Scream Factory Blu-ray Discussion Thread

[steev210]

I'm hoping Shout can license TURBULENCE from Paramount(?) Originally released in theaters in January, 1997 it was a Rysher Entertainment and MGM production. The DVD was originally released in June 1997 by HBO Video with an incorrect aspect ratio of 1.78:1 (filmed in 2.35:1). This was from the early days of DVD, with PQ that's average at best (it has an average bit rate of 6.1 mbps) and could use a fresh scan for a blu-ray release.

Also, Shout is excellent with compiling supplemental features and with the original release being bare bones, it would be nice to have a featurette on the making of the film and some interviews with the film's stars and technical crew.

[Luke Dodge748]

I love Broken Lizard. Jay Chandraskakrkerrear is fantastic. Love those guys. Super Troopers 2 was actually pretty fun.

[TwiStedByDeSign86]

Bill Paxton was genius as Coconut Pete. I absolutely love Club Dred. Such a quotable movie as are all of Broken Lizard's movies. There is something special about this one though. I love they decided to make a slasher spoof that actually comes off rather well and sits on it's own as a good horror movie.

[The Great Owl]

Jessica and her husband, played respectively by Zohra Lampert and Barton Heyman, have left their bohemian New York City life behind and are relocating to a quaint New England island community with their hippie friend, played by Kevin O'Connor. Hoping that the transition will help her adjust to freedom after a recent six-month stay in a mental institution, our heroine is cautiously optimistic, despite the fact that elderly locals in town respond with cold detachment when they discover that she and her companions are moving into a secluded farmhouse formerly inhabited by a young woman who drowned in a lake on the property just before her wedding in 1880. The three new arrivals show up at their home only to discover that it is already occupied by a friendly young squatter, played by Mariclare Costello, who had settled in assuming that the house was abandoned. At Jessica's insistence, her husband invites this woman to stay with them for a while.

During the days that follow, Jessica hears strange voices, she repeatedly sees a mysterious girl lurking in the woods around the house, and she even encounters an apparent dead body below the surface of the lake. As her hold on reality slowly erodes, she becomes aware of her husband's undeniable attraction to the redhead drifter staying under their roof, causing her to wonder if she is actually succumbing to a relapse into madness or if her eerie visions are revealing an overtly sinister threat.

The 1971 horror film, Let's Scare Jessica to Death, the feature-length directorial debut of John D. Hancock (Bang the Drum Slowly), is a masterwork of low-key eeriness that blends the gothic suspense elements of Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940) and the psychological thriller aesthetic of Gaslight (1994) with the ghostly unease of The Innocents (1961) and The Haunting (1963), while also throwing the counterculture genre vibes of Carnival of Souls (1962), Night of the Living Dead (1968), and I Drink Your Blood (1970) into the narrative fray. One particular folklore aspect of the storyline recalls the 1872 gothic novella, Carmilla, by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. Despite the myriad of implied influences, however, this movie is graced with a straightforward simplicity reflective of its rural Connecticut location settings.

The use of sound figures heavily into the effectiveness of this dark outing, with uncannily frightening voiceovers that may or may not be all in the mind of Lampert's lead character taking the forefront. The chilling synthesizer music score by Orville Stoeber is the final foundation brick that elevates the end result to greatness.

There's something wondrous about scary movies with unpredictable plot developments. The relative obscurity of the actors involved contributes to this feel, since we do not have any familiar faces with which to attach our sympathies. If you are a fan of contemporary new millennium movies, like Hereditary, that take their time weaving a slow-burn atmosphere before all hell breaks loose during the final minutes, then Let's Scare Jessica to Death is calling you.

This Scream Factory Blu-ray is magnificent. I noted some uncertainty in this forum with regard to the video presentation a few days back, and, upon watching this film, I wondered if I were actually watching the same disc that any of the naysayers saw. To my eyes, everything looks beautifully detailed and filmic. The lion's roar of the special features is a short take on the film by historian Kim Newman, but the Orville Stoeber interview, a location featurette, and the commentary track from John Hancock And Producer Bill Badalato all have their charms as well.

[captainron_howdy]

Great to see Club Dread love!

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

...is a masterwork of low-key eeriness that blends the gothic suspense elements of Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940) and the psychological thriller aesthetic of Gaslight (1994) with the ghostly unease of The Innocents (1961) and The Haunting (1963), while also throwing the counterculture genre vibes of Carnival of Souls (1962), Night of the Living Dead (1968), and I Drink Your Blood (1970)

You're naming several of the films I love/admire here. If I don't like this one it's on you

[Rzzzz]

Originally Posted by ravenus

You're naming several of the films I love/admire here. If I don't like this one it's on you

I know right? I have all those and love them except for The Haunting which I thought was ok and I Drink Your Blood which I have never seen. I have never seen this one either and had no plans to get it until now. Curse you Owl....

[Mose Harper]

When I finally saw I Drink Your Blood last year for the first time, I loved it precisely because it channeled a Jessica-companion vibe for me - the early Seventies, the rural setting, the paranoia.

IDYB it more extreme in pushing the horror/shock/gore elements, whereas Jessica is tonally a little more in line with the psychological dis-ease of Carnival of Souls. If CoS and IDYB exist as the two poles, Jessica fits in there right in the middle. I first saw it as a kid during a sleepover at a friends house and moments from it always stayed with me. Hancock does such a great job with the material, I really want a deep dive into just went wrong with Jaws 2 that led to his firing and ultimately a wholesale change in that story.

Still haven't gotten my ship notice from Target yet. Hope they don't cancel it on me.

[SonnybytheSea]

What does this mean for future licensing deals?

https://thedigitalbits.com/columns/m...ts/011520-1000

[zbinks]

Originally Posted by SonnybytheSea

What does this mean for future licensing deals?

https://thedigitalbits.com/columns/m...ts/011520-1000

Probably nothing. Kino announced a 200 title deal with Universal the very same day this article was posted. This sounds like one of those arrangements that matters solely to the bean-counters and the powers that be at the respective studios.

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by SonnybytheSea

What does this mean for future licensing deals?

https://thedigitalbits.com/columns/m...ts/011520-1000

It’s a distribution deal, which shouldn’t impact those studios licensing out their catalogs. Time will tell I suppose.

[Katatonia]

I've uploaded some screenshot comparisons between the old and new Blu-ray transfers of The Slumber Party Massacre, if anyone here is interested.

They can be viewed in that dedicated thread here: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...1#post17269163

[DetroitSportsFan]

Target is having a buy 2 get 1 free sale, and lots of Scream Factory titles are included. Just go to Target.com and search for titles that you’re interested in. Titles that are in stock will show up in your search.

[locomotive]

quick question

if i order my bloody valentine from amazone do you get the limited edition
or is that only available through shout/scream factory

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by locomotive

quick question

if i order my bloody valentine from amazone do you get the limited edition
or is that only available through shout/scream factory

If you're referring to the additional swag, it's only available through Shout.

[HuggyBear73]

Has Scream begun shipping out.... BODY PARTS?

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by HuggyBear73

Has Scream begun shipping out.... BODY PARTS?

Yes. I received it this past Friday. I haven't had a chance to watch it yet.

[AKORIS]

Originally Posted by HuggyBear73

Has Scream begun shipping out.... BODY PARTS?

I got a foot yesterday but so far that’s it😎

[ravenus]

Saw Black Christmas (1974) on the Shout Factory blu-ray.

Black Christmas (BC) is credited as one of the early North American / Canadian slashers, made some years before John Carpenter's Halloween kickstarted a small-scale industry in the genre. I was primarily interested because the cast, including John Saxon, Olivia Hussey, Margot Kidder, Keir Dullea etc suggested that this could be more than the "dumb teens getting bumped off while they're making out" stereotype.

BC is set in a girls' sorority house around (surprise!) Christmas. In the midst of preparing for the holidays (and dealing with their individual issues - Olivia is pregnant and wants to abort despite boyfriend Dullea's threats, Margot is the vulgar townie forever taunting the "good girls"), the inmates receive a series of anonymous phone calls with heavy breathing weird conversations and screaming. But they don't take it seriously enough until one of the girls disappears (we know where she is and she ain't coming back). Her father, who came to pick her up, is desperately worried, but it takes still more time for the local police to take notice thanks to the bumbling sergeant. Once the whole machinery is activated, which swallows a considerable part of the movie and is preceded by another couple of disappearances, there remains the matter of tracing the mysterious caller and finding out if he/she is responsible for the doings in the house.

BC set some trends for the genre, and has its effective moments (the kill sequences are quite good, especially one with a glass unicorn ornament), but it's not what I would call a tight movie. There's an awkward insertion of slapstick humor (mainly with the house matron's fondness for sherry, which she hides in some strange places), and the attitude of the characters towards the disappearances seems lackadaisical for a long time, as though they were too stoned to care (it was the 70's, so that's probably believable). Whether you can accept the climax of the film or not depends on your POV, I found it unsatisfying.

Shout's blu announces beforehand that the transfer is soft and grainy, and they have avoided and heavy-handed digital manipulation. This is borne out by the film's look. It's colorful and looks like a vintage print, but is not a demo reel. I tried the original mono track and it's mostly fine (I have the V2 disc). This is a 2-BD release with a stack of extras on the 2nd disc including archival making ofs and new interviews. I am in the process of going through those.

[SuperFlyHighGuy]

Originally Posted by AKORIS

I got a foot yesterday but so far that’s it😎

A fetish in the making?