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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.

L.J.
04-10-2006, 01:22 PM
Hey Dean

Sounds like you did well. I got a chance to burn some of my BB reward bucks too. I picked up King Kong, Narnia, Chicken Little and Big Momma's House.

Yeah, that Jaws is a must have. I picked it up a couple of months ago but haven't had a chance to give it a real look yet. I played it once, but so low it was barely worth it. I'll have to give it another run soon.

dean_martin
04-10-2006, 04:18 PM
Do you get reward points or credits based on full price of stuff you get with your reward bucks? I gotta go to the myrewards website and see what this is all about.

I doubled checked Jaws and disc 1 is dual-layered. I re-played the 70th minute and my player's display went to "searching" for a second then picked back up. That's the first pause I've noticed with my player. I checked some Amazon reviews and a lot of people were pissed that there was a 30th Anniversary Jaws when they had bought the 25th Ann. edition. Oh well. Amazon has it for 11.97!

I also checked my Wal-Mart Alien and Aliens. They're not "screen gems series", but Alien was part of the "Spotlight Series". I think all that means is it has a fancy cardboard outside slip cover.

I scanned the GoodTimes box set and didn't see any logos. That's good. GoodTimes used to put their logo on the dang prints of b-horror, juvenile delinquent and other cheesey genre films they had on vhs. It really sucked when they were the only ones who had a particular flick. I think those days are just about over now. If someone screws up a presentation or uses poor film elements someone else usually comes along with a better version. Other than the copy BS going on right now, it really is a favorable consumers market. I go to the store with a plan and by the time I've broused a couple rows of dvds my plans have been revised 3 or 4 times.

L.J.
04-10-2006, 05:41 PM
Used to be $5 reward certs for every $100 cash you spend, then the cheap suckers change it to $5 reward for every $150 you spend. I dropped a little over $1500 on my 32" Sharp LCD and got back only $60 reward certs.

I thought all the spotlight series at Walmart were fullscreen only. I usually pass those up, don't know why but they seem fishy to me. Maybe it's those dang blue covers.

dean_martin
04-10-2006, 06:45 PM
Used to be $5 reward certs for every $100 cash you spend, then the cheap suckers change it to $5 reward for every $150 you spend. I dropped a little over $1500 on my 32" Sharp LCD and got back only $60 reward certs.

I thought all the spotlight series at Walmart were fullscreen only. I usually pass those up, don't know why but they seem fishy to me. Maybe it's those dang blue covers.

Yeah, I only had $60 too and that was after dropping a wad on a laptop for the 16 year old, but the grandparents helped out so it wasn't too bad. (I didn't think the grandparents would be interested in the reward certs.)

From what I could tell, most of the spotlight series at Wal-Mart were full screen like X-Men, etc., but Alien is widescreen. I haven't noticed anything peculiar about it. It doesn't have a DTS track, but it does have DD5.1. (It's not as good as the audio on JAWS 30th Ann.) Aliens Special Edition (WS) was sitting right beside it for the same price, but no blue slip cover. (I run from full screen too.) I usually stick to toiletries at Wal-Mart and I can't stand going to those big-assed supercenters with the wife because we always get seperated and it takes forever to find her. Hell, I rarely admit going to Wal-Mart, but I guess I'm getting old and let it slip. One of these days I won't care at all and I'll be like those old farts who hang out in there and try to hit on my wife.