by Britt Hayes
Welcome to the final part of our first annual holiday gift guide. I’m going to run things down a little differently in this edition. In the DVD and Blu-ray sections, I’ll start with bargains, move to regular priced items, and then to boxed sets and pricey editions (if any). For books, it’ll just be a veritable mix of comic books, novels, and the like, priced lowest to highest. Let’s get started, shall we?
DVD

In this Vincent Price three-pack, you get the original House on Haunted Hill, The Bat, and …

by Marc Patterson
Halloween seems to be the high holiday of horrorphiles everywhere but personally I love Christmas. Thankfully for me, the sparkling joy of the Christmas season is nigh upon us once again. What better way to get in the spirit than for some Christmastime horror via a really cool trailer from an upcoming horror film, The Blackout. The Blackout is one of those dysfunctional family and neighbors meets hell and horrors from beyond type flicks that borrows some rather obvious motifs from the Feast franchise, …

Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
Studio: Arrow Video
Directed by: Charles E. Sellier Jr
Starring: Robert Brian Wilson, Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Linnea Quigley
Reviewed by: Ben Bussey
On a Christmas Eve visit to his institutionalised Grandfather, innocent young tot Billy Chapman soon finds himself alone with the apparently catatonic old geezer. It is only once everyone else has gone away that Grandpa suddenly becomes active, and warns Billy of the true nature of Santa Claus: that he not only rewards the good, but also punishes the naughty. When on the drive back the …

Nightmare Before Christmas
Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: August 26, 2008
Directed By: Henry Selick
Cast: Chris Saradon, Catherine O’ Hara, William Hickey, Paul Reubens
Brutal As Hell Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 stars
Review By: Benjamin Bussey
 
‘Twas a long time ago, longer now than it seems: the word ‘Emo’ had yet to come into being, Walt Disney Studios had never released an animated film that did not carry the name of its founder before the title, and all was cheery in the world. Then along came a movie that didst …

Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Killer Mutant Snowman (2000)
Studio: Allumination
DVD Release Date: August 5, 2003
Directed By: Michael Cooney
Cast: Christopher Allport, Eileen Seely, Marsha Clark, Chip Heller, Ray Cooney
Deadly DVD Rating: 2 ½ out of 5 stars
Review By: Rod Schroeder       
 
Serial killer snowman Jack Frost is back & more pissed off than before. This time he tracks Sheriff Tiler to the Caribbean of all places to seek revenge.
 
Our story opens with the good sheriff in counseling. As he recounts the tale of Frost’s killing ways, the psychiatrist, his …

Jack Frost (1996)
Studio: Eimitar Entertainment
DVD Release Date: November 3, 1998
Directed By: Michael Cooney
Cast: Christ Allport, Stephen Mendel, Scott MacDonald, Shannon Elizabeth
Deadly DVD Rating: 2 ½ out of 5 stars
Review By: Rod Schroeder
 
Jack Frost was a mass murderer, boucing from town to town, blending in with the residents before slaughtering them and moving on. His downfall was when he began putting bits of his victims in pecan pies.
 
The story begins with a nice little credit roll to the voice of an adult male telling his young helium induced niece the legend …

Christmas Evil (1980)
Studio: Synapse Films
DVD Release Date:
Directed By: Lewis Jackson
Cast: Brandon Maggert, Jeffrey Demunn, Dianne Hull
Brutal As Hell Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 stars
Review By: Marc Patterson
 
Harry Stadling (Brandon Maggert) loves Christmas.  You might even say he loves it a bit too much.  His house is a virtual shrine to Kris Kringle, and he keeps close tabs on all the neighborhood children.  Whoa.  Creepy.  His obsession with ol’ Father Christmas began when as a wee lad he witnessed the most horrid of Christmas Eve atrocities.  Sweet Papa Noel …

Black Christmas (2006)
Studio: Dimension Films
DVD Release Date: April 3, 2007
Directed By: Glen Morgan
Cast: Katie Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Oliver Hudson & Robert Mann
Brutal As Hell Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
Review By: Annie Riordan
 
This movie is the cinematic equivalent of a big fat turd with a red ribbon tied around it. Who the hell wants to find that under their tree on Christmas morning?
 
Way back in the year 1970, we learned that little Billy Lenz, a jaundiced “freak” was regularly abused by his disgusting mother, a horse-faced, chain-smoking, …

Black Christmas (1974)
Studio: Somerville House
DVD Release Date: December 5, 2006
Directed By: Bob Clark
Cast: Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, John Saxon, Art Hindle
Brutal As Hell Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Review By: Annie Riordan
 
So, how many of you Bob Clark fans are going to spend Christmas watching TNT’s 24 hour Christmas Story marathon? I will be. It just ain’t Christmas without Ralphie and his official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!
 
But how many of you have seen Bob Clark’s first ode to the holiday …