Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.0

Scare Package Blu-ray Movie Review

Open at your own risk.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III October 20, 2020

Shudder's 2020 horror anthology film Scare Package serves up seven short tales framed around "Rad Chad's Horror Emporium", a failing video rental store with a few obnoxious regulars. Owner Chad (Jeremy King) has just hired Hawn (Hawn Tran) and their conversations serve as introductions to each chapter, often doubling as meta stories that burrow into the bookending segments. It's nothing if not diverse, as Scare Package features a mixed bag of low-budget shorts (each with an almost completely different cast and crew) that runs a little long at just under 110 minutes.

Episodic by default, Scare Package has its moments but the overall tone rarely hits a sweet spot. Most segments go for a jokey meta tone that feels too dependent on the viewer's knowledge of classics like Halloween and Scream, not to mention winking tropes delivered so quickly that they barely have time to register.

There are exceptions: "M.I.S.T.E.R." (dir. Noah Segan, frequent collaborator with Rian Johnson) lampoons a Fight Club-style men's rights group before detouring into werewolf territory, while "Girls Night Out Of Body" (dir. Courtney and Heather Andujar) sidesteps feminist-charged story elements while offering a few decent scares along the way. Also solid is "So Much To Do" (Baron Vaughn), which has both an original idea at its core and a fun lead performance by Toni Trucks, not to mention the best tonal marriage of comedy and suspense. Since this segment also doubles as the closer (not counting the final Rad Chad's segment, "Horror Hypothesis", which eventually spirals into a surreal and mostly satisfying conclusion), Scare Package at least manages to wrap things up on a reasonably high note.

Everything else, unfortunately, lags further behind. "Cold Open" (dir. Emily Hagins) plays a little better the second time around, but it's a fundamentally poor choice to kick things off: the acting is subpar and its flashback-infused story isn't interesting enough to generate much excitement for what follows. "One Time In The Woods" (dir. Chris McInroy) almost skates by on its impressive level of gore and a few solid jokes but, like a few other segments, takes too many winking potshots at the genre for its own good. Perhaps the worst of the worst is "The Night He Came Back Again! Part IV: The Final Kill" (dir. Anthony Cousins), which is guilty of the same but doesn't have any good jokes to match. I couldn't wait for this one to be over -- even at a paltry ~10 minutes, it felt at least twice that long.

Overall, Scare Package just barely does more right than wrong but, depending on your level of horror film experience and/or tolerance for winking meta-humor, it might not even clear that modest bar. RLJ Entertainment's Blu-ray is better than the main feature in every category, from its solid A/V presentation to a nice mix of extras.

Scare Package Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

As expected for an anthology film with seven credited cinematographers, Scare Package is a visual mixed bag but only from a style standpoint. Regardless of setting, the majority of shorts are well-lit and many aren't afraid to experiment with color, some with neon-infused sets and others with filters or subtle post-production tweaks to change up the tone a little. As far as I know none of the segments were shot on film but at least one ("Cold Open") featured plenty of grain in a few shots, so either I'm wrong or the grain was artificially added. Either way, Scare Package as a whole is capable enough from a visual perspective and RLJ's Blu-ray offers plenty of support with a strong 1080p transfer that features no excessive noise reduction and a very high bit rate. I did notice that the "Rad Chad" segments occasionally featured brief pauses between a few shots -- almost like a DVD layer change -- but this was likely a source issue, or possibly a side effect of the branching in "The Last Drive-In", an extended version of the movie included as an extra.

Scare Package Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track follows suit with a satisfying mix that, while again different between shorts, gets the job done with no major issues. Dialogue is often placed up front while background effects and the original score often drift into the rear channels. Jump scares and other atmospheric punches hit with a reasonable amount of force. The end result isn't always an enveloping presentation most everything feels right in light with Scare Package's low-budget atmosphere. Optional English (SDH) and Spanish subtitles are included during the main feature only.

Scare Package Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with attractive retro cover art, an embossed slipcover, a free 30-day trial of Shudder, and a few pretty decent bonus features.

• Audio Commentary - This candid track features co-creators Aaron Koontz and Cameron Burns.

• The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs (2:23:30) - Much like other episodes of Joe Bob's ongoing "horror highlight" film appreciation series, this annotated version of the main feature adds just over 30 minutes of rambling, off-the-cuff monologues between each of Scare Package's main segments. It's a pretty enjoyable way to watch any movie and, if this is your first time seeing the show, you might just end up a full-blooded convert before it's over. This episode originally aired on June 12 as part of the show's seventh season.

• Original Not-As-Good Ending (1:25) - Yep, the title's accurate.

• Locker Room Z (8:58) - A text-heavy short about zombies in the gym.

• Rad Chad's Rad Ad (1:32) - This promo for the video store doubles as a trailer.

• Blooper Reel (5:29)

Scare Package Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Scare Package is a mixed bag of horror shorts, and only about half of the material is any good. As a whole it's worth watching at least once, but RLJ Entertainment's Blu-ray offers enough support -- solid A/V specs and a few interesting bonus features, including a terrific The Last Drive-In episode with Joe Bob Briggs -- that pushes this low-priced release into "impulse buy" territory...and just in time for Halloween. Recommended to the right crowd.