This time boys and ghouls we are going to have another double feature! And no, it's not because it's been so long since the last update, but rather it's because of a peculair set of circumstances all most as strange and bizzarre as the movies themselves.
So a couple weeks ago I'm surfing about online and I find this site:
Whoo..DVDs of the independant type for a mere $12!?!?
And it just so happened that I had exactly $12 in my Paypal account, providence, fate, who knows...I picked a DVD and ordered it!!!
My choice was a Zombish sounding title called:
THE NIGHT THEY RETURNED
No shit! Fifty, that's 50, five, zero movies!!!!
For one price that you'd likely pay for one of those just-released Hollywood movies!!!
The movies are on 12 double sided DVDs. It comes in a cardboard box which opens like a book, and has velcro fastners to keep it closed. It fits nicely on the DVD rack and has all 50 movies listed on the back. Open it up and DVDs are in individual cardboard cases which list each movie on that disc with a brief plot synopsis. Not too shabby considering the price....
But who cares about packaging? Get on with the movies, Chim!!! Are they good? Are they cool? Are they really classic?
Well like every box set, they seem to have their ups and downs. And are they classics, like the Universal Classics DRACULA or THE MUMMY or FRANKENSTEIN, well not exactly, but they are classics to a cult horror lover like me! They do star Horror greats like Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney (both Jr and Sr) and even Vincent Price stars in a few. The movies in the set which I would (and most others would concur) consider definately classics are CARNIVAL OF SOULS, WHITE ZOMBIE, METROPOLIS, DR. Jeckyll & MR. HYDE (the Barrymore version), NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (Chaney Sr), THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME(also Chaney), NOSFERATU, THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, THE TERROR, BLUEBEARD, THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, and DEMENTIA 13. So as you can see, there are serious classics.
The rest of the movies, although maybe not full on serious classics, are definately a blast from the past. There are several that have made appearances on MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 such as THE KILLER SHREWS, THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS, THE INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN, THE GIANT GILLA MONSTER and a couple others. Tossed in also are those old Bela Lugosi flicks that you seem to find on every collection like INVISIBLE GHOST, THE VAMPIRE BAT and THE CORPSE VANISHES, which makes me wish I had got this one first.
Here is a complete list of the 50 movies:
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
Blue Beard
The Corpse Vanishes
Night of the Living Dead
Doomed to Die
The Phantom of the Opera
The Indestructible Man
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Nosferatu
Swamp Women
The World Gone Mad
The Little Shop of Horrors
Tormented
The Monster Walks
Monster from a Prehistoric Planet
The Gorilla
A Shriek in the Night
Bloodlust
The Amazing Mr. X
Last Woman on Earth
The Bat
The House on Haunted Hill
The Last Man on Earth
Dementia 13
Phantom from 10,000 Leagues
Carnival of Souls
Atom Age Vampire
Creature from the Haunted Sea
Nightmare Castle
Black Dragons
Invisible Ghost
One Body Too Many
White Zombie
Attack of the Giant Leeches
The Screaming Skull
Beast of Yucca Flats
The Terror
Revolt of the Zombies
The Giant Gilla Monster
The Fatal Hour
Dead Men Walk
The Mad Monster
Maniac
Metropolis
The Vampire Bat
The Ape
The Monster Maker
The Killer Shrews
The Brain That Wouldn’t Die
King of the Zombies
Not too shabby! Perfect for those nights you feel like watching blasts from the past until your eyes bleed...
So what do you pay for all these flicks? About 50 or 60 cents a movie...just like you would have paid at the theater back when these movies first came out. I wonder what they will be paying for 50 Movie sets a few decades from now, about $750?!?!
