Kraken (2026)

“What’s That Coming Out of the Fjord?”

Actually you can probably guess, going by the title of this one. New Norwegian monster movie KRAKEN is getting a digital release from Signature Entertainment.

In Norway’s deepest fjord, with a maximum depth of 1300 metres, a salmon farm is using a revolutionary new sonic delousing device to rid its fish of unwanted parasites. But strange things are happening. Fish are throwing themselves onto the beach, crabs are leaving the water in a mass exodus and, as the film opens, two jet-skiers are pulled under the water by something huge.

Marine scientist Johanne (Sara Khorami) helped design the device and, now working for the environment, is called into find out what might be going on. She finds herself faced with a Norwegian salmon company keen to sign a massive deal with the Japanese and the discovery of some large bioluminescent parasites the size of dinner plates that suggest their host is colossal, while all the time the bodies are piling up.

KRAKEN doesn’t do anything especially new. In fact it’s derivative and cliched but it embraces those cliches in a setting we don’t see very often in monster pictures. It takes a while to get going, and the pacing is a little off as the film reaches its climax, but those who are old enough can think of this as a similar to a 1970s-era Dr Who six parter where all the action happens in episode five. Budgetary constraints mean we don’t get to see a lot of the titular monster (but you do see it, for those who might be worried) and while there’s some necessary reliance on CGI there could have been a lot more, and the Norwegian locations frequently look refreshingly green-screen free. Not a bad time at all if you’re looking for a new monster movie to watch. Here’s the trailer:

KRAKEN is out on Digital HD from Signature Entertainment on Monday 1st June 2026

Critters: A Four Course Feast (1986 - 1992)

Arrow Films are releasing a limited edition box set of all four CRITTERS films in 1080p HD (no 4K this time around) with 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround audio options for all the films. You also get a 60 page book with new writing, double-sided posters for all the films and reversible sleeves but for now let's take a look at the films:

Critters (1986) 

A charming, occasionally gory and frequently amusing movie which was a big hit back in the day. In the extras we're told the aim was to produce 'PG-13' horror, which meant in the UK CRITTERS got a 15 certificate, but you can certainly see where with a few cuts it could have been PG over here.

Somewhere in space, in a maximum security prison run by a creature named Zanti (a nice and unostentatious gag for Outer Limits fans) a renegade band of hungry bitey little furballs called Krites steal a spaceship (how maximum actually is this security?) and set off for earth. They are pursued by two shapeshifting bounty hunters and everyone converges on a small Kansas farm. The Krites start chomping and the bounty hunters start blowing everything up.

If you've not seen CRITTERS you may be expecting some ultra low-budget Charles Band-style tomfoolery. Actually CRITTERS was a New Line production, has a decent budget, good acting (from Dee Wallace and Billy Green Bush amongst others) and special effects, and a pseudo Jerry Goldsmith score from David Newman. It feels a little slower now than it did back in the day but you can still see its heart is firmly in 'fun monster movie' territory.

Extras include two archival commentaries, one from Barry (producer) & Don (star) Opper and the other from special effects boys the Chiodo brothers. There's a new commentary from Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain who have contributed new commentaries to all four films and on this one they're joined by screenwriter Shane Bitterling (PUPPET MASTER X and similar fare). Extras ported over from the 2018 Shout Factory release include a 71 minute making of and a 22 minute tribute to screenwriter Brian (Domonic) Muir. You also get 12 minutes of behind the scenes footage of the Krites being manipulated, the alternate ending which didn't do so well with test audiences, trailers TV spots and an image gallery.

Critters 2: The Main Course (1988)

Scott Grimes, Don Opper, Lin Shaye and Terrence Mann all return from the first film for this David Twohy / Mick Garris-written sequel which sees the eggs left behind at the end of the first film hatching and causing havoc. 

Like a lot of sequels this one 'goes bigger' - instead of a farm we now have an entire small town under attack. It's actually good fun and is arguably better than the first film, with some fun ideas (the Easter Egg hunt where the eggs turn out to be critters, the Krites' battle sphere) and feels as if it's been made with as much care as the first, even if there are a couple of repeated FX shots.

Extras include two archival commentaries from Mick Garris and the Chiodo Brothers with another new commentary from Budrewicz and Wain. There's a making of documentary, which like the one for the first lasts over an hour, behind the scenes footage (24 minutes), 13 minutes of additional scenes for TV, trailer, TV spot and image gallery.

Critters 3 (1991)

Horror writer David J Schow provides the screenplay for this one, which features Don Opper again, as well as Nina Axelrod (from MOTEL HELL), Frances Bay (from IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS) and, in his first film role, Leonardo Di Caprio. Kristine Peterson directs this tale of the Krites coming to Los Angeles. Any thoughts that they're going city-wide this time will be dashed once you realise the action is going to be restricted to an apartment building. It's not bad but the lower budget means it suffers in comparison to the first two. 

Extras include a Barry & Don Opper commentary, a new Budrewicz and Wain commentary and a making of featurette which lasts 27 minutes and includes screenwriter David J Schow but not director Peterson), plus the usual bits and pieces (trailer and image gallery).

Critters 4 (1992)

'Will they ever stop?' some viewers must have been thinking with the release of this fourth film, this time set on a space station, and making enthusiasts for crap sequels wonder quite why so many franchise part fours used the same idea (LEPRECHAUN 4, HELLRAISER 4). Don Opper and Terrance Mann are present and correct and this time we also get Brad Dourif and Angela Bassett as well as Anders Hove (SUBSPECIES and a couple of Lars Von Trier movies), Eric DaRe (from Twin Peaks) and Hammer star Martine Beswick's voice.

Extras include an archival commentary from Rupert Harvey, who produced the first film but also gets to direct this time around, and a new one from Budrewicz and Wain. There's also a making of featurette (22 minutes), trailer and image gallery.

CRITTERS: A FOUR COURSE FEAST! is out in a limited edition Blu-ray box set from Arrow on Monday 2nd December 2024

Cold War Creatures (1955 - 1957)

"Fantastic Collection of Movies By A Master Exploitationeer"

That's producer Sam Katzman I'm talking about, by the way. A man who started his career working on serials, moved onto Monogram classics like VOODOO MAN, was instrumental in giving us Ray Harryhausen classics like THE BEAST FROM 20 000 FATHOMS and IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA and ended his days working with exploitation legends like Joe Solomon on movies like THE LOSERS. In the late 1950s Katzman produced four black and white monster movies that have provided endearingly and understandably popular to this day, and that's what we've got here.

Most of us will already have the region one DVD set of these four films, but as usual Arrow Films have pulled out all the stops to provide a Blu-ray upgrade and a healthy set of extras for each one, so let's take a look at what we've got:

Disc One: Creature With the Atom Brain (1955)

         "Embrace your inner ten year old" suggests Kim Newman in his specially filmed introduction to this, a film whose plot would get reused quite a bit in TV series of the following two decades, most notable some of the Brian Clemens-Albert Fennell produced episodes of THE AVENGERS. A criminal takes revenge on the men who sentenced him by teaming up with a mad scientist who can resurrect the dead and turn them into remote-control slaves with the use of a brain implant. It's brisk, breezy, daft fun and as Mr Newman also points out, doubtless formed the inspiration for many of the films that subsequently satirised this particular kind of film-making.

Extras kick off with an excellent commentary track from pop culture historian Russell Dyball who provides an engaging commentary that strikes the right balance between background information and commenting on what's happening onscreen. Stephen R Bissette provides an unmissable special feature in the form of an excellent 73 minute visual essay that tells you all about Sam Katzman's career and the many projects the producer was involved with. There's plenty of SF and horror talk but I also found all the stuff about the JUNGLE JIM movies and Katzman's work on serials fascinating. All very good indeed. Finally, there are also a 19 minute 'Super 8' digest of the film, stills gallery and trailer.

Disc Two: The Werewolf (1956)

Arguably the best film on this set. Fred Sears had a lot of Westerns under his belt by the time he came to direct this and THE WEREWOLF has a very Western feel to it. Steven Ritch is the Man With A Past who comes to a lonely mountain town only to find himself hunted through no fault of his own. Gloomy, snow-bound exteriors rather than the Columbia backlot (as pointed out by Kim Newman in his introduction to this one), a tragic, hapless central character, and two 'evil doctors' who come across more like the heavies in a Cornell Woolrich novel all combine to make this one surprisingly effective.

Extras wise we have a commentary track from Lee Gambin who knows his werewolves (his definitive text on THE HOWLING is a treat) and provides us with an informative commentary that ties in with the onscreen action. Alexandra Heller-Nicholas provides the visual essay on this disc, spending 24 minutes taking an in-depth look at the female characters in the four films in this set beginning with THE WEREWOLF. You also get a condensed 8mm version of the movie, as well as a trailer and image gallery.

Disc Three: Zombies of Mora-Tau (1957)

We're on the coast of Africa, and a gang of bickering unscrupulous diamond thieves are searching for a treasure-filled sunken ship. Unfortunately it's guarded by the ship's crew, under a curse and now zombies, who rise from their coffins to protect it.

ZOMBIES OF MORA-TAU may be the least of the films on this set but it's an interesting movie nevertheless. As Kim Newman says in his introduction, the concept of zombies underwater was new and would be used again in Lucio Fulci's 1979 ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS and others. It's also the only film on this set to contain supernatural elements. Kat Ellinger explores and contextualises this in her commentary track which is more informal than the previous two and enthusiastically chatty, as if you've met someone in the pub who can't wait to enthuse about Sam Katzman's films. 

        The other main extra is a visual essay by Josh Hurtado that talks about how advances in science informed the movies on this set. As you might expect, if you've been watching these discs in order then you'll have heard a lot of this before but on its own it stands as a decent 20 minute piece. You also get a stills gallery and a trailer but they seem to have lost the 8mm digest version for this one.

Disc Four: The Giant Claw (1957)

"For many either the best or the worst of the set" says Kim Newman and indeed, if it were not for the (very) special effects THE GIANT CLAW might well have been a monster movie to rival IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA, although even the great Ray Harryhausen might have had trouble coming up with what was required here. The cast (toplining Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday) is watchable and the plot is standard (but by no means poor) monster stuff. 

        It's the monster itself that will make or break you with this one - a gangly, hairy, totally non-aerodynamic turkey-thing with, it must be said, quite the effort having been put in to give it an expressive face. It's intended to be played dead straight but you can't help feel the film is shooting itself in the foot with scenes like the monster's reveal on photographs, with the grotty creation coming nearer until its silly face is leering right at the camera.

Extras for THE GIANT CLAW are a commentary track from Emma Westwood and Cerise Howard who have a rip-roaring time getting into all the fun of the film. Mike White provides the disc's visual essay looking at the Cold War themes in Katzman's monster movies, and you get stills, a trailer and (yes it's back!) an 8mm digest version of the film.

As well as all the above Arrow's set comes with a 60 page collector's book with new writing on the films, an 80 page art book filled with stills and artwork, two double-sided posters featuring the new artwork for the set, and each of the disc sleeves is reversible so you can either display that new art or the original posters.

Cold War Creatures: Four Films From Sam Katzman is out now on Region B Blu-ray from Arrow Films

Monster Hunter (2021)

"Effects-Driven Monster-Filled Matinee Fun"

The spirit of Edgar Rice Burroughs (and his pulpy descendants) is alive and well in writer-director Paul W S Anderson's latest video game movie adaptation, which after a minimal cinema release is now coming out on 4KUHD, Blu-ray, DVD and digital from Sony.

While on desert patrol, a squad of soldiers led by Milla Jovovich encounter a weird storm and pass through a portal that takes them to another dimension filled with dragons, giant cricket things and Ron Perlman and his sand-ship. The ship has encountered a bit of bother before the opening credits, causing crew mate Tony Jaa to become stranded in the same monster-filled wilderness.

After an opening act filled with fast-paced monster action Milla's squads end up as monster food and she has to team up with Tony to cross the desert, reach Ron's ship and get to the tower that's her only chance of returning home. But there are still a lot of great big things that want to stop them all.

MONSTER HUNTER feels like the modern-day equivalent of old Amicus movies like THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT (1974) and AT THE EARTH'S CORE (1976) only with markedly better effects and a sound mix that will probably bring your house down if you play it loudly enough. In fact the only thing that stops MONSTER HUNTER being one of the best films of its type (and it's a big one unfortunately) is its script, which has a major problem with pacing. We spend over an hour getting our two heroes out of the desert and as such the rest of the movie feels horribly rushed with some fun effects and concepts all but skimmed over. Still, if you're an undemanding fan who wants to see some amazing monster effects (and these really are excellent) MONSTER HUNTER will certainly provide you with a worthwhile 103 minutes.

Extras in Sony's disc are limited to deleted scenes and three short featurettes about the making of the film and the video game that inspired it.

Paul W S Anderson's MONSTER HUNTER is out on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD and digital rental on Monday 20th September 2021

Prophecy (1979)

"Beware the Lumbering Monstrosity!"

The movie which Stephen King famously described as 

"A $12 000 000 movie that looks like it cost $1.98" gets an HD 1080p Blu-ray release from Eureka.

Public health doctor Rob (Robert Foxworth), sick of the futility of working in inner city slums, takes up a job with the Environmental Protection Agency looking into a land dispute between a logging company and the Native Americans who claim the forest the company has purchased belongs to them.

It's not long before he makes some peculiar observations - the natives are staggering around drunkenly and are complaining of diminished sensation, while animals are growing to way beyond their normal size. Could this last finding have anything to do with the recent spate of killings in the area?

Yes.

It's a bear.

Actually it's a mutant bear, and it got that way by eating mercury-poisoned fish which of course our hero and his pregnant wife (oh no!) have also been eating. Trapped after a storm renders their helicopter useless, Rob, his wife, and assembled interested parties have to survive the night and the bear and get back to civilisation before they're all killed by the lumbering monstrosity.

And lumbering monstrosity is a pretty good description of PROPHECY itself - a big budget, bottom of the barrel, daft as a brush eco-horror that takes ages to get going and then doesn't really do anything of interest when it does. None of the characters are especially engaging or likeable, with Foxworth one note beardy/shouty and Talia Shire as his wife moping around when she can't distract herself with her cello. The script is by THE OMEN's David Seltzer and Foxworth's explanation of human embryology is so silly it deserves a place in the Hall of Ridiculous Movie Science.

John Frankenhemer directed and it would seem his heart really wasn't in this one. The only scene where his skill shines is when the survivors are trapped underground, the beast lurking outside, but it's a long wait for a few moments of good film-making. Oh, and normally I'm all for a bombastic music score in a film like this but Leonard Rosenman's has to be the most over the top, over-orchestrated stuff a film like this has ever had accompany it. Just wait till that establishing shot of the paper mill. 

Eureka do give us some nice extras, including a good 20 minute piece with mime artist and writer-director of FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI Tom McLoughlin who talks about working on the creature movements. There's also a new interview with David Seltzer plus two commentary tracks, one from Richard Harland Smith, and another by Lee Gambin and Emma Westwood. The first print run of 2000 copies comes with a booklet featuring new writing by Craig Ian Mann.

John Frankenheimer's PROPHECY is out on Blu-ray from Eureka on Monday 16th August 2021

Tremors (1990)

The spirit of 1950s giant monster movies is brilliantly realised in this, the first in the TREMORS franchise (there are now seven films and if you want the complete list click here) which is getting a special edition 4K UHD Blu-ray release from Arrow.

The tiny town of Perfection, Nevada (Population 14) is about to get a rude awakening as four giant earthworm-type burrowing monsters (eventually christened graboids by Victor Wong's Walter Chang character) converge on it, hunting by sound and eating anything that sets off vibrations. Can modern-day good old boy handymen Valentine (Kevin Bacon) and Earl (Fred Ward) save the day with the aid of seismology student Rhonda (Finn Carter)?

Skilfully and entertainingly pulling off the challenge of making a monster movie with virtually no night scenes and a limited location, director Ron Underwood, working from a screenplay by himself and producers Brent Maddock and SS Wilson, crafted a well-paced, action-packed, light-hearted monster movie that was a big hit. This is thanks to a combination of excellent creature effects and decent acting from an ensemble cast that includes country singer Reba McEntire and Michael Gross, who went on to star in all the sequels. It's all splendid fun & if you've never seen it you're in for a treat.

Arrow's disc is a 4K (2160p) UHD presentation that's also going to be available in a Blu-ray release. That said, having compared both versions the UHD image looks fantastic in the outdoors shots but interiors had high levels of picture noise and colours were too bright, even on the lowest resolution HDR setting on our TV. On the other hand Universal's previous Blu-ray transfer, while not having quite the same amount of detail, did provide a warmer image that ultimately was more comfortable to watch. Maybe we're just either too used to Blu-ray technology or we're just getting old.

Where Arrow's release really does win out, of course, is in the extras. The old making of from Universal's disc has been ported over but there's loads of new stuff, including (deep breath):

Two new commentary tracks, one from Underwood, Maddock & Wilson and the other from Jonathan Melville, author of The Unofficial Guide to TREMORS; a new making of; new interviews with co-producer Nancy Roberts, DP Alexander Gruszynski, associate producer Ellen Collett and composers Ernest Troost and Robert Folk. You also get 16 minutes of TV overdubs, on-set camcorder footage of the graboids being animated, deleted scenes, trailers, TV and radio spots. 

There's also a second disc which includes more interviews and three short films which are all apparently Blu-ray rather than UHD but these were not provided for review. The set also comes with a 60-page book, two double-sided posters (one large and one small), six Front Of House still reproductions and limited edition packaging.

TREMORS is out on 4KUHD and Blu-ray in a two disc set from Arrow Films on Monday 14th December 2020