Customer Reviews

Grindhouse Experience, Vol. 2

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

 

 

This 20 films package is a complete rip-off. Even though each individual film basically costs around $1.50 the quality is so bad that basically each film is not EVEN worth $1.50!

As someone who has purchased videos and dvds from Sinister Cinema or Something Weird, I'm familiar with watching hard-to-find films in less than pristine state, which usually doesn't bother me but the quality in this pack is totally unacceptable. As expected, most films were too dark or muddy, which is pretty much standard with films of this sort but some of the transfers were a new low: the image quality for "Coriolanus: Hero Without a Country" (misspelled as Corialanis on the package & DVD menu...arf!) is unwatchable. To make things worse, many films, like "Three Men to Kill", the screen blacks-out for 5 minutes straight, with just VHS noise showing on screen. This is bad! I mean, really bad. I don't mind if the video skips for a second but missing big chunks of a movie because of some bad video transfer is just a rip-off.

But this is not the worst, believe it or not. The worst is that several movies have massive subtitles (Chinese, Russian, Swedish, whatever...) that cover a quarter or third of the more-often-than-not dark image, subtitles that can't be removed because it's recorded from a vhs source. These unwanted "extras" are not mentioned anywhere on Amazon or the packaging. If I had known about this, I wouldn't have bothered buying this pack.

So, to recap: bad image quality; often no image at all just noise; HUGE subtitles covering the screen. It's almost as if they have something against these films. The pack is just awful.

I just got this collection in the mail yesterday and while I haven't seen most of the movie yet I can say that the collections presentation is a vast improvement over the first collection.

First off you have to understand that you are getting 20 films for a low price so you can't expect the best quality in the world (most appear to come from a videotape copy). You also have to realize that these are grindhouse b-movies so they are not in the best condition (and don't forget these are not high art films by any stretch of the imagination, these are action films made on the cheap). That said the films in this collection look better than you have a right to expect. Visually the problem is the source. a couple of films like 'Corialanis', show signs that their tape source was damaged so that you get lines through the picture or video burps that come from when a video tape has been eaten or folded or other wise damages. 'Corialanis' appears to be the worst offender with the damage looking to be through most of the movie (which is a shame since the print is otherwise beautiful and one of the best I've ever seen for a sword and sandal film). Another problem is that films like 3 Supermen with the Godfather are sourced from European tapes so they have subtitles in other languages (in this case it appears to be Greek). As an avid collector of film from all over the world I have many films like this but I know in trying to share my collection that non English subtitles distract some people.

One of my biggest problems with the earlier collection was that the dvds themselves were not labeled as to what was on them. In the first set everything was simply marked disc one, disc two, ect. Here we have the discs marked with the titles on small rings around the center (the discs are flippers).

As I said earlier I just got the set in the mail so I can't really say how the films stack up, though looking at the titles they seem to be a good collection of exploitation titles, so if you like films of this sort or if you want investigate the "grindhouse" genre I wouldn't have a problem recommending the set to you.

To be honest, the only reason I got this 20-pack was for the 2 kung fu movies that are included. The only other movies I was able to make it through were Blazing Magnum, Her Majesty's Top Gun, Shark Hunter and Renegade. All are good movies, or at least fun.

Now to the kung fu. Three Avengers aka The Lama Avenger is a good Bruce Li movie. Chien Yuet Sang co-stars, and Lee Hoi San shows up for a fun final fight. Overall a good movie. The other kung fu movie included is Master Killers. It starts out really bad, but if you can make it through the first hour, you are in for a real treat. I'm not going to go over the horrible story, because it's just not worth it. The reason to get this is to see Bolo Yeung give a good fighting performance, and the final fight is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. Phillip Ko is in top form (which means your jaw will drop and smash right through the floor), and he takes on Blacky Ko and Cassanova Wong. It's 12 minutes of pure bliss.



The picture quality on all of the movies is substandard, but still watchable. They are all transferred from VHS, and there are a lot of problems with the screen going blank and stuff like that. Luckily, the 2 kung fu movies don't have picture problems.

If Vol. 2 is an improvement over Vol 1, I certainly don't want to waste my money on it. I can make better video transfers from old VHS tapes on my home computer equipment. Most of the source tapes for this collection are probably former rentals purchased in bulk from a video store. Considering that more than half of the movies appear to be "edited for TV" versions, they may even have been originally recorded off the air back when they played on late night TV.

If you can't live without one or more of the movies on this DVD collection and can't find them elsewhere, then go for it. Otherwise, stay away from this one.

Great Movies. Price unbeatable since I would never had expected to find them anywhere.
Price seems even better due to the fact that I'm European and I paid in strong Euros.

The movies themselves are good but sound and picture are not what you know from high class (and price) dvds. It's sometimes rather hard to understand what people are saying and the scratches in the picture make it sometimes hard to figure out what exactly is going on in this very moment. but hey-ain't that what grindhouse is about?

I like it and recommend buying it.

The titles are great but the DVD transfers are among the worst you have ever seen. SLP mode VHS with picture rolls and shaky picture. Feel free to feel ripped off. I did. Twice since I bought both volumes....