New to View: Oct. 3
By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, Oct. 3, unless otherwise noted:
Prey (Blu-ray)
Details: 2022, Buena Vista-Disney Studios Home Entertainment-20th Century Fox
Rated: R, bloody violence
The lowdown: This is the most pulse-pounding and exciting entry in the “Predator” franchise since the 1987 original.
Two aspects make “Prey” compelling viewing — its setting and protagonist.
Unlike “Predator” and its increasing inferior sequels, which took place in contemporary times, “Prey” takes place in September 1719 on the Great Plains. This allows for an uncomplicated, vicious, plot that’s easy to follow.
The lead character is Naru, a young Comanche woman who is an excellent tracker who yearns to join the young warriors as a hunter.
Pitting so-called primitive people armed with hatchets, knives and bows and arrows against an alien with advanced technology makes for exciting and edge-of-your-seat viewing.
The movie, co-authored and directed by Dan Trachtenberg (“10 Cloverfield Lane”), is not just a sci-fi thriller.
It deals with the encroachment of “civilization” — a band of French trappers who slaughter buffalo for their hides and leave the carcasses to rot — and the roles and expectations for women in the Comanche culture.
The bulk of “Prey,” though is the cat-and-mouse endeavors of Naru and the Predator. At many junctures, each serves as either the hunter or the hunted.
As Naru, Amber Midthunder is smart, courageous and fearless.
“Prey” is very bloody and violent, but don’t let that dissuade you from viewing it.
Critics were enraptured, awarding it a 94 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 2.0 Dolby digital descriptive audio and French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus features include a making of featurette, a panel discussion with cast members and filmmakers, deleted scenes and an alternate opening and a commentary track.
Insidious: The Red Door (Blu-ray + digital)
Release date: Sept. 26
Details: 2023, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: PG-13, Violence, terror, frightening images, language, suggestive references
The lowdown: The fifth — and hopefully — final movie in this supernatural-horror series finds the Lambert family fighting to put their demons to rest for good.
Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson, who also directed the movie), and his college-age son, Dalton (Ty Simpkins) must go deeper into The Further, facing their family’s dark past as well as several new and more horrifying terrors that lurk behind the red door.
The movie, which also features Rose Byrne, is standard, formulaic horror fare that, despite a few goosebump worthy sequences, is not up to the level of its predecessors.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English, French and Spanish 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and English 5.1 Dolby digital audio description track; English SDH, English, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a featurette on the franchise and a look at Wilson the director.
Creepy Crawly (The One Hundred) (Blu-ray)
Details: 2023, Well Go USA Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: During the pandemic, a group of travelers are quarantined at a hotel in Thailand run by a secret, creepy manager and staff.
When guests start disappearing, the survivors begin to wonder if an old urban legend about a scary creature that can possess its victims is actually fact.
This Thai horror feature offers some solid CGI touches but, overall, the film has some gaps in logic. The movie’s alternate title is “The One Hundred.”
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; Thai 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Night of the Demons: Collector’s Edition (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
Night of the Demons 2: Collector’s Edition (Blu-ray)
Details: 1988, 1994, Scream Factory
Rated: Unrated, R, bloody violence, language, nudity, sexual situations
The lowdown: On a Halloween night, 10 teens decide to go to a party at Hull House, an abandoned funeral parlor.
The facility is rumored to have been built on an evil patch of land with an underground stream. How I piece of land can be evil is beyond my comprehension, but I’m no screenwriter.
As the party progresses, the teens gather around a big mirror to perform a séance. Of course, this foolish mistake, awakens an evil force that begins taking over the teens one by one.
To escape, those who survive must cross over the stream to avoid going to hell — or appear in the sequel.
The cast includes scream queen Linnea Quigley as well as William Gallo, Amelia (Mimi) Kinkade, Hal Havins and Cathy Prodwell.
Six years later, “Night of the Demons 2” was unleashed. The only returning character is the now demonic Amelia Kinkade character who, with her fiendish friends, disrupt a party thrown at Hull House — will these kids never learn — a student bully from St. Rita’s Academy after she is banned from attending the annual Halloween dance.
The bully tricks the younger sister, nicknamed Mouse, of Kinkade’s Angela into attending the party, where her presence awakens the demonized Angela.
Some strange and terrifying events finally scare the teens into fleeing the facility. But a tube of lipstick taken from the house by one of the partygoers takes on a life of its own and begins possessing the students, who soon are being killed by Angela.
Mouse is still in Hull House, where Angela plans to sacrifice her to the Devil to prove her devotion to him.
The surviving students, along with a nun and a priest, return to the house to rescue Mouse. More deaths occur, until those who remain use holy water to kill most of the demons, except for Angela.
A few people, including the nun, escape the house, but events open the door for a third film.
Fans of the genre should enjoy the blood-soaked special effects in both these movies.
“Night of the Demons” features the uncut and an international cut versions of the movie, while “Night of the Demons 2” features the theatrical and workprint versions of the film.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p ultra high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture (“Night of the Demons”); English 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture (both movies); English 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio (“Night of the Demons”) and DTS-HD Master Audio stereo (“Night of the Demons 2”); English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras on both movies include commentary tracks, cast and filmmaker interviews, behind-the-scenes featurettes and a making of featurette and alternate R-rated scenes on “Night of the Demons.”
Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
Mary Had a Little Lamb (DVD & digital) (Uncork’d Entertainment)
The Mean One (Blu-ray & DVD & VOD) (Deskpop Entertainment)
Mob Land (Blu-ray & DVD & digital (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
RWBY: Volume 9 (Blu-ray & digital) (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment-Rooster Teeth)
We Are Not Alone (DVD & digital) (Uncork’d Entertainment)
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
And Then Come the Nightjars (Gravitas Ventures)
Cats of Malta (Nexus Production Group)
Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.1 Thrice Upon a Time (G-Kids Shout! Studios)
Fashion Reimagined (Giant Pictures)
The Goldsmith (Kino Now)
Grieve (Terror Films)
House of Dolls (VMI Releasing)
Only Murders in the Building: Season 3, Episode 10 (Hulu)
The Plus One (Saban Films-Sony Pictures)
R BNB (Stonecutter Media)
Tokyo Pop (Kino Lorber)
OCT. 4
Beckham (Netflix)
The D’Amelio Show: Season 3, Episodes 5 & 6 (Hulu)
Haunted Mansion (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment)
Invasion: Season 2, Episode 7 (Apple TV+)
The Morning Show: Season 3, Episode 5 (Apple TV+)
OCT. 6
The Changeling: Episode 7 (Apple TV+)
Desperation Road (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Fair Play (www.netflix.com/FairPlay) (Netflix)
Miranda’s Victim (Vertical Entertainment)
Monsters of California (Screen Media)
Still Up: Episode 5 (Apple TV+)
State of the Unity (Freestyle Digital Media)
Strays (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment)
There Goes the Neighborhood (IndiePix Plus)
Totally Killer (Amazon Prime)
V/H/S/85 (Shudder)
Vindicta (SP Media Group)
Your Friend, Memphis (Kino Now-4th Row Films)
OCT. 9
Leopard Skin: Season 1 (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
COMING NEXT WEEK: The Boogeyman
I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, 4K UHD, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook at ReelBob or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.