There’s no end of chills and thrills in this week’s creepy, kooky, ooky, spooky Blockbuster releases, from haunted houses and blood-soaked slashers to zombies both starving and Nazified. We’ll kick off this week’s rundown with a terrifying exclusive title, and somewhere in the mix below it we’ll throw in a little Zac Efron too. Boo!
A tense and unsettling English-language remake of a foreign horror hit, Silent House is a measured and spectacularly spooky three-hander about a girl (Elizabeth Olsen) trapped in a big, dark house full of secrets and stuff that goes bump in the night.
Much like the original version, Uruguay’s La Casa Muda (2010), the U.S. version is particularly notable for being shot in one continuous, 85-minute take. Technically then, it’s quite interesting to follow the filmmakers’ efforts to stage and shoot the movie without any cuts, though I’m certain they cheated from time to time with a few hidden edits.
Beyond the nerdy stuff and the thrill of watching actors performing under pressure, almost as if they’re on the stage, the pace and style of the movie creates such a sense of unease, it’s a chiller you’ll not soon forget. One with a twist destined to blow you away and a scene-stealing performance from the increasingly unmissable Elizabeth Olsen. Rent the movie now on Blu-ray and DVD, in store and online, exclusively from blockbuster.co.uk.
Based on Nicholas Sparks’ bestseller The Lucky One, Zac Efron stars alongside newcomer Taylor Schilling in this romantic drama from Shine writer/director Scott Hicks. U.S. Marine Sergeant Logan Thibault (Efron) returns from his third tour of duty in Iraq, with the one thing he credits with keeping him alive – a photograph he found of a woman he doesn’t even know. Learning who she is and where she lives, he shows up at her door, and ends up taking a job at her family-run local kennel.
Despite her initial mistrust and the complications in her life, a romance develops between them, giving Logan hope that she could be much more than his good luck charm. A heartfelt, passionate film with solid chemistry between the leads, this is warm and wonderful stuff. If you’re a Blockbuster by post customer and can’t wait for this In-store Exclusive to become available online, you can rent it for half price, on Blu-ray and DVD, at your local Blockbuster store.
The Walking Dead – The Complete Second Season
Created by author Robert Kirkman and artist Charlie Adlard to examine the day-to-day ‘realities’ of living with a zombie apocalypse, The Walking Dead comicbooks, much like this faithful telly incarnation, is equal parts soapy drama and brain-munching survival horror, an intense and emotional tale of regular folk maintaining their existence in a world overrun by ravenous, wandering corpses.
Like the best zombie movies, it’s an epic yet intimate and wildly bloody morality play in which we’re invited to decide who the bigger monsters are: the living or the dead. Adapted for the screen by The Shawshank Redemption’s Frank Darabont, this is an epic, well made and played ensemble effort led by British actor Andrew Lincoln, best known previously as Egg from This Life, here playing a level-headed cop in a lawless world, doing what’s right for him and his family. Buy or rent it now, on Blu-ray and DVD, in store and online from blockbuster.co.uk.
Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings
For fans of Wrong Turn, Wrong Turn 2: Dead End and Wrong Turn 3: Left For Dead, comes Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings, a suitably gory prequel featuring all of the slicing, dicing, chopping and disembowling that we’ve come to expect from the blood-soaked series. If you’re a Blockbuster by post customer and can’t wait for this In-store Exclusive to become available online, you can rent it for half price, on Blu-ray and DVD, at your local Blockbuster store.
Bigger, bolder and bloodier than the first, this second Outpost shocker sees wartime Nazi boffins working on frightening new technology with the power to create an immortal Nazi army. Flash forward to present day, and a NATO task force is hurriedly deployed to Eastern Europe, where a sinister enemy appears to be mercilessly killing everything in its path. Nazi stormtroopers no less! A veritable zombie army on the march in a mental gorefest for late night horror fans. Buy or rent it now on Blu-ray and DVD, in store and online from blockbuster.co.uk.
