Whew! We made it through a whole bunch of rough spots recently, but guess what? Our patience is about to pay off. The weeks-long horror DVD drought is about to come to an end with a collection of new titles, catalog favorites, and (of course) cheap indies we've never heard of. But let's just jump right in, shall we?  

The winner of the week has got to be MGM's "Chucky's 20th Birthday Edition" of Child's Play, which brings the fan favorite home in widescreen (finally!) and delivers all sorts of geek-friendly goodies. We posted a full review a few days back, but here's the short version: 2.5 audio commentaries, several new mini-docos, a vintage featurette, and a couple other little treats. It'd been a long time since I'd revisited the original Chucky-fest, and I'm not ashamed to say I had a damn good time with the flick -- again.

No less cool, however, is the brand-new Pumpkinhead special edition, which we'll be reviewing very soon -- but if you're a fan of the late Stan Winston's ONLY directorial effort (and I definitely am!) then you'll be pleased to learn that the DVD has a commentary track and about a half-dozen featurettes. Couldn't happen to a cooler creature feature. And again, it's an MGM widescreen DVD. Thanks, fellas!

I think it's a thoroughly rotten flick, but if you've been dying to see a Uwe Boll film we have a very basic slasher tale (more like a retread of Wes Craven's Shocker, kinda) called Seed. Here Boll hopes to incite profitable controversy by opening the film with some nauseating PETA footage and then tossing in a torture scene that would make Jigsaw puke his guts out. Aside from those sequences, this is basically one dry and dreary slog through very familiar slasher territory. And I really was hoping to like this one, too. Extras include a Bollmentary, a PC game called "Advent Rising," a (very cool) short film called Criticized, and (I'm sure) some other stupid stuff. I'll have a look at the movie a second time (it's been a while) on DVD, but don't expect a big change of heart.

Ohhh, but Bollie's not done with you yet. Hitting the shelves this week is something called "House of the Dead: Director's Cut: The Funny Version," as if the original cut wasn't drop-dead freakin' hilarious on its own. Apparently Boll went back and re-cut the film to make it a comedy. Or MORE of a comedy. Then again, after seeing Postal, I'm betting this second version if actually LESS of a comedy. And you simply have to love the artistic integrity of Mr. Boll. This gimmick reminds me of the time Orson Welles re-cut Citizen Kane to make it a romantic comedy.

Also debuting this week is Kevin Sorbo in Something Beneath, a film about killer black goo that causes people to go nutso. Yes, you probably caught this one when it played on The Sci-Fi Channel, and if you didn't then here's a warning for you: It played on The Sci-Fi Channel.

Also today: The lovely Tiffany Shepis (woohoo!) stars in Nympha, Ulli Lommel (aka the only director less talented than Uwe Boll) writhes again with Son of Sam (gotta love those public domain serial killers, eh Ulli?), and devotees of PG-rated horror get to deal with Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour. Yes, that's PG. Not PG-13.

Next week: A Beetlejuice special edition that's anything but special, an Asian / Canadian thriller called They Wait, the Asian import Death Note, and cult titles like Beyond the Door and Class of 1999. Plus a few newbies we'll introduce next week.