One of my favorite things this time of year is rooting thru bins of horror DVD's that stores put out for the Halloween season (although they are getting kind of rare). Recently while digging deep into one & buried beneath all those multi packs of recent direct to DVD stuff (with all titles followed by a III or IV), I came across this newish Alpha double feature DVD. Comprising one of my favorite Rosalba Italian horrors (1973's The Devils Wedding Night ) packaged along with the Spanish production The Witches Mountain from 1972 (which features the always worth a look Patty Shepard), I was tempted.
Being on the Alpha label, I was pretty sure of a couple of things : crap transfer (which probably I already own) & crap transfer more then likely "borrowed" from some other labels crap transfer. However the cover intrigued me as it uses the wonderful U.S. one sheet art rather then the usual Alpha practice of slapping those weird day-glo colors on a B&W still. As I couldn't resist that cover art and combined with it only being $5.00 (along with being a sucker for all things Rosalba), meant that it was mine.
Upon getting home I discovered with no surprise that Devil's Wedding Night was yet another variant of that same old eyesore transfer that's been floating around since the dawn of home video. The Alpha disc looks to be taken from the Shout Factory Elvira DVD (which although uncut & non-anamorphic widescreen, looks like it was run thru every drive-in projector across the country). The Shout Factory Elvira DVD seems to have a little better color, but I'll gladly keep this in my collection as every so often I like firing up one of those old cheap label DVD's or an old VHS and watching all those green emulsion lines. There is a beautiful Italian region 2 DVD available (though not English friendly).
Plus as expected Witches Mountain is the same transfer from all those Mill Creek multi movie packs. Oh well, what the heck. There was however a good feeling from buying a Rosalba Italian horror DVD (a satanic dbl feature no less !) along with my gallon of milk and socks - not to mention the expression of the clerk when looking at the cover " Dark Sexual Desires Unleash the Legions of Lucifer !".
Italian Region 2 DVD Il plenilunio delle vergini
On the subject of green emulsion lines and screen wear n tear, I must confess that I occasionally like to see the same. I have a Mill Creek set called 50 drive-in movies and lots of them are like that, makes me feel like I'm back in the movie theater! Minus the cell phones, rude people, high prices and other reasons I stopped going to theaters years ago.
ReplyDeletePeople complain about those multi-packs - but I love 'em. Every so often I like to watch battered prints. I'd love to find a nice beat up widescreen copy of Fulci's Zombie as that's how I first saw it.
DeleteHa! Fat fingers. Well all I asked was where you liked to get your DVDs from?
ReplyDeleteThe pickings are getting kind of slim around here unfortunately. We had a Suncoast Video(that sucked) and then that morphed into a FYE, which I loved. They had bunches of used & closeout stuff for a few bucks apiece and carried some weird/off the wall titles. Just in the past couple of weeks they changed again to something else (and have gone back to sucking). They dumped half their video inventory and now carry new release/popular CD's, headphones & stuff.
DeleteThe Devil's Wedding Night DVD I found in a bin at Target and occasionally I'll find something at Big Lots. For new genre titles no one around here even carries the Scream Factory stuff, so I mail order. I get most of my stuff thru Diabolik now (I like supporting the small indie guys) or will get a few odds & ends off Amazon or ebay.
I worked retail for years (14 years at Borders) so I still like to buy from a store. It's fun browsing thru bins of CD's and DVD's and picking up a book to browse, but those days are passing.
You lucky dog - You got Amoeba !!
Yeah, haha, Amoeba is one of the few great things about L.A. I rarely leave without picking something up. And much like amazon, you can find some random great deals, then some stuff is crazy high.
DeleteAnother cool place out here is Frank & Sons. Its an all year collectibles show. If you ever come out for a visit Ill take you.
I like Big Lots too. Dont have one anywhere near me though. I usually just go when Im back on the East Coast.
I use to live out in L.A. (Anaheim) from 1979-1987. I think about coming back out for a vacation sometime.
ReplyDelete