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Great 9 Movie/1 Documentary Set on 5 DVD's from legendary producer Val Lewton!!!
CAT PEOPLE
CAT PEOPLE was innovative in its style. Joining Lewton's artistic sense and mastery of atmosphere with Jacques Tourneur's directing talent, the film created fear in its audience precisely by not showing too much. This restraint and emphasis on psychological tension rather than physical violence would go on to influence later horror directors. While the story at the heart of the film is rather odd, it is told in a very eloquent and effective manner. Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon) is a young, Serbian artist living in New York City. When she meets Oliver Reed (Kent Smith), a somewhat bland American, she falls in love and gets married. But their marriage hits the rocks when she becomes consumed with the belief that she is the victim of a curse. According to Irena, the curse will make her turn into a deadly panther the minute she becomes emotionally aroused. In an effort to fix their problems, Oliver seeks psychiatric counseling for his beautiful and tormented young bride. But talking about her problems may only make them worse.
CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE
In this excellent, eerie sequel to Jacques Tourneur's CAT PEOPLE, a widower, Oliver Reed (Kent Smith), the father of the introverted six-year-old Amy (Ann Carter) remarries. Lonely and curious, Amy begins to explore her late mother's life and discovers her maternal bloodline is cursed. In her dreams she visits her alluring but devilish mother (Simone Simon) and learns her people become panthers when their blood is aroused. In addition Amy makes friends with Julia (Julia Dean), an elderly actress who lives in a spooky old Victorian next door, and begins competing for her affection with Julia's real daughter, Barbara (Elizabeth Russell). Director Robert Wise's debut (codirected with Gunther von Fritsch) concentrates on childhood fantasy more than suspense and horror. A haunting film nonetheless, CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE, with its ethereal dream sequences, is beautifully chilling.
ISLE OF THE DEAD
While rarely considered to be one of Val Lewton's best films, ISLE OF THE DEAD does contain the producer's typically effective use of atmosphere. Set during the 1912 war on a Greek Island, the film focuses on six people who are staying on a remote island in order to escape the plague. Boris Karloff gives his typically strong performance as General Pherides, while Ellen Drew plays a Greek girl suspected of being a vampire. Constant winds and creepy sets illustrate each character's general anxiety as disease and suspicions build to a chilling climax.
BEDLAM
An intriguing change of pace from chillmaster Val Lewton, BEDLAM tells the story of an innocent girl imprisoned in a ghastly 18th-century insane asylum. Nell, an aspiring young actress, rejects the patronage of a London nobleman after learning of the aristocrat's indifference to sadistic practices at the local insane asylum. When word of Nell's accusations reach Master Sims (Boris Karloff), the villainous director of the madhouse, the brutal "doctor" attempts to protect his own reputation by casting doubt on the young woman's sanity.
I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE
Released shortly after the film CAT PEOPLE, I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE marked another successful collaboration between producer Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur. Filled with eerie atmosphere and chilling sets, the film follows a young Canadian nurse named Betsy (Frances Dee) as she travels to a Caribbean Island to treat a plantation manager's sick wife. The nurse finds the island to be inhabited by strange creatures and all kinds of eerie voodoo legends. As she develops feelings for her boss, Betsy makes it her goal to heal his wife Jessica even if it requires resorting to voodoo.
THE BODY SNATCHER
In THE BODY SNATCHER, Robert Wise's creepy, intricate horror film, a 19th-century Edinburgh doctor and medical school professor, Dr. MacFarlane (Henry Daniell), has been relying upon unappeasable grave robber John Grey (Boris Karloff) to provide him with corpses for his experiments. His young assistant, Donald Fettes (Russell Wade), is shocked when he learns how they come to be in possession of their cadavers, but his admiration for MacFarlane leads him to keep the doctor's illegal dealings a secret. However, when their supply of fresh cadavers begins to dwindle, Grey taunts the doctor with a secret even greater than their body snatching. Meanwhile, Fettes must keep up his hardworking, moral front for Mrs. Marsh (Rita Corday), whose crippled little girl, Georgina (Sharyn Moffett), he's treating. Based on the famous Robert Louis Stevenson story, THE BODY SNATCHER incorporates a subplot based on the actual account of 19th-century Edinbugh murderers Burke and Hare. This chilling, atmospheric film features what is arguably one of Karloff's greatest performances as the menacing, murderous Grey. It also features a fantastic scene between Karloff and the legendary Bela Lugosi (as MacFarlane's servant Joseph), the only one the two ever filmed together.
THE LEOPARD MAN
At the encouragement of her manager, a nightclub performer in New Mexico (Kiki Walker) takes a leashed leopard into the club as a publicity gimmick. But her rival, angered by the attempt to upstage, scares the animal and it bolts. In the days that follow, people are mauled and the countryside is combed for the loose creature. But Kiki and her manager begin to wonder if maybe the leopard is not responsible for the killings.
THE 7TH VICTIM
Mary Gibson, a naive orphan, goes to Manhatten to find her missing sister Jacqueline. Her investigation leads her to Jacqueline's secret husband, and also to a strange cult of Diabolists who are also hunting Jacqueline
THE GHOST SHIP
Tom Merriam signs on the ship Altair as third officer under Captain Stone. At first things look good, Stone sees Merriam as a younger version of himself and Merriam sees Stone as the first adult to ever treat him as a friend. But after a couple strange deaths of crew members, Merriam begins to think Stone is a psychopathic madman obsessed with authority. He tries to tell others, but no one believes him, and it only makes Stone angry.
DVD FEATURESOriginal Fullscreen VersionsEnglish AudioOptional English, French & Spanish SubtitlesShadows In The Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy Documentary7 Expert Commentaries
PLEASE NOTE THIS SET WILL COUNT AS 5 DVDS FOR INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING PURPOSES |
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![GUN CRAZY DOUBLE FEATURE [2 DVDS]](images/GUMNDDS77DN1th.jpg "GUN CRAZY DOUBLE FEATURE [2 DVDS]")