While Hammer Films were turning out classy, sexy and bloody thrillers for the world market, other British producers weren't idle. Leslie Parkyn and Julian Wintle produced "Circus of Horrors," "Burn Witch Burn" and "The Unearthly Stranger" during the early 1960s; American writer George Baxt, who wrote for companies on both sides of the Atlantic, turned out "Horror Hotel"/"City of the Dead," "Circus of Horrors," "Shadow of the Cat," "Burn Witch Burn," and (for Hammer) "Vampire Circus," among others. Sidney Hayers directed "Circus of Horrors" for the team, then went on to "Burn Witch Burn" (also known as "Night of the Eagle,") a more respectable, far less disreputable film, one of the best horror films of its type. But then, if you can get past the breezy sadism of "Circus of Horrors," it, too, is one of the best films of its type ...

title: Boogeymen (Vol. 1) function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); studio: Universal Studios Home Video/FlixMix MPAA rating: NR starring: Robert Englund (narrator) release year: 2001 film rating: Three-and-a-Half Stars sound/picture: Three-and-a-Half Stars reviewed by: Abbie Bernstein Just as fans of MGM musicals have several editions of "That’s Entertainment!", horror aficionados now have "Boogeymen." While this compilation of scenes from 17 different movies is by no means definitive, it still contains a lot of worthy choices and packs a strange cumulative kick. "Boogeymen" is one of the few DVDs that actually has a climax at both start and finish. The opening clip consists of most of the finale from Clive Barker’s "Hellraiser," which epitomizes a certain kind of horror imagery, while the closer is the entire ending of the original John Carpenter "Halloween." Both sequences prove joltingly effective even removed from the context of their respective features, but this cannot be said for all choices. The selections mainly involve single menaces that have at least quasi-humanoid form. In other words, there’s no ...

title: The Mummy's Hand/The Mummy's Tomb function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); <br> studio: Universal Studios MPAA rating: NR starring: Dick Foran, Peggy Moran, Wallace Ford, Eduardo Ciannelli, George Zucco, Cecil Kellaway, Charles Trowbridge, Tom Tyler (the Mummy), John Hubbard, Elyse Knox, George Zucco, Wallace Ford, Turhan Bey, Virginia Brissac, Cliff Clark, Mary Gordon, Frank Reicher, Lon Chaney (Jr., as Kharis) release year: 1940/1942 film rating: Three stars/ Two-and-a-half stars reviewed by: Bill Warren Universal both delighted and disappointed fans of classic horrror movies when they continued on beyond the originals and a few of the early sequels to issue a series of double-feature discs that polish off each of their series titles. The movies are here, in good shape -- but their extras (trailers) and production notes are skimpy, sometimes giving the feeling that Tom Weaver, the classic horror movie expert who writes them, knows a great deal more than he's allowed to express, especially while filling out filmographies of actors not likely to be of much interest to those ...

title: Blood Simple (Director's Cut) function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); studio: Universal Studios Home Video MPAA rating: R starring: John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya, Samm-Art Williams, M. Emmet Walsh release year: 1983 film rating: Three-and-a-Half Stars sound/picture: Three-and-a-Half Stars reviewed by: Abbie Bernstein The title of "Blood Simple" refers to what can happen when a murderer is so stunned and appalled by his/her own crime that mental blankness results. This shrewd, bleakly funny 1983 film noir marked the feature directing debut of Joel Coen, who wrote the screenplay with his brother and the film’s producer, Ethan Coen. It is justly acclaimed as a small, contained masterpiece of the low-budget murder genre and has been brought to DVD with a beautifully clean print and a soundtrack that preserves a solid, effective mix of dialogue, music and ambient sound. Here’s the set-up: Small-town Texas bar owner Marty (Dan Hedaya) believes his wife Abby (Frances McDormand) is cheating on him, so he hires private eye Visser (M. Emmet Walsh) to ...

title: An American Werewolf In London function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); studio: Universal Studios Home Video MPAA rating: R starring: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne, John Woodvine release year: 1981 film rating: Five Stars reviewed by: Abbie Bernstein With hindsight, it’s extremely easy to determine whether a film has historical significance – if nothing quite like it has been seen before and tons of projects (other movies, TV series, books and plays) come along afterwards, it’s had an impact. Such a film is director/writer John Landis’ "An American Werewolf in London." Made in 1981, "Werewolf" pretty much pioneered the genre of self-aware horror. It is hilariously funny because the characters can relate their predicaments to what they’ve seen in movies. They say what we think, which produces a rare level of empathy – which in turn makes the story’s dark events not merely horrific but tragic. Because we can identify with the characters’ reactions, we can readily imagine these things happening to our friends, to ...