Blu-ray Review: THE DEADLY SPAWN (1983)

   
THE DEADLY SPAWN
Directed by:  Douglas McKeown
Distributed by:  MVD Visual
 
 
 THE DEADLY SPAWN is one of those films that I have always known about, but I have never actually seen.   I remember seeing the case for it many times while browsing my local video store as  kid, but for one reason or another, I never did check this film out.   Well, it is almost 20 years since this film came out, and now we can all enjoy this film on Blu-ray thanks to MVD Entertainment.   Here is the basic plot from the MVD website:
 
Two campers in the New Jersey woods have their outdoor fun interrupted by the arrival of a meteorite crashing nearby. They go to investigate the crater, but are suddenly attacked and devoured by alien parasites who have hitched a ride to Earth. After finishing off the campers, the hungry space monsters head for a nearby town, where they make their domain in the basement of an old house and soon begin polishing off one hapless inhabitant after another. Four young teenagers, plus one pre-teen boy, try to find a way to stop the angry space monsters before they reproduce and literally eat humanity.
 
  This movie is classic 80's horror.  I really enjoyed this one.  Watching this film made me feel like a kid back in the 80's again.  Having never seen this before, it was a neat feeling to watch a classic from the 80's for the first time.  Not a lot of good "creature features" are being made these days (other than the numerous scyfy channel shark hybrid films), so it was cool to see a good old fashioned creature flick.
  
 This movie will not be for everyone...kids these days might make light of the effects since they have been raised on CG effects is almost every horror film they watch.  But those of us old enough to remember when CG wasn't around will appreciate the practical gore effects in this film.   While some is quite fake looking, it is still a lot of fun and I imagine this looked pretty amazing upon the film's initial release.   There are a lot of great gore scenes in this film, including a great scene were a pretty young lady has her head bitten off by the monster and then her headless body falls from a 2nd story window.  This scene was very well done and was quite disturbing.

 Like a lot of 80's horror films, the acting is pretty bad, and some of the dialog is just plain awful, but now it almost adds to the nostalgia of the film.   I highly recommend you check this one out if you haven't seen it.  The Blu-ray is available now and is loaded with bonus features including:

*  Special Introduction By Producer Ted A. Bohus
*  New Commentary Track with Producer Ted A. Bohus and Editor Marc Harwood
*  Production & Promotional Still Photo Gallery
*  Color Pages From The Upcoming Comic
*  Casting Tapes
*  Gag Reel
*  Theatrical Trailer & TV Spot
*  "Effects Enhanced" Opening Scene
*  Local Television Coverage Footage
*  Full Color Insert Featuring Liner Notes By Producer Ted A. Bohus
*  and MORE!

 
CLICK HERE to watch the trailer
CLICK HERE to purchase the Blu-ray