Mill Creek: Gorehouse Greats and Too Cool For School Collections - 8/25

[riotinmyskull]

Includes:
Blood of Dracula's Castle
Brain Twisters
The Devil's Hand
Madman of Mandoras(AKA They Saved Hitlers' Brain)
Nightmare in Wax
Prime Evil
Satan's Slave
Stanley
Terrified
Terror
Trip with Teacher


Includes:
The Beach Girls
Cave Girl
Coach
Hunk
Jocks
Malibu Beach
My Tutor
My Chauffuer
Pom Pom Girl
Tomboy
The Van
Weekend Pass

[Lastdaysofrain]

Coach and Hunk are two different movies.

Looks like all previously released stuff from the BCI/Eclipse Crown international library?

Some of the Gorehouse greats titles may not have been released before, I don't remember Stanley or Terrified on any of the previous sets?

[riotinmyskull]

Originally Posted by Lastdaysofrain

Coach and Hunk are two different movies.

Looks like all previously released stuff from the BCI/Eclipse Crown international library?

Some of the Gorehouse greats titles may not have been released before, I don't remember Stanley or Terrified on any of the previous sets?

yeah, they're just more mix/match or older releases but i think i might pick up the gorehouse one since i only own TRIP WITH THE TEACHER...i need some titles for the halloween challenge.

[Steve Phillips]

Some of the Gorehouse greats titles may not have been released before, I don't remember Stanley or Terrified on any of the previous sets?[/quote]

They were both part of Rhino's HORRIBLE HORRORS collection, as were BLOOD OF DRACULA'S CASTLE, NIGHTMARE IN WAX and others. STANLEY was also released in a standalone BCI/Eclipse special edition.

My question is: are they using the full screen Rhino versions, or the widescreen versions that ECI/Eclipse had access to? Some of the Rhino movies were also different cuts of the movies, in some cases containing more footage, and in some cases, TV prints (such as STANLEY).

The only reason I'm thinking of buying the Mill Creek set would be if they were using the widescreen masters of BODC and NIW that BCI was set to release. If they are using the older Rhino fullscreen master, then I already have those on the previously mentioned HORRIBLE HORRORS sets.

[Brian T]

The GOREHOUSE listing at Amazon says 3 discs, presumably with two movies per side. This makes me wonder about compression, of course, especially considering Mill Creek's history. BCI did the same thing with their initial 8-packs (eight movies on 2 discs), and took some heat for it. Subsequent releases were four discs, with one movie per side. Crown International product may not be the greatest, but it's certainly not the worst, and it'd be a shame to see these titles compromised, possibly for a second time.

[BlueCC]

I missed out on the BCI School Dazed set, so I'll definitely get this school set.

[asianxcore]

Between the Drive-In Classics 1-3 and the BCI Exploitation Box Set, I have most of those.

Nice to see Stanley in there though. I still need to pick that up.

[Mister Peepers]

Originally Posted by Brian T

This makes me wonder about compression, of course, especially considering Mill Creek's history.

In all honesty, older unrestored movies like these don't take up that much space. At best it's stereo audio with a dirty picture to begin with.

[Brian T]

Originally Posted by Mister Peepers

In all honesty, older unrestored movies like these don't take up that much space. At best it's stereo audio with a dirty picture to begin with.

Granted, but at least BCI treated them with a little extra care when compression issues were pointed out in their early collections. The concern then became about which prints they were using from set to set, as they clearly had more than one for each film, some in great shape, others looking like they'd come directly from the drive-in circuit at the end of the 70's.

The real test with these new Mill Creek sets will be POM POM GIRLS in the "Too Cool For School" set. BCI released a beautiful full-screen, open matte, unedited version of that in a Starlite Drive-In Double Feature (with THE VAN), then later stuck a heavily worn out, faded, faux-widescreen, and drastically edited down version of the same film into one of their 8 packs. (in fact, the version of THE VAN used in the later set was also from an inferior print.)

[davidh777]

My Tutor is the only title I recognize--not a terrible movie, at least from what I remember many years ago

[mdnitoil]

I'll probably pick up the Too Cool For School set. Right now the pre-order on Amazon is 15 bucks and I figure the quality can't be any worse than the School Dazed set, which I never got around to. There are about 7 titles that never made it into the Exploitation set or the Drive-In Cult Classics sets so it might be worth a shot.

[Alan Smithee]

The first 3 Drive-In Cult Classics sets are back out under the Mill Creek name, after I scrambled to get them when I heard BCI was going under. I don't see the 4th one listed but hopefully they'll get that one out- I've had that on order from Amazon for a couple months and it doesn't look like it's going to come in.

[asianxcore]

Originally Posted by Alan Smithee

I don't see the 4th one listed but hopefully they'll get that one out- I've had that on order from Amazon for a couple months and it doesn't look like it's going to come in.

That one was out for a short time before it went OOP.

Here's hoping it'll be re-released.

[Brian T]

For those so inclined, the Gorehouse Greats collection is currently on sale for $7.49 as part of Amazon's Halloween DVD sale.

[asianxcore]

Originally Posted by Brian T

For those so inclined, the Gorehouse Greats collection is currently on sale for $7.49 as part of Amazon's Halloween DVD sale.

Thanks for the heads up!

I think I have most of what is on the set already, but it might be worth $7.49 to own Stanley.

[elsanto]

Picked up Gorehouse Greats today at Walmart for $5. It was in $5 dollar horror racks...not the bin.

[Torchur317]

Yup, I found one at WM also....

[ParadiseVendors]

I also grabbed a copy at my wal-mart. Haven't had a chance to pop it in and see if we're dealing with Rhino or BCI transfers yet though. It's a shame they went under as they were giving some great movies treatment that nobody else would bother to. Actually I think I will put one of the Gorehouse discs in now and report back on the transfer later.

[ParadiseVendors]

I just put in The Devil's Hand, and the transfer looks pretty clean, but the compression is an issue. A bit of artifacting, but I paid $5 so I'm not gonna complain too much, even if I did already have most of the BCI releases.

Also, the case is pretty strange. The three discs are in individual paper sleeves. I guess I have seen these in some of the 50 movie sets, but never in this style of case before. At least it will prevent floaters and scratched discs that I'm sure would be commonplace in the kind of cheap cases Mill Creek would use if they didn't use the sleeves.

[man*machine]

Originally Posted by Steve Phillips

The only reason I'm thinking of buying the Mill Creek set would be if they were using the widescreen masters of BODC and NIW that BCI was set to release. If they are using the older Rhino fullscreen master, then I already have those on the previously mentioned HORRIBLE HORRORS sets.

Same here. If anyone can report back on only these two titles (BLOOD OF DRACULA'S CASTLE and NIGHTMARE IN WAX) and confirm if they are widescreen this time or not - it would be appreciated. Those are the only two not released prior on disc in their OAR.

[ParadiseVendors]

^
watching the Dodgers game right now, when I get home I'll check it out.

[ParadiseVendors]

I gave up on the Dodgers and went home early (thinking I should be able to count that game as horror for the challenge).

Blood of Dracula's Castle is 16x9. Pretty horrible source material though, scratched about as bad as I have seen a DVD release for the first reel or two. The scratches get better as the movie goes on but it never looked clean.

Nightmare in Wax is also 16x9. It is relatively scratch free, but not a great transfer. It has some compression issues, its a little bit artifacty. It's also pretty dark, but not at all unwatchable. In fact I am watching the movie right now.

[man*machine]

Originally Posted by ParadiseVendors

Blood of Dracula's Castle is 16x9. Pretty horrible source material though, scratched about as bad as I have seen a DVD release for the first reel or two. The scratches get better as the movie goes on but it never looked clean.

Nightmare in Wax is also 16x9. It is relatively scratch free, but not a great transfer. It has some compression issues, its a little bit artifacty. It's also pretty dark, but not at all unwatchable. In fact I am watching the movie right now.

thanks!!

[mdnitoil]

Picked up the Too Cool for School Collection. The packaging is a keepcase with the discs stored in envelopes. Two movies per side, four movies per disc. I'm not going to bother with a content review but spec-wise, you can expect the following:

The Beach Girls - anamorphic widescreen - 91 minutes
Cavegirl - anamorphic widescreen - 81 minutes
Coach - anamorphic widescreen - 96 minutes
Hunk - anamorphic widescreen - 102 minutes
Jocks - anamorphic widescreen - 91 minutes
Malibu Beach - anamorphic widescreen - 90 minutes
My Chauffeur - fullframe - 97 minutes
My Tutor - anamorphic widescreen - 97 minutes
The Pom Pom Girls - anamorphic widescreen - 85 minutes
Tomboy - anamorphic widescreen - 90 minutes
The Van - fullframe - 89 minutes
Weekend Pass - anamorphic widescreen - 89 minutes

All prints are actually quite clean, minus the digital compression artifacts from stuffing so much on a disc. The Pom Pom Girls starts off pretty scratchy but cleans up after 10 minutes or so. It's easily the worst looking of the bunch.

[Brian T]

Originally Posted by mdnitoil

The Pom Pom Girls - anamorphic widescreen - 85 minutes

If this movie is widescreen, it's heavily cut, with nearly all the female nudity removed. Running time should be 89-90 minutes, so you're losing a lot, actually. The fullscreen version in BCI's old Starlite Drive-In double feature (with THE VAN) is open matte and unedited, and taken from a much cleaner print, and seems to be the only such version of this title ever released on DVD.

Now I'm wondering about the version of THE VAN in this new set. In BCI's old SCHOOL DAZED 8 movie set (which also included the edited version of POM POM GIRLS), THE VAN was taken from a poor print as well, although it was uncut.

More here:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R29MFHB1JZ49P2/

As these two films are the best ones in the new TOO COOL set, I'd recommend this (now OOP but still cheap) version if you want to see them properly:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000H5U6CK