MILL CREEK THE GORGON BLU RAY YOU REVIEW FRANK TURTURICI

THE GORGON MILL CREEK BLU RAY: A DECENT REPLACEMENT

FOR YOUR AGING DVD COPY!

Mill Creek Entertainment's Hammer Films Double Feature: The Two Faces of Dr Jekyll and The Gorgon : Theatrical Release: 1964 : Blu Ray Release Date: 09/06/16 Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen Duration: 84 Minutes Featuring: Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee Directed By: Terence Fisher

Mill Creek has released The Gorgon in similar fashion to The Revenge of Frankenstein, paired with another movie on a single layer 25GB Blu Ray. While a 50GB disc would have been preferable (and is the norm in 2016), I don't believe it affects the picture quality for The Gorgon as much as it did The Revenge of Frankenstein.

I noticed a difference with The Gorgon immediately. The film is obviously in better shape than Revenge. Maybe the 6 year difference between the two films meant working with better film stock. Whatever the case may be, The Gorgon looks pretty decent on Blu Ray. Detail is good and colors are very nice throughout. Skin tones are very normal to the time period without any kind of red or yellow push. Detail can get a little lost in some of the darker scenes, but it is still an overall improvement to the old DVD.

As for audio, it doesn't have much room to stretch. Music can sound pretty compressed but dialogue is always clear and intelligible. 

For a bargain basement Blu Ray of $8, The Gorgon offers a decent replacement for the aging DVD, even if Mill Creek misspelled the title on the spine as "The Gorgan." I'm interested to see what kind of improvements, if any, the upcoming Australian Blu Ray release will show.

The YOU REVIEW feature: All YOU REVIEW features are complete and unedited  written reviews  independently submitted by followers of the Peter Cushing Appreciation Society , it's website and Facebook Fan Page. The opinions here in, are solely the authors and are shared here with the purpose and intent of providing a guide to dvd's and blu rays recently released featuring the work of Peter Cushing.  All viewing equipment used for the reviews is domestic and typical of the range of players and tv monitors used in a domestic viewing environment.

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#MONSTERMONDAY: THE STRANGER - STRANGER ON A TRAIN! GIFS

What an entrance! Peter Cushing as Dr Schreck

BECAUSE SOMEONE REVEALS what destiny awaits for you, at the end of a train journey...does that ,make that person, evil? What if that person is a practiced and accomplished, clairvoyant, a seer, an oracle and haruspex? Does that make that person Monster? What if that person is working under the guise of a doctor? A doctor named W.R.S. Schreck. A surname they explain, in the German language translates as 'Terror'? ...What if you suspect that person, as keeping a terrible secret, about their true identity, and why fate as brought you into their company? Doctor Schreck... He maybe DEATH, but is he only the messenger? OR the MONSTER? YOU decide!

'Have you not guessed??'

Christopher Lee's Character did. But, by that time

it was already too late!

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YOU REVIEW: MILL CREEK THE GORGON : SCOTT JONES

The YOU REVIEW feature: All YOU REVIEW features are complete and unedited  written reviews  independently submitted by followers of the Peter Cushing Appreciation Society , it's website and Facebook Fan Page. The opinions here in, are solely the authors and are shared here with the purpose and intent of providing a guide to dvd's and blu rays recently released featuring the work of Peter Cushing.  All viewing equipment used for the reviews is domestic and typical of the range of players and tv monitors used in a domestic viewing environment.

Mill Creek Entertainment's Hammer Films Double Feature: The Two Faces of Dr Jekyll and The Gorgon : Theatrical Release: 1964 : Blu Ray Release Date: 09/06/16 Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen Duration: 84 Minutes Featuring: Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee Directed By: Terence Fisher

"The only thing wrong with "The Gorgon" is the gorgon!" Sir Christopher Lee

While Sir Christopher Lee's humorous quote above isn't 100% accurate, he does make a very valid point in regards to this film. The Gorgon is a 1964 Hammer release and by all accounts it is a top tier Hammer film. Gloriously shot and directed by Terence Fisher, A Hammer stalwart, it has a  vibrant color palate, beautifully rendered matte paintings and the workman like professionalism of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee's performances are, as always, standouts. However, in saying that the special effects budget could have been given a significant boost to make The Gorgon a perfect Hammer film. The reveal of Megeara at the conclusion of the third act is almost laughable. Cheaply designed wigs and rubber snakes on wires can only go so far to terrorize a viewer. Up to that point the film is fantastically creepy and it maintains it's pace at a steady rate. If only it wasn't for that reveal. I am laughing whilst typing this.I believe this is one of the few, if only in fact, of Hammer's films steeped in Greek mythology. Overall, it works and is a nice departure from the two 'bigs' of the Hammer world Dracula and Frankenstein.

Enough about the quality of the film itself and story. This is a review of the Mill Creek Entertainment Blu Ray release for Hammer Films Double Features. This particular collection contains The Gorgon and The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll. I must admit I have yet to watch The Two Faces of Dr. Jeckyll, but will remedy that soon enough. I would like to preface this review by reminding the reader that this film was released in 1964 on a budget of approximately 150,000 English pounds. A preposterously low budget even for the times.  This release is in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio so the entire screen of your television will be taken up by the film, no black bars. I don't know if a better aspect ratio would have assisted the film in it's tightness but to my eyes I felt it looked marvelous. The colors pop, detail is incredible and for being recorded in Mono the music is frightening and beautiful while the dialogue is easily heard and not muddled.

One problem I had was the obvious difference in film quality between the set shots (which are vibrant and clear) to the "day for night" shots which are grainy and hard to see. However, I have only ever seen this film previously on television from horrible prints and bad resolution so Mill Creek, in my mind, did a bang up job of cleaning this film up as best they could. Again, for a 52 year old low budget horror film, it really comes to life on blu ray. I believe if Mill Creek would have gone for a higher bit rate, say 50m as opposed to 25m and made the disc a dual layer it may have  made some difference but I am not technologically inclined enough o make that a 100% true statement. There are no bonus features or subtitles but for the cost, less than $10 for two classic horror films on a budget release blu ray, I see no problem with this in any way.

Peter Cushing (Dr. Namaroff) is amazing in this film, as usual, his professionalism overcomes the quality and or price tag for any film he appears in. Funnily enough, I found Christopher Lee's character (Prof. Karl Meister) to be the comic relief! "Ill? You must have been in your grave and dug your way out!" Don't use long words, Inspector; they don't suit you." The supporting characters are all well played and I was never distracted by any kind of overacting. My problems with the gorgon herself (a very scary looking Prudence Hyman) are merely aesthetic. When she appears in long shots or in reflection she is certifiably frightful. If only if it wasn't for the final reveal. $1,000 more dollars and they could have fixed it, but I have heard that the production had literally run out of money by that point and boy does it show.

So, overall, well done Mill Creek! I have been waiting for years for a decent quality release of The Gorgon and now I have one. We should count ourselves lucky that we as fans have access to these films at all, let alone released on blu ray.

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YOU REVIEW : FRANK TURTURICI TAKES A LOOK AT MILL CREEKS REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN BLU RAY

The YOU REVIEW feature: All YOU REVIEW features are complete and unedited  written reviews  independently submitted by followers of the Peter Cushing Appreciation Society , it's website and Facebook Fan Page. The opinions here in, are solely the authors and are shared here with the purpose and intent of providing a guide to dvd's and blu rays recently released featuring the work of Peter Cushing.  All viewing equipment used for the reviews is domestic and typical of the range of players and tv monitors used in a domestic viewing environment.

THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN: Part of a TWO Hammer film package, with The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, released on blu ray by Mill Creek Entertainment September 2016. Mill Creek's double feature is currently the only way to own these films on BLU RAY:  They can be purchased  HERE 

THE REVIEW:
First. The technical to get it out of the way. First expectations. In my opinion, these are bargain basement blu-rays. Make no mistake that they have not been restored or remastered in any way whatsoever. The Revenge of Frankenstein uses an older HD encode carried over from the DVD release (I believe) of 2002. Both Revenge and Curse of the Mummy's Tomb are crammed onto a single 25GB blu-ray. Since there's no special features, or even subtitles or audio options), and since both movies are relatively short, this would've been okay had Mill Creek used a 50GB blu-ray disc. Instead, a large amount of compression exists in order to fit both movies onto the smaller sized disc. What does this mean for picture quality? Nothing good, I have to say.

THE DISC:

I'll preface that my tv is probably 10 years old. It's a 46" 1080p LED Samsung tv 240Hz. The picture still holds up as crisp and lifelike with newer movies where action is fluid (and where proper care has been taken to provide an adequate transfer). I also sit probably 10 feet away, so I'm not on top of the tv looking for blemishes or distractions. In the case of The Revenge of Frankenstein, I noticed that in some scenes when people are walking across the screen, such as when Frankenstein is holding the knife to Hans, there's a fair amount of compression artifacts right behind him as the image struggles to keep up with the actor's fluid motions. It's distracting and shouldn't be happening in 2016, 10 years into this HD format.

Colors are mostly good, but nothing really *pops*. The famous Hammer red blood isn't any more rich now as it was on the DVD years ago. Flesh tones are ok but some scenes lean a little more to the red side while other scenes show actors a little paler. I did notice that some of the outside night scenes were a little more difficult to see than I was used to. What was perhaps most distracting is the sheer amount of scratches, blemishes, dust, and vertical lines throughout the movie. This is a movie that is dying for a remastering effort, although not as heavily as The Curse of Frankenstein, which has its own problems.

As for the sound, it's rather tinny I'm afraid. Bass isn't booming, voices and high ranges sound thin, as does the music. I had forgotten how much music is in this particular Frankenstein film, probably more than any other Hammer Frankenstein. It's used to great effect to show how Karl is a rather sympathetic 'monster' and his infatuation with Miss. Conrad. There was no hissing or audio blips that I could hear, but it could definitely use some oomph.

AND FINALLY:

To sum up, I paid about $8 for this combo, so about $4 for The Revenge of Frankenstein. Sadly, that's probably all they're worth. To top it off, Mill Creek misspelled The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb on the spine as "The Curese..." I have yet to watch that movie. For the other double pack release with the Gorgon, they misspelled it as "The Gorgan." That gives you an idea of how much thought and care went into these movies.

The Revenge of Frankenstein: Codec: DISC: MPEG-4 AVC Resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1, 1.66:1 Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1, 2.35:1 AUDIO: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (448 kbps) PACKAGE: Blu-ray Disc Single disc (1 BD-25) ADVERTISED REGION: Region A

OVERALL SCORE: 2.0 from a possible 5.0 

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#THROWBACKTHURSDAY: WHO HE? MICHAEL COLES

Michael Coles as Inspector Murray and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing, in Hammer films DRACULA AD 1972

Michael Coles, Roy Castle and Jennie Linden scout the corridors of DALEK CITY in 'DR WHO AND THE DALEKS' 1965

Returning to the role of Inspector Murray for THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA

Coles does a spot of vampire slaying, in the cellars of  Pellham House, a clinic of Psychic Research and Examination.

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#TOOCOOLTUESDAY : JUST HOW DOES DRACULA CREEP UP ON HIS VICTIMS : TRICKY SUNLIGHT : SKULL EYE SOCKETS

#TOOCOOLTUESDAY: Here's the first of TWO #cool 'things you may have missed' about Hammer films 'DRACULA ' HORROR OF DRACULA' starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.... If you listen carefully, you hear Cushing's Van Helsing FOOTSTEPS while running up the stairs, but you have also just watched Christopher Lee's Dracula, streak up the same stone stairs... and not noticed, he DID NOT HAVE ANY FOOT STEPS SOUND! Being the Prince of the Undead, he has no reflection in a mirror...and now footsteps! Director Terence Fisher and sound editor Jock May and film editor, Bill Lenny painstakingly TOOK OUT all of Lee's foot steps, though-out the ENTIRE film!

#TOOCOOLTUESDAY  A great GIF from a scene in Amicus films, 'THE SKULL' (1965) . Those of you with a sharp eye, will recognise this technique of . . . 'filming a point of view shot from the 'Skulls' eyesockets' was employed in Tigon productions, 'THE CREEPING FLESH' in 1972. Both films were directed by Freddie Francis, who I guess likes the 'pov shots' he used this in Tyburn film' THE LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF' (1975)

 

THE SUNLIGHT ray that helped to slay Count Dracula in the 1958 Hammer film 'Dracula' / 'Horror of Dracula' is actually painted on GLASS! It's called a Glass Matte Shot. The glass pane is placed IN FRONT of the camera lens, and films THROUGH the glass. That is why, for a spilt second, Peter Cushing's arm disappears BEHIND the light shaft!

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#MONSTERMONDAY : COLONEL GORE HEPBURN : GENTLEMAN CROOK OR MONSTER?

#MONSTERMONDAY A bit of a twist to this week's candidate, no spooky, fairy tale make believe tyrant or abomination . . . this week we have something who could be a 'monster' nevertheless! If you have not seen Peter Cushing and Andre Morell in Hammer films suspenseful crime thriller, 'Cash On Demand'..we recommend, you add it to the top of your 'to watch list' right away! It's a very clever film, with two ace performances from Peter Cushing as Bank manager Harry Fordyce and Morell as Colonel Gore - Hepburn... who isn't all he seems . .  is he A Crafty Old time Crook OR a MONSTER??? You decide . . . 

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