Super 8 quietly bubbled away at the cinema when it was released back on 2011 with murmurings of potentially being a modern day classic. However, it will be the slow burn of the Super 8 movie DVD, Blu-Ray and digital download that will determine how well it stands the test of time. With Steven Spielberg as the producer and J.J. Abrams in the director’s chair for the movie, it’s a bit like a cross between E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Stand By Me.
Set in little town Ohio, Super 8 is the story of a group of kids that catch a glimpse of something unexpected when they film a train crash with their Super 8 film camera as they’re filming their high school movie debut. During the aftermath, they suddenly face their crazed biology teacher and the arrival of the US Air Force as the dangers of the night unfold.
It quickly turns out that there’s something extraterrestrial about the bizarre series of events and the group of kids have to work together and put aside they’re teenage bickering to work out what’s going on and how they survive.
The cast is made up of relatively unknown actors, including Joel Courtney as Joe Lamb, the main kid in the childhood thriller, along with Riley Griffiths as his best friend Charles Kaznik, who’s the self appointed director of their homemade movie, and Elle Fanning (Maleficent) as Alice, their mutual teenage love interest.
Special features for the Super 8 DVD includes commentary from JJ Abrams, Bryan Burk (co-producer) and Larry Fong (cinematography), the dream behind Super 8 and a feature entitled, The Visitor Live. However, the triple play Blu-ray, DVD and digital copy edition adds the search for new faces, an introduction to Joel Courtey, a feature called Rediscovering Steel Town, the production of the movie score, a deconstruction of the train crash and deleted scenes, along with Do You Believe in Magic? the 8mm Revolution and Easter Eggs features in one big bumper bundle.
The Super 8 DVD, digital download and triple play Blu-ray, DVD and digital copy version was released on the 12th December 2011 and with the special effects it’s probably worth watching with as much high depth quality as possible.
