They Live, Pet Sematary, The Devil’s Advocate, Arachnophobia, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, and More Blu-ray Release Dates
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Scream Factory has set a release date for They Live on Blu-ray. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein will also meet Blu-ray very soon. As will three Stephen King movies and much more!
Let’s start with Roddy Piper running out of bubblegum and being forced to kick ass in John Carpenter’s 1988 science fiction action flick They Live about a drifter who acquires a pair of special sunglasses and discovers the world as we know it is actually controlled by aliens. Scream Factory has yet to announce any specific details other than November 6th being the date the film arrives on Blu-ray. Stay tuned for future details. OBEY
Three Stephen King movies will be bowing on Blu-ray in the coming months. Starting with the one that I don’t think I’m going too far out on a limb to say is the least anticipated of the trio, Olive Films will give the 1996 King adaptation Thinner a digital upgrade on August 21st. Well, at least as much of an upgrade as one can give to a movie about a fat man who runs over a gypsy while getting a blowjob and then gets cursed to physically waste away unless Joe Mantegna can help him brutalize the gypsies into letting him pack on the pounds once more. Blu-ray extras will include the pride you will experience knowing you actually bought Thinner on Blu-ray.
On September 4th, Image Entertainment will bring Stephen King’s Sleepwalkers to Blu-ray. The 1992 Mick Garris feature written specifically for the big screen by King starred Alice Krieg, Brian Krause, and Madchen Amick in a twisted tale that involved incestuous, vampiric werecats that feed on the life forces of virgins and whose greatest weakness is the scratch of a little kitty. I’ll always remember it for being one of the few films where someone gets fatally stabbed to death with a corn on a cob.
Paramount has just announced that the 1989 adaptation of King’s best seller Pet Sematary will be getting the Blu-ray treatment just in time for Halloween. We’ll have more details on the disc specifics when they’re announced – It just better include the music video for The Ramones’ awesome theme song.
Whatever one may think of the movie adaptations of Stephen King’s works, you still have to admit he has a better track record than Anne Rice’s movie adaptations. Unless you’re one of the few fans of 2002’s Queen of the Damned, starring Stuart Townsend (who turned down playing Strider Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings movies to play Lestat in this turkey) and the late Aaliyah as the titular vampire queen, in which case you’ll be excited to hear that Warner Brothers is bringing it to Blu-ray on September 18th.
On the positive side, Warner Brothers is also giving Taylor Hackford’s 1997 supernatural legal thriller The Devil’s Advocate the Blu-ray treatment on the same date. Keanu Reeves starred as a Southern lawyer seduced by a New York City law firm run by Satan himself (Al Pacino, overacting to the nth degree), who has diabolical plans for both him and his mentally stressed out wife, Charlize Theron. The disc is being touted as the “unrated director’s cut”, though I’ve never heard of there being missing footage cut from the film.
Arachnophobes, beware! A very large tarantula will be on your screen in 1080p come September 4th when Disney/Buena Vista set loose the “Jaws with spiders” flick Arachnophobia on Blu-ray. Those of you that remember the marketing for the 1990 flick that starred Jeff Daniels as a man forced to contend with a very large, highly venomous South American spider accidentally unleashed in his small town, with John Goodman as his wacky exterminator sidekick of sorts, will remember the silly promotional ads that touted the movie as a “thrill-omedy” – a term I don’t believe has ever been used in an advertising campaign since.
Last, but certainly not least, the Universal monsters may be getting their own Blu-ray box set later this year, but if you want to see Dracula, the Wolf Man, Frankenstein, and the Invisible Man yuck it up with Bud Abbot and Lou Costello, you’ll have to pay a little extra and buy Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein on September 4th. The two-disc set of the 1948 horror comedy classic will include Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download copies.
Meanwhile, C.H.U.D., Chopping Mall, Q, the Winged Serpent, Alligator, or Killer Klown from Outer Space are still not on Blu-ray. If Queen of the Damned and Thinner can get Blu-rays… Geez!
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