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Halloween Sequels Coming To Blu-ray...No Bonus Features?

Granted they're hardly candidates for the AFI Top 100 Horror Films Of All Time (well, I'd argue III is...), but it's painful how poorly the majority of the Halloween sequels have been treated on DVD, most of them given lousy transfers and/or bare-bones presentations. H20, for example, promises an audio commentary that doesn't actually appear on the disc, and the recent Blu-ray release from Echo Bridge isn't even at the right aspect ratio. Well, Universal owns the first two sequels, and this fall they will be released on Blu-ray - however they will once again be sans bonus material. The real crime, however, is that this time, brand new bonus material ALREADY EXISTS. Read on for details...

Last fall, A&E's Bio channel aired "Halloween: The Inde Story", which assembled pretty much every living principal from the original Halloween, plus some sequel personnel and experts like BadAssDigest's Devin Faraci and, er, me (billed as a "Film Historian"!). Director Phil Nobile intended to cover the sequels in a bit more depth than ended up in the final cut, and thus he got a lot of lengthy interviews SPECIFICALLY on Halloween II and III from Jamie Lee Curtis, John Carpenter, Dean Cundey, Rick Rosenthal and Tommy Lee Wallace. Not only is it rare to get these folks on camera discusng Halloween at all (especially Carpenter, who's just plain talked out on the subject after 30 years), but you have to go back to the time of their release to get ANY of them talking about the sequels in more than pasng. So obviously, these interviews - which again, are already shot and edited - would be a true blesng for fans.

In addition to these interviews, there's a lot of footage of Wallace (and myself) doing a Q&A at the New Beverly Cinema at last fall's screening of Halloween III, as well as separate interviews with fans that were in attendance, talking about the film's unusual place in the Halloween series and how it's finally starting to gain appreciation. Plus, Wallace had also agreed to record a new audio commentary for the film. However, when Nobile brought all of this material to Universal for posble incluon on their planned new Blu-ray discs, they gave him a polite "no thanks". According to Nobile, "their priority is upping picture and sound and 'carrying over' existing bonus features", even though there ARE no existing bonus features. These two films have been released on disc 2-3 times already and there's never been anything beyond some minor "production notes" and the trailers. Halloween II in fact has a different cut of the film that sometimes airs on televion (it includes a happier ending in which Jimmy the ambulance driver survives), but none of that material has ever been included on a legitimate release of the film.

So once again, the fans lose out. Nobile says it best:

"Though parts of these interviews turned up on Bio's webte as 2-minute "webisodes," as a fan it's kind of heartbreaking to know that the full interviews won't be preserved with the films, let alone ever seen by fans."

And Universal loses out too; with disc sales ever dwindling due to Netflix streaming and milar options, providing interesting and NEW bonus material is the only surefire way to sell a decent amount of discs. Granted, the improved picture and sound will be nice, but are the majority of fans going to drop 20-30 bucks on a new disc just for an improved transfer? Especially when they've probably already bought these films a couple times before? I know I sure as hell won't; I'll wait until the used DVD store is having a "Buy 2 get 1 free" sale, activity that doesn't put any coin into Universal's pockets.

Hopefully it won't come to that. October is a long way off, so maybe they will come to their senses and realize that including material that already exists (they don't even have to do anything!!! It's already there!) will translate into bigger sales for their discs.

SOURCE: Bloody-Disgusting

that sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it don't never look like the Halloween Films are ever going to get the right DVD Release

Great Post Michael!

I agree with every-word my brother. I believe there is a petition to get Halloween 2 on blu ray with bonus.

I also know that H6-H8 are available on blu ray online & in the Uk but coming to the us soon.

I emailed Universal this morning and explained to them that we had interviewed Rick Rosenthal and Tommy Lee Wallace and both of them are interested in doing commentary for their respective films. I also explained that being that this year is the 30th anniversary of H2 I feel that the fans deserve, and would appreciate, a proper special edition of H2 & 3. I even offered up RIR's interviews with Rick and Tommy as bonus features for the release. Not sure if it'll do any good, but it was worth a shot.

It kills me that universal is doing this again, especially nce everything already exists.

Lazy bastards.

I would kill for a Season of The Witch Blu-Ray with bonus features.

I agree Mike; I will not be giving a penny to universal if they give us another bare bones release.

Hey Guys, This is my first post. This really sucks about the Halloween blu ray's. I read this article a couple of weeks ago on bloody disgusting and I could not believe what i was reading. I've been waiting a long time for a special edition of Halloween 2 and with it being the films 30th anniversay I was hoping they would do something with it. When I read the article, I sent a very nice email to Universal explaining the posblities that could be done with both films on blu ray. I'm plan on sending one every day. I was hoping if the word gets out that maybe fans will start emailing Universal letting them know how they feel. I posted a message on Facebook(halloween 2 page, Halloweenmovies, & Fridaythe13thfilms. the last two deleted my message. It still up on the Halloween 2 (1981) page.) hoping to get the word out. I sent a email to Retroslasher.net and still haven't heard anything from them. I sent a email to Harry at Anitcoolnews.com and still haven't heard anything. I did send a email to HorrorHound and I hope I hear something from them. I beginning to feel nobody cares about Halloween. I feel If the word got out that maybe Halloween fans will email Universal. I wish Universal would look at what Anchor Bay has done with the original Halloween and Halloween 4 & 5. Universal would make a lot more money with a new special edition blu ray than a barebones release. I really feel Halloween fans would have a chance to get Universal to change their minds if word got out in the Horror community.