DVD Tuesday: Near Dark, Mimic on Blu-Ray

This Week On Blu-Ray

This week sees the release of the vampire classic Near Dark on Blu-Ray.

Country boy Caleb Colton (Adrian Pasdar) whittles away the quiet rural nights hunting local girls – but when he falls prey to the mysterious and beautiful Mae (Jenny Wright), Caleb unknowingly becomes the hunted. Mae is no ordinary girl, Caleb soon learns; she is part of an outlaw band of vampires, and their love is about to lure him into a terrifying world of bloodlust, mayhem and absolute horror. Will Caleb pay the ultimate price for love and eternal life – or will he find a way to defeat the evil growing inside him each night NEAR DARK?

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, Near Dark has a 93% favorable rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It has been called “an underrated classic”, the “Blue Velvet of date-night spook shows”, and “a moody horror film with the frontier community romanticism of a John Ford Western and the violent ferocity of a Sam Peckinpah film.”

Also available on Blu-Ray is Mimic, from director Guillermo del Toro and starring Charles Dutton, Giancarlo Giannini, F. Murray Abraham, and Josh Brolin.

An ultracreepy blend of horror and fantasy about giant cockroaches in the subway tunnels beneath Manhattan. Like its DNA-altered spawn (the title refers to the way some insects evolve to resemble their predators), Mimic is not your everyday bug picture, but a more poetic sort of film, literally crawling with bizarre, striking images. In this case, the mutant bugs are not the result of evil atomic experiments, but are the unexpected side effect of work done by an entomologist (Mira Sorvino) and her Center for Disease Control officer husband (Jeremy Northam), who, in a last-ditch effort to control a roach-carried disease epidemic that was killing children, released a genetically altered form of sterile cockroaches beneath the city. They stopped the virus, but…

Mimic has been called “A fun, goopy throwback to the Monster Flicks of yesterday.”

This Week On DVD

Summer’s Moon (2009)
Director: Lee Gordon Demarbre
Starring: Stephen McHattie, Ashley Greene

Eager to find her estranged father, Summer (TWILIGHT’s Ashley Greene) sets out on a cross-country journey but soon has a slight run-in with the law. Much to her amazement, a local handyman rescues her. It’s an unusual connection, but she is quickly charmed and accepts his invitation to spend the night. The following morning she is in for a rude awakening when he decides to change the rules of attraction by trapping her in his house. Taken prisoner in the demented stranger’s basement, her dream has come to a bitter end and her real-life nightmare has only just begun.

Hurt (2008)
Director: Barbara Stepansky
Starring: Jackson Rathbone, Melora Walters

There are terrible things happening in the desert…unexplainable, frightening things. Tragic, inexplicable incidents…ever since she arrived. The Coltrane family’s life has been devastated by an untimely death. Widowed Helen Coltrane (Melora Walters Big Love), along with her teenage son (Jackson Rathbone Twilight) and daughter, are given shelter by her reclusive and quirky gun-loving brother-in-law. As they grapple with the reality of their shattered, altered life and twist of fate, coincidence steps in with a seemingly lovely foster child (Sofia Vassilieva – TV’s Medium) who appears touting a story that Helen s husband had pledged to take her in. And as they do, a macabre story of deception unfolds…

The Echo (2008)
Director: Yam Laranas
Starring: Jesse Bradford, Amelia Warner

Fear and paranoia seep from every wall in this tense and creepy psychological thriller from the producers of The Ring and Dark Water. Jesse Bradford (W., Bring It On) is Bobby Walker, fresh out of prison and living in his dead mother’s apartment as a condition of his parole. Plagued by eerie echoes of the dead trapped in the building, Bobby’s terror mounts as he begins to suspect his neighbors had a sinister hand in his mother’s death … and could come for him next.

Intruder (2008)
Director: Gregory Caiafa
Starring: Christena Doggrell, Jack Reiling

When Andrew (Jack Reiling) and his troubled girlfriend, Lila (Christena Doggrell), travel to a peaceful country estate for a relaxing getaway, they unwittingly stumble into the clutches of a predatory killer who roams the dark woods near the house. On a stormy Halloween night, the couple and their friends fight of their lives as they try to elude the intruder, a bloodthirsty clown, whose vicious tricks push Lila to the brink of madness. This chilling horror-thriller is from first-time director Gregory Caiafa. Special Features: 16 X 9 Widescreen Edition of the film Audio Commentary By Director Gregory Caiafa and lead actress Christena Doggrell Director only commentary track Twelve minutes of Deleted Scenes A Blooper reel Release Trailer

Livestock (2009)
Director: Christopher Di Nunzio
Starring: Fiore Leo, Robert Hines

A mysterious cult has decided to take a new direction in giving Victor, a hard working trusted member, a promotion. However, his cruel minded disciples have decided to take action of their own. Growing tired of their monotonous plans, they begin to take their malevolent acts one step further. In a world seemingly far removed from Victor’s, two young girls, Annabel and Tina, are trying to make changes in their own lives. Annabel prepares for a second date with Jerry, a man she met online, while Tina keeps focused on an important meeting that is sure to open up new doors in her life. Soon these two worlds collide as Annabel and Tina find themselves deep within the belly of the beast, and the long, dark history of a secret organization is revealed.

Devil Girl (2007)
Director: Howie Askins
Starring: Jessica Graham, Joe Wanjai Ross, C.J. Baker, Vanessa Kay

Fay is a small town girl on a cross country road trip, trying to escape her own reality after the death of her father. After encountering a neurotic, drug abusing clown she finds herself sliding down a dark spiral. Soon, her road trip starts to devolve into a living nightmare. Trapped and desperate, she fights to regain her identity while navigating through a host of locals: a creepy motel clerk, an overzealous preacher, and a sexy, otherworldly temptress.