Eli Roth's History of Horror: Season 3 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Eli Roth's History of Horror: Season 3 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Randy Miller III September 26, 2022

AMC's accurately-named Eli Roth's History of Horror treats viewers to an ongoing informal tour of the popular genre. Each 40-odd minute episode is hosted by the polarizing torture porn director, who's surrounded by plenty of big names (some returning from earlier seasons) including Cate Blanchett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Geena Davis, Roger Corman, Joe Hill, Vanessa Hudgens, Greg Nicotero, Quentin Tarantino, Edgar Wright, Jennifer Tilly, Rob Zombie, and countless others. Named by each subject, this year's outings include "Sequels That Don't Suck", "Psychics", "Infections", "Apocalyptic Horror", "Holiday Horror", and "Mad Scientists"... and if your dream episode didn't make the cut, tough luck: this series was not renewed for a fourth round. Like the first two seasons there's still room for improvement, but History of Horror ends its run skating by on the strength of its source material... and this might be the most enjoyable season yet.

The format hasn't changed from previous years: these six episodes are all self-explanatory, offering the series' usual mix of first or second-hand contributors who explore specific films within each category and offer trivial tidbits, fluffy praise (and light criticism), or deeper psychological insights that try to get at the root of their intended subjects. Some episodes also take small detours or even a broader approach: "Apocalyptic Horror" pinwheels from zombie films to sole survivor stories while dipping into tonal changes throughout the decades, while "Holiday Horror" fakes us out with a Halloween intro but mostly focuses on Yuletide-themed material, such as Bob Clark's pre-Ralphie proto-slasher classic, Black Christmas. Speaking of which, History of Horror continues to offer a decent mix of mainstream and lesser-known films: of course we'll see the likes of Contagion during "Infections" and Aliens in "Sequels That Don't Suck", but History of Horror also occasionally dips into international waters (Train to Busan) or back several decades (the shared work of Vincent Price and Roger Corman, including The Masque of the Red Death) to educate n00bs rather than offer another surface-level overview. Hell, even Pee-Wee's Big Adventure gets a shout-out for the Large Marge scene.

Some of these same compliments hold true for earlier seasons, of course, but this third and final crop of episodes felt a bit more consistently enjoyable than previous years. Perhaps it was a few behind-the-scenes technical upgrades (see "Video Quality" below) or just the types of films and/or subjects covered, but I found myself slightly more attached to specific episodes and the series as a whole this time around -- and not a moment too soon, apparently. One area where there's perhaps a slight drop-off from previous years is the interviewed guests: almost all of these faces have appeared in earlier seasons (perhaps some interviews for Seasons 2 and 3 were recorded simultaneously?), and some feel like afterthoughts. Was Margaret Cho the only Korean person available to discuss Train to Busan? Regardless, while their shared memories and insights are mostly valuable, some new blood might have livened things up a bit.

Elsewhere, it's business as usual for History of Horror: Eli Roth still hosts and narrates each episode, and his sit-down interviews with selected guests (which are more sporadic and never more than two participants total, unsurprisingly) still contain waay too many thoughtful nodding reaction shots and interjections. (His name's right in the title, but that doesn't make his appearances any less jarring even though we should be used to them now.) There's also the ongoing censored profanity, which I'll repeat is just a bunch of fuckin' bullshit given the absurd level of violence depicted. But if you've seen and enjoyed the previous two outings, there's no way you won't be on board for this third and final season as Halloween quickly approaches. RLJ Entertainment's Blu-ray serves up an improved A/V presentation (keeping in line with its technical upgrades) but, again, the bonus features are much lighter than those on Season 1.

Eli Roth's History of Horror: Season 3 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

History of Horror divides its running time neatly between interview footage and film clips, and for the most part both "halves" look better than in previous years. Since History of Horror began in 2018 there have been vast improvements in the visual presentation of classic and contemporary horror films by mainstream studios and boutique labels including Warner Archive, Arrow Video, Shout Factory, and many others, and as a result the horror clips sprinkled throughout are of noticeably higher quality. As usual, most of these clips continue to preserve each film's original aspect ratio; though some are slightly opened up to 1.78:1, many of them -- especially those shot in 2.35:1 -- thankfully aren't panned and scanned. This is actually rare for documentaries of this type, and I'm glad the practice continued.

Likewise, all of the digitally-shot interviews also look crisper than previous years; they've always been attractively shot with suitably spooky backdrops, creative lighting choices, and shadowy corners, but it's clear that a different setup was used this time. Black levels run nice and deep, with "special effects" limited to vintage interviews where the deceased or otherwise unavailable subject is usually projected in the ether. Skin tones look very natural, contrast levels are spot-on, and there are no almost no compression issues to be found. Overall, it's a very pleasing presentation and obviously the standout of the series, which makes it all the more unfortunate that History of Horror is over.

Eli Roth's History of Horror: Season 3 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Despite the visual improvements, History of Horror is still saddled with a relatively plain DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix. It certainly feels good enough for the "talking head" interview segments (as well as older mono/stereo film clips), but obviously comes up a little short where more modern fare is concerned. Still, dialogue is key here and it sounds very crisp and clear, with solid channel separation and plenty of room for occasional music cues, jump scares, and other not-so-subtle background touches. I'd argue that a more ambitiously enveloping mix -- yes, during the interviews -- might have gone a long way towards History of Horrors' overall spooky effectiveness, but it's still hard to be too disappointed with what's essentially a made-for-TV production. Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during the main feature and select extras, but they're full of annoying little typos and missing letters that may cause confusion.

Eli Roth's History of Horror: Season 3 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This two-disc set ships in a standard keepcase with Roth-heavy cover artwork and a promotional insert. Similar to Season 2, the only included extras are three short interview collections that play like deleted scenes.

• Horror Actresses (8:00) - It's ladies' night as a handful of actresses speak about their characters and genre experiences including Lydia Hearst (Slayers), Jamie Lee Curtis, Jennifer Tilly (various Chucky movies), Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps), Lex Scott Davis (The First Purge), and Nancy Allen (Dressed to Kill).

• The Apocalypse (5:50) - Author Joe Hill, Mystery Science Theater 3000 host Jonah Ray, actor Rosa Salazar (Bird Box), Lex Scott Davis, Lydia Hearst, author Max Brooks, and others speak about humankind's fascination with "end of the world" stories and notable films dealing with the subject.

• Pandemic Films (5:04) - Filmmaker Joe Dante, Leonard Maltin, Jessica Roth (Happy Death Day), filmmaker Michael Dougherty (Krampus), and others discuss re-watching older films dealing with health scares and global health crises in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as Contagion, Outbreak, and I Am Legend.

Eli Roth's History of Horror: Season 3 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Eli Roth's History of Horror, though it encompassed less than 20 episodes over three seasons, stood reasonably tall as a lightweight but highly watchable celebration of a frequently misunderstood genre. Featuring a surprisingly large roster of interviewees representing several decades of cinema (and, of course, a gaggle of gory highlight reels), if nothing else it served as an accessible entry point that even more seasoned fans could enjoy, and possibly even helped viewers seek out a few classics they may not have seen otherwise. It was also hurt by two annoying drawbacks -- Roth's overcooked "hosting" and censored profanity, because 'Murica -- but these odd constants never threatened to fully sink the ship. RLJ Entertainment closes the series' run with another solid Blu-ray package, this one serving up an improved video presentation but again skimping on the extras. Clearly Recommended if you've come this far.