Scream Factory All Night Horror Marathon, Vol. 2 (Cellar Dweller, Catacombs, The Dungeonmaster & Contamination 7)

What we have here are 4 films, 2 on 2, 1-sided discs. 3 of which are 'classic' films released by Empire Pictures. The other film is hardly even a cult classic (more on that later). I'll begin with 1988's Cellar Dweller...CELLAR DWELLER (1988)Plot: A comic artist dies in a fire, after his art comes to life. Years later the deceased comic writer/artist's house is turned into an artist's colony. A woman shows up to the place, to begin re-vamping her idol's comic book series. Soon enough her creations become a reality...My Thoughts: Cellar Dweller is essentially a love letter to Charles Band and Empire Pictures in general. Throughout the film various posters for other Empire films can be seen, Re-Animator (1985), Troll (1986), Ghost Town (1988), etc. The film falls in the same vein of movies like Pumpkinhead, The Unnamable (which still needs a dvd release), and Rawhead Rex. It's essentially about a large demon-esque creature which runs amok. The creature design is fairly cool, the beast is identical to the Cat-Ghoulie from Ghoulies. There's also quite a bit of gore. The score is perfect and the film musters up some atmosphere as well as mood. The effects aren't that bad either. The performances from Yvonne Decarlo, Debrah Farantino, Brian Robbins, Jeffrey Combs, and Vince Edwards are fairly decent. Everyone else is relatively bad or clunky. The dialogue isn't too bad and the story is unique although it was later utilized in the Tales from the Crypt episode Korman's Kalamity. However, there's very little character depth although Robbins' and Debrah's characters are still likeable. Yvonne hams it up a bit, making for a fun villain. The film is short (1 hour and 18 minutes) and full of campy-fun.FUN FACTS: Jeffrey Combs only has a cameo. John Carl Buechler directed the film and is a special effects wizard who worked on various films with various people including Roger Corman. He worked on other Empire films including Troll, From Beyond, and Terrorvision. Don Mancini wrote the film and he worked on all six Child's Play films.THE DVD:Cellar Dweller is paired with 1985's Dungeonmaster. Unfortunately it contains no special features.Video: A fairly good transfer free of grain or other blemishes. However because it was straight-to-video at the start of the film a couple ripples are noticeable. Other than that it's absolutely fine, they go away quickly.Audio: Glorious and crystal clear.My rating: The Film: 3.5/5 stars Disc: 1.5/5 starsNext up is...DUNGEONMASTER (1985) AKA RAGEWARPlot: An brilliant young man's (Paul) girlfriend (Gwen) is captured by an evil wizard (Mestema; Richard Moll) who forces him to play a game consisting of 7 segments.Segment #1 Stone Canyon Giant: Paul must face off against a giant statue.Thoughts: The stop motion is fantastic and the segment is directed and written by David Allen (Laserblast, Day Time Ended). It's a fun but short trial.Segment #2 Demons of the Dead: Paul battles undead knights controlled by an evil creature named Ratspit.Thoughts: The makeup is ghastly but terrific. Ratspit is actually a Troll puppet from 1986's Troll. This trial was made by John Carl Buechler. This one's also fast paced and entertaining while being atmospheric yet tense. Although the dialogue is dreadful.Segment #3 Heavy Metal: The awesome band W.A.S.P. holds Gwen hostage while Paul tries to save her.Thoughts: I love W.A.S.P. the segment has a little bit of suspense and is fairly entertaining. It was directed by Charles Band!Segment #4 Ice Gallery: Paul and Gwen wind up in a wax museum full of notorious figures from history including Jack the Ripper, the Wolfman, the Mummy, and Albert Einstein!?Thoughts: This one is pretty entertaining and really cool. The makeup is awesome.Segment #5 Slasher: In under an hour, Paul must stop a psycho from killing Gwen.Thoughts: While it's an interesting plot, it's the weakest and dullest segment.Segment #6 Cave Beast: Paul faces off against a rock throwing creature.Thoughts: This is the shortest segment and it's fairly weak but amusing due to the monster.Segment #7 Desert Pursuit: Paul is in a car race with some Road Warrior rejects.Thoughts: While fairly amusing, this segment is also quite dull.Final Thoughts: The film has its ups and downs. It begins well but the later segments decrease in fun and quality. Richard Moll gives a great performance while everyone else is pretty hit or miss. It's a mixed bag as the Mestema parts are good along with the first 4 segments. The last two segments aren't too bad but aren't that interesting either. Slasher is by far the worst segment and can be skipped or laughed at. The score is good, the effects are good, but everything else is uneven. The film is overall a fun campy good time.FUN FACTS: I've got nothing.THE DVD:Dungeonmaster is paired with Cellar Dweller and its trailer is included.Video: Really good and clear with only a tiny bit of grain.Audio: TerrificMy Rating: As a whole the film: 3.3/5 Individual- Trial #1: 5/5, Trial #2: 4/5, Trial #3: 3/5, Trial #4: 4.5/5, Trial #5: 1.2/5, Trial #6: 2.5/5, Trial #7: 2/5. Disc: 2/5Okay...CATACOMBS (1988)Plot: A monastery holding a demonic secret is re-opened by a priest and a schoolteacher.My Thoughts: This was directed by David Schmoeller, who I like very much. He's made quite a few favorites of mine including 1979's Tourist Trap and 1986's Crawlspace. The film is actually not that bad although it suffers from uneven pacing and a few poor performances. Overall it's a decent effort with a good score and decent makeup.Fun Facts: David has a cameo and co-wrote under a pseudonym. The statue sequence cost $5,000. Over the course of filming, the script was rewritten numerous times.THE DVD:Catacombs is paired with Contamination.7 and has a commentary track.Video: Great with no blemishes or grain.Audio: Stellar.My Rating: Film: 4/5 Disc: 3/5OH MY GOD!...CONTAMINATION.7 (1993)Plot: Radiation turns plants into killers!My Thoughts: This is a movie about killer plants, how could it have gone so horribly wrong!? First off it's directed by Joe D'Amato, one of my favorite Italian horror filmmakers. He brought us the classic Anthropophagous (1980) and the awesome Beyond the Darkness (1979). But then again he also made Troll 2! This movie was also advertised as Troll 3! When Joe cares, his films are decent but when he doesn't-they suck. At least Troll 2 is hilariously bad, this is just ugh. The performances are atrocious, the effects aren't too bad (sometimes), the score sucks, the writing is awful, and the pacing is dreadful. This film is extremely dull and boring. Its got a little gore but it isn't enough to sustain the rest of the film. This movie should be forgotten. I tried to sit through it, twice! I first saw it on cable a couple years ago and couldn't finish it. I gave it a second chance and regretted sitting through it again. It really doesn't belong in this set or in any set but it does-sadly.Fun Facts: NONE!THE DVD:Paired with Catacombs with no extra features.Video: Not too bad, although it doesn't matter because this film sucks.Audio: Decent.My Rating: Film: (my first negative) -1.5/5 Disc: 1/5OVERALL THOUGHTS: This is not a bad set by any means. Dungeonmaster, Cellar Dweller, and Catacombs are well worth the purchase and it's nice to see them all finally get a DVD release. However Contamination.7 should be avoided, I love Shout Factory but Jesus there are much better b-movies that deserved the spot instead of Contamination.7. All in all it's highly recommended.TOTAL PACKAGE RATING: 4.9/5Disc 1: Dungeonmaster/Cellar DwellerMain MenuMain FeaturesDungeonmaster TrailerDisc 2: Catacombs/Contamination.7Main MenuMain FeaturesCatacombs Commentary

So many movies from the home video era seemed to disappear without trace (justifiably so in some cases), but a few well-remembered titles are getting a second life thanks to Scream Factory’s fan-friendly compilation discs. Are they forgotten gems or mouldy oldies?Cellar Dweller. This one brings back memories, but they’re all bad. A cartoonist revives a monster in the basement of his home – a monster that killed the previous owner years ago (also a cartoonist. Hmmm). It has that low-budget, 80’s horror vibe but couldn’t really be described as a good film. It tries hard to be liked, but it’s a little flat - kind of like your kid sister.The Dungeonmaster, a.k.a. Ragewar. This is a segmented fantasy-horror film featuring wizards, monsters and cheesy FX (plus Blackie Lawless, the physical embodiment of those three things). A romp!Catacombs, a.k.a. Curse IV. Directed by David (“Puppetmaster) Schmoeller, this was one of the “lost” films from Charles Band’s Empire Pictures. It remained unreleased for years after the company’s bankruptcy. This is a reasonably atmospheric, modern day gothic horror about a demon imprisoned in a monastery. You’d be annoyed too if you were trapped for 400 years in celibacy central.Contamination 7, a.k.a. The Crawlers, a.k.a. Troll 3 (the film contains no trolls). Tree roots activated by nuclear waste become carnivorous and cause death and mayhem in a small town. You read that correctly. This was produced by Joe D’Amato’s Filmirage company, noted for making off-kilter genre cinema. Watch it with pruning shears handy.Overall, this is an uneven but worthwhile collection for fans who remember the old days of home video - the DVD equivalent of regression therapy.

Movie 9 of 1984 and 119 overall in my journey through films of my lifetime.The 80's had an obsession with computers doing extravagant things and women doing aerobics. Women in skimpy outfits doing aerobics has never been attractive to me.Technology misunderstood as magic is not as brilliant of an insight into human nature as some have suggested. If a movie this stupid can use it anyone can."The Dungeonmaster" is a disjointed affair to say the least! Transitions and ideas just make no sense. A crystal is a grenade? Okay. A magician who is also Satan who is also the lead singer for WASP? Aaaalright. Pulled into multiple alternative worlds? <sigh> I guess. It's all a bit much.Speaking of alternative worlds, I hate them. I think it's lazy. The closing credits will show me why this was done but it's still lazy."The Dungeonmaster" featured almost an entire WASP song which I watched on 1.5 speed because that's not story telling. This was the third musical interlude which just makes me mad because I'm now having my time wasted. It's like the producers are that jerk in the parking lot that plays their music loud for everyone to hear because hey, don't we want to hear what they like? Ummm not really, I couldn't care less what music someone else likes.In James bond tech has a set up and a payoff. Not in Dungeonmaster. He just happens to have the right tech at the right time. An issue people have with magic is for this reason. The exploit of tech versus magic could have been clever and interesting but this movie lacks creativity at all levels.... And how do uncreative movies and stories end? With the lowest hanging fruit of all: violence!I was never entertained by this, it was not even funny bad.In the closing credits you learn this is a collaboration. Doesn't change my mind in the least.ProsNoneCons-total waste of time in every sense

Excellent no-frills collection; your satisfaction will mainly depend on your taste, but if you are buying this, I imagine you know what you are getting yourself in for. The prints are nothing spectacular - though I imagine that could be down to source materials available - but at this price, I was quite happy with how they looked. I still have the VHS of Cellar Dweller and Catacombs, but it was nice to have these on disc for ease of watching. I won't review the films, but it's a perfect 'Friday night and a six pack of beer' set.

4 cheap and cheerful eighties B-movies for under a fiver.What's not to like? Nice to see The Dungeon Master AKA Ragewar again after so many years,a widescreen print too.Grab yourself a B-movie bargain.

These four films again were quite scary and some comedy.

my wife wanted catacombs could only get it like this, the other three ok if your a horror freak so wife loved them.

Good