No horror icon came out of a filmmaker’s first draft fully formed. There were early drafts, wrong turns, experimentation. Once made flesh (or latex), there’s presentation, impact, audience response and legacy. Each of these steps that nudge a horror creation toward the annals of legend will be explored in Shudder’s BEHIND THE MONSTERS. Each episode examines a horror icon who has broken free of the confines of the film from which it was born and become the stuff of legend.
For in-depth thoughts on Behind The Monsters: Season One, please see my colleague Michael Vaughn’s review from its original television debut here.
Video Quality
Behind The Monsters comes to Blu-Ray featuring an assortment of different material in varying degrees of quality. The show itself and everything within it looks as technically excellent as you can expect it to look in high definition. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, but RLJE Films has my gratitude for spreading these six episodes over two discs. This allows the content plenty of room to breathe where we can avoid any compression artifacts. The movie clips used seem to be the best versions that were available when this was made in 2021, with most of them looking pretty excellent. Some of the clips from the films are unfortunately reframed to make the content fit the screen, but this is baked into the show and not an issue with the transfer. Interview segments look incredibly sleek and clear with natural skin tones and detailed facial features. There is no evidence of compression artifacts or other digital nuisances of the sort. I do not see how this set could have been improved visually. It’s a beautiful transfer handled with care by RLJE Films.
Audio Quality
This Blu-Ray disc comes with a DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that perfectly suits the source material, but is understandably restrained. As this primarily acts as an interview show with talking heads abound, dialogue is the focus right up front in the center channel. The movie clips do not utilize the full-on surround sound tracks regardless of whether or not the original film had one. Some of the more active scenes lack the heft of a full-assault mix, but these snippets are not intended for these purposes. The two-channel presentation is enveloping in its own way, and it maintains the artistic choice of the series. For that reason, this is an excellent audio track.
Special Features
There are no special features provided on this release.
Final Thoughts
The first season of Behind The Monsters is a wonderfully entertaining look at some of the most iconic figures in horror as discussed by many of your favorite artists and experts. If you appreciate a good cinema-based retrospective, this series hits the spot perfectly. This documentary series is not aiming to make any startling revelations, but it is reasonably well-rounded for the average fan to take in easily. RLJE Films has provided a Blu-Ray set with an excellent A/V presentation but nothing in the way of special features. Horror fans will want to add this to their collection. Recommended
Behind The Monsters: Season One is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: RLJE Films has supplied a copy of this set free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
