Stephen Edwin King was born in September 1947 and from an early age, it was obvious his destiny was to become a writer. In his 73 years, he has written over 61 novels, 5 non-fiction books, and over 200 short stories. Since the majority of his writing has a basis in horror/supernatural entities he has been dubbed the "Master of Horror". With the majority of his works adapted for feature films (a few of them, more than once) it is only natural that a collection of some of his works have been combined together for sale on Blu-ray. Paramount Home Entertainment is taking advantage of the start of the Halloween season by releasing David Cronenberg's The Dead Zone, the 1994 TV miniseries adaptation of The Stand, Mary Lambert's Pet Sematary (1989), as well as the 2019 remake of Pet Sematary directed by Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kölsch, and Silver Bullet in one five-disc set.
The first film in the set is The Dead Zone about a man (played wonderfully by Christopher Walken; The Deer Hunter) who awakens from a coma only to discover he has the ability to see the future. While the picture quality has never looked sharper, the lack of extras is rather disappointing especially since there were extras, including an hour-long interview with King, on a previous DVD release.
Next is the film adaptation of King's Novella, Cycle of the Werewolf, called Silver Bullet. Again, there are no extras to speak of which is a shame considering the backstory of the making of this film. Apparently, Director Don Coscarelli (Beastmaster) quit the project when he and King got into an argument with the Producer who (rightfully so) thought the werewolf costume design looked stupid. Again, the video and audio quality are well done but the film itself isn't particularly scary.
Number three in the set is the 1994 miniseries, The Stand. The screenplay was faithful to the novel for the most part but that meant the adaptation of one thousand-plus page novel would be too long for a feature film (hence the miniseries). Shot on 16mm and broken into four "episodes", the video is rather good quality for a twenty-six-year-old television movie. Also, this is the first disc in the set that includes extras, namely audio commentary from King and director Mick Garris (Sleepwalkers). The series also has a terrific cast including Gary Sinise (Forrest Gump), Ed Harris (Apollo 13), Molly Ringwald (The Breakfast Club), and Rob Lowe (The Outsiders).
The final two discs are the 1989 and 2019 versions of Pet Sematary. The older version benefits from the high-definition transfer with incredible colors and shading making the picture quality terrific. The disc also has a number of extras including two new ones. They are a 9-minute conversation with Lambert and interviews with the cast and crew of the remake discussing the impact both the novel and the original film had on them. From a quality and features standpoint, this is clearly one of the best discs in the set.
It only makes sense that the 2019 version of Pet Sematary has the best video and audio quality of any of the discs seeing as how it was released a year ago while the other films are at least a quarter of a century old. Of course, the extras are also the best in the set with a four-part documentary about the making of the film. There is also an alternate ending that lines up more with the ending of the original novel.
For over half a century, Stephen King has been terrifying us with his warped and bizarre sense of storytelling and his tales somehow seem to readily lend them to film adaptations. This new collection is only a sampling of his brilliance and a worthy purchase for any fan of King's work.
Before you know it the holiday season will be upon us so why not get this set, wrap it up, and put it in the closet for your loved one who happens to admire King and his films.
Purchase the BRAND NEW Stephen King 5-Movie Collection today at Amazon.com.
This release has been provided to FlickDirect for review purposes.
