Search - Cult Camp Classics 1 - Sci-Fi Thrillers (Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman 1958 / Giant Behemoth / Queen of Outer Space) on DVD

What a bargain!

C. A. Luster | Burke, VA USA | 06/08/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you enjoy 1950s campy B movies, then I don't see you going wrong here with this first set. For details just search each of the movie titles and you see each movie alone runs almost as much as this set and you will see from the reviews they are all kind of legends as far as the genre goes. They actually are some of the best of that period of B movies. I know I like all three of these in this set. I can say I compare the "50 ft Woman" to the "War of the Colossal Beast" and "The Giant Behemoth" to "Beast from 20,000 Fathoms". The last one with Zsa Zsa Gabor on the planet of women is not to be missed if nothing more than to see how far we had plunged into skimpily clad women with bad lines in B class SciFi moviedom. Hmmm does B stand for bad? Well even if it does these movies are entertaining for most fans of science fiction.



The first two movies in the set are black and white movies but they look like they have been gone over and cleaned up. "Queen of Outer Space" is in color and very clear and sharp. I got my set a few days ago so my wife and I watched the first two in the set a couple nights ago and the third last night. All the DVDs are sharp and clear. Each had a commentary available by someone in the movie. "Does anyone know if the costumes, sets, and music for "Queen of Outer Space" was done by people that later worked on "Star Trek"? The mens uniforms and radios definitely looked like they came from the "Forbidden Planet" wardrobe. I'm definitely glad I got this set."

Good to see these films again

R. Gorey | New York | 06/26/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Prints for these films look fine, and it's good to see such modest movies cleaned up and given the DVD treatment, though some purists will question the minor letterboxing on "50 ft. Woman" and "Behemoth". Yvette Vickers commentary on "50 ft. Woman" is a treat. She remembers the film well and speaks fondly of it and of her time spent making the movie. Be aware though: the advertisements say the trailer for "Woman" is on the DVD, but for some reason it isn't. Strange: probably an oversight. "Behemoth" looks sharp and clear, but Dennis Muren and Phil Tippet's commentary does a great disservice. They clearly don't respect the film at all, and spend much of their time insulting it, even mocking it, before wrapping up with "well, I guess now we know why they never made a sequel to this movie." Wish they'd had some affection for the film, or had at least familiarized themselves with it before offering such caustic feedback. By the ninth or tenth time they say, "Ray Harryhausen would have done this SO MUCH better" the novelty wears thin, and one wonders what Harryhausen himself might have said about the movie. "Queen of Outer Space" has the novelty of color, and the surprising pedigree of a Ben Hecht screen story. Kudos to Warner Bros. for putting these films out, and yes, the "Behemoth" disc has the often cut ferryboat scene, for those who are interested. Too bad about the shoddy "Behemoth" commentary, but fans should enjoy thoroughly these long-awaited B movies."

Extremely Fun Boxset

K. F. | Massachusetts | 06/30/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you like 50's sci-fi, this set is a must have. Nice widescreen, anamorphic prints of all 3 films--50 Foot Woman and Giant Behemoth are b& w, Queen of Outer Space is in glorious Cinemascope color!



The Giant Behemoth is another solid 50's stop-motion effect giant monster movie, in the vein of Beast from 20,0000 Fathoms, The Black Scorpion and others. Very enjoyable.



Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is actually not as campily bad as it's usually hyped. The special effects are occasionally lackluster and do add a comedy element, but the acting, dialogue, cinematography and score are all decent. Pretty standard, fun 50's sci-fi.



Queen of Outer Space--now this is the camp classic! From this movie, I learned that the only women who don't welcome overt sexual harassment from leering, agressive men are the ones who are too hideously disfigured to be the object of said advances! Imagine Forbidden Planet, with all the cool special effects and engaging plot themes removed and replaced with lots of scantily-clad alien beauties and 50's era "battle of the sexes" dialogue--on the planet Venus, of course! Botchino! Botchino!



All in all, a very fun set for fans of 50's sci-fi.



"

Outstanding treatment of 3 sci-fi camp classics

calvinnme | 06/27/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This three-pack is an interesting collection of B features that are typical of what was churned out pretty regularly by some of the lesser studios that were capitalizing on the sci-fi films that were popular during the 1950's. These B pictures often came out campy, and these three are a best-of-breed collection that make for great fun. Like Dr. Johnny Fever whose DJ career took a plunge after he said the word "booger" on the air until he eventually landed at low-rent WKRP, you have to wonder how some of the talent involved in these productions wound up in this position. You've got bad directors gone worse, special effects artists going the way of Ed Wood, and girls gone wild - all the makings of some great cheesy fun. What is so great about this pack is that Warner Home Video cleaned up the video and audio on these films quite nicely, and even put commentary tracks on these films. Not even James Cagney merited a commentary track in his Signature Collection! The films and their features are as follows:



Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)

A great case of camp and sci-fi meeting a love triangle. Poor little rich girl Nancy Archer has been drinking heavily since she found out her husband has been cheating on her, and it has recently caused her to do a stretch in an asylum - there was no such thing as substance abuse clinics back then. When Nancy drives off angrily into the desert one night she has an encounter with a very big alien who infects her with his largesse. Now we have a very big girl with one bad attitude on our hands intent on taking the nearby town apart to find her husband. I used to see this one on the UHF channels late at night back in the early 70's when I was babysitting. Great fun.

DVD Special Features:

Commentary by Yvette Vickers and film historian Tom Weaver

Subtitles: English & French (feature film only)



The Giant Behemoth (1958)

Here's another movie where metabolism has been altered, this time by science and radioactive fallout. This was one of the later giant creature movies of the 1950's, and it hasn't been as fondly remembered as its forerunner "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms", but it is still great fun. This time a giant brachiosaurus, greatly enlarged due to improperly dumped radioactive material, emerges from the sea and is intent on destroying London. The poverty row budget shows in this one in spite of the presence of some skilled technicians that had worked on King Kong and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. Wires are often clearly visible, as is footage of one car being destroyed by the giant beast being used repeatedly in the movie as though they are different events.

DVD Special Features:

Commentary by veteran special effects creators Dennis Muren and Phil Tippett (The Academy Award winning visual effects and dinosaur supervisors of "Jurassic Park" provide insight into this ground-breaking stop-motion monster.)

Theatrical trailer

Subtitles: English & French (Feature Film Only)



Queen of Outer Space (1958)

This campy outer space movie has a captain and his crew landing on a planet where men are not allowed. However, not all of the residents of the planet are happy about this edict. Thus it comes down to the man-hating queen versus the planet's leading scientist (Zsa Zsa Gabor). To add to the suspense, like Marvin Martian, Queen Yllana wants to blow up the earth. Everyone in this film seems to know they are starring in a campy production and they are just having fun with it. This movie actually borrowed its sets, costumes, and special effects from "Flight To Mars", "Forbidden Planet", and "World Without End", and has a screenplay by the renowned Ben Hecht of all people.

DVD Special Features:

Commentary by Laurie Mitchell and film historian Tom Weaver

Theatrical Trailer

Subtitles: English & French (feature film only)"