The Cold Prey Trilogy (2006, 2008, 2010)

 

Second Sight are giving their lavish boxset treatment to the Norwegian slasher franchise that launched the international career of director Roar Uthaug (TROLL, TOMB RAIDER) and provided horror fans with a novel setting for murderous mayhem. Second Sight’s limited edition set comes with the three films on Blu-ray (1080p transfers on three separate discs), each with a set of extras, and you also get a 120 page book with new writing, five art cards, and a slipcase. So let’s take a deeper look at what we get:

Disc One: Cold Prey aka Fritt Vilt (2006)

Five friends set off for a snowboarding holiday on the Norwegian slopes. Unfortunately their fun is curtailed almost immediately when one of them, Morten Tobias (Rolf Kristian Larsen) manages to break his leg. Fortunately there’s somewhere to take him in the form of the rotting and long-disused hotel that’s just over the next rise, the one near which all manner of winter sports enthusiasts have disappeared. They settle in to some of the most disgusting hotel rooms committed to celluloid and pretty soon they’re being bumped off. Could it have anything to do with the child from the opening scene who mysteriously disappeared years ago?

In the extras director Rolf Uthaug says he pitched COLD PREY by playing the trailer for Marcus Nispel’s TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE remake and said “Now imagine that, but cold.” Which is kind of what COLD PREY is to an extent. But what could have been a generic slasher is kept fresh by good direction, an amazing location and likeable performances, especially from Larsen and final girl Ingrid Bolsø Berdal. It’s a must-see for slasher enthusiasts and was a deserved hit.

Second Sight’s Blu-ray is step up from previous DVD releases, but overall this is a pretty grainy low-res film so don’t expect anything spectacular, for this or the other two in the series. Extras include a new commentary from Uthaug and Berdal (in English in case you were wondering) and new interviews with the director (22 minutes) and star Ingrid Bolsø Berdal 19 minutes). There’s also an ‘alternate ending’ which is actually just the ending we see but fleshed out with storyboards for material they didn’t have the budget for, and featurettes on the visual effects (24 minutes) and behind the scenes (22 minutes), plus nine minutes of bloopers. The disc is rounded off with two short films: Mountain Rose Runs Amok (2 minutes) which is a brief amateur slasher piece and An Evening in the Green which is three minutes of jolly fun with a lawnmower and, as its director (Roar Uthaug) puts it ‘a bucket of pig intestines’. There’s also a music video but it’s not for the catchy end credits song.

Disc Two: Cold Prey II aka Fritt Vilt II (2008)

Unsurprisingly following in the wake of the success of the first film, COLD PREY II is to COLD PREY what Rick Rosenthal’s HALLOWEEN II was to John Carpenter’s original. Taking up where the previous film ended, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal’s Jannicke is taken to hospital. Soon the bodies of her friends are taken there too. And the body of the axe-wielding maniac. You can guess the rest. This one really is a bit too much by the numbers to make it interesting but if you love generic slashers you’ll probably still have a jolly hospital-based time.

Extras include a new commentary track from director Mats Stenberg (again, in English) as well as a 32 minute interview. There are also interviews with Ingrid Bolsø Berdal (11 minutes) and Roar Uthuag (4 minutes), who was associate producer on this one. There are also extended and deleted scenes (5 minutes), bloopers (3 minutes), and a behind the scenes featurette (34 minutes & goodness me the weather looked terrible).

Disc Three: Cold Prey III aka Fritt Vilt III (2010)

It’s prequel time! The little boy who would grow up to be the killer in the first two films kills his parents. Twelve years later a group of friends hiking in the area start to get bumped off by the ‘Mountain Man’. COLD PREY III is the most by the numbers of the lot and feels very much like a Texas Chainsaw ripoff. However we still get some impressive locations (and very little snow this time) making the Norwegian landscape the star of this one.

Extras this time include a new commentary track from Christer Andresen (a Norwegian associate professor of film studies specialising in Norway’s horror films and Phillip Escott of Second Sight, and a behind the scenes featurette (8 minutes).

The COLD PREY trilogy is available in a special limited edition set from Second Sight on Monday 6th July 2026

The Devil’s Candy 4K (2015)

Writer-director Sean Byrne’s THE DEVIL’S CANDY, the film he made in between THE LOVED ONES (2009) and DANGEROUS ANIMALS (2025), is getting the special treatment from Second Sight with another of their limited edition 4K UHD / Blu-ray combo releases complete with art cards, 120 page book and slipcase, as well as getting standard separate 4K UHD and Blu-ray releases.

Extremely metal artist Jesse (Ethan Embry) moves with his equally heavy metal-loving teenaged daughter Zooey (Kiara Glasco) and his not quite as heavy metal-loving wife Astrid (Shiri Appleby from TV’s Roswell) to a big old farmhouse in the country. They get it cheap because two people died there, but who they really need to be concerned about is the still-living son of the family, Ray (Pruitt Taylor Vince), now holed up in a motel but still affected by a voice in his head that keeps telling him to abduct Zooey.

Meanwhile Ethan’s wall-sized art is progressing well, even if it isn’t the butterflies a bank has commissioned him for and is instead a hellscape filled with the heads of screaming children. Ethan frequently loses track of time, failing to pick his daughter up from school in the process, and it’s on one of those occasions that Ray is able to grab her.

THE DEVIL’S CANDY runs a sweet 79 minutes and leaves you with enough to think about as to what is actually going on, how much it has to do with the house itself that Ethan has moved into, and whether or not it will continue after the film is over. Byrne cleverly manages a fine, claustrophobic atmosphere even with the frequent use of wide shots, and Ethan’s artwork is a delicious confection of horrors in itself.

Second Sight’s 4K release comes with a Sean Byrne commentary and there are new interviews with Byrne (33 minutes), Embry (20 minutes), cinematographer Simon Chapman (25 minutes), editor Andy Canny (23 minutes) and production designer Thomas S Hammock (16 minutes), giving us nearly two hours’ worth of interviews in all. There’s also a short piece on the VFX work (3 minutes) and two Sean Byrne short films. Of most interest to horror fans will be Advantage Satan (11 minutes) about a couple trapped in a tennis court at night, and you also get Work? (11 minutes) which is about a sex worker. 

Sean Byrne’s THE DEVIL’S CANDY is out from Second Sight in a limited edition 4K UHD / Blu-ray set as well as standard edition separate UHD and Blu-ray releases on Monday 25th May 2026

The Innkeepers (2012)

Writer-director (and editor) Ti West's follow up to his 2009 HOUSE OF THE DEVIL is now getting a posh Second Sight release in a limited edition including the film on 4K UHD and Blu-ray as well as separate standard releases on both formats.

Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healy) are looking after the soon-to-close Yankee Pedlar Inn for the weekend while the owner is in Barbados. As well as needing the money, the two of them have another reason to be there: they are amateur ghost hunters and the hotel is allegedly haunted by a woman who hanged herself there when she was jilted on her wedding day after which her body was hidden in the cellar.

The hotel only has a couple of guests including former TV star-turned 'healer' Leanne Rease-Jones (Kelly McGillis) and as night falls and strange things start to manifest it appears the hotel may actually be haunted after all, and not everyone may make it out alive.

THE INNKEEPERS received its UK premiere at 2012's Frightfest on the main Empire screen, one of the biggest in the country, but it's actually a lot better suited to being watched on TV at home. In fact, the opening half an hour has the distinctive feel of an old episode of Night Gallery or a Brian Clemens Thriller episode, only shot in 2.35:1 aspect ratio. It's been described as 'slow burn' which it is, but West displays considerable skill in priming the viewer to develop a gradually increasing sense of discomfort through camera angles, lighting, and a gag at the start played by Healy on Paxton after which you can't help but watch what follows in a particular way.

As is always the case with Second Sight's releases, THE INNKEEPERS is packed with extras, including two commentary tracks, both with Ti West. The first also has producers Larry Fessenden and Peter Phok and sound designer Graham Reznick, the second has West with Paxton and Healy. There are some excellent interviews with West (15 minutes), Healy (30 minutes) and especially Larry Fessenden who talks about all of the West films he has produced (31 minutes), as well as DP Eliot Rockett (10 minutes), composer Jeff Grace (8 minutes) and line producer Jacob Jaffke (14 minutes).

There are also seven minutes of behind the scenes footage and a trailer. Finally the limited edition also comes with a 120 page book featuring new writing on the film, six art cards and a slipcase.

Ti West's THE INNKEEPERS is out in limited (4K UHD and Blu-ray) and standard separate 4K UHD and Blu-ray editions on Monday 25th August 2025

The Nice Guys (2016)

"Loads of Fun"

Second Sight Films are releasing, in both limited and standard editions, and on both Blu-ray and 4K UHD, Shane Black's LETHAL WEAPON meets BOOGIE NIGHTS buddy PI comedy.

Los Angeles 1977. Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) is hired by Amelia (Margaret Qualley) to deter PI Holland March (Ryan Gosling) who has been assigned to find her. But then Amelia vanishes and her disappearance may be connected to the recent death in a car wreck of adult film star Misty Mountains (Mureille Telio). As their investigations proceed they find themselves in deeper trouble as they begin to uncover a plan to reveal political shenanigans that involve government official Judith Kuttner (Kim Basinger).

Don't worry too much about the plot, which gets overly convoluted pretty quickly. Instead enjoy the fun writer-direcor Black has recreating the Hollywood of the late 1970s, with nods to real porn films (the Pinocchio gag at the party) and pacing rapid enough to stop you saying 'hang on a minute' too many times.

What really makes THE NICE GUYS work, though, is the standout interplay between Crowe and Gosling. Not the most likely of pairings, the two bounce off each other very well indeed. Black's dialogue helps of course, but the two get along so well by the end of the film you'll be sorry we never got a series with these two, or at least one sequel.

Second Sight's disc comes with a batch of extras. New to this release is a commentary track with Black and co-writerAnthony Bagarozzi. They both admit to not having seen the film since its release and prompting from moderator Priscilla Page helps. Also new are interviews with Shane Black (36 mins), co-producer Ethan Erwin (22 mins), DP Philippe Rousselot (14 mins) and a video essay from Leigh Singer on Shane Black's buddy movies (21 mins).

Archival material from 2016 includes 11 minutes of cast interviews (Gosling, Crowe, Qualley, Basinger and Matt Bomner), a six minute making of and a five minute piece on Shane Black.

If you get Second Sight's limited edition that includes both 4K and Blu-ray copies of the film and extras (all available on the stand alone editions as well), plus a 150 page hardback book with lots of new writing about the film.

Shane Black's THE NICE GUYS is out from Second Sight Films on Monday 16th June 2025 in both limited and standard 4KUHD and Blu-ray editions

Creep (2014)

 

With the TV series The Creep Files starting to air on Shudder, what better time for Second Sight to release one of their whistles and bells packages (in both standard and limited editions) devoted to the original found footage thriller? And if those 'f' words have you running for the hills, let me tell you now that CREEP very much still deserves a chance, so read on.

A found footage (I know) mumblecore (stick with me) improvisational (it's really very good, though) piece featuring only two actors, the plot involves film-maker Aaron (co-writer and director Patrick Brice) answering an ad placed by Jacob (co-writer Mark Duplass) who lives in a remote mountain town. The job? Jacob is dying and wants his final thoughts recorded on video for his unborn son. 

But is any of that true? As the day goes on things get weirder, as does Jacob's behaviour. He takes to wearing a terrifying wolf mask he refers to a 'Peachfuzz' (the film's original title) and Aaron starts to realise he may be in the presence of a dangerous lunatic. When CREEP premiered at Frightfest it boasted an ending that was one of the most horrible and disturbing of the festival that year, and if you've not seen it I'm not going to spoil it for you.

Second Sight's new Blu-ray wipes the floor with previous bare bones releases. We get a new commentary from Brice, Duplass and editor Christopher Donlan to compliment the archival one with Brice and Duplass only. There are also new interviews with Duplass (19 minutes), Brice (37 minutes) and Donlan (16 minutes), a half hour Q&A with the cast and crew, a deleted scene, an alternative scene (two minutes), and two alternative endings (seven minutes). 

Finally, the limited edition comes with a 70 page book, six art cards, and the usual rigid slipcase to keep it all in. Excellent. Now who's for Tubby Time?

Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass' CREEP is out in both standard and limited editions from Second Sight on Monday, 

9th December 2024, just in time to make it a nice 

Christmas present for anyone who might also 

be getting a video camera.

Train to Busan (2016)

 

“A 4K Upgrade for a Genre Classic ”

Oh yes indeed - one of the best ever zombie films gets a welcome 4K UHD release from Studio Canal.

Seok-Woo (Yoo Gong) is accompanying his young daughter Soo-an (Soo-an Kim) on the train from Seoul to Busan to visit his ex-wife. Unknown to any of the travellers when they board, a bit of a toxic waste leak at a chemical plant has led to a zombie outbreak of the ‘running very fast’ variety, and one of the infected is on the train. Soon there are lots and lots of infected on the train and when it turns out city after city is being affected the few remaining survivors have to hold out until they get to Busan. If they ever do.

So many good things have been said about TRAIN TO BUSAN by so many reviewers that it’s difficult to know what to add, suffice to say that Hollywood could learn a few lessons in character building and development from this one. Then they might realise that when the non-stop action and razor-sharp editing kicks in you actually end up with a thrilling, edge-of-the-seat movie experience rather than a hollow effects extravaganza.

What else? Well, great horror films that take place entirely in daylight are a rare commodity in themselves, but this is one (TREMORS is another). There are some tiny bits in a tunnel but there’s no night in this picture. You’ll miss the music on first viewing because the pacing and the acting will sweep you away but it’s actually nicely effective. 

Extras on Studio Canal’s disc are the same as on their previous Blu-ray and DVD release. These include a trailer for SEOUL STATION, and a making of featurette.

On its release in 2016 press releases for TRAIN TO BUSAN were filled with quotes like ‘The Best Film of the Year’, ‘Exhilarating’, ‘Will Keep You Gasping For Breath Until the End of the Line’ and ‘A Genre-Transcending Masterpiece’. It’s still all true. TRAIN TO BUSAN isn’t just a great horror picture, it’s a great film. one that will enthral you, thrill you and (by the end) move you. A must for any genre connoisseur's film library. 

TRAIN TO BUSAN is on on 4K UHD from Studio Canal on Monday 27th May 2024