Digi-Schlock: BAD MOON (Scream Factory Blu-Ray)

Bad Moon fits into that category of major studio horror films that almost entirely built its fanbase via home video: Warner Brothers essentially abandoned it via a small release, leaving most horror enthusiasts to discover it via DVD.  Scream Factory picked it up for a high-definition update and the results are likely to please those home video fans, offering a surprisingly ambitious package for this overlooked title.Both the theatrical version and a director's cut are included here, both encoded separately.  Both look good, with impressive levels of detail and color.  The director's cut gets the bigger encode here and it's actually shorter than the theatrical version, with director Eric Red pruning some VFX he didn't like.  Both 5.1 and 2.0 lossless stereo mixes are included for each version: the 5.1 tracks were used for the purposes of this review and they are punchy mixes full of surround-speaker activity.This disc also has a surprising stack of extras included...Commentaries: The first of two is a solo track by writer/director Red.  It's a scripted commentary that is detailed and technically-oriented, including a lot of details on how particular sequences were staged and precise info on both stunts and special effects.  He also gets into the pros and cons of the experience and how his version of the story differs from the novel that inspired it.  It's a good listen for aspiring filmmakers.The second commentary track brings back Red and adds Michael Pare as well as web critic John Fallon, who moderates here.  Unfortunately, Fallon is an overbearing host, cracking a bunch of bad jokes laced with a forced level of profanity that suggests he's trying to be an Andrew Dice Clay-style personality.  Thankfully, the other participants are more interesting, with Pare enthusiastically discussing the film from an actor's perspective and Red dishing about the studio side of things.Nature Of The Beast (35:17): a well-made featurette about the film that includes Red and Pare as well as FX designer Steve Johnson and actor Mason Gamble.  Red covers a lot of material included in his commentary but you also get interesting details on the hard work involved in getting a performance from a trained dog, lots from Johnson on the makeup FX, stuntman Ken Kirzinger discussing the challenges of doing stunts wearing a huge mechanical head and the ratings and studio politics issues that troubled the film.Unrated Opening Sequence (6:07): taken from a VHS source, this offers an earlier version of the pre-credits teaser that really amps up the sex and gore content.Additional Extras: a trailer and three sets of storyboards that cover the transformation scene, the finale and the Thor/Ted staredown sequence.To read Schlockmania's film review of Bad Moon, click here.