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Collection includes classic films, look at wild promotions
photo courtesy of mPRm Public Relations
Actors Darryl Hickman (from left), Vincent Price and producer William Castle in 1959.
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Published: October 22, 2009
The William Castle Film Collection (Unrated): Eight films from Castle, known for his ad campaigns and showmanship, are combined in this five-disc boxed set. They include such classics as 13 Ghosts, Mr. Sardonicus and The Tingler with Vincent Price, for which Castle rigged some seats in theaters to give electric jolts during the film. The set also has three films making their DVD debuts, plus an award-winning documentary that looks at Castle's wild promotional stunts — such as offering free burials for audience goers who were scared to death by the film — and two episodes of Castle's TV series Ghost Story.
The Elephant King (R): A young man travels to Thailand to find his roguish brother and bring him home.
Love N' Dancing (PG-13): Amy Smart, Tom Malloy, Billy Zane and performers from So You Think You Can Dance star in this romance set in the world of competitive dancing.
Cheri (R): Michelle Pfeiffer stars in this period drama set in pre-World War I Paris about a courtesan who falls in love with the son of a colleague (Kathy Bates).
Transformers: 25th Anniversary Matrix of Leadership Edition: This 16-DVD boxed set has all 98 episodes of the original animated series about robots in disguise. Though not as visually stunning as the recent live-action films, the cartoons are imaginative and fun. This set is loaded with extras including retrospective featurettes, archival toy commercials, concept art, and a 60-page book.
Futurama: The Complete Collection: Matt Groening's follow-up to his hit The Simpsons has been canceled, renewed, canceled again, released straight to video, and will soon be coming back to TV. New episodes are in the works for 2010, but until then this set has the whole series, with every episode and all four movies on 18 DVDs. All the extras are included from the previous releases.
ZZ Top Live Double Down Live: The rock group known for its energetic music, double entendres and beards, take the stage for two concert films shot 28 years apart, one from 1980 and the other from 2008.
Peanuts 1970's Collection Vol. 1: Six Peanuts specials from the 1970s are compiled in this two-disc set. The best of the bunch is A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, with the other titles being It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown; There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown; You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown; and two titles that have not been on DVD before, It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown and Play it Again, Charlie Brown. The set also includes a featurette about Snoopy's sidekick Woodstock.
L Word Season 6: The racy Showtime drama, with a cast including Winston-Salem native Pam Grier, completes its run with this final season.
Wrong Turn 3: Left For Dead (Unrated): The horror-film series, about unwise travelers running afoul of inbred cannibal folk, continues with this third installment.
Iron Man Armored Adventures, Vol. 1: The metal-clad superhero stars in this animated series, which depicts Tony Stark as a teen prodigy who invents high-tech armor to fight the bad guys
New on Blu-ray: Two films with performances by Dennis Hopper: Waterworld, Kevin Costner's ambitious but overwrought science-fiction epic, set in a future where global warming has wiped out surface land and everyone lives on the open sea; and Easy Rider, the 1969 drama about two bikers on the open road, with Hopper joined by Peter Fonda, in a new 40th-anniversary special edition with a companion booklet.
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