Stephen King 5-Movie Collection

Take the plunge into the world of Stephen King with this new 5-movie collection, featuring a nice balance of stories, just in time for the Halloween season. If this set accomplishes one thing, it’s finally bringing The Dead Zone to Blu-ray, but you’ll have hours of entertainment to spend watching some of these other classics!

Pet Sematary (2019)

“Based on Stephen King’s terrifying novel comes a film critics are calling a “creepy masterpiece.” After the Creed family relocates from Boston to rural Maine, they soon discover an ancient burial ground hidden deep in the woods near their new home. When tragedy strikes, the grief-stricken father is driven by the cemetery’s sinister power, setting off a perilous chain of events that unleashes an unfathomable evil with horrific consequences. Some secrets are best left buried in this “twisted and bone-chilling” thrill ride.”

The newest of the Paramount owned King properties, Pet Sematary really surprised me the first time seeing this. As much as I enjoy the original, there are parts of it that are honestly quite slow, and really don’t flesh out certain portions of the story, mainly the background of the burial grounds and Victor Pascow to name a few. This newest incarnation not only goes into a lot more depth but focuses prominently the evil that inhabits the burial ground, something the natives that used it fell prey to as well, and the cost of unleashing that force onto the living world. The big change in the story is something I’m sure everyone knows about by now, but despite that I won’t spoil it for anyone who might have just woken up from a coma, but needless to say it was something that I quite enjoyed, as did King himself after reading several interviews on his take of the story.

Although I know this film may be the biggest commercial draw for the average consumer, the fact that this was just released last year, and in 4k no less, is a bit disappointing. Rights issues aside, there are several other Paramount-owned King properties that I would have been interested in seeing included on this set, but I can’t fault them for this financially sound decision.

Video

The film is presented in 1080p High Definition Widescreen 2.39:1. Picture quality is excellent. Nice balance of color, highlight some very nice brights in several sequences. There is a very gloomy type hue to the film that translates nicely on screen, in combination with the darker sequences that make nice use of light and dark, this film looks incredible overall.

Audio

The audio is presented in Dolby Atmos, one of my favorite aspects of this disc. The track sounds great, with a nice balance between the surrounds and center channel, making particularly good use of the atmospheric effects in the woods. Done right, horror films can really utilize these Atmos tracks to their benefit, and they do that well here.

Special Features

Same features as the Blu-ray released last year, this set includes:

• All-New Alternate Ending
• 7 Deleted/Extended Scenes
• Night Terrors Family Haunting Visions
• Over 90 Minutes of Bonus Content

Pet Sematary (1989)

After moving to an idyllic home in the countryside, Louis and Rachel Creed and their two young children settle in to a house that sits next door to a pet cemetery – built on an ancient Indian burial ground.”

One of the classic Stephen King stories from the ‘80s, Pet Sematary scared the hell out of me when I was younger, and still does to this day. There is a certain creepiness to it that is still just as effective, with some practical effects that look fantastic. Although there are aspects of the newer one I enjoyed more, the atmosphere they create in the original simply cannot be duplicated. Whether that’s because of nostalgia I’m not sure, but the two films are different enough to have a deep appreciation for both which manage to accomplish two very different things. Perhaps the best thing about the original is Fred Gwynne, who adds that extra factor of creepiness to it, providing excellent exposition in an exceptional performance.

Video

The film is presented in 1080p High Definition Widescreen 1.78:1. This transfer looks good, no different than the previous Blu-ray release out there currently. Another frustrating thing with this set is that this film also has a 4k release, which looks breathtaking.

Audio

The audio is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Nothing new from the previous Blu-ray release either, this track nonetheless sounds good, with a nice use of surrounds, especially for the more frightening sequences. The score sounds haunting, a nice accompaniment to the film.

Special Features

• Commentary by Director Mary Lambert
• Pet Sematary: Fear and Remembrance
• Pet Sematary: Revisitation
• Galleries
• Original Special Features

The Dead Zone

“School teacher Johnny Smith had a beautiful fiancée, rewarding career and a fortunate life until one tragic accident changed everything.”

Stephen King’s fascination with the power of the mind permeates through all of his stories, even more so in The Dead Zone. Although Johnny Smith doesn’t seem to have ‘the shine’ like some of the other characters in his universe, his gift of being able to have a vision of terrible events of the future by touching another person is pretty powerful. Using this gift in order to save people, Johnny eventually reaches an impossible moral decision leading to a dramatic conclusion of the film.

With Christopher Walken starring, and David Cronenberg directing, this one should have been a knock out of the park. Although I thoroughly enjoy the film, I think it mainly suffers because there are only so many ways to dramatically have someone see the future while touching someone. The visions he gets become graver as the film progresses, but there just isn’t that much of a change in the character until the very end of the film. Also, with Cronenberg strictly limited to the story he was directing, you don’t get that signature style that comes with his films, something that I definitely missed while watching this.

Video

The Dead Zone is presented in 1080p High Definition Widescreen 1.85:1. This transfer looks exceptional in high definition. Grain is kept at a manageable level, with nice detail and sharpness throughout. In some of the darker scenes the detail is a bit less prevalent, but overall it is a big improvement over the DVD release.

Audio

The audio is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. This track sounds great, especially the haunting score by Michael Kamen, which perfectly sets the tone for the entire film.

Special Features

Sadly, there are no extras on this disc.

Silver Bullet

“In Stephen King’s thrilling adaptation of his novelette, Cycle of the Werewolf, the peaceful town of Tarker’s Mills is suddenly terrorized by a maniacal killer.”

Silver Bullet is one hell of a fun film, still holding up thirty-five years later. It always amazes me how films can be crafted from King’s stories that might be only a few pages long, but expanded with enough substance to create a feature film. Although Cycle of the Werewolf was considerably longer than a few, it still translates very well to screen. Corey Haim is excellent as the paralyzed child protagonist who hilariously zips around on a souped-up wheelchair built for him by his Uncle Red, played by Gary Busey. Busey, still crazy as ever back then, improvises a lot of his lines, but it works for the character.

The only issue I have with the film is how the story shifts from the point of view and narration of the sister Jane, then changing to the sole point of view of Marty. Later on, it shifts back and forth a few times rather abruptly, not really knowing how it wants to progress the story.

Video

Silver Bullet is presented in 1080p High Definition Widescreen 2.35:1. This transfer looks to be in good shape, with heavy grain in some scenes, but usually it stays pretty consistent throughout. Colors look fairly vibrant in most scenes, especially Marty’s red shirts he always seems to be wearing.

Audio

The audio is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio Mono. For a Mono track, it is what it is. A little disappointed there wasn’t a better mix done for this.

Special Features

There are no extras on this disc. Although I’m glad this was included in the set out of pure selfishness since I didn’t already own it, Scream Factory released this title less than a year ago packed with extras. Fans of the film wanting all that they can get should consider checking out that release as well.

Stephen King’s The Stand

“In Stephen King’s epic vision of an apocalyptic future, the few survivors of a plague-ravaged world must choose sides in the ultimate battle of good vs. evil that will decide the fate of humanity.”

Many of King’s stories have gone on to be developed into films, but there have also been quite a few developed for television, namely mini-series, like The Stand. Watching this series today is pretty eerie given the state of our society dealing with a pandemic, showing a lot of parallels such as people not believing in it and showing the most extreme forms of ignorance imaginable. The series has a great cast and characters, especially the introduction to Randall Flagg, a villain appearing in several of King’s stories.

The Stand has a great story, but it is very ‘90s mini-series. King had quite a few come out during this time: The Langoliers, Rose Red a bit after. Pacing can be a bit slow at times. A remake of the series is due out at the end of the year, which makes this a great addition to the set to watch and compare the two. Although I would have liked one of those other mini-series I mentioned to be included instead since this already has its own Blu-ray release, it’s obvious why this was chosen, so no additional work had to be done.

Video

This series is presented in 1080p High Definition 1.33:1. The transfer looks good, identical to the previous Blu-ray release. Clear and detailed in most of the scenes, with some of the darker sequences suffering a bit in form of clarity, but for being shot on 16mm, it looks pretty good.

Audio

The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0. The track sounds just fine, not too robust by any means, but is able to get across the dialogue clearly and concisely.

Special Features

• The Making of Stephen King’s The Stand

The Stephen King 5-Movie Collection is a great way to introduce someone to the works of Stephen King. But, for existing fans who more than likely own more than one of these titles already, it’s a way of getting you to spend more to own the one title out of this collection that isn’t available individually. It’s a smart move, especially during this time where so many things are shut down and slowed to a crawl, but the reality is there are better versions of these films out there in 4k and smaller distributors like Scream Factory. Still, this is a very appealing release, just in time for the Halloween horror watching season!