business, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. But a lot of these films paint Monroe as something of a dimwitted floozy, and while she had the comedic timing to nail such a persona, she had already shown the world a much broader range of skill. Some would say that early Monroe is among the best, and thanks to Twilight Time, we're finally getting it with Don't Bother To Knock.

Monroe had supporting parts in films like The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve - both also available on Blu-ray - but Don't Bother To Knock marked...Read the entire review

This is a tough review to write, because there's been a lot of controversy surrounding the latest installment in the Lucas-less Star Wars trilogy. There's a clear line between detractors and defenders, and while I typically enjoy conversations over divisive films, it doesn't seem like either side is willing to listen to the other. Franchise purists want you believe that Episode VIII: The Last Jedi is the worst film of all time, but it isn't. The people who loved this movie have tried to repress those negative views by arguing the purists just weren't ready to see a different kind of Star Wars flick, and that, too, is inaccurate. So, what's the deal, exactly?

I'll say up front that I wasn't a fan of Episode VIII, and to be clear, I have no problem living in a world where Star Wars, or any franchise, evolves into something different. Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Evil Dead II… the world ...Read the entire review

If you asked the casual filmgoer when horror films became self-aware, they'd probably reference 1996's Scream. It was undoubtedly a major influence in the decades to come, but it wasn't the first genre flick to do this. As a matter of fact, well established franchises have been poking fun at themselves for a long, long time. It's partially why Child's Play, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Friday the 13th came to embrace style and gags over true terror; in a multi-film franchise, straight scares will only get you so far. But what does a filmmaker do when they want to tackle common horror tropes, but don't have a valuable property to draw from? They get creative in their attempts to flip genre conventions upside down. In this respect, Cabin in the Woods has been the most notable effort in recent years - it's a darn good film, after all - but to this day, I feel Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon has...Read the entire review

In the 80's, action films had a knack for being serious. Something changed in the 90's and early 2000's, however, as it became a time for explosive, yet goofy fun. Many would agree such films were entertaining, faults and all, but would also admit they existed to draw people with spectacle as opposed to… well, anything else. Sometimes the thrills made up for what was missing and sometimes they didn't, but they made money all the same, so it was a no-brainer for Paramount to bring Lara Croft to the big screen. As expected, the character's debut film didn't fare well with critics, but it scored big at the box office so a sequel was inevitable. The audience saw little reason to see it, though, and Paramount had been quick to blame that lack of enthusiasm on the poor reception of a recent game installment.

It was PR gibberish, of course, as Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life wasn't as sol...Read the entire review

Whenever the Saw franchise comes up in conversation, you can pretty much guess what people are going to say. They love the first one, but everything after was trash. Sounds familiar, right? It's sad to see so many people aboard the hate train, because people used to be genuinely excited to see these films. In fact, the marketing campaign used to capitalize on this by saying, "If it's Halloween, it must be Saw." I remember thinking most every installment was a good slice of mind twisting terror... well, except for Saw 3D (Saw VII), which had unfortunately ended the whole bloody affair in a pitiful whimper. But I kept my disappointment in check because I knew it was only a matter of time before these trap laden torture fests would return. Sure enough, it only took Lionsgate seven years to make it so. Question is, does it atone for the sins of its predecessor, and if so, will it leave people yearning for ...Read the entire review

Up until a couple of years ago, I had no idea that Teen Titans was a thing. I know plenty about mainstream superheroes and their origin stories, but anything that existed outside of that has failed to reach me in my 35 years on the planet. So when my son who watches Cartoon Network fell in love with Teen Titans Go!, I thought they were capitalizing on a few underutilized characters. Boy was I wrong. Not only does their comic history go way back, but because of a different program that aired on Cartoon Network in the early 2000's, they had a sizeable television presence as well. Simply titled Teen Titans, it was popular enough to spawn a toy line and even video games. Reruns began airing in August of 2017, and it caught my attention. Even so, I never went out of my way to watch it. Every time I caught an episode, I couldn't help but feel as if I should wait until I could watch the series from the beginn...Read the entire review

Terminator 2: Judgment Day isn't only one of the best sequels ever made, it's one of the best action films of all time. Lionsgate haven't been shy about exploiting their right to distribute it, either, as evidenced by the numerous releases we've seen on home video over the years. 2017 marks the 25th anniversary of James Cameron's masterpiece, so the film was recently remastered at 4K and ‘3D-ified' for theatrical release. The subsequent announcement of a 4K Blu-ray (as well as a remastered 1080p Blu-ray disc) had excited the masses, as previous releases - with the exception of a silent release Lionsgate slid out in 2015 - were plagued with edge enhancement, digital noise reduction, and compression issues. Certainly, a film with such stature should finally receive proper treatment now that 4K is in the picture, right? Because let's face it, that's all anyone cares about. It's pretty much a given you'l...Read the entire review

Family Guy was a welcome addition to the FOX family back in 1999, but nearly 20 years on it's as divisive as television programming gets. The hardcore fans that have stuck around are fairly loyal, while others endlessly criticize its reliance on cutaway gags. But the reality is that much like modern seasons of South Park and The Simpsons, Family Guy delivers consistency in waves. Sometimes it's on point and others it's not. That's just the nature of the beast. Still, some insist on applying an ‘all or nothing' mentality to this program, but it does have its moments, and to rob it of that is disingenuous. It's still entertaining in its 15th season, but does that alone warrant a purchase?

Once again the Griffins and friends are dealing with modern fads and lampooning pop culture at every turn. I'm all for skewering celebs and whatnot, but the writers rarely reached higher than the lowest hanging...Read the entire review

Do you ever stare at your horror collection, wishing the franchises of ole would return in a big way? Well, the genre is on the verge of exploding again, and it's all thanks to the well-established franchises we know and love. The theatrical adaptation of Stephen King's IT has obliterated box-office expectations. Jigsaw, the puzzle master himself, has once again staked his claim on October. Leatherface and The Creeper have returned. John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis are involved in what's looking to be the most promising Halloween sequel to date. If there's anyone left after all this carnage, The Predator is set to eviscerate them. Unfortunately, Freddy and Jason are battling it out in limbo somewhere, but Chucky's still around! I guess it's true what they say: You can't keep a Good Guy down!

Read the entire review

]]> HD DVD https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/72413 Sat, 23 Sep 2017 15:06:20 UTC Highly Recommended

DC's cinematic universe had a respectable beginning with Man of Steel, but Warner Bros. lost a lot of good will with Batman v Superman. Instead of showing a little restraint, the studio used it as an opportunity to catch up to the Marvel-verse in a single film. As evidenced by all its Razzie nominations, audiences did not react in kind and there's been a lot of negative behind-the-scenes rumbling...Read the entire review

]]> HD DVD https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/72360 Mon, 04 Sep 2017 14:06:39 UTC Recommended

All images in this review are from the 1080p Blu-ray, and not representative of this 4K UHD Blu-ray release.

There's nothing like a good horror film, but the genre has grown increasingly stale since its heyday. There are some occasional surprises - The Conjuring and Sinister come to mind, not counting their sequels - but most of what's served up tends to disappoint. ...Read the entire review

]]> HD DVD https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/72018 Sat, 29 Apr 2017 14:20:32 UTC Highly Recommended

Over the last couple of decades, studios have relied more and more on the ‘miracle' of CGI to impress filmgoers. I guess they figure, ‘why settle for brawny men and practical effects when we can realistically animate half a city being leveled by giant robots?' That's cool and all, but nobody wanted traditional filming methods to be replaced. People were still thirsty for large muscled bravado and jaw-dropping demolition to be captured on celluloid. That much was clear when Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables had earned $274.5 million at the box office (against a budget of $82 million). I mean, with the impressive cast it featured, of course it did. Stallone had no intention of stopping, either, as he began to mentally outline the sequel before the original even hit theaters. It would be no easy task, though. The bar was set pretty high, and yet he'd have to up the ante. In a...Read the entire review

]]> HD DVD https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/71985 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 12:23:28 UTC Highly Recommended

For a while now, studios in Hollywood have been hedging their bets. That's because they've previously lost a lot of money, and in some cases have actually gone under, due to taking risks that either didn't pan out, or didn't pull them out of the financial rut they were in. So, they mostly greenlight expensive surefire blockbusters, or small passion projects with conservative budgets. I understand that filmmaking is a business and that the bottom line is money, but this has affected us, the filmgoers of the world, significantly. I mean, just take a look at what the cinematic landscape looks like. There's a fifth Transformers rolling out, we're constantly barraged with superheroes, and Dwayne ‘The Rock' Johnson has somehow become one of the biggest action stars of the modern era. See the problem? The lack of bravado is often hidden behind the impressive veil of CGI, and the market has long since...Read the entire review

]]> HD DVD https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/71937 Sat, 01 Apr 2017 12:30:02 UTC Recommended

*All images in this review are from the Blu-ray disc. Click on each image for full 1080p screenshots.

You know, a number of people see a film like The Smurfs coming and immediately dismiss any possibility that it could, in fact, be entertaining. They believe that being an adult means you can no longer appreciate films that appeal to children, and when coupled with ...Read the entire review

]]> HD DVD https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/71916 Sun, 26 Mar 2017 12:25:07 UTC Skip It

In my spare time, I create content for a personal website that's dedicated to discussing things happening in the video game industry, and one thing I've never shied away from is my adoration of the Assassin's Creed franchise. I know it sounds silly to expect jeers whenever I admit I'm a fan of such a popular series, but a lot of people have grown tired of these games. With the exception of a couple of titles that were more like ‘live the life of a pirate' simulators, publisher Ubisoft has done very little to innovate the core formula: Sneak around, assassinate targets, climb towers to open up details on the in-game map, and leap off of high vantage points... because it looks cool, I guess. Not only that, but their greed caused them to release a poorly optimized game - As...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/71820 Thu, 23 Feb 2017 00:29:55 UTC Recommended

Mike Judge has one hell of an impressive career down on paper. He's responsible for bringing the workplace hit ‘Office Space' to the masses, and followed that up with sleeper success flicks Idiocracy, Extract, and 13 seasons of Fox's King of the Hill. The latter of which was no small feat, since that particular network has a frustrating reputation for canceling most of its best programming. I think the mentioned body of work is what Judge should be remembered for, but the masses will probably always peg him as ‘that guy who made Beavis and Butt-head.' That's not necessarily a bad thing, either, but it's a show that tends to make people either grab their torches and pitchforks, or get whisked back to a fun youth when everyone was painfully practicing their worst ‘mm-mm-heh' and ‘uh-huh-huh-huh' impressions while wearing ‘frog baseball' memorabilia. I personally fall into the latter catego...Read the entire review

]]> Blu-ray https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/71760 Sat, 04 Feb 2017 21:06:50 UTC Highly Recommended

A few comparisons between this, and the previous release. They are exactly the same. Old disc on the left, new on the right.

<...Read the entire review

]]> Blu-ray https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/71604 Fri, 09 Dec 2016 02:09:04 UTC Highly Recommended

Click on all images in this review for 1080p screenshots.

In third grade, my teacher had spent most of the year reading us the works of Roald Dahl, and I was entranced. His writing brought unique, imaginative worlds to life, but more than that, he showed more respect for his young audience than anyone else. He didn't believe everything for kids had to be cute and clean...Read the entire review

]]> Blu-ray https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/71542 Mon, 21 Nov 2016 13:05:20 UTC Highly Recommended

Click on all images in this review for 1080p screenshots.

I've gone on record a few times saying Game of Thrones is amongst the best that television has ever offered, but even the strongest programming suffers from the occasional misstep, right? Well, this once sturdy production gave way to something far more rickety in season five, which is a shame considering that batch of episodes also produced some of the coolest, most shocking moments in the series to date. Simply put, it just didn't feel like the showrunners knew what to do next. They spent the entire season dragging what's left of the cast thro...Read the entire review

]]> Blu-ray https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/71442 Sat, 29 Oct 2016 20:49:42 UTC Recommended

JJ Abrams has been getting ribbed on South Park for being the ‘reboot guy', but there's no denying what he did with Star Trek in 2009. He took a show defined by camp as much as its adventures told with a serious scientific bent, and lens flare jokes aside, transformed it into a summer blockbuster with all the intelligence, heart, action, and fun that fans have come to expect. Unf...Read the entire review

]]> Blu-ray https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/71356 Thu, 06 Oct 2016 22:10:02 UTC Highly Recommended

*Throughout this review, the OLD MGM DISC IS ON THE LEFT, and the NEW SCREAM FACTORY DISC IS ON THE RIGHT. Click on each image for full 1080p screenshots so you can compare this release for yourself.*

Scream Factory treats the horror genre with more respect than the major studios they license films for distribution from. They release a ton of niche titles and give hig...Read the entire review

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