Blu-ray & DVD: The Digital Dread Report for December 2nd!

Another week, another crop of high-profile Blu-ray & DVD releases to spend our $$$ on. This is why our wallets hate us.

With Christmas rapidly approaching, we're trying to be selective about what to buy for ourselves (because this is the time for giving, not buying things just for us), but there are just some titles that we can't pass up. We're only human, after all.

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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is probably the "best" movie that is seeing release this week. Dawn was one of the most entertaining movies that we've seen in 2014, boasting both a solid story and some top-tier visuals. If you've seen the first movie (Rise), then this sequel is more of the same, only better. If you haven't, then do yourself a favor and see them both, back to back. You won't regret it. This is a really good flick.

We were surprised to have liked As Above, So Below as much as we did; critics almost universally panned it, and audiences didn't really flock to it in droves either, so we were expecting it to be nothing more than another in a long line of Found Footage/First Person stinkers. It wasn't bad at all though, and in fact, we found it to be enjoyable on a B+ level (review forthcoming.) If As Above, So Below sounds like something that you'd enjoy, then take the plunge and give it a chance, because you most likely will.

The only other truly notable movie release this week is Scream Factory's Tales From the Crypt/Vault of Horror 2-pk. To have two creepy anthology films from the 70's packed into one set that have been given the 1080p transfer treatment by Scream Factory, is a truly wonderful thing. Note that while there are basically no Special Features in this set, there are three different versions of Vault of Horror, which is a pretty cool Special Feature of its own: (most importantly) we get the completely Uncut & Uncensored widescreen version of the film; an Uncut, open-frame full matte version; and the widescreen theatrical version. This is a really great release for anyone who loves Classic Horror.

Justified has been one of our favorite TV Shows since it premiered back in 2010, and even though Season 5 was far from perfect, we still can't wait to add to to our collection. This set is coming out just in time for us to re-watch it so that we can be ready for the show's final season, which premieres in January. If you like good TV Drama with an ass-kicking twist, then you should grab a copy of Season 1 of Justified, kick back, and enjoy one of the best written, best acted shows on TV. This is excellent binge-watch material.

The Strain is a show that we found to be enjoyable in spite of its many issues. Having read and enjoyed the books, we felt that they dragged Season 1 out a bit too much for our tastes (which kind of killed the pacing a bit), but when The Strain was on point, it was one hell of an enjoyable watch. We'll be buying this set and hoping that they tighten up the writing and pacing a bit for Season 2. They almost have to.

This week's DVD releases aren't anything that we're crazy excited about, so we'll probably wait until Antidote and Speak No Evil hit Netflix to watch them.