Cradle of Fear: 2 Disc Limited Collector's Edition – Unearthed Films (Blu-ray)

Release Date: UK, 2001
Director: Alex Chandon
Writer: Alex Chandon
Cast: Dani Filth, Emily Booth, Stuart Laing, Edmund Dehn, Eileen Daly, Rebecca Eden

Release Date: May 12th, 2026
Approximate Running Time: 120 Minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: LPCM Stereo English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $44.95

"Notorious child murderer Kemper is hellbent on exacting his revenge on the people who put him away, and from his padded room in the local asylum, he commands "The Man" to slaughter the families of those responsible. Detective Nielson, who'd had his own unpleasant run-in with Kemper, is faced with an increasingly large pile of mutilated bodies and tries to make some sense of the savagery." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

Cradle of Fear comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 39.7 GB

Feature: 32.7 GB

Flesh tones and colors look correct, image clarity is solid, black levels are strong, and there are no issues with compression.

Audio: 4.5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a LPCM stereo mix in English with removable English SDH. The audio sounds clear, balanced, and robust when it should.

Extras:

Extras on disc one include a behind-the-scenes gallery with music from the film playing in the background, trailer #1 (1 minute 49 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), trailer #12 (1 minute 1 second, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), trailer #3 (1 minute 12 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), a featurette titled Important Words (11 minutes 41 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), a featurette titled Some Making of Cradle of Fear (12 minutes 6 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), and the special German DVD Making of Thing Something for Cradle of Fear (42 minutes 14 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles).

Extras on disc two include trailers for Bad Manor (2 minutes 17 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), Bad Karma (1 minute 54 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), Drillbit (2 minutes 15 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), Pervirella (3 minutes 23 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), and Night Pastor (1 minute 51 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), a promo for Film Extremes 3 (4 minutes 16 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), image galleries with music playing in the background for Bad Karma, Drillbit, Night Pastor, and Film Extremes 3, outtakes from Bad Karma (7 minutes 47 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), outtakes from Film Extremes 3 (7 minutes 47 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), and a collection of films directed by Alex Chandon: Chainsaw Scumfuck (7 minutes 1 second, 1.33:1 aspect ratio, LPCM stereo English no subtitles), Bullshit News (2 minutes 33 seconds, 1.33:1 aspect ratio, LPCM stereo English no subtitles), Bad Manor (41 minutes 9 seconds, 1.33:1 aspect ratio, LPCM stereo English no subtitles), Bad Karma (36 minutes 19 seconds, 1.33:1 aspect ratio, LPCM stereo English no subtitles), Drillbit (32 minutes 11 seconds, 1.33:1 aspect ratio, LPCM stereo English no subtitles), Night Pastor (9 minutes 28 seconds, 1.33:1 aspect ratio, LPCM stereo English no subtitles), and Borderline (4 minutes 4 seconds, 1.33:1 aspect ratio, LPCM stereo English no subtitles). All of the short films are interlaced.

Other extras include a slipcover (limited to the first pressing).

Summary:

Although billed as a horror anthology in the tradition of Amicus Productions, Cradle of Fear is better described as a series of narratives that are connected and ultimately intersect. The narrative revolves around an unnamed character referred to as the man; he’s the son of a serial killer named Kemper, who has resided in an asylum since being captured. Despite being confined, Kemper has taken control of his son's body, using him as a tool to eliminate those he holds responsible for his capture and imprisonment.

While the various story threads have connections, the way in which everything is put together is not as tight as it could be. At 2 hours in length the narrative feels bloated, and its inability to ever build any momentum really makes its duration a chore. Another strike against the narrative is its over-reliance on gore.

It is clear early on that the moments of gory carnage are the focal point and that any exposition is just there to move things forward and not add any depth. There is nothing remotely scary in Cradle of Fear; it's a film that pushed the boundaries of extreme visceral horror. Cradle of Fear’s main draw is Dani Filth, the lead singer of Cradle of Filth; he portrays The Man. His band also provides the soundtrack for Cradle of Fear. Ultimately, Cradle of Fear is a film that’s divided those who have seen it; you’ll either embrace it for what it is or quickly tune out.

Cradle of Fear gets an excellent release from Unearthed Films that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and a wealth of extra content.

 

Written by Michael Den Boer