It is certainly Halloween season because scary movies have started rearing their beautiful, gross heads. I usually celebrate this season by picking out frightful Friday films at home each week and having my yearly viewing of The Addams Family. It is a wicked way to celebrate a month of horror before we get all family-friendly holidays.
Paramount feels the same way about horror films in October, as they have recently released Paramount Scares Volume 2, a 4KUHD compilation of horror films. While they could have just dialed it in and packaged this newest volume with just movies that were remastered and cleaned to 4KUHD spec, they added some pretty cool things to make the package worth your dollar.
So, sit back, please make sure you keep an eye on the kids swimming in the lake, and let’s get cracking on Paramount Scares Volume 2.
Not every gem has a shine to it
The Paramount Scares Volume 2 comes with the following films:
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART II (Official Synopsis)
Five years after the massacre at Camp Crystal Lake, the nerve-wracking legend of Jason Voorhees and his diabolical mother lives on. Despite ominous warnings from the locals to stay away from “Camp Blood,” a group of counselors at a nearby summer camp decide to explore the area where seven people were brutally slaughtered. All too soon, they encounter horrors of their own and the killing begins again.
BREAKDOWN (Official Synopsis)
Jeff Taylor (Kurt Russell) and his wife Amy (Kathleen Quinlan) are headed toward a new life in California when their car’s engine dies on a remote highway. Amy accepts a ride from a helpful trucker (J.T. Walsh) while Jeff waits with the car. But when Jeff shows up at the agreed rendezvous, he finds his wife isn’t there. The locals aren’t talking; the police aren’t much help. With no one to turn to, Jeff battles his worst fears and begins a desperate, danger-ridden search to find Amy before it’s too late.
WORLD WAR Z (Official Synopsis)
In this fast-paced, pulse-pounding action epic, former United Nations investigator Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) is in a race against time to save both his family and the world from a pandemic that is toppling governments and threatening to destroy humanity itself.
ORPHAN: FIRST KILL (Official Synopsis)
Esther’s terrifying saga continues in this thrilling prequel to the original and shocking horror hit ORPHAN. After orchestrating a brilliant escape from an Estonian psychiatric facility, Esther travels to America by impersonating the missing daughter of a wealthy family. But an unexpected twist arises that pits her against a mother who will protect her family from the murderous “child” at any cost.
Gems
The gems in this collection are Friday the 13th Part II and World War Z. The first is a classic, as the entire Friday the 13th franchise makes a pivot from the original ending to the introduction of Jason as an unstoppable killer. It’s one of the better follow ups to a goofy slasher film and lays the groundwork for future Jason appearances. As a child, this movie and The Howling gave me plenty of reason not to wander in the woods at night. Both were terrifying and the introduction of an immortal killer with Jason made it a guarantee I would never visit camp at any point in my life.
The other gem here is World War Z. I know what you’re thinking, how in the world can that disaster of a production be a gem? Well, it is one of the few examples of a film with so many problems and the final version turned out decent. To boot, the film doesn’t beat around the bush with details or setup, which can be a Godsend for those looking for a horror action kick. Brad Pitt put in impossible situations and created one of the strangest solutions for circumventing a zombie apocalypse is a drink that you gulp and don’t sip. It’s just dumb fun.
Now, I have never watched a film that wanted so badly to be over but at the same time created an entertaining journey along the way. Act one and two are combined in this film and create such an awkwardly good time that it fits perfectly into the horror genre. I would have loved to see David Fincher’s version of this. Anyway, it’s good in some great ways and badly infamous in other ways that people probably want to forget.
Awkward and uncomfortable horror
Orphan: First Kill is a movie that makes me incredibly uncomfortable. From opening to ending, the film doesn’t hold back on its grotesqueness or its uncomfortable intentions. It’s as if the creators saw Human Centipede and said, “We can do better than that, but tastefully”. Well, as tastefully as one could hope with the premise that a young girl is born with the mind of a manipulative serial killer firmly intact.
The concept of the film is far-fetched but I have to give the film credit for trying. Trying to wedge in a prequel to a decent hit film that is a cult classic is a tough job. I think for the most part it was done well. How Esther ends up in America and how she fools so many people isn’t readily well explained. It’s more of a ‘trust us it works’ type of situation. But her struggle to stay the main villain and to do what she wants by the third act is fun to watch in the most horror-filled way.
It’s a good film but there were better ones to include in the collection.
Is this horror?
Listen, I love Kurt Russell films – good or bad. The guy can act, he puts his heart in nearly every role, and he seems to have fun along the way. Is Breakdown his best performance? Nah. Is Breakdown an actual horror film? That is debatable. For me, the mere plot of losing your wife to a trucker and having to find her before it’s too late with your wits as your only ally is more of a suspense thriller rather than a horror film. Don’t get me wrong, a creepy J.T. Walsh does add a layer of horror to the story with his gaslighting and grossness but it is a race against time and a struggle to take down bad guys.
Less monsters, more human monsters.
I think this movie belonged in another collection but it will get you tense and uncomfortable, which is what it wants to do and how horror works. It just isn’t traditional horror.
Conclusion on the collection
Anyway, on the movie side of the tracks, the collection is good to decent. I think the first two gems are the best of the bunch and represent horror in its best form. I think Orphan: First Kill has all the aspects of a good horror experience but just not the story to support it all the way through. With Breakdown, you’re getting a suspense thriller that will make you stress and worry, but there aren’t many moments of horror other than in a Hitchcockian way. Like North by Northwest Hitchcockian way.
It’s a good collection, but not great.
4KUHD quality
Perfect. Stunning. Very Paramount Pictures. Whatever the process was to transfer these varying films to a proper 4KUHD upgrade was spot-on. You will see this when you pop in Friday the 13th Part II and see how the picture is spotless of artifacts or any blemishes. All of these films in the collection were treated with care and some turned out better quality than the story they held.
It’s one of the better Paramount releases I have seen with upgraded 4KUHD quality. Paramount is aces at this process.
No trick to this treat
This collection is packed to the brim with special features and goodies. You get an 8-disc collection with the following goodies to make it worth the price of admission:
– Full-size FANGORIA magazine produced specifically for this release with new and classic articles about the films
– Four unique iron-on patches representing each film
– A domed PARAMOUNT SCARES logo sticker
– A new PARAMOUNT SCARES glow-in-the-dark enamel pin
– Limited-edition poster by acclaimed artist Orlando “Mexifunk” Arocena
The overall packaging is going to make any horror or 4KUHD physical disc collector go ga-ga. It’s creepy and gorgeous, and it’s perfect for any horror fan. I love every bit of the design and what is included in the overall package. The collection of goodies might be better than the films, but they also get you interested in the films.
Overall, it’s a damn cool collection.
