New Brentwood 20-PACK (!!) Movie Sets. (1 Viewer)

[Brian Thibodeau]

Just skimmed through the upcoming releases over at Deep Discount DVD and noticed these titles added for early February:

Nightmares From The Crypt 20 Movie Set
Space Quest 20 Movie Set
Return of the Warriors 20 Movie Set
---Each just over $16

Also:
Final Frontier 10 Movie Set
Attack of the Monsters 10 Movie Set
---Each arond $12

There may be others, but I'm not sure. Anyone got any info on the titles included in these sets. The images at DDD aren't sharp enough to read. I usually grab these just to see the movies, then if anything's really good, I search out a decent DVD presentation for the one's like. These 20 packs seem like ridiculously good deals for the price, even though I'm 100% certain the prints and transfers will be sub-par and the rights will be dodgy at best. No need to get into the big public domain debate (unless you'd like to!), I'm just looking for info.

Anyone know where I can find the details for these sets? Does Brentwood have a website?

 

[Steve Phillips]

Their website is www.bcieclipse.com


Some of the 20 packs will likely be combinations of the material from previously released 10 packs.

 

[Jon Martin]

I've seen a couple of their past releases and, well, you get what you paid for. The transfers wouldn't get a good review on this or any other forum, but watchable.

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

I have about four of these 10-packs so far and, indeed, I did get what I paid for, but at around $1.25 a movie, I didn't expect much more. I don't want reference quality on most of these titles, but I have sprung for specific one's that really impressed me from these boxes.

Brentwood's website doesn't break these down yet, but I guess I'll keep checking back.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Brentwood is my favorite PD label and yes, sometimes you get very good prints but these are usually taken from OOP LDs. I've got a couple of their horror sets and a few of the films have better video quality than the higher priced discs.

Here's some info on upcoming sets:

THE DEAD WALK 10 Movie Set

She Beast
1965, 74 min

King of the Zombies
1941, 67 min.

Dead Men Walk
1943, 65 min.

The Brain That Wouldn't Die
1962, 92 min

The Ape
1940, 62 min.

Bloody Pit of Horror
1965, 87 min.

The Screaming Skull
1958, 68 min.

Revolt of the Zombies
1936, 65 min.

Atom Age of the Vampire
1960, 71

Bride of the Gorilla
1951, 76 min.

All of these titles have been released by either Image, Alpha or various other PD companies. I've seen three versions of THE APE and none have looked too good. The Alpha version of BRIDE OF THE GORILLA is better than the Image. ATOM AGE VAMPIRE (not "of the") will probably be the cut American version just like other releases. I believe SHE BEAST was a scope film so expect P&S. The other titles have never looked good so I wouldn't expect too much here either.

The cover also states that there are episodes of Boris Karloff's show THE VEIL.


FINAL FRONTIER 10 Movie Set

Assignment: Outer Space
1960, 79 min.

Rocketship
1936, 72 min.

Teenagers from Outer Space
1959, Approx. 86 min.

The Phantom Planet
1961, 82 min.

The Day the Sky Exploded
1958, 82 min.

Unknown World
1951, 73 min.

Phantom from Space
1953, 72 min.

Crash of the Moons
1953, 72 min

Warning from Space
1955, 87 min.

The Amazing Transparent Man
1960, 58 min.

Again, all of these have been released by Alpha and some from Image. I've got the Alpha versions of PHANTOM FROM SPACE, UNKNOWN WORLD and PHANTOM PLANET and they don't look too bad but don't expect Warner quality. TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE was released by Image with a wonderful transfer and the Alpha discs used the same transfer so perhaps that'll be included here. AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN was released by Roan in a poor quality disc and other PD labels have used the same print.


ATTACK OF THE MONSTERS 10 Movie Set

Phantom From 10,000 Leagues
1956, 72 min.

Giant Gila Monster
1959, 74 min.

Eegah!
1963, 93 min.

The Monster Maker
1944, 65 min.

Attack of the Giant Leeches
1959, 62 min.

The Killer Shrews
1959, 70 min.

Creature From Haunted Sea
1961, 76 min.

The Ape Man
1943, 64 min.

Indestructable Man
1956, 70 min.

Again, all of these were released by Alpha and various other PD companies. I own Alpha versions of INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN, APE MAN, CREATURE FROM HAUNTED SEA, KILLER SHREWS, GIANT LEECHES, PHANTOM FROM and GIANT GILA and none look too bad but again, don't expect great quality.

NIGHTMARE FROM THE CRYPT 20 Movie Set

Moon of the Wolf
Sisters of Death
Dominique is Dead
Messiah of Evil
Devil's Nightmare
Cathy's Curse
Horror Hotel
God Told Me To
Deep Red, The Hatchet Murders
Christmas Evil
Don't Look in the Basement
Satanic Rites of Dracula
Web of the Spider
Circus of Fear
House on the Edge of the Park
Jack the Ripper
Die Sister Die
Lady Frankenstein
The Werewolf and The Vampire Woman
Wolf Man

I've got these on other Brentwood sets. WOLF MAN looks decent but this is one of the worst films ever made. WEREWOLF AND VAMPIRE is a Naschy film, which is cut and has been released uncut by Anchor Bay. LADY FRANKENSTEIN looks poor like other PD releases. JACK THE RIPPER is the Jess Franco/Klaus Kinski version and looks poor especially compared to the VIP disc. This is the theatrical cut however. HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK is uncut and widescreen, taken from the EC DVD. Near the same quality as the Shriek Show release. SATANIC RITES is from the AB disc. DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT, decent quality, somewhat better than the VCI release. CHRISTMAS EVIL looks very good. DEEP RED, Anchor Bay released the best version but many prefer this shorter cut of the film. GOD TOLD ME TO has been released in a SE by Blue Underground. HORROR HOTEL looks very good. Probably taken from the Elite disc. DEVIL'S NIGHTMARE is uncut and widescreen taken from a LD. SISTERS OF DEATH looks poor, taken from a VHS but a strange little film. MOON OF THE WOLF looks exactly like the old VHS did.

If you're a fan of the films then I'd recommend the sets.

 

[Phil Florian]

Oh my. And us without MST3K on the air any more!


Phil

 

[john mcfadden]

But thats why you buy these sets!!!..... to have Mst3k at home !!!

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I'm starting to get annoyed at having titles overlapping on sets. There's a few I want on that 20-movie set, but I already have a couple of them too!
Quality of these has been hit-or-miss for me- my biggest complaint is the ones authored by Media Galleries, as they have a forced subtitle (you can turn it off, but it comes on anyways) that appears at a random point on the screen near the end of the movie saying "Menu and Chapter Names copyrighted by Media Galleries"- some show it at the end of the credits, but several (including most on the "Revved" set, which has some good 70s car-chase flicks) pop it up during a climactic scene!
Nevertheless, I can't recommend the "Toga Party" set enough, if only for the 1979 movie "Incoming Freshmen" which looks like it was shot on video then transferred to film. Must be seen just for the band that wears goat masks. I'll admit to wanting an audio soundtrack of the songs used in Bikini Med School/House Calls as well.

 

[Randy A Salas]

Michael, all I have to say is:

Thanks for the thorough rundown.

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

Thanks for the info, Michael!

Looks like I might have to skip the Nightmares 20-pack as I already have 10-packs featuring many of those titles. Although the thought of having 20 flicks in one case for such a ridiculously low price (around 80 cents a movie) might cause me to sell off some of the 10-packs. You can get fairly decent money for them up here as they are rare in Canada compared to the 4-packs.

As for the rest, it figures that as soon as I splurged for the recently reduced Wade Williams/Image two-packs ($7.98 at DDD), the titles would start turning up on Brentwood discs. At this point it's only a couple titles (Teenagers from Outerspace, Bride of The Gorilla) that duplicate already-owned discs, but there are others in these boxes that I know were released by Image/Wade Williams. Guess the best bet, price-wise, is to go with the Brentwoods, and assume the prints will be comparible, if not the same.

While searching some of these titles on DDD, I noticed that the Roan Group 2-packs have been reduced to $8.98, for sets like King/Revolt of the Zombies and Dead Men Walk/The Monster Maker. (Or have they always been this price?). This in addition to the recent Wade Williams 2-pack reissues! Anyways, what's the deal with the sudden markdowns? Is it competition from public domain companies like Alpha and Brentwood? Have these titles just been available so long that nobody's buying anymore? Did companies like Roan and Image hose enough suckers on the price of their discs in the first place they figure they can safely reduce them now? I'm tempted to believe the latter, as I remember the Wade Williams titles going for over $30 Canadian (!!!!!) EACH when they were first released. Now they're like, the equivalent of about $6 CDN, $4 US. The Roan Group two-packs were nearly as much in the early days.

While I never bought any of these due to the prohibitive price, but it used to frustrate me that a company would sell some weather-beaten old B-movie, particularly ones I wanted to own, though often unrestored, for way more than the cost of the latest blockbusters (and yes, I was aware there was a higher turnover rate for new release blockbusters, but still, thirty dollars plus 15% tax?????)

--------

By the way, anyone know what films are in the other Brentwood Boxes in my post above?

Space Quest 20 Movie Set?
I’m tempted to get that Final Frontier set, but if those titles are in this box as well, I’ll go for this instead, as I don;t have any of the Brentwood Sci-fi sets yet.

Return of the Warriors 20 Movie Set?
Sounds like a kung-fu set...

Also wondering about Ten Nights of Terror 10 pack

Anybody know the score?

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

Hey, Michael,

You wouldn't happen to know, or be able to find out, what's in the Space Quest 20-pack or the Return of the Warriors 20-pack from Brentwood. I'm going nuts trying to find info so I know whether to get these at Deep Discount, but keep coming up dry. Perhaps Brentwood doesn't want to let people know just how much duplication is in them? (the Nightmares from the Crypt contains the full contents of one of the 10 packs, plus a mix from a couple of others). I don't have any of the Brentwood Sci-fi boxes, so I'll probably spring for it anyways. I'd just love to know what I'm getting!

 

[Ruz-El]

Are these packs that show up in Walmarts and such, or do you pretty much have to order them online? (In Canada at least.)

I'm yet to buy any public domain stuff (leary of quality), but man, 20 flicks at a time at a bargan basement price, is hard to pass up.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Brian---I'm not sure about the other titles. The "Space Quest" could be a combo of previous sci-fi/horror sets from the company. These titles include:

SLIPSTREAM (PG-13), ABRAXAS (R), CREATURE (R), LASER MISSION (R), ALIEN SPECIES (Not Rated), EYES BEHIND THE STARS (Not Rated), COSMOS: WAR OF THE PLANETS (Not Rated), VOYAGE TO A PREHISTORIC PLANET (Not Rated), THEY CAME FROM BEYOND SPACE (Not Rated), and WAR OF THE ROBOTS (Not Rated). THE SADIST, THE KILLING KIND, ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO, MANIAC, PSYCHOMANIA, HORROR EXPRESS - THE ENIGMA, BACK FROM HELL, PROJECT VAMPIRE, THE PASSING, BEYOND EVIL.

I haven't picked up any of these titles from Brentwood but I've seen other versions of ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO and it doesn't look too good. HORROR EXPRESS is probably the same P&S transfer that Alpha used. Image has a widescreen disc out there for cheap but it's rather hard to find now. I've heard this PSYCHOMANIA is from the Image disc as well. WAR OF THE ROBOTS and WAR OF THE PLANETS were released by Retromedia but I've heard the Brentwood versions are better. THE SADIST was released by VCI and Alpha as well.

Again, I'm not sure if the list above will be correct or not. The first ten titles were from a Sci-Fi set but the other ten are mainly horror films. Brentwood has a website but it's never updated so it'll do you no good. Your best bet is to wait until someone buys the set or take a gamble and go ahead with the buy. I've got it pre-ordered so I'm hoping for the titles I listed.

"10 Nights of Terror" features:

DEATH AT LOVE HOUSE (Not Rated), SNAKE PEOPLE (Not Rated), HORROR HOTEL (R), THE INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN (Not Rated), DOMINIQUE IS DEAD (PG), NIGHTMARE CASTLE (Not Rated), THE INVISIBLE GHOST (Not Rated), CARNIVAL OF SOULS (Not Rated), WOLFMAN (Not Rated), and TRACK OF THE MOON BEAST (Not Rated).

DEATH AT LOVE HOUSE features John Carradine but it's a pretty bad film. Poor transfer as well. SNAKE PEOPLE is the Karloff film, uncut but it doesn't look too good. HORROR HOTEL is from Elite or Roan. INDESTU. MAN is the same thing from various other sources. NIGHTMARE CASTLE is the American version, poor looking but nothing better is out there. INVISIBLE GHOST is one of Lugosi's best Monogram films and the print here is decent. Probably taken from Roan. CARNIVAL OF SOULS, strange thing here. I would say it was from the Criterion disc or a transfer just below it. WOLFMAN, one of the worst films ever made. TRACK OF THE MOON BEAST is "so bad it's good". A rock from space hits a man in the face so he turns into a monster at night. Stupid but fun.

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

Russell

Your best bet for the 10-pack and 20-pack Brentwood Sets in Canada is to order them from, er, the US. I've never seen a 10-pack in Canada (and it wasn't for a lack of looking), so I'm assuming they aren't distributed up here yet.

Brentwood's 4-packs, featuring many of these titles, ARE available in various Wal-marts, Zellers, etc, but the price they want is usually about $12-16 plus our usual ridiculous tax (oh, wait a minute, I just noticed you're in Edmonton so that probably changes things). The 10 packs are usually $11.99 US (shipped FREE) from Deep Discount DVD. Lowest price I've found on the web. If you don't already have any 10-packs, start with these 20-packs, since it looks like their just popping the same doble-sided discs into the 20-packs for only $16.99, and I'm sure they'll be doing more. With the Canadian dollar hovering where it is, that still barely $22 Canadian for TWENTY MOVIES! As Michael mentions in his post, some of these prints are as good as the best stuff that's out there (such as it is), particularly when they appear to be using the same prints as Image, Roan, import laserdiscs, etc. If you're not into waiting for deluxe special editions for every single one of these titles, then these boxes are a great deal. You can always spring for the deluxe treatments of the titles you really like. Cheap way to say you saw the stuff, in other words.

Michael,

Thanks for the info. I've pre-ordered Space Quest as well. I'm guessing I'll be alright as so far I've passed on the Brentwood sci-fi 10 packs. I do have some of those titles on single discs (like Retromedia's War of the Planets/Robots set), but I can pawn those up here for fairly decent money as they're not widely distributed in Canada to my knowledge (being in a border town, I always surprise the guys at the used record/DVD places in Toronto with some of the weird shit I sell 'em).

I'm also thinking of ordering for the Ten Nights set as well as Ancient Evil, from which spring the other titles you thought might turn up in the sci-fi box. Since I've already got three of the Horror 10-packs, I figure its still pretty cheap to finish up my Brentwood PD library that way. Most of these films suit me just fine in their low-quality way, as that's just the way I first discovered many of them and, let's face it, a bunch of them don't even deserve special editions.

Thanks again!!

 

[Ruz-El]

Brian,

Thanks for the pointers. Looks like I'll have to ask my wife to relinquesh the credit cards so I can buy it online. (not an easy task since the great DVD purchase of 2002, 2 box sets and the disney treasures bought on one day right before christmas equals not having the use of the credit card for the rest of my life!)

I'll wait until we know what are on the other 20 packs first (hopefully the warriors pack well have the Streetfighters which looked decent on a PD copy my friend had), although those 10 packs look pretty tempting as well.

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

The girls just don't understand us. Not everything has to be practical! I always remind mine that living with the regret of passing up great deals is actually much, much HARDER than living with the guilt that I bought them. Then she rolls her eyes and talks about household things that, sup-POS-edly, are much more fiscally responsible.

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

Well, Brentwood has FINALLY put up the titles for their 20-packs, AFTER street date of course. Luckily, the Space Quest is chock full of flicks I don’t have, many of which I’ve wanted to grab over the years, and ALL of which have never been particularly worth waiting for some far-off deluxe special edition treatment. So here they are (hopefully Russell might see this to aid his purchase decision)

SPACE QUEST 20 MOVIE SET
War of the Robots
In the Year 2889
Slipstream
Abraxas
Creature
Laser Mission
Eyes Behind The Stars
Comsos War of the Planets
They Came from Beyond Space
Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet
Idaho Transfer
The Day Time Ended
Star Odyssey
Warriors of the Wasteland
Little Shop of Horrors
Neophites and Neon Lites
Killers from Space
Waiting for the Giants
Journey to the Centre of Time
Alien Species

RETURN OF THE WARRIORS 20 MOVIE SET
Street Fighter
Return of the Streetfirgher
Streetfighter’s Last Revenge
Sister Streetfighter
Dragon Princess
Screaming Tiger
Karate Warrior
Rage of the Dragon
Crippled Masters
Ninja Turf
Dragon on Fire
Golden Dragon, Silver Snake,
Killing Machine
36 Crazy Fists
Blind Fists of Bruce
The Fists of Bruce Lee
Black Dragon
Tattoo Collection
The Deadly Kick
Militant Eagle

The ATTACK OF THE MONSTERS 10 Pack, mentioned in an earlier post, also includes THE SNOW CREATURE.

The FINAL FRONTIER 10-pack also includes the Gammera TV print DESTROY ALL PLANETS, which was omitted from an earlier post.

I recently rceived my 10 NIGHTS OF TERROR 10 Pack and was surprised to find CARNIVAL OF SOULS to be the exact same print that Criterion used, albeit in a slightly too-sharp transfer. Otherwise, it looks absolutely fantastic, so it’s safe to say Brentwood stole this one. Still, Criterion's 2-disc release is a far moer interesting treatment.

Also noticed Brentwood has a new (??) 10 pack SHERLOCK HOLMES CASE FILES set that contains the following

Terror By night
Woman In Green
SH and the Secret Weapon
Dressed To Kill
SH and the Deadly necklace
A Study In Scarlett
Triumph of Sherlock Holmes
Sign of the Four
The Speckled Band
Murder at the Baskervilles

Wondering if anyone has this and could coment on quality. Four of the titles are available in the expensive MPI sets and, knowing Brentwood’s shady history, I’m curious to know if they took them from the UCLA-restored prints.

 

[Ruz-El]

Yeah Brian, I saw the list. Looks like I'm gonna be out some cash.

The warriors set could be really decent, as the Streetfighter flicks are all pretty good. A friend of mine has a brentwood 4 pack that has Streetfighter and Streetfighters last revenge that were in widescreen and looked pretty good (but a little too sharp, I'm guessing similar to how Carnival looks.)

Each of these sets have some good titles in them, it's going to be a pretty tough choice!

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

Received a bunch of my Brentwood boxes on Friday. A few notes:

In The Dead Walk 10 movie set:

King of the Zombies, The Ape, Dead Men Walk, Revolt of the Zombies, Bride of the Gorilla are all excellent transfers from probably the best prints available, easily as good as their Roan and Image counterparts. Nicely framed, good B&W contrast. Some age wear on the prints, but still quite remarkable. The rest of the films in this box range from middling to poor, but all are watchable if you're not holding out for special editions, which will be a long ways off, most likely. Each disc contains an episode of THE VEIL. All episodes are in beautiful condition, probably taken from that box set awhile back.

In THE ANCIENT EVIL 10-movie set:
The Sadist and Maniac are excellent, particularly the Sadist, which is from a beuatiful print, perhaps the same one used in the special edition I've heard about but never seen. Maniac is far better than the Alpha print, and easily as good as my Sinister VHS, although it might not be exactly the same print. Remaining prints in this set are the usual mixed bag, except for Back From Hell, a Detroit-lensed piece of crap that tried for Evil Dead originality but failed miserably (nice gore though), and Project Vampire, two regional shot-on-video pieces of junk that could have merit if watched with beer.

ATTACK OF THE MONSTERS 10-movie set:
A total mixed back here. Phantom frmo 10,000 Leagues seems better than the Retromedia print, but not by much. Giant Gila Monster is better than Elite's Drive-in Disc version. Eegah is as good as Rhino's MST version. Ape Man is quite nice, while the rest are poor but passable. This set also has a group of trailers appearing the same on all 10 films: Wolf Man (Rains), War of the World, It Came From Outer Space, Giant Gila Monster and Creature from the Black Lagoon.

SPACE QUEST 20 MOVIE SET
Haven't gone through this in detail yet, but the packaging is promising for future sets like these. Comes in a box that takes up about the same space as the 10-packs (a little thinner) and resembles computer software boxes with a front flap that opens for complete film listings and synopses. Inside the box, however, is the DVD case itself, which is shorter and wider and a little deeper than a DVD case, much like a hard-plastic CD case with a sleeve insert. Inside, the discs are in sleeves that are held in place like a ring binder. I'm assuming this is the same for the Horror and Action 20-packs Brentwood is doing. Not bad for $16.99.