Amazon has started doing this great new thing in the Instant Video store: making new-release movies available in Instant Video format before they’re released on DVD or Blu-ray—sometimes, WEEKS before! These Instant Video early releases won’t be made available for rent until their disc release dates, but you can buy them now. Here are some examples from this week (all descriptions are from IMDB.com):
Warm Bodies (PG-13, 4.5/5 stars, closed captions available, currently priced at $13.99 to own)
With much of the world’s population now an undead horde, R is a young and introspective zombie. While fighting with and feeding on a human scavenger party, R meets Julie and feels an urge to protect her. What happens next is the beginning of a strangely warm relationship that allows R to begin regaining his humanity.
As this change spreads through the local undead population like a virus, Julie and R eventually have to face a larger issue when the very nature of their friendship is challenged.
Caught between the paranoid human forces and the ferocious “Bonies”, zombies who are a mutual threat, R and Julie must find a way common bond bridge the differences each sides must overcome so that they all fight for a better world no one thought possible.
– Written by Kenneth Chisholm
Dark Skies (PG-13, 3.5/5 stars, closed captions available, currently priced at $14.99 to own)
As the Barret family’s peaceful suburban life is rocked by an escalating series of disturbing events, they come to learn that a terrifying and deadly force is after them.
Stars Keri Russell and Josh Hamilton.
Side Effects (R, 4/5 stars, closed captions available, currently priced at $14.99 to own)
Emily Taylor, despite being reunited with her husband from prison, becomes severely depressed with emotional episodes and suicide attempts. Her psychiatrist, Jonathan Banks, after conferring with her previous doctor, eventually prescribes an experimental new medication called Ablixa.
The plot thickens when the side effects of the drug lead to Emily killing her husband in a “sleepwalking” state. With Emily plea-bargained into mental hospital confinement and Dr. Banks’ practice crumbling around him, the case seems closed.
However, Dr. Banks cannot accept full responsibility and investigates to clear his name. What follows is a dark quest that threatens to tear what’s left of his life apart even as he discovers the diabolical truth of this tragedy.
– Written by Kenneth Chisholm