Night Of The Big Heat (Island of the Burning Damned) Review

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(More customer reviews)Die-hard fans of vintage British science-fiction and horror will enjoy this low-budget yarn. There's a great cast including Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing (not seen enough, though) and Patrick Allen, the king of voiceovers who sadly died recently. It's all pretty silly, but entertaining. The director is the great Terence Fisher.

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The Bela Lugosi Collection (Murders in the Rue Morgue / The Black Cat / The Raven / The Invisible Ray / Black Friday) (1934) Review

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(More customer reviews)These represent the Universal films outside the "Dracula" and "Frankenstein" franchises that starred Bela Lugosi--or more accurately, Karloff and Lugosi in all but one. Once Karloff entered the Universal scene a few months after "Dracula" (1931) and created such a hit with the Frankenstein monster--eclipsing Lugosi's Dracula, the studio wasn't keen to feature Lugosi as their horror star any longer: very ungrateful of them. So it leaves a "Lugosi Collection" from Universal largely as pairings with Karloff. "Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1932) is exclusively a Lugosi vehicle. In "The Black Cat" (1934), the two are matched. Lugosi dominates in "The Raven" (1935), while "The Invisible Ray" (1936) is more a Karloff vehicle. "Black Friday' (1940), by far the weakest film, shouldn't be here at all, as Lugosi only has a small role.
Since others have already spoken at length about the films, and since most people buying this two-sided disc know what they're getting, I want to address the DVD mastering problems experienced. Many have noted that, regardless of player, films on the disc pixelate and freeze at random points. This is a problem with Universal's DVD-18 mastering process, which has flaws that have since caused Universal to return to their earlier, more reliable DVD-9 process.
In the meantime, both this disc and the 2-DVD "The Hammer Horror Series" have more than their share of bad discs. Contacting Universal itself will serve no purpose: even though they are aware of the problem, the pressings are out there and are not being remastered. You just have to be persistent and keep exchanging defective copies at retailers--even if you have to get a refund and start again with another dealer; the films are worth it. Eventually, you *will* get one without glitches. It took me three copies from two places for both this and "The Hammer Horror Series." Importantly, you don't have to play through all the films in real time to know if you have a flawed copy: just scan through the films in the player at 4x-10x speed (no faster), and if there is a glitch, the player will freeze at the spot. That way, you don't have to watch through eight 90-minute movies on every copy you try out; it will take only 10% of the time to check the set, and you don't even have to be in the room. If you come back and the image is frozen, rather than having finished the film being scanned and having returned to the menu, then you have a bad one.

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The Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection, Vols. 1 & 2 Review

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(More customer reviews)Universal has finally seen the folly of their ways in selling this set exclusively via Best Buy and is re-releasing both volumes 1 & 2 in one set. Included are all ten films in the original sets, but once again there will be no extra features - just the films themselves and some trailers. If you love the great campy horror films of the 1950's you'll love this set. The following is from the press release on the new combined set:
Tarantula (1955, 81 min.)
An experiment to create a growth formula that could end starvation evolves into a nightmare when a contaminated spider grows gargantuan - with an appetite to match!
The Mole People (1956, 78 min.)
Deep below the surface of the earth, three scientists stumble upon a tyrannical tribe of albinos who have enslaved a mutant - and dangerous - race of mole people.
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957, 81 min.)
After encountering a mysterious radioactive mist, an ordinary businessman finds his physical size diminishing as his ordinary household becomes a terrifying trap of doom. By the way, who keeps a cat in the house with a six inch tall husband around?
The Monolith Monsters (1957, 76 min.)
In a desperate race against time and nature, a geologist and a scientist must find a way to stop effects of killer outer-space rocks that are literally petrifying people with fear!
Monster on the Campus (1958, 76 min)
Terror sweeps a college campus after the discovery of a prehistoric fish that turns animals and humans that come into contact with it into bloodthirsty monsters.
Dr. Cyclops (1940, 78 min) in COLOR!
A brilliant but deranged physicist shrinks his enemies to one-fifth of their normal size when they begin to challenge his unconventional experiments.
Cult of the Cobra (1955, 80 min)
Vengeance is sworn against six American GI's after they witness a clandestine ceremony worshiping beautiful women who can change into serpents.
The Land Unknown (1957, 79 min)
When a navy expedition crash-lands in a crater thousands of miles below sea level, they encounter a hot, tropical landscape of prehistoric terror filled with ferocious dinosaurs.
The Deadly Mantis (1957, 79 min)
A paleontologist teams up with the military to battle a huge praying mantis when it goes on the attack in metropolitan cities after being released from an Arctic iceberg.
The Leech Woman (1960, 77 min)
Determined to recapture her beauty, a woman discovers a compound that will restore youth - but only when it's combined with fluid taken from bodies of the newly dead.

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