3/5 Echo Bridge horror 4-fer #3
  by Annie Van Auken (Planet Earth)
Transfer quality of ECHO BRIDGE 4 movie packs is quite good, although film stock is not always in the best of condition. A bargain price also makes these small collections attractive. All titles are contained on a single disc.


SYNOPSES for "Horror Classics V.3"--

THE APE-- Two stories in one. A scientist tries curing a young lady's polio with human spinal fluid even as a circus ape escapes and terrorizes the town. Cheapy ape costume is inhabited by Ray 'Crash' Corrigan.

DEMENTIA 13-- Roger Corman's young assistant Francis Coppola was allowed to make this right after he finished work on Corman's latest film. It's the story of a tragedy-plagued family living in a creepy old Irish castle.

INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN-- Lon Chaney Jr. is an executed criminal reanimated as an unstoppable mute in this modern retelling of the Frankenstein story.

THE WASP WOMAN-- Typical made-on-the-cheap Roger Corman screamer features his usual cast of characters. It's the story of a youth-obsessed cosmetic company executive who develops a cream from queen wasp's jelly that transforms her into a woman in a bee costume. Corman himself appears briefly as a doctor.


HORROR CLASSICS V.4 offers four more goodies, including Roger Corman's cult fave, "A Bucket of Blood."


Parenthetical numbers preceding titles are 1 to 10 viewer poll ratings found at a film resource website.

(4.1) The Ape (1940) - Boris Karloff/Maris Wrixon/Gene O'Donnell/I. Stanford Jolley/Ray Corrigan (as The Ape)

(5.5) Dementia 13 (1963) - William Campbell/Luana Anders/Bart Patton/Patrick Magee

(2.9) Indestructible Man (1956) - Lon Chaney Jr./Max Showalter/Marian Carr/Ross Elliott

(3.6) The Wasp Woman (1959) - Susan Cabot/Anthony Eisley/Barboura Morris/Frank Gerstle/Bruno VeSota/Roger Corman

4/5 THERE ARE BETTER BUT NOT FOR THE MONEY
  by Eric Huffstutler (Richmond, VA United States)
This is a Platinum Disc that has 4 movies on one side. What is surprising here is that compression is extremely good for such a crowded early issue disc. All of these movies have fallen into public domain and there are tons from various distributors on the market but these 4 have decent transfers including one of the best for "Dementia 13". There was a release by Roan for Dementia 13 long out of print and extremely hard to find but wasn't one of their best efforts or transfer. It is unknown if the original elements still exist or if MGM who holds the rights, will ever have an official release for this and the other titles here? But in the mean time, pick up this collection especially if you are into drive-in or Chiller Theater 'B' movies!