Hatchet - Unrated (2007/Anchor Bay Blu-ray) + A Brush With Death/Harvest Of Fear (Mill Creek Blu-ray) + Demonic/Uninvited (1988/Mill Creek
Blu-ray) + Blood Bath Collection
(Mill Creek DVD Set)
Picture: B/C-/C/C-/D/C-
Sound: B-/C/C/C/C-/C- Extras: C-
(Hatchet: C) Films: C- (Hatchet: C)
The state of the Horror genre is a wreck in part because
it is stuck in the 1970s and/or the films since the late 1980s have become a
Goth club/fan boy joke and these productions are for fans who have nothing better
to do, including make bad features. Hatchet was enough of a success for Anchor Bay
that they are not only getting an unrated sequel into a major movie chain, but
issuing the 2007 film on Blu-ray. We
reviewed the DVD at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6310/Hatchet+%E2%80%93+Unrated+Director%E2
The 1080p digital High Definition image on Hatchet is a bigger improvement over
the DVD than expected with superior detail and color throughout, leaving the
motion blur limited and though there are still problems with production limits,
this will make Horror fans happy. The Dolby
TrueHD 5.1 mix is not as dramatic an improvement and shows the limits of the
location sound and budget more than the DVD, yet it is also a bit warmer and
fuller throughout. Since the DVD
arrived, co-star Joel David Moore has become a successful character actor and a
new second commentary track has been added to the extras brought over from the
previous set with Writer/Director Green and Kane Hodder discussing the film.
Mill Creek has entered the Blu-ray market with two double
features of films feature don their Blood Bath DVD set, or 4 of 12 there. A
Brush With Death (2006, in 1080p) has a farmhouse visit with so many
bodies, it could now be considered a slaughter house, while Harvest of Fear (2004, in 1080i) has 20
year old murders spilling new blood as a cold case gets hot and blood-soaked
for all the wrong reasons. Too bad they
sound better than they play and have no extras.
Demonic (2005/1080p, aka Forest Of The Damned) has make-up
legend Tom Savini co-starring in a wacky tale of naked nymphomaniacs turning
out to be killers, but he cannot save this silly mess that was made in England
and it still turned out bad. Uninvited (1993/1080p and the 4th
film we have reviewed with that title) has veteran character actor Jack Elam in
his very last role as a mysterious man whose trip with eight others to a gold
mine that turns out to be haunted, but turns out not to have any suspense.
These were shot on video for the most part and look poor
in these (barely) digital High Definition transfers, with all of them pretty
much not offering enough fidelity to justify their release in the format. The PCM sound on all four is also bad,
especially on Uninvited, which is
compressed as anything from its Ultra Stereo analog master and as bad as its
DVD equivalent. There are no extras,
which is also the case on the DVD set Blood
Bath, which they also appear on. The
other cheapie disasters include Angst
(2006), The Chambermaid (2007), Death On Demand (2008), Hallowed (2006), Haunting Of Rebecca Verlaine (2003), Red Riding Hood (2004), Shadows
Of The Dead (2004) and Twisted
Sisters (2006), all sporting R-ratings just to be hip because they barely
received any theatrical release if any and I can see why.
The various aspect ratios and Dolby Digital 2.0 are weak
throughout and Blair Witch can be
blamed for inspiring so many bad productions which continue today. Except for Hatchet being ambitious, these are mostly disposable and only Demonic and Uninvited are vague curiosities at best.
- Nicholas Sheffo
