Amazon.com video review:
This package contains three films, one a
bona fide classic, one an interesting first film by someone who would
go on to greatness, and, um, one other one. This set would be quite a
bargain if the transfer to DVD weren't so crappy. It appears that
these films were transferred from tape. Since the whole idea of DVD is
higher definition, that pretty much defeats the purpose of owning
these discs, unless you can't find these titles in a higher-quality
version. Luckily, the best of these three, the George A. Romero
classic about flesh-eating zombies, Night of the Living
Dead, is available in an exquisite pressing with THX sound and
lots of extras. It is also available in this version for the
cost-conscious consumer: Night of the Living
Dead. It's nice to have a copy of Francis Ford Coppola's
feature debut, Dementia
13--at least it would have been, if the transfer to DVD hadn't
been so botched that you could see the frames rolling out of control
and the tape bunching up in the last 15 minutes of the film. So on
the level of the films themselves two out of three ain't bad. Which is
to say that Revolt of
the Zombies is so dull, it'll have even zombies checking their
watches. --Jim Gay
Amazon.com video review:
Francis Ford Coppola was working as an
assistant to Roger Corman when he made this, his feature debut. The
story goes that Corman let Coppola make the film so long as he could
work around the shooting schedule of the film they were working on
together, and the results are impressive given the budget constraints.
Or maybe because of the budget constraints. The story concerns
the family at Castle Haloran, the secrets surrounding the death of
young Kathleen, and an axe murderer who seems to be picking away at
all present. Coppola's deft direction keeps this from being a routine
ghost story, using light and dark in his compositions to create
tension and suspense. The film has an interesting way of spanning the
traditional ghost story and the more modern gore-fests that we're used
to. I have one bone to pick with the manufacturer of this disc: the
transfer to DVD was made from tape. This is evident from the way the
frames roll repeatedly during the last 15 minutes of the film, and the
tape bunches a few times leaving video artifacts. DVD consumers want
all the benefits of this medium, and not to have the degraded quality
of tape preserved on it. If this is the only way you can get this
film, at least the price is reasonable. It's also packaged as a Fright Night Horror
Classic along with Night of the Living
Dead and Revolt
of the Zombies. --Jim Gay
