Nothing screams in the holiday season like a few fun horror films. Here’s a look at a trio now available on Blu-ray disc.
Malignant (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, rated R, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, 111 minutes, $34.98) — Horror maestro James Wan (“Saw,” “The Conjuring” and “Insidious”) stepped behind the camera again to deliver a twist on his favorite genre in a monstrous thriller.
The plot begins with a psychiatric patient named Gabriel murdering staff by using his sheer acrobatic strength and wielding control of electricity.
Enter present-day Seattle and a pregnant Madison Lake Mitchell (Annabelle Wallis), dealing with an abusive husband, gets beaten and wakes up to find her spouse dead, his head nearly snapped off.
A shadowy entity appears and begins stalking her while she also starts to have disturbing visions of other murders orchestrated by her serial-killing entity that are actually happening.
Let’s ignore the obvious as to why a single woman would continue to live alone in a house with obvious evil and just appreciate her descent into madness.
Mr. Wan orchestrates a creature feature in the traditions of “Psycho” and “The Manitou” (look that one up, kiddies) delivering a jaw-dropping twist that was delightfully unexpected.
Unfortunately, a disappointing ending lands with a hurried thud and nearly topples the macabre and gory fun.
Best extras: Viewers only get a 14-minute overview of the production, but Mr. Wan has plenty of screen time to explain his wanting to return to his low-budget, indy roots and make a 1980s-style horror film that he would want to see.
He comments on the evolution of the story, explains the themes, Mitchell’s visions, using the spider-cam and robo-cam, and the ghoulish creature. All are supplemented by interviews with the lead actors, screenwriter, visual effects artists and contortionists.
Haunt: Special Edition (Ronin Flix, rated R, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, 92 minutes, $24.99) — A loving ode to Halloween season’s haunted houses delivers a brutal slasher twist in filmmakers Bryan Woods and Scott Beck’s (writers of “A Quiet Place”) 2019 effort now rereleased in the high definition format and packed with extras.
A collection of female coeds go out on Halloween night, pick up a couple of dudes and end up at an extreme horror-themed, haunted-house maze featuring typical scares.
It’s all about having fun until actual masked homicidal lunatics dressed as a devil, clown, ghost and witch orchestrate a maze worth of surprises.
They play deadly games with their prey, leading to violent encounters as many in the group make fatal errors in judgment while they try to escape.
Let’s get serious, it’s hard to come up with any new twists in a horror world led by Jordan Peele, Rob Zombie and James Wan, but, surprisingly, viewers get an entertaining story with plenty of atmosphere, some jump scares, a few twists and occasional homages to “Saw,” “House of 1,000 Corpses” and “Halloween.”
Best extras: Two optional commentaries start the cavalcade with first Mr. Woods and Mr. Beck diving into their effort. They begin by explaining that listening to other creators’ tracks was their film school, especially when enjoying ones from Eli Roth (producer of “Haunt”).
With that mentioned, the informative track focuses on how to make a horror film, from fleshing out the concept, the script evolution, the casting, scheduling, budgeting and minutia during the actual production shoot.
The other track is fun but not as informative and features a trio of the serial killers in the film — Damian Maffei (devil), Justin Marxen (clown), and Chaney Morrow (ghost) — interviewed by horror connoisseur and creator Justin Beahm.
Complementing the commentary tracks are a 32-minute overview of the production explored through the directors and Zoom interviews with many of the actors (often being too serious and even one shedding tears over the positive experience), the composer and the makeup effects artist.
Next, two question-and-answer sessions with live audiences (about 45 minutes in total) feature the cast and filmmakers in one, and the filmmakers and even Mr. Roth in the other.
Viewers also get the pair’s first film, the six-minute, extraterrestrial invasion short “The Sleepover” made when they were seventh graders in Iowa, offering a really unique look into the filmmakers’ world.
Other extras worth noting include a 10-minute Director’s Diary (cellphone videos and Instagram posts) and 13 minutes of deleted scenes (with optional director commentary).
Werewolves Within (RLJ Entertainment, not rated, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, 97 minutes, $28.96) — An obscure virtual reality, video game made the perfect fodder for a live-action, horror-comedy mystery that makes its way to high definition disc.
Director John Ruben and screenwriter Mishna Wolff’s loose adaptation moves the quirky story from the medieval days to the present and finds an amiable forest ranger, Finn Wheeler (Sam Richardson), reassigned to the isolated snowy small town of Beavertown, where he quickly meets new best friend postal worker Cecily Moore (Milana Vayntrub).
After he also encounters an assortment of eccentric townsfolk such as obsessed crafts maker Trisha Anderton (Michaela Watkins) and hermit Emerson Flint (Glenn Fleshler), a vicious blizzard knocks out the town’s power and the generators are all mysteriously broken from apparent sabotage.
The residents move into the town’s spacious lodge for the night but begin to realize, after finding the chewed-up remains of the inn owner’s missing husband, that one of them may be a werewolf.
Whether a lycanthrope exists or not, it’s clear the suspects are all nuts, and each one has an agenda and could have caused the violent shenanigans.
With a touch of “Fargo” meets “Schitt’s Creek” and “The Thing,” “Werewolves Within” offers an amusing genre mash-up with a committed (i.e., should be committed) ensemble cast.
Best extras: Probably worth reminding home entertainment companies that getting viewers to buy a Blu-ray disc these days requires some level of extras since digital streaming is becoming so prevalent.
First issue here, owners get zero extras on the Blu-ray disc. Considering the fun cast, I find it hard to believe that even a Zoom call could not be put together with some of the actors. Or, how about a short featurette on the movie’s video game roots?
Next, owners get no code to own the movie digitally through a streaming service.
When viewers can watch the movie once for $9.99 or less through one of the many services, what’s the point of spending extra money for a disc? The movie is entertaining, but it’s not great enough to add to a permanent library.
