Customer Reviews

Horror Classics, Vol. 8: Don't Look in the Basement!/House on Haunted Hill/The House On The Edge Of The Park/Werewolf in a Girl's Dormitory

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Four movies on one disc.
Horror Classics Vol. 8 - Platinum Disc ID#12309

#1: Don't Look in the Basement! - 1973 - Director: S.F. Brownrigg

#2: House on Haunted Hill - 1959 - Director: William Castle

#3: The House on the Edge of the Park - 1980 - Director: Ruggero Deodato

#4: Werewolf in a Girls Dormitory - 1961 - Director: Paolo Heusch

All in all; decent picture, decent sound. Nothing special, but menus all seem to work and thats rare for cheap compilation DVD's.
These movies are available individually from amazon, so you can see actual reviews and movie details if you search for the title under DVD's.

Transfer quality of ECHO BRIDGE 4 movie sets is quite good, although film stock is not always in the best of condition. A bargain price also makes these small collections attractive. All titles are contained on a single disc.

This eighth issue of the series offers up a great old Vincent Price screamer, plus an early-30s tale of a wealthy but silent man arrested for murder, a monster that rampages through a boarding school and crazies doing the same in an institution.


SYNOPSES for "Horror Classics V.8"--

DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT!-- An experiment allowing patients to act out their fantasies goes horribly awry. The result: Inmates literally run the asylum, and doctors and nurses suffer horrible deaths at their hands. Film was completed in 12 days on a very small budget.

HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL-- This movie was such a smash in its first run, Alfred Hitchcock decided to make his own horror film-- "Psycho." Plot: A wealthy man and his wife invite five guests to spend the night in a mansion where several murders have already been committed. Whoever survives will be rewarded $10,000. Julie Mitchell (Ruth Bridges) is Robert's sister.

THE SPHINX-- A deaf-mute is arrested for several strangulation murders even though eyewitnesses claim they heard the killer speak. Appearing in a small role is Paul Fix, who a quarter-century later played the marshal on TV's "The Rifleman." Also here briefly is Gabby Hayes, the bewhiskered cowboy character actor.

WEREWOLF IN A GIRLS' DORMITORY-- A newly arrived teacher is believed to be the manbeast that's murdering students-- or maybe not.


HORROR CLASSICS V.9 features the best "mad doctor" assistant since Frankenstein's Fritz, a young Jack Nicholson clashing with an old Boris Karloff in his creepy castle, backwoods Georgia zombies, and Chris Lee's last go-round as the famous vampire.


Parenthetical numbers preceding titles are 1 to 10 viewer poll ratings found at a film resource website.

(4.6) Don't Look in the Basement! ("The Forgotten") (1973) - Bill McGhee/Jessie Lee Fulton/Robert Dracup/Harryette Warren

(6.8) House on Haunted Hill (1959) - Vincent Price/Carolyn Craig/Richard Long/Elisha Cook Jr./Carol Ohmart/Julie Mitchum

(6.2) The Sphinx (1933) - Lionel Atwill/Sheila Terry/Theodore Newton/Paul Hurst/Paul Fix (uncredited: George 'Gabby' Hayes)

(4.7) Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory (Italy/Austria-1961) - Carl Schell/Mary McNeeran/Maurice Marsac/Barbara Lass/Curt Lowens

I think because they compressed four films onto one disk it really effected the picture quality, it looks kind of pixelated. If you can get past the mediocre picture quality these are good films for a decent price. My personal favorite being "Don't Look in the Basement", with "The House on Haunted Hill" not far behind.

First of all, 'The Spinx' is not on here, unless 'The House on the Edge of the Path' was once released under that name. The forementioned movie is a mix of sex and gore, and, while it is voilent and shocking, it isn't entertaining or frightening. The acting is awful. 'Don't Look in the Basement' is a modern version of the Poe story where the inmates take over the asylum. It's worth watching once. 'Werewolf in a Girl's Dormitory' really isn't too bad of a horror movie. It harks back to the Universal classics in some ways, but the production values aren't great. Still, if you like classic horror tales, you'll probably enjoy this one. 'House on Haunted Hill' is the original Vincent Price classic. It is easily the best haunted house picture ever made. The special effects are weak, compared to what's being done today, but the acting and Robb White's script are excellent. This movie created suspense in a manner that was so masterful that it prompted Hitchcock to make 'Pyscho' just to prove he could be as scary. In my opinion, the director, William Castle, was far better than Hitchcock at creating suspense. Hitchcock handled horror with kid gloves. Castle got his hands blood red.

I've been suprised by the quality of some Platinum Disc Corp DVDs.

The only movie on this DVD that I thought had a subpar image was "Don't Look In The Basement." Colors were blurry and faded.

The other three were very nice, although "Werewolf..." had some hiss. "Werewolf..." was very watchable and suprisingly engaging. The director must have been influenced by the old Universal monster movies it has that same mood and look.