Hi-def Halloween: Selected Horrors on Blu-ray

Halloween season always brings out fans of horror films, and there’s no lack of them at area public screenings, on cable TV, or on home video. While there are many horror movies available on Blu-ray, unfortunately the high-definition home video format is still so new that there is not a single classic horror film from the golden era of Hollywood horror on Blu-ray as of yet. The iconic titles from the 1930s-40s Universal Pictures horror cycle and the 1960s Roger Corman color and widescreen drive-in classics all need Blu-ray releases.
The closest thing to “classic” horror on Blu-ray would be a few scattered examples from the sci-fi monster cycle of the 1950s, such as the original 1954 Japanese cut of “Gojira” (but not its 1956 re-edited and redubbed American vesion known as “Godzilla, King of the Monsters”).
There are also three of Columbia Pictures’ 1950s monster movies with stop-motion animation by Ray Harryhausen on Blu-ray in reasonably good transfers: “It Came from Beneath the Sea” (1955), “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers” (1956), and “20 Million Miles to Earth” (1957). There’s a superb Blu-ray of the original 1951 “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” but that’s even more of a sci-fi than a horror film.
A half-dozen relatively recent horror films on Blu-ray might arguably be considered “classics,” although they were all made within the past 15-35 years. All are substantially more effective in their Blu-ray editions on a large 1080p screen than with standard video on a typical TV set. Better yet, each is available on Blu-ray in the $10-$15 range if you look around.
The oldest true horror films currently on Blu-ray seem to be Tobe Hooper’s original 1974 version of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and Brian DePalma’s “Carrie” (1976). Each was an unexpected hit that spawned numerous imitators, and each had truly unsettling social subtexts that later formula films rarely if ever bothered to explore in their quest for ever increasing quantities of on-screen gore. “Carrie” is also notable for a breakthrough Oscar-nominated performance by Sissy Spacek and early screen roles of John Travolta, Betty Buckly, Amy Irving and Nancy Allen.
“Texas Chainsaw” was shot on grainy 16mm film, and “Carrie” originally had a soft ‘70s look to it. So far I’ve seen them only on film, but one should expect that look to come through on the Blu-ray versions. Some young fans have actually complained about their Blu-rays’ grainy look as if it were undesirable to preserve the films’ original intent. While the “Texas Chainsaw” Blu-ray has a fair amount of extras and is only $11 at Amazon, the “Carrie” Blu-ray has only a trailer as a bonus feature, so shop for sale prices of $10 or less. Prices are usually 50 percent to 150 percent higher at local stores.

An obvious film for late October is John Carpenter’s original “Halloween” (1978). Stylish and suspenseful, it made a star of Jamie Lee Curtis and almost single-handedly kick-started the cycle of bloody psychotic-slasher films that continue to this day, although ironically it showed very little blood itself. Perhaps a bit dated, it’s still effective.

The Blu-ray of “Halloween” is generally a good transfer, but since the film was low-budget to begin with, a number of scenes seem accidentally a bit too soft-focus. Audio is good if not particularly outstanding. There is a nice audio commentary with the director, star and producer. A halfway decent featurette (in standard-def) and trailers round out the modest bonus features.

“HALLOWEEN” ON BLU-RAY
Movie:  B+  Video:  B+  Audio:  B+  Extras:  B+

Stanley Kubrick’s film of Stephen King’s “The Shining” (1980) is another iconic horror thriller from the past 30 years. It has a very leisurely pace, especially during its first half, but Kubrick’s slow, deliberate approach tends to be more moodily disconcerting than off-putting. The basic premise of the mental strain caused by being isolated in the middle of a quiet, lonely winter may have even stronger resonance with people from North Dakota and Minnesota. Jack Nicholson is at his best when he goes insane, a truly immortal moment from American cinema.

The picture quality is lovely, the audio is fine and there are some good featurettes and an audio commentary.

“THE SHINING” ON BLU-RAY
Movie:  B+  Video:  A   Audio:  A-  Extras:  A

When it came out, horror writer Clive Barker’s directing debut “Hellraiser” (1987) was one of the most disturbing films released to mainstream theatres, and indeed may have helped inspire today’s trend for body piercing. Most horror films are sadly lacking in both writing and acting, but “Hellraiser” was a definite step above average for the genre, never matched by its sequels. Revisited today, it remains memorable, despite having been copied so often since (the curse of any bursts of originality).

Someone notes in one of the bonus interviews on the disc that the script was trying to be more like Ibsen with monsters than the standard action-effects oriented gorefest, and of course the story and characters are what still set it apart from the rest. The visual and makeup effects hold up quite well against today’s horror schlock, despite and perhaps because of the traditional use of makeup/props/animation in the years before CGI special effects.

The music, too, is quite effective for its relatively low budget, reminiscent of John Williams blended with Bernard Herrmann and Danny Elfman. “Hellraiser’s” only real drawback is a sometimes campy performance by Andrew Robinson (better remembered as the psychotic killer in “Dirty Harry”) as its all-too-earnest lead.

Picture quality is exactly as I remember seeing it in the theatre, and audio quality is also very good. There is a fine selection of extras, including a good (but 7-year-old) commentary track and a number of interviews with various cast and crew members (unfortunately all standard-def).

“HELLRAISER” ON BLU-RAY
Movie:  A-  Video:  A   Audio:  A   Extras:  B+

Vampire movies are again in vogue, but one of the best was Neil Jordan’s “Interview with the Vampire” (1994), adapted by Anne Rice from her own best-selling novel. An excellent condensation of her extremely literate and literary book, it captures the vampire’s melancholy and philosophical fate as few films ever have (other than Werner Herzog’s 1979 “Nosferatu”) and offers moments of wickedly dark comedy as well.

Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise immerse themselves in their roles of Louis and Lestat, and young Kirstin Dunst is absolutely amazing as the vampire child Claudia. Rice’s metaphoric revisionism of the vampire myth made her series of novels hugely popular and inspired other variations on the genre. It’s unfortunate the same cast and director never attempted any of the sequels, which expanded Lestat’s character to cult hero proportions (he’s mainly an antagonist in this first of the series).

The Blu-ray has a beautiful picture quality and fine audio but disappointing extras. The decent audio commentary almost makes up for the very cursory “introduction” mini-documentary that precedes the feature, a brief featurette and a trailer, all in standard-def.

“INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE” ON BLU-RAY
Movie:  A   Video:  A   Audio:  A   Extras:  B-

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