Paramount Scares Vol. 1 - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

As a collector, I do have to admit that I love themed box sets. Even if I have one or two entries in the selection, it’s hard for me not to pick up something like Paramount Scares Vol One. I didn’t need another copy of Crawl or Pet Sematary on 4K UHD, but I hadn’t picked up Smile, I didn’t pre-order the solo release of Rosemary’s Baby, and I still didn’t own a copy of the “Mystery Title” Sweeney Todd on Blu-ray. Now the whole “Mystery Title” may have been a bit of a stretch to sustain for long since as soon as someone gets a copy, the news almost immediately spills. (We were asked not to reveal the title, but since that cat’s already well out of the bag thanks to other publications, it’s a moot point now). 

I like that each film gets an exclusive custom black, silver, and red Paramount Scares-themed slipcover. I think that’s a pretty classy look while also maintaining the original insert artwork. Folks who didn’t like that new Rosemary’s Baby 4K artwork can rest easy knowing the classic poster art is represented in the insert. But slipcovers aren’t the only things you get. If you’re into collectible pins, you get one of those as well as a sheet of stickers with throwback images to each film. For my money, the highlight swag item of the set is the exclusive Fangoria magazine with some damned great articles about each film. Everything is housed together in an artful oversized box made from a hardstock cardboard so not like some of those flimsy paper cases we've seen for SteelBook sets. Now, if you’re someone who doesn’t like those boxes, you can simply slide the solo discs onto your shelf without issue and store the box away (something I might do, not sure yet). 

When it comes down to collections like this I point back to my previous comments of value. I didn’t own three of these movies yet, so I felt like it was a nice pickup. However, if you already own everything except for the exclusive Sweeney Todd and don’t want to repurchase everything else, I imagine it won’t be long for Tim Burton's ghastly gory musical to slice up its own solo release. Waiting sucks, I know. 

As far as themed box sets go, this is a pretty solid start to something that I hope continues and gets even more elaborate. As the “Vol 1” implies, Vol 2 seems an inevitability. Hopefully, Paramount Home Entertainment will take note and offer up more new first-time 4K releases instead of some re-releases and one new exclusive. That's really the only sow ear I have about this set knowing full well that many are going to be quite upset they can't get their hands on Sweeney Todd without buying four other films. Paramount has plenty of new/recent and classic horror films that haven’t seen the bright rays of 4K UHD that would be excellent candidates for the next set. 

As we’ve already reviewed the films, check out our previous coverage:

Rosemary’s Baby - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review

Pet Sematary - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review

Crawl - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review

Smile - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review

Sweeney Todd - Blu-ray Review

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Paramount Scares Vol One terrorizes 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray with a five-film 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital set. The set consists of Rosemary’s Baby (4K & Blu-ray), Pet Semetary (4K & Blu-ray), Crawl (4K only), Smile (4K only), and the “Mystery Title” of Sweeney Todd (4K & Blu-ray). Each film gets its own case and exclusive themed slipcover and digital code - not a one-code slip for all five movies. 

NOTE - as of right now we haven’t been able to rip the 4K disc for Sweeney Todd, when we can we’ll circle back and add images and hopefully a video sample as well.

As we’ve already covered four of the five films, check out the reviews linked above for all the gory 4K details.

Now for Sweeney Todd, the film sees its first 2160p Dolby Vision 4K transfer and it’s damned beautiful. Much like Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow, it’s a steely almost monochromatic color scheme that makes for an ominous and effective 4k experience. Film grain is largely retained and appropriately cinematic. The only slightly dodgy areas come up with some of the heavier CGI scene extensions, the opening credits being the main culprit in that arena. Bitrates can fluctuate a little for those moments, but when it's a live set with real people and props it doesn’t falter or slip. It’d been a while since I last looked at the Blu-ray, I never owned it, but the improvements in clarity and presentation were immediately noticeable. With Dolby Vision HDR, those deep blacks are appropriately inky and the silvery shadows and skewed colors are appropriately vivid. Blood obviously sees plenty of care and attention. Image depth – again for those live sets – is excellent with an appreciable three-dimensional feel. All around an excellent transfer for Tim Burton’s grisly ghastly tale.

• Rosemary’s Baby: 4/5 
• Pet Sematary: 4/5
• Crawl: 5/5
• Smile: 4/4
• Sweeney Todd: 4.5/5

Likewise for the audio, the five films we’ve already reviewed, there’s nothing different there so check out those previously linked selections. 

As for Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd, the 4K sticks to the same Dolby TrueHD 5.1 without upgrading for a larger object-focused mix. To be clear, this 5.1 track is still a beast of its own never failing to set up a beautiful fully immersive soundscape. The vocals for the cast come through loud and clear without issue. The staging for background effects and the musical orchestrations are still lovely. I can’t deny I wouldn’t be curious to hear an Atmos track for this one, but I’m not at all disappointed with what’s here. To be fair, this isn’t my favorite musical ever, but it’s a ghastly ghoulishly fun show and makes for a heck of a cinematic experience.

• Rosemary’s Baby: 4/5 
• Pet Sematary: 4/5
• Crawl: 4.5/5
• Smile: 4.5/5
• Sweeney Todd: 4.5/5

Bonus features are a bit all over as the set doesn’t bring anything new to mix. Everything that’s here in these discs is what we’ve seen before already. Sweeney Todd even recycles the old Blu-ray rather than put any of the extras on the 4K disc. That said, as a whole there are a lot of interesting extras to dive into and combining all efforts you have several hours of horror extra features to devour. Click on the review links above for more details on those. On top of this you have the swag items in the box. While pins and stickers aren't much on the informational side, that Fangoria magazine has been pretty damn fun to pick through. 

Rosemary's Baby:

• Mia and Roman
• A Retrospective 
• Trailers 
  

Pet Sematary 

• Pet Sematary: Revisitation 
• Pet Sematary: Fear and Remembrance
• Still Galleries 
• Storyboards Introduction
• Storyboards
• Behind the Scenes
• Marketing
• Audio Commentary
• Stephen King Territory 
• The Characters 
• Filming the Horror

Crawl

• Alternate Motion Comic Opening
• Intro to the Alternate Opening
• Deleted and Extended Scenes
• Beneath Crawl
• Category 5 Gators: The FVX of Crawl
• Alligator Attacks

Smile

• Audio Commentary - Director Parker Finn 
• Something's Wrong With Rose 
  
• Flies On The Wall
  
• Deleted Scenes
  
• Laura Hasn't Slept 
  

Sweeney Todd

• Burton + Depp + Carter = Todd
• Sweeney Todd is Alive: The Real History of the Demon Barber
• Musical Mayhem: Sondheim's Sweeney Todd 
• Sweeney's London 
• Grand Guignol: A Theatrical Tradition
• Designs for a Demon Barber
• A Bloody Business 
• Moviefone Unscripted 
• Sweeney Todd Press Conference, November 2007 
• Razor's Refrain
• Photo Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer 

Call me a sucker but I like themed box sets like Paramount Scares Vol One. I don’t deny the frustration with exclusive titles and releases like what we’ve had with three Columbia Classics sets now, but what’s here is pretty great. It helps that since four of the five films are already available, fans only have to wait for one title to get that solo release and I imagine that wait won’t be too long. So then it comes down to the value of the swag items. Overall I’m not huge on swag, it can be fun, but I don’t ever use the stickers and I’m not into pins. However booklets or exclusive magazines with interesting articles and essays - that I can get behind! I also like the look of the box and I thought the exclusive slipcovers for each film were pretty stylish. I do hope this set sells well enough for a Paramount Scares Vol Two - but if that set should come, I hope there are more new first-time releases so Horror fans don’t have to straddle the line of rebuying titles just to get one or a couple of new titles for the 4K collection. As a whole, I’m calling this one Recommended, especially if you don’t own most of the films already.