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Physical Media Matters: Terror Vision and ‘Frogman’

Published

2 years ago

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I’ve talked about Frogman from writer/director Anthony Cousins ad nauseam. It even made my Favorite 3 Horror Movies of 2023 list. Hearing that Frogman was getting a physical release from Terror Vision was music to my ears. And, honestly, how crazy was it that it was also getting shelf space at Walmart?! Very rarely can you find a film that killed on the festival circuit and then was readily available on physical media at both a boutique distribution online store as well as a big box retailer.

Why Physical Media Matters

August 10th, 2024, would be a day that changed my life; Terror Vision was releasing a deluxe edition Blu-ray bundle with a limit of 100 copies. Typically, boutique labels will do limited edition slipcases for films, limiting them between 1,000 and 2,500 copies. The Frogman Deluxe Edition bundle was different. For $68 bucks, you could get one of the most unique and visually stunning releases of my lifetime. So I purchased it. After preordering this majestic bundle, I waited patiently for two and a half months…and then it arrived.

The purpose of this piece isn’t to rub my one (hundred) of a kind purchase in anyone’s face, instead, it’s to highlight the care and beauty behind this release. Simply put, if you love a movie and find it being released by Terror Vision, you should pick it up. Here is the physical side of what came with this bundle:

  • A black MILF (Man I Love Frogman) shirt
  • A double-sided foldout poster
  • A Frogman-themed brochure of Loveland, Ohio/Frogman Point (With a 15% off coupon for Sticky Tongue Gifts & Collectibles)
  • A Loveland, Ohio postcard
  • A sticker set
  • The Fortune Teller Miracle Fish (not listed on the bundle’s itinerary, but a happy inclusion)
  • A Frogman mug
  • A bound film-supplement book
  • A limited rigid box that perfectly fits over the embossed slipcase
  • AND A CD full of frog sounds!

The Price of Physical Media And Its Benefits

In all honesty, I initially thought $68 was a steep price. As the minutes passed, I knew my chance of picking one up was dwindling. Once I opened the box, put on the shirt, read the book, and drank some lukewarm coffee out of my mug…

I realized it was beyond worth the price.

The Terror Vision Frogman Deluxe Bundle Is Well Worth The Price

Terror Vision has set the bar for labels like Shout! Factory, Vinegar Syndrome, Arrow Video, and many more. I do not know who runs the program behind the scenes, but it’s clear they are some of the deepest fans of physical media out there. If I had to nitpick, there was one issue I have with the Blu-ray. The title screen. It’s a flat image with a play, subtitles, and special features option. These options are overlaid over a thick blue bar and it doesn’t feel very in theme. Even though the title screen felt a bit bland, the special features surely made up for it.

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All of this is to say, if you’re a physical media nut like myself and you haven’t picked anything up from Terror Vision, then what are you doing?! They have excellent releases like WNUF Halloween Special, Malum, Door, and so much more. And thanks to Terror Vision for all they’ve done, we can’t wait to see what you release next.

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Brendan is an award-winning author and screenwriter rotting away in New Jersey. His hobbies include rain, slugs, and the endless search for The Mothman.

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Misc

The ‘Urban Legend’ Franchise RANKED

Published

6 days ago

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August 12, 2026

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Ah, Urban Legend…the plucky younger sibling franchise to Scream. If this is the first time you realize that it’s a franchise at all, that is totally fair. The cult classic slasher’s only theatrical sequel was a critical and box office flop. The third film, Bloody Mary, was direct-to-video. The film has an interesting comparative pitch to Scream. While Scream is a meta-slasher toying with the rules of horror, Urban Legend has its killer basing its slice-and-dicin’ off of famous urban legends…and then they just basically did a version of Scream 3 for its sequel. It’s a fascinating trilogy, particularly in how the movies connect. In Final Cut, the first film exists as an urban legend itself. Bloody Mary, however, is a complete standalone that could be read as an urban legend within the universe of the first entry.

The Urban Legend Franchise Ranked From Worst to Best

So…how do these three films rank against each other? Are the sequels worth checking out at all? Pull up a chair, relax, and start mixing your Pop-Rocks and soda; this is the worst-to-best ranking of the Urban Legend trilogy.

Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005)

Unsurprisingly, the straight-to-video, nearly completely forgotten supernatural entry is last. Directed by Mary Lambert of Pet Sematary acclaim, the movie is a straightforward supernatural horror. Three teen girls say “Bloody Mary” three times into a mirror, and it resurrects a vengeful spirit.

The movie is not terrible by any means. It is just pretty standard, with some good moments of schlocky, 2000s fun. For those that grew up in this era, it can be a goofy little nostalgia trip! The cheesy SFX, hilariously awkward teen acting, and cinematography of a Coke commercial make it a really easy watch. It’s almost like a much bloodier Goosebumps episode! However, for those not fans of this divisive era of TV-horror, it can be a bit of a slog.

The idea of making a movie that feels in-Universe to the first film is clever. However, it is unclear whether that was the exact intention. Despite this critic’s personal, nostalgic love of this film, it is not connected to the franchise at all. Even if this was a masterpiece, this detail makes it hard to put it anything above last place. Sorry Bloody Mary, I still love you.

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Urban Legend (1998)

Ready the guillotine. Light up the torches. Find the IP address this article was written on-but let me explain. Yes, it is controversial not to put this one in first place. Still, it is really more of a tie than second placement. This and Final Cut are vastly different, which makes the franchise interesting, nearly incomparable. They each succeed in their own sub-genres…but this one misses the mark.

Urban Legend is a cult classic for a reason. It is completely itself as a late-90s, teen campus-slasher. The movie takes a simple premise, combining it with a likeable cast and a gothic, dark-academia setting. It feels like it was made for slumber parties and sleepovers. A combination of 80s slashers and campfire tales? Amazing. Plus, the soundtrack is killer.

That being said, the mystery, story, and characters are all just okay. The answers to the mystery (spoilers…?) fall in line with I Know What You Did Last Summer, and many films from the 80s. Prom Night, April Fool’s Day, and The Burning all come to mind. If this came out before Scream, this would be number one, for sure. It is probably, technically, the best film of the franchise, if I had to be objective. However, it just doesn’t reach the levels of originality the final film on this list does.

Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000)

Urban Legends: Final Cut is fantastic. No, really. It’s great, and one of the most underrated slashers of its time. While Scream picked apart the slasher genre in a meta-horror classic, this movie picks apart the horror film industry. The film has a lot of commentary on toxicity in the industry, and it is matched by an on-brand mystery.

A big issue with movies is finding a decent throughline. Look at the first Urban Legend, for example. The reason the killer kills has nothing to do with urban legends themselves-it is just a creepy MO. However, the killer in Final Cut has a motive rooted in filmmaking itself. The movie stays on brand, delivering on its promise. It is distinctly different from Scream, while still being perfect for fans of that franchise.

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Without spoiling, the mystery is great. While the final reveal is somewhat predictable, the twists and turns of the story itself are great. For fans of lost media horror like Red Rooms or Cigarette Burns, the mystery veers into that. One part of the film involves a student film with a mystery splice in the film spool. While the movie is funnier than it is scary, and somewhat outdated at points, it still feels the most rewatchable of all three movies.

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Misc

‘The Fly’ Movies Ranked (There’s More Than You Think)

Published

3 months ago

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June 3, 2026

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When people talk about the 1980s’ great horror remakes, they always bring up three titles updating 1950s sci-fi classics. Those would be John Carpenter’s The Thing, David Cronenberg’s The Fly, and Chuck Russell’s The Blob. It is generally recognized that both the originals and the remakes are pretty great in all three cases. However, when it came time to bring you good folks a ranking for Horror Press’ sci-fi month, one emerged victorious. Now, each franchise has at least three movies. 1958’s The Blob has a sequel (Beware! The Blob, from 1972). And 1982’s The Thing has a prequel (2011’s The Thing). However, The Fly franchise actually has five movies altogether. The extended Fly franchise isn’t talked about as much as it should be, and it’s highly deserving of a ranking. So let’s take a deeper look at this oh-so underrated series.

The Fly Movies Ranked

#5 The Fly II (1989)

The sequel to David Cronenberg’s The Fly gets a bad rap, because it’s not David Cronenberg’s The Fly. In The Fly II, Eric Stoltz plays Seth Brundle’s son, Martin. In the tradition of many a puberty metaphor, his dormant fly DNA triggers a transformation when he reaches sexual maturity. All in all, this movie is actually pretty good. It has a decently emotional narrative centered on the idea of parents passing a disease to their children. It has a bombastic score by Christopher Young. And it’s pretty gooey and gross, in the grand tradition of fun 1980s horror. However, it’s still a bit goofy and repetitive in a way that prevents it from climbing higher up the list. Plus, the only actor from the original 1986 movie who comes back (outside of archive footage) is John Getz. No shade on Getz, but he’s no Jeff Goldblum or Geena Davis.

#4 Curse of the Fly (1965)

On the other hand, Curse of the Fly wields goofiness as its most memorable strength. It gets away with it because it is never ever boring. However, the third Fly movie goes totally off the rails as far as the franchise is concerned. So it’s not going to be that satisfying as the third stepping stone of a larger marathon. It basically forgets that these movies are about scientists accidentally blending their DNA with houseflies. Instead, it expands its scope to a broader “mad science” realm. Primarily, it follows a young woman discovering the sinister secrets harbored by the rich family she hastily married into. It’s part Rebecca, part The Island of Dr. Moreau, and all weird. In a very good way.

#3 Return of the Fly (1959)

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. The son of the guy from 1958’s The Fly finds himself caught up in the aftermath of his father’s experiment. Unfortunately, the human-fly hybrid stuff here isn’t that interesting. It plays more like a generic 1950s monster movie than any of the other installments. However, that bit only comes in the third act, after an hour of pure mayhem! We’re talking even more experiments gone wrong (a guinea pig is given human hands in one memorably surreal moment). We’re talking juicy family melodrama. We’re talking backstabbing, duplicity, and Vincent Price. Overall, it’s a pretty good time! Also the male lead, Brett Halsey, is a total babe. You know, if that helps.

#2 The Fly (1958)

The Fly could easily have been terrible. It’s quite obviously cheap, and some of its special effects are dodgy. It’s not particularly action-packed, either. It mostly focuses on the investigation of the mysterious death of the brother of François Delambre (Vincent Price). Given that this is a movie called The Fly, you get no points for guessing what happened to him. However, even if you’re several steps ahead of the mystery, it’s still a rock-solid thrill ride. Both in the present and in flashbacks, the movie largely focuses on the dead man’s wife, Helene (Patricia Owens). This allows it to revel in watching her cozy domestic life swiftly unravel, which requires no special effects at all. It’s a hell of a satisfying watch that swivels between nihilistic horror movie and charming 1950s sci-fi romp. And I like both of those things very much!

#1 The Fly (1986)

I sometimes break from tradition with my No. 1 picks, but that will not be the case here. No way, no how! Cronenberg’s remake of The Fly does everything you want a remake to do. First, it amps up the special effects something fierce. His The Fly is a gruesome, gut-churning adventure. It constantly asks, “Could the human body get any grosser?” and always answers that question with a firm yes. However, it also takes the bare-bones plot of the original and adds a huge amount of depth. While both movies follow couples being challenged by the man becoming a fly-human hybrid, the remake’s romance is infinitely richer. The Fly is not only a great remake, but the ultimate auteur horror film. It feels like nothing less than David Cronenberg cracking open his skull and smearing his brain across the camera lens.
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