Boris Karloff and Inner Sanctums Coming To DVD On September 19! (1 Viewer)

[JohnPM]

The news from over at DVD Times is that these two collections are coming on Sept. 19 and include Boris Karloff in five features --- "Night Key", "The Climax", "Tower Of London", "The Strange Door", and "The Black Castle". Also coming the same date is all the Lon Chaney Inner Sanctum mysteries. Cause for celebration!!

http://greenbriarpictureshows.blogspot.com/

 

[Mario Gauci]

I just saw this myself. I'm not all that interested in the "Inner Sanctum" titles and, while the films in the Karloff Set aren't among his most highly regarded (though I haven't watched any of them!), I've been wanting to catch up with at least two of them - TOWER OF LONDON (1939) and THE CLIMAX (1944) - for as long as I can remember! THE STRANGE DOOR (1951) and THE BLACK CASTLE (1952) offer some interest to me as well (though Karloff, reportedly, is relegated to supporting roles in both) - and, well, NIGHT KEY (1937) would just be in for the ride, but might very well result in a pleasant surprise...

I doubt there'll be any extras and at least the 5 films are spread over 3 discs. Let's all just keep our fingers crossed there'll be no playback issues this time around...

 

[Mark Zimmer]

The more Karloff, the better.

 

[John Stell]

None of these will be DVD 18s, Mario, so it looks like Universal finally wised up. The full specs at DVD Times list the disc types as DVD 9s and DVD 5s. Great news!

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Excellent news, naturally -- and a VERY good sign that Universal is also going through the trouble of issuing NIGHT KEY for the first time ever!! An equally impressive sign is that Uni has apparently learned their lesson with the DVD-18's, and know they screwed up with the BELA LUGOSI COLLECTION (poor Bela). I now wonder if future copies of the Lugosi Collection will be re-done?

Great to get the INNER SANCTUMS too, but at the risk of sounding ungrateful (I'm not - honestly!), it is a puzzle to me that so many other more "horror friendly" titles didn't make it out first (like ISLAND OF LOST SOULS, MAD GHOUL, MAN MADE MONSTER, NIGHT MONSTER, THE BLACK CAT (1941), HORROR ISLAND, etc.... etc...) -- Hey, maybe Universal will be waiting for Halloween Time (October) to issue the others?

 

[Mario Gauci]

Thanks for the clarification, John. In my enthusiasm, I glossed over that part...although, fingers crossed, I've only ever had one glitch with DVD 18s so far i.e. BEAU GESTE (1939) from "The Gary Cooper Franchise Collection".

 

[Michael Elliott]

Great news but I'm actually more interested in the Chaney titles since I haven't seen any of them. I'll get the Karloff set but none of the titles are really highly wanted.

 

[Ruz-El]

Looking forward to Karloff!

What exactly is the "Inner Sactum" films? I'm embarased to admit I'm completely in the dark on them.

 

[Steve Phillips]

Inspired by the popular radio series of the time, all the entries in the series feature Lon Chaney Jr. but are otherwise unrelated to one another.

 

[Larry Sutliff]

It's great that NIGHT KEY is finally making its way to a home format, and I like TOWER OF LONDON and THE CLIMAX, so I'm looking forward to this set.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Can't say Im familiar with the Inner Sanctum films either, but Im really looking forward tot he Karloff set!

I've also been wanting Tower Of London released for a long time!

 

[Jay E]

Although I'm a little disappointed that this may be the only Horror/Sci-Fi films Universal will be releasing before Halloween, I'll be picking up both sets.

I've seen all the films in both sets except for Night Key and enjoyed them, but then again I have a soft spot for these types of films. The Inner Sanctum series was pretty mediocre overall, but if you are a fan of Lon Chaney Jr, then it's worth the price.

 

[Jim_K]

Very interested in the Karloff Collection, all will be first time views for me so it should be fun. Not really interested in the Chaney films, might rent 'em down the road though.

I really hope this isn't all we're getting for Halloween from Universal aside from the re-re-release of Dracula and Frankenstein (a.k.a. The Milk 'em for all their worth Editions).

 

[Larry Sutliff]

CALLING DR. DEATH and WEIRD WOMAN are camp classics. The rest are good "B" movie fun.

 

[Randy Korstick]

As pointed out they were from the popular radio series. An anthology horror series. Similar to: Tales from the Crypt, Twilight Zone, Tales from the Darkside etc.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

What "timeline" are the Inner Sanctum films a product?

 

[Derek M Germano]

There can never be too much Boris Karloff on DVD. Hopefully Universal will get around to THRILLER (with your host Boris Karloff) sometime soon.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

If you're asking the years of release, the first one was done in 1943, and the other five were 1944 and 1945. Lon Chaney was groomed to look like a suave leading man with wavy hair and a mustache, and he always played some type of intellectual who gets involved in some type of mystery. These films are not "horror", but suspense and mystery. They're not exceptional, but well worth checking out, especially if you're a Universal/Chaney fan.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Sounds good to me, thanks!




I sure am!

 

[Larry Sutliff]

According to members of the Classic Horror Film Boards, Columbia is also releasing a set of Karloff DVD's later this year, including the 1935 THE BLACK ROOM(one of Boris' best) and his Mad Scientist series of the late thirties and early forties.

http://p075.ezboard.com/bmonsterkidclassichorrorforum