Snatchers Blu Ray Review (Warner Bros)
“Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the blu ray that I reviewed here. The opinions I share are my own.”
Snatchers is a 2019 horror comedy written, produced, & directed by Stephen Cedars (Snatchers TV Series, Dimension 404, & The Magnificent Life of Meg) with Benji Kleiman (Snatchers Short, Our RoboCop Remake, & Speruchet Pan Tournegos). It was originally called Unexpected, Plan B from Outer Space, & Strange Brood. It’s based off the 2015 short of the same name plus a TV series that ran for 25 episodes from 2017 to 2018. The show premiered at Sundance in 2017 & it was broadcasted on Verizon’s Go90 network. It was co-written & produced by Scott Yacyshyn (Snatchers TV Series/Short, Seven Hells, Black Sugar, & Northwoods). It was produced by Paul Young (Keanu, Black-ish, Central Intelligence, & Reno 911!) for Stage 13. Former nerd Sara (played by: Mary Nepi from Snatchers Short/TV Series, Lucy’s Tale, & Not Cool) is desperate to keep popularity in high school so she loses her virginity to Skyler (played by: Austin Fryberger from Snatchers TV Series, The Night Stalker, & Huge in France). She wakes up the next day & she’s already pregnant from it.
Knowing she can’t go to her new best friend Kiana (played by: Ashley Argota from The Fosters, Adopted, All Hallows’ Eve, & True Jackson, VP) or her mom Kate (played by: J.J. Nolan from Snatchers TV Series, You, The Mindy Project, & Scavengers), she crawls back to her childhood friend Hayley (played by: Gabrielle Elyse from Snatchers Short/TV Series, The Thundermans, & More than Enough) who is still the same nerd as she was back in the day for help. The two teens discover it’s not your typical newborn, it’s a killer alien looking for blood. It also turns out Sara had another surprise coming to her when she gives birth to to one more alien. Both kids are now going for each other & it could cause even more chaos than before. They find out how this all happened & they try to stop anymore dangerous creatures being created. Their town is getting massacred by this new breed, can both Sara & Hayley tolerate each other enough to save everyone from these killing machines????
Snatchers is lots of fun, it’s a teenage horror comedy that explores the struggles of high school. Honestly, most of the characters are unlikable here except for a few so you don’t really care if they live or die in this. Mary Nepi & Gabrielle Elyse have great chemistry, then again both worked together on the original short plus the entire series so they had a little practice before this feature full length. They both carried Snatchers without any problems, I am not too familiar with either one of them but they were good leads. J.J. Nolan & Ashley Argota offer solid support for the production. The acting is a little over the top here but it works with the concept. The script has a nice balance of horror & comedy in it. It has more gore & violence than you would expect from something like this. The special fx were the true highlight in this, it had some dark, gruesome. & entertaining moments. This was definitely better than I thought it would be. It may be distributed by Warner Bros but it still has a independent & low budget vibe to it, RECOMMENDED!!!!
Let’s talk about the high definition presentation from Warner Bros! This 1080p (2.39:1) transfer looks great for being an independent low budget feature. It has a nice variety of locations, excellent special fx, & quality cinematography that really shine on this format. It has a variety of audio options which includes English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, & French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1 on this release. The audio is solid here & it does have it’s moments. The dialogue is very clean, all the madness has a killer boost to them, & the music is elevated. It also has English SDH, French, & Spanish subtitles.
Let’s discuss the special features from Warner Bros! It has an “Audio Commentary” with co-writers/producers/directors Stephen Cedars, Benji Kleiman, & producer/co-writer Scott Yacyshyn. The trio has lots of fun on this track. They mention they met & all started out doing comedy improvisation. They chat in great detail about their experience on the production. They talk about the story, characters, actors, & special fx. They mention material getting cut out of the final version. They bring up a few different titles this had before they went with Snatchers. They tell stories about putting this together & the set. They go over scenes while revisiting this film. You can tell they had a blast making this & they love working with each other. “The Birth of Snatchers: A Behind-the-Scenes Look” is a little over 14 minutes. It has interviews with co-writers/producers/directors Stephen Cedars, Benji Kleiman, producer/co-writer Scott Yacyshyn, actors Mary Nepi, Gabrielle Elyse, J.J. Nolan, & various members of the production. They chat about meeting & doing comedy sketches. They talk about the characters being influenced by their sisters. They bring up putting together the action for it. They say they got a free location to film in that they could actually destroy. They go over the special fx, visual fx, & the look of the aliens in this. It has all kinds of behind the scenes footage in this. They joke about getting the alien sex right for this movie. “Unexpected: The Snatchers Blooper Reel” is a little over 3 minutes & it features various gags from the set. It also has a slipcover & a digital code. It’s available everywhere starting tomorrow, CHECK IT OUT!!!!
