Vampires, Mummies & Monsters

Roger Corman has been responsible for somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 films as a writer, director or producer. Little wonder Shout Factory has resorted to packaging his films as a Quadruple Feature in their latest release Vampires, Mummies & Monsters. This 2-disc special edition sports some pretty obscure titles picked for release by Roger when he started his own company – New World – in the early ‘70s. Lady Frankenstein (1972) is the most interesting, with a classy Hammer Films approach that mixes gothic horror with sex, sadism and necrophilia. Carrying on her father’s work, Tania Frankenstein (Rosalba Neri) takes things to a whole new level of deceiptful depravity, crafting a creature not just out of scientific curiousity, but also to satisfy her physical desires. The Velvet Vampire (1971) has a good time exploring the dark side of the free-love generation’s loose morals, with a young married couple seduced by a swinging vampiress. A good deal of unintentional humor, bad acting and atrocious writing (wait for the “love is like a dune buggy” speech) actually make this one an entertaining art-house wannabe. Timewalker (1982) features a mummy unearthed from King Tut’s tomb that shambles around infecting everyone with toxic mold. Oh yeah, and he’s an alien too. Starring Linda Blair, Grotestque (1988) is a mess of ‘80s monster and fashion clichés that will leave you asking plenty of questions…like how did a gang of Mad Max-style punks wind up in the mountains of California? Commentaries, extended cuts, trailers, interview and TV spots are included as extras.