Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm 4K (2022/Adult Swim/Warner 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Creature From Black Lake (1976/MVD/Synapse Blu-ray)/Creepshow: Season Three (2022/RLJ Blu-ray Set)/Marineland Carnival (1965/MPI DVD)/Star Trek Discovery: Season Four (2021 - 2022/CBS/Paramount Blu-ray Set)

4K Ultra HD Picture: A- Picture: B+/B/B+/C+/B Sound: B+/B/B+/C+/B Extras: B/C+/B/D/C+ Main Programs: C+ (4K: C)

Here's a good variety of genre releases for the holiday season...

The Adult Swim adult themed cartoon series, Aqua Teen Hunger Force (all reviewed elsewhere on this site), has come out with its first feature film: Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm (2022,) which is now available on 4K UHD / Blu-ray from Warner Bros. If you are a fan of the series then this is the pacing and style that you can expect from this outing. I myself am not too familiar with the franchise and so a lot of the film was a bit silly to me and over the top. The animation style is interesting and there's certainly imagination in this, but the brand of humor is so off the wall that it's definitely an acquired taste of comedy.

Frylock has a fallout with his friends, Meat Wad and Master Shake and ends up facing off with the CEO of a company similar to Amazon. Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm features the voice talents of Carey Means as Frylock, Dana Snyder as Master Shake, and co-creator Dave Willis as Meatwad.

Aqua Teen Forever : Plantasm is presented in 2160p on 4K UHD disc with HDR10, an HEVC / H.265 codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and an audio track in English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix. A standard 1080p Blu-ray edition is also included. The image looks perfect on 4K UHD disc with the animation looking sharp and crisp throughout.

Special Features:

Deleted Scenes

Audio Commentary

Music Video

Alternate Cut

Behind the Scenes

and a Poster

Synapse Films presents Joy N. Houck Jr.'s The Creature From Black Lake (1976), which is pretty fun Sasquatch / Bigfoot movie shot on a low budget. Definitely inspired by The Legend of Boggy Creek and Jaws which was released the year prior, the film follows two friends who go out to Black Lake interviewing the locals about a rumored creature sighting. They soon come face to face with the hairy ape-like creature in a close fight for survival. The film isn't as gory as Night of the Demon (which is now out on Blu-ray from Severin Films), which was made around the same time period, but has a lot of heart behind it, and the fact that it's shot on 35mm film (with the underrated Todd AO 35mm anamorphic lenses, something NEVER noted anywhere in this release!) from the era adds something.

The film stars Jack Elam, Dub Taylor, Dennis Fimple, John David Carson, and Bill Thurman.

Creature From Black Lake is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4 AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and an English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit) lossless Mono mix. The restoration is pretty nice over all and the film looks and sounds up to modern standards of the aging format. This is from a 4K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative that doesn't have too many glaring issues, the Todd AO lenses add to the film and its look.

Special Features:

A feature-length audio commentary with author/filmmaker Michael Gingold and film historian Chris Poggiali

SWAMP STORIES - An all-new featurette with Director of Photography Dean Cundey (who later lensed Carpenter's Halloween)

an Original Theatrical Trailer and a Radio Spot.

Creepshow: Season Three (2022), which is an extension of the 1982 classic cult film franchise started by George A. Romero, Stephen King, and Tom Savini in the classic horror film (and its decent 1987 follow-up, and yes we are ignoring the fact that the Creepshow 3 feature film even happened) enters into a third season on Shudder and is now out on Blu-ray disc in a 2-disc set from RLJE.

Headlined by Tom Savini's apprentice, Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead, Special Effects legend), the show proves that a short form anthology style horror series always works for quick frights and gags. Think of this show as Goosebumps with gore. Each episode is fun in its own right, thanks in part to the creativity of Nicotero's special effects company, K and B EFX, which are responsible for the work done on The Walking Dead and countless studio pictures over the past three decades.

In the world of Creepshow (heavily inspired by the classic EC comics), a comic book comes to life in a series of vignettes, exploring terrors ranging from murder, creatures, monsters, and delusions to the supernatural and unexplainable, all of which are hosted by The Creepshow Ghoul!

One negative aspect to this Creepshow series is that some of it feels a little rushed and some of the dialogue and acting (from mostly no name casts) is pretty groan inducing. Most of the episodes have pacing issues and don't really kick in until the monster aspect comes out to play. Still, it's nice to see the Creepshow franchise is still chugging along and there's a lot of creativity and originality in here and some fun easter eggs for hardcore horror fans. That being said, I'm a fan of the Creepshow series and hopes it continues. This season, Nicotero has some fun in his segments which includes a shot for shot remake of Hitchcock's shower sequence from Psycho (1960), a woman's body is buried in a garden and she comes back as a plant monster, and references to horror cult classics and nods of the hat to George A. Romero's legacy as well, which is appreciated by fans like myself.

Creepshow: Season 3 is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4 AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and an English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) lossless mix. The show is a mix of live action, animation, and other fun elements, all of which look and sound fine in HD. Total run time is 270 minutes.

Special Features:

Amazon's Comic-Con Home Panel Interview with Greg Nicotero, Mattie Do, Rusty Cundieff, Michael Rooker, and James Remar, moderated by Entertainment Weekly's Clark Collis

Behind-the-Scenes Raw Footage

Comic Art Booklet

and a Behind-the-Scenes Photo Gallery.

MarineLand Carnival (1965) is a classic television series that is a variety show of sorts that takes place at an aquatic theme park, similar to the modern-day Sea World. In this time capsule DVD, we get to see the original cast of The Munsters interact with the MarineLand Carnival show, and the results are just as wholesome and cheesy as one might expect. This special Munsters episode is now available on DVD from MPI.

The Munsters come to MarineLand Carnival to find Eddie a new pet. There they encounter seals that do tricks, many musical numbers, Grandpa jumps up really high on a flag pole and does some tricks, and Herman and Lilly have a deep conversation with a walrus. Eddie has plenty of fun with Marilyn as they watch the shows and see some mermaids as well. All around, The Munsters have a fun visit that is productive as well!

The program is presented in standard definition with a 1.33 X 1 full frame aspect ratio and a lossy Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono mix. None of which are anything to write home about. This hasn't been restored in any short of HD at all, but is nice enough that you can tell what's going on so that's a plus.

No extras

MarnieLand Carnival is fun to look back on if you are a fan of the classic Munsters series like myself. It's great to see Fred Gwynne, Yvonne DeCarlo, Al Lewis, Pat Preist, and Butch Patrick together on screen and doing funny things. If you're a fan of lost TV treasures of the past then this DVD is worth checking out even if the presentation is nothing to necessarily write home about.

Star Trek Discovery: Season Four (2021 - 2022) continues to be a successful-enough hit despite the increasing number of series spin-offs that keep coming out of the all-time mid 1960s TV classic. We discussed the show itself when discussing the previous season at this link:

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15937/Silat+Warriors:+Deed+Of+Death+(2019/Well+Go

At least it is consistent, but without giving away any spoilers (or going into an essay summarizing the first three seasons,) it just never goes beyond what it is showing or the story it is telling. The look of the show is not bad and the actors gel well enough. Most of them have apparently been with the show since its debut, but the eleven hour-long shows are still a 'fans-only' affair and I just cannot recommend them beyond that audience. Those interested really, really need to start with the First Season, because I was lucky I could add it all up.

As with the previous season, the 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image looks fine for the genre and not as choppy as some of the earlier shows, but is still too digital for its own good, while the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes are a little more consistent than the last season, so it is sonically a little nicer. Competition form HALO perhaps?

Extras include (amounting to about 104 minutes) three deleted scenes, a Gag Reel, an audio commentary track and four Making Of featurettes.

- Nicholas Sheffo (Trek) and James Lockhart

https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/