Customer Reviews

Roger Corman Collection (Bloody Mama / A Bucket of Blood / The Trip / Premature Burial / The Young Racers / The Wild Angels / Gas-s-s / X)

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

 

 

I rejoice at the news of Bloody Mama finally coming to DVD. I am a bit surprised to find that I have to buy a whole set of DVD's to get it, however. Bloody Mama features a very early and memorable performance by Robert De Niro. Shelley Winters is unforgettable as Kate "Ma" Barker. The film is quite tawdry and violent for a film made in 1970. I have always remembered this film for the nearly totally nude scene by Diane Varsi and the other outrageous goings-on. I will buy this and recommend it heartily to others with similar interests. A great and underrated gangster film. The only thing I don't like are the double-sided DVD's. Far to easy to fingerprint or scratch the data side!!

Corman's work generally falls into two categories. The first would be the horror/sci-fi he did in the late 50's to early 60's including his Vincent Price films and those along a similar vein. These don't have anything particularly graphic in them. They tend to be cleverly done B-productions with bigger stars than you would guess. The second group start in the mid 60's and run into the 1970's and can be quite violent. This doesn't mean that they aren't cleverly done. Just don't expect something along the line of Corman's series of Poe films when you sit down to watch "Bloody Mama". "Billy Jack" and "Easy Rider" are more similar to Corman's later films, five of which make up this eight film collection. There are no extras included in this set. The following is a brief synopsis of each included film with ratings by a popular film database. Let me say I think the ratings given for most of the films is way too low. If you like Corman's work you'll likely rate each of these films much higher.

A Bucket of Blood (1959) 6.9/10 - a horror story with an artsy bent featuring an outstanding performance by Dick Miller as the accidental artist.

Premature Burial (1962) 6.4/10 - Ray Milland is obsessed with being buried alive, so he's outfitted his future tomb with all kinds of bells and whistles to insure this won't happen. Vincent Price was supposed to star in this one, but Milland does a great job as the death-obsessed gentleman.

X: The Man with X-Ray Eyes (1963) 6.5/10 - Like "The Incredible Shrinking Man" this film examines what it means to exist. Ray Milland experiments on himself and gives himself "X-Ray vision". As a result he can see past and through all reality. The only problem is that his senses are unable to take in and comprehend what his eyes are seeing - and seeing through - without going insane.

The Young Racers (1963) 3.5/10 - New to DVD.

The Wild Angels (1966) 5.2/10 - I think this film is better than its rating. It's one of the original biker films and I don't think that the film's tagline that paints these guys as just a bunch of violent losers is completely accurate. They do some outrageously pointless violent things, but they are more complex than that. Stars Peter Fonda and Bruce Dern as two of the bikers.

The Trip (1967) 5.8/10 - Written by Jack Nicholson. This is one of the first of the drug culture films of the late 60's, early 70's. The whole movie is basically what an LSD trip looks like as experienced by Peter Fonda's character. In spite of the fact that the plot is thin this film did well at the box office. Very much an artifact of the time in which it was made, but still interesting.

Bloody Mama (1970) 5.1/10 - New to DVD. Here Corman is cashing in on the success of Bonnie and Clyde to tell another familial tale of crime and violence. This family is headed by Ma Barker (Shelly Winters). It also sports some great supporting work by Bruce Dern and Robert De Niro.

Gas-s-s-s (1972) - 3.7/10 - A strange gas kills everyone over 25 in the world. The movie is part political satire and part comedy with a large dose of violence that is likely to make many people queezy. The film works quite well and holds up over time, but it's not your old-fashioned Vincent Price-style Corman film. You'll note the early appearances of some performers who are just getting started such as Ben Vereen, Cindy Williams, and Talia Shire.

My four star rating comes from being a fan of Roger Corman. If you are not, you might want to pay more attention to the film database rating.

I was a big fan of the Man With the X-Ray Eyes so I thought it would be worth purchasing this set as it was priced nicely for 8 films. Overall I found all the films to be enjoyable to watch. Folks may call these B movies but I call them unique and one-of-a-kind. I find myself strangely fascinated whenever I put one on. My 6 and 7 year old kids also enjoy watching a couple of these, as they call them, "creepy" movies. I hope they release some more box sets of Roger Corman like this. I think this was a great deal and would surely get another collection if it became available.

This set was decently priced I'm not a fan of the slim line DVD cases but it is ok ... You get a few Films that were OOP until now the two I will mention is THE TRIP and PREMATURE BURIAL, so maybe we will get future volumes and more Midnite Movies double features to bring out many more OOP films again in the future. Cover art etc is made up to look very Grindhouse like which is fine they make good double feature films.

I ENJOYED THIS SET. A LOT OF STARS GOT THEIR START WITH CORMAN'S FILMS.

THE STORIES WERE DATED BUT FUN TO SEE AGAIN.

IF YOU'RE INTO ROGER CORMAN. IT'S A GASSSSSSSSS.

This is a great set for roger corman era fans of drive in schlock. Bloody Mama(as seen on the cover)I had been hunting for since I first saw it in the early seventies, is a real treat. Gasss is also a pop-culture treasure of the era. These two films alone make it worth the purchase. But only if your a Roger Corman fan, those new to Cormans films I would reccommend Death Race 2000, Candy Stripe Nurses, or Eat my Dust,first.

Dennis Hopper said that Jack Nicholson was the best screenwriter he ever encountered; in reference to THE TRIP when Hopper was the 7th guest on the Actor's Studio with James Lipton in 1994 (so early he has no beard). Roger Corman was a genius at what he did; achieving great storytelling with so little. He also gave many first-timers the chance to direct (Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Peter Bogdanovich, Jonathan Demme, James Cameron, Curtis Hanson, John Sayles, etc) and launched the careers of many famous actors (Jack Nicholson, William Shatner, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Talia Shire and Robert De Niro). These reasons alone should pique the interest of any student of film arts.

Was this CD box set a let down?? Well, for the price, no, indeed. I paid used @ about $22. so, for 4 discs, it is an excellent price (even for the new price)!
NOw this set of Roger Corman flicks is notorious for being the worst films ever made. The only real one I was looking forward to is GAssssssss. I haver tried to find this film for years. It was basically a dated hippie romp. At least it could have been a little more serious, the setting was post-apocolyptic.
Of the others, I really have seen (bits & pieces, wholly) Mama, trip, and X. the others are new to me. I am a fan of bad cinema (and 1970's nudity ) and this set doesn't let down the Tarintinoesque fan.
As a package i have a HUGE beef. Why are the DVDs doublesided???!!!! Now you can protect the DVDs with much less certainty.
And why is, on most DVDs with such WEAK SOUND!!! You have to max the volume on my TV , for even to even make out the dialogue!!!!!!! The cheap DVDs are super-loud. Y is that????!!!!