Customer Reviews

AMC Monsterfest Collection - Cult Classics, Vol. 1 (The Atomic Brain / The Brain That Wouldn't Die / Carnival of Souls / Night Tide)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This two disc set from AMC is great. The Brain That Wouldn't Die
contained in this set is the uncut version. Complete with the
catfighting women scene, and the gory scene towards the end of
the film, it's all here. What a bargain.

I've never seen other versions of these movies so I can't say whether anything was added back in or left out. What I can say though is that they are worth watching at least once, and buying a used copy of this collection is a better deal than renting them each seperately.

One thing that did bother me though is that parts of dialogue were cut out of Night Tide. There is the classic splice in the middle of a silent scene and suddenly he's answering a question you never heard her ask.

I'll say up front that AMC Monsterfest does a nice job with the packaging of these sets. I usually buy these collections at Big Lots for a couple of bucks each. Recently, I also acquired: Amc Monsterfest: Bela Lugosi Classics Collection 2. All these films are in black-and-white and there are two DVDs, two movies per disc, in the set.

The Atomic Brain -- What a great film, but a grim one indeed. A semi-mad scientist has discovered how to make a crippled old hag into an attractive young love-slave -- the snag is that he needs a *live* young and pretty gal to do this! So the mean old woman who funds this guy cons three naive girls (she wants her pick) to come to work for her and they're locked in once they arrive. The drunken husband of the old woman gets the hots for one of the girls and tries to help her -- bad idea. The pacing is good and it's a nice twist on a Frankenstein-ish theme.

The Brain That Wouldn't Die -- Good one! A surgeon has learned the secret of transferring a human brain into another living person. Of course the unfortunate brain donor has to die for this to happen. Coincidentally, the surgeon crashes his car and his fiance is decapitated -- so he stows her head under his arm and runs to his nearby lab where he hooks her head up to all manner of tubes and wires. Soon, apparently developing extraordinary brain power, *she's* calling the shots!

Carnival of Souls -- A really creepy psycho-thriller. An attractive young gal is running around with her girlfriends when their car is forced off a bridge and into a deep river by a band of young men who were trying to pick them up. Amazingly, one girl walks out of the river hours after the crash to the great astonishment of the searchers. She then packs up and drives to another town where she's been hired as the church organist but she becomes fascinated with an old abandoned carnival just outside of town after having strange visions... and there's something really creepy going on there!

Night Tide -- This is another psycho-thriller about a sailor [Dennis Hopper] who suddenly falls deeply in love with a very mesmerizing gal... one whose reputation isn't all that savory with the folks who live around her. He clearly should give her up but then we wouldn't have a movie to watch. This one is out on the fringe but still very watchable.

You can't lose with this collection if you can get it for under five bucks. Recommended for fans of the genre.

NIGHT TIDE is the best looking movie out of the bunch. Dennis Hopper actually plays a naive character, instead of his usual angry nutcase, involved with some creepy seaside woman. Luana Anders, from some Roger Corman movies, is also in the cast. Homosexual Curtis Harrington directs; he and this movie were once pawned off as some horror director and horror movie for tv horror movie kiddie crowd, when he was actually a friend of homosexual, satanist, underground, film maker kenneth anger. There's even a photo somewhere on the internet of Hopper with Kenneth Anger and EL TOPO director Alejandro Jodorowsky. Hopper eventually became a staunch conservative, probably because he saw his early 1960s California turn into such a dump.

THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE is more of long-ago great tv horror sleaze. Here, with some wavy vhs type lines, seems like it was taken from a vhs tape.

CARNIVAL OF SOULS is also a great movie in a lousy print. THE ATOMIC BRAIN is just plain dreary.

The most interesting thing about this inexpensive 2-disc set is that it comes from the AMC channel, a corperation worth hundreds of millions of dollars, putting its name to such shoddy merchandize.

(And what's with some sellers wanting ten dollars and more for what is, basically, your typical one dollar Walmart public domain product?)

Found this for $4 in a Walmart bin. Great. These movies are creepy and erie without all the special effects and gore of modern day horror flicks. Carnival of souls and night tide are my favorites. You get to see Dennis Hopper when he was just starting out at like 20 years old. The actresses are hot, and the stories pretty enigmatic.

This is a wonderful set of movies. Carnival of Souls and Night Tide are worth the price of admission alone but you also get the wonderfully tacky The Brain That Wouldn't Die. The Atomic Brain is the lesser of the collection and comes from a very rough print source, but the other prints are very serviceable. Since this title is out of print you might as well grab one of the used editions available. They are super cheap and well worth it.

the one a.m.c. disc i got that was good must have been a mistake, because this one is back to their normal quality(cut prints,sound drop outs,poor video,and a general lack of care for product or the coustmer)!!!! once again you can find better at other collections.

A collection of some of the best cult classics.

THE ATOMIC BRAIN is set inside an evil mansion with a mad scientist, an old woman and three young women as servants. There's grave robbing and brain transplanting---lots of fun!!!

THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE has a crazed surgeon decapitating his fiance. He keeps her head in his lab trying to find a body for her. A real screamer!!!

CARNIVAL OF SOULS is a creepy film about a woman who survives a car accident and becomes a church organist. She becomes haunted by visions of the dancing dead. Keep your friends close when watching this one!!!

NIGHT TIDE stars Dennis Hopper as a man on leave in California. He loves an orphan girl who works as a mermaid. Look out for creatures that kill when the moon is full. Keep your head covered for this one!!!