November 6, 2015

Yesterday, I gave you 5 recommendations to kick off your home 3D movie collection. But that wasn’t enough! If you become a 3D junkie like myself, you’ll immediately want to add as many of the best and most impressive titles as possible to show off to your friends whenever they’re over. Or if you just want to have a cool, laid back movie night with a little extra oomph, being able to pull from a vast collection of 3D titles is always a benefit. Already own the 5 I posted about yesterday? Well then, how about these 5?

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON

This is arguably one of Universal Studios best monster movies ever made. I have very vague memories of racing to a 7-11 store when I was a kid just to snag the old-school red & blue glasses for the channel 11 airing of CREATURE in 3D! But alas, you’ve never really seen it in proper 3D unless you’ve been lucky enough to catch it at a revival screening, or unless you have this 3D Blu-Ray version. The tale of a group of scientists in the remote section of the Amazon looking for a potential “gill-man” is a somewhat distilled version of the first act of KING KONG, but what makes the film stand out is it’s got a really great monster at the heart of it. And one that doesn’t realize he’s a monster. He would’ve been fine if those pesky humans had just left him alone! The best part of the 3D version? All of that stupendous underwater footage. It really brings a tremendous amount of depth and beauty to the way this film was shot when you can see it in 3D. Being underwater in general feels like being in some unknown world, fertile for exploration and wonder. Even early on when they first discover the skeletal hand of a former Gill-Man protruding from a stone wall, it pops right out at you and brings you into this wild and vibrant story. The CREATURE will always remain one of my favorite Universal Monster movies, but I feel like from this moment on, I can only revisit the original in 3D, the way it was intended to be seen!

DIAL M FOR MURDER

“Did you know this was the only movie Hitchcock made in 3D?” Sorry, has to take a moment to quote MORGAN STEWART’S COMING HOME. But it’s true! This is the only Alfred Hitchcock movie that was in 3D! And while it’s not loaded with eye popping gimmicks or things thrown at the screen, it’s still a fun watch. The majority of it unfolds like a play, which isn’t surprising considering this story started out as a play by Frederick Knott, who also adapted the screenplay for Hitchcock. But, the depth of field in each & every shot is what makes you feel like you’re right in the middle of a tense Alfred Hitchcock thriller and eavesdropping on a man who is plotting on murdering his adulterous wife. There is one impressive 3D specific gag during the attempted murder where Grace Kelly reaches her hand straight out towards the camera and it’s practically in our lap. But really, it’s a movie from the master of suspense doing what he does best, so if you consider yourself a serious movie collector, you should own Hitchcock’s only 3D movie!

BAIT 3D

Yes, BAIT 3D! The Australian killer sharks movie. Yeah, yeah, the one that takes place in a flooded supermarket after a tsunami hits the shore! I know it all sounds ridiculous, but believe it or not, BAIT is actually one of the more fun entries in the aquatic horror sub-genre. (And far superior to SHARK NIGHT, which never got a home 3D release here in the States.) If the above premise isn’t enough to hook you, it’s got some pretty rad looking 12 feet Great White sharks, some fun snarky humor and YOU’RE NEXT’s Sharni Vinson! In 3D! What more do you want? I’ve popped this one in when friends have been over just to give them a sample and every time, they often respond with, “wow, I didn’t expect this movie to be fun and pretty darned good!” I’m telling you. BAIT 3D. Oh and for the ladies, it’s got NIP/TUCK’s Julian McMahon in 3D!

PREDATOR 3D

I know what you’re thinking. They didn’t release the original PREDATOR in 3D back in 1987, right? For me, this was one of those great late night cable discoveries on HBO during the height of Arnold-mania. And it still stands up not only as one of director John McTiernan’s best films, but just one of the best action/ sci-fi/ horror hybrids of all time. To this day, I marvel at the creature design for the Predator. But alas, this was never intended to be in 3D! It’s a recent conversion. And you know what? A pretty darned good one. I know people have complained about previous Blu-Ray incarnations of PREDATOR for having a bit too much digital noise reduction, as opposed to the old-school grainy film look. And maybe that’s distracting in a non-3D Blu-Ray, but it actually benefits the 3D version. The best 3D is when the entire image is presented all in focus. Just like your actual eye sight, you see things in layers, but they’re all in focus. Regular films tend to focus on one thing with the intent of drawing your eye to a specific point in the frame. By having a fairly crisp image, the 3D on PREDATOR works rather well, and let’s face it – being in the middle of the final climatic battle between Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Predator is pretty darned awesome!

DREDD 3D

I really was close to inserting an animated feature in this last slot, because a lot of the horror themed animated features like PARANORMAN or FRANKENWEENIE or HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA look fantastic in the format, but I wanted to give a little bit more love to what has ended up becoming an unsung cult movie, the 2012 redux of DREDD starring Karl Urban in the lead role. Sure, it’s got a similar enough simple plotline very close to THE RAID, which also came out around the same time, but this is one feature that just has to be seen in 3D to be fully appreciated. And why is it on a horror list? Because it’s some of the greatest, most impressive 3D gore I’ve ever seen. DREDD is to this generation what the original ROBOCOP was like in the late 80’s. You just can’t believe the level of violence, nor in the artistic and over-the-top manner it’s presented. Even cooler? There’s a mind altering drug on the streets called SLO-MO and conveniently (as the name of it implies), when you’re on it, everything around you slows down to a snail’s pace. So it’s a clever and unique way to showcase the carnage in slow motion, because look – who doesn’t want to see Judge Dredd’s bullets rip through a junkies cheeks in slow graphic detail? Or watch a drug kingpin hit the camera lens (doubling for the pavement) as it splatters across the screen. You owe it to yourself to watch this lunacy in 3D!

There’s always plenty of other 3D titles hitting store shelves or Amazon wishlists on a regular basis. If you like the splatter of DREDD, there’s always FINAL DESTINATION 5. If you want to see something far more terrifying than any of the horror recommendations I made, THE WIZARD OF OZ is available in 3D. Or if you’re a masochist and/or completist, you can always take the plunge with Dario Argento’s DRACULA. The choice is yours! Beyond these 10 recommendations, it’s up to you where you go from here!