Search - SciFi Classics: 50 Movie Pack on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Not For Children Movie Release: 2004 DVD Release: 03/23/2004 Format: DVD - Letterbox for TV,Pan and Scan Audio Tracks: English SwapaDVD Credits: 12 Number of Discs: 12 Studio: Digital 1 Stop Total Copies: 11 Genres: Science Fiction, Horror, Sci-Fi Horror See Also: Monstrosity: The Atomic Brain, The Atomic Brain

This weird, morbid little sci-fi thriller stars Marjorie Eaton as a filthy-rich but decrepit old widow who has devoted much of her wealth to funding the dubious (to say the least) scientific research of Frank Gerstle, who has constructed a mad lab in the widow's basement in order to perfect a technique in which an infusion of atomic energy (or something) will enable him to transfer the widow's brain into a young and sexy physique. To this end, three subjects are solicited through a want ad (under the pretense of employing a housekeeper). The three young women, all of different nationalities (represented by horrendous accents), are subjected to the old woman's scrutiny, until she selects the prime candidate... as the others become fodder for the doctor's pet projects. Needless to say, things don't turn out quite as planned: people are burned, torn apart by man-beasts, and get their eyes ripped out -- one poor lass even winds up with the brain of a cat. This has a certain perverse charm and is competently directed (excepting some boring stretches) by Joseph V. Mascelli -- who, in spite of his work on this film and Ray Dennis Steckler's The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-up Zombies, would later publish a well-known book on cinematography. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Frank Gerstle - Doctor
Erika Peters - Nina
Judy Bamber - Bee
Marjorie Eaton - Hazel
Frank Fowler - Victor

This is a lot of sci-fi to bite off in one gulp (and not all of it is actually sci-fi), but the prospect of 50 movies in one budget-priced 12-CD package that's smaller than a cigar box isn't easy to pass up. Needless to say, quality control is not a long-suit with a package like this -- the 12 discs were all present, but there were additional copies of two of the discs (which leads one to suspect that somewhere out there is a copy missing those two discs) Also, some of the annotation on the thin individual sleeves is comically wrong, most notably the 1961 horror-sci-fi chiller The Atomic Brain being listed with Bradford Dillman as its star -- in point of fact, one of its producers was Dean Dillman. That said, the presentations of the movies are not bad or, at least, not terrible; they're about on par with what Alpha Video delivers at five- to eight-dollars a title. The prints are intact and clean, the '60s vintage color movies are washed out to varying degrees (Hercules and the Captive Women, which is actually sort of Greco-Roman sci-fi, is not much more pale than it looked on local TV in 1964 or on Mystery Science Theatre 3000 in the '90s; Battle of the Worlds looks bleached quite a bit and tinted toward green in some shots but just fine in other places). The framing is off on some of the older films such as Unknown World, that were certainly shot 1.33:1, indicating that at some point in mastering their images were blown up slightly -- the latter is also one of the relative handful of films here in which the sound is a bit muddy and the image whited out, as though too much light was being pumped through it; and even on recent movies such as The Astral Factor (sort of Scanners meets Manhunter done way too early), with Robert Foxworth and Stefanie Powers, has minor blemishes in its source print. Some of the movies are just bad, such as Galaxy Invader, and others have a camp value that makes them enjoyable on that level, and several few are interesting and entertaining; others, such as Planet Outlaws, are recut episodes of Rocky Jones, Space Ranger. Each disc opens with the same simple menu offering the films and a chapter selection for each (and every movie gets four chapters). ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide