THE STEPHEN KING COLLECTION

Reeeeeeeeeeeeeee-packaging anyone? Normally I wouldn't give a set like this the time of day. But in this case you may actually feel the need to pick this four disc four film set up for the following reasons- it contains SE's of Pet Sematary and The Dead Zone. As SE's go any fan will appreciate them over the previous bare bones editions. The added value is comprised mainly of featurettes that offer not only overviews of the making of each film but in this case an unusual amount of insight into the films both in terms of historical context and theme. Stephen King has called Pet Semetary the scariest thing he's ever written and the film also contains a commentary by director Mary Lambert. Pet Sematary has never been given it’s due in my opinion. Scary, funny, featuring a letter perfect performance from the vastly underused Fred Gwynne, and as ghastly and disturbing as it’s premise demands it’s good to see the film gaining some critical ground. And The Dead Zone though not containing a commentary has Cronenberg all over it and even a comp examination of the politics of the film as well as several other featurettes. This film has aged extremely well and is quite simply a genre classic.

In terms of quality the next best offered here is campy and enjoyable Silver Bullet. This is one doofy werewolf flick that offers Cory Haim in a rocket-powered wheelchair and Gary Busey who is powered by, well by whatever powers that astonishing weirdness that has kept him afloat over all these years. The last film offered quite simply sucks. Graveyard Shift is based on a King short story and manages to jettison everything about it that was good. Men attempt to clean out the worlds largest basement and are attacked by rats, giant rats, the most boring giant rats in the history of horror. Watch Princess Bride for giant rats before you watch graveyard shift.