Never Sleep Again - US release coming...

I took delivery of the beautiful Crystal Lake Memories signed Blu-Ray the other day. Other than because I'm a big old Friday the 13th fan. The other reason I ordered CLM without blinking is because of the hefty reputation that the A Nightmare on Elm Street documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy has. You guessed it, NSA and CLM are from the same team of documentary film makers.

Up until now NSA has only been available on Blu-Ray in Germany. The thing is by all accounts the German BD is a standard definition up convert. A disc chock full of hours of extras but an up convert none the less. That disc has served many fans very well in mean time however Image in the US have announced they are releasing the documentary on brand spanking new Blu-Ray. Could this be the definitive High Definition release? I certainly hope (and expect) so.

I've yet to watch Crystal Lake Memories incidentally. I figure I should polish off the rest of the Friday the 13th Box Set first. Only got the F13 remake and the special features from Part 4 onwards to get through and then I'm doing CLM in one all night sitting! (I'm being optimistic)

Check out this bad ass signed cover from the great people at Dark Delicacies. They put on a signing with a ton of the cast and crew from the Friday the 13th franchise and crew from the documentary its self. Pretty cool!

Friday the 13th The Complete Collection Box Set arrives but its not so complete...

I've just had the pleasure of unwrapping the long awaited Friday the 13th The Complete Collection Box Set for Warner in the US. It's a very attractive package if steel tins are your thing. It includes my very own Camp Counsellor patch and a condensed version of the Crystal Lake Memories book. Not to mention everyone of the greatest slasher franchise of all time in glorious HD. Ok so that being said why is it not complete? Well the reason is four fold.

1. Does not include ALL the special features from previous releases. To be honest that's not come as much of a surprise and seems to be quite common these days. Be it due to apathy or rights issues many catalogue title Blus are left without previously released special features and in this sets defence it has got a large amount of them. For me personally its not a massive blow. I watch every extra I can but they take up way to much time for me.

2. No Theatrical Cut of the original Friday the 13th. Some fans like what they grew up with and have watched for years. Some fans just feel the extended sequences hamper the pacing and effectiveness of the scenes. For me though I prefer the extended scenes in the unrated cut. However what I'm not a fan of is the zoomed in cropping that the unrated version has. There have been various arguments I have read that suggest that this might have have been the intended framing but if the film was released originally with wider framing then losing that extra image is not cool by me. In an ideal world this disc would have contained both versions of the film in its original aspect ratio. Otherwise though it should be noted but I think the original movie's picture quality on the Blu-ray disc is outstanding.

3. Friday the 13th part 3 is still not in real 3D. This would have been a real selling point for this box set. For the first time ever on home video to have the classic 3D slasher in real eye popping 3D that it was intended to be seen in. Instead Warner have repackaged the previous disc, included the old cardboard red and green glasses again and left fans with the anaglyph 3D and 2D versions.

4. Jason Goes To Hell is the R Rated version! Not cool. The only other Friday the 13th film bar the first that has been available from the get go in its unrated version as standard is for some reason in this box set the MPAA butchered R Rated cut. This is the biggest disappointment for me. Its the film I least like in the series and its just been made worse in my opinion. This irritates me because should the unrated version ever get a BD release I'll be compelled to buy it. (more fool me) Not only that but to rub salt on the wound there IS a HD transfer of Jason Goes To Hell unrated cut that is regularly played on TV and available to purchase online. So they could have easily used that transfer for the BD and actively chose not to. Really not cool!

All that being said I'm otherwise thrilled by the set. Many people online will no doubt think I'm mad for that but seeing these films in glorious HD has been something I've looked forward to for the last 5 years. These are great, great movies and it's my all time favourite slasher franchise by a long shot. I could see it being a harder sell if your not a die hard fan and already have some of the previously available titles but if your a fan then this is a must have of the highest order providing the transfers are as good as those previously available Friday the 13th titles were. Hopefully I'll be able to make a start watching the set tonight so I can find out for myself.

As always you can view:

My Slasher Movie Blu-Ray Collection A-Z here

and see 

Slasher Movies available on BD that are NOT in my collection here

Please email me or drop a comment if you know of any available I've not got listed on either of the two lists. Maths was never a strong suite of mine but by my calculations the collection now contains 152 different slasher movies. Not bad aye! 

Tourist Trap coming to BD in Japan

Just stumbled onto the news that Happinet are releasing the classic 1979 slasher Tourist Trap on Blu-ray in Japan on the 3rd of September.

This has always been one I've wanted from the get go and I don't have any Japanese discs in collection at all. I may get this for the novelty.

Curtains and Prom Night coming from Synapse...

Fantastic news broke last week. US Distributor Synapse had been teasing for a few weeks that they were planning two classic Slashers for release in 2014. Well last week they finally let the cat out of the bag much to the delight of every slasher fan ever. Yep this is purely speculation on my part but we could potential see the Blu-ray debuts of Curtains and Prom Night. Synapse posted the following in reference to Prom Night on there Facebook page

Synapse-Films Facebook

'And so, today, I have another surprise (although many of you kind of figured this was coming based on yesterday's reveal of CURTAINS). The negative is reportedly in poor condition, but we're diving in today after our lab has perfomed many hours of fixing splices and repairs... A TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE-like restoration may be in order to make this work, but Synapse is up to the task.'

My hats off to them quite frankly. To go to this much effort to service such loved treasures for the fans and preservation of the films is extremely admirable.

Chucky: The Complete Collection

Amazon.com have put up a preorder on a very exciting six disc box set. Chucky: The Complete Collection. Collecting all the films from the Child's Play series for the first time on blu ray. Including the new Direct to Video movie Curse of Chucky.

Great news.  Saves me importing the Austrian steelbooks of part 2 & 3 which certainly aren't cheap. Really looking forward to watching 2 and 3 again. It's been a long time. Really interested to see Curse of Chucky as well. Will be interesting to see what sort of tone it has. Wether it's more a straight up slasher or the dark comedy with a sprinkle of slasher that they progressvely turned into.

Maniac Cop 2 & 3 coming to BD!

Hell Yeah! This week has been pretty awesome and keeps getting better and better. The good people at Blue Underground have been dormant for some time now when it comes to new releases. So it comes as a very pleasant suprise that they made this tremendous announcement yesterday.

From Blue Underground Facebook

Thanks for your guesses everyone!

A few people got it rightWe are pleased to finally announce the Collector's Edition Blu-Ray + DVD Combo Pack releases of MANIAC COP 2 & MANIAC COP3: BADGE OF SILENCE.

Brilliant news. I've never actually seen part 3 so that will be a treat. Lets hope the Maniac Cop rap is represented well with full lossless audio.

Friday the 13th: The Complete Collection release date confirmed...

Finally the wait is over. The most exciting news possible for a slasher movie Blu-Ray nut is here. September 13th is the day Jason returns to Camp Crystal Lake, Manhattan and even space in glorious HD. This is a tremendous day for patient fans of the franchise everywhere.

From Broadwayworld.com

     'On September 13th, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will provide plenty of blood-curdling thrills when Friday The 13th: The Complete Collection debuts on Blu-ray. For the first time, all twelve Friday the 13th films will be packaged together, (with seven of them making Blu-ray debuts) as a result of a strategic distribution alliance between Paramount and Warner announced last fall, granting Warner exclusive video distribution rights to over 600 Paramount titles. The set also includes a Friday The 13th Killer Extras Bonus DVD.

This intense 'slasher' series is one of the longest-running and most successful horror franchises in film history, surpassing the domestic theatrical box-office grosses of such legendary series as A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The film that turned psycho killer Jason Voorhees and his infamous hockey mask into a pop culture icon has also bested the horror competition as the #1 home entertainment seller, with total sales of $119.7M to date.

The 10-disc collection ($129.95 SRP) includes the twelve films on nine Blu-ray discs, as well as a killer DVD bonus disc full of special features on the making of the famous franchise. The must-own set will be presented in a collectible tin case with 11 hours of previously released special features and a 40-page soft cover book. The book is excerpted from Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday The 13th, a fan-favorite volume that's viewed as the ultimate memoir of the series, and highlights some of the 200 interviews, 600 photos, storyboards, concept art and more. Also included is a brand new, official Camp Crystal Lake embroidered Counselor Patch.

Friday The 13th: The Complete Collection also includes digital versions of all 12 films with UltraViolet, allowing viewers to download and instantly stream the films to a wide range of devices from computers and compatible tablets to smartphones, game consoles, Internet-connected TVs and Blu-ray players.

One of the most frightening franchises in film history, Friday The 13th focuses primarily on the character of Jason Voorhees, who drowned as a young child at Camp Crystal Lake due to the inattentiveness of camp counselors. Many years later, the camp becomes the scene of a number of murders - all of which are either committed or motivated by the avenging Jason, who forever lurks at Crystal Lake with his finely-honed machete.

Films in The Collection include:

· Disc 1 - Friday the 13th (1980)

· Disc 2 - Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

· Disc 3 - Friday the 13th Part 3 in 3D (1982)

· Disc 4 - Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) NEW TO BLU-RAY

· Disc 5 - Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985) / Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986) NEW TO BLU-RAY

· Disc 6 - Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988) / Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) NEW TO BLU- RAY

· Disc 7 - Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993) / Jason X (2002) NEW TO BLU-RAY

· Disc 8 - Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

· Disc 9 - Friday the 13th (2009) (Theatrical Version and "Killer Cut" Extended Version)

· Disc 10 - Killer Bonus DVD Disc

Friday The 13th: The Complete Collection (BD)

Street Date: September 13, 2013

Order Due Date: August 9, 2013

Rating: R

Pricing: $129.95 SRP

Cat. #: 100040897'

THIS IS AWESOME!

September cant come fast enough. Now the only question is will Friday the 13th part 3 be in real 3D? I'm expecting a direct port of the existing 2D/Anaglyph 3D disc but you never know. Hopefully each disc ports the extras from the special edition DVDs as I've not seen any of that.

What a time to be a Friday the 13th fan! A independent 7 hour documentary on the series, news that Paramount now have the rights to make new installments for the next 5 years and now the best news of them all. Finally Jason Lives and Jason X on Blu-Ray!!!!!

As usual please check out my list of

Slasher Movies available on BD that are NOT in my collection

Please drop me a message if you know of any I've missed or that flat out aren't slasher movies but are wrongly on the list. (I try my best but you never know)

And you can view my current collection by clicking here...

My Slasher Movie Blu-Ray Collection A-Z 

One of these days I'll sort out photos and a little bit more info on the collection than a giant list I swear but for the mean time at least it gives a good overview of what is available for slasher fans.