Customer Reviews

Monster Kid Home Movies

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

 

 

This is a really great DVD. The films on here, for the most part, are a lot of fun to watch. My one gripe about it is this,there is no "play all" feature. With thirty films on this disc it becomes rather annoying to have to click through all of the menus and films one at a time. This could have been a five star DVD but the lack of a "play all" feature bugged me that much that I have to dock it one star. Other than that this is a great DVD that I am happy to have as part of my collection.

My friends Mark and Michael made their first Monster Kid movies when they were 10 or 11 (1965/66), before I knew them in Junior High (69/70). They showed them to me then with such pride in that achievement that I somewhat innocently said, " Hey, lets make our own movie!". One year later as we entered High School, we spent the summer of 1971 making our 35 minute "epic" DRACULA MADE ME DO IT!, a spoof of the Universal/Hammer films which also managed to become an homage to the experience we had watching these films on TV ( the only way to do it back then, pre-VHS!) We used the same Kodak Brownie camera..a spring-wound metal box with a flip-up plastic viewfinder that cranked out a 3.5 minute reel of teenage movie magic! We spent countless hours carefully working out our scenes...rehearsing...shooting...only to discover that the light was too low and that 3.5 minutes turned out as pitch black! But we learned and improved, and many, many reels later in 1972 our film ( complete with slightly out-of-sync reel-to-reel tape soundtrack) was premiered for the whole school, projected on the assembly hall movie screen, and in an instant we were recognized filmmakers! Over the next 3 years we produced three more mini-epics, and 75% of the mega-opus 90 minute feature film which we hoped would be our ticket into film school. But as all things go, our cast slowly graduated High School and went off to Colleges far away...and we three, who had started it all went our separate ways as well...leaving behind the reels of 8mm film to molder in shoe boxes while we pursued careers ( one of us became an award winning Theatrical Designer and one an aclaimed Actor/Puppeteer/Director, so the experience wasn't just wasted effort). We learned our craft with those movies...learned to experiment...learned to compromise...and most importantly learned the boundless limits of our own creativity.
Watching this DVD ( and most importantly LISTENING to the commentary of the "Kids" who made these wonderful films) brought everything flooding back for me a full 30 years after it was all left behind! I had thought that my friends and my experience had been unique, but I was amazed to discover that we were actually a part of a much broader and older tradition... a band of "Kids" who were forever altered by their impressions of watching the medium of film, and who felt compelled to emulate that expression in their own ways.
I have always been proud of the filmaking efforts we attempted as teenagers, but never so much as I am now...After seeing the MONSTER KID HOME MOVIES, I feel as if I have truly come home!

I must agree, this is a great collection. But is this all they could come up with. There must be hundreds more of these things. I even made some myself , but no one asked me. This should have been a two disk set.

Maybe there will be a volume 2 (with superheroes I hope)

Have to agree about the "Play All " feature. It really needs one. especially when playing it with the commentary track.

Like the one where the Cygnus from "The Black Hole" fights the dinosaur on the asteroid.

The animation was very good.

The NIght Stalker one was very ambitious but had me snoozing. OH well, thats just prt of the fun. kinda like

when yould stay up all night to watch "Frankenstein Conquers the World" or "Werewolf of London" only to fall asleep halfway through and wake up Saturday or sunday morning wondering what the heck happened.

Yes tho music was cheesy but thats ok. They should have put more effort into the sound effects though.

I think that can be even more important than music when dealing with monsters.

I highly recommend this disc. If you like it, then you should also get " I was a Teenage Movie maker by Don Glut." "The SCI FI BOYS" and "EQUINOX"

Watching these films is like reliving a perfect time in American history. My friends and I would borrow my dad's 8mm camera and shoot movies like this (only not as good) dreaming of becoming directors some day.

These films are great and you can see the raw talent of some of the people who went on to careers in film and television.

I give it 5 silver bullets (or garlic cloves, depending on the moster!)