A “B”-movie style comedy/horror in the same vein as flicks like Tremors, 2015’s Freaks of Nature takes us to the small town of Dillford. In this burg, a certain pecking order exists, with vampires at the top of the society, humans in the middle and zombies at the bottom.

However, circumstances change when aliens attack. This sets the social order all topsy-turvy, as all the various groups battle aliens as well as themselves. An unlikely alliance of human Dag (Nicholas Braun), zombie Ned (Josh Fadem) and vampire Petra (Mackenzie Davis) combine forces to return matters to normal.

As it combines four different genres, Freaks threatens to become so “high concept” that’ll it’ll implode. Not only does it mix aliens, vampires and zombies, but also it plays the material for satirical laughs, and that seems like a combustible combination.

Happily, Freaks manages to stay on the right side of this line, as it provides a brisk, fun experience. The movie manages to embrace genre clichés and mock them at the same time, all in an engaging manner.

Storytelling works well. Freaks offers just enough backstory to acquaint us with the characters and circumstances, but it doesn’t dilly-dally. The film moves along matters in a way that allows us to invest in the situations without becoming bored.

Once the action starts, the movie mixes laughs and thrills in equal measure with mostly equal satisfaction. Freaks fares better as a comedy than as an action flick, but both sides succeed. The fight scenes add pizzazz, and the jokes hit the mark most of the time.

All three of the young leads fit their roles well, and the cast comes with a fine assortment of adults to bolster the material. We get solid comedic performers such as Keegan-Michael Key, Patton Oswalt, Joan Cusack, Bob Odenkirk, and Denis Leary, all of whom add spark to the tale.

With so much on its plate, Freaks occasionally threatens to go off the rails, but it never collapses. Instead, the movie manages a fun, exciting genre spoof that entertains us from start to finish.

Freaks of Nature appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie presented a mostly good presentation.

For the most part, sharpness worked fine. Occasional signs of softness emerged, but these didn’t become prominent, so the majority of the film brought us positive delineation. No signs of jagged edges or moiré effects emerged, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws also didn’t become a presence.

Colors tended toward the standard orange and teal. The tones didn’t overwhelm, though; they seemed more subdued than usual for a modern movie. The hues remained stylized and were fine within those choices. Blacks came across as dark and deep, while low-light shots demonstrated appropriate delineation. This was a more than adequate transfer.

I also felt reasonably pleased with the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, though it wasn’t as dynamic as one might expect for a movie of this sort. With lots of action, the soundscape opened up to a reasonable degree, but the information didn’t integrate as well as I’d like. While we got a lot of activity, the results could’ve meshed in a more natural manner.

Still, the mix offered pretty good involvement, and audio quality was fine. Music was full and rich, while effects showed good range and accuracy. Speech was concise and distinctive. This didn’t become a great mix, but it worked reasonable well.

In addition to an Alternate Opening (2:37), we get two Deleted Scenes. We find “You’ll Be Making Me Happy” (0:50) and “I’m A Dog Boy” (3:03). The “Opening” spells out the movie’s premise in an explicit manner; it’s unnecessary, as the final cut conveys the information well enough.

As for the two deleted scenes, “Happy” simply lets Keegan-Michael Key riff a bit; it’s funny but it adds nothing to the story. “Boy” expands on a development for Dag. I guess it’s supposed to come at the movie’s end – the revelation it covers occurs during the climax – and it seems unnecessary.

A Gag Reel lasts three minutes, 40 seconds. It mostly provides goofs and giggles. A few alternate lines appear, though, so those offer a smidgen of value. Note that the many of the same bloopers run over the end credits, so this collection might seem redundant.

The disc opens with ads for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, The 5th Wave, The Night Before, The Driftless Area, Home Invasion and Ratter. No trailer for Freaks shows up here.

A wild mix of genres, Freaks of Nature gives us a satisfying combination of horror, action, sci-fi and comedy. These mix in a pleasing manner that makes the end result fun and compelling. The Blu-ray brings us mostly positive picture and audio but lacks substantial bonus materials. Freaks packs an entertaining punch.