The latest two-pack from Scream Factory is somewhat of a departure from the horror scene. Featuring two 80s “horror comedies” Vampire’s Kiss and High Spirits. One movie is incredibly entertaining and original. The other is… well High Spirits.
DISCS: 1
RUN-TIME: 103/99 min
ASPECT RATIO: 1.85:1
RESOLUTION: 1080p
AUDIO: DTS-HD MA 2.0
LANGUAGE: English
SUBTITLES: English
REGION: A
RATING: Various
PRODUCTION DATE: 1988
Short nitty-gritty plot description is as follows: Get ready for high-definition haunts and ha-has from Scream Factory! This double feature presents a pair of paranormal favorites from the 1980s, available at last on Blu-ray!
VAMPIRE’S KISS
Teetering on the edge of sanity, volatile literary agent Peter Loew (Nicolas Cage) tries to find purpose in his life through a cutthroat work ethic and a hedonistic night life. But when an encounter with a mysterious beauty leaves Loew convinced that he is turning into a vampire, his behavior turns positively outrageous.
HIGH SPIRITS
Daryl Hannah, Peter O’Toole, Steve Guttenberg, Beverly D’Angelo, Jennifer Tilly, Peter Gallagher and Liam Neeson star in this hilariously haunting comedy! When a castle-turned-hotel owned by Peter Plunkett (O’Toole) falls on hard financial times, he comes up with an idea to turn the place into a tourist attraction by billing it as Europe’s most haunted castle. But just when it seems he’ll have to give up the ghost, some real phantoms show up — and they’re none too thrilled about being exploited.
I’ll break down the review into two sections, one for Vampire’s Kiss and one for High Spirits. See how nice I am?
Vampire’s Kiss: The one thing that a lot of people are going to take away from this movie, is the insane acting from Nicolas Cage. He is so over the top in his performance, but honestly, he’s brilliant. He fits the roll perfectly and I can’t see anyone else playing it this brilliantly. As for the movie, it’s incredibly awesome. I never saw Vampire’s Kiss before and didn’t know anything about it, but after watching it, man am I glad I finally got around to seeing it. It’s brilliant and not anything like what I thought it was going to be about. It’s a dark comedy, with some really thought provoking scenes that make you question pretty much everything that happens in the movie. Just brilliant. I loved it.
High Spirits: Starring Peter O’Toole, Steve Guttenberg, Beverly D’Angelo, Liam Neeson and the 80s go to magical woman that all men want, Daryl Hannah. High Spirits tries its darndest to be funny, but fails in pretty much all aspects. Yeah, there is a few scenes here and there that had me laughing, but for the most part, the movie is confusing and falls flat with all jokes. It actually starts to drag come the middle half and when you combine that with hardly any laughter, you got some problems on your ghostly hands. There isn’t much more that can be said about High Spirits. It’s a movie that’s worth maybe checking out once, but that’s about it.
Blu-Ray Opinion:
Both movies in this two pack look good. I did notice some grain and dirt at the beginning of Vampire’s Kiss, but I assume that’s probably just some bad stock footage more so than Scream Factory’s fault. Overall, the movies look and sound great.
Vampire’s Kiss was given all the treatment in this two pack, with a trailer and commentary from Director Robert Bierman and Actor Nicolas Cage. It’s an interesting listen and one that you should check out.
As for High Spirits, it seems like Scream Factory agrees with my assessment of the movie, as they didn’t even deem it worthy to throw in any special features for it. Not even a measly trailer. Ouch.
Blu-Ray Special Features:
- Commentary With Director Robert Bierman And Actor Nicolas Cage
- Theatrical Trailer
 |
| Might as well include one screenshot from High Spirits. Can’t ruin all the looks of Nicolas Cage for you. |
Verdict: Vampire’s Kiss alone is enough to justify picking up this two pack. High Spirits can be looked at as a time waster, but Vampire’s Kiss is a brilliant movie that deserves being watched. This two pack is highly recommended.
Rating:
 |
| Well, Vampire’s Kiss is fantastic. High Spirits… meh. |