Blu-ray & DVD: The Digital Dread Report for August 5th

The first week of August is a small, quiet one as far as New Releases go, but at least it gives us a few titles worthy of a rental or purchase.

Oculus (our review HERE) is a fun and creepy little joint that is way better than most critics give it credit for. If you're a fan of Haunted House movies, or even if you just love the hell out of Karen Gillan or Katee Sackhoff, then you should definitely give this one a spin in your player of choice.

As they seem to do nearly every week or two, Scream Factory strikes again with two new Must Have releases of older, beloved Genre flicks. Phantom of the Paradise is Brian De Palma's rock opera version of Phantom of the Opera, and if you like odd and campy movies, this one will definitely get your toes tapping. Without Warning is a a cheesy, cheap little alien menace movie that stars such Hollywood legends as Jack Palance and Martin Landau, and even features David Caruso's first movie role (though he's no Hollywood legend at all.) If you grew up in the 80's, this is the kind of movie that your local TV Channels played on Saturday afternoons. It's a fun, nostalgic type of watch.

If you're a teenage girl, or if you are interested in seeing yet another a dystopian teenage fantasy movie that bites off of the Hunger Games formula, then Divergent was made just for you. As for Need for Speed, we're not sure who thought that this movie sounded like a good idea, but fans of Jesse from Breaking Bad are most likely going to be disappointed by the quality of this one.


Anna (our review of this one is nearly finished) is a solid little Thriller about a potentially killer kid, that boasts equally solid performances by Taissa Farmiga, Mark Strong, and Brian Cox. It's well worth a watch.

As for Grizzly... we've never been fans of the whole "nature run amok" sub-genre that was so popular in the 70's, but the idea of watching the legendary Christopher George do battle with a pissed off bear sounds like a pretty good time to us.