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Rating:  - Fun Mix Of 'Good' Bad Movies
Well, you either like bad movies or you don't - I'm one of the former, obviously, or I wouldn't have been buying up many of these 50-movie packs! Now, not all bad films can be enjoyed - some are just plain painful. Take "RV" for example (not included in this movie-pack, of course) - that's a film that allows Standards & Practices to suffocate all emotion and life from it's story until you have nothing left but soulless robots using Dean Jones shenanigans and toilet humor to try and entertain everybody and offend no-one. I'd rather put a bullet in my brain than sit through that again. But if you enjoy surreality more than appearance-based conscious reality, then you'll like quite a number of the films in this and other sets (the sci-fi/horror collections to be precise).
I personally like to take all 12 discs in a collection and 'shuffle' them up a bit, put them back in, and put in a DVD at random - then I block out the left part of the TV and play a film without knowing what one I'm going to see. It's really easy to do and it does make watching bad movies more fun... I mean how excited can you get knowing you're gonna watch "Twister's Revenge" later on tonight??? (Note: If you love the show Mystery Science Theater 3000 and have an overactive imagination, you can always pretend Dr Forrester and TV's Frank are 'sending' you the movies to dull some of the pain you might feel watching some of these movies - but if you're stuffed animals demand to be called Crow and Servo and begin riffing the film with comments you may want to discontinue this tactic).
To give an idea of the type of variety, I'll give some observations of a few of the films enclosed: "Twister's Revenge" is a film that falls under 'painful', though the first half hour or so is bearable - silly-stupid. Once the trio of inept criminals kidnap the 'inventor' of the computer-voice enhanced 4X4, it gets stupid-stupid real quick. Low point- The dumbest criminal gets blown up, lands in a tree, and actually tells his partner he's 'hanging around'.
"Night Train To Terror" takes three awful horror films, chops them down to about 30 minutes each, and tries to build an omnibus around them. The worst thing about this film is the ear-shattering 80's generi-pop band on the Night Train singing the same nauseating "DANCE wit' me DANCE wit' me" song between each story music-video style... No wonder MTV don't show videos anymore. The stories are very graphic and gory, bad acting aside. And meanwhile, God and Satan are in a private car debating souls and sniping at each other. Weird film? Hard to find weirder. NOTE: The last story is actually the film "The Nightmare Never Ends" from the Nightmare Worlds 50-Movie pack. They pare it down in time by half, then add some ridiculous Ray Harryhausen claymation effects to try and make it scarier - but succeed in only making it funny.
"The Guy From Harlem" is the type of film Sweet Daddy Williams from "Good Times" would make if he got into Hollywood. The acting is on par with a low-budget pornographic movie - and so is the screenplay. But as bad as these qualities are, this is what I'd call a 'good'-bad movie. The actor playing Detective Al Collins (I think that's what his name was) is likeable, the outfits, furniture, and -eek!- wallpaper just ooze '70's-retro, and those afro's are just beautiful! The music, though, would send Curtis Mayfield out of the room gagging for air. The actor playing the kidnapped girl's father is loud, brash, and hysterical - I loved him. The blonde girl playing Al's girlfriend does a great job in the scene where she walks out on him - he was genuinely laughing at her performance I believe. And look quick for the scene where Al HURLS the princess onto the bed! The film defect while she's in mid-air just makes it funnier.
So there's a horror, 70's retro, and comedy/farce flick - if these sound watchable to you, even if they aren't grade-A (or B) movies, then you might want to consider getting a couple of these movie packs. I haven't regretted my purchases a bit. If a film is surreal or interesting to look at, I'll watch it several times. (I LOVED 'The Creeping Terror", "Monster A-Go Go", "Robot Monster", and "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed Up Zombies" - films rated among the worst ever made. None of these were included in this pack, I'm afraid). Unfortunately, there is that Mill Creek logo that appears in the lower right corner of the screen a couple times during each movie. Thankfully they switch to a much less distracting blue-white one for the Nightmare Worlds pack (and there's no logo at all in the Chilling Classics set).
And my comment regarding the sound/film quality - each film is exactly like that if you were to watch a movie on television BEFORE digital discs were invented. If you tape a NEW movie off HBO or something onto a VHS tape and put that quality against one of these movies, you'll know what I mean. DVD's have spoiled us, I'm afraid, and since their inception, it seems almost every film has been restored, remastered, and remixed. But these transfers are exact duplicates of the masters Mill Creek recieved and therefore are the best existing so far. Sound is something I'm much more critical of, but asfar I've been able to understand every word just fine. I personally LIKE that these haven't been restored visually - why does everything have to look BRAND new? They remastered Burt Reynolds' "The Longest Yard" last year and you can't even tell it was made in the 1970's anymore! But I agree that some of the missing snippets of film and phantom 'clouds' from age/ improper storage can be a pain, especially when they occur in a film that's just barely twenty years old. But these too aren't that bad an issue. The one thing that irks me about these sets is that the Mill Creek graphic at the very beginning of each disc looks not like a mill unreeling a film, but that of a roll of toilet paper unspooling itself... I mean how could they not have SEEN that???
Rating:  - Disappointing
The quality of all the movies is poor-comparable to or worst than VCD. I watched the first 2 dices and lost interest in the rest of the movies. It is more worthy to buy 1 good DVD movie than 50 lousy poor quality classic.
Rating:  - Movie Classics
Not exactly classics by any stretch of the imagination, nevertheless a set of 50 movies gathered together on DVD's certainly adds to one's movie collection pretty quickly. Some movies are worth a look as they feature young future stars, others feature never were's and never will be's.
Rating: - Cheesiest of the 5 sets I have
Of the five 50-pack sets I have, this one seems to me to be the cheesiest overall. But then, I rather expected this given that it's a set of "drive-in" Grade B/C "classics." I really did not recognize many of the names and, unlike one other reviewer, though I have other sets, there did not seem to be duplicates here. (I have Suspense, Chills, Mystery and Horror besides this one.)
Rating: - Another Winner!...
50 DRIVE-IN MOVIE CLASSICS is yet another public domain movie bonanza! It's a mixed bag of hits, misses, and total duds! Still, most are a blast to watch, and cost so much less than other releases of the same movies that it's worth the cheap price! This collection contains nudity, gore, sick humor, etc., and well deserves it's R-rating! Now, to the movies! I'll review 'em in the order they appear and use "*" for stars. THE DEVIL W/ SEVEN FACES- *** Carrol Baker is a woman plagued by the thieving partners of her twin sister. A nice twist ending you'll see coming for miles! TWISTER'S REVENGE- ** (This is on my copy instead of FIEND) A monster-truck w/ artificial intelligence helps it's driver defeat the crooks who want to steal it. Pretty dumb, but fun enough. DAY OF THE PANTHER- *** Aussie kung-fu! Ed Stazak is the fu master, out to get a druglord. Features a kung-fu fighting guy in a pig mask w/ a machette! How can you lose?? CREEPER (AKA: RITUALS)- **** Hal Holbrook stars as a doctor who goes camping w/ a group of other doctors in the deep woods, only to be stalked by a crazed murderer! Excellent! COUNT DRACULA AND HIS VAMPIRE BRIDE (aka: SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA)- **** Christopher Lee is Drac and Peter Cushing is Van Helsing in this mod 70s vampire epic. The Count wants to wipe out mankind w/ a super-plague! Also stars AB FAB's Joanna Lumley! Watch for the nekkid sacrifice too! COUNTRY BLUE- *** Hillbillies run amok in this southern fried cops 'n' robbers saga! Dub Taylor's in it as well. GOING STEADY- ** Somewhat humorous, yet boring little tale of teens in 1950s Tel Aviv. Sort of PORKY'S in Israel! Contains nudity galore! MAD DOG (aka: BEAST WITH A GUN)- **** Helmut Berger is sleazebag, escaped convict Nanni Vitally in this bloody, rape-filled extravaganza of trashiness! He's vengeful and deadly! I WONDER WHO'S KILLING HER NOW?- * Horrible, dull, "comedy" about a guy trying to collect on his wife's life insurance. Ugg! SAVAGE WEEKEND- *** A masked murderer is on the loose! Deaths ensue. William Sanderson is a wacked out sort of guy, but is he the killer? Good stuff! BLACK HOOKER- ** Depressing tale of a mixed up kid who longs for his prostitute mum's love, only to be rejected by her and everyone else. Lots of nudity, rape, etc. JIVE TURKEY- *** OK story about black hoods against italian mobsters. Check out the transvestite assassin w/ the killer heels! ABSOLUTION- **** Richard Burton is a priest in a catholic boys' school who finds himself caught up in a psychotic game of death after he tells his class about the absolute secrecy of confession. Great! BREAKOUT FROM OPPRESSION- *** A woman is stalked and tormented by someone after being released from prison. Interesting and different. CREEPERS (aka: PHENOMENA)- **** A shortened version of Argento's classic. A young girl (Jennifer Connelly) who can psychically communicate w/ insects teams up w/ an entimologist (Donald Pleasance) to catch a serial-killer. Awesome! DON'T OPEN 'TIL CHRISTMAS- *** Someone's killing people who are dressed as Santa! Includes a urinal-side castration scene! Yikes! SNOWBEAST- *** Clint Walker, Bo Svenson, and Yvette Mimeau track down a murderous yeti at a ski resort. HORROR OF THE ZOMBIES- * Those rickety-skeleton templar monks are back. This time, some tasty fashion models are on the menu! Watch for the ship of doom (a toy boat that bobs along in someone's bathtub)! Hilarious! MAMA DRACULA- A good idea gone bad. Louise Fletcher is the queen of the damned, looking for virgins' blood to bath in. Alas, there just aren't as many virgins nowadays! This one would have been better if about 45 mins had been lopped off! MURDER MANSION- ** A group of travelers end up in a mansion surrounded by fog. A witch lives there, and mayhem ensues. The twist ending is not so good! TRAUMA- *** Schoolgirls are being murdered! They all have a connection to a horrible past event. Lots of nudity and a rather disturbing premise! UNSANE (aka: TENEBRES)- **** Yep, another Argento gem! Tony Franciosa is a writer of violent thrillers who has a killer using his books as a blueprint for murder! Bloody! VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES- *** Paul Naschy plays a dual role as a wimpy mystic and his evil twin brother. The evil Paul is raising dead women from the grave to exact revenge on his enemies. These babes look more like Manson gals than zombies! VOODOO BLACK EXORCIST- ** Folks on a cruiseship are haunted by a mummy. So-so at best. Gets an extra star for the fire-eating bellydancer! Rowwrr! IN HOT PURSUIT (aka: POLK COUNTY POT PLANE)- ** It's Cheech and Chong meets Smokey And The Bandit, as hillbilly hippies smuggle pot. Car chases galore! Cheap and cheesy! SHOCK- **** Vincent Price is a doctor who murders his wife. He is witnessed by a woman who goes into shock because of it, and becomes his next patient! INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS (aka: GRAVEYARD TRAMPS)- ***** Men are dying from a love overload as Anitra Ford (Messiah Of Evil) leads her swarm of Bee girls on a mating rampage! Stick around for the ultra-sticky marshmallow cream sequence! Great heavenly days! Loads of nude bodies in this masterpiece! KATIE'S PASSION- **** This early Paul Verhoven effort is about a girl who is forced into prostitution in order to survive. It's a good movie w/ one scene that shocked even me! I'll never look at shadow puppets the same way again! THE WEREWOLF VS. VAMPIRE WOMAN- *** Paul Naschy gets hairy and seeks someone to release him from his curse. He needs a silver cross that is located in the heart of the witch / vampire queen! The battle is short and at the very end of the movie! SPARE PARTS- *** A young couple is rudely interupted during their honeymoon when a gang of organ thieves kidnaps the husband! DEATH BY DIALOGUE- * Awful, direct-to-video abomination about a haunted movie script. Pitiful! LEGACY OF BLOOD- *** John Carradine is barely in this film as a "dead" guy w/ a useless family of letches. He'll give them his inheritence only if they stay a week in his mansion. Faith Demergue (This Island Earth) and Jeff Morrow (Kronos) co-star. THE MANIPULATOR- ** Mickey Rooney jumps, dances, screams, emotes, and kills Keenan Wynn in this psychedelic / psychopathic story about an ex-make-up man gone bananas! Rooney is frightening at times (not in a good way)! Luanne Anders (Dementia 13, Night Tide) is along for the manic ride! THROW OUT THE ANCHOR!- *** G-rated family fare about an oddball collection of people trying to save a cove from developers. Dina Merrill was still hot in her 40s! NIGHT TRAIN TO TERROR- ***** Oh my! An anthology of truncated movies w/ hideous 80's music segments and a God / Satan philosophical debate holding them together! You get mutilations by hacksaw, nazis, electrocutions, claymation demons, a giant blood-sucking fly, and Richard Moll as a sadistic maniac! A must see! THE GUY FROM HARLEM- * The mountainous afros and plaid polyester suits can't save this toilet raft! Dull to the point of agony! DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT- **** The new nurse is in for a surprise! The mental hospital she's just started working for has undergone some drastic changes recently! Vats of blood and neggidness! PRISONER OF THE LOST UNIVERSE- ** Even Kay Lenz and John Saxon can't save this sci-fi elephant tranquilizer! RATTLERS- *** Chemicals dumped in the desert have turned harmless rattlesnakes into manhunting killers! OK. SAVAGE JOURNEY- * Dull portrayal of history of the mormon church. Richard Moll plays Joseph Smith. ISLAND MONSTER- *** Boris Karloff is either a kindly doctor or a homicidal drug smuggler. Better than I expected. BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE- **** One of my favorite Corman productions! Made for no money at all, and yet it holds up as a good monster movie! THE FIRING LINE- * RAMBO / MISSING IN ACTION clone w/ lots of gunfire and explosions, but no real characters to actually care about! Abysmal! Shannon Tweed's in it, but don't get your hopes up! TREASURE OF TAYOPA- *** Treasure hunters in mexico encounter tragedy when one of their party turns out to be a murderous lunatic! THE LAZARUS SYNDROME- ** Louis Gossett jr. is a cardiologist in this long forgotten TV pilot. It's not bad, but leads nowhere since the show never materialized. PRIME TIME (aka: AMERICAN RASPBERRY)- ***** This movie is worth the price of this entire collection! In the tradition of THE GROOVE TUBE, KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE, and TUNNELVISION, PRIME TIME is better than any of these! Someone has taken control of our tv sets, showing outrageous programming w/ such shows as: "Poodles For Christ" and "The Sexual Deviants Telethon"! There are many, many more, even more insane and hysterically funny shows! If you liked National Lampoon magazine in it's 70s hayday, then you'll love this! THE LEGEND OF BIGFOOT- * A home movie w/ terrible voice-overs! Wretched cess! SLAVE OF THE CANNIBAL GOD- **** Ursula Andress and Stacey Keach lead a rescue team deep into the south american jungles to find Ms. Andress' husband. Uh-oh! Those pesky cannibals await! This is the cut version w/ limited animal deaths and nudity. Alas, Ursula's infamous scene has been clipped! The movie itself is still worth watching though. TNT JACKSON- *** TNT is out to avenge her brother's death. Her stunt-double will stop at nothing to achieve revenge! Contains the topless karate scene! WOMEN OF DEVIL'S ISLAND- *** Women look for gold and get tortured. A "reformer" arrives on the notorious isle. However, he has a secret! Pretty decent. Alright, That's the lot! I highly recommend this collection. Enjoy...
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