Die’ced: Reloaded Blu Ray Review (Dread Presents / Epic Pictures)

Die’ced: Reloaded is a 2025 slasher written and directed by Jeremy Rudd (Die’ced and The Dark Side). It was produced by Chad Ferrin (Ed Kemper, Pig Killer, Dorothea, Someone’s Knocking at the Door, Chop, Attack in LA, Night Caller, Scalper, H. P. Lovecraft’s the Old Ones, and Devil’s Disciple: The Night Stalker). It’s an extended version and a remake of the 2023 horror short Die’ced. It grossed $173,454 during it’s limited theatrical run. Notorious killer Benjamin Newman (played by: Jason Brooks from Die’ced, The Lizzie Borden Game, The Death of Snow White, Friday the 13th: Vengeance franchise, Rose Blood: A Friday the 13th Fan Film, The Barn: Part II, and Revenge of the Boogeyman) is accidentally released from the local mental hospital. The staff tries to cover up their mistake by erasing his history there but it all backfires when the community gets slaughtered one by one from the infamous Scarecrow. He’s focused on Cassandra (played by: Eden Campbell from Die’ced, The Mortuary Collection, Fear Street: Part Two – 1978, They Reach, and Z Nation) and her family for some reason. Will they be able to survive this deranged psychopath from eliminating their entire group from their existence???? Die’ced: Reloaded is a professional upgrade and extended remake of the original 2023 low budget horror short. They took all of the best material from it and they made it into a full length feature. It brought back basically the entire cast from the first version. They were both directed and written by Jeremy Rudd. Die’ced brings back that Scarecrow sub-genre that we haven’t really seen much since the 80’s. It has a retro atmosphere to it, it fits perfectly for the dark world of slashers. I always appreciate these modern day productions that pay respect to the throwback movies that made this genre so special back in the day. Eden Campbell as Cassandra is a solid lead in this. She’s the unlucky girl that has this unstoppable killing machine stalking for some mysterious reason. It starts messing with her life and everyone close to her. She already has a bad past so it just elevates those haunting memories. She doesn’t get enough of a backstory but she does her best with what she has to work with. Jason Brooks is awesome as Benny the Scarecrow. He’s around 6’5 so he towers over most of his victims. Brooks has played the legendary Jason Voorhees in multiple fan made and horror shorts over the years so he has already gotten a reputation for his work as a cinematic killer at this point. Benny has a great look to him. Brooks makes this unique character his own as the dangerous Scarecrow that can’t be stopped. It’s a villain that has potential for future sequels or an entire franchise if done right. The rest of the supporting cast includes Nigel Vonas (Arrow), Collin Fischer (Jason Voorhees: Origins), Esha More (Die’ced), Ryan Chen (Die’ced), Nika Kleiman (Die’ced), Mahsa Shokri (Die’ced), Lee Raymond (Jason Voorhees: Origins), Scott Mullet (Second Chances), Amy L. Erickson (Die’ced), Silvia Spross (Ed Kemper), Shayna Jensen (Die’ced), Geri Infante (Dorothea), Marie Bergenholtz (Ed Kemper), and Christine Rose Allen (Die’ced). Die’ced feels like it’s heavily influenced by Damien Leone’s Terrifier. There’s all kinds of similar moments or nods to the previous slasher here with a hint of Halloween. I’m not sure if that was done on purpose but it’s all over the place. Reloaded doesn’t hold back when it comes to it’s graphic violence and over the top brutal gore. It has some creative and extremely nasty splatter courtesy of fx artists Joe Castro (Night of the Demons III, Wishmaster franchise, Terror Toons franchise, Blood Feast 2, and Uncle Sam), Jason Brooks (Conjuring the Cult, Green River Killer, The Horrorverse, and Winter Island), and Naomi Mechem-Miller (Die’ced, Friday the 13th Vengeance 2: Bloodlines, Zombiegeddon, and The Death of Snow White). That’s the highlight for Die’ced: Reloaded, it has a solid body count to go with those gruesome scenarios. It doesn’t depend on a complicated story or heavy plot, it’s focused on all of the chaos. The main suspense, tension, and thrills come towards the finale for this. It has some unexpected twists and surprises that make more sense after it’s all over. It’s all about it’s entertainment, fun, and gore. It’s not trying to win an Oscar, it doesn’t take itself seriously at all. This would make a nice addition on anyone’s October watchlist and I think it would be a blast with a group of intoxicated friends. The replay value is there, I would definitely revisit it again. RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Dread Presents in association with Epic Pictures! This 2160 uncensored and uncut (2.39:1) transfer looks much better than expected especially for what they had to work with. It’s a great example of what can be done when turning your original short into a full length. It took the stand out material from it and they increased it’s quality. It has an English: Dolby Digital 5.1 and English: Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks on the disc. The score adds to it’s wild vibe and it pushes the suspense to a higher level. The murder spree pops the most when it comes to the audio for this. All of the dialogue are very clean, the killing is elevated, and the music has a huge boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It has the original 60 minute 2023 horror short “Die’ced” that’s also directed by Jeremy Rudd. It features the same cast and crew from the updated 2025 feature. I was hoping they were going to add this when this slasher was announced for home video because I never seen the 2023 one before so I was curious how different it was compared to the newer cut. This drops some character development and it just gets straight to the point. It’s all about it’s kills, violence, and gore. It’s nice to have both versions on here as companion pieces. It makes the audience appreciate the 2025 remake so much more because it’s a proper improvement but it still shows all of it’s fun origins in this short. It has a “Trailer” for Die’ced: Reloaded. It has various Dread Presents and Epic Pictures related “Trailers”. It’s one of the better recent slashers with a really cool villain. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!