BRIAN T - Thanks for that post, ,man. Really shed some light. I will definitely be on the look out for those!

Billz, thanks for posting that list.

Thanks for the list! Seeing that makes it even more of a shame that BCI closed up shop. A few more 8-movie packs and they could've had the entire Crown Catalogue on the market.

Incidentally, I've posted a few clips from the Crown films on YouTube over the past few months. Nothing spectacular, just the bits that amused me. There are more if you click through:

SUPERCHICK opening credits (hello, Jackie Brown! ):
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POLICEWOMEN "Doc freaks out": (audio NSFW)
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POLICEWOMEN bikini boat battle
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LAS VEGAS LADY opening credits:
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9 DEATHS OF THE NINJA opening interpretive ninja dance number, pt. 1
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THE STEPMOTHER: Alejandro Rey vs. Larry Linville
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MY CHAUFFER Grumpy Old Drivers pt. 2 (audio NSFW)
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LOW BLOW: Leo Fong orders a sandwich
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LOW BLOW: Leo Fong destroys your car
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KILLPOINT: Cameron Mitchell "Shut that goddamned baby up!
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If you're in an area that has Fry's Electronics, they have a habit of never returning anything and often have tons of the old Brentwood 10 (and 4) movie sets still on the shelves.

Although it's (cropped) FS, I like the picture much better on the standalone release of Policewoman released by Image:

http://www.dvdempire.com/Exec/v4_ite...earchID=529360

I bought it first and almost got rid of it when I picked up the BCI 2-pack. I ended up keeping it after noticing the better picture.

I kept the older POLICEWOMEN too, along with SUPERCHICK, though not for any picture quality issues at the time. Now I'm a little happier I hung onto them, though the subsequent double features they were both included in make for a good night's entertainment nonetheless.

Variable print quality on certain films from one set to the next is an issue with these Crown titles, as mentioned earlier in the thread with regards to THE VAN and POM POM GIRLS. I'm guessing BCI had multiple prints to choose from when deciding just how much "value" was gonna be in one of their value packs.

I'm surprised I never picked up the standalone "Superchick". Maybe I will.

Also, I feel I need to toss out a recommendation for my favorite book on the subject: "Nightmare, USA: The Untold Story of the Exploitation Independents". 527 pages of bliss.

I see some double features online that are at times included in 10 packs, etc. Is it worth buying the double feature 1 disc or the 10 pack? There any difference between the two for the most part when they come like this?

I see you people talking about buying the standalone? So I was just wondering...

This is a rather tough call. If you're just eager to SEE the films, to sort of get caught up on all the grindhouse/B-movies you've been missing over the years, and you're not concerned about having ultimate special editions or fully restored prints for everything ever made, I'd say go with the 8-packs that are still available, then after that, research the various double features for titles not included in those bigger sets, AND for double features where superior prints are featured, like the Starlite Drive-in Disc with POM POM GIRLS and THE VAN.

The Best Buy exclusive 20-movie "Exploitation Cinema" collection, which is technically OOP as we speak, is a great way to get the previously released "Welcome To The Grindhouse" double features intact in one nice collection, complete with original menus, trailers and "watch in drive-in" mode. The original double features are long out of print, so this set is all the more crucial if you want to see the movies.

Personally, I bought most of these B-movies as they were released from the early years of the DVD format, so I couldn't (or didn't) anticipate that better-value releases would follow. With these Crown International titles, for example, I started with the old Rhino/Image single-title releases, then some of those titles were released in BCI's Starlite Drive-In double feature discs when that company took over the catalogue, largely in better quality than previously available. That line morphed into the Welcome to the Grindhouse double feature line, which again featured some overlap with the Starlites. THEN BCI starts releasing these 8 packs, again with (slight) overlap. Some of the films in the 8 packs, however, as noted in this thread, are taken from somewhat compromised prints compared to earlier releases. If I were getting into these films now, I'd probably start with most of these Drive-In Cult Classics 8 packs (plus the Maximum Action, School Dazed and After Dark Thrillers 8-packs from earlier, if you can still get them cheap), and quickly, too, as they'll likely go out of print soon. As I said, that's the best coverage at the best price to start.

Incidentally, several cool Crown titles that had yet to be released by BCI--but which were often trailered in their various double features--WERE released by Rhino in two of their own 8-movie sets known as the Horrible Horrors Collection Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. I don't think those were big sellers, mainly because the whole "grindhouse" aesthetic wasn't in vogue when they were released and the packaging was bland. I do wish I'd picked them up when they were new and cheap, although the prices haven't risen too drastically since they went OOP
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002XL2YI

As for these 10-packs, such as the Kung Fu set you picked up, the best thing to do, I've found, is just to buy whatever you can find, since they've all got some goodies mixed in with the baddies and not a lot of overlap, and while the print and transfer quality if a real mixed bag (remember, unlike the Crown titles, these are public domain), you're generally paying $1 a movie or less, and many of these films will never see the light of day in any better presentation, so it's tough to complain. A lot of these 10-packs are still available first run, though they ARE Brentwood releases, and as that company is no more, I'd imagine these will eventually go OOP as well if they haven't already.

The more recent 50-movie packs, mentioned above, are probably the best deal, as there are a LOT of them, and the pre-movie price is can be as low as 18 cents if you get 'em during the sporadic BOGO sales at Deep Discount.

If you really wanna clean up on public domain horrors and thrillers, and without waiting for sale prices, then the Horror Collection 250 Movie Pack is probably the way to go. Just under $50 at Deep Discount, which works out to about 20 cents a movie. Good deal.
http://scripts.affiliatefuture.com/A...uctId=22962897

Just some ideas . . .

If you start with the Drive-In collections, you will get the better prints. No need to backtrack on any of those.

If it were me starting out, I'd try to scoop up that 20 movie Grindhouse Best Buy exclusive discussed at the top of the thread and then grab all the Drive-In volumes. That'll give you a healthy start on the Crown stuff. Given that it can all go OOP soon with the whole BCI thing, that would be my priority.

I didn't know if any confirmed it or not but the last 2 explotation Cinema DVDs (Horror High/The Lurkers and Nightmare In Wax/Blood Musuem) were indeed cancelled. That means 3 of them that were announced never recieved release (the 3rd being Galaxina/Star Crash) and grand total BCI released 18 Double Feature disc with a "Grindhouse Experience/Drive-In Experience' option

Does anyone have a list of Anchor Bay's Drive-In Double Features that they released a few years back? and a list of MGM Midnite Movies Double Features?

Thanks. Then I have them all and can stop looking for those last two.

Mine too!


The double features sometimes have the best prints, and in those cases they're preferable, especially if quality is as big a concern as the original content of the film, but for a newbie, I'd still lean--at least in part--toward the 8-packs to see if you actually even like this stuff in the first place. Some prints in the 8 packs are the same as in the double features, though the early 8-packs (School Dazed, Maximum Action, etc.) did stack them two-per-side, which led to compression issues. New 8 packs (Drive In Cult 2-4) are one-per-side, so in situations where the prints are the same (assuming it was available in an earlier edition), the lower cost-per-film is a bonus. Of course, with BCI no more, you'll pretty much have to dip into all the various "collections" of these films in order to see everything they released.

That's a shame. Surely those must have been pressed and packaged this close to street date? Perhaps some other company will score a cheap pickup and dump these into stores. Like Navarre, maybe . . .

Incidentally, all four of these were released in Rhino's old Horrible Horrors packages, mentioned above (HORROR HIGH and LURKERS in Vol. 1, NIGHTMARE and BLOOD MANIA in Vol. 2), but with those OOP as well, prices are a bit steep.

Picked up the Exploitation Collection set at Best Buy tonight, they had 2 left and wanted to grab it before it's gone. Is it worth getting the Drive-In sets also since there seems to be some overlap?

Even with the overlap, which is slight, there are a lot of movies in the Drive In Cult sets that can't be found in any other releases, or were previously available in editions/sets that are now out-of-print. Plus, they can still be had quite cheap at Deep Discount, and even cheaper if they stay in stock until the next 20% off sale.

Thanks, I've really appreciated your posts on this subject. I watched the first disc from the set last night (The Teacher/Pick-up) and I love the double-billing format with the trailers and intermission, etc...are any other sets or discs like that? Someone said the Drive-In Classics sets were not...

The Starlight sets are like that as well. The nice thing about the Drive-In sets, besides the price, is that you'll get the best print BCI had at the time. In a couple of cases the upgrade is significant. Frequently on the Drive-In sets, they just took the Starlight version and slapped it on a disk, one movie per side. It still includes the Starlight feature of coming attractions and a seriously faded cartoon, just no intermission as the disk has to be flipped.

Same here, just picked it up on my lunch break. I got the disc with Chinese Hercules the other night, since it was 16:9, and was impressed with the presentation with menus, trailers etc. So based on this thread I found a copy of the Collection at my Best Buy.

Any recommendations to start with? Super chick looked fun in a trailer I saw.

Start with MALIBU HIGH, big time.

Then SUPERCHICK and POLICEWOMEN. These two are thematic cousins in that they exploit women in the guise of feminist empowerment, a common ruse for exploiteers of the day (see clips in my earlier post)

Then BEACH GIRLS and PICKUP: two very different approaches to the same basic topic: the joy of drugs. The former is just a big Malibu pot party with bikinis, boobs and TV's Bert Rosario pratfalling all over the place as a gardener trying to get a free peek. The latter is probably the most sincere, surreal, 70's "head trip" flick of all, gorgeously shot and with plenty of room for interpretation.

From there, I'd probably go:
LAS VEGAS LADY, a fun caper filmed in a Vegas that doesn't exist anymore,
HUSTLER SQUAD: supercheap Philippines actioner about a disparate group of doomed women trained to assassinate top Japanese officials at a Philippines brothel. Set in the 40's, but looks 70's at every turn. An even more ludicrous (and much more fun) take on the same tale would be Kenneth Hartford's HELL SQUAD (1985).
THE TEACHER: cute teacher-student romance with thriller elements, well-performed; good skin quotient.
COACH: cute but tame teacher-student romance, well-performed; low on skin, though.
EVIL EYE: Groovy supernatural sorta-Giallo with a nice score by Stelvio Cipriani. Doesn't always make sense (I recall giving up trying before the end), but just bizarre enough to hold interest.
BLACK CANDLES: just-decent Spanish horror, poorly acted, too often darkly lit (could be the print), but does have plenty of skin and at least one shocker of a sex scene

On the grimmer side:
DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE seedy little sicky that. Not much plot, but Nicholas Worth is treat as the killer
TRIP WITH THE TEACHER: unpleasant but well-built rape revenge thriller, with Zalman King impressing as one of two biker psychos who kidnap a bus full of girls to their secluded shack.

Do these last:
HELLCATS: thoroughly average late-60's low-budget biker movie.
CHAIN GANG WOMEN: dull movie with some OK dialogue. I seem to recall this was shot super quick on roll ends while the filmmakers were actually making another film or something like that, and it shows.
PRIME EVIL: Amateurish Roberta Findlay garbage. Almost looks like it was shot on video. Not sure. Easily the worst in the box

Haven't seen the versions of the Japanese imports included in this set (SISTER STREET FIGHTER, BODYGUARD, etc.), but have seen all the films and enjoyed them on some level.

Awesome post Brian! Thanks for all the advice. I have Sister Street Fighter on Blu, and I have seen the Bodygurad already, so I will dive into all the rest. Thanks!

Really? That's pretty damn funny and would make Ed Wood proud.

Yeah, I've been trying to recall where I heard that info all day. I think it may have been brought up in the commentaries on one of those 42ND STREET FOREVER trailer comps. I think . . .

The Drive-In sets do not have the "grindhouse/play all option" but I have compiled a list of DVDs that do have that option that other companies have released. Most of these are released as Drive-In Double Features. I didn't list the BCI series Starlite/Grindhouse/Explotation

Dead Riot/Flesh For The Beast
Blood of the Vampire/The Hellfire Club
Five Bloody Graves/Nurse Sherri
Blood Suckers/Blood Thirst
Creation of the Humanoids/War Between The Planets
Search and Destroy/The Glove
Assassination in Rome/Espionage in Tangiers
Barracuda/Island Fury
The Screaming Skull/The Giant Leeches
The Giant Gila Monster/The Wasp Woman
I Bury The Living/The Hand
Just For The Hell of It/Blast-Off Girls
The Defilers/Scum of the Earth
Teenage Gang Debs/Teen-Age Strangler
The Violent Years/Girl Gang
Prince of Space/Invasion of the Neptune Men
The Beast That Killed Women/The Monster of Camp Sunshine
Primitive Love/Mondo Bolardo


There is also a set released under the name Psychotronica that I am unsure of if it has a play all function and I do not have any of the Alpha Grindhouse Double Shock Show disc but would assume they don't

^I don't think all those Something Weird titles have a "Drive-In Experience" the way the Welcome To The Grindhouse series did. The SWV DVDs have a play-all option, but it's only the movies back-to-back. The intermission stuff is often in the extras menu.