Great campy sci-fi from the 1950's
Universal has finally seen the folly of their ways in selling this set exclusively via Best Buy and is re-releasing both volumes 1 & 2 in one set. Included are all ten films in the original sets, but once again there will be no extra features - just the films themselves and some trailers. If you love the great campy horror films of the 1950's you'll love this set. The following is from the press release on the new combined set:
Tarantula (1955, 81 min.)
An experiment to create a growth formula that could end starvation evolves into a nightmare when a contaminated spider grows gargantuan - with an appetite to match!
The Mole People (1956, 78 min.)
Deep below the surface of the earth, three scientists stumble upon a tyrannical tribe of albinos who have enslaved a mutant - and dangerous - race of mole people.
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957, 81 min.)
After encountering a mysterious radioactive mist, an ordinary businessman finds his...
The ultimate "B" movie set
Although I bought both these sets at Best Buy when they were released, I'm delighted that folks who may have missed out on them can now own these great films on DVD.
To be honest, only a couple of the films might be considered bona-fide sci-fi classics, which occasionally rise above the limitations of typcial fifties "B" movie material. THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN is one the most thought-provoking and existential films from the period. And THE MONOLITH MONSTERS rises above its low budget with some simple yet impressive effects, and better-than-average performances.
TARANTULA and THE DEADLY MANTIS are entertaining parts of the wave of Giant Killer Bug movies that ruled the screens in the 1950's. MANTIS sports one of the more ridiculously memorable critters of the era. CULT OF THE COBRA and THE LAND UNKNOWN incorporate the then-popular sub-genre of "jungle thrills" into their scripts.
The real oddity of this collection is DR. CYLCOPS. It's the only...
The big, the small, the lost and the shifty
In the early days of talkie films, many of the major studios carved out their own niches: MGM did the spectacular movies and the musicals, Warner Brothers did the social issue and gangster movies and Universal did the monster movies. By the 1950s, Frankenstein and company were generally played out, so Universal switched from the supernatural to the "scientific" monsters. These films were for the most part B-movie fare and generally fun, but also formulaic enough to merit parody, most notably on Mystery Science Theater 3000. In fact, at least three of the ten movies in The Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection were redone on MST3K.
These ten movies fit into four categories, each with two or three films: the big, the small, the lost and the shifty. The "big" films deal with oversized monsters: Tarantula, The Monolith Monsters and The Deadly Mantis. Tarantula, one of three in the set directed by Jack Arnold (of Creature of the Black Lagoon fame) deals with an oversized...
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