Twisted Terror Collection from WB

[Derek Steckler]

Have you ever seen Les Blank's documentary GAP-TOOTHED WOMEN?
It's a good-n!

[Shaun C]

Sounds GAPTASTIC. Thanks, will look into it....

[Al Edwards]

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=65518

[B. Lamb]

I watched Wes Craven's DEADLY FRIEND last night and found that it held up better in my mind than it did on my TV. I'm still trying to orginize my thoughts on this, but the bottom line is that the movie seemed cheap and generally uninspired (and almost boring). Not to mention - Backlot City. The kicker is that all the elements are there for one to have made a far more interesting film than what was actually made. Don't get me wrong, I love Kristy Swanson as much as the next guy, but really this thing could've gone anywhere and faster. Also the gore felt tacked on. Hell, the whole thing felt cobbled together. And that ending WTF?

Was this Craven's first studio picture? It seems he got some milage out of somebody's backlot (MGM, Universal, WB, I couldn't tell. I think I saw a house from MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS and the town square from BACK TO THE FUTURE.)

Looing back over Craven's filmmography I see that he has more than his share of turkeys to place alongside this one.

[B. Lamb]

DR. GIGGLES looks better than it has any right to, however the disc contains neither chapter menu or theatrical trailer. I was suprised to find that I liked it more than I remembered liking it when I watched it on VHS a year ago. Larry Drake is great, the supporting cast able, and the kills decent. Its a far better horror movie than its box set compaion DEADLY FRIEND.

As for the 1.85:1 aspect ratio it looks pretty good. I'm not sure how Super 35 works, but its hard to see how this would work/look/fit in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio of its theatrical release and the 2.20:1 aspect ratio of the LD release. Is a Super 35 image blown up when presented in 1.85:1 apect ratio?

Also, all of the dialog sounds like it was recorded after the fact, post-sync, ADR, whatever that's called. Anybody know anything about that?

[STEVEIGNORANT]

It sounds like the same mistake MGM made with the recent Curse double feature. The back cover of Dr. Giggles states it is presented in scope, but I guess they goofed it up. What is the deal with these companies lately? I expect this kind of work from companies like VCI or ADV, but not the majors.

[Marc Edward Heuck]

As stated before, a Super 35 production involves the cameraman composing for 2.35 but actually shooting a 1.66 "safe" negative. It took off in the '90's because it allowed filmmakers to use spherical lenses to shoot scenes that would be near impossible with proper anamorphic lenses, and it allowed a compromise in viewability between theatres and video: theatrical prints would be scope ratio, and VHS tapes and TV airings would only suffer minor left-and-right cropping and some dead picture area top and bottom. The most enthusiastic adherents of Super 35 were James Cameron, who went so far as to approve both a widescreen and fullscreen laserdisc of THE ABYSS (his first film in the format), and Martin Scorsese, who had long wanted to make films in scope but hesitated before because of the terrible pan-scanning normal anamorphic films suffered in TV airings and tape releases.
Thus, watching a Super 35 film in 1.85 means it's been opened up top and bottom, rather than panscanned.

I think the screw-up with DR. GIGGLES stems from the fact that WB inherited this movie: they didn't initally make it or release it in theatres. It was a Largo Entertainment production released by Universal, and Universal initially put out the laserdisc that was matted at it's original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1. Largo's films, save for a few (THE GETAWAY at Universal, POINT BREAK at Fox), were absorbed by Intermedia and resold to WB for DVD, and likely nobody at the video department were previously familiar with the film. Probably,the departments didn't talk to each other either: techs did the transfer while their art department cribbed off the old MCA laser, hence how the DVD can be both right and wrong about the ratio at the same time. Screenshots from both sources would be interesting to look at.

I wonder why no one in advertising thought to promote the fact that its director Manny Coto is now one of the main creative team behind "24."

[B. Lamb]

Just a heads up - Oliver Stone's commentary on THE HAND, one of only two 'special features' on this entire box-set, is honest and entertaining (and only minimally hyperbolic).