For now, I think I'll just do my top 25 horror DVD's. In typical countdown format.
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#25 - Blue Sunshine (1978): Special Limited Edition (Synapse / Elite)
One Synapse DVD
had to make the list. They are wizards with sound when you really stack all the lower companies together, they know how to really take a small movie and make certain scenes shoot through the speakers like lightning bolts. Their cult horror titles are usually distinguishable by the silver background on the cover.
Brain Damage (1988) is a better film but for whatever reason, Synapse decided to give this one a better load of bonus features; most importantly- both a very good 30-minute interview with the director where he talks about his 3 major horror films from the 70's (
Squirm, Just Before Dawn, and this; all remarkably interesting, good, and diverse films) and the short film that inspired it (something about kids getting hooked on drugs by advertising- it's an ancient little thing from the early 70's and it's fun to watch just for that reason). There's also an audio commentary which isn't listed here, a CD soundtrack included in the second side of the case (it's a thick case too), the original trailer (which I always appreciate), and a very Disney-esque Restoration Comparison featurette. I don't remember what I paid for this set, but it was worth it.
Currently still in-print.
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#24 - Hellraiser (1987): 20th Anniversary Edition (Starz / Anchor Bay)
Back in 1999-2000, Anchor Bay were just starting to really make a name for themselves with upgraded DVD's of their original bare bones releases. John Carpenter's
Halloween got its' THX debut in 1999 (originally released in '97, completely naked other than the movie) and Clive Barker's
Hellraiser followed the next year (originally released in '98).
Halloween was a flashier package with a 30-minute retrospective featurette (narrated by Twisted Sister's Dee Snider, fun fact), a load of trailers, TV spots, radio spots, and photo galleries, and an alternate extended cut of the film containing 2 newly shot scenes for the TV version (the 'teen' cast in fact look a lot older in these scenes). But
Hellraiser was no slouch. It got THX'd too, a 20 (something)-minute featurette, galleries, a trailer, and something
Halloween sorely needed: an excellent audio commentary (with Barker and gorgeous brunette heroine Ashley Laurence). The way I hear it,
Hellraiser had only a few years or so previously been re-released on laserdisc (LaserDisc Database -
www.lddb.com - tells me it was released on April 6th, 1996) with commentary and making-of featurette very personally guided by Clive Barker, fans already loved it, and Anchor Bay produced these bonuses but were unable or unwilling to port them over onto the DVD. As a result, Barker himself seems very annoyed at the start of his interview on the 2000 featurette- cursing, lighting up a cigarette, and vowing to never talk about the film again (a promise he broke for the 2004 Bravo
100 Scariest Movie Moments television special).
All of this information is relevant to the 2007 20th Anniversary Edition re-release because, not only are the 2000 DVD bonuses carried over onto this new edition (except for the photo gallery, which here is re-done with much smaller pictures and a huge, unwanted border all the way 'round) but also, other major members of the cast and crew do the talking Clive Barker doesn't want to do in 4 new interview featurettes. Blue Underground really revolutionized this separate everyone and spill their guts approach to featurettes and I find they usually are more about the person being interviewed than the film. Which I don't much care for (unless it's about the director, writer, or person who inspired the film). But these are excellent. One of the few exceptions to the rule I'm willing to make. As with the re-do of the photo gallery, the rest of the DVD is padded with painfully bad quality TV spots and a bonus trailer. But really, all the 2000 DVD was lacking anyway was more interviews. And a hidden easter egg feature actually ponies up something I never thought we'd get: the original 2-part promotional spot that bookended the movie on VHS. A very schlocky little thing featuring an old lady (played by a much younger woman in drag) who clearly hasn't watched a horror movie in 20 years, and her cat (I seem to remember it being a stuffed plush), gearing up to watch the movie. In the first part. The second part focuses on her cartoonish shocked reaction and a freakish barrage of merchandise items. Seriously: a coffee thermos, sweatpants, A SPORTS BAG!!! What... the... ?
Currently still in-print.
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#23 - Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986): 20th Anniversary Special Edition (Dark Sky / MPI)
Dark Sky never had any hope of becoming the new Anchor Bay or Blue Underground since they never had a catalog of horror titles as large (and because of this, they find themselves in competition with companies like Severin), but nevertheless they knew good business. Very few major studios know how rabid and (if I may) undiscerning horror collectors are of cult movie titles on DVD and smaller companies make a killing with, literally, anything Italian or Spanish featuring copious amounts or violence or sleaze. As Blue Underground is testament to. Dark Sky tries to appeal to a more artistic connoisseur of low budget, cult, and horror titles and choose more provocative titles than your Troma's or Shriek Show's. Anyway, in the space of a year, they produced 2 must-have definitive editions of 2 of the most critically acclaimed horror films ever made. This was the former (the latter is further up on the list), and it seems like overkill to put a 50-minute making-of and less than half an hour's worth of deleted scenes onto a 2nd disc since the movie is only about 82 minutes long. But the important thing is quality and this set can certainly boast that. Director John McNaughton is a great interview subject and his audio commentary on the movie and the deleted scenes is invaluable. I'm not sure any of the additional scenes have their own sound so this might be the only track included. An important factor for DVD's on my list is that they give you everything you might need and this one does, rounding things out with a trailer and photo galleries. Oh, and there's a crime documentary (not produced by Blue Undergound) on the real life Henry Lee Lucas but I always skip it since the movie was only loosely based on him.
Currently still in-print.
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#22 - The Exorcist (1973): 25th Anniversary Special Edition (Warner Bros)
You couldn't pay me to sit through a William Friedkin audio commentary (well, you could but I'm not cheap). But he's somewhat tolerable in short bursts. As for the movie, I have a real issue with some of the deleted scenes not being included in the original theatrical version. So, it was hard not to include the 2000 re-release in this list to some capacity but the 1998 25th Anniversary blows it away in terms of bonuses. The feature-length BBC documentary on the making of the movie is one clear reason this disc is a winner. The other thing, and I didn't notice this right away when I got the 2000 DVD, is: why would anyone want to see a beefed up 2000 re-release trailer for a non-Disney film? I mean, I get the trailer parody phenomenon but I refuse to believe anyone would sincerely prefer a re-release trailer to an original. So, this '98 disc's large selection of original 1970's trailers and TV spots is a great feature. Too bad the extended ending with Kinderman and Dyer chatting is the only deleted scene that makes this DVD. Otherwise, I'd say this is a perfect disc.
Currently Out of Print.
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#21
Phenomena (1984): Anchor Bay 1999 disc
Tenebre (1982): Starz / Anchor Bay 2008 disc
A big disclaimer is needed for this one. Not because it's a tie and I chose 2 DVD's but because the 1999 disc of
Phenomena is a nightmare. Not only is the movie non-anamorphic but even on the day I opened it (back in 2002), it skipped like crazy in my DVD player. It's not a problem in all DVD players but it's an ultra-sensitive disc. I don't know why. But anyway, Anchor Bay debuted their 3-year spanning Dario Argento Collection with 4 DVD's in 1999 and this was the most packed of the 4. The only weak spot is the audio commentary since English is the first language of exactly none of the 4 men speaking. The rest of the bonuses are solid and I chose this disc over the 2008 re-release because there's something to be said for how crappy the disc art is for the 2008 versions. The 1999 cover of
Phenomena is far superior. However, I chose the re-release for
Tenebre because of the new making-of featurettes produced for the 2 new DVD's,
Phenomena's was a bore that spent around 10 out of 14 minutes talking about the movie's least interesting aspect (the bugs) and
Tenebre's was downright fascinating. Argento's ex-wife Daria Nicolodi provides the only worthwhile comments on
Phenomena, but this
Tenebre re-release is a must-have since it carries over everything from the '99 disc. Except the awesome menu and disc art.
Original 1999 discs: Out of Print
2008 re-releases: still in-print
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#20 - Videodrome (1982): Criterion Collection 2-Disc
Not much to say here. If you have it, you know how good it is. Oh, wait, Criterion were MEANIES and didn't include the TV version deleted scenes which forced me to create this YouTube channel where I put up awful quality copies of them (just short of 1- the longer scene with Barry Convex):
http://www.youtube.com/user/videodromeT ... ture=watch . The Mick Garris-hosted TV panel discussion with Cronenberg, John Carpenter, and John Landis is a MUST-see.
Still in-print, far as I can tell.
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#19 - American Psycho (2000): Uncut Killer Collector's Edition (Lionsgate)
I know this one ranks a little high since, on-paper, there isn't much to it. Trailers, deleted scenes, commentaries. But it's a very good example of the power of the audio commentary since I very much doubt most of these fascinating insights could be caught in a video interview. Director Mary Harron and screenwriter Guinevere Turner get their own tracks and between their personalities (Harron is abundantly sweet and warm given the film's harsh, cold tone, and Turner is a punk but a glamorous and sophisticated one) and artistic backgrounds, they make sitting down for 100 minutes while someone else talks entertaining as well as informative. All the bonuses are good (though the extra trailers are clearly Lionsgate's pathetic attempt to hopefully unload their overstock of
High Tension DVD's which is a movie I don't in any way recommend), but we do run into a bit of a wall when we get to the new interview featurettes. Mainly because most reviewers have expressed displeasure with The 80's Downtown which is actually about a bunch of (mostly gay) celebrities (exclusive to New York City in the 80's, you'll probably only recognize The Village Voice's Michael Musto) recollecting the art, dance, and sex club scenes of NYC in the 80's as well as Mtv, Reagan, and AIDS. The other chunky featurette is From Book to Screen which gets more respect, even though neither Christian Bale nor Bret Easton Ellis show up to talk about the movie. Though to be fair, neither does Chloë Sevigny, Justin Theroux, Willem Dafoe, Reese Witherspoon, Jared Leto, Samantha Mathis, Josh Lucas, Cara Seymour, or any member of the cast. You have to be in the right mood for these featurettes. For me, I actually think the 80's Downtown works slightly better than From Book to Screen. I think the latter is too abrupt and leaves you wanting more where the former - for some as ignorant as I am to most things trendy - feels like it covers a lot more ground.
Currently still in-print.
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#18 - The Shining (1982): 2-Disc Special Edition (Warner Bros)
My appreciation of the movie has risen since getting this DVD, so I'm not in any way disappointed that there isn't a fullscreen option. This transfer boasts the best sound quality maybe of any DVD I own. And the bonuses are all gold. Even if it seems there could have been a longer featurette about the making of the movie. Nothing much else to say.
Currently still in-print.
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#17 - Dust Devil (1992): Final Cut Limited Collector's Edition (Subversive Cinema)
Is there such a thing as a DVD package being too expansive? Yes. 2 examples spring to mind. One is 20th Century Fox's 2-disc Collector's Edition of David Cronenberg's remake of
The Fly. Not because there's too much information but because the mammoth length of the featurettes (which clearly tried to turn this 2-movie franchise into Fox's new
Alien Quadrilogy- kinda makes you wonder why there's never been an
Alien vs Fly movie, doesn't it?) and the tone of it makes a lot of what you have to watch feel stiff. The other, technically, is this set. Although when you consider it's 5 discs long and only 2 of them have the movie on them (not counting the CD soundtrack), it's truly disappointing to note that there is zero cast participation (this was rectified on Severin's 2-disc Special Edition of the director's non-documentary debut film,
Hardware). But, now that you know it's all filmmaker-guided, it's also good to note that he is one of the most freaking intelligent and compelling directors I've ever had the pleasure of listening to. He sounds like a professor and yet doesn't really talk down to or about anyone. As for the rest of the bonus features- everything you might really want or need is here. Except the short film the movie was based on, I understand that is long-lost... along with, apparently, this feature film's original theatrical trailer. But the short film trailer survived. Oh, and... there's a piece of a shot in the original, severely chopped down, Miramax theatrical cut of the movie that is missing from this 20-minute longer cut (Chelsea Field's reaction to being slapped by her husband). But that's like 4 seconds and I'm the only one who notices that kind of thing. Commentary, interview featurette, behind the scenes footage, bonus CD soundtrack, trailer from the short film, photo galleries, and the entire Workprint version of the movie which fulfills the deleted scenes requirement. And as an extra bonus, you get 2 documentaries from the director each on their own separate DVD. I paid less than $22 for this set and given the obvious worth of things like the Workprint, it was really a steal. Criterion would have had a hard time matching this effort.
Currently Out of Print.
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#16 - Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989): Deluxe Edition (Paramount)
Paramount have always been way over their heads when it comes to horror movies on DVD; they never knew for a second what expectations they had to live up to. And the fact that they've released all 8
Friday the 13th movies on DVD a whopping 3 times (which makes, of course, 24 separate editions- not counting Blu-Ray!) in a span of only - wait for it - 10 years(!!!) proves how much learning they've had to do. Fans had been foaming at the mouth with anger and bitterness, wanting Paramount's head on a stick for about 5 years prior to the 2004
From Crystal Lake to Manhattan special edition boxset. The release of the boxset pleased a lot of people but not the majority, hence why Paramount decided to do a remarkable re-vamp of the structure of the films on DVD. From the ground-up. And, finally, at long, LONG last, give each and every single film of the 8 its' own fairly packed special edition.
Well, given the fact that they had 10 years and plenty of trial and error to get it right... have they gotten it right yet? Well... sort of. The biggest gripe from fans is that they stopped the Blu-Ray train after the 3rd film. My biggest gripe, as you can imagine, is that all the newly produced Deluxe Edition bonus features for the 3rd film are only on Blu-Ray! Which means, if you buy the standard-DVD Deluxe Edition for Part III... all you get are 3-D glasses. However, after more than 5 years collecting the franchise on DVD, I'm very close to finally being pleased. That Blu-Ray will always be a thorn in my side but it brings me satisfaction I cannot put into words that Paramount seems to undoubtedly care more about this film, the biggest black sheep of the bunch, than any of the others. Compare it to any of the previous Deluxe Editions- there are no novelty featurettes (Jimmy's Dead Fuck Dance Moves, Maddy Gets a Make-Over, need I say more?), no fanfic films, no phony bullshit News Story crap, no garbage whatsoever. Just remastered picture and sound, and a completely respectful, and completely necessary, slate of bonus features. Shy of a trailer, it's almost perfect. It has the most cast interviews of any of the previous featurettes, the only gag (blooper) reel in all 8 sets, another audio commentary (and a pretty good one at that), and an essential portion of deleted scenes. In surprisingly good quality considering that, unlike
Part VII- it's not from a fullscreen VHS work print, and unlike
Part IV- there's both audio and no moments of clapboards before the take or crew members in the shot. Someone over at Paramount is clearly a fan of this film and this is a very loving special edition which defies the hate the film gets.
Currently still in-print.
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#15 - From Beyond (1986): Unrated Director's Cut (MGM / 20th Century Fox)
As the first MGM disc on this countdown, I think you're about to notice a pattern. It's not just that MGM fucking rules (before being tampered with so much by Sony, Fox, and Warner Bros during the huge war over their catalog) but also that it's really worth something when a major studio surprises you. Paramount's divine treatment of
Jason Takes Manhattan is one thing (and I do mean a one-time thing), MGM going out of their way on probably over a dozen occasions to give truly obscure films (at least as far as Hollywood is concerned) special editions as good as this one (and several even better) is beyond class. It's like they were the first major to understand and respect the horror fan (although: why it took them 11 years to produce a - fairly subpar -
Child's Play special edition, I will
never know). And you have to love them for that. Furthermore, they're a studio who've proven they value the uncut version of a film everytime they're able to deliver one (examples include
The Brood, Lord of Illusions, The Last House on the Left, Swamp Thing, and
Squirm- among those I actually know about). I can't even begin to imagine what they went through on
Last House (a film that existed in many different cuts of varying lengths- some with significant portions of audio missing), but apparently, this one was even harder to restore. And it shows. MGM were the finders of the thought-to-be long lost cuts made to get the film an R-rating for its' theatrical release back in 1986 and worked to make the edits to insert the footage back into the movie as seemless as they could but you can see the difference in quality. Thankfully, it's all minor and finally, everyone can see the film as it was originally intended. And can I tell you, I actually know the value of this achievement since I've been a member of several horror message boards as far back as 5 years before MGM distributed this disc. People wanted it, MGM delivered. And not just that, they decided that fans also really wanted to hear a pretty in-depth interview from composer Richard Band on the music score. Also, I have to give this disc points for the audio commentary- director Stuart Gordon and stars Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton should never be separated (as they were for the
Re-Animator commentaries). This one, for my money, is far more entertaining.
This one's tricky. It looks like it's still in-print for the moment but also that it's quickly slipping into $20 territory and I got mine for like $12 the year it was released. They really don't become this expensive unless they're also becoming increasingly harder to find.
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#14 - There's Nothing Out There (1990): Widescreen Special Edition (Image)
Speaking of obscure movies given amazingly expansive packages... was there ever a bigger shock than this one? Image Entertainment later gave birth to the Something Weird line that tried to be its' own Troma meets Roger Corman hybrid, specializing in obscure, John Waters-approved exploitation flicks (mainly from the 60's), but it was on this DVD that they peaked. And, I think, not only gave Elite (who produced the more fan-loved Millennium Edition of
Re-Animator) a run for their money but attracted the attention of Troma, who later acquired both this movie for their historic collection and... all of its' bonus features as well and splurged for a 2-disc edition (with, suspiciously, the exact same widescreen transfer as the one featured here- detail for detail). Anyway, there are better audio commentaries to be sure but it's impossible for any fan of this film not to go insane for the rest of the bonuses: audition footage, on-set rehearsal footage, video photo gallery with music, original theatrical trailer (yes, the film actually did get a theatrical release- exclusive to Los Angeles), outtakes and more. After all these years of collecting DVD's, this will always be one of my most cherished discs (and good luck prying it from my frozen, iron-like grip).
Currently Out of Print.
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#13 - Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971) (Mya Communication / Ryko)
Few things in home video are greater events than a pre-1998 Dario Argento film being released on DVD... except for a long lost, never debuted on the format anywhere in the entire world (except Germany) Dario Argento film being released on DVD. I own a copy and even I can't really believe that I have it. Like many things in Argento's universe, it's very much like a dream. That alone makes this worthy of listing. Fans waited 12 long years for it on... well, any format actually (it was never released on VHS or laserdisc in the U.S.). It only previously existed in widescreen on a low-quality bootleg DVD that wasn't even easy to snag. The bonus features are entirely of no consequence, though it's also worth mentioning that the portions of the film for which there is no surviving English language dub are translated through English subtitles (Argento shot all his actors speaking their native language but dubbed the entire audio track in English for American audiences on all his films- except the
Masters of Horror franchise).
Currently still in-print.
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#12 - Friday the 13th (Paramount 80's franchise): Killer Extras bonus disc
When this boxset of the franchise (my favorite horror franchise of all-time, and there are
a lot of horror franchises!) was released in 2004, you'd better believe I was right on the edge of my seat (
Misery quote). Well, I mean I was surfing the horror message boards, waiting for news of every new review which would pop up every day or so. And I wasn't liking what I was hearing. In almost every way they could, Paramount cheaped out! 2 movies per disc (side!), a measely 5 discs total, bonus features advertised that weren't in the package (a featurette on the marketing of the movies with an interview from one of the guys who narrated the trailers), only 4 audio commentaries, (extremely) limited cast participation, no uncut prints, more than 2 dozen deleted scenes not included, uncut footage presented in SPLIT SCREENS... to put it bluntly: what a friggin' mess! And I vowed never to buy until Paramount finally put some effort into their releases. And I managed to hold out a good 2 years (I'm very proud of myself- you have no idea how much I love these movies, I've seen them all anywhere from 25-30 times a piece!). But in October of 2006, I couldn't wait any longer. I bought the set and... now I can't tell you how glad I am that I did.
For example: every day going to the mailbox- I was excited. Until I would open the door and it still wasn't there yet. Then it came and... in 10.5 years of owning my own DVD's, it's the happiest I've ever been getting a new DVD. Did the bonus features warrant this much joy on my part? Not really, but the movies sure did! The reason I broke down and got the set was mainly the belief that, given how disrespectful Paramount have always been with the films, the sequels would never see another commentary or featurette in the U.S. (and I'm not into trying for Region 2- just can't find a good multi-region player). Having that in mind really makes you appreciate the work done on the commentaries and featurettes that we do get. That and shit like
His Name Was Jason- the
Idiocracy of horror documentaries where if one single intelligent thought was uttered in those 90 minutes, the editors made sure to cut away to a really speedy moving still image to undervalue it or sandwich it between 2 morons saying "I want to bone that hot chick in that scene" followed by
Beavis and Butthead laughter. Compared to that, Paramount's features are Nobel Prize-worthy. Most importantly, of course, they are respectful of the films. At least when they've given someone a microphone. The interviews and commentaries are very laidback and still, we get a lot of information. Especially on the bonuses for Parts
IV, VI, and
VII. Which also get the most attention in the deleted footage section.
Furthermore, the cast commentary for Part III alone makes this a must-buy. Especially after the rumors which flew around online in '04 about Dana Kimmell practically protesting the films because of her religious background. Previous to the set's release, that is. You can easily see how they started.
Currently Out of Print.
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#11 - Dawn of the Dead (1978): Ultimate Edition (Anchor Bay)
If there are any hardcore horror collectors reading this, they're going to be shocked this doesn't rank higher. Well, calm down- I feel there's only one minor flaw and I'm not even sure it's Anchor Bay's fault but I think the movie feels flat in the audio department. Also, trying to watch 1 version of the movie is a chore since there are so many different music cues in each as well as scenes missing from one version to the next. We're right back in
Exorcist territory. I want to be able to call a single version out of the 3 we're given definitive but the fact is that I don't think the version George Romero likes best is technically
the best. Since it's not one of the scariest movies you'll see anyway, I think the more character development you get- the better the movie is. This is why I feel the longest version, The Extended Version on Disc 2, is easily the best. Although even it is lacking since it seems to be the version with the most library music tracks. Admittedly, Romero's cut is a better music mix. So, what I'm forced to do to get my fix is play the first 3 chapters on Disc 3, skip over to Disc 2 for chapters 4 through 22 (or so - the scene where Zombie Stephen emerges from the elevator), and then play the first disc for the last 10 or so minutes because that has the best audio mix.
So, anyway, that headache aside- no one on Earth can snuff these bonus features. 3 audio commentaries, all personality driven, including the most important members of the cast and crew (Romero, Tom Savini, all 4 main cast members, producer Richard Rubinstein, and Romero's wife who appears in most of his key films-
Martin, Creepshow, Monkey Shines, etc) - just for fun, really; 2 freaking feature-length documentaries (and BOY are they good!!); a HUGE selection of original trailers and TV spots from around the world; photo galleries; a commercial for the mall they shot the film at; something like 10 minutes of hidden easter egg interviews; additional behind-the-scenes footage with audio commentary; and a brand new video seeing what the mall looks like 25 years later. In fact, in terms of bonus features- this might be THE best and most loving presentation of a film on DVD in the history of the medium. Criterion themselves couldn't have done better.
Currently still in-print.
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#10 - Suspiria (1977): Limited Edition (Anchor Bay)
If Anchor Bay's
Dawn of the Dead 4-disc Ultimate Edition facilitated the inevitable 3-disc "Ultimate Edition" for
The Evil Dead released 3 years later (
Dawn earning the Ultimate title and
Evil leaving more than a little in the video remastering to be desired), then this was the one that started it all (actually, that honor belongs to their 1999 2-disc Limited Edition of
Halloween- which might have made this list had it contained the Criterion audio commentary and sacked the 2nd disc in favor of putting the TV version-exclusive scenes in the Extras section of the THX single-disc DVD). Thick, flashy case, lavishly designed with a beautiful booklet (almost) worthy of sitting next to New Line's booklet for their
Nightmare on Elm Street boxset and pull-out lobby cards, bonus discs with documentary and CD soundtrack, as well as the requisite compliment of trailers, TV spots, radio spots, photo galleries, etc. Its' only disappointment was the controversy that followed over its' vastly altered audio tracks. Many people have complained that the deliriously haunting effect of the original 4-channel English theatrical surround track (yes, this film truly is the horror equivalent of
Fantasia) was lost in its' more bombastic transfer to 5.1 which apparently was less carefully balanced but more dynamic. It's an odd lose-win situation, however, because the re-mastering was necessitated by original pieces of dialogue that were lost during the re-mastering on VHS. Fans who remembered the VHS well enough to be annoyed by the music's inferior 5.1 balance were surprised to hear dialogue they had never heard before in the THX-mastered, Argento-approved mixes included here. One being Miss Tanner's "she didn't eat or drink anything this evening" line toward the end. Throughout Anchor Bay's illustrious history of triple-dipping, there are a lot of exciting, must-have editions. Most of them as a rule are at least 2 or 3 discs. Most fans will give the Best award to
Dawn of the Dead but I'm going with
Suspiria. They could have included the 4-channel audio as a bonus but that's the only thing that feels missing from this set. Historical fact: this DVD was released on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001.
Currently Out of Print.
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#9 - Nightmare on Elm Street (New Line Cinema franchise): Nightmare Encyclopedia bonus disc
Boy is this one complicated! Since Blu-Ray still had nearly a decade to go before it became a household thing, people weren't as keen on widescreen as they clearly are today (and even then, Netflix: Watch Instant continue to neuter 2.35:1 ratios to make them fit 16x9 screens like a glove). So, what did New Line have to lose by not making the 7 films in the set anamorphic? Then, the massive promotional campaign for the set on both DVD and VHS gave them a place to put additional - and very valuable - interview footage not included in the DVD set (the best being Jack Sholder discussing the test screenings for
Freddy's Revenge - and how the film's scene order was drastically changed as a result - and Rachel Talalay going in-depth on her fear of everything and surreal influences for
Freddy's Dead). This one really stabs me in the heart as I just can't find a decent VHS player to save my life anymore (I have both sets). I'm sure New Line split the interviews because they just didn't have room for them on the bonus disc (which is clearly bursting at about 3 and a half hours plus the insanely elaborate interactive menu design) but, unless you've seen them, you have no idea what was lost. These were really good, revealing interviews which the DVD mostly cut down to amusing snippets like 15 seconds of Sholder calling New Line "the house that Freddy built" or Robert Englund telling an anecdote about him and 2 crew members on
Dream Warriors eating "hardcore L.A." burritos with drag queens freshly released from county jail. And don't even get me started on all the deleted scenes that didn't make it anywhere on the set. The first film alone had well over 20 minutes of them (which once found their way onto YouTube and I fell into euphoria on the day I saw them for the first time, let me tell you) that Anchor Bay released on a VHS 2-tape set in the 90's. There are so many hours of stuff this franchise produced that are nowhere in sight on either this set or New Line's Infinifilm Edition of the first film. Or the boxset released to pimp that shitty remake.
However, all this aside, the DVD set is still a winner. For its' time. The total interview footage we get that isn't present on VHS outweighs what isn't present on DVD. There are still a lot of archival interview clips, promotional stuff of Englund playing Freddy on Mtv, music videos, a little behind the scenes footage, and for all the DVD's that included interviews with fans and filmmakers at conventions- this is probably the best (after Bruce Campbell's
Fanalysis documentary). And... this is probably the only DVD edition I can think of where the menu counts as a major bonus feature. Give whoever put this together credit, the Labyrinth Maze here is more fun than any Disney DVD game ever created. The blending of photo galleries, music, and sound clips from the films makes it an amazingly exciting use of your free time. It's not close to being the same sort of atmosphere as the films but if it's something born of the whole 90's
Se7en tattered and stained styled imagery influenced by the look of nasty, broken down and abandoned old buildings, the audio makes it sincerely creepy. The goal, of course, is to find bonus features from the different rooms in the maze that are nowhere in the Index. Which is a pain in the butt if you just want to watch the bonus features but it holds up better than you might be expecting. Not to get weird or anything but it represents a kind of imagination and gamelike craftsmanship that I think a lot of people wish DVD did more of. At least it makes me hate trendy style choices less than I do when companies feel they just have to change covers to make older movies look more attractive to trendy buyers.
Currently still in-print, apparently.
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#8 - Phantasm (1979): Special Edition (MGM)
I was
seriously considering making this #1. Because there are 2 things that make horror DVD's great (other than, of course, high quality picture and sound), engaging scholarly discussion of the film's themes, achievements, and historical relevance and archival bonus features, both promotional and behind the scenes and this disc can boast an extremely healthy selection of the latter. Having been born in 1982, I have zero 70's nostalgia but you're going to get a blast from the past from these bonuses- I assure you. In place of any Blue Underground type retrospective interview featurettes, there is an incredible 30-minute 1979 TV interview with a Miami film journalist where director Don Coscarelli and actor (and future genre superstar) Angus Scrimm discuss several aspects to making the movie. This disc is dedicated to digging up everything it can find (although there is A LOT more deleted footage from the film- most of it eventually wound up in one of the sequels): 6 deleted scenes (including an alternate ending), 20 minutes of behind the scenes footage - no audio, so it's presented with audio commentary from Coscarelli and actor Reggie Bannister (who was too busy to make the commentary recording for the feature film), a priceless introduction to the film with the ultra-charming Scrimm telling the story of being cast in the role ending with him turning into the Tall Man character as the camera fades to black over his face twisted in a menacing expression, full versions of songs deleted from the feature film soundtrack (and, yes, I
love that disco remix of the score- don't you?), trailers, TV spots,
ultra-creepy radio spots... Then a good 3 or so bonuses just focusing on Scrimm playing the character: 10 minutes talking to fans at a Fangoria convention, a 30-second Fangoria Magazine TV promotional commercial, and a 3.5 minute promotional spot advertising the film in Australia (where it's known as
The Never Dead). These are all winners but that last one is a whole sketch involving the Tall Man meeting an Australian journalist (though he acts like a game show host) at his hotel room (beginning with a frightened bellboy who runs with a tray of food and crashes offscreen), both camp it up like they're on stage, Scrimm puns like he's the Crypt Keeper, and eventually they go out to a cemetery on a rainy day. It's so much fun for only being 3 minutes long. There's more to talk about but I just really want to praise this disc's photo gallery. It's...
really packed and includes fan art which is really stylish and interesting. This DVD doesn't half-ass anything. Even the menu is awesome (and includes an audio control feature to let you change the music).
Currently Out of Print.
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#7 - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974): 2-Disc Ultimate Edition (Dark Sky / MPI)
Very few DVD companies ever really aim to encourage deep analyzation of a film when producing bonus features (which is of course why Criterion's
Videodrome, Warner's
Shining, and Subversive's
Dust Devil sets are so good). They typically focus on just getting the full behind-the-scenes story of how the movie was made. All anecdotes welcome. But my love for the genre wouldn't be as everlasting as it is now without thinking that it all really means something more. Which I know it does, thanks to subtextual readings of films like
Phantasm and
Suspiria which on the surface look pretty crude, intellectually dim, or overemphasizing on visual style. This DVD set focuses more on "I was there" stories but it's also a better road-trip document than, again, Fox's
The Fly was (which in the same amount of time does half the traveling and just makes you feel weary). I guess it's impossible to give this movie the
Dawn of the Dead treatment since the shooting conditions were so famously miserable and the cast and crew seem pretty darn tired of talking about this movie but even Anchor Bay's abundant convention-shot interviews with the cast of
Evil Dead were more full of live than this set. However, admittedly I might not be saying this if the road to this DVD hadn't been paved by shit like Rob Zombie's
The Devil's Rejects. This DVD set gives you almost everything you could hope for and the producers of the interviews covered what feels like every inch of ground on the making of the movie and the lives of the cast and crew following its' immense success, which is why I ranked it this high (though, actually, it's mostly the video and audio remastering). Yet, I will always wish the set had been a little more artistically minded in discussion rather than the kinda pretentious way they shot the interviews. There's a definite mood to this set. I think they're trying to convey without being direct the mentality that this is the movie's end of the road. (Which potentially lays ground for a disturbing idea: that this is where hacks like Rob Zombie and Alexandre Aja are meant to take control of the genre and dictate where it goes. Considering how many chances they've had to deliver and how badly they've failed, that's a scary thought indeed.)
Currently still in-print.
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#6 - Carrie (1976): Special Edition (MGM)
A perfect example of analytical substance
and compelling, retrospective telling of on-set stories, this special edition has two of the very best making-of featurettes in horror DVD history. There's nothing at all like a featurette where almost the entire cast and crew weigh-in on the making of a movie and do so in such an intelligent, inspiring way. In fact, combined, these featurettes run longer than Anchor Bay's outstanding 75-minute
Dawn of the Dead featurette. And you can see that the cast and crew view this film with as much full-hearted passion as any critic. The DVD also contains an atmospheric video (slideshow) photo gallery (which after seeing it done this way makes me prefer this method somewhat to the point and click DVD photo galleries) and the original trailer- both of which are necessities. But these featurettes are the main reason this is one of the best horror DVD's you can own.
Currently still in-print.
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#5 - Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) (Warner Bros)
Like with Paramount's Deluxe Edition of
Jason Takes Manhattan, this is the one (and only) time Warner Bros has managed to truly knock my socks off. Why? For a few reasons, actually. One being that, even though the first film was a great success in theaters and this sequel tanked, Warner has always seemingly made more money off merchandising on this film than the original. To the point where they decided to flat-out stop using the original images of Gizmo on any home video releases. Stripe appears occasionally over
The New Batch's Brain, though with ridiculous sunglasses like he's some kind of salesman of sun-and-fun vacation packages. But the entire cover format of the DVD and Blu-Ray (and VHS) releases for both films has been 1990 Gizmo for a long time now. Two being, of course, the fact that this sequel was far less successful than the first. Yet, this DVD package is far more loaded with bonuses than the first film's DVD. Which, and this is number three, was considered worthy of getting a Special Edition label even though the only really special thing about it was the commentaries and they were just okay at best. Okay- and the deleted scenes. But this "unspecial" edition's deleted scenes run twice as long as the first disc. The one commentary is 3 times better than either commentary on the first disc. You still get your original promotional trailer, on-set making-of featurette (though this one doesn't take itself seriously, has some good jokes and a fun tone), and cheap Warner texty extras (though one of these is a Trivia Quiz and actually tries to spook you with jump scares, so you might want to check this one out). But you also get a great blooper reel and the alternate scene that replaces Hulk Hogan warning the Gremlins in the movie theater to run the rest of the movie with "John Wayne" on home video warning the Gremlins to change the channel back to the one playing the rest of the movie. It seems Warner Bros actually thought of everything for a change. Well, except for sit-down retrospective interviews but they're actually a little lazy on that kind of thing if you remember
The Goonies special edition too. At least these movies got special editions. More than I can say for
The Never-Ending Story or
The Witches. With that in mind, Warner Bros really does deserve a little praise on something they've done right for a change.
Currently still in-print.
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#4 - The Last House on the Left (1972): Unrated 2009 Collector's Edition (MGM / 20th Century Fox)
There's only one thing that disgusts me about doing this countdown and that's seeing how many good DVD's were the result of promoting awful remakes (or in the case of TCM's Ultimate Edition- a prequel). Remakes that have attitudes like the original films aren't effective anymore because films are made differently today. No shit, Sherlocks! What you mean is that audiences are stupid (their belief, not mine... well, not always mine and when it is, it's never for the same reason) and value all manners of gratuity over art, craftsmanship, and intelligence. Not to mention studios believe people aren't scared of things that stir their imagination but rather they have to be forcefed everything. Anyway, when Wes Craven decided to shock audiences with
The Last House on the Left back in 1972, it was a different time. And as a result, the film was viewed in a radically different light than all the imitators which came after it.
Last House was admonished and scorned by nearly every critic who watched it as well as, as Craven details it in interviews, brow-beaten by a good number of liberal-minded film enthusiasts he met at the time for moral reasons. Meanwhile, its' financial success (not something Craven made a buck on in any way) made it a prime candidate to rip off. Over the years, its' scrutiny shifted from the general public into cult circles where, if you can believe it, there's become a trend of people watching once shocking films to challenge a film's reptuation rather than understand it. If they don't find the film as "shocking" as modern exploitation fare (aka- French rape and torture films, which don't even have a universal cultural context anyway), they snobbishly pan it and ignore the significance it's had over time. This naturally led to the rip-offs (
Night Train Murders, I Spit on Your Grave, The House on the Edge of the Park, Mother's Day, Last House on Dead End Street) getting stronger followings (since, truly, all of these films would have been forgotten) because they can be viewed without the same stigma of having a critically acclaimed director at the helm. But make no mistake,
Last House on the Left didn't just do it first- it took its' premise (copied from an Ingmar Bergman drama) out of the realm of emotional, internal lone-person struggle and used it to confront widespread social and political issues. The same cannot be said on behalf of a single rip-off or remake (counting the recent remake of the
I Spit on Your Grave rip-off).
Rant off. The legacy of this film on DVD has been a very unique one. MGM of course gave the film its' very first release, in the U.S., in 2002. Instead of this MGM disc traveling to the UK, however, Anchor Bay mounted their very own UK release aimed at topping MGM's presentation with 2 discs and all-new features with the exception of MGM's Craven and producer Sean S. Cunningham (also director of
Friday the 13th) audio commentary. For years, I was curious about this edition and, thanks to the remake (yes, my skin is crawling at the thought), MGM announced they were finally re-releasing the film in a new edition that would port over half of the key bonus features on Anchor Bay's edition. Which caused the UK to in turn prep another re-release of their own. Now that I've seen the excellent Anchor Bay featurettes Celluloid Crime of the Century and Scoring
Last House and heard the cast commentary, I can safely say just about the entire 2nd disc of Metrodome's 3-Disc Ultimate Edition is overkill (the 3rd disc, in case you're wondering, is not related to the film at all- it's just a copy of that
Going to Pieces documentary with all the bonus features relating to it). And still, MGM managed to rake Craven in to do
yet another interview about the movie (the feature marked "Still Standing") and were able to find yet another deleted sequence with audio that they originally missed. These are, and like most of MGM's 2002 bonus features will be, exclusive to this disc. For me, this is all I need to hear to buy a new DVD of an undervalued horror classic. And I applaud MGM and Fox's co-effort. Even if in their eyes it's only serving to raise interest for a shitty remake (and this one certainly was), the fact that there isn't a single bonus feature here that was present on the 2002 DVD takes some of the sting off. However, they could have improved upon the package even more by making it a 2-disc and putting all the MGM & Anchor Bay bonus features together. Alas, like
Phantasm's separate MGM & Anchor Bay editions, it was never meant to be.
Currently still in-print.
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#3 - The Last House on the Left (1972): Unrated 2002 Edition (MGM)
Have I mentioned that MGM rules lately? They actually used to get something of a bad reputation for several years no doubt spearheaded by their low-quality, fullscreen discs of cult films like
Pumpkinhead and nostalgic genre fare like
Child's Play. For the most part, they just couldn't catch a break. But, even though they were late in upgrading their technology to begin making their transfers look as good as Paramount, Sony, Fox, and Universal, they did aim to earn some points for discs like the director's cut of
Lord of Illusions and their Midnite Movies series. Then,
Phantasm changed everything. As MGM acquired the Avco-Embassy label (which included several films that became later Special Editions, almost all up to
Phantasm's par-
The Howling and John Carpenter's
The Fog), they sort of began the same 1-year tradition as Disney did with their Platinum Editions, only with horror Special Editions. And, believe me when I say every year was an event (2001:
Carrie, 2002:
The Fog, 2003:
The Howling, then of course in 2004, Sony took over and started fucking everything up). As a matter of fact, the clear difference between Disney and MGM is that MGM didn't wait. And 2002 saw an entire season of above-and-beyond treatment of several horror titles- including
The Return of the Living Dead (though it always bothered me that they never did restore the original theatrical audio) and
Last House. And, though neither were marked as Special Editions, both became very big pleasers of cult film collectors (they are among the higher profile titles). Especially
Last House, since it has just as many bonuses as
The Fog did. And, then there's the business of releasing the film uncut. Which comes down to how much footage MGM could find that had sound to it. Of course, there is additional footage without sound presented as outtakes and dailies and it's hard to believe this is what was cut from the movie since there are a lot of clapboards and the footage is compiled from multiple takes rather than clearly chosen takes that were excised from the original cut of the film. The same original cut deemed so controversial that not one copy was kept in-tact. So, the people assembling this extended cut were forced to look through all the different, pre-R-rated 82-minute VHS edits to find out what wasn't there and then stick it in where it most likely fit in. Craven admits even his recollection of the movie is a little hazy.
As for the bonus features themselves, Anchor Bay's 2-disc edition did devote more time to discussing the making of the movie but MGM sticks a little bit more to analyzing the film. Both MGM's featurettes and Anchor Bay's which didn't stray off completely into the film's UK reptuation as a "video nasty" (banned from being released uncut in any form for over 3 decades) are essential. But in choosing which is more essential, I would pick MGM's. Considering how easy it is to look at the film out of context and judge it as a piece of exploitation or poorly made schlock, the respect MGM shows it is important. The opposite side of the coin is obviously Blue Underground, who were hired to shoot the interviews for Anchor Bay's Celluloid Crime of the Century featurette and Blue Underground is a company founded very much by William Lustig, a guy who tried to manufacture his own video nasty scandal with 1980's awful
Maniac. Yeah- the whole thing reeks of
Cannibal Holocaust self-important pretentiousness rather than any kind of modest artistic statement and this guy built up his own anti-Criterion Collection for popular grindhouse and exploitation films, 99% of which are complete shit but given the best picture and sound quality money can buy. (Yes, there's that much money to be made in serving cult collectors.) Again, another thing I considered when I chose MGM's disc as the superior. Although- I'd be lying if I said I'd consider this disc even better had MGM dug up as many trailers, TV and radio spots as Anchor Bay did.
Currently still in-print, apparently.
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#2 - Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) (MGM)
Sandwiched somewhere between MGM's king and queen DVD's of
Phantasm and
Carrie, there was their very first unlabeled special edition of this very special movie... which you certainly wouldn't expect a major studio to see as special. And if MGM hadn't already established themselves as leaders of DVD-awesome with
Phantasm, this disc did. Unquestionably. The video and audio transfer could still use a little polishing but it is again shocking just how out of their way MGM went to make this the single definitive presentation the film would ever see in terms of bonus features. The inclusion of the original trailer, outtakes, and a commentary was nothing new for MGM. That paired with really extensive photo galleries and even deleted scenes with optional commentary makes this a great DVD. Still, MGM feels they could do better- add rehearsal footage and an alternate audio clip from the TV version to the pile. Enough yet? No, MGM still seems to think they can do better. But what could truly be the cherry on top of this already stacked DVD... oh yeah, how about 5 (count 'em:
5) separate making-of featurettes totalling nearly an hour covering the brothers' beginnings in filmmaking and stop-motion animation, the visual effects of the movie, the movie's music score, generous portions of behind the scenes footage, the creation of the Klowns, and the initial conception of the project. Without this, the DVD still would have been a winner but MGM found the film deserved more. Name one other major studio who would have gone 1/4th as far as this in terms of bonus features. The only thing missing is The Dickies' music video for the title song. Admittedly, this is a little sad since there's a scene in it with 3 of the klowns from the actual movie playing in the band (and a truly terrifying bit with the one we see from the Big Top Burger scene in the movie actually almost hitting someone with the mallet this time). Every day it looks more like the long-rumored sequel to this movie is going to happen. For some reason, in the case of this movie- I really hope it does.
Currently still in-print.
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#1 - The Silence of the Lambs (1991): Collector's Edition (MGM / 20th Century Fox)
(I wrote something here too but this is where the forum runs out of allowed text. I refuse to double-post and I didn't keep a copy of it anyway.)
But I'll do a few. I'll also stay away from naming any animated releases - I'm sure we all know which of these are worth buying 
)
