BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Stakes on Bluray with 25th Anniversary

Jeri Jacquin

From writer Joss Whedon, director Fran Rubel Kuzui and 20^th Century Fox Home Entertainment for the first time on Bluray and Digital HD is BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER.

Buffy Summers (Kristy Swanson) is an Los Angeles cheerleading senior at Hemery High School. Hanging out with boyfriend Jeffrey and spending her day being a shopping teen, a man named Merrick (Donald Sutherland) changes her whole life. He tells her that he’s come to guide her as The Watcher because she is a Chosen Slayer.

Discovering she has untapped abilities, her heart really isn’t in what Merrick is telling her until she meets Lothos (Rutger Hauer). The local ruler of the vampires along with follower Amilyn (Paul Rubens), Buffy now knows who she is dealing with. When her friends Pike (Luke Perry) and Benny (David Arquette) are attacked one by one, Buffy starts to take her role as a Slayer seriously.

Where else would a confrontation happen but at the high school basketball game as Buffy realizes one of the players is a vampire. Merrick has to step in when Lothos attacks Buffy and the results continue to change her life. Realizing she can’t go back to being the girl who just hung out with her friends, her so-called friends aren’t very understanding either.

When she tries to work things out with Jeffrey at the senior dance but he’s moved on but Pike makes his feelings very clear. Of course Lothos isn’t going to let this be a touching moment as another attack overtakes the dance and Buffy remembers what Merrick told her.

Buffy knows it’s time to put at end to the madness!

Other cast of well known names are also a part of the original BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER film – see if you recognize them: Hilary Swank as Kimberly Hannah, Stephen Root as Gary Murray, Paris Vaughan as Nicki, Natasha Wagner as Cassandra, Tom Jane as Zeph, Ben Affleck as Player #10 and Seth Green as a Vampire.

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment brings award-winning global product and new entertainment to DVD, Bluray, and Digital HD. There amazing collection offers fans an opportunity to expand their own home libraries with the best films. To discover what other titles they have please visit www.fox.com.

What can be said about BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER as it was a hit film that also became a smash hit television series. Swanson as Buffy brought the role to life and gave the character sass and originality. The film gave us fun, comedy and action that is easily enjoyable 25 years later and Swanson is responsible for that.

Sutherland as Merrick is an actor that can absolutely do no wrong as far as I am concerned. Playing this character was absolutely different for its time in 1992 but as an absolute van of Sutherland I just loved it then and love it still. Hauer as Lothos is an actor who can scare the bejeezus out of me one minute and crack me up the next. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER’s Lothos looks like fun to do and Hauer makes it look easy.

Rubens as Amilyn is hilarious, cool and only a few years out of his Pee Wee Herman character. See what happens when you peel away the layers? When I realized in 1992 who was playing this character, I cheered for Rubens! There is nothing better than seeing Pee Wee go rogue with a look that is epically cool.

The Bluray Special Features include a Featurette, Theatrical Trailer and TV Spots which are actually cool to watch. There is also the Digital HD which means you can instantly stream and download to your TV, computer, tablet and Smartphone.

Having the chance to watch how it all began with Buffy and the gang is so much fun. I remember my own daughters going to see the film and then becoming big followers of Buffy. That’s what a good storyline in a film will do, bring us all back years later for more.

So prepare to celebrate being an uber cool slayer as 20^th Century Fox Home Entertainment brings BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER home!!

In the end – pert, wholesome and way lethal! 

FIREFLY Land on Bluray with a Stellar 15th Anniversary Collectors Edition

Jeri Jacquin

Available on Bluray from 20^th Century Fox Home Entertainment and writer/director Joss Whedon is the amazing series that keeps bringing fans back again and again is the series FIREFLY.

It is the year 2517 and mankind has found its way into a new star system in their Firefly-class ship. Aboard the ship is the crew of Serenity is Captain Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) and first mate Zoe Washburne (Gina Torres). Veterans of the Unification War, they join other settlers and refugees who live away from the central government.

Now dealing in smugglings, two of their passengers River Tam (Summer Glau) and brother Dr. Simon Tam (Sean Maher) join the crew. Along with Zoe’s husband Wash (Alan Tudyk), Inara Serra (Morena Baccarin), Jayne Cobb (Adam Baldwin), ship’s mechanic Kaylee (Jewel Staite) and the Serenity’s moral compass Derrial (Ron Glass).

From the moment the series begins, Captain Mal looks for abandoned ships to salvage. After a confrontation with an Alliance federal agent, Mal brings Simon and River aboard the Serenity.

Finding an abandoned ship, the crew also find Reavers and are attacked and the Alliance docks with the Serenity. Knowing that Simon and River are at risk, the rest of the crew is interrogated while the two passengers hide. This won’t be the only time the brother and sister will be put to the test.

When the Serenity needs engine repair that causes the life support system to be inoperable, the crew has only one hope – to find a passing ship. Putting the crew in shuttles, Mal remembers how the crew of the Serenity came to be.

With the ship in working order, it is River who now needs help. Simon needs to find a hospital but it is Jayne that has other plans. The Alliance isn’t going to reward Jayne’s actions and neither is Mal who has the choice of life and death.

Mal’s unexpected wife has returned and wants his help to relieve a wealthy gent of his funds. Once they come in contact, Mal is given a shock that is either a good thing or bad depending on how he wants to handle Saffron’s antics.

Zoe and Mal are surprised to hear of the passing of their friend from the Battle of Serenity Valley, Tracey. They learn what their friend had been doing and how the Alliance was not only after Tracey but what he had been doing. Putting his crew in jeopardy, Mal is faced with the ultimate decision.

Inara needs Mal and the crews help when her friend Nandi is having trouble in her brothel. A man named Ranse Burgess is threatening one of the women who is pregnant. But what happens between Mal and Nandi could change everything.

River becomes disoriented and the crew isn’t sure whether there is a safety issue. It is Jubal Early they should be concerned with as the bounty hunter captures Simon. The safety issue isn’t an issue any longer when River does what she must to help her brother and the crew of Serenity.

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment brings award-winning global product and new entertainment to DVD, Bluray, and Digital HD. There amazing collection offers fans an opportunity to expand their own home libraries with the best films. To discover what other titles they have please visit www.fox.com.

The Bluray includes the fantastic Bonus Features of the **New** Firefly Poster and Collectible Character Cards Inside Packaging as Gift With Purchase for a Limited Time Only, Disc One: Here’s How It Was: The Making of Firefly Featurette, Disc Two: Firefly Cast Roundtable: Lunch with Joss, Nathan, Alan and Ron, Disc Three: Serenity: The 10^th Character Featurette, Deleted Scenes, Alan Tudyk’s Audition, Joss Sings the Firefly Theme, Joss Tours the Set and Gag Reel.

FIREFLY aired on Fox in 2002 and cancelled by episode eleven. What is amazing about this is that FIREFLY won a Primetime Emmy in 2003 for Outstanding Special Visual Effects. Even TV Guide ranks it as one of the shows “Cancelled Too Soon” to which fans couldn’t agree more.

For those that attending San Diego Comic Con International, it is clear that FIREFLY isn’t about to be forgotten anytime soon. Every year there is a cry for the show to be started up once again and ears listening for Joss Whedon to say ‘yes, it will happen’.

I have met Nat Fillion and asked him if he would be on board and I heard him say it at several Con’s - “it was everything and how can everything not be enough?” In other words, those fourteen episodes are as perfect of a FIREFLY world as we are going to get close to and that’s okay actually.

That’s what continues to make the series special and 20^th Century Fox Home Entertainment knows that. Capturing it in an amazing box set, this 500 year into the future look at characters that walk about on Earth today shows no signs of stopping fans from keeping FIREFLY a part of their home entertainment library.

Watching FIREFLY once again is such a joy because of the fantastic mesh of actors that brought Serenity to life. It is a series that is full of action, storyline and even has sharp humor that I enjoy. Let this 665 minute 3-disc DVD Collectors Edition be a way to bring more fans into the fold and let them in on the adulation for our favorite Captain – Nathan Fillion!

In the end – hang on for the ride of your life!