Search - 42nd Street Forever, Vol. 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema on DVD

After four volumes of fun trailers, the bar has been raised

BayAreaSav | Northern California | 10/15/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"On my review for Volume 4, I stated that this series is starting to dwindle and needs a fresh boost. My suggestion was for the folks at Synapse to go outside their boundary for Volume 5 and use a different source for trailers that they normally would not get access to. My wish came true and the Alamo Drafthouse Theater supplied the obscure goods. This is definitely one of the best exploitation home video trailer compilations I've ever seen. If you're already a fan of the 42nd Street Forever series then there should be no hesitation to purchase. If you're new to the series, this is actually a great one to start with.

We get a lot of fun sets of sub-genres that continue the trend from the previous volumes. Martial arts, ninja movies, Sexploitation, low budget Sci-Fi, 70's explosive action, Italian Grindhouse and horror are the main themes. This one is similar to Volume 3 but I like this one a lot more. New ideas are brought to the table like Hicksploitation trailers (REDNECK COUNTY, MOONRUNNERS). More 80's B-action and exploitative horror that I never dreamed would see on DVD such as (MEGAFORCE, SORCERESS, MIND WARP, SLAUGHTERHOUSE ROCK). This collection also provides a lot of retro movie theatre cartoon ads for the different kinds of food being sold at the concession stand. The disc even starts with an unintentionally funny PSA ratings ad from Charlton Heston at a tennis court! As usual, there will always be a set of trailers that I would not care for such as the lost children films section. To my surprise, it was picked for a reason because those were also fun to watch. The digital remastering/transfers and the sound quality range from very good to great. I noticed the main menu sound and trailer selection area is a lot louder than the previous entries. The only special features is a 30 minute documentary on the history of the Alamo Drafthouse and commentary from the owner Tim League and two of the main exploitation programmers Lars Nilsen and Zack Carlson. The commentary isn't that engaging but it's worth at least one listen. These three talked more about an experience at a screening for the specific trailer and not detailed information on the movie itself like the previous commentators from Volumes 3 and 4 did.

I've never been to the Alamo Drafthouse in Texas but those of us here on the West Coast were treated to the experience because Lars and Zack came here for a tour called CinemaApocalypse back in April, 2009. I was able to attend the San Francisco edition and it was the best Grindhouse film festival event I've ever had! They even talk about the Castro theatre screening on the special feature and how it was one of the highlights of their movie screening career. Going by my memory of the trailers that were screened at the S.F. edition, this DVD captures the fun and excitement when these guys put on a show. I did find Lars and Zack more amusing as hosts than they were as commentators on this DVD. If this will be the only Alamo Drafthouse edition for a trailer compilation, I look forward to where the 42nd Street Forever series will go from here. This particular entry will always be my personal favorite not only for the great selection but also nostalgic reasons when I look back at that special event in 2009.

Trailer Highlights: LUCKY SEVEN, THE BODYGUARD, MISSION THUNDERBOLT, STACEY, ZEBRA FORCE, SLAUGHTERHOUSE ROCK, MIND WARP, REDNECK COUNTY, CHATTERBOX, MACHINE GUN MCCAIN, THE SECRET OF MAGIC ISLAND"

B-movie heaven

K. Swanson | Austin, TX United States | 12/09/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"4.6 stars

The first review here makes me realize how good we have it with the Alamo (actually Alamos; there's a bunch in town now). We've been watching random collections of clips just like this before most every showing of any movie since the original Alamo on 4th was crankin' in the 90s, and I've just always taken it for granted and assumed that every town has a rep theatre that does stuff like this.

I guess not! For that we can say thanks to the Alamo founders, Tim and Carrie League, and all the film freaks who put these things together. They done good, and continue to do it.

This collection really shows off the endless amount of cinematic cheese that has surfaced from the primoridal b-movie auteur muck and then disappeared over the decades. And believe it, there's lots more stuff like this in the Alamo vaults! I've seen some reeeeally obscure stuff in the previews, and with luck there'll be another Alamo dvd (or three) in this series.

Sex! Murder!! Mayhem!!! Coming soon to a drive-in near you..."

Totally Tubular

Erich A. Scholz III | Dallas, TX | 11/10/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Synapse's 42nd St Forever trailer comps have always been insanely entertaining but I have to concur with the previous reviewer when he says this volume ups the ante. This is without a doubt the most "out there" of the series -- well, except for maybe the XXX one. I haven't even heard of half of these films (esp. the kung fu titles -- whoa, check out that underage face plant at the end of LUCKY SEVEN!) but I guarantee if you like this sort of thing, you won't be disappointed. I even enjoyed the commentary."