Please review horror and science-fiction DVDs here, thanks. When reviewing, good things to keep in mind that people want to know: how good was the film quality, was the film itself any good, what were the extras and how good were they, was there a good commentary, etc. You know, stuff you would like to know if you were thinking about buying a particular DVD.
Posted: April 23rd, 2007, 3:50 pm
by filmlover
Horror of Dracula
Horror of Dracula stars Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee and the print is excellent. Of all the Dracula films made, I think I like this Dracula film better than any others, including those of Bela Lugosi. Even in color, I found it atmosopheric. The musical score was excellent and added to the excitement. The performances by Cushing and Lee are great. Some of the little day players tend to get hammy, but Cushing keeps it on track. Also in the cast is a young Michael Gough, Alfred from the Batman movies.
Extras are minimal. There is a slight printed history of Dracula films of Hammer. No commentary. Still it is worth buying for the film itself.
Posted: April 23rd, 2007, 3:52 pm
by filmlover
100 Years of Horror
This is a 5-DVD box set that contains 26 half-hour programs hosted by Christopher Lee, with clips and interviews with insiders. Each show examines a part of horror film history, such as Dracula, girl ghouls, etc. While this all sounds good at first, the execution of it is pretty bad. Most of the clips are actually parts of trailers of low quality, since probably they didn't try to pay for any rights to actual film clips. Overall, the video quality of the DVDs is only about 3 (at the most) on a scale of 5. It's an interesting watch but not worth the money.
Note: There are 2 versions out there. A single DVD version and the 5-DVD Complete Collection. This review is for the 5-DVD set, but based on its lack of quality the single DVD compilation wouldn't be worth having, either.
This 1946 chiller is one of the few horror movies produced by Republic Pictures, a studio better known for westerns -- as was its director Lesley Selander. The titular werefeline is portrayed by an unbilled Robert J. Wilke -- also better known as a heavy in westerns.
