I'm mixing horror with science fiction for this week's Science Fiction Saturday post. You can get Santa Claus Conquers the Martians/Beast From Haunted Cave DVD at Amazon hosted by none other than Elvira herself. The former movie is one of my favorite's Christmas movies and I watch it every year.
(This is a sponsored post)
I picked up this DVD set of The Hitchhiker at the local Dollar General last month for $2.99. Ten stand alone tales of terror are on two discs. The anthology show originally aired on HBO from 1983 to 1987 before moving to the USA Network from 1989 to 1991. I have only watched a handful of episodes and most of them were on the USA Network. I remember liking the concept but I can't remember exactly which ones I have seen. I will probably remember them once I start watching the discs. "The Hitchhiker" was originally played by Nicholas Campbell for three episodes before Page Fletcher took over the role. This DVD set features Fletcher as "The Hitchhiker" while various guest stars include Kirstie Alley, Gary Busey, Margot Kidder, Willem Dafoe, Helen Hunt, Joe Pantoliano and James Remar.
The one sided insert is nothing special since it just lists the episode titles on each disc:
I found this Blood Ties Season Two DVD set at the local Dollar General back in August for $2.95. They didn't have the first season. I remember watching the early episodes when they originally aired in 2007 on the Lifetime Channel. I remember liking them, but I can't remember why I didn't watch the rest of the series. The vampire crime drama tv series stars Christina Cox as Vicki Nelson, Kyle Schmid as Henry Fitzroy and Dylan Neel as Mike Celluci. There are nine episodes on three discs.
I love the folded insert for this set. One side has a large photo of the three main cast members:
While the back of the insert has a summary of each episode:
The series is based on the Blood Books aka the Victory Nelson's Blood Investigations series of books by Tanya Huff. I have only read the first book in the series, which was Blood Price (there is seven altogether plus a short story). I gave the book a C- in 1992, which is why I might not have watched the entire series when it originally aired or read any of the other books in the series.
I picked up this Morbius dvd at the local Walmart's for five dollars last Tuesday. I finally watched it last night and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would considering all the negative reviews that I had read. Yes, it's a super vampire movie with more action than horror but still a fun ride. It was worth the five dollars just for the special features alone.
This Black Panther DVD is the last one I bought at the local Dollar General last Wednesday. I have seen this one all the way through on one of the movie channels. I picked it up because it was only $4.95 and I didn't have it yet. You might have noticed by now that I don't buy a lot of DVDs unless they are on sale.
This Avengers: Endgame DVD is another one that I picked up for $4.95 at the local Dollar General last Wednesday. The cover is another one crowded with Marvel superheroes including Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Captain Marvel Hawkeye, Black Widow and Rocket Raccoon among others. I always catch the end of the movie on tv so I'm glad that I finally have the DVD so I can watch it all.
Avengers: Infinity War is another Marvel movie that I have yet to watch all the way through in one setting. I usually miss the beginning so I was glad to find this DVD at the local Dollar General. The price was only $4.95 and now I can finally watch it all the way through. There are so many superheroes from Doctor Strange to Spider-Man on the front cover that I couldn't tag all of them.
I picked up this Ant-Man and the Wasp DVD at the local Dollar General for $4.95 on Wednesday. I have seen bits and pieces of the movie on the movie channels but I always miss the beginning. Now I can watch it from start to finish.
I hit the jackpot at the local Dollar General yesterday. Among the items that I found was this Treasure Hunt Doctor Strange DVD for $2.95. It doesn't have the case and is previously viewed but I couldn't resist at that price. I watched the movie on one of the movie channels but never bought the DVD.
I actually picked up the Insidious 4-Movie Collection at the local Walmart's at the beginning of the month. It was in the five dollar bin but the actual price ended up being about twenty dollars. I watched the first one last Friday night, the second one on Saturday afternoon and the last two yesterday. There are two DVDs with each having two movies on them. My favorite characters are Elise the psychic and the two amateur ghost hunters, Specs and Tucker. The trio are also the only characters to appear in all four movies. What I find interesting is that the movies are listed from four to one on the back instead of one to four. Movies three and four are actually prequels to the first Insidious movie. They are all great movies featuring ghosts and demons and I'm glad that I got this set.
I picked up Rob Zombie's The Munsters DVD at the local Walmarts for ten bucks a few weeks ago. I finally watched it on Sunday afternoon. I greatly enjoyed and thought the cast was great. The color was vibrant but I felt like I was watching a tv movie of the week. I do hope there is a sequel so we can see Eddie and Marilyn.
I picked up The Devil's Machine (2019) at the local Dollar Tree a few weeks ago in hopes that it would be a scary Halloween treat. The movie's story centers around a three hundred year old curse and a clockwork doll in Scotland. An antique dealer is hired to study the recently found life-size doll and takes his step-daughter along with him. The first half is a slow burn but things turn really weird in the second half. Not only does ghosts show up but strange dog men do too. Also, the story deals with some taboo subjects including incest, bondage and sadism. The ending was interesting but also a little predictable. I did get my money's worth since it was only $1.25 but I have to give The Devil's Machine a solid C since I felt like I was tricked.
Note: The Devil's Machine was originally titled Automata.
I picked up a copy of the Valentine: The Dark Avenger DVD a few weeks ago at the local Dollar Tree but I didn't watch it until Memorial Day. Estelle Linden stars as Srimaya, a waitress, who is hired by director Bono (Matthew Settle) to star in his new movie as the superheroine known as Valentine. Unfortunately, she gets caught up fighting the terrorist known as Shadow, who looks like he should be in a G.I. Joe movie. This is an Indonesian movie that was originally released as Valentine in 2016 and is based on the character from Skylar Comics. The movie was released with a new name in the United States in 2017. It's a low budget movie but the fight scenes and story is better than expected.
My favorite moment in Valentine: The Dark Avenger is when she fights a trio of supervillainesses, who works for Shadow. One of them sports a yellow wig, a black tutu and a top with a very familiar bat symbol.
On my first visit to Ollie's last month, I discovered a bunch of comic book grab bags. I couldn't resist picking up a ten pack for $6.99 that supposedly has a retail value of $35. The front of the bag has the following text:
"A variety mix of 10 classic comic books!"
"Featuring Marvel, DC, Archie, Mirage, etc."
"Supreme Marketing 126 Shove St Box 9 Fall River, MA 02724"
The picture below shows the back of one of the comics that features an ad for warnerarchive.com (the site redirects to warnerbros.com now) that shows Batman now on blu-ray, Batman: The Brave and the Bold the complete first season now on blue-ray (Aquaman shown), Legends of the Superheroes tv special from 1979 (I still need to get that one) and Batman: The Brave and the Bold the complete second season coming soon (Batman is shown with Green Arrow and Blue Beetle). The comic didn't actually come that way in the bag but I didn't want to show the cover just yet. I will be posting the comic covers over the next ten days.
There is nothing on the back of the bag. I don't know when I'll be back at Ollie's again but I will pick up at least another comic book grab bag if they still have them.
This Hef's Halloween Spooktacular ad featuring Elvira is from the October 2005 issue of Playboy:
I actually picked up the Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2 DVD in May of this year at the local Dollar Tree. Yes, it brings the Alan Moore graphic novel to animated life and is pretty faithful to it. I actually watched it a few months ago and never got around to posting about it here. Peter Weller is Batman, Ariel Winter is Carrie Kelly and David Selby is James Gordon. It's kind of weird to hear the voices of RoboCop and Quentin Collins from Dark Shadows in an animated movie from DC Comics. I highly recommend it especially if you enjoyed the graphic novel,.
I picked up the Batman Unlimited: Animal Instints DVD at the local Dollar Tree back in May of this year. I watched it a few weeks ago but never got around to posting about it here until now. This is actually the first entry to the Batman Unlimited series (Batman Unlimited: Mechs Vs Monsters is the sequel). Roger Craig Smith is Batman, Chris Diamantopoulos is Green Arrow and Will Friedle is Nightwing. I actually enjoyed watching Silverback and Cheetah more than the good guys. The animated movie is kids friendly but even adults will enjoy it too. Special features include two episodes of The Brave and The Bold cartoon series.
I saved watching Batman: The Killing Joke dvd for last because I know how controversial the graphic novel is (yes, I have read it). Not only does Batgirl (voiced by Tara Strong) basically get it on with Batman (voiced by Kevin Conroy) but she gets shot by the Joker (voiced by Mark Hamill). Commissioner Gordon (voiced by Ray Wise) is kidnapped by the Joker and is stripped naked in an amusement park with some circus freaks serving the Joker. This is one DC Universe animated movie that is definitely not for young kids and it is rated R. I picked up the dvd released in 2016 a few weeks ago with a bunch of others at the local Dollar Tree and I'm glad that I did. One of the special features is the look of Justice League Dark, which I hope to find one day.
Batman Unlimited: Mechs Vs Mutants is the 2015 sequel to Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts, which I have not seen. I found the dvd a few weeks ago at the local Dollar Tree. Batman is voice by Roger Craig Smith while the Joker is voiced by Troy Baker. Other superheroes that appear include Green Arrow, Nightwing, Red Robin and Cyborg while Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Clayface, Scarecrow, Silver Banshee and Solomon Grunddy are other supervillains that appear. This is more kid friendly than the last few animated movies based on characters from DC Comics that I have watched lately. The special feature is the Batman: The Brave & The Bold episode titled "Night of the Batmen".
Freedom Fighters: The Ray is a DC Universe animated movie that was originally a web series that started in 2017 and ended in 2018. I picked up the dvd at the local Dollar Tree a few weeks ago and was actually the first one that I watched. It's actually a prequel to Crisis On Earth X, the fourth annual Arrowverse crossover. Russell Tovey is the voice of Ray Terril and the Ray while Melissa Benoist is the voice of Overgirl. The Ray is the first openly gay superhero to star in his own movie so there are some male to male kissing. While I did enjoy seeing Phantom Lady and Doll Man, this just isn't the Freedom Fighters without Uncle Sam. Also, Vibe and Mr. Terrific from Arrow does show up to lend a hand.