Dracula: Prince of Darkness
Blu-ray (Hammer Collector’s Edition)
Director: Terence Fisher
Screenwriter: Jimmy Sangster
Cast: Christopher Lee, Barbara Shelley, Andrew Keir, Francis Matthews
Millennium Entertainment
Not Rated | 90 Minutes
Release Date: September 17, 2013

Directed by Terence Fisher, Dracula: Prince of Darkness takes place in 1895, a decade after the events of Horror of Dracula, Hammer Film Productions’ 1958 film starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.

The film begins with the final scenes from Horror of Dracula, showing Dracula’s death at the hands of Dr. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing). Using a makeshift crucifix, Van Helsing forces Count Dracula into the destructive rays of the sun. Dracula (Christopher Lee) is destroyed and crumbles to dust in the sunlight.

10 years later, Father Sandor (Andrew Keir) is traveling the English countryside. He happens across a mob of villagers who are going to stake a woman through the heart – for fear that she is a vampire. Sander prevents the staking and chastises the presiding priest for perpetuating the fear of vampirism.

This past weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con unleashed the usual torrential downpour of geek-pleasuring news stories such as this and obviously this. But as far as I’m concerned the biggest news coming out of the Con was the announcement that Shout! Factory was planning on releasing several beloved action and horror movies on DVD and Blu-ray later this year and early in 2014 through their Scream Factory label.

Among their slate of upcoming titles are John Carpenter’s inner city siege story Assault on Precinct 13, the 1982 remake of Cat People directed by Taxi Driver/Rolling Thunder writer Paul Schrader, and Sam Raimi’s outrageous pre-Spider Man superhero adventure Darkman featuring Liam Neeson kicking major butt almost two decades before he played that guy whose daughter was…you know…Taken.

In advance of the February 19th release of Special Forces, starring Diane Kruger and Djimon Hounsou, on Blu-ray and DVD, we’ve been given the opportunity to ply a trio of our awesome readers with an obscene amount of action””three blistering, bullet-filled, DVD prize packs to bestow upon thee!

In addition to a copy of Special Forces, three of you will get your gut-wrenchin, gear-grindin’ paws on Age of Heroes starring Sean Bean, Attack on Leningrad starring Mira Sorvino and Gabriel Byrne, and Triage starring Colin Farrell and Christopher Lee!

Surely enough to satisfy any action-lovin’ bear.

Three (3) winners will receive:

• One (1) copy of Special Forces on DVD
• One (1) copy of Age of Heroes on DVD
• One (1) copy of Attack on Leningrad on DVD
• One (1) copy of Triage on DVD

TO ENTER: There’s just two simple steps:

(1) Go LIKE Geeks of Doom on Facebook. If you’re not a Facebook user, alternately, you can follow us on Twitter, or subscribe to the Geeks of Doom email digest. Click here to sign up.

(2) Fill out the entry form here below and submit. (Form is here after the jump.)

Good luck!

Hugo
Netflix Streaming
DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Starring Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Chloë Grace Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ray Winstone, Jude Law, Christopher Lee, Helen McCrory, Richard Griffiths
Paramount Pictures
Originally Released: November 23, 2011

With all the praise surrounding the immersive 3D experience of Hugo, I truthfully didn’t think I would enjoy watching the movie on the small screen in a streaming viewing experience. In fact, with the “kid’s movie” stigma attached to it, I’m fairly sure I wanted to dislike it.

But it is impossible to dislike a Martin Scorsese film.

Despite the deficiency of 3D immersion, Scorsese had my attention riveted from the very beginning of the movie. With several early sequences that embodies his trademark single-shot “how the hell did he film this” technique(s), connected with high standard acting from a stellar cast, Hugo stands well enough on its own without that 3D garbage, thank-you-very-much!

Actually, the coupling of Scorsese’s filming and direction techniques, with the excellent cast make this a superb movie experience. And when it comes to the cast, Scorsese most definitely has an eyeball for talent: Ray Winstone, Christopher Lee, Richard Griffiths, Jude Law, and more all favor the screen in Hugo, but it is Asa Butterfield‘s performance as the title character that tremendously grabs you.

Season of the Witch
Netflix Streaming
DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by Dominic Sena
Starring Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Claire Foy, Stephen Campbell Moore, Stephen Graham, Christopher Lee
Rogue / Relativity Media
Originally Released: January 7, 2011

Lead us not into temptation”¦

Like the title says, this Dominic Sena movie is about a witch. Or is it?

Establishing itself during the middle ages, full of religious persecution, the Crusades, and the Plague, Season of the Witch (totally unrelated to the 1972 George Romero classic of the same name; or the third chapter of the Halloween franchise) is a journey movie, that is essentially a medieval (and tamer) homage of The Exorcist, taking influence from adventure films such as Lord of the Rings, National Treasure, and more.

“¦or is it?

With the grandiosity of the above description being fairly accurate, Season of the Witch actually falls short of the epic feel of the comparisons above. In fact, the movie has been critically panned since its release, rightful in some areas, but snubbing one particular element worth highlighting: While many areas of the film are a bit of a let-down, there is a fun aspect to the film that props it up, making it a movie worth checking out at least once.