Horror-themed features dominate the major Blu-ray releases for the week beginning on October 2nd. First up is Universal Studios' highly anticipated Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection box set, which compiles together nine monster movies from the studio's Golden Age. For the most part, the package lives up to the marketing brand of "essential"; in addition to the solid A/V quality and copious bonus supplements, the films themselves are iconic representations of genre filmmaking - the only dud is the gloopy, sentimental Phantom of the Opera remake.
In his Blu-ray review, Kenneth Brown echoes that sentiment, how even though "not every film is a tried and true classic, debate will rage about horror greats that were left behind, not every video presentation or DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix is ideal, and the majority of the special features have been ported over from the previously released DVDs...the Essential Collection is a Blu-ray essential. Universal has put considerable effort into restoring and revitalizing each film, and while there's room to nitpick, it's hard to focus on little flaws when the whole of the package is so good."
In Dark Shadows, Warner Bros. offers something of an homage to features like the Universal monster movies. An adaptation of the cult television soap opera, director Tim Burton's film conjures up a moody, atmospheric aesthetic that is highly reminiscent of the horror movies of yore. Burton also gives his picture a surprisingly goofy sense of humor - a good chunk deals with eighteenth century vampire Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp) trying to adapt to 1970's culture - though some narrative inconsistencies and an overblown, rote climax keep Dark Shadows from being as effective as it could be. Still, Burton's work behind the camera and the performances of Depp, Eva Green, and the great Michelle Pfeiffer make the movie an agreeable enough time-waster.
Kenneth Brown's Blu-ray review sums up these concerns, that "Dark Shadows doesn't fall flat on its face but it doesn't lord over other horror comedies either. At its best it's a return to form of sorts for Burton, who hasn't quite indulged in his particular breed of gothic fairy tale storybooking in some time, and for Depp, who does quirky and darkly eccentric better than any A-lister in Hollywood. At its worst it lurches and lulls, unsure of itself or exactly what it wants to do with a feature film adaptation of the original late '60s soap opera of the same name."
Far more modern in their approaches to terror are Pet Sematary and Red Lights. Pet Sematary is the screen interpretation of Stephen King's bestselling novel, and as the author's reputation might suggest, the film goes to some grisly places for horrific inspiration. Director Mary Lambert gleefully exploits more than a few genre taboos as she relates the story of how a pet cemetery with supernatural powers tears a family apart, and her willingness to match the darkness of King's source material gives Pet Sematary a power that overrides its dramatic contrivances and clunky performances.
Red Lights, on the other hand, skews towards the psychologically unnerving as opposed to the overtly terrifying, yet for its first two-thirds, it proves itself a creepy and surprisingly effective chiller. Cillian Murphy and Sigourney Weaver star as two psychologists who specialize in debunking psychic phenomena, and they make a good team, especially as their objective removal starts to crumble in the presence of Robert De Niro's enigmatic mystic. However, despite crisp filmmaking from Buried director Rodrigo Cortés and a terrific supporting cast that includes Toby Jones, Joely Richardson, and Martha Marcy May Marlene's Elizabeth Olsen, Red Lights can't maintain the tension it spends so much time cultivating, and it collapses in a hokey and unsatisfying twist ending.