Mill Creek Releasing THE MAD MAGICIAN and others (1 Viewer)

Just noticed on Amazon that Mill Creek is releasing two multi-film sets of sci-fi and horror films that contain some titles that have been previously released on the Sony MOD program.


The "Classic Horror 4 Movie Pack" contains "The Mad Magician" w/Vincent Price and "The Man Who Turned to Stone" (previously only available as MOD discs). "Five" and "Terror of the Tongs" are also included. ("Five" had previously been released as a pressed disc in the Sony "Martini Movies" collection and "Tongs" was part of the "Hammer Icons of Adventure" package)


The "Vintage Sci-Fi 6 Movie Set" contains "The 27th Day", "The Night the World Exploded", "12 to the Moon" and "Valley of the Dragons" ... all formerly available on MOD. Also included are "Battle in Outer Space" and "The H-Man" which were part of the "Icons of Sci-Fi Toho Collection".


Both are 2-disc sets and will be released July 21.

Thanks for the heads-up! I just ordered both!


Here are the links for both sets (each is a 2 disc set with a $14.98 MSRP - less than a single MOD of a included title):


Classic Horror 4 Movie Pack

Vintage Sci-Fi 6 Movie Set


I'm thrilled to get *pressed* copies of The Mad Magician and The Man who Turned to Stone on the horror set and The 27th Day, The Night the World Exploded, 12 to the Moon, and Valley of the Dragons on the SF set. I already have pressed copies of the other films. My only regret is MC tends to put too many films on a disc. Still, I expect these will look as good as their MOD counterparts.


Sony, and other studios, should take note that there are *many* of us who'd rather have films on pressed discs than a MOD release, even if they are from MC who tend to overpack their discs at times.

Like the Stooges set, expect some authoring issues to crop up. However, most of these are very short programmers, scarcely over 1 hour in length. They shouldn't have problems, but then again neither should the Stooge films had either.


I don't really care about the "pressed" aspect all that much anymore. The thing Mill Creek doing right is that they're releasing less expensive boxed sets that people will be more likely to buy. The same thing was brought up in The Whistler thread. The WAC is more savvy in this respect (every movie series of theirs has been released in a multidisc set + their occasional double features), while the Sony Classics, with rare exceptions just seems to be out to soak the smaller hardcore fan/collector market who have likely already bought these.


I already own all of these movies, so I guess the joke's on me. Now it these make a jump to blu-ray, I'll bite.

I'm definitely up for the "Classic Horror" set, if just for "Mad Magician". Mill Creek must be applauded for giving us the option to collect these titles on properly pressed discs. Very nice.

I wish there was a 3D Blu-ray version of Mad Magician - only saw it once in that format but would love one day to see it again that way.

I was hoping for a 3d Mad Magician. Since the 2D is on this set, I'm doubting that will happen now.

Of all the horror titles THE MAD MAGICIAN (1954) is the most appealing. And when it comes to madness no one personifies it better than Vincent Price. Frankly the creeps he bumps off in this film pretty much deserve it.

The two film horror discs sound the safest. No way am I going to buy three films crammed onto a single disc.

But these will likely also come out from the same outfit in "budget" bluray editions (just like THE THREE STOOGES) shortly.







Jeff T.

To bad they don't release something that we want, not something that we bought in the least few years!

I tend to agree MOD/Pressed no big deal. All my WA Mods from 6 years ago still play great so that's good enough for me. A few of my pressed DVDs from 12-15 years ago no longer play so no guarantee on any disc lasting. The Sony Mod's just like their pressed DVD's all look stellar. There is no way these overpacked MC releases will look as good as the Sony Mods. But to get all of them at a low price is worth the small difference in quality.

JoHud said:

Like the Stooges set, expect some authoring issues to crop up. However, most of these are very short programmers, scarcely over 1 hour in length. They shouldn't have problems, but then again neither should the Stooge films had either.


I don't really care about the "pressed" aspect all that much anymore. The thing Mill Creek doing right is that they're releasing less expensive boxed sets that people will be more likely to buy. The same thing was brought up in The Whistler thread. The WAC is more savvy in this respect (every movie series of theirs has been released in a multidisc set + their occasional double features), while the Sony Classics, with rare exceptions just seems to be out to soak the smaller hardcore fan/collector market who have likely already bought these.


I already own all of these movies, so I guess the joke's on me. Now it these make a jump to blu-ray, I'll bite.

Click to expand...

I clicked on this thread from the side panel thinking that The Mad Magician was to be released on blu-ray!

Those who live in the Los Angeles area can see a double feature of House of Wax/Mad Magician in 3D on June 12th at the Aero Theatre.


http://www.americancinemathequecalendar.com/content/house-of-wax-the-mad-magician

I was just about to spring for the Icons Of SciFi collection, but now with this set coming out and the possibility of Blus on the horizon, I guess I'll wait. The compression won't be as bad on a Blu, but I wonder if Mill Creek will go that route. Even lesser Stooges titles have a built in customer base, but these, I'm not so sure. And what do I do about the missing MOTHRA? Decisions, decisions....

Professor Echo said:

I was just about to spring for the Icons Of SciFi collection, but now with this set coming out and the possibility of Blus on the horizon, I guess I'll wait. The compression won't be as bad on a Blu, but I wonder if Mill Creek will go that route. Even lesser Stooges titles have a built in customer base, but these, I'm not so sure. And what do I do about the missing MOTHRA? Decisions, decisions....

Click to expand...

I'd still get the "Icons of SciFi" collection as the films each have their own disc, not to mention you get Mothra. I own that set and it's very good.

BobO'Link said:

I'd still get the "Icons of SciFi" collection as the films each have their own disc, not to mention you get Mothra. I own that set and it's very good.

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Also, the collection has the original Japanese language versions; I don't think that Mill Creek has both Japanese and English versions.

In addition to all that, the Japanese versions have different run-times on some with extra bits of content that were cut by the American production code. Minor stuff granted, but still...

It's funny, but when all of these movies came out years ago, I, like many collectors purchased them when they were first released. I can't believe that some are just purchasing "ICONS" now, even though they were released years ago.


I guess money talks and wishful thinking walks...does that make sense?

John Sparks said:

It's funny, but when all of these movies came out years ago, I, like many collectors purchased them when they were first released. I can't believe that some are just purchasing "ICONS" now, even though they were released years ago.

I guess money talks and wishful thinking walks...does that make sense?

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If your point is why doesn't everyone just buy a release when it's brand new as you apparently believe is the only method worth considering, there are any number of reasons why a person may not. But it's a futile point with this particular title as it's not OOP and actually selling for less money now than its original list price. So your air of superiority rings hollow in this case and my wishful thinking is walking just fine, thank you very much.

Getting the Japanese versions is definitely a great selling point for having the ICONS set as I agree that the Mill Creek will probably only contain the English dubs. Plus MOTHRA is actually my favorite of the three movies!

Getting Mothra in OAR and language was *exactly* why I purchased the Icons Collection. I considered the other 2 films to be lagniappe.

Amazon has dropped the pre-order price of the Vintage Sci-Fi 6 Movie Set to $8.99. I keep expecting them to match that price on the Classic Horror 4 Movie Pack as well, but so far no such luck...