This Week in Blu-ray / DVD Releases: Neighbors, Halloween, The Signal

By John Law

September 22nd 2014, 11:51pm

This week: The summer's much-needed Neighbors, sci-fi mind games with The Signal, and three separate horror franchises all release complete sets.

► What makes NEIGHBORS this year’s best comedy? Seth Rogan’s on his game, certainly. Zac Efron basically saves his career. Even the ‘other’ Franco, Dave, steals a few scenes. But the key is a script which takes two distinct genres – the rom-com and the raunchy college comedy – and blends them into something both heartfelt and hilarious. Rogan and Rose Byrne are new parents who move into a starter home, while Efron and Franco are the college fraternity buds who move in next door. Things slowly escalate, but in surprising ways. Summer sucked just a bit less thanks to this one. Blu-ray includes an alternate opening.

► Anchor Bay goes all out for its HALLOWEEN: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION blu-ray set, bringing all ten films in the franchise (including Rob Zombie’s dubious pair) under one roof for the first time. It goes for about $90, but it’s the Limited Deluxe Edition you should splurge the extra $30 for. It contains five extra discs, a massive assortment of extras, the never-before-released Producer’s Cut of ‘The Curse of Michael Myers’, and the network TV versions of I and II. Anchor Bay’s seal of quality pretty much guarantees this is the most exhaustive ‘Halloween’ set we’ll likely ever see.

► Even under $30, there’s a whole lot of crap in THE EXORCIST: THE COMPLETE ANTHOLOGY to justify the price. We all likely have the original in some form, with its awesome extras, so that leaves one of the worst movies ever made (‘Exorcist II: The Heretic’), the only sequel worth a damn (‘The Exorcist III’) and the dismal conjoined prequels ‘Dominion’ and ‘The Beginning.’ You do get the theatrical and director’s cut of the original – both awesome – but apparently no extras. Part II, III and ‘The Beginning’ also get separate blu-ray releases this week.

► For seven years we got a new SAW movie for Halloween, milking a concept which really only worked once. And even that was nearly undone by Cary Elwes’ flat-out hilarious performance in the final 10 minutes (seriously, try watching it with a straight face). There are sporadic moments of coolness in the other six flicks (I’m partial to III), but like every horror franchise, it backed itself into a creative corner with only a full-blown reboot the way out, which you know is coming. This $25 set gathers all seven flicks on three blu-rays, minus the 3D for ‘The Final Chapter.’

► In THE SIGNAL, some college kids take a detour during a road trip to confront a hacker who has been screwing with them. They instead black out, and are awakened in an underground facility where a doctor (Laurence Fishburne) tells them they encountered aliens, and they’ve had some…uh, modifications. Another sc-fi mindbender from director William Eubank (2011’s ‘Love’).

► The Australian thriller THE ROVER gets a jump on that ‘Mad Max’ remake. Set ten years after a global economic collapse, people are flocking to rural Australia with bad attitudes. After a robbery goes wrong, an American (Robert Pattinson) is left behind, and he ends up joining a former Soldier (Guy Pearce) who will go to extreme lengths to get his car back.

► Anna Faris is front and center in CBS’s MOM, playing a single parent who restarts her life in California after a battle with drugs and alcohol. Adding to her misery is her mother (Alison Janney) who is also a recovering addict, and a 16-year-old daughter becoming a mom herself. By the way, this is a comedy. Created by ‘The Big Bang Theory’s Chuck Lorre, it has enough crass charm to make you forget it’s a network sitcom at times. Janney won the Emmy for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

► Historical accuracy isn’t a priority for The CW’s REIGN, about the early years of Mary, Queen of Scots in France of 1557. Engaged to Frances II since she was six (hey, it was a crazy time), her worship deals with the usual power plays, backstabbing and horny French guys. Meanwhile, her future hubby’s mom is trying to prevent the marriage after a dire premonition from Nostradamus. Dumbed down history as The CW tries finding its next ‘Gossip Girl.’

Also out this week: