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Blu-ray Today: The Dead, the Undead and the Fake Zombies


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World War Z: Unrated Cut You may not be able to give this Brad Pitt zombie action flick much credit for sticking to Max Brooks’ novel, but give them props for delivering the “unrated” version right out of the gate rather than double-dipping later on. The marketing oddly avoided ever mentioning zombies, but if you can manage to ignore any preconceptions you may have about how the shuffling undead ought to be portrayed, there’s some decent fun to be had in watching rabid hordes quite literally throwing themselves into action. Also features Peter Capaldi as a doctor for the W.H.O., as many fans were quick to point out when he got his most recent, high-profile job.

Arrow: The Complete First Season – The CW’s superhero show fit for a Queen finally comes home, allowing viewers to judge for themselves whether or not it really is better than Smallville. At the very least, it’s getting Ollie into costume quicker than Clark, which seems a positive step.

Scenic Route Imagine if The World’s End had been less funny, only featured Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (this time played by Josh Duhamel and Dan Fogler), and put them on a road trip through the desert. You’d have something like this brutal little piece of human horror that deserves a look, as both Fogler and Duhamel stretch in ways they’ve never been allowed to before, and Gen-X anxieties about middle-aging explode with rage.

Day of the Dead: Collector’s Edition Hardcore horror fans almost certainly have a version of this already, but if you want an all-new transfer, cast and crew commentary and a feature-length making-of doc, you’ll want this version too. In what was once – and probably should have stayed – the final chapter of George Romero’s original zombie apocalypse series, military scientists try to experiment on the undead in an underground bunker. A corpse nicknamed Bub may hold the key, but in Romero’s world, happy endings rarely happen.

Dracula: Prince of Darkness Christopher Lee. 1965. Buckets of blood. Any questions?

Those are my top Blu-ray picks for today. What are yours?