Cult Horror Classics

Product: Cult Horror Classics: 8 DVD Box Set

Company: St. Clair Vision

Unit # off the box: BX89959-8VD.

Purchased: Off the shelf at a Fye’s.

Price: $24.99 (roughly $3.12 per movie)

Overview

Halloween is fast approaching. Time to make party plans. Soda and chips are the easy part, as are finding decorations, but what about movies? Good horror movies are hard to find. Especially if you wait to rent them until the last minute. But there's always another option. Bargain DVDs. It's amazing what you can find these days, even for those on a budget. Take the Cult Horror Classics set from St. Clair, for instance.

I was pleasantly surprised with this box set. Sure better collections have come along since I first purchased this a year ago but, at the time, this packed a mighty bang for the price. Sadly I was none too happy to discover it contained the exact same utterly migraine inducing cut version of Fangs of the Living Dead I already have. But, aside from that, gems likes The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave- which looks to be a superior transfer to the full screen bargain bin version- make me less inclined to spew invectives like Megan spewed split pea soup.

Not that I wont offer my abrasive opinion. Especially since I figured that's likely what I'd get before I bought the box. Still I would have liked to have been proven wrong. And, yes, I even have a version of Invasion of the Bee Girls on tape somewhere, and yes I know it is also available on DVD. But as this is not a title I would have gone out of my way to buy obtaining it under it's alternate title is kind of fun.

Then there is the version of The Devil’s Nightmare! It appears to be from a similarly well-preserved source as that of the Redemption release. So you get some good and some bad, which is par for the course where boxed sets are concerned. But the icing on the cake is really the price.

If you were to buy these movies individually it would probably cost upwards, if not well over, $50 to $60 even if you stick to budget priced editions. But the real question is:

Is the box set worth it? The answer is that, with few exceptions, the video quality of this set is far superior to anything offered elsewhere. Also, if you care about this sort of thing, the DVDs each come in a slim case. That means the entire box set occupies roughly the same space that four normal keep case DVDs would.

The drawbacks? No extras. Unless you count menus and chapter stops as extras. These are essentially bare bones discs. Even so it's well worth buying if you don’t already have these titles on DVD. If you do have some of the titles in this set already and don't want to double dip then no worries these titles are also available individually. Check the bargain bin.

And what do you get in the box set?

Contents

The Hooker Cult Murders
Listed Running Time: 111 minutes
Actual Running Time: Not Yet Checked.
Comments: This forgotten R-rated 1973 flick stars Karen Black (Dinosaur Valley Girls, Children of the Corn IV) and Christopher Plummer (Dragnet, Star Crash). AKA The Pyx. Theatrical Run Time: 108 minutes. There is no way to describe this movie except as strange. Picture quality is poor.


Fangs of the Living Dead
Listed Running Time: 80 minutes
Actual Running Time: 74 minutes
Comments: This is the EXACT same PD copy that Retromedia pushes for 10+ bucks. The only difference here is that this time the listed running time isn’t as grossly exaggerated. But that’s still a massive SIX-minute discrepancy. Doesn’t anyone actually bother to check what they are selling, if only to see if it’s even what they claim it to be? No extras. No rating information listed.


Graveyard Tramps
Listed Running Time: 85 minutes
Actual Running Time: 86 minutes.
Comments: Believe it or not this is supposed to be a PG version of the R-rated Invasion of the Bee Girls. A cursory examination reveals that some, if not all, of the nude scenes appear to be more or less intact. Sadly the picture exhibits noticeable interlacing problems when viewed on a PC. To quote Spock, “Fascinating.”


Sisters of Death
Listed Running Time: 87 minutes
Actual Running Time: Not Yet Checked.
Comments: I also have this title on a "Treasure Box Collection" dollar store edition (more on that in a second). Overall the picture quality is fair. I'd say good but it's too grainy and has more than the occasional film "artifact". Of course it's full screen, which isn't saying much, but despite a bit of red tinting now and again the color is otherwise decent. Now for the odd bit. This movie is apparently identical to the version found on my Dollar Store "Treasure Box" DVD. I say apparently because the titles on the St. Clair version look a bit fuzzy and are almost unreadable whereas the titles on the Treasure Box version are a bit more stark, which may merely indicate one version was run through a filtering process designed to soften the picture. Not entirely sure about that. Very odd.


The Demon
Listed Running Time: 94 minutes
Actual Running Time: 92 minutes.
Comments: Picture wise skin tone looks to be a bit on the yellow side at times- possibly indicating color loss due to conversion from a PAL or SECAM source(?)- but is otherwise fairly clear. Even so this film, which was put out in the U.S. at one time under the title "Midnight Caller", is the weak link in the box set. It's about a psychic looking for a kidnapped girl. No demons or other supernatural boogens in sight.

The Night Evelyn Came out of the Grave
Listed Running Time: 111 minutes
Actual Running Time: 98 minutes.
Comments: After viewing the Alpha version of this title I have to admit this version came as a total surprise. First, it’s in LETTERBOX format. Second, though the source was obviously taken from a badly scratched print, this is slightly more watchable. Granted that’s mostly because you have more picture information. Yet compare with Alpha’s full screen version , which also touts itself to be R-rated, yet has a listed running time of only 96 Minutes. Kudos to Alpha Video for honesty and better cover art.


The Devil’s Nightmare
Listed Running Time: 88 minutes
Actual Running Time: 93 minutes.
Comments: Here’s one that used to play on the old Saturday creature features circuit. Not all that bad a movie. I also have the widescreen Redemption (Image Entertainment) unrated release of this title, which lists a running time of 93 minutes. While this, much to my surprise, is also a widescreen release it lists itself to be the R-rated version. Picture quality isn’t too bad though the Redemption version wins hands down when picture resolutions and clarity are compared on a PC. Definitely worth it if you can't find the Redemption DVD in stock anywhere.


Kiss Me, Kill Me
Listed Running Time: 90 minutes
Actual Running Time: 81 minutes.
Comments: This is a bare bones full screen release obviously transferred from a much viewed video tape master, possibly from a PAL or SECAM source, though more likely an old broadcast video master. A anamorphic widescreen version has been released by Blue Underground under the title "Baba Yaga" with a listed running time of 83 minutes. While both titles are unrated the movie itself has a listed theatrical running time of 91 minutes (81 in the UK) thus it’s probable these releases represent two distinctive and different prints. The main difference? Hard to tell as I don't have the Blue Underground release. But the Blue Underground version is jam packed with extras and contains 10 minutes worth of deleted and censored scenes. You'll have to decide which is right for you.