Surrealist Horror Society Arrives From Arrow (DVD/ Blu-ray Comparison)

Speaking of 80s social satires aimed at the hollow lives of Beverly Hills' upper class, here's a fun stab at the topic from the horror genre, which actually came out the exact same year as yesterday's Scenes From the Class Struggle In Beverly Hills. Originally announced by Second Sight, Brian Yuzna's Society wound up receiving a very cool, limited edition blu-ray/DVD combo pack by Arrow Video. And thanks to their expansion into the US, it's available region free in both markets. I've got the USA version, plus Anchor Bay's long out of print DVD that had been getting awfully pricey before Arrow's new release came along. So let's open 'em up and let the shunting begin.

So it's probably true that Society is a look more at the collision of youth and adulthood and the divide between upper and lower class strata more than just being particularly anti-Beverly Hills. But you could say that about any of the satires, really; they're more about aspects in all of our humanity, rather than just a particular little group of people. But this is certainly set in Beverly Hills and full of Beverly Hills specifics. It just takes it to a whole 'nother level by introducing the surrealist visuals of Screaming Mad George to the story. Our hero Billy Warlock is a high school senior, who's right on the cusp of adulthood and high society, as his family seems to have been groomed into the local, elite culture, and it's time for him to follow in their footsteps. But he can't help noticing something's off - really off - about the upper crust and they seem to be hiding a very dark secret about how they treat the less affluent members of their community. Like I said, it's a horror film, so thing's get gruesome; but it's also a metaphor for something much less far-fetched.

The fact that this film works so well on two layers, even if it's not the most subtle take on the subject you'll ever see, is what makes this one of Yuzna's best films. That and the totally gonzo final act of the film, that rises to levels of fantastic cinema few horror titles strive for. The first two thirds can get a little flat, and some of the acting is very after-school-specialish, but the script's fairly clever, and the film's last act is a totally unforgettable mind-blower. Some aspects along the way don't seem to work as intended, like Billy's mute mother who eats hair and would even have John Waters telling the actress, "maybe we can tone this down a little." But the occasional too-silly moment is never enough to spoil the occasional brilliant moment. It's far from a perfect movie, but you'll definitely want to have seen it.

So, like I said, I've got the US version of this release, but both set's blu-ray and DVD discs are region free, so I believe the sole difference is that the UK release's DVD is PAL, while the US's is NTSC. Now, Anchor Bay originally released this in 2002 on DVD, and it was a very respectable edition. In 2003, they reissued it as a double-feature with Tobe Hooper's Spontaneous Combustion, which is the one I've got. It's a double-sided disc, where each side is exactly the same as they were presented on their original single-sided releases. And both remained quite desirable after they went out of print and became pretty collectible. But let's see how much better Arrow's new 2015 edition is.

Arrow's blu on top, their DVD mid, and Anchor Bay's DVD bottom.

So, Arrow's new release is a blu-ray/ DVD combo pack, so I've included both just to be thorough, and you can see the benefits of the higher definition; but it's really the first and third screenshots in each set that I think will be interesting. Arrow's got a fresh, 2k scan and it sure looks cleaner and more natural than the old disc, and obviously far less compressed. The first thing that caught my eye was how much more vivid the colors are, too.

One interesting change is that the old Anchor Bay disc is slightly letterboxed for an anamorphic 1.85:1 picture, while Arrow leaves the mattes open for a 1.78:1 image. But not only does Arrow have those strips of extra picture on the top and bottom, it's got more on the sides, especially the left. Look at that orange patch of ground on the left side of the Arrow scans in the second series of shots that's completely cropped out of Anchor Bay's. There are certainly a number of advantages to upgrading to the new blu, including a nice uncompressed stereo track; but even if this film really ought to be in 1.85 rather than 1.78, the otherwise corrected framing is one of the top improvements. And since this new transfer is Yuzna-approved, I think it's safe to say 1.78:1 was the director's preference anyway.

Anchor Bay's DVD. Note the "\\\" lines in the blue sky on the left hand side.

One detail, though. Blu-ray.com's reviewer pointed out a little technical flaw I have to admit I missed. But now that I've gone back to look for it, yup, there is some diagonal banding in a couple of shots. Well, one piece of information I can add to the discussion is that this same flaw exists in Anchor Bay's previous DVD as well, though a little less pronounced. Therefor I assume this must be an issue with the original film itself, not Arrow's disc or the new 2k scan they made it from. So I've got no complaints.  :)

Now, Anchor Bay's disc wasn't bare bones. It had the theatrical trailer and most importantly, an audio commentary by Brian Yuzna. But Arrow has come up with a lot more, including a brand new Yuzna commentary. Now I've got them both on hand and can confirm that means, yes, Arrow's commentary is a different, freshly recorded track. The new commentary is moderated by David Gregory, while the Yuzna flies solo on the old one. I'm not sure one is so much better than the other, and obviously there's a ton of overlap; but big time Society fans may want to hang onto their old DVDs just for the exclusive alternate commentary.

Anchor Bay's DVD; the Spontaneous Combustion flip-side.

For the record, the Spontaneous Combustion side of Anchor Bay's DVD looks pretty nice, too. I don't think it's one of Hooper's better films, but it's still a mildly entertaining 1989 B-movie about Brad Dourif as a guy who develops Firestarter like powers and winds up on the run from a government conspiracy to capture and control him. It's presented here in a nice, 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer, but doesn't have any extras apart from the theatrical trailer. Fans of this film will probably be more interested in the recent blu-ray of this release from Code Red; but personally I'm happy enough just having it here as a bonus feature.

Anyway, that's where Anchor Bay's release ended. Arrow has plenty more to offer, starting with an additional video interview with Yuzna that runs another 17 minutes. A second, more fun featurette interviews four of the film's leads: Warlock, Devin DeVasquez, Ben Meyerson and Tim Bartell. Another featurette, then, takes on the all-important special effects crew, including Screaming Mad George himself, as well as David Grasso and Nick Benson. And then Yuzna comes back for two more features, a 2014 Q&A from a film festival and a vintage interview with him backstage at Society's premiere. Finally, there's the theatrical trailer and a music video which incorporates many of Screaming Mad George's wild creations, including a couple from Society.

The limited edition package also comes with a few extra physical bits and pieces. Besides coming in a wild fold-out digibook and sleeve representing this film's nutsoid climax, there's a nice invitation card, which includes the film's original poster art. Then there's a standard Arrow card with the same artwork and a nice 22-page booklet, which I'm guessing will also be included in the non-limited version to follow. The Anchor Bay DVD, to its credit, also had an insert with the poster art and chapter titles. But the biggest inclusion to the limited edition, surely, is the complete reproduction of a two-part comic book sequel to Society, called Party Animal, originally published in 2003. Interestingly, the first and second issues are drawn by two very different artists; and it's presented here on very high quality stock and a squared spine. It looks great.

This film looks great, and all the extras and everything really add up to a great package. Anchor Bay's DVD was nice for the time, but this is one you'll want to upgrade for sure. The film itself has its flaws for sure, but even if you're unsure about it, I think Arrow's made it more than worth your while.

Night Train To Terror, Vinegar Syndrome's Nutty Masterpiece (DVD/ Blu-ray Comparison)

Here's a blu-ray I never thought I'd see... a loaded, special edition restoration of Night Train To Terror. There have been plenty of DVD releases of it in the past, but they've all been generic, no frills full-frame transfers, often in big compilations of public domain horror titles. But Vinegar Syndrome has raised it up out of the pit, given it a new 2k scan from a 35mm print, and a surprising collection of extras.

Part of why I'm surprised to see it get the special edition treatment is because it's such a goofy movie. On the one hand, I suppose it's pretty terrible. I'm sure plenty of people have caught some of this movie on cable or video and shut it off like it was total garbage. And it kind of is. But it's also delightfully insane; a movie I used to rent repeatedly as a kid (when I wasn't accidentally taking home Terror Train instead) and can still go back to and have a blast today.

Night Train To Terror is an anthology film, telling individual horror stories within the context of a little  wrap-around plot, a la Tales From the Crypt. In this case, though, the stories come in varying degrees of incomprehensibility. And that's mainly because, instead of being three original tales shot for this compilation, Night Train is made up of three totally separate films in varying states of completion and release. So it's three movies edited down into short films, which means cutting out roughly two-thirds of each movie and trying to have them still make sense. What's more, the director of the original wrap-around plot, that takes place on the titular train, has also shot new footage, involving new stop motion effects - which aren't realistic, but still quite entertaining - into the older footage, mixing things up even further. So things may not make 100% sense, but the spectacle and the creative weirdness never stops. And if the worst sin a movie can commit is to be boring, than this one's downright angelic.

And the divide between the divine and the Satanic is an apt comparison, 'cause that's what Night Train's all about. See, the most 80s band in the world, a troupe of pop rockers and break dancers, are on board the same train as God and the devil. The band is living a constant music video while God and Satan debate who gets to keep their passengers souls. And somehow those decisions hinge on the outcome of three stories, which are of course our three features edited down into short films.

 

In the first, a man gets into car wreck, killing his new bride, and wakes up in an asylum. Of course, the asylum is run by a mad scientist and his wife, who's using patients for experiments or something. But they kind of get side-lined by the orderly, played by Night Court's Richard Moll, who likes to chop people up. There's some killing, conflict, sleazy nudity, and it all comes to an entertaining conclusion.

Next, a guy meets a girl at the fair, and thinks she's nice and pretty. But if you want to party with her, you have to join her little circle of friends. And her friends just happen to be the most eclectic collection of eccentrics in the world, and they love playing Russian roulette. But they don't just play with a revolver and a single bullet, they expand the general concept out to demented scenarios that involve letting giant killer insect creatures out in their midst or strapping themselves to giant, computerized electric chairs. This entry's less about "how far will you go for love?" and more about look at the crazy scenarios we've contacted, sort of like the Saw movies before the Saw movies, but campier.

Finally, Richard Moll returns - as a totally different character - in the final and longest story, about an author makes a deal with the devil. This results in people getting killed by a demons, and only tough police detective Cameron Mitchell is on the trail. Even though a lot of the coolest demon stuff seems to be the new stuff added for Night Train, this still feels like it would be the strongest stand-alone film in its uncut form.

Now, like I said, this film's seen a number of budget DVD releases over the years; and they all share roughly the same video cassette-based transfer. So let's see how much better Vinegar Syndrome's new, widescreen scan looks. And since that's a blu-ray/DVD combo, we can compare those, too.

Vinegar Syndrome's blu on top, their DVD middle and Mill Creek's DVD on bottom.

Vinegar Syndrome's blu left, their DVD middle and Mill Creek's DVD right.

So, naturally, the two Vinegar Syndrome transfers are virtually identical, slightly letterboxed to 1.85:1. The print's grainy and soft enough that there might not even seem to be much benefit in the HD boost. But on closer inspection, as you can see in the close-up, the DVD has a pixel-y splotchiness that cleans up nicely on the blu. They're certainly both leaps ahead of the old, smeary DVDs, not the least in terms of their fresh, vibrant colors and of course the framing. The old DVDs do give a little more picture along the top and bottom, but they compromise in cutting a good chunk off the right and left sides. And looking at the blank head room on the old discs, Night Train was clearly meant to be framed the way Vinegar Syndrome has it. Sure, maybe if the original negatives available, this film could look even better; but this was always a rough little film, and I doubt we'll ever see it looking any better than VS was able to get from their print.

And the extras are exciting and very illuminating. Especially considering what a curious hodge-podge this film is, even the most informed cult film scholar certainly had a lot of questions. And they're largely answered between the film's two commentaries. One is by producer/director Jay Schlossberg-Cohen, who put the whole project together, directed the train sequences and also created the new footage inserted into the three other films. Unfortunately, he uses the commentary as more of a biography than a scene-specific way to talk about Night Train, but he does eventually get to the film and explains a lot about how these strange films were funded and lensed in Utah with the help of some church groups. The second one is by The Hysteria Lives podcast guys, and while they unfortunately waste a lot of time joking at the film's expense, and of course don't have any first-hand experience with the production of these movies, they are pretty informed and manage to point out a lot of facts and even differences between the separate films as they were originally released vs. how they appear in Night Train. There's also a substantial (about 30 minutes) interview with the film's assistant editor Wayne Schmidt, which fills in the commentary's gaps, and a pretty cool theatrical trailer.

And best of all, Vinegar Syndrome has included the entire full-length film Gretta, the very rare film that made up the second segment (about the Russian roulette cult) of Night Train! This was one batty film, where the cult winds up playing almost a small in the extended tale of the guy seeing a girl in stag film and falling in love with her, only to track her down in real life and discover she's completely crazy. When they first meet, she's been in the bathtub for two days because she thinks she's a fish. It's kind of a goofy love-triangle between those two and the older guy we saw running the cult in Night Train. It's hard to even determine what kind of movie the filmmakers were going for; but I guess they figured as long as they included enough nudity, they could get as self-indulgent as they wanted. It's a very different movie than Night Train, and not at all horror, but still strangely interesting.

Vinegar Syndrome's blu on top, their DVD second, Mill Creek's DVD third and VS's Gretta on bottom.

Gretta was apparently sourced from a 1" tape, but it doesn't look too bad. Softer, but with strong colors. It's certainly preferable to the clips we saw of it on Mill Creek's Night Train DVDs. As a bonus feature, you definitely can't complain. It almost makes you wish VS had rounded up the other two films, maybe just for a limited "ultimate edition" or something. But as it is, it's already a pretty amazing package, and certainly way more than I ever would've guessed we'd see for that silly, nonsensical movie I used to rent as a kid. You won't see many labels do better than this.

Let's Get Exhaustive With Crystal Lake Memories and His Name Was Jason

In 2009, a neat little documentary about the Friday the 13th films came out on DVD called His Name Was Jason. It was a little on the fluff side, but it had a lot of good content, and was definitely fun for any fan of the series. Even better was Anchor Bay's two disc Splatter Edition, which practically doubled the amount of F13 content and got past the basics fans already knew and delved into details that were new to us. But then in 2013, the same guys came out with a new, almost 7 hour documentary titled Crystal Lake Memories (named after a book of the same title), which everyone agreed was far meatier and covered a whole lot more. But what does that mean for His Name Was Jason? Does it still have anything of exclusive value anymore, or has it been completely invalidated? And what about the rare "bonus disc" that pre-order copies of Crystal Lake Memories came with? How much more content could there be leftover from a 7 hour doc?

So let's start with the fluffier entry. His Name Was Jason is definitely a neat little film, especially in how it includes the sequels almost as much as the original, where usually horror documentaries only seem interested in the first entries of the big franchises. You know, maybe one expert on The Howling or Hellraiser movies would give an embarrassed smirk and say, "oh and there sure were a lot of silly sequels," and leave it at that. But real fans love all the Friday films (well, except maybe the remake... and Freddy Vs Jason's a little divisive), want to see them all respected, and are just as interested in delving into their stories as the original's. And that's what these filmmakers got right.

Unfortunately, 90 minutes is a little short for, oh, 11-12 movies and a TV series; so that's where this film suffers the most. Important things are just touched on briefly and then we move on, interesting people are interviewed for a minute or two, many of viewers' biggest questions are skipped over entirely. Things get more frustrating when the film's host (the well chosen Tom Savini) hams it up in a Crystal Lake theme park exhibit. With time so short, you can't help thinking that every second of him playing with a rubber hand is less time being spent on what we really want to see. And if you already owned a bunch of the Friday the 13th special edition DVDs, a lot of the stuff that did make it in was what you already knew.

And the sad part is, that's where a lot of viewers left it. They saw the doc somewhere, said eh, that was alright; but not worth buying the DVD. So they wound up missing out on all the stuff on the Splatter Edition (the single disc version has some extras, but way less). And not only does the Splatter Edition's content make the package an overall better experience, I believe the extras are flat-out better than the movie itself. I'll detail it all later on in this piece, but suffice to say, it's full on substantial interviews with a ton of the key players. While the main doc is a fast-paced, engaging good time; it's probably best suited for viewers who don't know the films too well. You know, catch it on television and later say, "oh, did you know Jason wasn't even the killer in the first one?" But the disc 2 stuff is for the fans who'd roll their eyes at that, "of course, everybody knows that!"

Yeah, I used to be a pretty big pusher of that film, especially to those who dismissed it, like if you haven't seen disc 2 you haven't even really seen His Name Was Jason. I say "used to," though, because holy crap: Crystal Lake Memories. This time it's hosted by Corey Feldman (relevant, of course, for starring in Friday the 13th 4), and I don't need to tell you that the five and a half hours allow it to get substantially more in depth. Where the first one broke the film into cheesy sections like, "Jason's Greatest Hits" and "Super Slasher Hero," This one just tackled every single film individually, from beginning to end, giving every film equal time (yes, including the remake, Freddy Vs Jason and the TV show). Tons more people, including a lot more of the casts, have been interviewed and included here, and this time they're allowed to share whatever they've got to say rather than just brief soundbites. Tons of stuff from the film and those great Splatter Edition extras are brought in, along with a ton of new material. And I don't just mean the same people cover the same facts... I mean, a lot of Crystal Lake Memories is footage directly imported from the previous film (and its extras).

Just how controversial that is will vary from viewer to viewer, but I'm sure I'm not alone in being quite happy about it, as it allows this film to feel definitive. Still, it's interesting just how much has been recycled, especially how so much of it has been completely re-edited. Practically every sentence uttered by series creator Sean Cunningham is in a totally new order the second time around, appearing at different points in the film. And more than interesting, it's also confusing. What's new, what's the same? What's been changed around, and is there anything leftover in His Name Was Jason to make it worth buying if you've already got Crystal Lake Memories? Well, I've got the Splatter Edition and the 5-disc blu-ray/DVD combo pack with the mysterious bonus disc right here, so let's get to the bottom of it.

CLM blu on top, CLM DVD middle and HNWJ DVD bottom.

(Would you believe this scene was inspired by a moment in Bob Fosse's All That Jazz?)

First let's just talk blu-ray basics here. I remember when it was first announced this was going to be a 4-5 disc set, and fans got really excited. Then we found out it was a combo pack, so 2 of the discs were just going to be redundant standard def repeats of the 2 of the other discs, and they got disappointed, if not downright worried. Is two blu-rays enough for such a massively long movie? It'll be too compressed, the blus might as well just be DVDs. Some fans said they were just going to buy the DVD-only version because spending money on the blus would be a waste (although, you have to give online debaters a little hyperbolic leeway when they say things like that). But, a little over three hours with virtually no video extras per blu turns out to be pretty fine. Could you maybe get better results spreading it out more? Sure, I guess there's a little artifacting that could go if this were presented over an extra disc or two; but really it's fine. You can certainly see how much better the blu is than the DVD, reaping all the HD benefits.

And it's really interesting to see how far footage has come from His Name Was Jason. To be clear now, not all footage in HNWJ is in CLM, I had to specifically find shots that were in both. Even when the same interview pieces are in the same film, they're often presented differently. So, for example, in one movie we see Cunningham say a line on camera, and in the other, we hear him say it in voice over while we look at a clip from Friday the 13th. But look how the footage that does appear in both has been reworked. They didn't just copy the file from one Final Cut project into another. Not only are the colors and resolution been neatened up in the interview shots above, they've been totally re-framed to be a lot tighter - even though both docs are presented in 1.78:1. Meanwhile, the shot from Friday the 13th 5 has been color corrected, appears in a higher resolution and has more picture information on all four sides. Some of this is probably CLM benefiting from new HD scans of the original films made for blu-ray and HD broadcast, but it's great that they took the time to freshen it all up. This movie looks a lot better, even when just comparing HNWJ to the DVD version of CLM.

CLMemories blu on top\and HNWJason DVD bottom.

Now you might be looking at this next set of comparisons and be thinking, boy, you sure suck at matching frames. But no, what you see here is an intentional mismatch, because it's time to answer one of the key questions about these two films. Is there anything, besides Savini's narration, that's in HNWJ that's not in CLM? Yes. What we see here is clearly footage from the same interview. And again, the footage has been sweetened, and the colors especially look much better in CLM. But the particular clip from the interview shown in HNWJ, where Carey and Camilla More are making a joke about how their characters were quickly dispatched, is not in CLM.

Now is it essential? No, it's just a little joke. But it's just one example that shows that not everything from the old film has been ported over to the new one. And, less surprisingly, the stuff from the top shot in CLM does not appear in HNWJ. In HNWJ, their appearance is mostly just amusing for the novelty that the filmmakers managed to find the twins from Friday 5, and we get to see what they look like today. However they're really not given the space to say much of anything. Covering all the films in 90 minutes, and they were just victims in one of the middle sequels? Gotta get 'em on and off the stage in a flash. Their appearance here is really more of a (very welcome) bow to the loving audience than a proper interview, like they finally get in CLM, where we actually get to hear some thoughts and memories from them. ...And there's even more on the bonus disc. So there's no doubt CLM wins this comparison every single time. But yeah, if you're a completist, you should know that there is still exclusive content in HNWJ that you might still want in your collections.

So what else did the Splatter Edition have besides the core film? Well, first of all, even the first disc had one set of extras that was included in the single disc edition. It's a series of interviews with the actors who played Jason in the different movies. It even had the guy from the remake, the one the main film pretty much glossed over, which I know had annoyed a few fans. So that's very cool, and they're allowed to speak longer here, giving us our first taste of the CLM's possibilities.

And we get a heap more of that on disc 2. Again, this is where it's really at for HNWJ. Final Cuts is probably the main section. Here they interview the directors of the Friday films, like they did with the Jason actors on disc 1. They're all separate interviews and we learn way more here than in the doc itself. And there's more sections, like From Script To Screen, where they interview some of the screenwriters or Dragged From the Lake, where they talk to more Friday cast members. There are features where they go visit filming locations, convention footage of the remake crew; and they're just really now delivering what we want to see on disc 2. Remember when the director of Friday 4 goes back to the old house in CLM, or when the biker chick goes back to the old barn from Friday 3? Well, all that footage came from here.

Then you've got the sillier extras. There's a collection of Friday the 13th fan films with titles like Jason Hurts and Freddy Vs. Jason In 30 Seconds With Bunnies. Youtube's Angry Video Game Nerd is on here, reviewing the old F13 Nintendo game. There's a Camp Crystal Lake Survival Guide, where interviewees from the film give tips for surviving an F13 scenario. Perhaps the goofiest of all are the fake law firm ads by the character of Shelly from Friday 3, played by the original actor. Oh, and if you were intrigued by that Crystal Lake exhibit Savini was hosting from, there's a featurette on the making of that. And finally there are two Easter Eggs where a pair of cast members get to show off their musical abilities. Oh, and a couple of bonus trailers for other horror titles that start on load up of disc 1. Really, until CLM, it was hard to believe you could get much more thorough than the Splatter Edition.

And curiously, I've never seen it mentioned anywhere, but CLM has Easter Eggs, too. Like HNWJ, CLM has a hidden feature where one of the actors who played Jason shows off his musical side via a performance with his band (a different one from HNWJ's egg, where he sings a ragga song about Jason acapella). Also, I'm not sure if you'd count this as an Easter Egg exactly, but after the bonus trailers on disc 2, there's a commercial for Crystal Lake Wine, because the lead actress from the original Friday has started her own line of F13-themed wine.

CLM also has an audio commentary by the filmmakers, which is pretty impressive when you consider how incredibly long this film is. They do start to struggle a bit in the second half, but they actually have a lot to say and keep things lively through the entire run.

But the real joy is in the bonus disc. I mean, don't get me wrong; it's not like HNWJ where disc 2 is the superior film compared to the actual film. CLM itself is the best here. But this disc 5 comes close to rivaling HNWJ's disc 2. It's four hours and twenty minutes long! And it's no silly stuff (sorry, Angry Video Game Nerd); it's all more serious interviews with the cast and crew. And like the main CLM doc, it's broken up into sections for every single F13 film. It goes further off on tangents than the main film, with the star of F13 showing off her paintings or the director of F13 6 giving us a tour of a cemetery where he does his writing. And some of the interview footage is "untreated," i.e. the colors haven't been corrected in post, sometimes showing the speakers in front of bare green screens. But otherwise, it's really just like... more movie. Another four and a half hours of Crystal Lame Memories. I understand you have to be a pretty die-hard fan to want this much material on the series, but anyone who heard about Crystal Lake Memories and thought, "seven hours about Friday the 13th? Yes, please!" will absolutely want the bonus disc as well. It's not disposable fluff like Freddy Vs. Jason In 30 Seconds With Bunnies.

So, for most fans, I'd absolutely recommend Crystal Lake Memories. It's a wonderfully detailed trip back through all of the films to a degree most of us never thought possible. And honestly, I think I get more pleasure out of revisiting this doc now than I do the original films. I grew up on those movies and enjoyed them as a kid, but today I don't own them on DVD or blu... I've just got these docs.

And I definitely, absolutely recommend the version with the bonus disc, which I think deserves a better title than "bonus disc" because it's more like a whole additional third of an 11 hour epic. But you'll have to work to find it today, since it was only sold with pre-orders of the film direct from the production company. I'm sure there are second hand copies to be had, but you may have to sink some extra effort and cash into the endeavor. Another cool treat you could get from pre-ordering, by the way, is what you can see in the scan of my copy up top: ordering the film through Dark Delicacies netted you an autographed copy, where a total of 24 cast and crew members of both the CLM doc and original Friday the 13ths signed your copy. That's pretty neat, huh? But unless you're a super die-hard collector, there's no real need to find one of those copies... Just try to find a bonus disc.

And as for His Name Was Jason? What's the verdict on that one? For most people, I'd say CLM is (more than) enough. Almost all of the content of serious substance has been ported over to - and even improved in - the new film. Still, devoted completists will want it for the scraps and tidbits that didn't quite make it, though I wouldn't bother unless it's the Splatter Edition with the additional lighter, sillier stuff on disc 2, like the fan films, just for a cheap laugh. Another good thing about CLM is that if you do still want HNWJ, its arrival in the marketplace just made the the cost of HNWJ discs drop. Plus, if you're not in the mood to put on your serious academic hat and just want a quick, breezy watch, say to casually reminisce over the films with a buddy, it can be nice to have the 90 minute version, goofing around with Tom and plastic bodies.

Scarecrows Gets the Red Carpet Treatment From Scream Factory (DVD/ Blu-ray Comparison)

Oh boy, when I was a kid, I loved Scarecrows! I genuinely had it as one of my top five or so horror films, above all the classics, from Halloween to The Exorcist. So when MGM finally debuted it on DVD in 2007, I jumped on it. Aaand... maybe I'd over-estimated it just a tad. In fact, when Scream Factory first announced their upcoming blu-ray edition, I figured I was content to just stick with my DVD. But then they announced all the awesome extras they'd amassed for this title, and dang it, Scream Factory, you pulled me back in!

Update 7/47/17: I just picked up an interesting 2011 DVD set from MGM, called 6 Horror Movies.  Scarecrows is one of those six, so I'm adding it to the comparison.

Scarecrows, now, is a pretty mixed bag for me. The plot doesn't hold up so well to an adult viewing, but that's not such an issue. It was always just an excuse, anyway, to toss their characters into their spooky situation. But those characters, oh man. When I was young, I was just oblivious to how amateur hour a lot of this material is. The acting is super hammy, and the writing's no better. At least they played it straight, rather than winking at the camera to acknowledge how dopey it is; but it's hard to imagine I or anyone involved in the creation ever took this stuff seriously.

But on the other hand, the scarecrows themselves are still great. The design is terrific, the special effects - both of them and the gore - are excellent; and the location is terrifically dark and atmospheric. There are some really cool supernatural concepts as well, which I'm biting my tongue not to spoil, but are still effective. Even simple stuff, like how the scarecrows start calling out to their next victims in the voices of the people they've already killed, is quite eerie. So while a good half of this film totally fails to hold up, the other half still shows real talent and at least enables the film to deliver the film as a cheesy good horror flick.

So, I've still got the old MGM disc, and now I've got this loaded Scream Factory special edition. I've flipped it around to their reverse artwork, which uses the old VHS imagery (I like how the center of the "o" in "Scarecrows" is a scarecrow itself), but this is one instance where the newly commissioned artwork is nice, too. Both are really good. Now, how about the discs themselves?

Scream Factory's brand new blu on top; MGM's 2007 DVD middle;
MGM's 2011 DVD bottom.

Very reminiscent of the Blind Dead in this shot. Love it.

So, naturally, Scream Factory has taken MGM's master and given it the HD treatment on blu. Between the two DVDs, the 2007 disc is a teensy bit sharper than the 2011 (it probably boils down to compression), but you'd only see it in a direct comparison, and both are SD, so I doubt it's an important distinction to anyone.  So going back to the blu and the original DVD, the colors, 1.85 framing and everything are all pretty much the same. There's a lot of solid blacks on hand, which might make viewers suspicious of a little black crush having gone on here. If that's the case, any of it that's on the blu was on the DVD just the same. And considering how dark this film is supposed to be, it's hard to say. All I know is the filmmakers did a great job lighting the film, so everything looks great and the actors pop against the stark blacks, perfectly riding that line between hard to see and unrealistically lit.

2015 blu left; 2007 DVD right.

And there's no doubt the blu-ray is an improvement. Look at how the metal headphone collar pops on this guy's neck in the close-up here. Better yet, look at his zipper in the bottom right-hand corner. On the blu, you can make out each individual tooth of its track, while on the DVD it's just one continuous blur. Detail is nicely boosted here, and in a film like this, where we're always looking in the background and corners for clues of a lurking menace, that's a real coup.

Scream's disc also has a strong DTS-HD stereo track and optional English subs, though the non-English speaking crowd will miss out. It's ditched the Spanish and French dubs, and Spanish subs, from MGM's disc.

That's about all the MGM discs had going for them, though. Even their menus (both DVDs have identical menus and features) were a generic design they created for some of their horror titles when they lost interest in designing individual menus for their catalog films. So Scream Factory naturally topped them with their HD upgrade, but they've positively blown them out of the water in the special features department. Let's just start with the small stuff, they've got the theatrical trailer, which already puts them far ahead of the old DVD, plus they've got a stills gallery, which gives us a brighter, behind the scenes view of the film's many effects, and there's a collection of original storyboards.

Moving on to the serious stuff, this release has two audio commentaries: one by the director William Wesley and producer Cami Winkoff, and one by co-writer Richard Jefferies, director of photography Peter Deming and composer Terry Plumeri, the second of which is actually a composite of three individual interviews, but no less interesting. So, basically the whole gang's reunited for Scarecrows in 2015. Of course, the special effects are such a big part of this film, so things wouldn't be complete without their on camera interview with Norman Cabrera. And there's one more interview, with Ted Vernon, who played the bald, strongman member of the team. "I'm always cast as the tough guy," he says, "because I am!"

Scream Factory has really rolled out the red carpet for this offbeat, low budget 80s horror flick, giving it the kind of special edition treatment you always hope for but don't usually expect it to get. And I'm happy to report that their transfer is a genuine upgrade from the past DVD, with no trade-offs or issues to make you hedge your bets. So maybe it's not the devilish masterpiece I once imagined it to be (though if you're reading this and you're still a teenager, see this quick before the analytical parts of your brain develop any further - you'll thank me!), but it's still an enjoyable, black romp. And it's never looked better than it does now.

The European Cut of Boys Don't Cry Is a Myth!

When I first started this site, before I decided how formal a set-up it would have, I wrote a little bit about Boys Don't Cry in the introduction of my Velvet Goldmine post - specifically the work I put into debunking the myth of an uncut European version. Well, now I've got more of a regular format and standards, so I'm cutting that and giving Boys Don't Cry a full, proper page, with a DVD/ blu-ray comparison and everything. The reason why I talked about Boys there is because that's a story about a film that has a little known, extended cut available only in the UK. And there was a similar rumor about such a thing existing for Boys Don't Cry, except in that case, the rumor is completely incorrect.

And I use the word "rumor," but there's quite a bit of credibility behind it. The film's IMDB page talks about it under Alternate Versions, which says, "The USA version originally garnered an NC-17 from the MPAA. The film was cut and re-rated R. The European version reportedly is uncut." It even goes so far as to specify, "The double rape caused some big problems with the MPAA and had to be trimmed to avoid an NC-17 rating. The European version is more explicit (especially with the first rapist.)." God knows where they got the detail about the one rapist's scenes being worse than the others, because - as I will detail in a bit - there are no differences. And sure, the IMDB is known for being as unreliable as any wiki, but dvdcompare also explicitly states that the UK DVD is longer and uncut. And here's a thread about it on thedigitalfix (though, to be fair, the people confirming it there seem to only be sourcing the imdb and dvdcompare pages); and note that dvdaf.com lists the UK DVD and blu-ray as being "uncut."

Well, being a longtime fan of this film, all this online info was all I needed to replace my US DVD with an uncut UK one. The idea of a longer version of the film doesn't come from nowhere. The director Kimberly Peirce has been public about how the she had to trim her original cut of the film for the MPAA to get an R-rating. She talks about it, for instance, in the documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated. So the first part of the rumors are actually true: we are watching a censored, abbreviated cut of the film. But once I got the UK DVD, I checked and they are frame-for-frame identical. I watched the rape scene way more closely and often than anybody should, and they are 100% identical. I also synced the PAL DVD to NTSC speed so I could watch the entirety of both versions in sync, and they are exactly the same in every other scene as well. Zero difference. And the reports of the BBFC passing the film uncut? I presume that's because they were only given the already trimmed version made for the MPAA. I guess there's a small chance the uncut version played theatrically, and Fox just decided to use the same cut version for the UK and US DVDs, but at this point I'm pretty friggin' skeptical.

And wait, dvdaf also listed the blu-ray as uncut, right? Maybe THIS time they've released the longer, uncut version. Nope. I bought that, too, and it's the same version again. If someone can comment here and point me to this elusive European cut on any sort of disc anywhere, I'd love to see it. But I can confidently report that the rumors of a longer, European cut on the UK DVD and blu-ray are false.

And I'd be thrilled for an uncut restoration, because A) the director was against the cuts, and B) it's just a really good film. Hillary Swank, who'd previously just starred in The Karate Kid 4 and Beverly Hills 90210, actually proved to be a terrific actress, starring as Teena Brandon/ Brandon Teena, the real life transgender boy who was the victim of a fatal hate crime in Nebraska. The film's very sincere portrayal of all the characters humanizes the situation and shows how a seemingly unbelievable case really could have gone down like it did. When it's done right, true crime can be uniquely powerful in film, and it certainly is here: moody, romantic and brutal at the same time.

So, since this myth of a European cut lead me to upgrade to blu, I can at least give us a nice, DVD/ blu-ray comparison. Unfortunately, I sold off my UK discs long before I started this site, but I held onto my original DVD long enough to compare it to my blu.

2011 blu-ray on top; 2000 DVD on bottom.

2011 blu-ray left; 2000 DVD right.

So here you go, a pretty standard catalog title upgraded from DVD to blu. The same basic transfer, taken from the same master, but presented in HD. The lack of over-compression does help, and the blu undeniably looks better, especially if you've got a large enough television to appreciate it. The DVD has a digital blotchiness and some ugly artifacting, making the film look especially grainy when it's not the actual film grain that's dancing around. You certainly notice it in the close-up, and it's like that all through-out the film. I feel like detail could be better, but the blu's actually a pretty nice upgrade. I had been content not replacing my DVD on this title; but now that I've got it, I'm glad I do. Unquestionably it's the superior version, and not by such a narrow margin as I would've guessed.

Also, the 1.85:1 framing is slightly different, with a bit more headroom on the blu and a bit more bottom image on the DVD. It's pretty much an immaterial sliver in both cases, but it's there. And, of course, the blu has a nice, clear DTS-HD 5.1 audio track, and a heaping ton of language dubs and subs.

Extras are the same, too. Everything from the DVD has been ported over, with no additions or subtractions. The main feature is the audio commentary with the director. But there's also a very brief (4 minutes), clip-heavy featurette, which isn't much more revealing than the trailer, except we do get to see Swank out of character, which makes her performance all the more impressive by comparison. Then there's a pretty long theatrical trailer and three TV spots. That's it. Could be better; could be worse.

So, sure, I'd quadruple-dip if an uncut version came out. Hopefully it would have a couple new extras along with it. But honestly, the rape scene doesn't need to be any more explicit to be effective. I'll always support a director's vision to have their films seen uncut, but there's no reason to hold off on this version waiting for one that'll likely never come. It's a quality release of a quality film, and while there's always room for improvement in all things, there's like a bajillion films in much more desperate need of a reissue than this one. What we've got is good enough without any obscure, foreign mythological editions.