Knight at HOME at the Movies
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Halloween 2007 Concludes...
A quartet of creepy recommendations ends our month long salute to the best of this year's crop of scary movie DVDs!!!
A quartet of creepy recommendations ends our month long salute to the best of this year's crop of scary movie DVDs!!!
Species – MGM has released a much anticipated 2-disc Collector's Edition of this 1995 sci-
fi fave of mine. The stunning Natasha Henstridge is the human-alien hybrid of the title, a
deadly female E.T. determined to mate with a human male counterpart. She hand picks
two rather hunky dudes with less than perfect results. In the meantime, a team of
experts (two scientists, an empath, and a trained killer) egged on by Ben Kingsley as the
head of the top secret government project that "grew" the alien (known as "Sil") to begin
with are in hot pursuit. This is a great little suspense thriller (with a great score by
Christopher Young) that has spawned three sequels (a sneak peak of the latest, a direct
to DVD release titled Species IV: The Awakening is included as part of the special features)
and in addition to the great special effects, has great performances from its expert
supporting cast (Alfred Molina, Michael Madsen, Forrest Whitaker, and Marg Helgenberger)
and Henstridge herself shows talent beyond her blonde bombshell looks. The justly
famed alien form of Sil was created by H.R. Giger (of Alien fame) and his creation of that
(and the alien train that the young Sil played by Michele Williams dreams of) is featured
in many of the newly created featurettes on the second disc. There's also an alternate
ending which I won't give away!
The Lost World – Fox Home Entertainment released this 2-disc version of the A. Conan
Doyle classic back in September but I've just gotten around to it. The set includes both
the 1960 Irwin Allen produced remake and the 1925 original. The former is just as
entertaining and cheesy (yes those are alligators with strap on horns and lizards standing
in for giant dinos) as I recall from my childhood. This often played on either "family
classics" or "creature features" and sure thrilled me as a kid. Fox has also included a lot
of cool featurette material (the original press book, movie premiere footage, etc.) and
the second disc has the silent version that's been restored and in retrospect is a lot more
frightening. A fun, entertaining package
Dark Shadows-The Beginning, Vol. 2 – "My name is Victoria Winters..." if I've
heard those words once, I've heard them a thousand times as my partner is an INTENSE
fan of TV's gothic soap opera. As any fan of the show will tell you, those words are
spoken by the innocent, unsuspecting new young governess as she travels to the
foreboding Collinwood mansion (sounds a tad like Jane Eyre doesn't it?). What Victoria
finds at the mansion would be popular enough to keep the series on the air for five years.
We've got ALL the previous DVD releases from MPI Home Video and after a decade of
watching these episodes with my honey (the things we do for love) I must confess that
I've fallen under the spell of the show. These early episodes pre-date the arrival of the
mysterious vampire Barnabas but are just as creepy. There's a real "old dark house" feel
to the multiple episodes on this 3-disc set from MPI. And HERE'S a little bit more about
the upcoming Dark Shadows movie from a story I wrote for the Chicago Tribune.
The Addams Family - The Complete Series – This 9-disc set from MGM doesn't
actually arrive until November 16th but it's going to contain all three seasons of this
beloved family classic (from 1964-1967) and nicely ends my Halloween DVD roundup for
the year. The creepy, charming TV incarnation of the Charles Addams cartoons from the
New Yorker magazine, the gothic, oddball Addams' (along with the Munsters) were the first
childhood memory of a show that sent the message that different (read: gay) is not only
NOT to be feared but rather to be embraced and adored for its creative individuality. Who
didn't want to be part of this ultra cool clan? This charming B&W show with the late great
Carolyn Jones, John Astin, Jackie Coogan, and the rest, never wears thin. Put this on the
"must have" list and pronto.
OTHER 2007 HALLOWEEN DVD RECOMMENDATIONS ARE HERE AND HERE
fi fave of mine. The stunning Natasha Henstridge is the human-alien hybrid of the title, a
deadly female E.T. determined to mate with a human male counterpart. She hand picks
two rather hunky dudes with less than perfect results. In the meantime, a team of
experts (two scientists, an empath, and a trained killer) egged on by Ben Kingsley as the
head of the top secret government project that "grew" the alien (known as "Sil") to begin
with are in hot pursuit. This is a great little suspense thriller (with a great score by
Christopher Young) that has spawned three sequels (a sneak peak of the latest, a direct
to DVD release titled Species IV: The Awakening is included as part of the special features)
and in addition to the great special effects, has great performances from its expert
supporting cast (Alfred Molina, Michael Madsen, Forrest Whitaker, and Marg Helgenberger)
and Henstridge herself shows talent beyond her blonde bombshell looks. The justly
famed alien form of Sil was created by H.R. Giger (of Alien fame) and his creation of that
(and the alien train that the young Sil played by Michele Williams dreams of) is featured
in many of the newly created featurettes on the second disc. There's also an alternate
ending which I won't give away!
The Lost World – Fox Home Entertainment released this 2-disc version of the A. Conan
Doyle classic back in September but I've just gotten around to it. The set includes both
the 1960 Irwin Allen produced remake and the 1925 original. The former is just as
entertaining and cheesy (yes those are alligators with strap on horns and lizards standing
in for giant dinos) as I recall from my childhood. This often played on either "family
classics" or "creature features" and sure thrilled me as a kid. Fox has also included a lot
of cool featurette material (the original press book, movie premiere footage, etc.) and
the second disc has the silent version that's been restored and in retrospect is a lot more
frightening. A fun, entertaining package
Dark Shadows-The Beginning, Vol. 2 – "My name is Victoria Winters..." if I've
heard those words once, I've heard them a thousand times as my partner is an INTENSE
fan of TV's gothic soap opera. As any fan of the show will tell you, those words are
spoken by the innocent, unsuspecting new young governess as she travels to the
foreboding Collinwood mansion (sounds a tad like Jane Eyre doesn't it?). What Victoria
finds at the mansion would be popular enough to keep the series on the air for five years.
We've got ALL the previous DVD releases from MPI Home Video and after a decade of
watching these episodes with my honey (the things we do for love) I must confess that
I've fallen under the spell of the show. These early episodes pre-date the arrival of the
mysterious vampire Barnabas but are just as creepy. There's a real "old dark house" feel
to the multiple episodes on this 3-disc set from MPI. And HERE'S a little bit more about
the upcoming Dark Shadows movie from a story I wrote for the Chicago Tribune.
The Addams Family - The Complete Series – This 9-disc set from MGM doesn't
actually arrive until November 16th but it's going to contain all three seasons of this
beloved family classic (from 1964-1967) and nicely ends my Halloween DVD roundup for
the year. The creepy, charming TV incarnation of the Charles Addams cartoons from the
New Yorker magazine, the gothic, oddball Addams' (along with the Munsters) were the first
childhood memory of a show that sent the message that different (read: gay) is not only
NOT to be feared but rather to be embraced and adored for its creative individuality. Who
didn't want to be part of this ultra cool clan? This charming B&W show with the late great
Carolyn Jones, John Astin, Jackie Coogan, and the rest, never wears thin. Put this on the
"must have" list and pronto.
OTHER 2007 HALLOWEEN DVD RECOMMENDATIONS ARE HERE AND HERE
