Stars:
Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Judy Huxtable, Alfred Marks, and
Michael Gothard
Writers:
Lawrence Huntingdon and Christopher Wicking
Director:
Gordon Hessler
Feature
length: 97 minutes/ 95minutes
Extras:
Trailers
Languages:
English Monaural Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French and Spanish Language
Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 16/ 16
Sound:
Monaural Sound
Year
of Theatrical Releases: 1969/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: American International Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: M/ R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Just
in time for Halloween, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment has released a
batch of horror films that include some new “Midnight Movies Double
Features.” Among them is “Edgar Allan Poe’s The Oblong Box” and
“Scream And Scream Again.”
Both
were directed by Gordon Hessler and were produced back to back for American
International Pictures, who with Vincent Price under contract had spent the
decade turning out films that at times were so vaguely inspired by Edgar Allan
Poe stories that one wonders why they even bothered including the author’s
name at times. On this double feature DVD only one film is a “Poe” film
though not nearly as classic as the ones Roger Corman directed. The story is
somewhat muddled, but as best I can gather Vincent Price is the descendant of a
fallen aristocratic family that is all but deceased and further disgraced after
his brother falls victim to some strange ritual that leaves him for dead. It
appears his family have a debt of penance to pay to the Africans they mistreated
on their plantation back in Africa. Apparently the target was Price and his
brother somehow survived the curse, but is disfigured and now wants revenge.
Christopher Lee has a supporting role, but seems somewhat out of place and
nothing regarding the reasoning for the curse, how it works, and why actions
occur as they do are ever made clear. The ending leaves a big question mark in
one’s mind as to what the heck happened in the first place.
“Scream
And Scream Again” is even weirder though somewhat easier to follow. Here
Vincent Price portrays a surgeon mutilating human bodies for some bizarre
experiments for a group of Nazi War Criminals bent on taking over the world.
While Price, Lee, and Cushing all do appear in this film, their screen time is
so limited that it hardly qualifies as more than a guest appearance if not a
series of cameos. There’s a bit of weirdness with blood drinking super humans,
who are seemingly indestructible, but the film in the end just feels like a
bunch of ideas thrown together with little logic to make it cohesively hold
together. Price appears to have some fun with his role however and is able to
add a bit of subtle macabre humor without ever going over the top in his
explanations as to why he is doing what he is doing.
One
has got to give credit where credits are due when it comes to MGM’s attention
genre and cult films. In addition to some excellent “Special Edition”
releases they have done a great job with their “Midnight Movies” series by
offering good transfers, in some cases impressive extra features, and very
economical suggested retail prices. Both films here are presented in anamorphic
widescreen (1.85:1) transfers that are quite clear with solid colors and nice
textures. A clear English Two-Channel Monaural Soundtrack is provided for each
film with optional English Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing impaired
coupled with French and Spanish Language Subtitles. There are (1.85:1) trailers
for both films included as well. The menus are standard interactive still frames
that are easy to navigate.
“Edgar
Allan Poe’s The Oblong Box & Scream And Scream Again: Midnight Movies
Double Feature” is available on DVD-Video now from Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Home
Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.