DVD Collectors Online

The Amityville Horror, a review by Dragonfire

The Amityville Horror

In the Heat of the Night

My Thoughts

I did get a review posted on Epinions.

The Amityville Horror

(From Dragonfire's Halloween/Horror Marathon 2009 on October 22nd, 2009)

Amped, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Amped
Year: 2004
Director: Richard Poche
Rating: NR
Length: 71 Min.
Video: Widescreen :1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: N/A

Stars:
Shelby Barendrick
Richard Poche
Elizabeth Di Prinzio
Susan Stuart Brazell
Trish Christensen

Plot:
The new lead singer of the female fronted rock band, the "Danger Dolls", is found dead of an apparent cocaine overdose. But detective Holden begins to question the circumstances surrounding her death.

Extras:
Scene Access

My Thoughts:
Not being into music of any kind... this is not normally my type of a movie... but I am review this one at the request of a friend. This movie is from the Mortuary of Madness boxset I got this past October. Like many of the movies in this set... the acting leaves much to be desired. But I have seen worse acting in other movies in this set. Now I can normally just ignore music in a movie... but in this case... the singing was bad. And it is much harder to ignore bad singing then it is to ignore the music of real musicians. This woman's voice just goes through me and hurts my ears. At one point I actually had to fast forward through a song that played while showing some clips. Which is something I can normally ignore... but not with this movie... not with this singer. It also seemed the camera man liked to get a bit on the creative side. using some unneeded close-ups, over the shoulder shots and the like. Then there was the mixture of color and Black and White.  (B&W for the flashbacks). I found the story to be slow. The movie was only an hour and 11 minutes... and it just seemed to go on and on. It just really wasn't that interesting. I just wasn't too impressed with this movie.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Unwatched DVDs on December 18th, 2009)

Twilight Zone, a review by addicted2dvd

30. A Stop at Willoughby (5/6/60)
Advertising exec Gart Williams (James Day) cracks under the pressure of his job. But, in this classic episode, he dreams about a peaceful town named Willoughby.

My Thoughts:
I actually remember seeing this one before... though it has been a very long time since I only remembered bits and pieces of the episode. I definitely enjoyed this one. The only extras with this was an Isolated Music Score and a short interview that strangely when played it plays over top the episode... I can understand this if the interview lasted the entire length of the episode... or even almost the entire episode... but this one only lasted like a minute or 2. With such a short interview I would have rather it to be an audio only interview.

31. The Chaser (5/13/60)
Roger Shackleforth (George Grizzard), desperate to win the affection of the beautiful Leila (Patricia Barry), slips her a love potion. He is overjoyed that the potion works so well... at first.

My Thoughts:
This is another episode I have never seen before. It was a good episode... it ended up about the way I figured it would. I am not 100% sure... but I think the guy that gave him the card was the same guy that played Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy... it looked like him at least... but it has been a very long time since I watched I Love Lucy. This episode had another interview and an Isolated Music Score again... I didn't bother to listen to the interview with this one to see how long it lasted.

32. A Passage for Trumpet (5/20/60)
After committing suicide, an unsuccessful trumpet player (Jack Klugman) is given a second chance at life. But first he must learn what it means to be dead in a world full of life.

My Thoughts:
This one I definitely seen before... it was on one of the volume discs I had. It is a pretty good episode... but not one of my favorites. The only extra you get with this episode is an Isolated Music Score.

33. Mr. Bevis (6/3/60)
Orson Bean is James B. W. Bevis, a good-natured, accident-prone eccentric whose guardian angel gives him a chance at success. But there's a catch: all the goofiness in his personality has got to go.

My Thoughts:
This was the first time I ever seen this episode but unfortunately it was only ok at best... it didn't impress me too much. There was no extras attached to this episode either.

34. The After Hours (6/10/60)
A woman (Anne Francis) discovers that the floor of a department store, on which she bought a gold thimble, doesn't exist - and that her "saleslady" is really a mannequin!

My Thoughts:
This episode I have seen before. I believe it is one of the episodes that I had on the volume dvds I owned. This was a good episode... I really did enjoy it. The extras attached to this episode include... Interview with Anne Francis and Douglas Heyes. and The Twilight Zone Radio Drama starring Kim Fields.

35. The Mighty Casey (6/17/60)
A broken-down baseball team soars when a new player, a human-looking robot, pitches shut-out after shut-out. He must be altered to become more human, but how will this affect his superhuman skills?

My Thoughts:
This is another that I watched for the very first time. Was a pretty good episode... nothing great though. The extras for this episode was A lecture with Rod Serling and a short photo gallery.

36. A World of His Own (7/1/60)
Keenan Wynn is Gregory West, a noted playwright who discovers that he can make anything appear or disappear just by describing it... like his irritable wife or even Rod Serling.

My Thoughts:
This was a really fun episode... and yet another that I have never seen before! I do think that for me at least.. this one did start a little slow... but it improved immensely as the show went on. The only extra attached to this episode was an interview.


Original Pilot Version of "Where Is Everybody?"
This never-aired pilot episode is presented in its uncut version and includes the original narration by Westbrook Van Voorhis, which was later replaced by Rod Serling for the October 2nd 1959 broadcast. It is introduced by Rod Serling in a filmed sales pitch to the network sponsors.
- Also features an alternate narration by Rod Serling.
- Audio commentary by producer William Self.
- Rod Serling discusses the episode in a 1975 lecture at Sherwood Oaks College.

Netherlands Sales Pitch
A filmed sales pitch with Rod Serling selling 'The Twilight Zone' series to a Netherlands network.

Liars Club
A segment of the popular 1970s game show hosted by Rod Serling.

Rare Rod Serling Blooper
A humorous, never-before-seen outtake of Rod Serling tripping over his own tongue.

Photo Galleries
Behind-the-scenes photographs from the first season and Rod Serling's rare game show appearances.

'The Twilight Zone' Radio Drama: "The Lonely" starring Mike Starr.

Original 'Twilight Zone' Billboards
Intros to various episodes by the show's commercial sponsors.

Emmy Awards
Clips from the Emmy Awards ceremony featuring wins for 'The Twilight Zone' in the Writing and Cinematography categories.

'The Twilight Zone' Comic Book
An issue of the popular comic from 1963.

My Thoughts:
This extras disc has some awesome stuff on it!... first is the un-aired version of the pilot. Which I am watching as I write this... so can't talk about to many differences... but  the first thing I noticed was someone else doing the narration of the opening credits. I am so glad they did not stick with this guy. He just didn't have the flow that Rod Serling has.

The Netherlands pitch was just that... Rod Serling doing a short pitch of what his show is to a station in the Netherlands.

Now... The Liars Club....this was really fun! I would love to see all the episodes of this game show! And the description says it is just a segment... and even though this is literally true... it is actually almost a whole episode... ran for about 22 minutes! It had a panel of 4 people... only 2 of which I recognized.(Betty White and the Guy that played Hermie the Robot on Get Smart) showing an item and each telling something different of what the item is... of course only 1 of them telling the truth. And it is up to the contestants to decide who is telling the truth... really looked like a lot of fun!

Rare Rod Serling Blooper is just as it sounds... he messes up one of his speeches. This could have been better... they should have had a good half dozen bloopers to make it more fun.

and all the rest is pretty much as it sounds... I am yet to check out the comic book as you have to pop the disc into your dvd-rom to see it.

Well... this time it will be my thoughts not only on discs 5 & 6... but the 1st season as a whole...

Disc 5 continued to impress me... I got to see many more episodes I never seen before. Disc 6 blew me away with all the great extras it has on it... My favorite extra has to be the game show... that really looked like it would be a lot of fun!

As for Season 1 on a whole... Before this set I only seen a small handful of episodes... but it seemed like I would really enjoy the series... so I decided to by this set... and going by season 1 I am thrilled I did! I don't only enjoy this show... I am loving every minute of this show... even the not so good episodes has been enjoyable. What more could you possibly ask then that?

Episodes I seen for the First time on this set include:

   1. Judgment Night (Episode 10)
   2. And When The Sky Was Opened (Episode 11)
   3. What You Need (Episode 12)
   4. I Shot an Arrow into the Air (Episode 15)
   5. The Hitch-Hiker (Episode 16)
   6. The Purple Testiment (Episode 19)
   7. Elegy (Episode 20)
   8. Mirror Image (Episode 21)
   9. A World of Difference (Episode 23)
  10. Long Live Walter Jameson (Episode 24)
  11. People Are Alike All Over (Episode 25)
  12. Execution (Episode 26)
  13. The Big Tall Wish (Episode 27)
  14. A Nice Place to Visit (Episode 28)
  15. Nightmare as a Child (Episode 29)
  16. The Chaser (Episode 31)
  17. Mr. Bevis (Episode 33)
  18. The Mighty Casey (Episode 35)
  19. A World of his Own (Episode 36)

(From Twilight Zone on February 5th, 2008)