Unboxing HorrorPack - March 2021
HorrorPack is a subscription box featuring monthly shipments of four different horror movies on your choice of Blu-ray or DVD, including a limited edition title. As someone who collects horror movies and enjoys mystery boxes, it's right up my alley. I’ve detailed the films included in the March 2021 shipment below.
The only title I was familiar with in the package was Critters Attack, the fifth installment in the Critters franchise. Bobby Miller (The Cleanse) directs from a script by Scott Lobdell (Happy Death Day). Dee Wallace (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial), who starred in the 1986 original, returns to the series as a bounty hunter - although her character has a different name for apparent legal reasons. Tashiana Washington, Ava Preston (Rusty Rivets), Jack Fulton, and Jaeden Noel (Killjoys) also star, with Steve Blum (Star Wars Rebels) voicing the crites.
Despite being made on a low budget as a Syfy original movie, the film boasts impressive practical creatures. The designs are faithful to the Chiodo Brothers' classic crites, and they have just as much personality. The film introduces a friendly crite, like Gizmo to Gremlins; a bit of an odd choice but it mostly works. The one-dimensional human story - revolving around a babysitter (Washington) watching three kids when the small yet vicious aliens invade - is regularly broken up by bursts of carnage, earning the series' first R rating.
Critters Attack was released on Blu-ray (with DVD and Digital) in 2019 via Warner Brothers. Special features include: Engineering Gore: Designing Critters featurette, Critters: An Out-of-this-World Experience featurette, The Critter Ball featurette, and scene-specific audio commentary with Miller and a crite. It also came with a slipcover.
As a collector, the greatest appeal of HorrorPack is the exclusive Blu-ray. These limited edition titles are often indie movies that otherwise may never be available in high definition, with past exclusives including The Barn, Dead Hooker in a Trunk, Night of Something Strange, 4/20 Massacre, The Black Dahlia Haunting, and President's Day.
This month's limited edition Blu-ray is After Dark. The 2013 effort is directed by Rico Johnson, who co-wrote the script with Carl Earhart. Korrina Rico, Scott DeFalco, Jesse James Youngblood, Mekia Cox (Once Upon a Time), David Thomas Jenkins, Marisa Saks, Lane Compton, and Jonathan Nsien star. The only special feature is the trailer.
I was hoping to enjoy this one, but it's a painfully generic slasher with a finale reflecting the then-popular so-called "torture porn" trend. It also features hateful language that no longer flies in 2021. It follows a group of shallow teenagers - entitled bros and catty girls - on a Spring Break trip to the sand dunes. While the film is hindered by its low budget, no amount of money could have saved it. It's so cliche ridden that it almost feels like a parody - except it's not (intentionally) funny.
Killer Movie premiered at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. Largely populated by TV talent, the cast features Paul Wesley (The Vampire Diaries), Kaley Cuoco (The Big Bang Theory), Gloria Votsis (White Collar), Jason London (Dazed and Confused), Al Santos (Jeepers Creepers 2), Adriana DeMeo (Without a Trace), Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl), Nestor Carbonell (Bates Motel), Torrey DeVitto (Pretty Little Liars), Robert Buckley (iZombie), and NSYNC's JC Chasez.
Reality TV director Jeff Fisher (The Challenge, The Simple Life) makes his feature debut as writer and director. Drawing on his background, the slasher follows a film crew in a small North Dakota town shooting a reality series about an underdog hockey team, but the focus shifts to true crime when a masked killer who films his murders strikes. The reality show-style talking head interstitials provide some levity but not enough to push it into horror-comedy territory, which could have improved the film. It has good production value, a strong cast, and a fun setup, but there are too many underdeveloped characters and subplots that merely pad the runtime.
Killer Movie was released on Blu-ray in 2009 by Phase 4 Films. Special features include a behind-the-scenes featurette and the theatrical trailer.
Child of Satan (also known as Neron) is a 2016 film co-directed by Mitesh Kumar Patel and Sam Son and written by Lekhraj Patel. Kacey Clarke (Resident Evil: Afterlife), Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight), Yves Bright, Caite Upton (The Amazing Race), James Martin Kelly, Raymond Forchion, Inger Tudor, and Kirk Bovill star.
Between the title and the artwork, it came as no surprise that this one is a riff on Rosemary's Baby. It doesn't bring anything new to the table, but it's so unintentionally campy that it's almost enjoyable... almost. After the premature birth of her son Neron (!), Allison (Clarke) begins to suspect there's something wrong with her baby, only to be dismissed by her husband (Bright) as the bodies of those close to her pile up. Roberts receives top billing despite limited screen time as a knowledgeable priest in an ill-fitting costume, though he earns his paycheck with his commitment to the balderdash he spews.
Child of Satan was released on Blu-ray in 2017 via Cinedigm and ITN Distribution. The lone special feature is a trailer.
From best to worst, I'd rank HorrorPack's March 2021 films as follows: Critters Attack, Killer Movie, Child of Satan, After Dark. While I wasn't a big fan of any of the selections this time around, the thrill of the unknown is what makes a mystery box so appealing. HorrorPack certainly delivers in that sense, along with the added allure of an exclusive/limited edition release. HorrorPack Blu-ray plans start at $24.99 for a single month and go as low as $22.74/month with an annual plan.
