Snatchers (2019) [Blu-Ray]

Directors: Stephen Cedars, Benji Kleiman

Cast: Mary Nepi, Gabrielle Elyse, J.J. Nolan

Release Date: February 18, 2020

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 7.5/10
Disc Rating: 7/10

Synopsis:

Senior year is going to rule! Thanks to her relationship with clueless hunk Skyler, Sara is totally in with the cool girls. But Skyler contracted an extraterrestrial bug during his summer vacation. After just one night together, Sara discovers she’s Nine. Months. Pregnant. Desperate to keep her condition on the DL, she turns to the only person she can trust: her nerdy ex-bestie, Hayley. The girls soon realize this alien problem is only just the beginning. Aliens had best beware in this hilarious comedy filled with action and tongue-in-cheek teen spirit.

Please Note: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

‘Snatchers’ tells the terrifying story of high schooler Sara (Nepi) who largely thanks to her dimwitted jock boyfriend has finally reached her place among the cool kids in school. But after deciding to lose her virginity in order to hopefully keep him around a bit longer, Sara wakes up the next day to discover she’s suddenly nine months pregnant. Unable to ask for help from her status obsessed new friends, she seeks out the help of her old best friend Hayley (Elyse) who she abandoned for her new clique. After hesitantly agreeing to help, the two old friends soon realize that the reality of what is going on here is far more horrifying than what they initially thought when Sara gives birth to a reptile like creature capable of using humans like puppets. Now the girls must figure out the truth of what’s going on while hopefully also finding a way to stop the blood thirsty creatures for good.

Directed by Stephen Cedars and Benji Kleiman from a screenplay they additionally co-wrote with Scott Yacyshyn, Cedars and Kleiman do a solid job at the helm of ‘Snatchers’ guiding along the silly and humorous fun and chaos with a suitable style and tongue in cheek approach and I for one am excited to see what this duo may bring us next. The film also features a cast comprised largely of lesser known individuals and includes Mary Nepi (Not Cool), Gabrielle Elyse (TV’s The Thundermans), J.J. Nolan (TV’s Silicon Valley), Austin Fryberger (TV’s Kirby Buckets), Nick Gomez (TV’s Bosch) and more. While the majority may not be overly recognizable faces, they each tend to deliver surprisingly competent and fitting performances in each of their respective roles for the most part and help to make this fun little horror comedy work rather smoothly.

‘Snatchers’ is a smart, snarky and surprisingly bloody high school horror comedy that finds no shortage of hilarity amid the various idiotic jocks and other high school stereotypes that are broken down and fittingly overdone here, while simultaneously taking the creature element to some enjoyable places as the teen comedy and horror elements come clashing together far more smoothly than you might imagine, turning this smaller independent offering into something just silly and bloody enough to be memorable and definitely worthwhile. Originally crafted as a short film and subsequent web series, it now comes together as a feature length film compiling the entire bloody tale and it was probably a smart move on the part of whoever made the call because the film works quite well along its goofy course, taking what initially appears to be no more than a silly, low-budget teen story and soon proving that this wildly fun tale has a lot more to offer, assaulting viewers with tongue in cheek fun and more gory craziness than many will expect. The end result of which is a thoroughly entertaining and surprisingly clever horror comedy that only manages to surpass expectations every step of the way. I would strongly urge fans of similar horror comedy films to try and make a point of giving ‘Snatchers’ a chance whenever convenient. It’s a goofy, funny and quite gory creature feature about high school life gone terribly wrong that delivers a consistently amusing and bloody ride that’s definitely worth taking.

Overall, ‘Snatchers’ is a bloody and over the top horror comedy with a fittingly snarky attitude that serves up consistent goofy fun with plenty of gory chaos along the way and even a bit of a message tucked underneath all of the bloody fun and laughs. ‘Snatchers’ is definitely recommended, particularly for genre fans that appreciate a smart horror comedy that embraces its silly nature instead of fighting it and ends up becoming something quite special as a result. If you’re even the slightest bit intrigued by the premise or trailer it should be worthy of a rental one easygoing evening when you’re seeking some fun entertainment without a complex plot to relax with, and those who have been looking forward to it and haven’t yet had the pleasure will definitely want to be sure to check it out sooner than later.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Snatchers’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the film’s original 2.35:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks pretty nice as a whole and provides a smooth, sharp and nicely detailed presentation from start to finish with no notable faults or problems to be uncovered throughout. It holds up remarkably well even during the various darkly lit and fast moving moments, never allowing anything occurring onscreen to become negatively affected or rendered indiscernible. Overall, this is a pretty great high definition video presentation that shouldn’t have trouble pleasing fans and first time viewers alike.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack delivers a crisp, clean and consistently active audio presentation throughout. It frequently takes advantage of all five available channels in order to send action effects, nature elements and crowd chatter along with more throughout the various speakers quite regularly, and never causing any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or rendered inaudible in the process. Overall, this is a solid 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack that sounds great every step of the way and repeatedly contributes its share of additional fun to the overall viewing experience.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Snatchers’ includes a few solid extras. Included on the release is an ‘Audio Commentary with ‘Directors and Writers Stephen Cedars, Benji Kleiman, and Writer Scott Yacyshyn’, in addition to the Behind the Scenes Featurette ‘The Birth of Snatchers: A Behind the Scenes Look’ (running approximately 14 minutes in length) which features interviews/comments with members of the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. Also included is ‘Unexpected: The Snatchers Blooper Reel’ (running approximately 3 minutes).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 7.5/10
Disc Rating: 7/10

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‘Snatchers’ is Now Available to Own on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from Stage 13 & Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

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