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

Bloody Harlan; evil scarecrows; inter-species romance; the best TV show ever made; and werewolves in New York... this is The Digital Dread Report for June 2nd!

Many of this week's best releases have little to do with Horror, but good is good, and we can't not discuss shows like The Wire and Justified hitting Blu-ray, at least briefly. Man can not live by Horror alone! Scarecrows and Spring are about as Horror as it gets though, so it all balances out in the end.

*Read on, and be sure to click the pics to order whatever strikes your fancy.

"From creator Graham Yost, each episode of the edge-of-your seat final season propels U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) and criminal mastermind Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) ever closer to their ultimate confrontation. While Raylan is torn by just how far he will go to bring Boyd down – including using Boyd's fiancée Ava (Joelle Carter) as his secret informant – both Raylan and Boyd must now contend with the new incendiary force in town (Sam Elliott), a drug lord intent on building his own pot empire in Harlan. Based on the crime novels of Elmore Leonard, the Peabody Award-winning drama now takes its place in the pantheon of acclaimed drama series."

Justified was an excellent show, and we're still sad that it ended its 6 season run only a few short months ago. We are glad that it ended on a strong note though, giving us an excellent final season, and just about the perfect resolution to the whole Raylan vs. Boyd storyline. The Series Finale was one of the best that we've ever seen, and final line of the show was perfect in every way.

If you've never seen Justified, then you're missing out; anti-heroes just don't get any better than Raylan Givens. If you have seen it, then you know that this Final Season is a must own in every way. 

• Hollywood to Harlan Featurette – Join the writers of Justified in Kentucky as they conduct research before sitting down to write the final season of the show. From a visit to the Lexington marshal's office to the coal mines of Harlan, the writers had an opportunity to experience Kentucky in a whole new way.
• Directing the Show: Adam Arkin – Go behind the scenes with Director Adam Arkin as he directs the episode "Trust." (BD Exclusive)
• Dutch Speaks – A vintage interview with Writer Elmore Leonard about his thoughts on Justified. (BD Exclusive)
• Deleted Scenes (BD Exclusive)

"After a band of ex-military criminals pulls off a multi-million dollar heist, they hop aboard a plane headed for Mexico. But when one of their own betrays them, they suddenly find themselves on the ground and on the run through a field of scarecrows near an abandoned farmhouse. And as night sets in, the real nightmare begins. The men discover that there's a reason the farmhouse is empty... and now those who thought they were the hunters are being hunted by an unimaginable and malevolent force!"

Back when were kids, you couldn't just stream whatever you wanted to watch, whenever you wanted to watch it, so you either rented a movie from the video store, or you'd take a blank tape and record whatever was on cable at the time, and then watch it over and over again until the tape wore out.

Scarecrows is an obscure little flick that we had recorded on a VHS tape, and yes, we watched it over and over again. Thanks to Scream Factory, the folks that constantly bring us the beloved Horror gems from our childhood in Blu-ray quality, we can now watch it over and over all over again... although now the picture and audio won't be 80's bad, and we won't have to adjust our tracking every two minutes to try and make it look better.

This is an awesome release.

• New Audio Commentary With Co-screenwriter Richard Jefferies, Director Of Photography Peter Deming And Composer Terry Plumeri.
• Audio Commentary With Director William Wesley And Producer Cami Winikoff.
• The Last Straw – An Interview With Special Make-Up Effects Creator Norman Cabrera.
• Cornfield Commando – An Interview With Actor Ted Vernon.
• Original Storyboards.
• Still Gallery.
• Theatrical Trailer.

"After the death of his mother and a bar fight that could lead to jail time, sous-chef Evan (Lou Taylor Pucci, Evil Dead, Thumbsucker) flees California for Italy. While backpacking along the spectacular cliffs of the Adriatic coast, he stops in an idyllic village, where he meets and instantly connects with the enchanting and mysterious Louise (European TV star Nadia Hilker in a breakout role). A flirtatious romance begins to bloom between the two - however, Evan soon realizes that the voracious Louise harbors a monstrous, primordial secret that could put both their relationship and their lives in jeopardy."

*This Blu-ray is a Best Buy Exlusive until August.

We really enjoyed Spring (read our review HERE), and we may just have to make a trip to Best Buy this week to grab ourselves a copy. I'm not sure if this is a movie that we'd watch repeatedly, or if it's one that we'll pull out once in a while to relive it's odd, romantic creepiness, but either way, it's worthy of a spot in our collection.

If you haven't seen Spring, it's absolutely worth the $9.99 to experience it in Blu-ray quality.

• Audio commentary with writer-producer-editor-director Justin Benson and producer-editor-cinematographer-director Aaron Moorhead.
• Feature-length "The Making of Spring."
• Deleted scenes.
• SFX case studies.
• Proof of Concept short.
• Alternate ending.
• The Talented Mr. Evan.
• Angelo: The Worst Farmer.
• Wankster Girlfriend Monologue.
• Evan Ti Odio.
• Promo videos.

"In the six years that have passed since the conclusion of the HBO series The Wire, the critically acclaimed drama has turned into a worldwide phenomenon that has been hailed as "the best show in the history of television" by MSNBC. This summer, the series will make its highly anticipated debut on Blu-ray disc for the very first time."

The Wire is the best TV show ever made. Period.

The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, LOST, Deadwood, The Shield, the first four seasons of The West Wing, Hannibal, Band of Brothers, and Mad Men are the shows that we consider to be the best televised dramas of all-time. Everybody has their favorites, and everyone has their own idea about what makes something "The Best," but these are as good as it gets for us. And yes, The Wire trumps them all.

When we heard that HBO was remastering the show from its old 4:3 aspect ratio to a new, 16x9 1080p format, we were ecstatic. Purists can argue all they want to about how the show was meant to be seen in its original format, but the fact is that no one has square TVs anymore, and watching a show this great appear as a square in the middle of our windscreens, sucked.

Now, we get to see this masterful crime saga in the best possible quality, and since this is a show that we re-watch at least once per year, that's a beautiful thing.

If you've never seen The Wire, now is the perfect time to right that wrong. This is one Blu-ray set that gots to get got. Indeed.

• The 20-disc box set featuring all 60 episodes of the hit series in a stunningly re-mastered 16x9 full-screen HD format is showcased with newly redesigned box art.  
• Four behind-the-scenes documentaries.
• Three prequels that explore life before The Wire.
• An all-new cast and crew Q&A from the Paley Center for Media's The Wire reunion event.

"A real-estate tycoon, his coke-bringing wife and a slum wino have something grisly in common: they're the latest victims in a series of random murders. A veteran NYPD detective soon suspects the killings may be supernatural and deliberate: ages-old beings of cunning intelligence and incredible power, defending their turf from the encroachments of humankind."

Warner Bros. is opening up their back catalog quite a bit lately, and their latest gift to Horror fans is one of the better werewolf films of the 80's. This is a bare-bones offering (the only Special Feature is the movie's trailer), but it's great that werewolf lovers finally get to own this semi-classic on Blu-ray. Sometimes, it's just about the movie, you know?

It's another deep week for releases, and here are the best of the rest of them.

• Apollo 13 is a great movie, and one that we'd gladly add to our Blu-ray Collection.
• Falling Skies isn't really our cup of tea, but it's a pretty popular show, so fans will probably be thrilled to grab its latest season. 
• Will Smith's movies usually tend to leave us underwhelmed, so we'll probably wait until Focus hits Netflix. Did it even come out in theaters? 
• The Wachowski's haven't really done anything great since The Matrix, but Jupiter Ascending was a major flop, and maybe their worst movie yet. Channing Tatum? In space? No thank you. 
• Asmodexia (read our review HERE) was a solid little supernatural flick that we really enjoyed. $20 seems a little high for a DVD, but when the price drops by about half, it's definitely worth grabbing. 
• Michael Keaton as a bad guy? We might just have to give Blindsided a look.
• Everything else this week, as always, is a crap-shoot.

Theatrical Release Dates for June-September!

We've updated our Theatrical Release Dates Page through September, so that you can keep your movie-going calendars up to date. It's probably a good idea to plan ahead and start saving some money, because those 3-D IMAX night shows aren't cheap. Especially if you plan on bringing a date. Or if either of you want snacks.

In this update: Eli Roth's The Green Inferno will finally be hitting theaters in September; The Gift was moved back a week; and Black Mass and Sicario are probably going to be the best movies of the Fall. Other than that, we added a bunch of new posters, and shifted a few others around, accordingly.

So click either banner or the link above to peruse the complete list, and enjoy!

10 Horror Eyes for June!

Is there a Horror movie out there that doesn't offer at least one close-up of someone's eyes during its runtime? We sure hope not, because we just can't get enough of them. They're windows to the soul, you know.

So once again, let us celebrate the ocular images that add that extra tension and emotion to our favorite films. *We mean that as a generality, as these are not necessarily our favorite films. Then again, they're not necessarily not our favorite films either. Could go either way.

Enjoy.

*Links go to IMDB, so that you know which movies the eyes come from. Or you could just stare at them and figure it out on your own, until you go insane. Your choice. 

We start this month's Horror Eyes off with the intense eyes of Betsy Palmer, who passed away yesterday at the age of 88. Mrs. Voorhees has been a part of our nightmares for 35 years now, and we'll always be thankful to Betsy Palmer for making her so memorable. R.I.P.

Theatrical Review: Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

(aka Mad Maxine)
Release Date: May 15th.
Country: Australia.
Rating: R.
Written by: George Miller & Brendan McCarthy.
Directed by: George Miller.
Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Riley Keough, Zoe Kravitz, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Abbey Lee, and Courtney Eaton.

Masterpiece.

That's really the only word in this review that matters, because that's exactly what Mad Max: Fury Road is; a masterpiece. The phrase "Best Post-Apocalyptic movie ever made" matters a lot too, because Fury Road is that, as well. Fell free to read the entire review if you want to know what in the world possessed us to use a world like masterpiece in refernce to an action flick like this, but just know this; Mad Max: Fury Road is big, insane, and it's damn near perfect.

When we last saw Mad Max Rockatansky (in Beyond Thunderdome), he was saving the lives of a bunch of kids, who then promptly abandoned him to wander the Post-Apocalyptic Outback alone, while they made their escape to a new life. That probably left him with all sorts of trust issues. I mean, they couldn't have circled back and picked him up or something? They had a Plane!

"THANKS FOR THE HELP, MAX. ENJOY THE WALK!"

Anyhow...

The modern day incarnation of Max ends up running afoul of the War Boys (the shiny, chrome army of zealots who do the bidding of tyrannical ruler Immortan Joe), and is captured by them to be used as a human blood bag for an ailing War Boy named Nux. While he's being sucked dry of his lifeblood, one of Immortan Joe's most trusted leaders (Imperator Furiosa) heads out with a heavily armored war rig to exchange a tanker filled with mother's milk for guzzle-ine, in nearby Gas Town. Did we mention that Immortan Joe has a little breast milk farm set up in his impenetrable fortress? Because he does.

CREEPER.

When Furiosa deviates from her course, and takes off into the desert in search of some Green Place that used to be her home, Immortan Joe and his entire War Boy army, along with the boys from Gas Town and Bullet Town, give chase. It's not the hi-jacked milk or the stolen war rig that he really cares about, no; you see, Immortan Joe also has a little breeding farm going on back home, and Furiosa just took his five hottest baby-makers along with her, and he wants them back.

IN ALL FAIRNESS, I'D WANT THEM BACK TOO.

From here on out, Fury Road is one big bat-shit crazy car chase that involves dozens of cars & vehicles that not only look cool as hell, but that kept our eyes glued to the screen as they were flipped, smashed, blown up, and destroyed. Yes, they stop now an then, but it's never long before they're driving and fighting again. It's crazy.

...AND ALL THE WHILE, THE DOOF WARRIOR SHREDS WITH HIS FLAME-THROWING GUITAR.

Will Max save Furiosa and the baby-makers, and get them to The Green Place? Will Furiosa save Max, while also saving the baby-makers, and get them all to The Green Place? Will Nux save everybody, and get himself a hot girlfriend in the process? Far be if from us to spoil things for you here, but suffice it to say that not only does our favorite character in the movie die, but no one ever sees this damn Green Place. Was it all a lie from the start?

WHAT DID YOU DO, FURIOSA?

Fury Road starts off in high gear, and yet somehow manages to end in an even higher one. We enjoyed this movie so much that any praise we laud on it is going to sound like a bunch of over-exaggerated Fanboy hyperbole, which sucks, because we hate that sort of thing. Our immediate reaction to Fury Road was that this is one of the best action flicks that we've ever seen. Those are big words, and they could be applied to any number of action flicks that have come out in the past 10 or 20 years, but that doesn't make them any less true. This movie rocked, and it rocked hard.

By the time Max & crew drove into that massive, F5 Tornado-filled sand storm, we were hooked. I can't even describe what it felt like to see a bunch of massive tornadoes swirling around in a storm of that magnitude, but when we saw it, we knew that this movie was going to be something special, at least from an action standpoint. Lucky for us the movie also gave us some likable characters, and a story that we could get behind too.

YOU CAN BET YOUR ASS THAT HE GETS IT NOW THOUGH.

Fury Road is a visually stunning movie, from its locales to the intricate and kinetic car chases, to the camerawork that captured it all. As drab and dead as the surroundings were in this movie, George Miller used a ton of colors throughout, and to great effect. The world he created comes to life in vibrant, odd ways, and is filled with many freakish delights.

The stunt work in this movie is so crazy and plentiful, and there was so much going on on-screen at any given time, that it overloaded our minds. It was in a good way, but we were hit with so much rapid-fire action and incident in this movie, that we felt like a speed-bag at times. So crazy was everything, that even Tom Hardy admits to being frustrated with George Miller while filming, because he didn't understand what the guy was trying to do. He actually apologized to Miller for not "getting it" until he saw the finished movie, and not understanding his level of genius until after the fact. And genius it is.

IT'S EVEN MORE TERRIFYING INSIDE.

The thing that's always been cool about the Mad Max sequels, is that they were never really about Max, but Max showing up in other people's stories, and them recalling it through their eyes; in The Road Warrior, it was The Feral Kid, and in Beyond Thunderdome, it was Savannah. There may be no narrator in Fury Road, but make no mistake; this is Furiosa's story, plain and simple. Max is right there from the very start before we even meet Furiosa and her charges, but her quest for redemption is what drives the movie forward. It's almost like Max is a cowboy from an old western who rides into town, helps the townsfolk fend off the bad guys, and then rides off alone, because that's just his way.

THEN AGAIN, THE MOVIE IS JUST AS MUCH ABOUT MAX'S REDEMPTION TOO.

Tom Hardy makes a great Mad Max. I don't know if I can honestly say that he's as good as Mel Gibson was in the role, but then again he really doesn't have to be. Hardy brings a completely different "thing" to the table with his portrayal, which kind of makes comparing the two futile anyway. Hardy's Mad Max comes off as actually being mad (as in not right in the head), which makes him different in a good way. Just as great in her role is Charlize Theron as Furiosa. If Max had died in the first 10 minutes of this movie, she could have carried the rest of it by herself with ease. Not one time did her toughness come off as fake or forced. Together, Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron make one of the best on-screen duos that we've seen in a long time.

It actually surprised us how good the girls who played The Wives were. In most moves like this, the  pretty girls (and the roles they fill) tend to be little more than window dressing, or they exist solely as plot devices for the main characters to feed off of. In Fury Road though, they each had a personality, and they each got to display some stunt & action work that was actually essential to the plot. They were impressive both together, and individually.

And we have to give a quick nod to Nicholas Hoult. He's been a favorite of ours since he was on Skins, and he's frigging great as Nux in this one. He was the perfect mixture of odd and sincere. He was bright and shiny indeed, and it was our pleasure to have witnessed him!

"I LIVE, I DIE. I LIVE AGAIN!"

If there's one thing about the movie that we could throw rocks at, it's the fact that the rig that Max & Furiosa were driving kept working after taking so much abuse. I get that if it broke down or was disabled, there would be no movie, or it would have at very least been a very different one, and for that reason I have no problem suspending my disbelief; most action movies, after all, tend to operate on a level of reality that isn't very realistic at all. Are you telling me though that they couldn't have shot out the war rig's tires early on, and just watched as it ground to a dead stop?

THAT GUN COULD HAVE SHOT OUT EVERY TIRE!

Why did _____ have to die? We really liked them. I say that if there's a sequel (which there probably will be), that they bring back the person who played _____, only in a different role. They did it with Bruce Spence in The Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome, so they could easily do the same thing here.

ANGEL, DON'T GO.

People are shot, torn apart, stabbed, and killed in all kinds of creative ways in this one, but it never gets to the point where the gore is truly over the top. The scene with the baby was pretty nasty though.

There is a bit of partial nudity throughout this one, but it's nothing graphic at all. There is that disturbing milk farm scene too...

THAT'S IT, GIRL. CUT AWAY THAT PROHIBITIVE CHASTITY BELT.

Hot chicks are worth more than gas or water in the Post-Apocalyptic world. Also, Furiosa and Max should just get married and repopulate the world with badasses.

ETERNAL, SHINY, AND CHROME!

It's been a long time since any movie has blown us away like Mad Max: Fury Road did. From start to finish, this one is wall-to-wall, unrelenting action, and it boasts some of the best stunt work that we've ever seen committed to film.... and we're talking practical stuntmen doing real stunts here, not a bunch of CGI B.S.

You're crazy if you let the opportunity to see this one in theaters pass you by, because movies like Fury Road are why huge, silver screens exist in the first place. Head to the theater, pay the extra few $$$ for an IMAX ticket, and bask in the action-packed glory that is Mad Max: Fury Road.

A+

Mad Max: Fury Road is in theaters now.

It was the ladies who truly ruled Fury Road, and if you'd like to take a closer look at them, then check out their Horror Hotties post HERE.