Fright-film fans looking to stock up for the Halloween home-viewing weekend would be well advised to begin with Universal Studios Home Video’s latest Legacy Collection double-disc sets ($26.98 each). They’re our …
DVD picks of the week
• “The Mummy” collection, the best of the bountiful batch, kicks off with a handsomely restored edition of cinematographer-turned-director Karl Freund’s original 1932 The Mummy. The film is a still-chilling combo of horror and romance featuring intense performances by Boris Karloff (in the title role, natch) and stage actress Zita Johann.
A quartet of lesser but fun sequels — 1940’s The Mummy’s Hand, 1942’s The Mummy’s Tomb, 1944’s The Mummy’s Ghost and The Mummy’s Curse (the latter three with Lon Chaney Jr. in the rather thankless now-mute Mummy role) — “wrap” this essential set. They come with an informative audio commentary by film historian Paul M. Jensen, David J. Skal’s terrific 1999 documentary Mummy Dearest: A Horror Tradition Unearthed, archives from “The Mummy” and original theatrical trailers.
• “The Invisible Man” collection likewise assembles five remastered features, leading with James Whale’s 1933 H.G. Wells adaptation, The Invisible Man, starring Claude Rains (or, more accurately, his voice) in an edgy, darkly witty treatise on madness and megalomania highlighted by John P. Fulton’s startling effects.
Edward A. Sutherland’s lively The Invisible Woman (1940), with John Barrymore and Virginia Bruce, takes an openly comedic tack. The series returns to more sinister form with 1940’s The Invisible Man Returns, 1942’s Invisible Agent (the Invisible Man goes to war) and the loopy but menacing The Invisible Man’s Revenge. Film historian Rudy Behlmer handles commentary chores and hosts another ace documentary, Now You See Him: The Invisible Man Revealed, made in 2000.
• The third set hops to the fearful ’50s with the effective underwater “King Kong” variation Creature From the Black Lagoon, along with the rather weak 1955 sequel, Revenge of the Creature and the more thematically complex 1956 follow-up, The Creature Walks Among Us.
David J. Skal returns with the back-story-laden documentary Back to the Black Lagoon, while fellow genre-film scholars Tom Weaver and Bob Burns take up the commentary cudgels.
The “Legacy Collection” is a welcome return to the classic monsters of yore, brought to you in glorious black and white.
Warner weirdness
For those looking to expand their DVD monster-movie marathon, Warner Home Video has a scary six-pack of discs ($19.97 each) headed by a brace of bloodsucker gems: Roman Polanski’s 1967 Transylvanian romp The Fearless Vampire Killers and Tony Scott’s stylish, underrated 1983 vampire tale/mortality meditation, The Hunger, with Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie and Susan Sarandon.
Prolific genre auteur Larry Cohen strikes with the creepy 1973 killer-infant fear fable It’s Alive, along with the frightening follow-up It Lives Again (1978) and the more satirical It’s Alive III: Island of the Alive (1986), the latter two on a single double-feature disc.
Completing the slate are the 1987 zombie comedy sequel Return of the Living Dead Part II and Armand Mastroianni’s 1980 slasher He Knows You’re Alone, with a young Tom Hanks. All but “The Fearless Vampire Killers” arrive with filmmaker commentaries.
More Halloween winners
Speaking of Universal Studios, that label also unleashes the bulked-up, CGI-driven monster rally Van Helsing ($29.98), wherein eponymous hero Hugh Jackman battles Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, the Wolf Man and Mr. Hyde, in a deluxe edition complete with commentaries, interactive components and creature featurettes.
The same outfit’s Dawn of the Dead: Unrated Director’s Cut ($29.98), Zack Snyder’s steroid-pumped update of the 1978 George Romero zombie classic, includes filmmakers’ commentary, a featurette and extended and deleted scenes promising more gore galore.
MPI Home Video reissues the “Citizen Kane” of the serial-killer genre, John McNaughton’s shocking Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer ($24.98), and the four-disc Dan Curtis Collection Macabre Collection ($49.98), assembling the “Dark Shadows” creator’s TV-movie takes on a quartet of literary thrillers — Dracula, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (both starring Jack Palance), The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Turn of the Screw.
From Lightyear/Warner Home Video comes writer-director Stefan Avalos’ triumph of talent over budget, The Ghosts of Edendale ($19.98), a disturbing tale of unleashed spirits and mental meltdowns set on the fringes of modern-day Los Angeles.
Devotees of ’50s sci-fi/chiller cheese will want to devour writer-director Larry Blamire’s hilarious deadpan sendup The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (Columbia/TriStar Home Entertainment, $24.96), replete with hours of entertaining extras.
Phan mail
Dear Phantom: Are there any 3-D videos or DVDs out there that really work?
— Art Jackson, via e-mail
The best we’ve seen is the 1961 Canadian spookfest The Mask, via Rhino Video (out of print). Try Video Vault (800/VAULT-66) for a mail-order rental copy.
• Send your video comments and queries to Phantom of the Movies, The Washington Times, 3600 New York Ave. NE, Washington, DC 20002, or e-mail us at phanmedia@aol.com. Check out our Web site at www.videoscopemag.com.
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