Back to the Wal-mart bin!

It's been a while since I last checked out Wal-mart. I can't remember how long exactly but I don't think that I've been there in the last month. It's not that I'm trying to cut back on my DVD buying addiction, but simply that there hasn't been anything new which I just had to rush out and buy. I've also been slightly more enamoured with Target lately but that's another story.

I had a little bit of a shock this time in Wal-mart. There wasn't just one "$5 bin" but two!!! Both were loaded to overflowing with DVDs, but that wasn't the great thing which you'd expect. You see, if the bins are overloaded that much, you just can't get to any of the good stuff without pulling up a shopping cart and sifting armfuls of DVDs into it. I still ended up playing a giant game of "KerPlunk" with DVDs falling on the floor everywhere although nobody seemed to care. Anybody who did see me probably felt a little bit sorry for me as it was obvious that I was some kind of DVD maniac.

Anyway, after an hour's routing through all the movies I already had, all I ended up with were "Halloween II" and a better than average "8 Movie Action Pack" from Echo Bridge.

Before you all start calling me a hypocrite for buying a movie which you know I'll probably hate and will never review, just remember that it was only $5! I have the first one somewhere too (although it was tempting me to turn it into a coaster) so it's just for completeness. When you get to the stage I have in your own horror movie DVD collecting obsession, you'll understand.

I also had to buy the 8 pack for one movie. No, not "Equilibrium", "Cypher" (which I only just reviewed), "Fortress" or "Prophecy" (I have the 5 pack of those), It certainly wasn't for "Convict 762", "Imposter" or whatever the hell "Total Recall 2070" is. If you've been working it out, yes, it was for "Trancers" (curiously labelled "Trancers I"). I know it's a bit crappy but I liked it at the time and it's still the best out of the whole series.

From the back of the box (which wraps around 2 normal DVD-cased 4 movie packs), you can see that the big seller for this set is supposed to be "Total Recall 2070". I swear to you that I have never even heard of it before and assume that it's some kind of SyFy channel or other TV movie ripoff. We have a "Total Recall" remake coming to cinemas in a couple of weeks as well so I can see why those clever buggers at Echo Bridge put this out for June 2012. It's probably going to suck (and the remake will suck even harder) but, once again, this whole pack of 8 movies was only $5 so should I really care?

I couldn't be bothered to do any more digging through the piles of DVDs in Wal-mart. My arms were tired and it took me another 30 minutes or so to put them all back.

From the other DVD shelves, it looked as if everything was set up for "Father's Day". I have no idea what that is, when it is, or why it is. If American fathers really do like any of those war movies and vintage sports crap, I'd be most surprised and saddened as well. I'm only a father to two adopted cats and there was nothing there for me. I was tempted by a couple of Mill Creek Entertainment 100 (2 x 50) Mystery packs at $17.85 but I let them go... for now.

I couldn't even find the "New Releases" section this time, got misled into a weird $12 section full of Blu-ray and DVD combo packs, briefly scanned the overpriced TV-on-DVD shelves, and, as usual, I simply finished my purchases off with some beef jerky and a Monster energy drink.

It'll probably be another month before I go back to Wal-mart. I used to love it but they don't seem to be carrying as much horror in their stores as they do online anymore.

A trip to Walmart in search of horror

Depending on how much of a snob you are, nearly every trip to Walmart can be classified as horror but, personally, I love the place and, other than Big Lots, it's the store where I buy most of my DVDs. This, therefore, is a recap of the horror DVDs which I've seen there today and what I think of them.

In the $5 bins, I saw "From Dusk Till Dawn", "Interview with the Vampire", a four-film vampire collection ("Dracula's Curse", "Bled", "Bram Stoker's Dracula's Guest", "Fangs") and the first three "Puppetmaster" films as an Echo Bridge triple-feature which ruined the theme that was going on there. About a hundred copies of "Beetlejuice" were in the bargain bin too but I didn't even want one of them.

Over on the "expensive" DVD shelves, there wasn't anything new that interested me but I was amazed at how many triple and quadruple DVD collections are now available featuring one slightly below average horror film and two or three others that you've never heard of. Most of these are from Echo Bridge and should be avoided unless you want to severely disappoint yourself. Yes, I have already been fooled by them several times myself.

I only have one question to the people who put these collections together, just how many copies of "Dreamcatcher" and "Queen of the Damned" do they think anyone actually needs? The same titles are on four different multi-feature packs. Let me answer that for you though. None.

There were a few "4 Film Favorites" such as "Blade", "Critters" and the two "Nightmare on Elm Street" collections which are worth the $10 but, the thing which horrified me the most was how many copies of films by The Asylum were sitting there full of their own self-importance as if anyone is ever going to buy them. I have to admit though that the artwork on the DVD sleeves is really good even if it has very little to do with what you'll actually see on screen. If I was very rich and/or stupid, I'd probably buy all of them and think I was really cool for having the world's biggest collection of crap.

On the end caps, something even more worrying was going on. Films that are now three years old were still being sold for $13. In particular, it's the Twilight series. Now, as you know, I've seen all these films and, especially as "New Moon" sucked hardest, there is no way that "Twilight" or "New Moon" should still be at full price. Why aren't they $10, $7.50 or even $5? Even "Orphan" and "Jennifer's Body" have finally gone down from $13 to $10 and those are very good films in comparison. Sometimes Walmart's prices simply have no rhyme or reason to them.

In the new releases section, the latest arrival was "Stake Land" but I didn't notice anything else there which was horror.

Anyway, I suppose I should have taken pictures but knowing my luck, I would have been sued for some kind of copyright infringement and forcibly ejected before I could buy the packet of "Mike and Ike" candy, two chocolate doughnuts, and the Monster energy drink that I was clutching all the way round.

Here's a picture of the "Mike and Ikes" and empty Monster can, I already ate the doughnuts before I got home.

I didn't buy any DVDs this time and it'll probably be a while before I go to Walmart again due to the financially crippling situation I'm in right now from owing my dentist for an hour and half's work with several more to come. Yes, you can see from my diet of sweeties how that all came about.

Have you been to Walmart lately? Have you bought anything good or any of the Multi-Features? Let me know in the comments below.