ThisWeeksDiscs

Best of the New Releases: Um...
I apologize if you've spent the last 24 hours curled in the fetal position, shaking like a newborn lamb out of fear that Horror Squad would not be bringing you a list of this week's discs. Don't worry, I'm just a day late. The reason I'm late? Well, there just isn't much of note this week.

The biggest title of the week is The Stepfather remake and I think we all know that's nothing to get excited about. The movie is watchable, but only in "on cable, got nothing else to do" kind of way. I also highly doubt that the Unrated Director's Cut on Blu-ray really has anything particularly eye catching to warrant the unrated label.

Best of the New Releases: Triangle, The House of the Devil, Zombieland
Okay, so the first Tuesday of February pretty much makes up for every Tuesday in January. First up we have Triangle, the mindbender from Christopher Smith that finds Melissa George attempting to unravel a couple mysteries aboard an ocean liner. I'll be writing a full review of it later in the week, but in short I think this is a twisted little movie that can be enjoyed on a single viewing but may take multiples to fully absorb. Smith is now 3-0 as far as I'm concerned.

Next up is The House of the Devil. It's been mentioned quite a lot here at Horror Squad, so there's really no need to sell you on the quality of the movie at this point. You can pick up Ti West's outstanding Satanic Panic throwback on Blu-ray, DVD, and even VHS.

Best of the New Releases: Saw VI
I should pick Inalienable as the best new release of the week for its kick-ass cover, but I haven't actually seen it. I have seen Saw VI, however, and can attest that it is one of the best entries in the franchise. From my original review, "If Dunstan and Melton are allowed to keep the script as restrained as they've now proven they can, I think SAW VI is going to mark a very welcome turning point for the series. At the very least, it no longer has me dreading the idea of going back to this well 2 or 3 more times."

Best of the New Releases: Pandorum
I was not expecting to like Pandorum. I presumed it would be just another generic sci-fi/horror hybrid with Paul W.S. Anderson's name attached as a producer. Thankfully, it is not. Pandorum is actually a surprisingly effective, worthy entrant to the arena of films about space madness. Dennis Quaid kind of dominated the trailers, but the real star is Ben Foster, a gent I wish I saw in more leading roles, as a man who wakes aboard a massive, barren spaceship wondering where all the crew and passengers have gone.

It's got a lot of enigma to it, and while parts of the ending may not be as unforeseen as director Christian Alvert may have wanted, it still goes out on an impressive bang. Good production design avoids feeling like other claustrophobic spaceship movies where people keep running down narrow corridors; though the creature design is a little reminiscent of the Reavers from Serenity. Still, it's an entertaining, above-average genre hybrid that should satisfy those who typically like such things.

Best of the New Releases: Halloween 2
Oy, what another poor retail showing for horror this week is. The only new horror movie out today is Rob Zombie's Halloween II, which is available on both unrated and theatrical DVDs and an unrated Blu-ray. Now I'm planning on watching this later today, so I'm not going to pass judgment on it quite yet, but the general consensus seems to be that it is mind blowing -- and that's not a compliment.

Hopefully this is the saddest This Week's Discs post HorrorSquad will ever know. I wish I had at least two or three more movies - no matter how bad - to talk about, but the first retail Tuesday of 2010 only has one major DVD and Blu-ray release, one catalog release, and one instantly-dismissed-because-of-its-no-budget-cover. Unfortunately none of them are even remotely good and the catalog release doesn't even have a cover art picture available online.

Considering the poor titles on offer today, I'll be eschewing the normal DVD/Blu-ray guide format and simply list the sad trio.

- The Final Destination (watch the new worst entry in the death-loving series in high definition!)
- Wicked Lake (Blu-ray)
- Hellweek

Best of the New Releases: Jennifer's Body, Carriers
I had it in for Jennifer's Body before it even came out. Megan Fox put an obvious target on its back, but what really had me steering clear of the flick was the film's initial Red Band trailer. The filmmakers (director Karyn Kusama, writer Diablo Cody, and producer Jason Reitman) attached a note to the release of said trailer stating that the studio didn't want to put out a red band but they knew it was what the horror fans wanted and blahblahblah. Short story shorter, the red band trailer had no nards and looked awkward to boot.

But you know what? I actually kind of dig Jennifer's Body. Not enough to make any kind of formidable stand against the legion of horror fans who think it's dreck, but I do think it is good enough to warrant a curious watch. It's probably the best marriage of role and performance Megan Fox will ever have, Amanda Seyfried is awesome as always, and its got a core female dynamic that's kind of rare in horror. Then again, it's kind of tame in the actual horror department (I doubt the extra four minutes of the unrated version add any teeth), which may make it a chore to suffer through for anyone who can't stand Cody's writing. Still weighs out to be worth a Netflix in my book, though.

Yet another bad week for new horror movie releases provides an opportunity for a distributor to break out some catalog titles on Blu-ray. Unfortunately, that is about all we get.

Best of the New Releases: Um...
I guess we'll hand this arbitrary title to Plaguers, because I'm damn sure not giving it to Run, Bitch, Run!, which is the only other new release of the week.

I apologize that this list of this week's horror movies is arriving a day late, but in all fairness I doubt anyone noticed, for studios are still suffering the post-October DVD hangover that made November such a boring month. This week's may be the worst week of the year for genre fans.

Best of the New Releases: Um...
Can't I just weep in the corner? This week is plagued exclusively by straight-to-video titles, so all I've got to go on is cover art. That being the case, I'm going to hand it to Poker Run, though only because a first glance at it reminded me of the old cover of Phantasm.

November's lack of worthwhile horror DVDs and Blu-rays is a blessing in disguise. On the one hand, there are no new movies you need to rush to get through. On the other hand, you can save a little coin in the hope that December brings with it bigger and brighter bits of gore.

Best of the New Releases: Um...
There is only one new release out today that I've actually seen and that is The Witches Hammer, and even then it's only new to the US. It's a British indie that first came out over two and a half years ago, and if you're wondering where it has been all this time, well, you haven't seen The Witches Hammer. It's exactly what that cover implies: chic vampire dual-wielding swords goes on a fantasy adventure. If you like low-budget fantasy movies, however, this is perfect for you.