JZ1276

I heard that TftC was just the full frame version cropped to fit 16x9. Is this true ?

stonecountry

I've haven't heard anything official, but all I know is that I've watched the original aspect ratio widescreen version many times on the Fox Movie Channel and can't discern any difference between what I've seen before (and even have on tape still I believe) and what's on the DVD that I've also watched since purchasing it recently.

JOE29

So is it a good buy? Last time I seen it was $8.50 at Amazon.

stonecountry

Well, if you like Horror Anthology films like I personally do, meaning films that are essentially a collection of short films usually lasting 15-30 mins each (In this case about 15-20 mins. each) all generally linked together by some common thread or by being told by some storyteller in a separate story, then these are 2 of the main films that started this sub-genre. They were based on the popular comics of the 1950's that eventually brought about a huge court case which ultimately banned them for corrupting the minds of the youth, the same comics that the entire Tales From the Crypt series was based on. The first film that I know of, and one of the best, to follow this same formula was Dead of Night, a film from back in the 40's which is also available on DVD as a double feature with Queen of Spades. Ever since these films were given attention really first by the British-based Amicus company (at one time a good contender with the Hammer company for the best British Horror), many attempts have been made to revive the comic book source material in similar anthology type films such as the Creepshow films co-created by George Romero. Tales From the Darkside, the show and the movie, were a similar attempt to popularize the genre also with the help of Romero, though most of the material for those were not based on the comics as much but were generally new stories with the same concept.

I'd highly recommend this DVD, especially for the price. These are two of the better horror anthologies. Sure, they're certainly a little more campy now than perhaps they were in the early 70's, but that's half the fun of them. Some other good Amicus-produced horror anthologies also now available on DVD are Dr. Terrors House of Horrors, The House That Dripped Blood, and Terror From Beyond the Grave.

Carcosa

Amicus really had the market cornered with these horror antholgies in the early late 60's/early 70's. Only TALES FROM THE CRYPT AND VAULT OF HORROR were based on EC Comics...the newly released FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE were taken from short stories by R. Chetwynd-Hayes while ASYLUM, TORTURE GARDEN and THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD were from short stories by Robert Bloch....DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS's stories appear to be originals by co-producer Milton Subotsky. All have a wrap-arounds that tie all the stories together. I enjoyed them all....and recommend all of them highly.

stonecountry

Yeah, I forgot to mention Asylum, and I didn't mean to imply that the others were based on the comics, though they are generally the same format and all pretty good in my opinion. Dr. Terror's House of Horrors and Asylum are two of my favorites of the genre.

Carcosa

ASYLUM is one of the best...the back of the DARK SKY DVD release credits the screenplay to "Robert Black"....one of the more idiotic proofreading mistakes I've seen on a DVD. My all-time favorite screw-up was my laserdisc of GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD that had Keir Dullea's credit as "Bowman" above Max Von Sydow's as Christ....y'know, Bowman from 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY....

stonecountry

That is a pretty bad screw up. I've got the Region 2 UK Amicus Collection that comes in a coffin case. Asylum, Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, House That Dripped Blood, And Now The Screaming Starts (I think that's the title), and The Beast Must Die are all in this collection. I'd say it's a must for a real fan. They've all got some nice extras on them too including audio commentaries on all the films.

Carcosa

I HAD that box set, but the frame dropping "thing" with the PAL conversion really bothered me....it wasn't until later that I diecovered my PIONEER player just had a crappy conversion mod done. The PHILLIPS player I now have would have played them fine. The US rights to these are apparently a bit scattered so the domestic releases vary regarding extras. The DARK SKY discs have the same commentaries, etc that the British Anchor bay discs do (some of these in turn were ported over from the previous IMAGE discs), but THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD has NONE of the special featues of the Anchor Bay discs. That's too bad. Not to mention that DR TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORROR has yet to be released here at all. (I do have to say the the picture and sound quality of all these DVDs are very good).

There are still quite a few of the non-anthology AMICUS films yet to be released on DVD...I may start a new thread for this once I get all the info together. It might be interesting. I really loved the AMICUS films.

stonecountry

Yeah, I think I've got a Phillips that I play mine on now. It does fine. I'm just glad some of these old Amicus films are finally getting released. I can't believe it took this long for Tales From The Crypt. I bought a bootleg off ebay of it that I've been playing for 2-3 years.