Lionsgate Announces October Slate of Horror Blu-rays

Disc Announcements, News

As a fan of horror movies, I can’t help but love October. Not only do most basic cable stations show a never-ending stream of creature flicks, slasher movies and the Garfield Halloween special, big box retailers stock up the best and brightest horror movies for their endcaps — more often than not for good prices too.

Shock Till You Drop is reporting that this October, Lionsgate will ride the wave of Halloween and release a handful of catalog titles on Blu-ray. On October 6, Lionsgate will release High Tension, The Blair Witch Project, Open Water, Open Water 2, 2001 Maniacs and Hard Candy. Open Water and its sequel will be available packaged together.

I personally can’t wait to replace my DVD copies of some of these films with a shaper image and better sound quality. But, like most of you, I’m curious as to what possible benefits The Blair Witch Project or Open Water could have being released in high-definition. Surely sharper image and noise-reduction filters can’t drastically improve the films’ visuals. Likewise, the sound for The Blair Witch Project, if I remember correctly, is mono — not exactly stuff that will impress on Blu-ray.

This is the first time The Blair Witch Project will be released since its original distributor Artisan Entertainment went belly up. I’m curious to see if Lionsgate decides to do a 10+ year anniversary and produce some new retrospective features. I’d love to see a “Where Are They Now” documentary on the film’s cast and crew.

Robert Saucedo is an avid movie watcher with seriously poor sleeping habits. The Mikey from Life cereal of film fans, Robert will watch just about anything — good, bad or ugly. He has written about film for newspapers, radio and online for the last 10 years. This has taken a toll on his sanity — of that you can be sure. Follow him on Twitter at @robsaucedo2500.