DVD Collectors Online

The Night Strangler, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: The Night Strangler
Year: 1973
Director: Dan Curtis
Rating: NR
Length: 90 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: Mono
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak
Jo Ann Pflug as Louise Harper
Simon Oakland as Tony Vincenzo
Scott Brady as Capt. Schubert
Wally Cox as Mr. Berry

Plot:Extras:
Scene Access
Featurettes
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
Thought I would finish off this double feature dvd. I enjoyed this one as well. Though I do like the subject of The Night Stalker a little more. But you all know how I like my vampire movies! Once again it is a good story... and I enjoy the characters. I must admit I do enjoy the way Kolchak and his editor is always arguing.



(From Movies of the '70s Marathon on March 20th, 2010)

They Came From Beyond Space, a review by GSyren

Title	They Came From Beyond Space (5-055201-820204)
Director	Freddie Francis
Actors	Robert Hutton, Jennifer Jayne, Zia Mohyeddin, Bernard Kay, Michael Gough
Produced	1967 in United Kingdom
Runtime	82 minutes
Audio	English Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles	None
Overview	Aliens have developed a way of transforming brain power into pure energy, at the expense of their physical form. Needing new bodies to house the incredible force, the aliens invade planet earth to export human beings. No one is immune from the invasion except for scientist Dr. Curt Temple whose skull, as the result of an accident, is reinforced with a silver plate.
My thoughts	The title suggest a really cheesy movie. It's not quite as bad as it may sound. I actually quite liked it. But you would have to remember that this is a low budget sixties sci-fi movie made by Hammer-wannabe Amicus Productions. They even borrowed one of Hammers best directors, Freddie Francis. The basic concept isn't bad. The script by Milton Subotsky doesn't quite make it justice. Subotsky clearly isn't of the same caliber as Hammer's Jimmy Sangster. And I can't quite decide if the ending is a good peaceful message or just a wimp-out. Robert Hutton in the lead role isn't bad at all. And Michael Gough is... well, he is Michael Gough. Somehow he's always enjoyable even when he hams it up. So, if you're expecting action and effects on the scale of todays movies, you'll be sorely disappointed. But if you like a good old sci-fi movie you might do worse than this. One caveat though, the music that accompanies the (few) fight scenes is terribly annoying. Just someone going at it at a snare drum. I give it a weak 3 out of 5. If they had put Michael Ripper in a supporting role I might have given it another half point. Yes, I'm a Ripper fan (Michael, that is, not Jack). Oh, another warning - the cover art has absolutely nothing to do with this film. Totally wishful thinking :-(
My rating	3 out of 5

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on July 12th, 2013)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Someone kills seemingly random Starfleet officers aboard DS9 and he or she uses an old-fashioned gun instead of an energy weapon. The killer seems to be shooting at point-blank range yet there are none of the expected powder burns on the body. Ezri uses an Trill ritual to call forth the memories of Joran Dax, the murderer. She hopes that his insight can help her catch the current killer.

My Opinion: Actually, this was an interesting episode. I liked it how Joran pushed her to solve the case but I also liked how she resisted him in the end. To use a Vulcan as killer was a surprising choice, but because of that it was a good one. It seemed logical () from a script POV not to use one of the usual suspects.

Synopsis: When O'Brien and Odo return from a mission their runabout is followed by some sort of space being. It enters the ship and turns out to be a shapeshifter. But it's not a Founder. He's one of the hundred like Odo that were sent into space to explore and experience. Odo tries to convince him to live on the station, but Laas is older than Odo and he's developed a certain dislike for "monoforms".

My Opinion: While I found the special effects and the idea that a shapeshifter could turn into fire or fog interesting, the rest of the episode was rather boring.

Synopsis: Vic's program contains a hidden Jack-in-the-box component which allows the gangster Frankie Eyes to overtake the hotel and turn it into a casino. Vic is thrown out. But the crew of DS9 can't simply reset and restart the program because that would mean that Vic would lose all his memories about them. They need to find an ingame solution and soon after the senior staff of DS9 is planning a robbery of a 1960s Las Vegas casino.

My Opinion: The last fun and also the last holodeck episode of the show. I enjoyed it very much. It's a bit like Ocean's Eleven (the original one, the one without all the computer stuff). And I liked the general idea that they were unwilling to reset the program and lose Vic as they know him. Basically Vic is to them what fictional characters are to us and I love my fictional characters the way they are.

Synopsis: Shortly before Bashir departs for a conference on Romulus he's contacted by Sloan from Section 31. Sloan gives him an additional job: To evaluate the health condition of certain members of the romulan Continuing Committee. Sisko and Admiral Ross order him to play along to find out what Section 31 is up to. But when it becomes clear that someone is about to kill the chairman of the romulan intelligence service Tal Shiar, Bashir reveals this information to the romulan liason officer, Senator Cretak.

My Opinion: "Inter arma enim silent leges." - "In times of war, the law falls silent." The theme of this episode was similar to the one in In the Pale Moonlight. What is allowed in times of war to win that war? Garak did the dirty work in the former episode and now Section 31 has done it. But this time it happened with the approval of a Starfleet admiral and not just a station captain. When does the price become to high to pay? What good are principles if you lose and become enslaved? But what good are principles if you only life by them when it's an easy choice?

(From Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon on March 1st, 2009)