Movie Review: Die Monster Die (Blu-ray, 1965)

When Boris Karloff took on the iconic role of Frankenstein's Monster in James Whale's classic Frankenstein  he became one of genre's elite actors in the 1930's. As his career progressed, Karloff would become a fixture on the proverbial Mount Rushmore of horror (along with people like Bela Lugosi, Vincent Price, Lon Chaney Sr. and Jr.). Amazingly, this break in Whale's film came because Dracula star Bela Lugosi felt the character was a little weak because of the lack of lines. Karloff thankfully seized this opportunity and followed Frankenstein with many memorable performances until his passing in 1969. His work in the 1950's and 1960's with Roger Corman and AIP became the capper to what was really an awesome career. Daniel Haller's Die Monster Die (aka Monster of Terror) was one of Karloff's later performances and even though he was up in years, and in bad health, he still had it. After knocking The Vincent Price Collection out of the park, Scream Factory has tackled more AIP goodness in this release for the Blu-ray format.

Movie Review: The Vincent Price Collection (Blu-ray)

Vincent Price is one of those rare breeds of actor that simply put - is bigger than life. His versatility and scene-eating prowess made the majority of his features so engaging to fans of genre that has undoubtedly put him at horror legend status. Whether it was his work on Roger Corman's Poe titles or his other AIP excursions, his involvement was almost a sure thing that what you were about to see was something truly special. The folks at Scream Factory have been hard at work on preserving Vincent's legacy with their four Blu-ray set that includes six of his finest contributions to genre - The Pit and the Pendulum, The Masque of Red Death, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Witchfinder General, The Haunted Palace and The Fall of the House of Usher. All titles have been restored for the glorious high-definition format and, yes, like previous Scream Factory releases it's loaded with extra features both new and ported from the MGM DVD releases

The set kicks off with two of Price's crowning achievements on disc one - The Pit and the Pendulum and The Masque of Red Death. The Pit and the Pendulum marked Price's second foray into the world of Edgar Allen Poe with Roger Corman. Here Price plays, Nicholas Medina, the husband of the recently deceased Elisabeth (Barbara Steele, Black Sunday). Following her death, Elisabeth's brother takes a trip to visit Medina's castle to find out a little more about what happened. The plot thickens pretty quickly as Medina, while the showing facade of depressed widower, he's actually hiding plenty of secrets - one being a giant swinging pendulum in his torture device filled basement. Price is excellent here as Medina and no doubt plays this "tortured" individual well. Corman is also at the top of his game along with the very welcome storytelling strengths of Richard Matheson.