THE VINCENT PRICE COLLECTION II Blu-ray Review

Classic film aficionados and horror enthusiasts will relish the 4-Disc Blu-ray release of Scream Factory’s THE VINCENT PRICE COLLECTION, Volume II, perfectly timed for this year’s holiday gifting season. This extraordinary collector’s set is an essential movie collection for every home entertainment library and brings together SEVEN Vincent Price masterpiece classics, featuring the first-ever Blu-ray movie presentation of HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (1959), RETURN OF THE FLY (1959), THE COMEDY OF TERRORS (1963), THE RAVEN (1963), THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964), THE TOMB OF LIGEIA (1964) and DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN (1972).

NIGHTBREED (1990) Director's Cut Blu-Ray Review

Nightbreed (1990) d. Barker, Clive (USA)

Based on his novel Cabal, Clive Barker’s follow-up to Hellraiser exhibits as many of that film’s strengths (vivid, original storyline, exemplary makeup effects) as its weaknesses (uneven performances, gore without scares, jarring jokes). Craig Sheffer stars as Boone, a troubled mental patient whose implication in a series of violent murders leads him to Midian, an underground “other-world.” Within this subterranean city, we encounter the “Nightbreed,” a wonderfully grotesque collection of freaks and mutants (wonderfully realized by makeup designer Paul L. Jones) that populate the shadows of the human world, unable to venture into the light.

SQUIRM (1976) Blu-ray review

Squirm (1976) d. Jeff Lieberman (USA)

A downed power transformer in the small backwater town of Fly Creek, Georgia, sends thousands of volts of electricity into the wet ground and thousands of agitated biting Glycera worms to the surface. From this somewhat farfetched premise, writer/director Lieberman wrings a laudable amount of suspense, aided in no small part by his no-name cast who inhabit empathetic, intelligent, and resourceful characters worth rooting for.

DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN (1972) Blu-ray review

Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972) d. Robert Fuest (USA)

After the surprise hit of the original Phibes, Fuest and Price returned for another go-round of mirthful murderous mayhem, this time with the mad doctor hoping to revive his lost love via a sacred papyrus scroll and the mythical “River of Life” in Egypt. Robert Quarry co-stars as a millionaire equally consumed with the river’s life-restoring properties, one not at all amused by Price’s propensity for knocking off his expedition members through varied outlandish means.

THE COMEDY OF TERRORS (1963) Blu-ray review

The Comedy of Terrors (1963) d. Jacques Tourneur (USA)

After the success of The Raven, AIP attempted to tap the comic vein a second time but with decidedly diminished returns, both artistically and financially. The premise of a funeral home recycling its one coffin and occasionally helping the town’s populace into them is an amusingly dark one, but despite its terrific veteran cast, the comedy feels much more forced and mean-spirited, with Price’s tyrannical drunken lout snarking at underling Lorre and wife Joyce Jameson (who had memorably appeared opposite the two stars in “The Black Cat” episode of that year’s Tales of Terror).

THE RAVEN (1963) Blu-ray Review

The Raven (1963) d. Roger Corman (USA)

A childhood fave that continues to hold up half a century later, thanks to the game comic performances from screen scream veterans Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, and Peter Lorre. Concerned that they might be repeating themselves, Corman and screenwriter Richard Matheson opted to spin the dark and forlorn premise of Poe’s best-known poem into an extravagant slapstick romp involving quarreling wizards, magic spells, duplicitous wives, and warnings from beyond the grave.

RETURN OF THE FLY (1959) Blu-ray Review

Return of the Fly (1959) d. Edward Bernds (USA)

Philippe Delambre (Brett Halsey) follows in his father’s buzzy footsteps by resurrecting the transporter machine – much to the chagrin of Uncle Francois (Vincent Price) – only to be pitched into it alongside another winged traveler by his duplicitous business partner (David Frankham). Hilarity ensues.

HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (1959) Blu-ray Review

House on Haunted Hill (1959) d. William Castle (USA)

This classic fright-fest frivolity from producer/director Castle stars Vincent Price as eccentric millionaire Frederick Loren, offering $10,000 to five diverse guests if they can spend the entire night in the titular haunted house; thrills and chills ensue.

THE TOMB OF LIGEIA (1964) Blu-ray review

The Tomb of Ligeia (1964) d. Roger Corman (UK)

The last of Corman’s Poe adaptations is certainly one of the best-looking, due to terrific exteriors shot in the English countryside (the notoriously tight-fisted producer/director was looking to explore a different look from the previous studio-bound installments). Adapted from Poe’s slim story “Ligeia” by future Oscar-winning scribe Robert Towne, the film revels in its morbid gothic atmosphere and excellent performances. In the midst of a well-photographed foxhunt, the Lady Rowena (Elizabeth Shepherd) comes across grieving widower Verden Fell (Vincent Price) and his groovy period shades.

THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964) Blu-ray review

The Last Man on Earth (1964) d. Ubaldo Ragona / Sidney Salkow (Italy/USA)

“Another day to live through. Better get started.” From its opening shots of barren city landscapes littered with lifeless corpses to its bleak conclusion, the first screen version of Richard Matheson’s novel I am Legend is a downer all the way. But considering the subject matter, this is no surprise, and director Ragona (with additional material inserted by Salkow for its U.S. run) is to be lauded for remaining true to Matheson’s apocalyptic spirit.

THE DOCTOR AND THE DEVILS (1985) Blu-ray Review

The Doctor and the Devils (1985) d. Freddie Francis (UK)

This not-bad dramatization of the notorious Burke and Hare murders (with the names changed to protect. . .I'm not sure who) covers little new ground and, more significantly, fails to capture the haunting immorality of the crimes and those complicit in them. As the Dr. Knox character (here called Dr. Rock), Timothy Dalton is righteously indignant at the priggish lawmakers thwarting scientific progress, but even a hint of moral quandary as he knowingly turns a blind eye – allowing thuggish grave robbers-cum-murderers Fallon and Broom (Jonathan Pryce and Stephen Rea) to keep providing illegal cadavers for dissection – would have gone a long way.

THE SQUAD (2011) Blu-ray review

The Squad (2011) d. Jaime Osorio Marquez (Argentina/Spain/Colombia) 107 min

A premise with promise is nothing without proper execution. That’s the lesson to be learned from this exercise in military horror, one that covers nary an inch of fresh ground that GP 506, The Bunker, Deathwatch, The Objective, and any number of its cinematic band of brothers haven’t already explored with varying degrees of success. Here, the titular squadron of soldiers seizes a deserted Colombian guard-post only to discover that their former comrades have been brutally and mysteriously slain, the only survivor being a terrified woman, her tongue brutally cut out.

EXISTS (2014) movie review

Exists (2014) d. Eduardo Sanchez (USA) 86 min.

“Since 1967, there have been over 3,000 Bigfoot encounters in the U.S. alone. Experts agree the creatures are only violent if provoked.”

So begins Exists, which marks Sanchez’s noteworthy return to the “found footage” format that he and co-director Daniel Myrick helped popularize in the summer of 1999 with their wildly successful indie venture The Blair Witch Project. But what a difference a decade and a half can make; in the age of the iPhone, the faux documentary style that was once a novelty has become a Hollywood-adopted subgenre, and the question of “Why would they keep filming?” has been answered a billion times over by countless YouTube video subjects far less interesting than mysterious dangling stick figures or hairy missing links.

SCARE-A-THON 2014 (FINAL RESULTS!!!)

Total Movies Watched: 81
Total First Time Views: 18
Amount Raised: $846.45

And that, my friends, brings us to the end of another glorious Scare-A-Thon and October Horror Movie Challenge. My thanks to everyone who participated in some way, whether it be reading the reviews, pledging, sponsoring a charity, watching alongside, or just stopping by to chat. It makes the long nights go by so much easier knowing that one’s efforts are noticed and appreciated.


BONUS CHALLENGE STATS:

Total Time: 7615 min

Average Length: 94 min
Longest Movies: ALIENS (137 min), WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (134 min)
Shortest Movie: THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG (64 min)
Longest "Day" (24-hour Music Box Massacre 10/11-12): 12 movies, 1125 min.
No-Movie Days: 3 (10/6, 10/7, 10/13)
Oldest Movie: THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE (1921)
Newest Movie: EXISTS, THE BABADOOK (2014)

OCTOBER MOVIE CHALLENGE (10/31)

Challenge Totals:

Movies Watched Today: 3
Total Movies Watched: 81
Total First Time Views: 18
Amount raised: $846.45


Today's showcased SCARE-A-THON Charity:

MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY ASSOCIATION, sponsored by Stephanie Weller Castelluccio