First, the genre releases:
- The
Amityville
Horror: This is the recent remake, not the
original.
- The
Best of
Abbott and Costello Vol. 4: This includes
Abbott and Costello
meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Abbott and
Costello meet the
Keystone Kops, Abbott and Costello meet the
Mummy,
The World of Abbott and Costello, Abbott
and Costello
meet Jerry Seinfeld, and Abbott and Costello
Meet the
Monsters. The last two are retrospectives. I've
got Vol. 3
(which contains the fantastic Abbott and Costello
meet
Frankenstein) and found that, while the contents
are wildly
varied in quality, those that are good are certainly
good enough to
justify that low sticker price.
- Buffy
the
Vampire Slayer - Spike - Love is Hell: If you
don't already own
the season sets, and don't plan on picking up the
gargantuan series
set in November, this collection of "School Hard,"
"Lie to Me,"
"Lovers Walk," and "Fool for Love" covers the basics
of the
Spike-Buffy love.
- Cat
People /
Curse of the Cat People: This pair of classic
horror films
interests me because the included sequel was also the
first movie
directed by Robert Wise. Both are available in the
Val Lewton set
found below.
- Cinderella
(Special Platinum Edition Collector's Gift Set):
This was very
nearly chosen as the pick of the week, but I've always
been a sucker
for animation.
- Count
Duckula
- The Complete First Season: Watch out for him,
beware of him, and
pray you'll never meet with Duckula.
- Farscape:
Starburst Edition 2.3: This is another low-cost
collection of
Farscape episodes. I'm waiting for box sets.
- The
Fly -
Collector's Editon: This is the David Cronenberg
remake starring
Jeff Goldblum, and not the original.
- The
Fly II
(Special Edition): This is the sequel to the
Cronenberg version,
starring Eric Stoltz.
- The
Fog:
This time we do have the original, re-released on DVD
in time to
coincide with the theatrical release of the remake.
This has a new
DVD package, but seems otherwise identical to the
original DVD release.
- Kolchak:
The
Night Stalker: The original series in a single
package. This
appears to have the 20 episodes, but not the TV
movies.
- The
Man With
the Screaming Brain: Bruce Campbell directs the
movie. What more
do you need?
- Star
Trek:
Nemesis (Collector's Edition): The most recent
Trek films gets the
special edition treatment.
- Star
Trek -
The Motion Pictures DVD Collection: Now that all
10 movies have
the two disc treatments, you can pick up a box set
with all of them.
- Stargate
SG-1
Season 8: Another very strong contender for the
Pick of the Week,
but it was edged out by non-genre entertainment.
- Val
Lewton
Horror Collection: A great price for a 10 movie
set. This has the
horrors produced by Val Lewton.
Now, the non-genre releases:
Finally, the pick of the week. Alfred
Hitchcock - The Masterpiece Collection: This set
includes
remastered editions of Saboteur, Shadow
of a Doubt,
Rope (which is a great experimental film in
which Hitchcock
tried to go without a cut as long as possible,)
Rear Window
(one of my three favourite Hitchcock films, in which
Hitchcock
challenged himself to make a movie shot entirely in a
single
location,) The Trouble With Harry (a comedy,
as the trouble
with Harry is that he's dead but they just can't seem
to leave him
buried,) The Man Who Knew Too Much (in its
1956 incarnation,
which may have made it the first sound film to be
remade by the same
filmmaker who remade the original,) Vertigo,
Psycho
(another of my top three favourites,) The
Birds (which we reviewed
some time ago,
and which is my least favourite Hitchcock so far),
Marnie,
Torn Curtain, Topaz,
Frenzy, and Family
Plot. This set includes eight Hitchcock films I
haven't seen,
and six that I have seen. I'm still picking it up, as
that price
makes it cheaper to replace the entire collection than
to pick up
those eight individual films. When you also consider
the upgraded
transfer on Rear Window, it's an easy
decision to make.
Hitchcock was a fantastic filmmaker, and I just can't
get enough of
his stuff. (When this arrives, I'll own 44 of his 61
directorial
credits.)
