Blu-ray & DVD Releses : The Digital Dread Report for February 24th

Since Grindhouse Releasing has once again delayed their Blu-ray release of The Beyond (this time, a full month until March 24th), this week's releases feel a bit less exciting to us. Yes, we're pouting because we've been dying to get our hands on The Beyond Blu-ray for months now... gah!

That unfortunate bit aside, this week does offer some other solid Blu-ray releases in the form of some classic catalog titles, and a great TV Show.

We'd be all about that Black Sunday Blu-ray if it wasn't the AIP version. Long story short, the AIP version in the American market version which was trimmed of about 3 minutes of violence and "objectionable content" to cater to the sensitive U.S. audiences of the 1960's. It certainly isn't the biggest deal in the world, but I personally want my movies uncut whenever possible. For Bava aficionados though, or for anyone who likes to see different cuts of films for the sake of artistry, this disc is a fine buy.

New Year's Evil is a cheesy slasher flick from 1980 that's fun in that kitschy, throwback kind of way. It's not the greatest slasher effort from the "Golden Era," but it's still worthy of a look. It's also got Pinky Tuscadero from Happy Days in it, so that's something. Aaaaay!

As for those catalog titles that we mentioned above, First Blood, Total Recall, and Universal Solider are being re-released on Blu-ray with Digital HD copies included, which I guess is a good enough reason to re-release them? They're all great flicks in different ways, so if you don't already own them, now is as good a time as any to buy them.

This past December saw the end of Sons of Anarchy's seven season run, which still bums us out. It may not have been a perfect show, but it was sure as hell an enjoyable, and sometimes excellent one. We'll be adding this one to our Blu-ray shelf next to season's 1-6, and will be looking forward to revisiting the world of Charming somewhere down the road.

We grew up watching Dangerously Close on late-night cable, and to this day when we hear the bass line to Blood & Roses by The Smithereens, this movie comes to mind. It's a good piece of 80's Teen Thriller melodrama.

We reviewed Final Prayer last year when it was called The Borderlands (our review HERE), and we found it to be a decent little Found Footage effort. *Read the review for our in-depth thoughts.

Everything else, as always, is a crap-shoot.