Venom BluRay Review

Review of the Venom BluRay release by Blue Underground.

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I have to say there are moments in this movie where I jumped out up on my couch. You gotta hand it to them, despite the movie’s troubled making (see its booklet liner notes), it is horrifyingly effective in its thrills. Despite its marketing also, this is not primarily a horror movie. At its core, Venom is a hostage drama set in a London neighborhood, where an international terrorist’s plan to kidnap or assassinate a member of an international businessman’s family goes horribly wrong. They were not prepared for some of the family’s stubbornness, one of their team members (the driver) is an ill-tempered amateur, and of course, there is an unwanted house guest that ruins the day for pretty much everyone. What a great premise. It’s as if Jaws was never really a shark movie, but maybe a political drama about a local election, with a shark complicating things. I love it.

What’s great about Venom]…..

Michael Kamen’s first motion picture gig sounds a bit out of place at first, but then really hits the right notes in a film that just pushes your nerves and makes you jump at the right points.

The BluRay boasts a pretty decent transfer, but the expert eye recognises that it’s only a 2K remastering that was done here. In general I think nowadays companies should always opt for 4K from the get go, it’s just a huge difference in the end when it comes to picture resolution and detail. This one looks fine, absolutely, but it’s also not top notch.

In terms of audio, the BluRay sort of matches the DVD’s variety of sound mixes. The BluRay offers the English audio track in a 7.1 DTS HD mix, a 5.1. Dolby Digital mix, and the more down to earth 2.0 DTS track, which I watched the movie with, since I do not have surround sound equipment. I have done some digging and it seems some others are amazed by the spatial mix of the 7.1 track, so give that a try if you have the equipment for it.

The disc is a bit light on extras, they are the same as on the DVD. Aside from the liner notes, see below, there are some trailers and spot, some 70 or so promotional pictures, and essentially the really interesting audio commentary from the previous DVD release by the film’s director Piers Haggard, moderated by Jonathan Sothcot (?), and there is also someone else, but because he mumbled so much I didn’t get the name. Now, it’s not one of those commentaries where and enthusiast goes on and on until the screen goes black. This is an informative, but sometimes quiet, track that I think could’ve done with a more curious moderator and just more talking.

The 20 page booklet is a must-read, not only because Michael Gingold (editor of Fangoria) expertly chronicles the complicated history of the project, but also because it goes a bit into the film’s potential rivals of the snake attack genre. The movie almost starred Sean Connery, was almost directed by Tobe Hooper, Kinski chose this over Indiana Jones, and the movie opened to lacklustre box office returns, only to gain a following on home video over the years. A very interesting read on 11 pages.

All in all, I am so happy I saw this. MORE HERE

• Studio: Blue Underground (USA). Regionlock-free discs. Includes a DVD version of the film (NTSC).
• Audio: English 7.1 DTS-HD, English 5.1 Dolby Digital and English 2.0 DTS-HD; Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Video: 1080p HD widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio
• Extras: Audio commentary with the director, booklet by Michael Gingold, Trailer, Teaser, TV Spot, Poster & Still gallery
• Buy now: From Amazon.com

Thanks to Blue Underground for supplying us with a review copy of the disc.

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Sebastian, co-founder and admin of the Grindhouse Cinema Database (GCDb). He also started The Spaghetti Western Database (SWDb), The Quentin Tarantino Archives, The Robert Rodriguez Archives, Nischenkino and Furious Cinema. Outside of movies, he works on the intersection of technology and policy. He lives in Berlin, Germany.