SUN, SAND AND SWEAT (1983-1985) 4-MOVIE COLLECTION (Blu-ray Review)

SUN, SAND AND SWEAT (1983-1985) 

4-MOVIE COLLECTION

Label: Mill Creek Entertainment
Region Code: A
Duration: 391 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Dgital Stereo 2.0 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen 
Directors: James Bridges , George Bowers, Mark Griffiths, Sean S. Cunningham
Cast: Johnny Depp, Rob Morrow, John Travolta, Jamie Lee Curtis, David Knell, Perry King, Grant Cramer, Teal Roberts

Mill Creek Entertainment have put together a four-film collection of classic '80s boner-jams guaranteed to please anyone who was a horny teen or adolescent in the '80s. This one brings together three juggernauts of heavy petting from the post-Porky's era and adds in the John Travolta - Jamie Lee Curtis aerobic drama Perfect (1985), which features some '80s hard bodies but falls short of the boner-popping awesomeness of Spring Break (1983), Hardbodies (1984) and Private Resort (1985). The '80s were a very special time, a decade oozing with cheesy comedies, among them were an arousing sub genre of cinema I fondly refer to as boner-jams, movies that often dealt with teens on spring break and were loaded with copious amounts of nudity.  Late night cable was overstuffed with these back in the day, and I loved them. If I was cruising cable channels after hours and Hardbodies was airing I would watch in teen-ecstasy with no small amount of pant-swelling anticipation. In an age before the Internet and 24 hour porn these teen sex-comedies were my only source for spank-bank masturbation fuel.

PRIVATE RESORT (1985) 

Rating: R
Duration: 82 Minutes 
Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 
Video: 1080P HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: George Bowers 
Cast: Johnny Depp, Ron Morrow, Emily Longstreth

Synopsis: Jack and Ben check in at a posh Florida resort, planning to spend every hour in hot pursuit of babes. But their plans hit a major detour when they try to bed the wife of a conniving jewel thief. They'll have to outsmart him, a nasty security guard and an obnoxious jock if they're ever going to get a moment alone with the girl of their dreams!

Private Resort stars Johnny Depp and Rob Morrow as teen dudes who prowl a local resort looking for sex, a movie littered with scene after scene of topless women. It was everything a teen could hope for from an '80s boner-comedy, plus it mixed in a goody subplot involving a inept jewel thief called The Maestro, played by Hector Elizondo, and a near nude scene from Leslie Easterbrook from Police Academy, which might be worth the price of admission alone. I am sure Johnny Depp is ashamed of this one, coming right on the heels of A Nightmare on Elm Street and a few years before his star-making turn in Oliver Stone's Platoon. Private resort is a standard teen sex comedy, perfectly throwaway and delightfully cheesy. 

HARDBODIES (1984)

Rating: R
Duration:87 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 
Video: 1080P HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: Mark Griffiths 
Cast: Grant Cramer, Teal Roberts, Gary Wood, Michael Rappaport, Roberta Collins

Synopsis: When three middle-aged geezers move into a swinging beach house, they hire a young stud to teach them how to score with the local beauties.'80s band Vixen and hundreds of Southern California's hottest swimsuit models co-star in the legendary cult comedy.

Hardbodies always seemed to me to be the flagship boner-jam movie, with a sort of creepy set-up of three middle-aged divorced men who enlist teen surfer dude Scotty Palmer who helps them pick-up young ladies on the beach in California. Scotty is played by Grant Cramer of Killer Klowns from Outer Space fame, and the movie paints him as a sort of con man with a way with the ladies, which the three divorced men exploit to their advantage. However, when Scotty begins to develop real feelings for a new girl in his life he tries to change his ways, but in a movie loaded with breasts and buns it will not be easy. 

The movie also co-stars one Courtney Gains of Children of the Corn and The 'Burbs fame as Scotty's best mate Rags, a righteous '80s dude and one goofy looking sumbitch. Watching it again the movie has not aged well, but does well as a tawdry piece of '80s trash cinema, with an endless parade of topless young women, which is sort of what this set is all about. 

SPRING BREAK (1983)

Rating: R
Duration: 102 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 
Video: 1080P HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: Sean S. Cunningham
Cast: David Knell, Perry Lang, Paul Land

Synopsis: Adam and Nelson are naive college students who have come to Fort Lauderdale to perform these rites of Spring Break. Due to a mix-up, the boys end up in the same room with a pair of experienced guys from New York who coach the boys on the finer points of seduction - with mixed results.

Spring Break (1983) comes by way of director Sean S. Cunningham who most will know brought us the Friday the 13th, this teen-sex comedy is sandwiched in-between Friday the 13th (1980) and the teen-thriller New Kids (1985), the movie is about a pair of teen-dweebs named Nelson (David Nell) and Adam (Perry Lang) who arrive in Fort Lauderale to reap the horny rewards of spring break. They find that they have to share their small hotel room with a pair of party-animals named Stu (Steve Bassette) and O.T. (Paul Land), two skilled pussy-hounds who take the nerds under their wings, learning them in the ways of bedding strange women.

Along the way the four find themselves involved in an effort to save the hotel from a buy-out scheme by the crooked brother-in-law of the owner, a plot involving the step-father of Nelson and a shady building inspector. This one is tame in the nudity department compared to Private resort and Hardbodies, dare I say even nuanced to a degree with a story with an an actual arc, it's not quite American Graffitti, but it is not too far removed from The Last American Virgin. It also features the best soundtrack of the set, with tunes from NRBQ, .38 Special and a bonafide theme song from Cheap Trick, which is not their best stuff. The movie is fun, there's a sweetness to it, a vibe that reminded me a bit of Caddyshack, with a sweet love interest, and of course the prerequisite amount of boobies.

PERFECT (1985)

Rating: R
Duration: 120 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 
Video: 1080P HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: James Bridges 
Cast: John Travolta, Jamie Lee Curtis, Anne De Salvo, Marilu Henner, Laraine Newman

Synopsis: Based on a series of Rolling Stone articles by Aaron Latham, this romance was set in the world of L.A.'s hip fitness scene. Rolling Stone reporter Adam Lawrence (John Travolta) comes to L.A. to write a story about a prominent businessman who's been arrested for drug dealing (shades of the John DeLorean scandal). He's also decided to research a piece on the exercise fad and how health clubs have become the "singles bars of the '80s." His boss (real-life Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner as himself) OK's the project. At a club called The Sports Connection, an incognito Adam meets the regulars, including promiscuous Linda (Laraine Newman), airhead Sally (Marilu Henner) and aerobics instructor Jessie (Jamie Lee Curtis), a former Olympic swimmer. Adam and Jessie begin a romance, but it ends when she discovers that he's there to trash her and the club in print. Conflicted, Adam wrestles with publishing the story, but the final decision isn't his.

Perfect is based on true-life story about a Rolling Stone journalist (John Tavolta) who is writing an article on how 80's L.A. fitness clubs are the new singles spot, when he falls for a aerobic instructor played by Jaime Lee Curtis (John Carpenter's Halloween). There is no nudity and no horny teens anywhere to be found, but I will say that the short-coiffed Curtis rocked the spandex and has some nice moves, with both her and Travolta turning is decent performances, but the movie just did nothing for me - this was the dud of the bunch, and it did not belong on this teen-lust collection. 

The Sun, Sand and Sweat 4-movie collection from Mill Creek is a ton of boner-jam fun, three of the four movies are loaded with copious amounts of horny teen fantasies, and as a child of the '80s these were my cumming-of-age movies, and they look pretty good in HD. I wish they would have excised Perfect in favor of another trashy slice of '80s boner-comedy but the other three are top-notch '80s cheese. This can be picked-up for about $10, which is cheaper than what you can buy the now out-of-print Spring Break DVD for on Amazon or eBay. 3/5 

MY BOYFRIEND'S BACK (1993) (Blu-ray Review)

MY BOYFRIEND'S BACK (1993)

Label: Mill Creek Entertainment
Region Code: A
Rating: PG13
Duration: 85 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Bob Balaban
Cast: Andrew Lowery, Traci Lind, Danny Zorn, Edward Herrmann, Mary Beth Hurt, Jay O. Sanders, Matthew Fox, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Synopsis: Teenager Johnny Dingle will do anything to keep his date with the hottest girl in school - even come back from the grave! You see, Johnny had the perfect scheme to win the heart of Missy McCloud, the town beauty. Unfortunately, Johnny's scam goes sour and he winds up dead! Even so, Johnny's determined to keep his date - unaware of the hilarity waiting for him upon his return! See for yourself why everyone is dying to see this outlandishly funny comedy!

Mill Creek Entertainment bring another goofy comedy to HD with the release of My Boyfriend's Back from '93, starring Andrew Lowry (School Ties) as teenager Johnny Dingle, who beyond belief is not referred to as dingleberry even once throughout the movie. Anyway, Johnny has had a secret crush on classmate Missy McCloud (Traci Lind, Fright Night Part 2) since they were knee-high to fly, but has never had the testicular fortitude to do anything about it, that is until she breaks up with her longtime jock boyfriend Buck Van Patten (Mathew Fox, Lost). Just as Eddie's working up the nerve to ask her to the senior prom Buck and Missy make-up, but Johnny Dingle is not yet done, he and his best pal Eddie (Danny Zorn) hatch an ill-conceived staged robbery scheme to win Missy's heart, a scheme that ends with Johnny being shot in the chest and dying ...oops, bad plan. 

However, Johnny's crush is so strong for Missy that it brings him back from dead, crawling up from out of his grave and returning home to the shock of his parents, sort of. No one seems to be too-shocked by the reanimated teenager, it is just sort of accepted by the community at large, with only a few taking exception to his new found craving for human flesh. 

Now Johnny sets about winning the heart of Missy, while fighting the urge to feast on the flesh friends, though certain bullies are still on the menu. This is a fun one, part high school comedy, a sprinkle of horror, a lot of situational zombie humor, with tongue planted firmly in cheek where t belongs. The script is good and the cast do a great job with the material, particularly Lowery as the undead teen, plus a fun cast of side characters, including a doctor who wants to exploit Dingle for his own benefit, an undertaker who tries to warn Dingle about his undead condition, and Eddie's parent's played by Edward Herrmann (The Lost Boys) and Mary Beth Hurt (The World According to Garp). keep an eye out for a very young Philip Seymour Hoffman (Happiness) as a creepy bully, I almost didn't recognize the guy, sort of like a more testosterone-fueled version of Scotty J. from Boogie Nights. 

I didn't expect to enjoy this one as much as I did, a '90s zombie-comedy with some nice twists and turns, the writers were definitely having fun with the genre mash-up, as did I. There are some nice nightmare sequences that lean more towards horror, and some fun typical high school scenarios that are kicked-up a notch with the zombie stuff, not every teen movie deals with body parts rotting off during make-out sessions, at least not back in '93. 

My Boyfriend's Back arrives on Blu-ray from Mill Creek Entertainment look very nice, there's a pleasing amount of fine detail and clarity to the image. The only audio option is an English Dolby Digital stereo, dialogue and the Harry Manfredini (Friday the 13th) score come through clean and well-balanced, but not very robust. My Boyfriend's Back (1993) should be a welcome addition to any fan of zom-coms, and it can be had for cheap! This would make a fun double bill with he Steve Buscemi zom-com Ed and His Dead Mother from '92, another movie that could use a Blu-ray release. 3/5. 

JUST VISITING (2001) (Blu-ray Review)

JUST VISITING (2001) 

Label: Mill Creek Entertainment
Rating: PG13

Region Code: A

Duration: 89 Minutes

Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 

Video: 1080P HD Widescreen (2.35:1)

Director: Jean-Marie Gaubert

Cast: Jean-Marie Gaubert, Jean Reno, Christina Applegate, Christian Clavier

Synopsis: Just Visiting is one very funny fish-out-of-water comedy the whole family will enjoy. It's 12th century France and Count Thibault of Malfete (Jean Reno, The Da Vinci Code) finds his beautiful bride-to-be (Christina Applegate, Anchorman) done in by malevolent magic. So he and his loyal servant Andre (Christian Clavier, Les Visiteurs) request the help of a local wizard to right the wrong and bring his beloved back. But the wizardry goes awry and the pair is transported to 21st century Chicago where they meet Thibault's descendant Julia (Applegate) and her scheming fiancé. With their timeless values of honor and courage, they wreak havoc as they foil diabolical plots in modern-day Chicago and try to find their way back home.

The movie opens in 12th century England as Lord Thibault Malféte (Jean Reno, The Professional) is about to marry his beloved Princess Rosalind (Christina Applegate, Married with Children) when his enemy slips him a witch-brewed potion that causes him to hallucinate madly at the wedding ceremony, during which he envisions his would-be wife as a grotesque creature, defending himself he plunges his sword through her. Imprisoned and awaiting trial for murder his dim-witted servant André (Christian Clavier) seeks the assistance of an wizard played by Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange). Drinking the potion should send Malféte and André back in time to the moment just before Rosalind's death, but the Wizard forgets a crucial ingredient and the medieval men are transported not just to the 21st century, but through time and place across the pond to Chicago.  

Just Visiting is a remake of the French comedy Les Visiteurs from the '90s, which also starred Reno and Clavier in the very same roles. The script was given a rewrite by '80s icon John Hughes (The Breakfast Club) but from what I have gathered it stays pretty true to the original source material with only a few minor changes, Hughes wrote his beloved Chicago into the remake. Of course the original movie didn't star the lovely Christina Applegate, who appears again in the future as a descendant of Lord Malféte, who for some reason looks exactly like 12th century would-be wife, which is strange, but I will accept it. 

In the 21st Century Applegate is Julia, an employee ofa Chicago Museum who has just inherited the family castle in England, but her deceitful and greedy fiance Hunter (Matt Ross, HBO's Big Love) wants her to sell it so he can cash-in on her family money. Julia ends up encountering and befriending Lord Malféte and  André much to Hunter's chagrin, and what ensues is a silly stranger in strange time and place sort of movie that would have seemed more appropriate in the '80s than the '00s, but for what it is this was a pleasant enough distraction featuring the aristocratic Lord parading around Chicago in his royal get-up, with his man-servant  André discovering that in this brave new world he need not eat scraps from off the floor, even discovering love with gardener Angelique (Tara Reid, American Pie), who is actually not awful here, she is tolerable as the love interest

The main event of the movie is Lord Malféte bonding with his modern day descendant, encouraging her to not sell the family castle, empowering her to stand-up against her loathsome fiancee, played in '80s asshole fashion by Matt Ross, who is a guy I loved in HBO's Big Love, again playing a slimy asshole,the poor guy just has the sort of face that screams 'not a good guy'. Reno and Applegate are charming together, both as 12th century lovers and modern day descendants, and Malcolm McDowell offers a bit of fun as the absent-minded Wizard, but I wouldn't come into this expecting something more than what it is, a silly comedy.

Just Visiting arrives on HD from Mill Creek Entertainment with an AVC encode in the original widescreen scope aspect ratio looking decently sharp if not overly impressive. Mill Creek have opted to go with a lossy Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 audio option, which does the job just fine, but won't give your surround sound any sort of sonic work out, and the disc is bare bones. 

Just Visiting is a fun watch, not a movie that will linger0 in your mind for any length of time, just a very disposable slice of comedy entrainment, and one that can be owned for less than ten dollars on Blu-ray. 2.5/5

THE SINFUL DWARF (1973) Limited Collector's Edition (Severin Blu-ray Review)

THE SINFUL DWARF (1973) 

Label: Severin Films

Region Code: Region-FREE

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 94 Minutes

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: 1080p Full Screen (1.33:1)

Director: Vidal Raski

Cast: Anne Sparrow, Tont Eadies, Clara Keller, Torben Bille, Lisbeth Olsten

In this nasty slice of '70s Dwarfsploitation cinema the pint-sized Olaf (Torbin Belle) lives with his former nightclub singer mom (Clara Keller) - the nicely named Lila Lash. Together they run a seedy boarding house, offering cheap lodging to a pair of newlyweds, the lovely Mary (Anne Sparrow) who can definitely rock a tight-fit sweater, and husband Peter (Tony Eades) who is struggling to find steady work. The price of room is right but it will cost these newlyweds more than they could have possibly imagined. 

Unbeknownst to the couple the deviant dwarf and his slightly mad mother run a sex slavery dungeon in the basement of the boardinghouse, with Olaf kidnapping young women and shooting them up with heroin before pimping them out to the local lowlifes. If you had trouble with the sexual politics of Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs be prepared to be challenged ten fold with how easily these doped-up sex-slaves give in to being raped - after a few seconds of resistance they just cannot get enough of it. 

The movie is seedy and depraved to say the least with copious amounts of nudity, a dingy sex dungeon, and a strange array of mechanical toys, even the diminutive Olaf gets in on the rape action by way of his wooden walking cane, which he crams up a poor young girl's ... well, I am sure you can figure it out. 

The movie has the look of low-grade porn movie and the acting is slightly worse than that, but the movie does have a certain scuzzy charm about it, mostly by way of actor Torbin Belle, a man who has one of the most deviously expressive faces in all of cinema, a demonic dwarf that is truly stuff of nightmares. 

Aside from the straight-up exploitation shockers of this weird Danish-American production we have some moments of pure oddity that keep you glued to the screen. Olaf's mother Lila Lash loves to dress up as 

Marlene Dietrich

 and the fruit-adorned Carmen Miranda and bursts into drunken song, there's a local toy shop owner named Santa who smuggles heroin, and then there's that  surreal mechanical toy themed opening credit sequence, there's a lot of strange happening in The Sinful Dwarf. 

Audio/Video: The Sinful Dwarf arrives on Blu-ray looking sort of awful, not having watched previous standard-definition versions of the movie I can only judge it on the merit of this Blu-ray and it is not a pretty sight. The Blu-ray box art proclaims it has been "remastered from materials recently seized in a Roskilde vice raid!", which sounds like some fun Severin hyperbole, but whatever the source, it is just as seedy and dingy as the movie , the image is ugly, soft and the contrast is a mess. In fairness The Sinful Dwarf has probably always looked like crap, from the day it was shot to the present day, so I don't fault Severin for the shoddy appearance. When watching the strong international version - the porn version - you can easily spot the additional footage which stands apart from the rest of the movie, I actually preferred the color grading of the hardcore insert shots. 

Audio on the Blu-ray comes by way of English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 and it does the job just fine, the audio seems slightly muted and there is some audio throughout, but the English dialogue is discernible and the strange score comes through fine. There are no subtitles options on this one. 

For a movie with such a sordid past shrouded in mystery Severin have done an exceptional job lacing this Blu-ray with awesome bonus content, beginning with the hardcore version of the movie, which looks only slightly worse than the softcore version. It should be noted that in contrast to most movies the hardcore sex was part of the original film, and not just random insert shots of sex. New to this release is a seven-minute narrated mini-doc detailing Severin's exhaustive search for information about the movie and those who made it, it doesn't turn up much but it does give us some insight into career of actor Torbin Belle, who at one time was a children's TV star!

Also new is the  six-minute interview with documentarian/historian Elijah Drenner who speaks about the movie's U.S. distributor, Harry Novak, making a case for Novak as one of the most influential distributors of not just his era but of the twentieth century. The piece features clips from Novak's repertoire, with Dreener singling out 'Kiss Me Quick' as his more notable productions, a kinky Universal monsters inspired erotic romp. 

Carried over from the previous Severin DVD release is a ten-minute mockumentary 'The Severin Controversey' a fun spoof with a pair of cult-cinema fans recounting how the movie scarred them for life back in the days of VHS. There are also a selection of trailers and radio spots for the movie. 

Since there is so little known about the participants who made the movie Severin have gone outside the box and brought us two cool features in conjunction with HD smut-peddlers Vinegar Syndrome, by way of a 16mm Danish-porn film 'The Blue Balloon' from 1973, which was apparently made by the same producers who made The Sinful Dwarf, and starring one of the sex-slaves from Olaf's sex-dungeon. This is another weird one involving a woman who has been sold into sex slavery.  

Also added onto the sinful menu is an excerpt from the movie 'The Hottest Show in Town', a slice of Danish porn purportedly starring Torbin Belle, only appearing much slimmer than he did in The Sinful Dwarf. The five-minute except features two pint-sized fornicators having at it, which is always a good time. 

Special Features: 

- THE DWARF – Strong International Version (95 Minutes) HD
- THE ABDUCTED BRIDE – Alternate US Release Version (94 Mins) HD
- The Harry Novak Story – Featurette On The Sultan Of Sexploitation With American Grindhouse Director Elijah Drenner (6 Mins)
- THE BLUE BALLOON – 1973 Feature Film, Never Before Released On Any Home Video Format (72 Minutes) HD
- THE HOTTEST SHOW IN TOWN – Excerpt From Torben Bille Sex Film (5 Mins) HD
- The Search For Torben – Featurette On Effort To Find Cast/Crew From THE SINFUL DWARF (8 Mins)
- The Severin Controversy – Featurette On The Lasting Effects Of THE SINFUL DWARF (10 Mins)
- Trailers (3 Mins) HD 

- Severin DVD Trailer (1 Mins) 

- TV Spots 

- Radio Spot (2 Mins)

Severin Films have really packed a ton of cool bonus content into this pint-sized slice of dwarfspoiltation, not only to you get the soft and hard versions of the main feature, but a bonus dirty movie in addition to some fun extras. This release is strictly limited to 3000 copies, so get this classic slice of naughty awfulness while you can. 

THE VINCENT PRICE COLLECTION III (1961-1970)

THE VINCENT PRICE COLLECTION III (1961-1970) 

Label: Scream Factory

Region Code: A

Rating: Unrated, R

Audio: English DTS-HD with optional English Subtitles 

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen, Standard Definition Full Screen 

Director: William Witney, Roger Corman,  Reginald Le Borg, Ken Johnson, George Hessler

Cast: Henry Hull, David Frankham, Vincent Price, Mary Webster, Charles Bronson, Elaine Devry, Chris Warfield, Ian Wolfe, Nancy Kovack,  Elizabeth Bergner, Hugh Griffith, Essy Persson, Patrick Mower

Scream Factory have come through with a third volume of The Vincent Price Collection, once again spotlighting the iconic talents of horror chameleon Vincent Price. Now that we're three volumes into his repertoire I am seeing all of the films on this set for the very first time, which is awesome. As with the three previous volumes Scream Factory have gone above and beyond to present each of the movies with a brand new high-definition transfers, offering up some great bonus content, including audio commentaries on four of the five movies, numerous interviews with cast and crew, and two versions of Cry of the Banshee, the American International Pictures cut and the longer director's cut. 

MASTER OF THE WORLD (1961)

Duration:  102 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono 1.0, English DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: William Witney 
Cast: Henry Hull, David Frankham, Vincent Price, Mary Webster, Charles Bronson, Joan Freeman, Michael Pate, Robert Brown

This Jules Verne adaptation penned by science-fiction legend Richard Matheson stars Vincent Price as sky captain Robur who pilots an enormous flying machine, Robur  is on one-man crusade to disarm the world before it destroys itself. The story bares more than a passing resemblance to Vernes own classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, as does protagonist Robur to Captain Nemo, who takes aboard his flying ship a group of   adventurers who were exploring a volcanic crater in their own low-tech flying machine. Among them we have pro-war arms manufacturer Prudent (Henry Hull), his lovely daughter Dorothy (Mary Webster), her fiance Evans (David Frankham), and government agent Strock, notably played by Charles Bronson (10 After Midnight). This was a fun 19th century adventure movie, along the lines of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or War Gods of the Deep, which also stars Price in a similar role

Price is in fine form as the slightly mad genius bent on disarming the world, some of his abductees don't necessarily disagree with his beliefs, but they are opposed to his destructive methods. This is fun stuff if you are into vintage science-fiction adventure movies, or enjoy a good Jules Verne story. The American International Pictures production seems a bit cash-poor at times but they do seem to have put all the money into the optical effects of the movie, which are certainly dated but wonderful and charming just the same. I love these vintage steam-punk fueled sci-fi romps, and this one delivers the goods if that is something you enjoy. 

Scream Factory offer up a brand new HD Master from the Interpositive film element, though there are numerous instances of print damage throughout by way of small scratches, none of which detracted from my viewing, just don't expect a pristine HD image. The colors are vibrant, with reds and blues looking particularly great. Audio options are represented by both English DTS-HD MA Mono and Stereo tracks, the dialogue and Les Baxter score sound crisp and clean, optional subtitles are provided. 

Onto the extras for Master of the world we have a new commentary with Actor David Frankham moderated by Jonathan David Dixon, plus an extended cut of the Richard Matheson: Storyteller interview. There's also a theatrical trailer for the film and two image galleries. 

Special Features: 

- NEW High-Definition Master From The Interpositive Film Element
- NEW Stereo Soundtrack Created From The Original 4-Track Mag
- NEW Audio Commentary With Actor David Frankham moderated by Jonathan David Dixon
- NEW Richard Matheson: Storyteller – Extended Cut (72 Mins)
- Theatrical Trailer (2 Mins)
- Posters, Lobby Cards And Behind-The-Scenes Photo Gallery (2 Mins) HD
- Photo Gallery Of Images From David Frankham’s Personal Collection (2 Mins) HD 

TOWER OF LONDON (1962) 

Duration: 80 Minutes

Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio Mono 1.0 with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: B/W 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)

Director: Roger Corman

Cast: Vincent Price,Joan Freeman, Michael Pate, Robert Brown

Roger Corman's Tower of London is a real fine slice of diabolical cinema, a remake of the 1939 movie shot in black and white with Price starring as the hunched-back Richard III, the Duke of Gloucester. Richard is conniving and desperately hungry for the power of the Monarch, so much so that he is willing to kill his own brother to have the crown. A demented tale of Victorian corruption and madness, this one goes dark rather fast. Fans of Price's wicked turn in Witchfinder General should revel in his diabolical portrayal, a man who not murders his brother moments after their father's death, but places the blame on the family of the widowed queen, murders her young children, and torture a hand maiden on the brutal and bone-breaking rack, price is such a villainous character here.

This Roger Corman/Vincent Price team-up is one of the few not to draw from the works of
Edgar Allen Poe, but it is no less haunting or awesome, rarely has something so Shakespearean kept me rapt. Price is at his best as the maddened Richard III, haunted by the spectres of his victims, losing his grip on reality before succumbing to his own foretold fate on the battlefield. This one is stuffed with fine performances, including Joan Camden as Richards’ equally duplicitous and ill-fated wife, and Richard Hale as Tyrus the physician, a voice of reason ignored by Richard III.

Price is at his most deliciously villainous in Tower of London, with maniacal monologues and a host of diabolical deeds, a scene of man in an iron mask and a rat comes immediately to mind, vicious stuff. The movie looks great, a true Gothic horror accented by rich black and white cinematography, which looks sweet in 1080p high-definition. The English DTS-HD Master Audio Mono 1.0 sounds crisp and clean, dialogue and Michael Andersen's score come through nicely.

Special features for Tower of London include an interview with director Roger Corman, in addition to a second interview  with producer Gene Corman. Scream Factory also offer up two episodes of the TV show Science Fiction Theatre, both of which star Vincent Price, which I have not watched yet. We also get an image gallery with Posters, Lobby Cards And Behind-The-Scenes Photo Gallery.

Special Features: 

- NEW High-Definition Master From A Fine Grain Film Print
- NEW Interview With Director Roger Corman (7 Mins) HD
- Producing Tower Of London – An Interview With Producer Gene Corman (14 Mins)
- Two Episodes Of Science Fiction Theatre (1956): "One Thousand Eyes" (26 Mins) And "Operation Flypaper" (26 Mins) Both Starring Vincent Price (In Standard Definition)
- Posters, Lobby Cards And Behind-The-Scenes Photo Gallery (5 Mins) HD 

DIARY OF A MADMAN (1963) 

Duration: 96 Minutes

Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio Mono 1.0 with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)

Director: Reginald Le Borg 

Cast: Elaine Devry, Chris Warfield, Ian Wolfe, Nancy Kovack, Vincent Price

In Diary of a Madman Vincent Price stars Simon Cordier (Vincent Price), a French magistrate and amateur sculptor of clay, at the top of the story he is already dead, what plays out is a story as read from his diary after his death. Cordier becomes possessed by a malevolent spirit known as the Horla, which forces the magistrate to commit awful murders, including that of his new love, Odette Mallotte DuClasse (Nancy Kovak). The murders have a certain ripper type feel about them, Price is great in the role, perfectly menacing as the possessed killer, his performance is all in his glowing eyes. 

This amounts to a dual role for Price, who as the magistrate is a sympathetic character, a lonely man who was widowed years earlier under tragic circumstances, who has now found love in his life yet again, but the Horla will not allow this happiness to last long. The murders are not gruesome, but there are some gruesome touches throughout, including one that sort of felt like nod to Price's House of Wax, wherein the decapitated head of his lover is glimpsed through the clay sculpture of her face, this is good stuff. 

The performances are quite good, especially from Price, who plays tormented very well. His co-star Nancy Kovak also does well as Odette, the woman he loves, but who doesn't come off all that sympathetic in my eyes, sort of a money-hungry bitch, and there's maybe a tad too much melodrama for the movies own good, but I did enjoy it. I like the structure of the movie and how it plays out, and Price is always a gem, even when in something a bit on the rough side. 

Scream Factory present Diary of a Madman  with a new High-Definition Master From The Interpositive Film Element and looking quite nice all the way around in HD, a pleasing amount of fine detail, with nicely saturated colors. Dialogie and the Richard LaSalle score are well represented by the English DTS-HD Master Audio Mono 1.0 with Optional English Subtitles.

Extras on the disc include a new commentary with Film Historian And Author Steve Haberman, which is a wealth of information, but I find his commentaries a little on the dry side. The disc is rounded off with a theatrical trailer for the movie and an image gallery. 

Special Features: 
- NEW High-Definition Master From The Interpositive Film Element
- NEW Audio Commentary With Film Historian And Author Steve Haberman
- Theatrical Trailer (3 Mins) 

- Poster And Lobby Card Gallery (2 Mins) HD

AN EVENING OF EDGAR ALLAN POE (1970) 

Duration: 53 Minutes

Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio Mono 1.0 with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: Standard Definition Full Screen (1.33:1)

Director: Ken Johnson 

Cast: Vincent Price 

An evening with Edgar Allen Poe is a one-man tribute to Poe starring - - who else -- Vincent Price, who runs through Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart, The Sphinx, The Cask of Amontillado, and The Pit and the Pendulum.  A true testament to Price's acting prowess, a captivating and intimate feature with Price acting the Hell out of these Poe stories. Whether you're a fan of Edgar Allen Poe or Vincent Price this is a win-win for both camps, like chocolate and peanut butter, two awesome things that are simply great together. The stories are one-man shows as mentioned, but the production and keen but simple editing, along with such a fervent telling by Price, keep things from becoming redundant. 

Scream Factory present this one straight from the 2" master tapes, as it was a standard definition source it is presented as such, and appears very much like watching a vintage VHS tape. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD Master Audio Mono 1.0 with Optional English Subtitles.

Extras include another commentary from Steve Haberman, plus an interview With Writer/Producer/Director Kenneth Johnson who goes into the origins of the production and how it was assembled, plus there is a gallery of behind-the-scenes images. 

Special Features:
- NEW Master Created From The Original 2" Tape Masters
- NEW Audio Commentary With Film Historian And Author Steve Haberman
- NEW Interview With Writer/Producer/Director Kenneth Johnson (22 Mins) HD
- Behind-The-Scenes Photo Gallery (2 Mins)

CRY OF THE BANSHEE (1970) 

Duration: 87 Minutes (AIP Cut)/91 Minutes (Director's Cut)

Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio Mono 1.0 with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)

Director: George Hessler 

Cast: Elizabeth Bergner, Hugh Griffith, Vincent Price, Essy Persson, Patrick Mower

Vincent Price once again plays a magistrate on this set, this time he is Lord Edward Whitman (Vincent Price) who is not too far removed from Price's portrayal of Richard III in Tower of London, in fact he is just as wicked as Matthew Hopkins from Witchfinder General. Lord Whitman sentences a young woman to be branded and whipped for the crime of witchcraft, during dinner at his palace he forces the young children of the witch to entertain his gathering of cronies, but things turn awry when he kills both the young children when they prove rebellious. 

Further wishing to stamp out witchcraft in his jurisdiction he and a cadre of his henchmen
ride into the countryside and find exactly what they're looking for, a coven of witches lead by the hag Oona (Elizabeth Bergner). They slay many of the coven, angering Oona, who calls upon  a demonic beast which she unleashes against the Whitman clan. 

I found Cry of the Banshee to be a good watch, but not great, though I felt it should have been great. Price turns in a memorable wicked performance, and there's a lot of wickedness around him, for instance his son Sean (Stephan Chase) lusts after his father's young wife Lady Patricia (Essy Persson), it seems the true evil in the land may not be with the witches, but with the corrupt and immoral aristocrats, which is nothing new under the sun. 

The end has a nice amount of comeuppance to it, when it seems that Whitman's may have won against the forces of evil there's a good twist with a stinging finale as Whitman visits a cemetery to verify the death of the demon summoned to kill his clan, you might find yourself a bit bored at times by this one, truly i has some pacing problems, but just hang in there for the finale, which saves this one on the last leg. 

The new HD transfer of the director's cut comes from the Interpositive film element and looks pleasing all the way around, nice warm colors, an abundant of fine detail and texture, and superior to the theatrical AIP version, which is also included. The AIP cut was sourced from the only surviving element of the film, a color reversal intermediate. and there are a few more scratches and speckling evident on that version of the movie. Audio is handled by an English DTS-HD Master Audio Mono 1.0 track with Optional English Subtitles, nice and clean, dialogue and the Les Baxter score sound crisp and clean. 

Bonus content for Cry of the banshee includes the four-minute longer director's cut of the film with a new commentary from Author Steve Haberman. There's a damn good interview with Director Gordon Hessler who speaks about working for Hitchcock in his early days, the movie  Like the first two volume of the Vincent Price Collection the set comes housed inside a slipcover, plus a 12-page booklet with rare photos, but unlike the previous volumes does not contain an accompanying essay from author David Del Valle, just photos and artwork. 

Special Features:
- NEW High-Definition Master Of The Director’s Cut From The Interpositive Film Element
- NEW High-Definition Master Of The American International Pictures Cut From The Only Surviving Element, A Color Reversal Intermediate
- NEW Audio Commentary With Film Historian And Author Steve Haberman (Director's Cut)
- A Devilish Tale Of Poe – An Interview With Director Gordon Hessler (18 Mins)
- Theatrical Trailer (2 Min)
- TV Spot (1 Mins)
- Radio Spot (1 Mins)
- Posters, Lobby Cards And Behind-The-Scenes Photo Gallery (4 Mins) HD 

- 12-Page Book With Rare Photos and Artwork 

Volume three of the series might not have Vincent Price heavy-hitters like The Abominable Dr. Phibes or The Last Man on Earth of previous volumes but what it does have are four more movie Vincent Price movies in sweet 1080p HD with a wonderful assortment of bonus content, and that alone is worth laying down the hard earned scratch for. Volume II has gone out of print and is fetching ridiculous prices on eBay, don't pass this one up only to regret it later, highly recommended. Hoping we see a fourth installment, would love to see Theater of Blood, The Fly, The Tingler, Tales of Terror, The Comedy of Terrors and Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs come to Blu-ray from Scream Factory. 4/5