The Blair Witch Project
Just in time for Halloween, the viscerally frightening hit film, The Blair Witch Project, makes its Blu-ray Disc debut this October from Lionsgate. Set in 1994, three film students travel to the woods of Maryland to investigate an urban legend, and find themselves terrified to the core. The friends – Heather, Josh and Mike – never return from the Black Hills Forest, and one year later their missing footage is found and edited together to tell the story of the amateur filmmakers’ terrifying two-day hike. Featuring four never-before-seen alternate endings, the film that caused a stir worldwide is featured for the first time in 1080P High Definition Widescreen, along with additional bonus materials that include an audio commentary, a featurette and extra footage. The Blair Witch Project garnered the 2000 Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature.
Pricing: Blu-ray Disc $19.99
Horror Fan Favorites on Blu-ray Disc
Open Water
Open Water 2: Adrift
2001 Maniacs
High Tension
Just in time for Halloween, horror fans can kick-start their Blu-ray Disc collections as Lionsgate releases fan favorites in 1080P High Definition Widescreen for the first time. Open Water and Open Water 2: Adrift hits shelves as a Blu-ray Disc double feature, along with 2001 Maniacs, directed by Tim Sullivan (upcoming VH1’s “Scream Queens” reality series and 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams); and High Tension, co-written and directed by Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes and upcoming Piranha 3D).
Open Water Synopsis:
Based on true events, the film follows an American couple who embark on an island getaway to escape their workaholic lifestyles and marital problems. Daniel and Susan, both certified scuba divers, board a local dive boat full of other vacationers for an underwater tour of the reef. Due to a series of innocent miscommunications and a distracted crew, the couple is accidentally left behind. As isolation sets in, they turn to one another for support but quickly fall apart. Soon they are prompted to question their own fate as they fight to stay alive in the chilling open waters of the shark-infested ocean.
One of the best reviewed films of 2004, Open Water was hailed as “Diabolically clever” (Rolling Stone) and “An expertly made suspense thriller!” (Los Angeles Times) and was an Official Selection of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. The Blu-ray Disc bonus features include a director and producer commentary, actor commentary, deleted scenes and a couple of featurettes.
Open Water 2: Adrift Synopsis:
Based on a harrowing true story about a weekend cruise aboard a luxury yacht that goes horribly awry for a group of old high school friends who forget to lower the ladder before they jump into the ocean for a swim. The boat proves impossible to climb, leaving them adrift, miles from shore. As the reality of the situation sinks in, the friends begin to turn on each other. Soon the exhaustion of keeping afloat and the struggle to get back on board begin to take a terrible toll. What started as a joyful reunion becomes a fight for survival! The Blu-ray Disc contains a “making-of” featurette.
2001 Maniacs Synopsis:
Based on the campy cult classic by the Godfather of gore, Herschell Gordon Lewis, and starring horror legend Robert Englund, 2001 Maniacs is a bloody comedy/spoof that audiences will love. 2001 Maniacs tells the story of a group of college students on their way to spring break. They decide to take a detour through an old southern town – and are soon in for a big surprise. The residents of Pleasant Valley insist the kids stay for their annual barbecue celebration…but instead of getting a taste of the old south, the old south gets a taste of them! Special features include two separate audio commentaries, the “Inside the Asylum” making-of featurette, deleted/extended scenes, outtakes and an alternate opening with John Landis.
High Tension Synopsis:
High Tension is an intense game of murder and survival, which will rattle viewers to their core. Marie and Alexia are classmates and best friends who go to Alexia’s family home in the French countryside hoping to prepare for their college exams in peace and quiet. In the dead of night, a psychotic killer breaks into the house, and with the first swing of his knife, the girl’s idyllic weekend turns into an endless nightmare. When Alexia is captured and thrown into a van, Marie attempts to rescue her friend from the evil murderer. High Tension truly brings slasher films back to their roots with this gore-addled film, packed with blood and guts. Special features include the original unrated French Language Director’s Cut, an English dubbed version of the film, audio commentary with the director and screenwriter, plus select scene commentary with the director and star of the film. The disc also contains three featurettes – “Haute Horror – The Making of High Tension,” “Building Tension,” and “Gianetto De Rossi: The Truth, the Madness and the Magic.”
Pricing: Blu-ray Disc $19.99 each
Indie Favorites on Blu-ray Disc
Hard Candy
Bad Lieutenant
Secretary
Wonderland
This October, indie film fans can start their Blu-ray Disc collections at a great price as Lionsgate releases fan favorites with critically acclaimed casts in 1080P High Definition Widescreen for the first time. Starring Academy Award® nominee Ellen Page (Best Actress in a Leading Role, Juno, 2007) in her breakout role, Hard Candy hits shelves on Blu-ray Disc, along with Bad Lieutenant, starring Academy Award® nominee Harvey Keitel (Best Supporting Actor, Bugsy, 1991); the dark comedy, Secretary with Academy Award® nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal (Best Supporting Actress, Crazy Heart, 2009) and three-time Emmy® winner James Spader*; and Wonderland, featuring an all-star cast including Val Kilmer and Kate Bosworth.
Hard Candy Synopsis:
This edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller is directed by David Slade (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse) and features Patrick Wilson and Ellen Page. Precocious 14-year-old Hayley probably shouldn’t be going to a local coffee shop to meet Jeff, a 30-something fashion photographer she met on the Internet. But before she knows it, she’s mixing drinks at Jeff’s place and stripping for an impromptu photo shoot. It seems to be Jeff’s lucky night. But Hayley isn’t as innocent as she looks, and the night takes a turn when she begins to impose a hard-hitting investigation on Jeff in an attempt to reveal his possibly scandalous past. Special features include two separate audio commentaries with the filmmakers and the actors, deleted and extended scenes, a making-of documentary and the “Controversial Confection” mini-featurette.
Bad Lieutenant Synopsis:
Harvey Keitel is a nameless New York cop, hopelessly addicted to drugs, gambling and sex. As he makes his way to various crime scenes, he is concerned only with taking bets from his fellow cops on the outcome of the ongoing National League playoffs. As his bad decisions drive him deeper into debt, his life becomes a surreal hell, with a constant intake of crack, coke, heroin and booze eroding what remains of his sanity. An investigation into the rape of a nun leads to his spiritual breakdown at the church crime scene, where he sees Jesus and the road to his salvation. This gutsy, highly original tale is one of Ferrara’s most perfectly realized films and a pinnacle in the career of Keitel, whose performance transcends the screen in its sheer bravery. Special features include a retrospective documentary with exclusive interviews with cast and crew and audio commentary with Director Abel Ferrara and Director of Photography Ken Kelsch.
Secretary Synopsis:
James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal star in the dark comedy Secretary. Praised as “daring, funny and quirkily erotic!” (Glenn Kenny, Premiere) and “sexy and highly stylized” (Gear magazine), Secretary is the story of Lee Holloway (Gyllenhaal), a young woman with a few strikes against her after a brief stay in a mental hospital, who accepts a secretarial position working at the law office of E. Edward Grey (Spader). The work seems normal at first, but somewhere between the typing, filing and coffee-making, Lee and her new boss cross the line of their professional relationship and enter into a Human Resources nightmare! Special features include an audio commentary with Director Steven Shainberg and Screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson, a behind-the-scenes featurette and a photo gallery.
Wonderland Synopsis:
On the afternoon of July 1, 1981, Los Angeles police responded to a distress call at 8763 Wonderland Avenue in Laurel Canyon and discovered a grisly quadruple homicide. Drug dealers Ron Launius, Billy Deverell, Barbara Richardson and the homeowner Joy Miller were found brutally murdered, bludgeoned to death with lead or steel pipes, and Launius’s wife, Susan, was left in critical condition. The police investigation that followed — led by detectives Sam Nico, Louis Cruz and Mike Peters — would unearth a seedy world of drugs and violence, ultimately revealing a motley crew from L. A.’s underbelly including ex-con David Lind, nightclub impresario Eddie Nash, and porn legend John Holmes as well as Holmes’s estranged wife Sharon and his teenage lover Dawn Schiller. Special features include deleted scenes, crime scene footage, audio commentary with Director/Co-writer James Cox and Co-writer Captain Mauzner and “Hollywood at Large” Court TV.
Pricing: Blu-ray Disc $19.99 each
