If you’re willing to do without the nasty things like special features, and trailers, the four horror hits from Mill Creek Entertainment isn’t really that bad a purchase. If you can stand to sit through two terrible horror films and two mediocre ones as well, then you’re really not going to be disappointed considering the price tag on the four film set.
Another in a line of consumer friendly sets, Mill Creek releases a four horror film set for modern horror fans and all things considered it’s a solid release with four films that may not be masterpieces but are at least worth experimenting with. With the four movie collection on DVD, here is what you’ll ultimately get:
Hostel (Unrated Director’s Cut) – Produced by Quentin Tarantino, “Hostel” is a torture porn horror film and box office winner directed by Eli Roth that sets the light on a group of American travelers who end up in a ring of depravity and torture when they attempt to find random sex and sew their wild oats in Europe over their vacation. Though Eli Roth’s horror film suffers from bad writing, an uneven tone, and a horribly homophobic narrative, “Hostel” does come out ahead with some strong performances and a good lead role by underrated actor Jay Hernandez. And for folks who appreciate it, there are cameos from major horror icons who play members of the elite Hostel who pay thousands of dollars to torture innocent people for their own pleasure and satisfaction. Don’t believe the hype, hostels don’t exist.
“Cold Storage” doesn’t have much in the way of a narrative, but then the whole purpose of “The Walking Dead” webisodes is to whet the appetites of fans craving more of Robert Kirkman’s world, and to give producer Gregory Nicotero something to do. Show producer and special effects master Gregory Nicotero is slowly making his way in to the directing business, lensing some of the episodes for the hit series, and directing both web series for the hit horror drama. “Torn Apart” was a much more meaningful and concentrated effort in the Walking Dead mythology as we got to know the origin of bicycle girl. “Cold Storage” has a link to the show, but only in a mere lip service sense. It’s an “oh look!” moment and then it passes.
Director Robert Heath creates a horror film that starts out like “Slaughter High” and ends like “Saw.” Basically, “Truth or Die” is a revenge film of the twisted kind where no one is truly just. In the end, it’s about despicable people hurting despicable people. As is the trend with most modern revenge tales, “Truth or Die” is about the destruction of revenge and how nothing is ever as it seems.