The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Edition
Director: Tobe Hooper
Screenwriter: L. M. Kit Carson
Cast: Dennis Hopper, Caroline Williams, Jim Siedow, Bill Johnson, Bill Moseley, Lou Perryman
Distributor: Scream Factory
Rated R | 101 Minutes
Release Date: April 19, 2016

“I’m the Lord of the Harvest!”

When The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was released in 1974, it changed the face of horror. Tobe Hooper‘s film, about a group of friends who fall victim to a family of cannibals, remains one of the greatest – and most controversial – horror movies of all time.

Twelve years later, the horror landscape had shifted dramatically. Hooper’s low-budget exploitation flick inspired countless films, including John Carpenter’s Halloween and Ridley Scott’s Alien. By 1986, the slasher subgenre was in full swing, with franchises like Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street releasing sequels each year.

Tales of Halloween
Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, Axelle Carolyn, Adam Gierasch, Andrew Kasch, Neil Marshall, Lucky McKee, Mike Mendez, Dave Parker, Ryan Schifrin, John Skipp, Paul Solet
Written by Axelle Carolyn, Andrew Kasch, Neil Marshall, Lucky McKee, Mike Mendez, Dave Parker, Ryan Schifrin, John Skipp, Clint Sears
Starring Booboo Stewart, Lin Shaye, Adrienne Barbeau, Barry Bostwick, Grace Phipps, Caroline Williams, Adrianne Curry, John Landis, Barbara Crampton, James Duval, Clare Kramer, Adam Pascal, Austin Falk, Robert Rusler, Kristina Klebe
Epic Pictures Group
Release Date: October 16th, 2015

Horror is a genre that lends itself to anthology probably better than any; whether it be short story compilations from the greats of the genre, from Lovecraft and Poe, to Barker and King, or classic cinematic anthologies like Trilogy of Terror and Tales From the Crypt. These have paved the way for a new generation of short story style scare films. Collections like Trick ‘r Treat (2007), and the more recent V/H/S and ABC’s of Death series have provided fans of blood and gore a wealth of fun times. If you’re a fan of any of those above mentioned films, then Tales of Halloween is definitely worth your time and money.

Hatchet III
Unrated Director’s Cut
Blu-ray | DVD
Directed by BJ McDonnell
Starring Danielle Harris, Zach Galligan, Caroline Williams
Dark Sky Films
Release Date: August 13, 2013

The latest installment of Adam Green‘s extra-bloody slasher movie saga Hatchet III has arrived in full force on Blu-ray, but unlike the first two movies, Green did not direct this one. He both wrote and produced the new movie, but decided prior to filming to hand directing duties off to newcomer BJ McDonnell – Green’s cinematographer on the first two Hatchet movies. When the original premiered on the film festival circuit in late 2006 and arrived briefly in theaters and on home video a year later, horror fans who had long been swamped by turgid remakes and watered-down PG-13 studio offerings lapped up every drop of crimson grue dripping from its celluloid frames. Though far, far from being a box office success, Hatchet‘s explosive popularity with fans warranted the requisite sequel.

Arriving almost five years later and with little of the fanfare that greeted the original when it debuted, Hatchet II briefly wormed its way into the national mindset once the news broke that it had been pulled from most theater chains due its being released without an MPAA rating. The seemingly manufactured controversy (which reminded me of the mild uproar over homophobic slurs used in Eli Roth’s first Hostel movie that was kept alive on the letters page of Fangoria for a brief period in 2006 mostly through the efforts of the director himself) couldn’t help Hatchet II build a fraction of the cult following earned by its predecessor and overall audience reaction was unimpressive. However, it did well enough for a prospective third movie to get the green light, which brings us to the present day and Hatchet III.