Core2Duoノートレビュー 's review (A masterpiece of chills!!!) 『The pilot is an amazing work of terror, chills, and suspense!!!! The first time I saw the pilot, I almost pulled a chunk of my hair out watching the first segment. The second segment is okay, but less scary. The third segment is creepy and haunting with one of the most chilling endings ever. Watch it if you dare!!!!!!』
(Art comes to life. So run for your life!) 『Rod Serling short stories--the classic TV movie that launched the series. Roddy McDowell is excellent in story in which graveyard paintings come to life! 』
(Welcome To The Night Gallery) 『Those opening words by writer, host and all round creative genius Rod Serling paved the way for viewers to enjoy many intriguing stories of mystery, mayhem and the supernatural during the three year run of the classic series "Night Gallery". A brain child of Serling who had earlier been responsible for the creation of one of televisions most innovative and best remembered series in the classic "The Twilight Zone","Night Gallery was a regular anthology series on NBC that told stories of macabre happenings with surreal characters in often out of this world situations. This particular TV movie was the original pilot for the series and aired in 1969. It contains three individual stories and was adapted by Rod Serling from his own short story collection titled "The Season to be Wary". While varying in quality with the third story by far the weakest, all are rich in suspense and detail with stories one and two boasting top flight guest stars in engrossing teleplays.
All three episodes are linked by the presence in each story of a painting that literally guides the course of events, hence the title "Night Gallery". Rod Serling introduces each of the segments by the unveiling of each painting in turn and the viewer is then drawn into the story it has to tell.
Episode One which is the real gem of the trio is titled "The Cemetary", and stars a superb Roddy McDowall as a devilish young man called Jeremy Evans who has latched on to his previously unknown wealthy uncle. To hasten the time when he will recieve the old man's inheritance Jeremy deliberatly exposes him to cold winds upon which the old man dies of pheumonia. However Jeremy finds that life is not all plain sailing now as a mysterious painting on the staircase keeps changing and shows his uncle slowly rising from the dead in the nearby family graveyard. Slowly driven to insanity by the thought of his uncle coming after him from the grave Jeremy falls down the stairs in terror and breaks his neck upon which the real twist in the story reveals itself. But is that really the end of the story?
Episode Two is the justly famous episode "Eyes",that stars none other than veteran Hollywood actress Joan Crawford in what was without doubt her most memorable television apearance. Here she was directed by a rookie director at the time, the now famous Steven Speilberg in his first directing opportunity. Joan plays Claudia Menlo an extremely wealthy Park Avenue Socialite who has been blind since birth. Hearing of an innovative approach to eye surgery whereby with a willing donor vision can be returned for roughly twelve hours, Claudia sets out to secure this opportunity for herself no matter what the cost. Totally ruthless in her dealings with others Claudia blackmails with incriminating evidence Surgeon Frank Hetherton to perform the surgery when a donor Sidney Resnick (Tom Bosley) is found. Resnick has gambling debts and is willing to sacrifice his eyes to get mob members off his back. The surgery is performed but just as Claudia removes her bandages New York experiences a total blackout leaving her as much in the dark as before. As ordinary daylight begins to break and Claudia sees not only the painting of herself she had commissioned but also her first sunrise she finds however that she has paid a very big price for little return resulting in tragedy.
Episode Three, "Escape", is the weakest of the stories and tells of a former Nazi Officer Herme Arndt (Richard Kiley) now going by the name of Josef Strobe who has fled to South America to avoid detection for his war crimes. While visting a museum he becomes intrigued by a painting of a fisherman and the tranquil setting in the painting makes him keep coming back to the painting each day secretly wishing he was that fisherman. He encounters a former Concentration Camp survivor in the museum who is aware of his former identity. Repeatedly seeking to become that fisherman in the painting however his wish is unfortunately granted but not in the way he expected when he becomes a part of a much more sinister painting moved to where the earlier painting used to hang. In this new painting Strobe will more than pay for his war crimes for all eternity.
Superbly linked together by an appropriately eerie narration by Rod Serling much like he did in his "Twilight Zone", series, "Night Gallery", makes wonderful viewing for those that grew up with the great anthology series of the 50's, and 60's decades. "Night Gallery", the TV movie was really Serling's last significant work for television and it was responsible for giving the green light to the successful series that followed over the next three seasons. Episodes One and Two are the really great stories here, thanks to the tense writing by Serling and the top notch performances by Roddy McDowall and Joan Crawford. The musical score employed throughout the segments also is highly evocative and adds tremendously to the eerie atmosphere employed here. I highly recommend "Night Gallery", for its great storytelling and as the last chapter in the career of one of television's most innovative pioneers, the legendary Rod Serling.』
(Flashforward: 1969-1972) 『Midnight never ends in a private showing dedicated to you, the viewer.
Rod Serling, with his perfect stage voice and brilliant mind has been missed since his death years ago.
These pilot episodes are very good, very unusual, and very, what's the word...nostalgic. You'll see. :)
The first offering is one where a black sheep nephew with an itch plots to do away with his uncle so as to reap his inheritance early. In this he was successful, until he begins notice odd little changes on a painting of the family graveyard which rests just outside the walls of the familiy mansion...
I won't touch the other two, they are great in their own right, but the first is the best of the three.
This strange gallery may show you the Flip-Side of Satan.』
(Classic Serling with Mod Roddy and Mommy Dearest Joan.) 『Here's some classic 1960s TV; the movie debut of Rod Serling's "Night Gallery". Though the series lapsed quickly into B-TV oblivion, this film stands out as fresh, original, and even profound on some level. Serling introduces his 3 original stories as 3 art gallery paintings and we start off with Roddy McDowell, all Modded up and with a Southern accent. He kills his uncle for the inheritance, but the painting by the stairs is scaring the daylights out of him. Ozzie Davis does a convincing (Mr.) Portifoy who's after some inheritance of his own.
Next we are on New York's 5th Ave. where Joan Crawford is blind and rich. She blackmails a doctor to do an operation allowing her 12 hours of sight...the catch is Tom Bosley has to donate his eyes for her. The moment she takes off her bandage for her 1st glimpse of sight a citywide blackout occurs. This is classic Serling (Beware of consequences) and even more profound and trippy than many Twilight Zone episodes. Not to mention this was Steven Spielberg's directorial debut. The final scene with Crawford getting a first and last glimpse of the sun has some profundity to it. Really the second the blackout hits we enter a surreal dimension, and we hear her thoughts "I want the sun", the window breaks, and we come back to Serling's gallery.
These first 2 stories I remember vividly from seeing them on early '70s TV as a kid. So it's really got the nostalgia factor going on. The 3rd story is a bit of a throwaway about a Nazi war criminal in South America.
Core2Duoノートレビュー 's review (Very disturbing) 『I saw the faces of death several years ago and the images left in my mind still haunt me. I often wondered why anyone would make such a film and why anyone would want to see such horror. Then I realized it's because all of us have that thing called morbid curiosity. Like when there's a wreck on the highway and everyone stops to see what's happening when what they really want to see is if anyone's dead. The scene in these movies that I can't get out of my head is when the guy is skydiving and lands in a crocodile pit and all of his insides are floating on top of the water-- anyway, it looked pretty real to me so if real blood and guts is your thing......』
(WAY COOL) 『I was in high school when these were in the video stores. I rented the first two.then they were pulled off the shelves. I could not belive I found them.』
(First of all, gross.) 『Have you ever seen something so shockingly horrible that you immediately wished you'd never seen it? Too late, it's in your head now and can't really be washed away.
That's what you get with Faces of Death. Plus, there's a good plenty of staged scenes that are being passed off as actual footage of something gruesome. It is gruesome, but still a hoax.
I saw this when I was in my early teens and guess what... those images still rattle around in my head to no good effect. Fill your mind with something that will benefit it.』
(Faces of Death Box Set) 『After reviewing the Traces of Death, personally I thought the Faces of Death was a whole lot better. The Faces of Death basicly goes through the different ways people or animals have died or been killed. I didn't find it scary, but one doesn't always realize how they could die. I believe viewing for some should be warned that this may not be suitable for some. The videos remind me of something that might be on the Discovery Channel, or parts could be on the unsolved mysteries. It wasn't bad..I would recommend it for those who are curious of how many ways one might be found dead, or die or be killed. If one is looking for a movie, this isn't it. If one is curious on autopsy, this video is far better than the video I got on autopsy thru the eyes of a detective.』
Core2Duoノートレビュー 's review (If you don't like this genre, don't bother with this film.) 『This really is one of the top 5 cheesy, T&A, slasher B-movies of all time. Most of the other reviewers have summarized the plot (or lack thereof) so I won't rehash that, but I will suggest that you make this a double feature with Wynorski's "Hard to Die" when you get around to it. Watch SHM II first, then HtD. You'll see why afterwards.
After all, the whole point of this type of movie is for semi-naked women (OK, OK...I'll admit it's a stretch to think of them as "sorority girls" since the actresses are actually in their mid to late twenties) to run around babbling silly dialogue with absolutely no conviction. Like sheep, they're brought to the slaughter. HtD improves on this by introducing automatic weapons into the mix. (Yes, in HtD the same women run around wearing little or no lingerie and firing automatic weapons.)
One aspect that seems to be overlooked by most reviewers is that this movie was actually shot and produced fairly competently. So many recent movies are independent productions shot directly on video and starring the friends of the filmmaker. The acting in these is certainly no better than it is in SHM II, but the camera work and audio are usually awful in these newer films. Camera motion is substituted for actual scares in an effort to be disorienting (I guess)...the lighting is uneven and annoying...and the audio is all over the place. In SHM II, the scenes are lit fairly well, the film has been color-balanced, and you can actually hear the dialogue. Yes, it's a well-made cheesy B-film.
Anyway, if you don't care for these retro-gems, don't watch this movie and don't bother reviewing it. You'll just point out the obvious. NOBODY thinks that the acting is great...and fans don't care. (In fact, we would be pretty upset if the acting was any good or if the plot made sense.) But if you're a fan of the genre, check out both SHM II and HtD ASAP.』
(Better than the first!) 『This sequel to Sorority House Massacre has nothing to do with the first one. There is a flashback sequence, but they for some reason flash back to Slumber Party Massacre. All these massacre movies are pretty much the same, so I guess they got confused about which movie this was a sequel to. But it doesn't matter, because this movie sure is fun! It doesn't take itself as seriously as the first and that's a good thing. Sometimes it plays it straight, but sometimes it feels like it's starting to border on being a slasher spoof as opposed to a straight slasher film. There is plenty of violence and no less than six women show off their double d's, so fans of 80's slasher flicks should definitely enjoy this.』
(My Kind of Junk Food) 『This is one of my all time favorite "stupid slasher movies" ... and I'm not afraid to admit that it's quite simply because I like most of the women who were selected to run around partly and completely naked as the films story unfolds ... or was it ... falls apart. Cute, curvy girls bouncing around in weakly acted horror as their scantily clad bodies are put in evermore rediculous forms of peril ... how could I resist such a mindless offering? It's pure guilty pleasure ... and I've long since gotten over the guilt. :)
Those of us who occasionally (or regularly) watch this sort of drivel know it's not about quality cinema ... it's about managing our sexual and personal frustration by indulging in a bit of mindless and gratifying stupidity. It's about letting your "real world" standards go for a few hours and letting your inner monster come out to play for a while.
What often disappoints me about movies like this isn't their lack of writing, acting or cinematic quality ... I've come to expect these things. What I don't enjoy are mindless slasher movies with unattractive starlets, sparse nudity and little or no attempt at even lame horror. I mean ... if you're not even going to indulge our guilty pleasures ... what's the point. Well, this movie didn't disappoint ... slippery shower scenes ... bouncing babes with very curvy bodies ... plenty of mindless and stupid and highly unlikely horror ... it was JUST the ticket. Enjoy with a greasy cheese burger, cold pizza, cold fries and a soda ...』
(Except For Nudity it's Great!) 『There's way too much nudity but other than that it's great!』
(NOT TOO BAD) 『This is your movie if you're into the campy horror stuff,the girls are sexy and some of them started their "B-Girl" careers here in the SORORITY&SLUMBER PARTY SERIES,(like Gail Harris and Melissa Moore). SIMPLE PLOT:The girls run around naked and in their underwear, then get bumped off.But i don't know why this movie is listed as unrated, there is no "UNRATED" version to my knowledge or one that even says "Nighty Nightmare".if there is,i think both versions would have the same footage anyway.』
price：$10.50
DVD)
Usually ships in 24 hours Core2Duoノートレビュー 's review (An Engaging Story) 『Misery is an engaging story but drags during the middle of the movie. Kathy Bates is excellent and James Caan is credible as the helpless victim. There are some twists and turns that keep the plot interesting enough but it is rather dry in the scenes where Kathy Bates is absent.』
(Blu-Ray Review) 『This is a very good looking Blu-Ray along with being a very good movie. A good addition to your collection.』
(VERY GOOD SURPRISE) 『Everybody knows the movie,so I just want to review the BD quality.PQ is absolutely fantastic throughout 1hour and 44 minutes,but curiously the last 3 minutes are not on the same level,I guess it's on the original print,sound quality is impressive ,you can buy this BD with confidence and throw away your old Standard dvd just like I did.』
(Poor mr Sheldon) 『Une des toutes meilleures adaptations de Stephen King (à quelques détails près), c'est tout le sel du livre dopé par une interprétation majestueuse, en effet après l'avoir vu il est impossible d'imaginer les personnages principaux autrement que sous les traits de James Caan et Katy Bates. En plus la qualité d'image est au rendez-vous.』
(great Kathy Bates) 『Una gran imagen y sonido para una gran película. No hay muchos artificios en la misma y no se aprecia DNR aparentemente. Lleva incluído el castellano en la película y en la película incluída en el dvd que se adjunta, aunque este último sea Zona A exclusivamente y los extras no están subtitulados (esto me parece muy mal por parte de la distribuidora Warner). Kathy Bates está inconmensurable, fantástica e irrepetible (por Dios, que nunca se le ocurra a ningún descerebrado hacer un remake de esta obra de arte...). En resumen, compra obligada porque será aprovechar muy bien su dinero. El envío de amazon, aunque lento, bien protegido.』 『Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 09/15/2009 Run time: 214 minutes Rating: R』
price：$4.99
Universal Studios
Usually ships in 24 hours Core2Duoノートレビュー 's review (Scary, Silly FUN!) 『 While the original was the best, all the TREMORS movies are FUN! Somewhat predictable and silly, but pure ENTERTAINMENT! That's what it's all about!』
(Love it!) 『I LOVE Tremors, 2, 3, and 4! I used to watch it whenever it was on the Sci Fi channel but now I own them and can watch them whenever I want! To me this is a definite classic! 5 stars all the way!!!!!』
(There're under the GROUND!) 『Imagine wandering through an ordinary American desert... when suddenly vibration-sensing giant worms erupt from the ground and eat you. That;s the "Tremors Attack Pack," which brings together all four movies from the delightfully dusty, gory and wildly bizarre cult movie series -- no pretensions, just good solid sci-fi/action.
In the original "Tremors," tired-hands Earl (Fred Ward) and Val (Kevin Bacon) are intent on getting out of the sun-baked, dead-end town of Perfection -- only to run afoul of a vast subterranean worm that sucks people down and eats them. Soon the entire town is being held hostage by these vibration-sensing "graboids," which are strong enough to rip apart the town. Now the guys must get the Perfectionites out of the town without being eaten by worms.
Six years afterwards, "Tremors 2: Aftershock" us to the embittered Earl, who is hired by the Mexican government to go graboid-hunting across the border. Helped out by dorky sidekick Grady (Christopher Gartin) and Burt Gummer (Michael Gross), Earl kills most of the graboids... until suddenly they mutate into two-legged, heat-sensing "shriekers." The remaining humans find themselves cornered by horrible little beasties that are as tenacious as graboids... but much more mobile.
"Tremors 3: Back to Perfection" jumps back to the town where it all started, now a sort of graboid tourist trap, complete with fake tours by "Desert Jack" Sawyer (Shawn Christian). But when graboids reappear, Burt is stopped from graboid-hunting by government agents who intend to protect the "oldest rarest endangered species of the planet." But there's an even more pressing problem: the shriekers have evolved into the final form: flying "ass-blasters."
"Tremors 4 - The Legend Begins" jumps back in time, to a dusty little western town that is practically deserted when someTHING kills the miners at the local silver mine. Its dandyish owner Hiram Gummer (Michael Gross) arrives to reopen the mine... but soon the remaining townsfolk find themselves facing a bunch of weird wormlike monsters (referred to as "dirt dragons") that rapidly grow into monsters. Do they abandon the town, or stand and fight?
The "Tremors" movies were all written by people with excellent senses of humor, and a knack for weaving up suspense over something as minor as walking over a floor. The last couple plots suffer a bit from sequelitis at times, but each movie is liberally strewn with freaky mutations, orange blood'n'guts, chases across the dusty desert, strong smart women, and a truck full of survivalist food. Oh, and enough explosions to level the Rocky Mountains, including a fun scene with an antiaircraft turret.
And there's plenty of excellent writing ("She said I couldn't handle life without the threat of global war... what kind of thing is that to say to a man?"), with an extremely quirky sense of humor (Earl and Val handle every problem, be it breakfast or suicide runs, by playing rock-paper-scissors). It's this tight writing and nimble sense of humor that keeps the "Tremors" movies from becoming yet another stale action movie.
Michael Gross ends up being the reigning champ in this series, and while the gun-obsessed survivalist Burt starts a bit cartoonish, he ends up a well-rounded, hilariously practical lead (while doubling as Burt's dandyish ancestor). Fred Ward is great as the grizzled'n'grumpy Earl, while Kevin Bacon is outstanding as Val. In fact, the cast of each movie is awesome -- Finn Carter, Helen Shaver, Shawn Christian, Reba McIntyre, August Schellenberg and Brent Roam all give especially good performances.
While the third and fourth films suffer a bit of sequelitis, "Tremors Attack Pack" is a fun, slimy and suspenseful race through graboid-infested deserts -- a must-see for cult movie fans.』
(Love Tremors) 『Number one I love Tremors so enough said. This is a great dvd series. It definitely is full quality dvd set. I often times wonder if Im getting a full quality dvd, or something that someone burned or copied themselves, when I buy a dvd online. I would definitely recommend this set to anyone. Full quality and Its the entire series for a great low price.』
(Four worms in one) 『Tremors 1: Val and Earl are 2 handymen in an isolated little desert town. Tired of the place they decide to leave. However, they come across a dead body and return to report it. A man has climbed up a pole and died of thirst. Attached to their car they find something weird. At first they believe it's part of a snake, they will soon find that it's way more exotic. And deadly. The phones are dead, and soon the little town of Perfection, Nevada, discovers the killers, giant underground worms with a taste for meat. The worms are tough, strong and quite smart. Enter survivalist couple Heather and Burt Gummer, who, prepared for commie invasion, have an entire arsenal of weapons. They're gonna need it...
Tremors 2: Aftershocks: Earl is invited to go graboid hunting in Mexico. At 50 000 $ per worm, he thinks it's a sweet deal. He quickly realises he's in too deep and he contacts Burt Gummer. Together they find that the graboids have a surprise for them. The graboids are changing...
Tremors 3: Back to Perfection: Burt has been in South America hunting graboids. As he returns to Perfection, he finds that a lot has changed. Jodi, niece of merchant Walter who died in T1, has turned the store into a graboid themed shop. A new character, Desert Jack, takes tourists on graboid safari. And Mel, who was a teenager in T1, has returned and wants to build condos in the desert. No one has seen the worms for 11 years. Now they return. No longer cut off from the world, the citizens of Perfection contact the authorities. The worms being big desert reptiles, become protected under the laws regarding conservation of species, and illegal to kill. Which also means that Mel can't develop the land, to Perfection's joy. The worms start developing into shriekers, but the shriekers aren't the final stage in the graboids' evolution. This movie introduces Desert Jack, Jodi and El Blanco, who were so important in the TV series.
Tremors 4: the legend begins: the year is 1889. In the small mining town in Rejection, Nevada, some eggs hatch... And soon miners start dying. Enter Hiram Gummer, mine owner and...wimp. It's a hoot to see the ancestors of the main characters from T1 - T3, how they interact and how they ended up in this little desert town. Not to mention the beginning of the graboids!
All 4 Tremors movies are great. They're exciting, entertaining and fun. Part horror, part splatter, part comedy, part monster movie, I have seen all 4 several times and I haven't tired of them yet. In fact, I'm hungry for more! All the main characters are quite eccentric, without making it stupid, adding to the entertainment value. Each movie reveals something new about the worms.
I highly recommend this collection. 』 『CONTAINS: TREMORS, TREMORS 2: AFTERSHOCKS, TREMORS 3: BACK TO PERFECTION, TREMORS 4: THE LEGEND BEGINS』
price：$14.98
Universal Studios
Usually ships in 1 to 2 days Core2Duoノートレビュー 's review (Absolutely great. Like revisiting an old fiend) 『First, my copy of this did not "jump around" and audio&video were clear as a bell, just perfect. I've not yet watched the Spanish language version, but I'm looking forward to it "Buenas tardes, Mina, donde esta Lucy?" "Lucy, you've got some 'splaining to do". Sorry, all of a sudden I thought of the classic TV show, I Bite Lucy. Anyway, the Phillip Glass accompaniment was kind of disconcerting, simply because it is so clear! When I think of watching classic monster films, I think scratchy: scratchy films, scratchy sound, and scratchy upholstery on the couch while I watch KTNT Channel 11 on Saturday night. So far, the extras are just great, and the "Universal Horror" feature is wonderful, especially the visits with the mayorr of Metropolis, Forrest J. Ackerman. It's been more than 30 years since I picked up a Famous Monsters Of Filmland magazine, but seeing the artifacts gathered around FJA took me right back, sort of like the opening scenes of Matinee did. While I REALLY enjoyed this, I'll probably never watch it again, but it was sure nice to see.』
(Bravo to Bela Lugosi and Philip Glass!) 『This set is so inexpensive, yet you get such a great bang for your buck!
Lugosi is mightily impressive as Dracula. No Dracula since has been anywhere near as good. He's tall, he's from Romania, he's imposing, he has a piercing stare - what more could you ask?
The new music score by Philip Glass is a fine complement to Lugosi's great performance. For some reason, maybe because of tight money in the early years of the Great Depression, the initial release featured no original music at all. Glass's score enhances the drama and makes the film far more exciting than the music-less version.
Glass is one of the best living composers in the world and he shows why with this score. His repeated patterns build a high level of tension and he elevates the tension brilliantly during the big moments.
The music is performed by the Kronos Quartet, one of the finest string quartets in the world. Glass and the Kronos Quartet show that you don't need a studio orchestra to make great film music. Unless you don't really like music at all, you will want to watch the film with this magnificent score.
As for the other elements of the film, the other actors are fine, though not special, save for the wonderfully campy Dwight Frye as Renfield and Charles Gerrard providing comic relief as Martin. The cinematography is great, the sets are great, the script is good and Tod Browning's direction is at least adequate.
Still, the main reason to watch this production is for Lugosi's iconic performance, brilliantly complemented by Glass's music. Bravo!』
(Dracula (1931)-Lugosi defined Dracula!) 『Dracula was filmed in 1931 and really started the Universal tradition for great horror. I rate this grand old film at five stars and it is really the "gold standard" against which to rate all Dracula remakes. This film introduced me to the Dracula legend as a kid in the late 50's. The only thing I can think of that might have made this film a bit better is the beautifully composed and tailored music we all loved so much in later Universal horror movies. I feel to this day that the art work for Castle Dracula, and the approach to the castle via Borgo Pass were absolutely magnificent.
Lugosi helped define the role of Dracula, and everything you may find endearing about him and his acting style I consider a vital part of that wonderful character. He honed and refined his Dracula characterization on stage in the many theatrical performances he delivered and then brought this iconic character to the big screen for Universal. By the way, the DVD was a wonderful transfer in glorious B&W.
I am a great fan of Lugosi and remember him for much of his work for Universal and other fine film companies. Again, Lugosi defined Dracula for many of us! 』
(BROWNING AND LUGOSI SET THE BAR) 『A true classic of the genre in every sense of the word. Bela Lugosi simply can't be topped as the definitive Count Dracula. For devotees of this film the 75th Anniversary Edition is the one to get, especially since Steve Haberman's excellent audio commentary finally sets the record straight by debunking the recent unwarranted criticism Tod Browning's version has received when it's compared to the alternately filmed Spanish version. Haberman points out some serious flaws with the Spanish version that clearly emphasizes the superiority of Browning's film, and restores the latter's deserved reputation as one of the seminal works of cinematic horror.
My one complaint with the disc set is Peter Glass' music score. It's just plain terrible. It does exactly everything a music score should NOT do. It's too loud and it's CONSTANTLY meandering its way throughout the entire film, which gets really annoying. Thankfully the music track is optional, but it does such a disservice to the film that it shouldn't have been included at all.』
(2 stars out of 4) 『The Bottom Line:
A movie whose iconic nature has prevented many people from realizing that it's actually a rather poor film, Dracula is only worth watching to see Bela Legosi provide the definitive version of the world's most famous vampire; aside from Legosi the movie has little to offer besides lethargic pacing, a complete anti-climax of an ending, and uninspired direction by Tod Browning.』 『When Universal Pictures picked up the movie rights to a Broadway adaptation ofDracula, they felt secure in handing the property over to the sinister team of actor Lon Chaney and director Tod Browning. But Chaney died of cancer, and Universal hired the Hungarian who had scored a success in the stage play: Béla Lugosi. The resulting film launched both Lugosi's baroque career and the horror-movie cycle of the 1930s. It gets off to an atmospheric start, as we meet Count Dracula in his shadowy castle in Transylvania, superbly captured by the great cinematographer Karl Freund. Eventually Dracula and his blood-sucking devotee (Dwight Frye, in one of the cinema's truly mad performances) meet their match in a vampire-hunter called Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan). If the later sections of the film are undeniably stage bound and a tad creaky, Dracula nevertheless casts a spell, thanks to Lugosi's creepilylugubrious manner and the eerie silences of Browning's directing style. (After a mood-enhancing snippet ofSwan Lakeunder the opening titles, there is no music in the film.)Frankenstein, which was released a few months later, confirmed the horror craze, and Universal has been making money (and countless spin-off projects) from its twin titans of terror ever since. Certainly the role left a lasting impression on the increasingly addled and drug-addicted Lugosi, who was never quite able to distance himself from the part that made him a star. He was buried, at his request, in his black vampire cape.--Robert Horton』 『Although there have been numerous screen versions of bram stokers classic tale none is more enduring than this 1931 original with a masterful performance by bela lugosi. Filmed simultaneously with the english version the spanish version utilizes the same sets and script but with a different cast. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 07/08/2008 Starring: Bela Lugosi Run time: 75 minutes Rating: Nr』
price：$7.99
Roc
Usually ships in 24 hours Core2Duoノートレビュー 's review (Had trouble finishing this book) 『I had real trouble finishing this book. It drags on in more than one place. The fights with the bad guys are drab and repeated. Chap seems to engage fights the same way each time, it becomes predictable.
I love the premise of this storyline, it is just taking forever to reveal new plot twists. We know Leesil comes from a bad background, and the authors just keep repeating the same things over in over in this book and also Thief of Lives. Never really revealing anything new, just repeating the same things.
Most readers seem to dislike Wynn, I really enjoy her though. The relationship with her and Chane is a nice refreshment from the relationship Leesil and Magiere have. It was good to finally have more about the mysterious Welstiel revealed as well.
This book was surely not my favorite in the series, I am about 4 chapters into Traitor to the Blood and I am hoping it begins to pick up. I had to force myself to finish Sister of the Dead, and if the next book is anything like this I am sad to say I may never come to find out how this series plays out.』
(Weakest of the series so far . . . .) 『I was disappointed in Sister of the Dead, although it was not devoid of some good writing and some good scenes.
Let's start with the down side. This novel lacks unity. It could almost be several novelettes linked together by a journey. There's no central development that provides a beginning and leads to an end. One problem may be that it is a "mid" book in a longer series. Whether the Hendees are writing a trilogy or a tetrology, this is one of those "in between" books that often prove the weakest in a series.
Few if any new characters are introduced. This is my fourth read in the Noble Dead series, and I would like something new once and a while, or even some development and change in the existing characters.
As another negative, I found a certain amount of entirely gratuitous gore that was troubling to me. Children, especially. The vampires not only kill children, but we are "treated" to detailed accounts of their throats being ripped out. In one instance, after a vampire has "drained" and killed a boy of about eight he throws the body some distance into the woods like a sack of trash. Pre-teen girls also prove to be "delectable" victims. I suppose if one is psychopathic, this is really great material. Chane, one of the "sympathetic" characters, who twice saves Wynn's life, nonetheless feeds on children, and we are given every detail.
A few scenes are rather preposterous. One aristocratic vampire carries a pack with chef's pans and gourmet utensils. He even carries a small tripod table. He drains the victim's blood in a pan, heats it, mixes it with some liquor, and then "sups" with a bib to protect his laced shirt. Great writing, or "nuts" -- ? This particular vampire only needs to have a long mustache to twirl -- he's a cardboard cut-out villain.
Now for the plus side. If one just treats the book as a series of novelettes, even so these stories can be very interesting and entertaining. The action scenes are great. The young woman Wynn again steals the show, seeming more real and interesting than the title character or her beau.
Once this "interim" novel is completed, it appears we are headed for a showdown in the Arctic that might be considerably more intense and interesting. I hope so.
Not all that bad, but structurally flawed. Almost as though the authors had to get some material out of the way before moving on to a stirring conclusion to the series.
』
(Dead Boring) 『After reading the first 2 novels in this series I guess I was expecting more. First of all, this is not a stand-alone book by any means. I didn't expect it to be, but if someone were to pick this up as a first introduction, I doubt they would waste their time on the far better- crafted others to date. I agree with some of the reviews mentioning the character development with Chap and insight into Magiere's past, but in general I felt like questions weren't really answered; they were just addressed and left hanging without any meaningful resolution. I don't typically skim through passages, but I found myself doing that frequently. I felt there were only a couple of really good action scenes.
Having said that, I am looking forward to the next installment and have already purchased it, in fact. I just hope there is more to sink my fangs into than there was in this one. Sorry, fans!』
(Best in the series so far) 『Sister of the Dead is a notable improvement over the preceding two books in the Noble Dead series. While the earlier books did a good job of establishing intriguing characters in Magiere and Leesil, they tended to be a bit repetitive and inconsistently paced. Here, the character development that came before pays off. In Sister of the Dead we learn quite a bit about Magiere and the mysterious Welsteil, and yes, about Chap as well. Leesil plays an integral part in this book, but one senses that the next entry in the series will bring him to the fore. A book about vampires should be at least a little bit scary. The earlier Noble Dead books were sporadically suspenseful, perhaps, but never gave me the creepy-crawlies. I was pleased that, at times, while reading Sister of the Dead, I found myself looking nervously into dark corners of the room, or wondering if I really wanted to turn out that light and go to sleep. So: nicely scary, well paced, and just enough revelation about our characters to keep things interesting and prepare us for the next book. Well done!』
(Vampires without the Urban) 『For those looking for vampires without the urban twists and turns, here is the book for you. It is filled with lots of fantasy and is rated with authors like Jim Butcher and Naomi Novik. Great read, but definitely start with number one...Dhampir.』 『The Noble Dead saga continues as Magiere and Leesil, the slayers of the undead for DHAMPIR and THIEF OF LIVES, embark on a quest to uncover the secrets of their mysterious origins - and those responsible for orchestrating the events that brought them together....
Magiere is a dhampir - half human, half vampire - sired for the purpose of slaying the undead. Outside the village of Chemestúk, where she was born and raised, stands her father's keep. Within its walls, she hopes to discover the secrets of her past and figure out why a vampire would wish to breed a creature capable of slaughtering his own kind....
But there are those who don't want Magiere to learn the truthand when her half-elf partner, Leesil, makes a startling discovery in the keep, he can understand why. Before Leesil can reveal the truth to Magiere, they must vanquish a creature of unimaginable and unlimited power who has damned a small village of people with a horrifying curse...』
price：$8.95
Oxford University Press, USA
Usually ships in 24 hours Core2Duoノートレビュー 's review (Interesting look at the origins of the gothic novel) 『Overall, I would have to say that I was only partially satisfied with this novel. It reminds one of the more rudimentary novels like The Odyssey that were written before the novel evolved into the type of genre it is today: very sparse style, direct characterization, simple characters/themes, etc. Also the language was archaic, but easy to get used to once you figure out the rare meanings for common words that are used throughout the text. The ending was swift (natually, being as it is a slim volume) and entirely dissatisfying. I don't know who could be satisfied with the main heroine dying and not being the one that gets to marry the prince. As a quick, entertaining read that provides a fascinating look at the early gothic novel, this is recommended, but don't expect it to become one of your favorites. It certainly isn't one of mine!』
("Since I Cannot Give You My Son, I Offer You Myself...") 『First published in 1764, Horace Walpole's dark and melodramatic novel is widely considered the very first Gothic novel, containing within its pages all the familiar (and by today's standards, clichéd) elements of the genre. Expect a spooky old castle, an ancient prophecy, dark portends, women that faint often and with little cause, a dysfunctional family whose members can't decide whether to love or hate each other, haunted portraits, secret tunnels and trapdoors, manic tyrants, endangered virgins, ghostly visages, and young heroes that put honor before reason, and whose obsession with virtue prevents them from doing anything particularly helpful. It's vintage Gothic: intense emotions running wild, thrill-seeking in the reader's pursuit of the supernatural horror, and a heavy, foreboding atmosphere.
The story was first purported to be a translation of an Italian document dated 1529 which in turn was a transcription of an older story that took place some time during the crusades. Walpole later amended this in a later preface, admitting that he wrote the story himself (in fact, his inspiration came from a dream in which he glimpsed a gigantic armored hand on a stairwell) and that his intentions were in blending the ancient and modern forms of Romance: "in the former all was imagination and improbability: in the latter, nature is always intended to be copied. Invention has not been wanting, but the great resources of fancy have been damned up, by strict adherence to common life. But if in the latter species Nature has cramped imagination, she did but take her revenge, having been totally excluded from old romances. The author of the following pages thought it possible to reconcile the two kinds."
Whether Wadpole was successful in this endeavor is incidental. The importance of "The Castle of Otranto" is that in this mingling of old and new, the Gothic genre was born.
Prince Manfred of Otranto has a faithful wife, a beautiful daughter, and a sickly son, yet as is often the way with tyrants, he is dissatisfied. His son is about to marry Princess Isabella, daughter of the Marquis of Vincenza, but on the day of the wedding Conrad is killed in mysterious circumstances. Actually, make that "bizarre" circumstances: he's been crushed under a giant helmet that seems to have fallen out of nowhere.
Cutting his losses, Manfred arrests a young man for the murder of his son, and decides to divorce his wife Hippolita and marry Isabella himself, a proposition that horrifies the girl who was to become his daughter-in-law. Isabella makes her escape into the shadowed catacombs of the palace, Hippolita and Matilda fret about their future, and the servants live in terror of the apparitions appearing throughout the castle: the oversized arms and legs of an armored giant (who is somehow finding a way to hide whenever anyone's back is turned).
It's difficult to really assess this book. It many ways it is totally outdated in terms of story and character, and is really only valuable for its historical significance. Although I could not say I "enjoyed" reading it, I nevertheless found it "entertaining," as odd as that distinction may seem. When it comes to the characters' emotions, there's a lot of telling rather than showing, and many of the main cast is thoroughly insipid, frustrating and unsympathetic (even those who are meant to be the heroes).
For example, Theodore is our male lead, who makes catastrophic mistakes throughout the story (usually due to an inability to keep his mouth shut) and who eventually makes the decision to be miserable for the rest of his life, desiring only to "forever indulge the melancholy that had taken possession of his soul." If a character is depressed, it's probably because they're in love; which is how Theodore experiences his ardor toward Matilda (even though I'm not entirely sure how he tells her apart from Isabella). All the women are submissive, delicate martyrs, who consider it an honor to be walked all over by their male counterparts, and sigh with angelic resignation in the face of mistreatment. Comic relief comes in the form of the shrewd and wily servants, who seem to be well-aware of how ridiculous their masters and mistresses are.
And some of the dialogue is downright hysterical, such as: "My dearest, gracious lord, what is it you see? Why do you fix your eyeballs thus?" Obviously, it's very easy to make fun of the Gothic genre (Jane Austen herself did it in Northanger Abbey) simply because it relies so much on melodrama. Despite the negative connotations, melodrama *can* be done well, and despite my heckling, Walpole pulls it off...for the most part. But don't just think it's 21st century cynicism casting its shadow over the literary past, even many of Walpole's contemporary critics dismissed "The Castle of Otranto" as an absurdity.
An absurdity it may well be, but keeping in mind the author's intentions and its place within the Gothic canon, Walpole's efforts are worthy of attention. This is not the heights of Gothic literature, but it is the forefather of the genre, and for that reason alone it has value.』
(Oxford World Classics edition) 『I have to agree with the consensus of reviewers here: If you are looking for an excellent Gothic novel to read, this one is not it. If you are studying the history of Gothic literature and aesthetics, this novel is fundamental.
I want to recommend highly the introduction by E.J. Clery to the Oxford World Classics edition. Clery provides a survey of the various ways of interpreting the novel, and amply explains the novel's strengths and weaknesses in the context of the different interpretations. With this approach, the reader finds ways of making sense of the peculiar novel within the context of its time and its author's possible intentions.』
(Powerful whimsy) 『This review refers to the Oxford World's Classics edition, edited by WS Lewis, with a 26-page introduction and eight pages of endnotes by EJ Clery. There is a select bibliography and a chronology of the author, Horace Walpole. Importantly, the book includes both the first and second editions' title-pages and prefaces.
The first edition, "The Castle of Otranto: A Story, translated by William Marshal", was published in December 1764 (but marked 1765 on the title-page). It's preface tried - and succeeded for awhile - to give the impression that the tale had been "found in the library of an ancient catholic family in the north of England" and had been "printed at Naples ... in the year 1529. ... The style is the purest Italian."
The style was instead the purest Walpole and he quickly confessed; so that in the rapidly-issued second edition of 1765 (the book was an immediate hit), the revised preface became, as EJ Clery makes clear, "a manifesto for a new type of writing", and the title-page was amended to "The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story".
The inclusion of the adjective into the story's title is fundamental to the book's reputation as being the well-spring of much (all?) that followed in subsequent western literature that effected to underscore its credentials with a Gothic - or Gothick - motif. One could argue that that includes 90% of western literature (as much Thomas Pynchon as Stephen King), but this is going too far; for as Walpole himself makes plain in his second preface, his work was an attempt to marry imagination with nature, fantasy with reality, and that he had progenitors in the essay: "That great master of nature, Shakespeare, was the model I copied."
The story itself - a tale of lordly tyranny, supernatural horror, and family feuding that would have interested Shakespeare himself in its dramatic possibilities - is told over five chapters, barely one hundred pages in total, and so can be read in a few hours. As the excellent introduction relates, Walpole himself thought the story a piece of whimsy, and did not attempt to savagely repudiate the criticisms raised about both the style of writing and about the narrative itself. He was aware of the novella's power, however, in creating a new species of romance.
The work today is as much read for its historic relevance than for its terror and sublime effects, but both of these aspects recommend it. 』
(Probably better in its day) 『
This book, like Pamela for feminist literary history, is important due to the fact that it was the first gothic novel ever written. The voice is a good one for the story, deep, reverant, dramatic; the writing is of excellent breed as well. With that said, however, so much has been ripped-off from this novel, and into novels that we've already read, that the story itself comes off as a bit cliche, not to mention ridiculous. Although the hyperbole of the novel is based off sybolic intentions, the best that one can say about this piece is that it lit a torch for future great novels--not that it's so much a great novel on its own two feet. Worty of reading if you care about the history of novels in general, but if you're looking for a great gothic novel this shouldn't be a first choice. 』 『First published pseudonymously in 1764, The Castle of Otranto purported to be a translation of an Italian story of the time of the crusades. In it Walpole attempted, as he declared in the Preface to the Second Edition, "to blend the two kinds of romance: the ancient and the modern." Crammed with invention, entertainment, terror, and pathos, the novel was an immediate success and Walpole's own favorite among his numerous works. The novel is reprinted here from a text of 1798, the last that Walpole himself prepared for the press.』
price：$10.02
Roc Hardcover
Usually ships in 24 hours Core2Duoノートレビュー 's review (Looks to be quite good.) 『I read the sample. It looks to be very good. Waiting for the Kindle price to drop to 9.99 or the paperback to come out.』
(Wynn) 『I loved the series until now. I felt the book was boring and Wynn is just not interesting enough to carry the entire story. The book was very light on the action and heavy on the details of the guild's library.』
(Surprisingly good so far....) 『I was really disappointed to find out that this series features side characters from the last series as the focal point. However, once I got into the book I found that it is a very good story so far and I look forward to finishing it very soon.』
(Great continuation of the Noble Dead Saga) 『I was thoroughly pleased with this book and the continuation of the story with Wynn. Though I will miss the other main characters from the previous books, this looks to be very interesting with a lot of focus on magic.
What I liked most is the main character, Wynn, not being a very strong or physically able character, so she has to fight the enemy with her smarts and magic, which is a great change of pace from the usual physical bouts in most fantasy adventure books.
I can't wait for the next one.』
(First book and Second Series of The Noble Dead Saga) 『In series one staring Magiere and Leesil. Magiere a Dhampir, a child that is born of a living mother and a vampire father. Who is by nature the only thing that can kill a vampire almost bare-handed. Leesil, her companion and later lover and husband is half human and half Elf. Trained to be the ultimate assassin. Together with a half Fae, half dog named Chap, they are joined by Wynn Hygeorht a sage on her first journey to find history, written or oral of the people of the lands. The first series ends with them finding one of the "Nobel Undead" living in and Ice Castle in the frozen waste lands. Within is the forgotten history and Wynn takes all she can carry of the scrolls stored there. Magiere and Leesil obtain an orb that must be hidden and kept safe. They all make it back to home base and Wynn is sent back to Calm Seatt, home of the Guild of Sagecraft, bearing the texts written by vampires in vampire blood. The first book in this new series has Wynn being treated like she is delusional by her superiors and they seize both the texts and her personal journals. Wynn is kept from reading any of the translations or even seeing them. Then Wynn finds out that without her permission they have been sending the texts out to scriptoriums for copying. Now several of the sages sent to pickup the copies are killed and the copies are now missing. Wynn teams up with and old enemy/friend Chane, who is one of Nobel Undead, to stop the killings and to have her property returned. Barb&J.C. Hendee write very detailed involved books. They are not light reading, but they are worth every minute you spend perusing the pages of these excellent novels. I can't wait to see what is in store for Wynn in the next book of The Noble Dead!』 『The national bestselling Noble Dead saga isone of those [series] for which the term dark fantasy was definitely intended (Chronicle).
After her adventures with Magiere and Leesil, Wynn Hygeorht has returned to the Guild of Sagecraft, bearing texts supposedly penned by vampires from the time of the Forgotten History and the Great War. Seized by the Guilds scholars and sent out for copying without Wynns consent, several pages disappearand the two sages charged with conveying these pages are murdered. Suspicious of the Guild, separated from the only friends she fully trusts, and convinced the Noble Dead are responsible for the killings, Wynn embarks on a quest to uncover the secrets of the texts.』
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