We sift through the new release heap so you don’t have to!
Welcome to Horror News Network’s Buy / Wait / Rent, a monthly article devoted to the most highly-anticipated horror releases on blu-ray. Here you will find the best home video releases of each month, along with our opinion on whether each film is a must-own on the first day of release, something you should wait to buy until it goes on sale, or something you’re better off renting for a one-time watch. And now, on to the notable new releases of December 2018!
12/4/18:
WAIT:
Most of the time, December pricing on new releases isn’t as great as the bargains that could be had during the Black Friday season of late November. Both Netflix’s Castlevania Season One and The Nun fit this formula. This isn’t the first time that an entry in The Conjuring franchise was priced too high before Christmas… The Conjuring 2 established theis pattern upon its release, and quickly fell to bargain prices after the holidays. Give these titles a couple weeks before picking them up to save a little dough for the holidays.
12/11/18:
BUY:
Lionsgate have been knocking it out of the park lately with affordable, high quality 4K UHD transfers of classic horror films. Evil Dead was great in October, and by the looks of things, Evil Dead 2 will be a welcome addition to nearly anyone’s horror collection. It’s a safe bet to pick this one up on release day.
WAIT:
After opening the floodgates in October and November, Shout! Factory have only a few releases on the table for this December. Neither Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 nor Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Next Generation are universally acclaimed, and Shout!’s release date pricing structure tends to limit purchases to the die hard fans who are happy to pay a bit more for a poster and a guaranteed slipcover. Most collectors will want to wait for a sale to pick these two titles up.
12/18/18:
RENT:
December 18th will see the arrival of three new releases which I recommend collectors rent before making the decision to own for three different reasons. The House with a Clock in its Walls mark’s Eli Roth’s first foray into children’s cinema, and the film earned generally warm reviews from viewers and critics. However, it skews to a younger demographic than Roth’s target audience, so it may not connect with all horror fans. The Predator is easily the worst movie I’ve seen in theaters this year, and I say this as a hardcore Predator fan who is used to tolerating mediocrity after a steady stream of lackluster releases over the years. I can’t imagine ever wanting to watch it again, and I think that even fans of the franchise better know what they’re getting into before clearing off a spot on the shelf for this one. Venom just crossed the $800 million box office mark worldwide, and it’s now the second-highest superhero origin movie of all time. The critical reviews don’t exactly align with the movie’s financial performance, but fans of series probably won’t be affected by negative reviews. If you don’t care about this Marvel monster either way, maybe give this one a rental as a starting point.
