Scream Factory Blu-ray Discussion Thread

[dsman71]

Originally Posted by TripleHBK

Man if WB opened up their doors can you imagine the retrospective that could be done for The Twilight Zone movie? Given the tragedy that occurred and the way the film has been treated since, that would be one helluva special edition as well.

As of right now, WB still has their policy about not sub-licensing .. and before you say *what about Criterion*.. WB gives Criterion some titles under what I was told "unique circumstances". Recently WB gave Criterion some titles in return for doing restoration work for them. Criterion has their own equipment in-house ! Other titles a director or someone with *pull*will still do a special request for a title and Warner can oblige if they want to.

[Donl1282]

Great to know, thank you!

[The Great Owl]

I just finished watching my Scream Factory Blu-ray of The Beast Within.

This was my first time seeing The Beast Within, but I remember when the movie aired for several weeks at a local drive-in when I was a kid, and I remember hearing about it from classmates. It's one of those gems from the 1980s that was forbidden to me at a young age, so that mystique has probably enhanced today's viewing experience.

I won't go so far as to say that The Beast Within is a great movie, but I like it quite a lot. The cicada life cycle semblance with the creature is unique, and the Mississippi film location is quite good for such a story. Paul Clemens is good in the lead role, and, although he's no Lon Chaney, Jr., he still gets the job done when it comes to the werewolf-like tendencies of his transformations. Ronny Cox is terrific as usual as the father. Katherine Moffat, as Amanda, is really gorgeous in a girl-next-door sort of way.

The Beast Within would be a decent double feature with Jeepers Creepers, although the two films differ somewhat in story details. That small-town hidden legend vibe carries over well in both films, though.

The Scream Factory Blu-ray looks terrific, and the commentary tracks, which I'm currently enjoying, are fun.

[IntelliVolume]

Okay, well, then in not specifically addressing any Scream Factory reps directly...

Does anyone have any SPECULATION whether Nighthawks, when it arrives, will have a DTS-HD MA mix encoded in 2.0 mono or something else? I'm curious because my particular AVR doesn't allow me to "spread" DTS-HD two-channel mono signals into a Pro Logic-esque surround mode, instead locking it into my two front channels (which I sonically hate).

[IntelliVolume]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I just finished watching my Scream Factory Blu-ray of The Beast Within.

This was my first time seeing The Beast Within, but I remember when the movie aired for several weeks at a local drive-in when I was a kid, and I remember hearing about it from classmates. It's one of those gems from the 1980s that was forbidden to me at a young age, so that mystique has probably enhanced today's viewing experience.

I won't go so far as to say that The Beast Within is a great movie, but I like it quite a lot. The cicada life cycle semblance with the creature is unique, and the Mississippi film location is quite good for such a story. Paul Clemens is good in the lead role, and, although he's no Lon Chaney, Jr., he still gets the job done when it comes to the werewolf-like tendencies of his transformations. Ronny Cox is terrific as usual as the father. Katherine Moffat, as Amanda, is really gorgeous in a girl-next-door sort of way.

The Beast Within would be a decent double feature with Jeepers Creepers, although the two films differ somewhat in story details. That small-town hidden legend vibe carries over well in both films, though.

The Scream Factory Blu-ray looks terrific, and the commentary tracks, which I'm currently enjoying, are fun.

Owl,

This film always bugged me -- no pun intended -- as a kid, from the moment I saw that "WARNING! This film features a transformation sequence..." poster art (which Scream included on the Blu-ray, thankfully). I can't sit through that transformation sequence -- as silly as it may seem now years after the "bladder effects" work has come and gone a la Beast Within and Amityville II: The Possession -- without feeling "edgy" and creeped out, especially when

[Show spoiler]Clemens' face just comes apart like an empty shell...

Jesus, is that scene unsettling...

The film, for sure, is a shocker, but it isn't one I would personally want to revisit regularly, hence the reason I took it off my want list not too long ago...

I also, as an animal lover, didn't like the

[Show spoiler]dog-execution sequence during the rape scene

in the beginning. The whole

[Show spoiler]"he becomes a locust!"

angle, fused with the weird redneck interbreeding thing in the story, is a bit too far-fetched for me, also...

[RalphoR]

I wish I could remember more about this movie but all that comes to mind is seeing Captain Kirk's wife's boobies

[evilive]

Man, for the longest time I tried looking for the name of The Beast Within. I remember watching this on Monster Vision when I was a kid and the only parts I could remember were when the girl cuts herself with a kitchen knife and a guy getting decapitated through a wall.

I don't know why I haven't picked up the BD yet, seeing as I've been dying to re-watch this movie since the mid 90's.

[IntelliVolume]

Originally Posted by RalphoR

I wish I could remember more about this movie but all that comes to mind is seeing Captain Kirk's wife's boobies

LOL...that would be the late great Bibi Besch (who I didn't even realize passed away in '96), and all you need to know about this shocking, unsettling little drive-in-esque horror flick is THIS:

[Show spoiler]

Jesus...I don't think I'm gonna have dinner tonight...

[MNL_Boogey_Man]

Originally Posted by IntelliVolume

LOL...that would be the late great Bibi Besch (who I didn't even realize passed away in '96), and all you need to know about this shocking, unsettling little drive-in-esque horror flick is THIS:












Jesus...I don't think I'm gonna have dinner tonight...

The Beast Within was a pretty gruesome film. I remember seeing for the first time when I was a kid. Great special effects for its time.

[exharrison]

I viewed those screenshots while eating breakfast this morning. A nice way to wake up lol

[The Great Owl]

Last night, I watched my Scream Factory Blu-ray of Evilspeak.

This movie is pretty awesome.

Clint Howard plays a hapless military school student who is constantly ridiculed and tormented by his schoolmates, his coach, and even his instructors. In today's age of bullying awareness, the film's sympathetic angle is clearly with Howard's character, even considering the sacrilegious narrative elements when he stumbles an ancient Satanic mass book underneath an old chapel. When he begins to enter the text into a computer, the powers within are unleashed in a digital fury similar to the video game horror glory of films like Nightmares.

I was expecting something different, but I am glad that Evilspeak takes its time getting to the explosive violence, and that it paces itself well to acquaint us with all of the characters, even the villains.

Evilspeak comes across like one of the better ripoffs of Brian De Palma's original adaptation of Carrie, but I cannot help wondering if the latest remake of Carrie, starring Chloe Grace Moretz, was lifted from the end of this film. The levitation aspects of the end scenes are quite similar.

I love the characters in this film, I love the killer pigs, I love the old school computer effects, and I love the finale.

The Blu-ray looks and sounds great, and I'm hugely impressed with the extras and interviews on the disc.

This is one of Scream Factory's nicest surprises.

[RalphoR]

Originally Posted by IntelliVolume

LOL...that would be the late great Bibi Besch (who I didn't even realize passed away in '96), and all you need to know about this shocking, unsettling little drive-in-esque horror flick is THIS:

[Show spoiler]

Jesus...I don't think I'm gonna have dinner tonight...

Yeah, I hate looking at IMDb and finding out actors/actresses have passed away. I had no idea Bibi died

[hYPE]

Any chance of Cronenberg's The Fly getting a SF collectors edition in the near future?

[IntelliVolume]

Originally Posted by KamenRiderWolf

The Beast Within was a pretty gruesome film. I remember seeing for the first time when I was a kid. Great special effects for its time.

Indeed it was, Kamen; at the time, those "bladder effects" were all the rage, and Damiano Damiani used them almost perfectly in the other 1980s demonic shocker Amityville II: The Possession:





You know what's funny about Amityville II (which is one of my favorite films of all time, being obsessed with the story about the house in New York, and living very close to it growing up)? When I used to sit through the cable transmissions and VHS copies of this film, I never noticed little things that were hidden by the compression noise and other fuzz -- when I started watching the DVD edition of the film that came in MGM's Amityville Horror Collection box set, I was clearly able to make out the "bladder line tubing" behind actor Jack Magner's head during the exorcism sequence I provided clips of above, which allowed for those special effects to take place...it's weird...

[IntelliVolume]

Originally Posted by RalphoR

Yeah, I hate looking at IMDb and finding out actors/actresses have passed away. I had no idea Bibi died

Indeed, Ralph; I totally agree...it's sad that we all have to pass on at some point, and shocking to learn that some of our favorite actors/actresses are gone...

I had no idea Bibi had passed, either, until I looked it up...

[IntelliVolume]

Originally Posted by exharrison

I viewed those screenshots while eating breakfast this morning. A nice way to wake up lol

Sorry...

They ARE pretty gruesome; I have since placed spoiler tags around them...

Like I said, that end transformation sequence STILL gets me, and makes the film difficult to watch for me, much like Cronenberg's Fly remake (I just CAN'T watch that film because of the sheer body horror, specifically the "vomit drops")...

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by IntelliVolume

[Show spoiler]Indeed it was, Kamen; at the time, those "bladder effects" were all the rage, and Damiano Damiani used them almost perfectly in the other 1980s demonic shocker Amityville II: The Possession:

You know what's funny about Amityville II (which is one of my favorite films of all time, being obsessed with the story about the house in New York, and living very close to it growing up)? When I used to sit through the cable transmissions and VHS copies of this film, I never noticed little things that were hidden by the compression noise and other fuzz -- when I started watching the DVD edition of the film that came in MGM's Amityville Horror Collection box set, I was clearly able to make out the "bladder line tubing" behind actor Jack Magner's head during the exorcism sequence I provided clips of above, which allowed for those special effects to take place...it's weird...

Bladder effects (Scanners anyone?) are amongst my most favorite of all the special effects in any film as they can be so subtle initially and so outlandish in the end. They almost always look convincing and are cheap cheap cheap to do.

[exharrison]

Originally Posted by IntelliVolume

Sorry...

They ARE pretty gruesome; I have since placed spoiler tags around them...

Like I said, that end transformation sequence STILL gets me, and makes the film difficult to watch for me, much like Cronenberg's Fly remake (I just CAN'T watch that film because of the sheer body horror, specifically the "vomit drops")...

Nah. There was enough warning. I knew I was gonna see something. No worries.

[IntelliVolume]

Originally Posted by TripleHBK

Bladder effects (Scanners anyone?) are amongst my most favorite of all the special effects in any film as they can be so subtle initially and so outlandish in the end. They almost always look convincing and are cheap cheap cheap to do.

I totally forgot about Scanners...good reminder, HBK...

[MNL_Boogey_Man]

Originally Posted by IntelliVolume

I totally forgot about Scanners...good reminder, HBK...

Yes Scanners was an incredible movie and the effects, You could feel the effects as if they were happening to you. The head explosion took the cake for me. It was just intense.