SONY has released "PRIEST" on blu-ray3d.  Paul Bettany stars as a "priest" chosen amongst the few to be trained as vampire killers. Learning that vampires have kidnapped his beautiful niece, Lucy, along with killing his family, he goes against the church hierarchy, and sets out on his own mission. The mission: rescue Lucy and kill the vampires responsible. Why would the church seek to block his quest? Well, that, along with other plot devices, is very much predictable, as the conspiracies at large have been executed far better in far better films.  Joining the priest on his mission is a sheriff, named Hicks. Why a sheriff? Why not, seems to be the response to a silly script. Really, it's just an excuse to lend the film a slightly "western" atmosphere. Still, as bad as the script is, Director Schott Stewart does an impressive job at ensuring viewers aren't scratching their heads with overly layered, additional storylines. The plot is straight-forward, and while the dialogue is laughably bad, the film moves at a steady pace.

Bettany can't do anything with the role he's assumed, and Gigandet as the sheriff fares even worse. "PRIEST" is one of those weird bad films that still keeps the viewer engaged. Sort of like the horrendous, successful "RESIDENT EVIL" films.

SONY has provided an "unrated" version for their "Blu-ray3d" release. The only differing footage between this and the theatrical lies in a brief scene before the film's animated prologue sequence. Both the "3d" unrated and "2d" theatrical version are included.

As "PRIEST" wasn't originally conceived or shot for "3d," and received a "3d conversion" after it had been shot, much of the film's already intentionally subdued color scheme fares even worse in "3d." Colors appear muted for the most part. Most of the film's design calls for darkened interior settings, and these are inherently so much darker in "3d," much of the depth is lost, diminishing the potential impact of the "3d" format. There are occasional shots wherein the "3d" format benefits from depth of imaginative compositions, and brighter shots. However, for the most part, the "2d" version offers slightly better depth and detail. Overall, both the 2d and 3d image are on par with the most recent remake of "CLASH OF THE TITANS," but still with less vibrant colors!!!

SONY has provided a rousing DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix for both 3d and 2d offerings. If only the image was as impressive as this lossy mix!  From beginning to end, discrete, panning and bass effects are employed with a creative finesse, completely missing from the film's image and content! The little tension found in "PRIEST" is largely due to the ominous, growing background sonic atmosphere of this lossy mix, and flawless fidelity. It's actually a terrific soundmix!!!

SONY has included some extras for this blu-ray release, with the same being offered on 2d and 3d formats of the blu-ray.

An audio commentary with the director, writer and two of the stars, provides some background to the production, but it's hard to sit through for anyone not already a fan of the film, and those are likely to be few.

A featurette exploring the production design is offered in HD, along with a featurette examining the film's art, weapons and more.

Deleted scenes are only offered in standard resolution.

Along with BD-LIVE features, SONY is also offering some HD EXCLUSIVE supplements for this release. An interactive 3d feature with 360 degree views is actually kind of fun.  A PIP option allows for various supplements while watching the film.