Easter is upon us! Christ is risen! But much more importantly, we get to eat so much chocolate that it comes out of every hole simultaneously. To celebrate the bunny-eared holiday, and in typically tenuous fashion I'm offering my Ten Favourite Geeky Blu-ray Easter Eggs. And to make it all a bit more holiday friendly, I've gone for the films that will both hold enough to distract you from the horrors of being surrounded by your family with no escape (kidding, Mam) and appeal to said unwanted familial invaders alike. Obviously there are spoilers here, so I'll save the juicy stuff for after the jump. But here, for the sake of people who for some reason haven't read that last bit of the sentence is a more visible warning:
CAREFUL, THIS ARTICLE MIGHT SPOIL THE FUN OF FINDING THESE SECRETS YOURSELF. Right, so this list was populated solely for fun, and because I take unbelievably childish joy from making egg-based puns at this time of year. I apologise in advance for the quality of some of the yolks. Nearly didn't make it past that one myself. I shall not apologise, but that's probably enough of the Egg puns.
10. Ghostbusters- PS3 Theme
The first additional feature to make this prestigious list comes from a perfect Easter film - in fact if you're in England, it's actually showing on Channel Five over the period, and is exclusively for those of you who watch your blu-rays on a PS3. Right, first insert the Ghostbusters disc but instead of heading to the "Video" option on the main menu, navigate to the "Game" tab and scroll down. Below the "Trophy Collection" option, is a lovely little "Ghostbusters Theme" that will inspire a huge nerdgasm, if you're anything like me.
9. Pirates of Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - Keith Richards
The first movie in the first Pirates' trilogy quite fittingly, since the fourth will premiere in but a few weeks time. Anyway, follow these instructions and bask in the glory of seeing one half of the Glimmer Twins in a shockingly short interview. Still, it's Keith fucking Richards! To access his wrinkly face, start by highlighting "Back" then press "Left," twice, which will make the skull's eyes light up with fire. Click "Enter" and Bob's your uncle- Mr Richards speaks.
8. The Die Hard Collection: Bloopers
I love bloopers. Seriously, they're one of my favourite Extra Features (as long as they aren't painfully obviously staged), so I couldn't resist including this one from the
Die Hard With A Vengeance Disc in this collection. To access some mirthsome mistakes from McClane and Co, simply access the disc's Special Features submenu, scroll down and highlight the last option on the list - but don't stop there... Click Down once more and the cursor highlights a hidden film reel icon, which is in fact them bloopers I mentioned.
7. Iron Man 2: Thor-some
This one's an Easter Egg dedicated to an Easter Egg - how very post-modern. Anyway, scroll down to the final part of the "Ultimate Iron Man" making-of feature, and press "Right" on your controller. A box will light up, which when pressed lets you access a featurette dedicated to the hidden Thor-flavoured post-credits clip from the feature, featuring actor Clark Gregg, director Kenneth Branagh and comic book scribe J. Michael Stracynski (now infamously at DC- which makes this featurette even more watchable).
6. The Dark Knight - Jokerised Trailer
Simple but very fun this one. Go to Disc 2 and select the third theatrical trailer, SLOWLY entering the numbers 5 6 5 3 7 on your control. The screen will go blank and you'll get to see a Joker-ized version of said trailer. Or you can just see it below; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI_rrrhXKx4
5. The Simpsons Movie - THX Spoof
If you get as much enjoyment out of this as I did, you can probably count yourself as very geeky.First off, head to the "Audio Setup" submenu and select the "English DTS 5.1" option. Don't press enter, instead, press "Up", and a donut will appear as if by magic. Select it, press enter and watch the famous yellow family spoofing the THX trailer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93dysAt2s5s
4. Ratatouille- The Rat's Hidden Menu
Pixar love Easter Eggs, that much is clear. Aside from their myriad in-movie references, they also tend to include additional goodies on their Home Video releases. For Ratatouille, they hid a whole extra menu just to prove it. I won't go into what's included in there, but there are five special little goodies to reward whoever can find them.And now, you too can be the envy of your friends by accessing that free stuff. Simply go to the main menu, and patiently watch the oven in the top left-hand corner of the screen until a rat peeks his head around it - when he does, click Left arrow on your remote control and behold the additional material.
3. Cloverfield - Go Viral!
Not an easy one to find at all. And whoever did discover it first without looking it up undoubtedly did so by accident. Anyway, first off, head to the Chapter Selection menu and highlight chapters 13-16" and then wait for precisely one-minute and seventeen seconds, at which point a 17th chapter will pop up. Follow it and you'll find a collection of viral videos, the Chuai station destruction short, a Slusho! website and commercial, and a series of clips recorded by Jamie Lascano (played by casting assistant Jaime Harlan) for her boyfriend Teddy Hanssen that represent a clever section of the Viral material released to the net prior to the movie's release. It lead me on a wider journey online looking up the characters and trying to uncover some of the other material, which I think is a wonderful experience.
2. Inception- Fischer's Numbers
Remember Fischer's magic numbers? Well played. If not, I'll give you a hint: they're 528491. This impressive little Easter Egg is accessed by typing those numbers into your remote control while watching the Special Features, which unlocks a further hidden Extra that appears under the 'Extras' option. In response Cobb's spinning top appears already highlighted, and when clicked reveals a digital comic focusing on events that occur before the Saito job. I'll say no more than that.
1. Wall-E Geek-O-Rama
To access the best Easter Egg offered by the studio who take care to provide fans with the best home video releases- who else but Pixar?- highlight the Play Movie option and click up on your controller of choice (I find the PS3 controller to be most helpful in the endless hunt for Eggs), which will turn the red E in the logo blue. Press enter, and hey Presto, a great little featurette entitled Geek-O-Rama appears. Great fun this one.
Needless to say, there are more Eggs out there, so happy trails. And don't forget to follow us on Twitter @owfilm and share the best of them on there...