Frightmare (1990/Troma Blu-ray*)/Magic Cop (1990/88 Films Blu-ray*)/Mercy 4K (2026/MGM 4K Blu-ray**)/Pulse (1988/Mill Creek Blu-ray**)/Shelby Oaks (2025/NEON/Decal Blu-ray**)/St. Patrick's Day Massacre (2025/High Fliers DVD/**all Alliance)/Vampire Zombies From Outer Space! (2024/Cleopatra/*all MVD)

4K Picture: B Picture: C/D/X/B/B/C/B Sound: B/C/B+/B/B/B/B Extras: C+/B/D/D/B/D/C+ Films: B/C-/C-/C/B/C/B-

Now for a wide-ranging set of various genre films that are not always successful...

Frightmare (1981) also known as Horror Star comes out again on disc this time from Troma in a ''Tromatic'' Special Edition Blu-ray. The film is essentially John Carpenter's Halloween but with a Vampire instead of Michael Myers as the film transforms into a formulaic slasher halfway through. The film is fun as a retro slasher film and a product of its time that looks just okay on this Blu-ray release from Troma. I can't help but yearn for another boutique label like Severin or Vinegar Syndrome to tackle this in a proper 4K edition down the line.

The film stars Ferdy Mayne (Fearless Vampire Killers,) Luca Bercovici, Nita Talbot, Leon Askin, Barbara Pilavin, and Scott Thomson, and is directed by Normal Thaddeus Vane.

Frightmare is presented in 1080p high definition on 2K Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4 AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and a lossless English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit) soundmix. The 2K image is nothing to write home about as the film transfer has some visible flaws in it, which possibly could be due to the condition of the print and we have been told that it is the same transfer used by Vinegar Syndrome in their older, out of print Blu-ray. It's passable for Blu-ray, but if this was a 4K transfer there would be some more points deducted.

Special Features include:

Original DVD Intro Featuring Lloyd Kaufman and Debbie Rochon

Archival audio interview with Director Norman Thaddeus Vane

Historical Commentary with David Del Valle and David DeCoteau

The Hysteria Continues (audio commentary from 'The Hysteria Continues' Podcast)

Original Theatrical Trailer

Artwork Gallery

Man With A Camera: Video Interview With DP Joel King

A Gory Lesson From The Set Of Meat For Satan's Ice Box

INNARDS! Music Video

and Radiation March

Frightmare isn't a bad low budget film from the early '80s and clearly was jumping on the popularity of slasher films at the time. It's a fun watch in retrospect, but I can't help wanting more from the presentation.

Magic Cop (1990) is a Cantonese action flick out on Blu-ray from 88 Films where we see a cop who also happens to hunt ghosts (Lam Ching-ying) facing off against a supernatural drug ring. The film has some interesting martial arts and interesting considering its age and low budget nature. The film stars Ching-Ying Lam, Wilson Lam, Michael Kiu Wai Miu, Wu Ma, Michiko Nishiwaki, and Billy Chow.

The film is presented in 1080p high definition on 2K Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4 AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and a lossless English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit) Stereo mix. Needless to say the transfer is not good with many imperfections throughout. Given that this was a low budget production and considering its age, I am sure that 88 Films did what they could, but sadly this is not a presentation worth writing home about. It probably is, however, the best this micro budgeted film has looked and sounded yet... or ever will.

Special Features include:

Double Walled Gloss Finish O-ring featuring new artwork by Sean Longmore (First Pressing Only)

Double-sided foldout poster (First Pressing Only)

Audio commentary with Hong Kong Film Experts Frank Djeng and Marc Walkow

Taiwanese Cut with Alternate Score (SD)

Interview with Tung Wei (HD)

Image Gallery

Trailer

and a eversible cover with new artwork by Sean Longmore and original HK Poster Art.

Chris Pratt is put on trial by a boring AI program in Timur Bekmambetov's incredibly boring sci-fi thriller Mercy 4K (2026,) which bombards the audience with cheap images and so much stupidity that Amnesty International ought to investigate. Bekmambetov already delivered horrid mega-dud remakes of War Of The Worlds and Ben-Hur, so doing a lame knock-off of Spielberg's overrated (but at least ambitious) Minority Report continue this hack filmmaker's uncanny need to take hit films people liked with original and make them into some of the worst crap in all of international cinema history!

In a LONG, LOOOOONNNNNFGGGGG 99 minutes that makes his one awful semi-hit, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (2012) seem somehow clever, Pratt is one of the worst detectives in cinema history, once (mindlessly and brainlessly) supporting an AI judge (played by Rebecca Ferguson, extremely wasted here; Dune 3 cannot get here fast enough for her or us!!!) playing like Judge Dredd in a crystal meth/crack cocaine coma. Someone has killed his wife and he is accused, so can be prove his innocence? Can we watch new 4K scan of the 1960s TV classic The Fugitive instead?

The director and so-called screenplay should be taught in film schools on everything NOT to do in a genre film like this. The supposedly human actors are boring, the film is boring, I was hoping the AI Judge would turn into Judge Dredd and shoot up everything just to make it stop, but I would not play along and fall to their dirty trick of yelling the title of this $60 Million disaster (it sure does NOT look like it was that expensive) or something more creative, like Leo The Lion jumping out of the MGM logo and mauling everyone.

After the overrated Russo Brothers put Pratt together with the terrific Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things) for the low-wattage/low voltage dud The Electric State (2025) costing over five times this, but with the same non-hit results, Pratt should probably stick with proven franchises because he's not THAT strong and actor, performer or personality to overcome this crap. Especially looking so bored here.

Looking very dated upon arrival, I expect this to date very swiftly and have anyone watching to ask what were they thinking and how did this get a greenlight. Its that bad and is already an early candidate for one of this year's worst films. Hope the Razzies board gets some huge complementary cases of Tylenol and Advil!

The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.20 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image has some good shots, but we get WAY TOO MANY sloppy, soft and cheap shots I could have made on a MacBook and it does nto meld well, so I see why a regular Blu-ray was not included. The lossless Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems) mix is the default highlight of this mess,. Though even it is inconsistent and can only do so much.

There are thankfully no extras.

Pulse (1988) is an '80s horror thriller that centers on an evil surge of electricity that travels from house to house causing chaos in its midst. So as this intelligent spark of electric maniacally attacks, one family dares to fight against it as it turns their house into an electrical war zone.

The film stars Joey Lawrence, Cliff De Young, Charles Tyner, Robert Romanus, and Dennis Redfield.

Pulse is presented in 1080p high definition on 2K Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4 AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and an English LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 16bit) Stereo mix. The film looks and sounds up to standards for the format and has been well preserved with no glaring issues.

The film wants to be a Spielberg-type kid against the supernatural film, but is missing the character development and warmth to make it feel that way. Instead, it feels like the concept has been done much better since, even in modern thrillers where A.I. has run amok in the M3gan films or even Final Destination has a similar vibe to this. That being said, though the concept has been done better since, I can see how Pulse helped shape this sub genre.

No extras.

Neon presents Shelby Oaks (2025,) a mix of traditional narrative fused with a faux documentary in the same style inspired by The Blair Witch Project. Despite a few similarities of the other films in the genre, Shelby Oaks manages to be its own thing and succeeds where other films of its like fail.

The film centers on a group of paranormal investigators who end up going missing during film their YouTube series ''Paranormal Paranoids.'' When the bodies are found except for the show's host Riley Brenan (Sarah Durn,) her sister Mia (Camille Sullivan) becomes desperate to find her and get some answers. As she dives deeper into the mystery, she uncovers a demonic force that begins to terrorize her after a murder suspect offs himself in front of her and leaves behind a tape of missing footage. In a narrative structure similar to The Ring, the sister goes down and darker and darker paths with the more clues she discovers the locations seen in the clues. The film succeeds in its darker moments and creepy locations, namely an abandoned town with plenty of jump scares along the way.

The supporting cast includes Michael Beach, Brendan Sexton III, and Robin Bartlett, is directed by Chris Stuckmann and produced by Michael Flanagan.

The script and film does a good job of setting up its world by way of faux documentary that crafts a strong narrative and gets you into the story from the beginning. Our main character is first introduced in an interview and then we begin to see the story unfold from her perspective. The film is well made and has some pretty effective creepy moments throughout.

Shelby Oaks is presented in 1080p high definition on regular Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4 AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratios of 1.85:1 and 2.39:1 as jumps back and forth through MiniDV footage and traditional digital and has a beautifully mixed track in a lossless English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) mix to accompany. The film has a nice professional presentation that's of a high standard with nothing glaring in terms of presentation.

Special Features:

Six Episodes: The Making of Shelby Oaks

Four Episodes of Paranormal Paranoids

The Final Tape featurette

Crime Scene Gallery

Special Hidden Feature

Original Trailer and TV Spots.

Shelby Oaks is an original and interesting film even if it occasionally borrows ideas from others and is worth checking out if you are into ghostly supernatural type films.

St. Patrick's Day Massacre (2025) is a holiday horror movie that doesn't quite hit the lucky mark. When a group of four girlfriends go to Dublin for St. Patrick's Day, they come across a local who buys them a drink and takes them to an abandoned tavern where a murderous rampage occurred on St. Patrick's Day centuries earlier. In not long until they are stalked by the undead killer himself who is buried under the floor boards whose out on a murderous rampage of revenge.

The film stars Marta Svetek, Ayvianna Snow, Charlie Bond, Manoj Anand, Annabella Rich, and Ben Manning.

St. Patrick's Day Massacre is presented in anamorphically enhanced, standard definition (480i) on DVD with a 2:35.1 widescreen aspect ratio and a lossy 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio mix. The film looks compressed throughout on DVD with some of the flashback scenes in some shits showing heavy compression due to the filter used on the footage. I'm sure there are better transfers out there than the one here in standard definition. The use of green is very overused throughout the film too, which is obviously intentional.

No extras on the DVD.

St. Patrick's Day does what it can with the holiday horror formula, but lacks in suspense and substance.

Michael Stasko's Vampire Zombies From Space! (2024) is an ode to 1950s sci-fi and horror, Ed Wood movies, yet fused with modern gore and corny humor. Surprisingly, this black and white modern film is actually quite remarkable and a lot of fun if you are familiar with where its inspirations are coming from.

Surprisingly gory, the film centers on a town overrun by Vampire Zombies from Outer Space (led by Dracula himself) that terrorize the locals and turn them into bloodthirsty zombies. Humanity's only chance lies in fighting back. Directed by Michael Stasko, the black and white comedy/action/retro/sci-fi horror film has plenty of easter eggs in it for fans that include recreations of classic Hollywood vampires (and Judith O'Dea of Night of the Living Dead playing Elvira was an interesting choice).

It also cleverly uses Plan 9 From Outer Space as canon and has UFOs and bats on visible strings as a wink to Ed Wood's charming low budget movie style of the 1950s. The film does a good job of capturing the period as well and has nice costuming and plenty of picture cars to sell the environment. There's some pretty hilarious bits too when one character (whose voice sounds similar to Elvis) fights the lower half of this dismembered zombie brother.

The film stars Jessica Antovski, Rashaun Baldeo, Andrew Bee, Oliver Georgiou, Craig Gloster, Simon Reynolds with Judith O'Dea, Lloyd Kaufman, and David Liebe Har.

Vampire Zombies From Space! is presented in 1080p high definition on 2K Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4 AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and a lossy English Dolby Digital Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) mix. The film is in black and white which does look pretty good on Blu-ray disc here and helps call back the era of filmmaking the film is imitating.

Special Features:

Audio Commentary

Deleted Scenes

Promotional Clips

Slideshow and Trailers.

Vampire Zombies From Space! achieves what it sets out to do and then some. An ambitious low budget production that was clearly made with consideration and love for the films that it imitates particularly those of Edward D. Wood, Jr.

- Nicholas Sheffo (4K) and James Lockhart

https://letterboxd.com/jhl5films/