dean_martin
04-10-2006, 09:42 AM
Recently, I've realized that my dvd collection is severely lacking in the mainstream thriller/suspense category. I've noticed the screen gems series at Wal-Mart for $10 and picked up Alien and Aliens which I watched over 2 or 3 nights last week. I also received my reward zone certificates from Best Buy last week. Yesterday I picked up Jaws - 30th Anniversary, The Ring, and Sixth Sense. In addition, the wife picked out that period movie about a pearl earring with Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson.
My plan was to avoid the B-movie cheese and the obscure and quirky. I was planning on bolstering the collection with movies that provide a jolt but would also be appropriate for my teenage sons and their friends. However, I succumbed to temptation and picked up the boxed set of Killer Cult Classics with The Brain that Wouldn't Die, Teenagers from Outerspace, The Killer Shrews and The Wasp Woman. I didn't pay much attention to the packaging when I bought it. I didn't notice until I got home that it was a GoodTimes boxed set. Many years ago I stopped buying GoodTimes releases on vhs when they started adding their logo at the bottom of the screen. I hope they don't do that anymore. I'll find out soon enough.
Anyhow, with our reward certs. we picked up these 8 movies for $3.17. (Most of the reward points were earned when we bought a laptop for one of the kids.)
I mainly posted to give my recommendation for JAWS - 30th Anniversary. The regular price was $14.98 at Best Buy. (I've seen it for $16.98 at Target.) It's a 2-disc set with a 60 page booklet and tons of special features. The picture quality is very, very good considering the age of the film. I've never seen the opening night scene this clear. (I remember always straining to see all the details of the nude swimmer/first victim - no straining necessary with this dvd.) The audio is very open and spacious compared to some from that time. For example, the audio on Alien is a little compressed like a mono track and distorts some in loud scenes. The only glitch I noticed was a slight less-than-a-full-second pause in the 70th minute which may have been a layer change. I may investigate this further to confirm that disc 1 is dual-layered, but I've never noticed a layer-change pause with my player before. But, it occured at the very end of a scene so I'm not complaining - just providing info. (It also reminded me of some of the cheesey editing technics used in the 70s so it may have been intentional.) I haven't been through all the bonus stuff, but it's a nice package. If you don't already have this film on dvd (I may be the last person around here who didn't), this would be an excellent version and it only costs about half of what you'd normally pay for a special package like this.
My plan was to avoid the B-movie cheese and the obscure and quirky. I was planning on bolstering the collection with movies that provide a jolt but would also be appropriate for my teenage sons and their friends. However, I succumbed to temptation and picked up the boxed set of Killer Cult Classics with The Brain that Wouldn't Die, Teenagers from Outerspace, The Killer Shrews and The Wasp Woman. I didn't pay much attention to the packaging when I bought it. I didn't notice until I got home that it was a GoodTimes boxed set. Many years ago I stopped buying GoodTimes releases on vhs when they started adding their logo at the bottom of the screen. I hope they don't do that anymore. I'll find out soon enough.
Anyhow, with our reward certs. we picked up these 8 movies for $3.17. (Most of the reward points were earned when we bought a laptop for one of the kids.)
I mainly posted to give my recommendation for JAWS - 30th Anniversary. The regular price was $14.98 at Best Buy. (I've seen it for $16.98 at Target.) It's a 2-disc set with a 60 page booklet and tons of special features. The picture quality is very, very good considering the age of the film. I've never seen the opening night scene this clear. (I remember always straining to see all the details of the nude swimmer/first victim - no straining necessary with this dvd.) The audio is very open and spacious compared to some from that time. For example, the audio on Alien is a little compressed like a mono track and distorts some in loud scenes. The only glitch I noticed was a slight less-than-a-full-second pause in the 70th minute which may have been a layer change. I may investigate this further to confirm that disc 1 is dual-layered, but I've never noticed a layer-change pause with my player before. But, it occured at the very end of a scene so I'm not complaining - just providing info. (It also reminded me of some of the cheesey editing technics used in the 70s so it may have been intentional.) I haven't been through all the bonus stuff, but it's a nice package. If you don't already have this film on dvd (I may be the last person around here who didn't), this would be an excellent version and it only costs about half of what you'd normally pay for a special package like this.