MGM Midnight Movies

[Donuthole75]

which ones are good to get? I have Dr. Phibes and KKFOS and they're great! Im interested in Planet of the Vampires, is that a good one? Recommendations pleeze

[ctyner]

There's a review of "Planet of the Vampires" at http://www.horrordvds.com/reviews/n-z/potv/index.shtml

Aside from "Killer Klowns", my favorite Midnite Movies entry is "It! The Terror From Beyond Space". "X: The Man With The X-Ray Eyes" is rather nicely done as well, sporting a commentary by Roger Corman himself.

[KillerCannabis]

A few that I have that are pretty good are: The Beast Within, KKFOS, Reptilicus, Invaders from Mars, and Thing with Two Heads. My favorite (by far) has got to be KKFOS. Could anything be better?

[Hellbilly]

my next MGM Midnite Movie i'll buy will be Strange Invaders ! it's gonna be widescreen (2.35:1) and 16:9! now this should be a revelation...

[y2doublet]

On a related note I suggest you all check out the so called "Amazon.com Exclusive" VHS's they got for sale over at their homepage to see which titles might come out as Midnight Movies in the coming year. All of those cult-titles are owned by MGM/UA and will most likely see DVD releases sometime in the future. Some notables are The Burning, Motell Hell, Cellar Dweller, Clowhouse and After Midnight.

[y2doublet]

Oh, and I recommend getting X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum and The Man from Planet X. Those are the ones I have anyway. I also have KKFOS which is a great popcorn flick in two senses. ;)

[Suicide]

Get Theatre of Blood. Great movie. If you like Phibes then Theatre... is kinda the same thing with a different story and Price killing the critics who never gave him the attention he deserved based on Shakespeare's writings. As opposed to killing doctors who botched his wife's surgery based on biblical plagues. It still has the same morbid humor and all, but it's a lot gorier and meaner than Phibes. Watch the second murder to see what I mean. I actually consider the 2 Phibes movies and this a trilogy, although Theatre of Blood has nothing to do with Phibes. Well except they both star Vincent Price, and have the revenge theme. Plus in Theatre you get to see Price do all kinds of Shakespeare acting and wear crazy costumes the whole time. Plus it's only $10.

I found this weird Midnite Movie I'd never seen in any store today. It was something like 'Attack of the puppet people' or something like that. What the hell is it? I never heard of it. And next year we get to look forward to Return of the Living Dead and The Burning:D Also it's fun to put them all together because the spines look cool with part of the cover art on them

[chwatkins]

I'd recommend any of the Vincent Price movies for sure. The two E.A. Poe movies he did with Roger Corman are classics, and even include audio commentaries by Corman. The Pit and The Pendulum disc even has a rarely seen theatrical opening (although it's probably a good thing it was cut, seeing as it somewhat ruins the shocking ending). Hopefully, we'll be seeing more of these in the future.

Also good is Price's starring role in Twice Told Tales, which is an anthology picture based on short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorn. The last story is probably the best, but the other two are perfectly good thrillers. No real extras on this disc, unfortunately.

Of course, the much-lauded Killer Klowns midnight movie. For pure schlock value, you can't get any better. Plus, most of the extras are worth checking out, especially the early films by the directing crew. Most of the other featurettes I could have lived without, though.

[Jeremy]

my next MGM Midnite Movie i'll buy will be Strange Invaders ! it's gonna be widescreen (2.35:1) and 16:9! now this should be a revelation...

Mmmmm, speaking of that...

http://www.dvdfile.com/software/review/dvd-video_4/strangeinvaders.html

Sounds like a worthwhile release, albeit a little disappointing...

[ScaryMovieFreak]

The only one I bought was Killer Klowns From Outer Space. One that I've been looking for is The Beast Within. Other then those two I doubt I'll get any of the others. Next year I plan on getting Return of the Living Dead and The Burning though.

[Hellbilly]

Originally posted by Jeremy


Mmmmm, speaking of that...

http://www.dvdfile.com/software/review/dvd-video_4/strangeinvaders.html

Sounds like a worthwhile release, albeit a little disappointing...

very disappointing indeed. too bad MGM couldnt deliver a better print. but what the heck, i'm going to buy it anyways....

[y2doublet]

Strange Invaders and Strange Behaviour, I never heard about those titles. Are they good?

[David666]

Originally posted by y2doublet
Some notables are The Burning, Motell Hell, Cellar Dweller, Clowhouse and After Midnight.

VERY COOL.

MGM sure as hell got thier grubby little paws in on some bankrupsies to get the rights to all these films.

When the above titles appear on DVD (in at least 16X9) I'll snag them in a heartbeat.

Midnite Movies, I recomment the Dr Phibes films, Beast Within and KKFOS.

[ArrowBeach]

Originally posted by David666


VERY COOL.

MGM sure as hell got thier grubby little paws in on some bankrupsies to get the rights to all these films.
.

Yes, disappointed indeed. MGM suxs, they dont give inner liner paper, and they seldomly do 16 x 9, they also do pan and scan of REPTILICUS, CREATURE THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD, IT THE TERROR FROM SPACE. :mad:

[y2doublet]

ArrowBeach, as if anyone else even would have released DVDs of those titles if they had the rights. Perhaps AB, but then we'd all get bankrupt buying their Limited Edition Director's Cut Bootleg Versions of the films.

Dude, you got your facts all messed up. If you count all MGM's genre releases you'd see that the majority is sporting 16 x 9. Like they have repeatedly said themselves, that is their goal unless the elements doesn't allow a satisfying anamorphic transfer. In the titles you refered to, I don't even think there were such compositions.

As for the "inner liner paper", who gives a f*ck? For $9.99 I'd could really live without a piece of paper. I think you should support what MGM does for us genre fans instead of constantly finding excuses for ripping them apart. Perhaps you're made of money, I'm not, so I couldn't be more pleased with their Midnight Movies.

[ctyner]

Is it a definite that <i>It! The Terror From Beyond Space</i> is open-matte (it's certainly not panned-and-scanned)? The framing didn't seem off at all.

[Reverenddave]

Originally posted by ArrowBeach
they also do pan and scan of REPTILICUS, CREATURE THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD, IT THE TERROR FROM SPACE. :mad:

I think all three of these movies are in their correct aspect ratio (Academy Standard). I haven't seen any evidence that these films were originally widescreen.

[Mortis]

I can't wait for ROTLD. I've been waiting for years. I have a crappy dub I did from a rental that I enjoy over and over.

[Jeremy]

Y2doublet, I think ArrowBeach was being sarcastic...

[maybrick]

I think the most important thing about having a film on DVD is a great transfer in it's correct aspect ratio, both of which MGM has delivered in all of the ones I've bought. Extras are nice, but people need to remember that for older films they can be difficult to come by. I consider MGM to be by far the best major movie company in the business right now mainly because of the care they have taken with their Midnite Movie line and they don't try to break us at the bank either! I'd rather pay $10-15 for a disc than $25-30 for a disc with liner paper and a few more extras. Anything that they don't have on hand they would have to produce and that would increase the retail price. They're not going to give that stuff to us for free you know!

[Donuthole75]

Maybrick's right. Having Planet of the Vampires with the transfer that it boasts (amazing!) and in widescreen for $10 is amazing. I love this line of movies and sometimes we'll get lucky like with KKFOS with all those extras for $10, but I really don't need extras. Though they hit the nail on the head with the idea that KKFOS is a movie that would be great with a bunch of extras and I have a hunch they're gonna do the same with ROTLD. Just wait and you see! But yeah, OAR and a nice transfer is all that really counts to me. MGM is doing a good, good thing! TV and Radio spots!? ohhhh joooy!

[Steve Langton]

Hats off to MGM! Doing a fine job, and for under a tenner (in English funds), I really didn't mind the lack of extras on my Planet Of The Vampires disc. Picture quality is amazing. Keep 'em coming,
guys!

[Yowie]

Strange MGM would release "People That Time Forgot" and not the movie that came before it; "Land That Time Forgot". I love "Land...", I wonder if they (or Warner) still own it and plan to give it to us ?. -Now that "Theater Of Blood" is out, "Land..." ranks as my most anticipated (possible) Midnite Movie.

[skinnypuppy6]

yeah I'm down with the midnight movies so far a good deal for 10.00

[moogong]

Killer Klowns rocks. The bloopers feature is worth the $10 alone.

[maybrick]

Donuthole, Planet of the Vampires is a great disc. I just watched it this morning! If you read Video Watchdog at all, issue 76 has a terrific article on how much trouble MGM went through to restore it. You don't get this kind of quality cheap and where this film is corncerned, it's the result of three years labor!!! In this day and age, you don't expect this kind of devotion from a major production company to a film which will create minimal profits for themselves. Reading this helped me appreciate the work MGM is doing all the more, especially since it appears that they're putting historical preservation before economics. Kudos!!

[calpurnia]

To all those who fear getting their clothes torn off by old men and wonder about the skeleton farms in India...
VIVA RotLD
and Midnite Movies

(just please put special features)

"Send... more...paramedics..." -uhh, a zombie

[y2doublet]

Originally posted by Jeremy
Y2doublet, I think ArrowBeach was being sarcastic...

Jeremy, do you really think so? In that case I don't think you have followed ArrowBeach replies every time some poster mentions MGM. He got it in for them bad. Maybe he's a distgruntled former employee or something. Don't dis the Lion, if it weren't for them we wouldn't have had these many great cheap genre releases with nice transfers to dwell on.

[Suicide]

I think theres actually a good chance of Return (greatest movie of all time) having some extras. Theres the Killer Klowns which has a ton of extras, the Invaders from Mars has a couple and Return is more popular than either of those, plus it actually has another version with longer scenes and there's a outtakes reel. They can show Suicide say "hey fuck you chocolate face" instead of "Hey fuck you ballbuster." and all the other changed/extra dialog as extras. Which actually brings up something else, does anyone know which version they are releasing? There's the 91 minute one I know and love, then theres a longer version with some of suicide's best lines changed.

[y2doublet]

As for the extras. I completely agree with you, Chris. I think MGM is very aware of the fan-cult this movie has and they want to please them just like they did with KKFOS. It's a bulletproof way of securing some future fan-loyality. Taking one title they know is popular, doing a swell release of it, then selling some other titles with it just 'cause they got a good rep of the first release.

[Yowie]

While I applaud MGM for bringing out all these classic horror titles, it IS a fact that it's not always in the correct aspect ratio which happens to be the most important thing to me. I'm not a sound freak at all, I must admit I couldn't care less about the stereo/mono sound being the original one or not, I mean fine if it is, but all I want is the bloody picture to be in the correct aspect ratio. I've mentioned it in another thread, but "Logan's Run" is slightly cropped and so is Warner's "Kelly's Heroes" (an old MGM title), but TNT/TCM shows them correctly. -I realize we're not talking huge differences in the picture, but enough to make me angry. I haven't seen the "Westworld" DVD yet, but that movies also have a very wide picture originally. I'm starting to fear they're also messing with "The Fearless Vampire Killers", "Where Eagles Dare" and "Ice Station Zebra" (once they get around to them), because their LaserDisc counterparts are 100% correct. The recently released MGM title "Audrey Rose" was, as far as I know, filmed in Panavision but the DVD is 1.85:1. Strange.

[Donuthole75]

A bigger fear is that I believe Warner Bros. now owns "Fearless Vampire Killers" and they are supposed to be releasing it in the near future. I think it would be better in MGM's hands though.

[ArrowBeach]

Originally posted by Yowie
While I applaud MGM for bringing out all these classic horror titles, it IS a fact that it's not always in the correct aspect ratio which happens to be the most important thing to me. I'm not a sound freak at all, I must admit I couldn't care less about the stereo/mono sound being the original one or not, I mean fine if it is, but all I want is the bloody picture to be in the correct aspect ratio. I've mentioned it in another thread, but "Logan's Run" is slightly cropped and so is Warner's "Kelly's Heroes" (an old MGM title), but TNT/TCM shows them correctly. -I realize we're not talking huge differences in the picture, but enough to make me angry. I haven't seen the "Westworld" DVD yet, but that movies also have a very wide picture originally. I'm starting to fear they're also messing with "The Fearless Vampire Killers", "Where Eagles Dare" and "Ice Station Zebra" (once they get around to them), because their LaserDisc counterparts are 100% correct. The recently released MGM title "Audrey Rose" was, as far as I know, filmed in Panavision but the DVD is 1.85:1. Strange.

MGM doesnt own their films anymore, WB does. Which is why MGM is releasing UA, Embassy, TW, AIP studio stuff. So it is probably WB who botched up the aspec ratio on teh MGM titles. Donuthole is correct, MGM would have done a much better restoration than WB, who is VERY VERY slow at releasing library titles of WB and MGM on DVD.

[Donuthole75]

Isn't there also a problem with finding a widescreen version sometimes (older films) and studios have to release a title that has been cropped? Im probablly a bit off on this one, but I heard something along those lines before.