Blood & Black Lace – 2 Disc Special Edition + The Demon
(1979) + Horrors Of The Black
Museum/Headless Ghost Double Feature + The
Swamp Of The Ravens/I Eat Your Skin (aka Zombies) Double Feature + 70s
Drive-In Double Feature: Ruby/Kiss Of The Tarantula (VCI DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: D (Lace: B) Films:
B/C/C+/C/C/C/C+/C
For the
Halloween 2010 season, VCI has decided to reissue some of its top Horror titles
and throw in some new ones. Some of the
older ones are sadly basic editions only, so beware. Links are included on the titles we have
already covered.
Blood & Black Lace – 2 Disc
Special Edition
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3257/Blood+&+Black+Lace+%E2%80%93+U
This new
version (with the different cover pictured on the side of this review) is the
same exact set with a new cover.
The Demon (1979) is
Producer/Writer/Director Percival Rubens’ sloppy, almost silly attempt to do an
Italian Giallo film like Bava, et al, throwing in the latest slasher hits, but
the killer is too run of the mill and the cats can only help to do so much to
make this work. Cameron Mitchell is not
bad, but this did actually launch Jennifer Holmes (a teacher who becomes the
main target for the killer) into a good acting career. The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 and
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono show their age, so expect top adjust to that if you
watch. There are no extras.
Horrors Of The Black
Museum/Headless Ghost
Double Feature
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/83/Horrors+Of+The+Black+Museum
+
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9686/Horrors+Of+The+Black+Museum+(195
We have
covered Museum twice and the VCI
edition we covered before was best, which had a nice set of extras this disc
totally lacks. Headless is a silly 1959 would-be comedy from director Peter Graham
Scott (who later helmed episodes of The
Prisoner, The Avengers and Danger Man) with Herman Cohen (Target Earth, Berserk, Trog, Black Zoo) as a writer and producer in
this curio that can get boring, but has a few moments. I am not a big fan though it sports some good
actors including the enduring Clive Revell as the ghost and maybe I would enjoy
it more in a better copy, so you can get this set, get the older version of Museum or wait for either or both to
come to Blu-ray. Both are letterboxed
2.35 X 1 (Museum in CinemaScope, Headless in DyaliScope) and have PCM 2.0 Mono,
but no extras.
The Swamp Of The Ravens/I Eat Your
Skin (aka Zombies) – Deluxe Widescream Edition Double Feature offers the least
seen of the film here, the first of which is 1974 Dr. Moreau wanna be as another doctor (Raymond Oliver) is
conducting genetic and similar kinds of experiments that (of course) are gong
to go very wrong. Shot in Techniscope
(but in EastmanColor), the film does have an interesting look, but Director
Michael Cannon (aka Manuel Cano) can only bring so much to the same old story,
yet I at least like the offbeat approach and atmosphere. I Eat
Your Skin (1964, but not released until 1971) is the most famous film by
Del Tenney, as a snake venom treatment turns the population on a Carribbean
island into zombies. Now it is
considered an early example of a good zombie film. It may not be great, but it at least is a comparatively
ambitious entry into a now long glutted horror subgenre. Both are anamorphically enhanced (2.35 X 1
for Swamp, 1.85 X 1 for Skin) and have Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
that show their age, but are not awful.
There are
no extras, but you can read about other Tenney films at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6754/The+Del+Tenney+Collection+(Dark+Sk
Ruby/Kiss Of Tarantula
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/753/Ruby+(1977)
+
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5048/VCI+Scream+Pack+with+Don%E2%80
Both are
here in anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 images and Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, but
you get no extras, so those more interested in Ruby might want to get the VCI Special
Edition we reviewed a while ago or wait for a Blu-ray.
- Nicholas Sheffo
