Scream Factory October Celebration!

Scream Factory has become one of the premier horror Blu-ray labels over the past couple of years. As of now they have over 70 different releases, 29 of which have been released as "Collector's Editions." By the end of October Scream Factory will have released a total of 31 Collector's Editions, a very fitting number for October. To celebrate Scream Factory and their releases I will be watching all 31 of their Collector's Editions throughout October, 1 for each day. My plan is to have others join in the celebration by watching any of the films released by Scream Factory and interacting with other fans. I have comprised a schedule for what movie I will watch each day. Feel free to follow along with the schedule I created or do your own thing. The goal is to get people to watch Scream Factory releases throughout the month of October and interact with other fans. Make sure to follow me on Twitter and use #screamingtilhalloween whenever you watch a Scream Factory release. Also like the Facebook page and interact with other fans there.

Here is the schedule I have composed

Scream Factory Updates for October

Today Scream Factory decided to give the fans a bunch of updates for announcements in October. One hint in particular should get fans speculating for a while. Here are all the updates:

• Full specs for the Lord of Illusions Blu-ray release will be revealed in October. The title will be released 12/16/14 and is available for pre-order Here: Lord Of Illusions (Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray]
• Scream Factory has good news in regards to the uncut version of Vault of Horror that will be in a double feature with Tales From the Crypt. The double feature comes out on 12/2/14 and is available for pre-order Here: Tales From The Crypt / Vault Of Horror [Blu-ray]
• Phantom of the Opera and Candyman II: Farewell to the Flesh are planned for a January 2015 release.
• New Year's Evil is planned for a February 2015 release.
• Escape From New York, Mad Max, Invaders From Mars, and Dog Soldiers are all planned to be released between March and May. The release date for Scarecrows has not been determined yet, but it is still coming.
• The biggest news is Scream Factory will be announcing several titles in October to be released in 2015. They said to expect an increase in double feature releases in 2015, definitely more than the 3 released in 2014. The hint about title announcements that they gave was that the titles fit appropriately into the Scream Factory brand even if they may not fall into the classic definition of a horror or sci-fi film.

So what do you think of these updates? Any idea of what titles can fit into the hint that they provided? What are some double features you think they will release?

Scream Factory News + Tidbits for 9/17/14 - 9/24/14

Yesterday was the big day for Scream Factory. Yesterday Scream Factory, along with Anchor Bay, released the long anticipated Halloween: The Complete Collection. For those few who haven't already ordered it, you can order it Here: Halloween: The Complete Collection Limited Deluxe Edition[Blu-ray]

News:

Scream Factory has Announced the special features for their Blu-ray releases of The Dark Half and Monkey Shines. Check out the features Here.

Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings has been delayed again. The new release date is 11/18/14. It is available for order Here: Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings [Blu-ray]

In October Scream Factory will be presenting a new video series titled "Why We Love It." The video lists some of their favorite things from their favorite Scream Factory releases.

Tidbits:

-We can expect Scream Factory to announce new titles in October.

-Most likely a mid 2015 release date for Dog Soldiers.     

-Answers to some of the title requests from fans:

• Scream Factory will not be releasing John Carpenter's The Thing.
• No plans to release Phantasm or Company of Wolves.
• Night Angel is not lined up for anytime in the future.
• Can't get the rights for Laid to Rest, Madman, Night Life, Phantasm 3 & 4, and Night of the Living Dead.
• Scream Factory does not have the rights for Shakma. The rights are with Code Red.
• Scream Factory does not have the rights for Deep Star Six.
• No plans to release Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 at this time.

Other Cult Horror Blu-ray News:

Scorpion Releasing put up pre-orders for four titles on DiabolikDVD: Mortuary, Don't Answer the Phone, Girly, and Island Claws. They are available Here.

On 9/24/2014 Twilight Time put up the pre-orders for The Blob, The Believers, and Audrey Rose. The Blob is limited to 5,000 copies. The Believers and Audrey Rose are limited to 3,000 copies each. Order now before they sale out. They are available Here.

Code Red put up a few Blu-rays up for pre-order Here. The horror titles are Messiah of Evil and Lady Stay Dead.


All of the Scream Factory information was found on their official Facebook page and Twitter.

The Battery: Review

The Film:

The Battery is the story of two ex-baseball playing friends that are trying to survive and live in a world that is overrun with zombies. The movie pays special attention to the friendship of the two and their conflicting ideas on how their life in this new zombie landscape should work. One is focused on just surviving and appreciating that they are alive. The other wants to find a way to make things the way they used to be before the zombie attack. This leads to an interesting conflict between the two individuals because they know that in order to survive they need each other but for as long as they are together they will continue to bang heads. This conflict becomes even more interesting and heated when they hear other survivors on the radio and they both have differing opinions on what they should do.

For me The Battery is a really peculiar movie. It is classified as a zombie horror film but features only a couple a zombies and very few horrific moments. I feel that this is the reason the movie is such a hit or miss with audiences. I think for this movie it is best to go in without any expectations. I find that the movie tries very hard to be something special but just falls short. As the director says in the special features, he was trying to make an artsy indie horror movie. These intentions are very noticeable throughout the movie. For example, the director uses overly long takes in some instances, numerous scenes were nothing really happens, and weird character motivations. While these characteristics can be successful done in movies, this movie doesn't quite get it right.

The Battery is an interesting movie to judge because it is rather unique, especially for the genre it is in, and as a result it is hard to get a grip on whether it is a good movie or not. Is it a good zombie horror movie? No. Is it a interesting character study of two completely different individuals thrusted together because of circumstances out of their control? For the most part, yes. As a result, this is one of those movies where I don't really like it but I can see why others would really like it. It is not a bad movie overall and is very well made, especially considering the budget. Therefore I suggest that everyone watches the movie at least once to judge it for themselves and determine if it matches up to their own sensibilities.

2.5/5

The Extras:

The backbone of the special features for this release is the full length making-of documentary. The documentary offers a complete behind the scenes history of the process of making the film. it is a very good piece that is definitely worth seeing. The other features included on this release are an audio commentary with the director, the main actors, and the cinematographer. Outtakes and the music of The Battery round out the bonus features of the release.

4/5

The Battery is available for order Here: The Battery [Blu-ray]

Scream Factory Announces Final Extras For The Dark Half And Monkey Shines Blu-rays

After a rather slow news week so far from Scream Factory, they came out today with big news. Today Scream Factory has announced the final extras for two of their upcoming Blu-ray releases, The Dark Half and Monkey Shines. Both releases have a good chunk of features for not being collector's editions. The extras are as follows:

Monkey Shines:

- New Audio Commentary with Writer/Director George A. Romero
- New An Experiment In Fear - The Making of "Monkey Shines" - An all-new retrospective with Writer/Director George A. Romero, actors Jason Beghe, John Pankow and Kate McNeil, Exectutive Producer Peter Grunwald, Special Make-Up Effects Creator Tom Savini, Special Make-Up Effects Assistants Greg Nicotero and Everett Burrell and Editor Pasquale Buba (49 minutes)
- Alternate Ending
- Deleted Scenes
- Behind-the-Scenes Footage
- Vintage "Making of Monkey Shines" plus additional interview clips
- Theatrical Trailers & TV Spot
- Still Gallery

Monkey Shines is available to order Here: Monkey Shines [Blu-ray]

The Dark Half:

- New Audio Commentary with Writer/Director George A. Romero
- New The Sparrows Are Flying Again!: The Making of "The Dark Half" - An all-new retrospective with Writer/Director George A. Romero, Producer Declan Baldwin, Actors Michael Rooker, Robert Joy, Rutanya Alda and John Amplas, Composer Christopher Young, Special Make-Up Effects Creators John Vulich and Everett Burrell, Visual Effects Supervisor Kevin Kutchaver, Second Unit Director Tom Dubensky and Editor Pasquale Buba (36 Minutes)
- Deleted Scenes
- Animated Storyboards for the original ending
- Behind-the-Scenes Footage - Special Effects and On the Set
- Vintage "Making of The Dark Half" plus additional interview clips
- Theatrical Trailer and TV Spot
- Still Gallery

The Dark Half is available to order Here: The Dark Half [Blu-ray]

Check out the Official Scream Factory Facebook

Scream Factory News + Tidbits for 9/10/14 - 9/17/14

Released this week is the Scream Factory Blu-ray of The Battery. Order Here: The Battery [Blu-ray]

Check out my review Here.

News:

A rather slow news week from Scream Factory as we get closer to October, which is assumed to be a month with a lot of activity going on with Scream Factory. Only one big bit of news was announced this week:

The final extras for the Scream Factory Blu-ray release of Dolls has been released. Check them out Here.

Tidbits:

- Scream Factory will not be doing any more volumes of the All-Night Horror Marathon.

- The Blu-ray cases used in the Complete Halloween Collection will be of the eco-friendly variety. Meaning that the cases are the ones will holes in the front and back covers.

- The Thomas Nathan Milliner cover art for Scream Factory Blu-ray releases of Halloween II and Halloween III are not part of the new boxset. So the only way to get those covers is by purchasing the standalone releases.

-Answers to some of the title requests made by fans:

• Scream Factory looked into getting the rights for The Sword and the Sorcerer but could not get the rights.
• Scream Factory cannot get the rights for Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III
• Scream Factory has no plans to release Dawn of the Dead at this time.
• There will be no Blu-ray releases of Slumber Party Massacre 2 or 3 at this time.
• Scream Factory does not have the rights for any of the Stepfather Sequels
• A bunch of Warner Bros. titles were requested (Wolfen, Night School, The Pack, It's Alive, Killer Party, He Knows You're Alone, Deadly Friend, and Eyes of a Stranger) and Scream Factory responded by saying that there are no plans for those Warner Bros. titles at this time. This is semi noteworthy because it would be expected that they would respond that they cannot liscense those titles because of the studio (Warner Bros. almost never licenses out films). Could this mean that there is even the slightest chance Scream Factory could release some Warner Bros. titles? Maybe, but most likely not. In all likelihood this just reading too much into a comment and in reality Scream Factory probably has not and will not license any more films from Warner Bros. But we can hope!

All of this information has been culled from press releases and comments made by Scream Factory on their official Facebook and Twitter Pages.

Prom Night: Review

The Film

The story is that of a childhood secret coming back to haunt the keepers of the secret. The secret being the death of a young girl as a result of taunts from other children. Those children make a pact to keep what happened a secret. It is those same children’s prom night and a crazy killer is beginning to check their name off a list one kill at a time. While there are definitely a few outdated elements in the movie it is overall an enjoyable experience with good acting and interesting characters that end up making up a strong slasher movie that stands up with some of the best.

This classic slasher features the wonderful Jamie Lee Curtis during her "Scream Queen" era. Of all of the horror films that Jamie Lee Curtis was in during this time, I find Prom Night to be her best in terms of acting. As well the character she plays in the movie is a lot more interesting and well rounded than the others. Prom Night is a top notch slasher that has some of the better acting found in a slasher film and an interesting story that doesn’t feature a whole lot of kills, and the ones it does have are not all that interesting, but offers an entertaining horror thriller that also takes an interesting look at high school life and everything it encompasses. As well, Prom Night features a few humorous scenes that are well done. It is definitely a movie that is a more well rounded movie than other slasher films of the time. However that does come at an expense. In particular, the pace is a little on the slow side compared to other slasher films but once in reaches about the one hour mark thinks pick up quickly.

Synapse Films gets better and better with each of their releases in terms of video and audio quality. The audio and video for Prom Night is amazing and at the absolute best it has ever been since it’s original release. There is great clarity in the image and the few instances of softness found in the movie are original, meaning that was how the movie was made. The grain looks natural. Overall Prom Night is a great looking Blu-ray. As for the audio, it features no background noise or any other audio problems. The audio is very good and greatly supplements the amazing picture quality.

The Extras

The extras for the Prom Night Blu-ray are headlined by a making-of documentary titled “The Horrors of Hamilton High.”  It is a great feature that has a good chunk of the cast participating, the director and a few other crew members participate as well. This making-of packs in a lot of information in its forty minute run time. One of the more interesting tidbits from the making-of is that Jamie Lee Curtis reached out to the filmmakers and expressed her desire to be a part of the film. Some other features are a commentary featuring the director and the screenwriter, addition scenes for the television presentation of Prom Night, and a bunch more. 


Overall: Highly recommended

You can order here: Prom Night [Blu-ray]

Pumpkinhead: Review

The Film:

The story of Pumpkinhead is a rather basic but effective one, much like the characters in the film. A man named Ed (Lance Henriksen) and his young son Billy (Matthew Hurley) live a simple life in the country where they work in their little market stand near the highway. One day a group of young friends arrive at the store on their way to a cabin they are going to. A terrible and tragic accident happens which leaves Billy dead and the whole the group in shambles about what to do. Eventually the person who accidently killed Billy decides to flee and most of the group go along and try to stop him or get him to reconsider. Despite claims of an accident by a group member that has stayed behind, Ed becomes hellbent on getting revenge and killing all of those involved in the accident. He summons the titular Pumpkinhead with the help from a witch, with hopes that the beast will give Ed his vengeance against those that wronged him. This is where the movie sifts to a morality tale that questions wether vengeance is a good course of action or ultimately damaging to both others and the individual. As for the audio/video quality, they are both very good. The video quality specifically has to be up there among some of the best releases by Scream Factory, particularly because of the lack of compression artifacts found in the image. The audio/video quality should please the majority of fans.

Pumpkinhead is a movie that has never really gotten the spotlight that it deserves. The film features a really good performance from Lance Henriksen, which based on some of the comments made in the extras by Henriksen should be no surprise considering how much he put into the role and how important it was to him. The rest of the cast do the best with what they have, which is not very much. Once the death of Billy happens the movie shifts into horror overdrive and focuses mainly on killing the majority of the group of friends until the monster is eventually defeated. The story of the movie is nothing revolutionary but even considering that, the story has more going for it than most other horror films of this type.

Overall Pumpkinhead is a movie that is capable of standing the tests of time thanks to top notch creature effects, a strong performance from Henriksen, and a simple but effective story. I would say that Pumpkinhead is a severely underrated movie that has thankfully been given the respect it deserves thanks to the amazing Blu-ray release by Scream Factory. 

4/5

The Extras:

The extras on this release first rate and arguably some of the best Scream Factory have released to this point. Not only is there a quantity of features, there is also a lot of quality in the features. The highlights of the features are definitely the "Remembering the Monster Kid: A Tribute to Stan Winston" and "Pumpkinhead Unearthed" features. The tribute to Stan Winston is a standout feature filled with a great many stories from those that have worked with him. The "Pumpkinhead Unearthed" making-of documentary has some good information from many of the actors who were in the film taking about the the process of making Pumpkinhead. Just these two features add up to almost two hours of material. There is also a commentary and another one hour of bonus material.

5/5

Pumpkinhead is available to order now here: Pumpkinhead (Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray]

Scream Factory Announces Final Extras For Dolls Blu-ray Release

This has been a busy week for Scream Factory announcements. Earlier this week they announced the extras for their Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings Blu-ray release, which you can see Here, and they announced the extras for their The Doctor and the Devils Blu-ray release that you can see Here.  Today Scream Factory has announced the final extras for their Blu-ray release of Dolls. The release is scheduled to be released on 11/11/2014. The extras are as follows:

- NEW! Toys of Terror: The Making of “Dolls” – An all-new retrospective featuring interviews with Director Stuart Gordon, Producer Brian Yuzna, Stars Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Ian Patrick Williams, Executive Producer Charles Band, and Special Make-Up Effects Artists Gabe Bartalos, and John Vulich and more!
- Audio Commentary with director Stuart Gordon and writer Ed Naha
- Audio Commentary with cast members Stephen Lee, Ian Patrick Williams, Carolyn Purdy Gordon and Carrie Lorraine
- Storyboard-to-Film Comparison
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- Photo Gallery

To me the most interesting extra on the release is the new making-of documentary which I can assume will have a similar run time to their other making-of documentaries, between 45 and 75 minutes. All the other extras appear to have been ported over from the previous R1 DVD release.

You can pre-order the title now right here: Dolls (Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray]  

Will you be getting this release? 

Check out the Official Scream Factory Facebook

Scream Factory News + Tidbits for 9/3/2014 - 9/10/2014

News:

This week Scream Factory has announced the special features and a new release date for their Blu-ray release of Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings and they can be found Here 

More news...

Scream Factory Announces The Extras For The Doctor And The Devils

Scream Factory has announced the extras for their The Doctor and the Devils Blu-ray release that is scheduled for a 11/4/2014 release. The extras are as follows:

- Commentary With Author and Film Historian Steve Haberman
- New Interviews With Executive Producer Mel Brooks, Producer Jonathan Sanger And Former Brooksfilms Development Executive Randy Auerbach
- Theatrical Trailers

Will you be picking up this release?

Order Here: The Doctor And The Devils [Blu-ray]  

Check out the Official Scream Factory Facebook

Scream Factory Announces Final Extras For Pumpkinhead II + Release Date Change

Today Scream Factory has revealed the final extras for their Blu-ray release of Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings. As well they have announced a release date change for Pumpkinhead II and it will now be released on 10/28/2014. Upon the initial view it seems like Scream Factory’s Blu-ray release of Pumpkinhead II will have a strong showing in the special feature department, which is good news. The final list of extras are as follows:

• New Audio Commentary with director Jeff Burr

• New "RE-CREATING THE BEAST" featuring new interviews with special effects artists Greg Nicotero, Gino Crognale and actor Mark McCraken (Pumpkinhead)

• NEW "MAKING MOVIES" an interview with director Jeff Burr

• Behind-the-scenes footage

Order Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings here: Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings [Blu-ray]

Order the original Pumpkinhead also release by Scream Factory here: Pumpkinhead (Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray]

Check out Scream Factory’s Official Facebook page

Scream Factory: Where to Start?

It is becoming quite obvious that Scream Factory is growing in popularity. The official Scream Factory Facebook page has over 7,000 more likes than their parent company Shout Factory has on their official Facebook page as of 9/6/2014 . They have their own Fangoria magazine special issue talking about all of their releases. As well they have upped their output every year and have continued to find a way to release highly sought after movies. These are just a few examples of this company’s continued growth. So as Scream Factory continues to bring in a wider audience and their catalog of releases continue to expand, there is likely going to be some new fans that are wondering where to start. Being a company that focuses on cult horror and the occasional sci-fi title, there are a lot of titles people have probably never heard of or seen. I have previously written an article on the Top Scream Factory releases (Found Here) and some could potentially use that as a start. However, I feel that while those might be the best releases put out by Scream Factory so far, they are not necessarily where an individual should start if they are just getting into Scream Factory. Therefore I have made a list of titles that I believe are a good starting point for people new to Scream Factory and are interested in collecting. 

Scream Factory Lord of Illusions Blu-ray pre-order

The Scream Factory Lord of Illusions Blu-ray is now up for pre-order on Amazon
Lord Of Illusions (Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray]

The release date is 12/16/2014 and no other information, other than the cover art, has been released by Scream Factory as of 9/4/2014

Scream Factory News + Tidbits for 8/27/14 - 9/3/14

News:

There was not a whole lot of news items from Scream Factory this week. There was really only one, but it was a big one. The big news was the official announcement from Scream Factory of the final specs for the two releases of Nightbreed: The Director's Cut, the Blu-ray DVD combo special edition set and the 3-disc Blu-ray limited edition (limited to 10,000 numbered units). Check them out Here. 

They also revealed that the reverse artwork for the Nightbreed: The Director's Cut special edition release and the theatrical edition case for the limited 3-disc Blu-ray release will be the following:

Scream Factory also anticipates that the limited edition of Nightbreed: The Director's Cut will be sold out on or near street date. So get it while you can!

Tidbits:

- Answers to some of the title requests made by fans:

• They wish they could but Scream Factory cannot get the rights to release Fade to Black.
• They wish they could but Scream Factory cannot get the rights to release Hell Night.
• It is not  in Scream Factory’s plans to release Blood Song. 

All of this information was collected from the official Scream Factory Facebook page by way of press releases and comments made by Scream Factory.

Like the Official Scream Factory Page here: https://www.facebook.com/ScreamFactoryDVD

Scream Factory Announces The Final Specs For The Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut Release

The long wait is finally over. Today Scream Factory has officially announced the final specs for their Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut release. This release comes in two different versions, the DVD & Blu-ray combo special edition set and the limited edition 3-disc Blu-ray set (limited to 10,000 numbered copies). The features found on the two releases are as follows:

Top Scream Factory Blu-ray Releases

Scream Factory has put out a lot of releases over the past couple of years and what comes with that is a couple questions, where do I start? and what are the top releases? For the answer to the question of where to start check out this list here. The following list is a list of the top Scream Factory Blu-ray releases. The list required a lot of difficult decisions to be made because of the many great Blu-ray releases by Scream Factory to choose from. As a result I wanted to put a limit on the list in order to prevent it from getting too large. I also wanted to focus on titles I think best represent the type of movies and content Scream Factory releases. So the following list of movies are the 5 Scream Factory Blu-ray releases that best exemplify the company and their catalog of releases.

Amazon Lowers Prices on 26 Scream Factory Titles 9/1/14

Amazon has lowered the price on a bunch of Scream Factory titles. The majority of titles are around 43% off. As well, many titles have been lowered to the lowest price they have ever been on Amazon. I am not sure how long the titles will remain on sale, so get them while you can. Here is the list of titles and the price for each:

- Bad Dreams / Visiting Hours - $13.99 - 44% off - Link Here

- Beast of Hollow Mountain / The Neanderthal Man - $15.99 - 41% off - Link Here

- Cat People - $16.99 - 43% off / lowest ever on Amazon - Link Here

- Cockneys Vs. Zombies - $13.99 - 44% off / lowest ever on Amazon - Link Here

- Crawlspace - $13.49 - 32% off / lowest ever on Amazon - Link Here

- Day of the Dead - $16.99 - 43% off - Link Here

- Dead Shadows - $12.99 - 43% off / lowest ever on Amazon - Link Here

- Die Monster Die -$13.49 - 32% off / lowest ever on Amazon - Link Here

- Evilspeak - $13.99 - 44% off / lowest ever on Amazon - Link Here

- From Beyond - $16.99 - 43% off - Link Here

- Halloween II - $15.29 - 49% off / lowest ever on Amazon - Link Here

- Halloween III - $16.99 - 43% off - Link Here

- Leviathan - $15.89 - 36% off - Link Here

- Night of the Demons - $16.99 - 43% off/ lowest ever on Amazon - Link Here

- Nosferatu the Vampyre - $13.99 - 44% off / lowest ever on Amazon - Link Here

- Prince of Darkness - $16.99 - 43% off / lowest ever on Amazon - Link Here

- Psycho II - $16.99 - 43% off / lowest ever on Amazon - Link Here

- Psycho III - $16.99 - 43% off / lowest ever on Amazon - Link Here

- Sleepaway Camp - $15.99 - $47% off / lowest ever on Amazon - Link Here

- Terror Train - $15.67 - 32% off - Link Here

- The Beast Within - $12.99 - 35% off / lowest ever on Amazon - Link Here

- The Fog - $16.99 - 43% off / lowest ever on Amazon - Link Here

- The Howling - $16.99 - 43% off - Link Here

- The Town That Dread Sundown - $15.99 - 41% off - Link Here

- They Live - $16.99 - 43% off - Link Here

- Witchboard - $15.99 - 41% off / lowest ever on Amazon - Link Here

(The prices for these titles are likely to fluctuate,  as most items on Amazon do, so the prices posted are the price as of posting this article. I will update the post occasionally throughout the day.)