Even as the DVD market has shrunk in the digital age, excitement for those silver discs has stayed strong among horror fans thanks to the exceptional Special Editions of cult favorites produced by companies such as Scream Factory, Synapse, Blue Underground and others.
But as many worthy films have already been (or are slated to be) granted the Special Edition treatment, there are still scores of others waiting to get some DVD/Blu-ray love.
Following is a wish list of ten movies – some classics, some cult items, and some guilty pleasures – that we’d love to see earn Special Editions of their own. In alphabetical order…
The Devil's Daughter
This collaboration between director/co-writer Michele Soavi and producer/co-writer Dario Argento that involves a young schoolteacher (played by Jamie Lee Curtis’ younger sister Kelly Curtis) chosen to bear the spawn of Satan has become somewhat forgotten over the time but this decidedly strange and stylish effort deserves to find its way back into the spotlight. Speaking of Soavi, I sure wouldn’t mind seeing a Special Edition of his atmospheric and gory 1989 film The Church, either.
Dr. Giggles
A would-be horror franchise that just couldn’t get off the ground during its original release, Dr. Giggles holds up well over twenty years later as a goofy but grisly slasher effort with Larry Drake giving it his all as a mad medico dispatching the teen population of a small town with surgical precision, courtesy of KNB’s gore gags.
Dreamscape
A winning mix of sci-fi, horror, action, romance, and Cold War-era political paranoia, this confident genre mash-up from director Joseph Ruben, who co-wrote the script along with Chuck Russell and David Loughery, is often overlooked among the many classics of the ‘80s but it more than holds its own among the best genre pics of that decade. Dennis Quaid stars as a psychic who is able, with the helpful push of some new technology, to journey into other people’s dreams. Naturally, with the government involved in this new field of research, sinister applications for it are afoot. Ruben juggles his film’s disparate elements with skill and the nightmarish Snake Man remains a memorable ‘80s creature.
The Guardian
As The Guardian was gearing up for its release back in April of 1990, the fact that it marked William Friedkin’s long-awaited return to horror was much touted. Some would say that, post-Exorcist, he had already made tangential returns to the genre with the gritty slasher tales Cruising (1980) and Rampage (1987), but The Guardian, with its lurid tale of a Druid working as a nanny and plotting a terrible fate for her infant charge, was undeniably a return to the kind of supernatural terror that marked The Exorcist. The Guardian, however, was no Exorcist. Whatever its faults, though, The Guardian (based on the novel The Nanny, by Dan Greenburg) earns points for being so earnest in telling such a daffy tale (the movie never winks, even when the climax involves the hero taking a chainsaw to a living tree) and a Special Edition for it would be very welcome.
Highway to Hell
Back in the ‘90s, some real gems were released to the direct-to-video market and the surreal horror comedy Highway to Hell was one of the best of that bunch. Director Ate de Jong immediately became a director to watch after this but, strangely, the Dutch director’s career never took off in the US. Highway to Hell’s script was penned by Brian Helgeland, who would one day win an Oscar for his L.A. Confidential screenplay but at the time had written several genre films, including Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. This film is also notable for former Jason C.J. Graham (Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI) as the malefic Hellcop, a character strikingly designed by make-up master Steve Johnson (Night of the Demons, Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master).
The Lair of the White Worm
While this had a Special Edition back in 1999 with a release from Artisan/Pioneer that featured a commentary track by director Ken Russell, as that disc is long out of print I’d love to see a new disc that carries over the late director’s commentary along with some new material. Humorous but not so campy that it doesn’t play well as a real horror film when it has to with moments of legitimate scares and suspense, Lair of the White Worm is an archly funny, feverishly told tale of a vampire-like snake lady (unforgettably played by L.A. Law’s Amanda Donohoe) who happily feasts on victims and makes the occasional sacrifice to the enormous snake that lives in the caverns under her estate.
Nightmares
As ‘80s anthologies go, this is no Creepshow, but it’s awfully entertaining nonetheless. Comprised of stories originally filmed for TV but deemed too intense to air (if only the censors back then could’ve known that network TV would eventually host the likes of Hannibal!), Universal grouped these four stories together into a feature. Unlike most anthologies, the slapdash nature of Nightmares’ origin means it has no unifying theme. However, each story is solid with "Terror in Topanga" dramatizing a familiar urban legend (with character actor William Sanderson in a key role), “The Bishop of Battle” being a prime slice of early ‘80s cheese, with its plot centered on a video game addicted teen (Emilio Estevez), the Duel meets Exorcist tale “The Benediction” benefiting from a lead performance by Lance Henrickson, and “Night of the Rat” being a decent entry in the inexplicable early ‘80s mini-boom of rat horror that included Deadly Eyes and Of Unknown Origin, with the bonus of familiar genre figures Veronica Cartwright and Richard Masur as the couple who have to defend their home against a giant vermin.
The Seventh Curse
It doesn’t seem possible that a movie starring Hong Kong favorite Maggie Cheung (as well as Chow Yun-Fat in a small role) facing down all manner of crazy shit deep in the jungles of Thailand – including kung fu cultists, an evil sorcerer, and assorted supernatural creatures (all of which are depicted by the most rubbery means available, naturally) – in a quest to cure the rare “Blood Curse” suffered by a heroic cop (played by Chin Siu Ho) could ever fall into obscurity but yet that’s what’s happened to The Seventh Curse, a wonderfully pulp-flavored horror/actioner from director Ngai Kai Lam (Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricki) that’s worthy of some renewed attention.
Tales from the Hood
This anthology is just crying out to be resurrected on DVD as one bare bones, now out of print, release just doesn’t cut it. Modeled after the format of classic Amicus anthologies like Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror but with an urban spin, Tales from the Hood (executive produced by Spike Lee) is a socially minded horror film – dealing with issues of drugs, child abuse, and gang violence – that doesn’t sacrifice any scares or gore. Directed by Rusty Cundieff (who co-wrote the script with producer Darin Scott), Tales from the Hood remains one of the high points of ‘90s horror. If nothing else, Tales from the Hood would be notable just for Clarence Williams III’s electric performance as a cackling, wild-eyed funeral home director with an incurable penchant for telling tales.
Tremors
Tremors remains a modern monster movie gem, with its warmly portrayed cast of characters, tight script and convincingly rendered burrowing “Graboids.” As the only Special Edition DVD to date of this much-loved movie had its extras imported from a 1996 laserdisc release, I think a fresher appreciation of director Ron Underwood’s film is in order – especially as (impossible as it seems) it’s soon due to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
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