Yes, friends and neighbors...you can all fianlly sigh that breath of relief...for finally the CHEAP-ASS REPORT has returned after a long hiatus mainly because I'm too lazy to actually commit to doing actual reviews of the following discs.

First off, we have Alpha Home Video's release of the obscure Hammer Pictures late 1950s attempt at producing a television pilot: TALES OF FRANKENSTEIN...

While out and about, I ran across this disc in a local Dollar Tree store.  Now the significance if this being that Alpha discs have never been pricey (I've never given more than 8 bucks for one), but then to see some being sold for an even cheaper price (one whole dollar American, as all merchandise is this particular chain's outlets) was cause for celebration in my little world.  The plot's basically yer typical Hammer Frankenstein story, picking up sometime after the creation of the monster and the good doctor entertaining surprise house guests in the form of an artist and his wife seeking medical help for an ailment the artist is suffering from.  The monster make-up is fairly uninspired, basically a fairly cheap rip-off of the classic Univeral Pictures/Jack Pierce design.  But it's a decent enough time-waster, and I couldn't argue with the price.   I found myself more giddy of the inclusionof not only The Terror as an added feature (this film has been a staple of cheap-ass public domain manufacturers since the dawn of the VHS age), but also it has the original theatrical trailer for the Jack Nicholson/ Boris Karloff flick thrown in for good measure....

Now, not only am I a fan of bad movies, but at times bad television, as well.  And that brings us to our second disc of this little rant: Brentwood's release of the Bob Denver travesty DUSTY's TRAIL to DVD.  Originally airred in 1973, this short-lived Gilligan's Island rip-off....literally...imagine instead of being on a desert island, the Minnow was a stage wagon and the cast were lost somewhere in the American West. I vaguely remember seeing syndicated reruns of this fiasco at some point in my childhood on one of the numerous (and now sadly defunct) independent television stations in the area where I spent my youth.  Not only is it a terrible premise...the desert island I can buy, but dry land?  You'd figure they'd finally just run into the coast after a few months.  Sounds like the makings of a Donner Party feast....but the cast is absolutely lousy.  No wonder it never lasted past the first (and only) season.....