ViewAskewbian

From the MST3K info page:
The previously announced release of the colorized HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL DVD, featuring a commentary track by Mike Nelson, now has a release date. The Legend Films web site says it will be released on September 6th.

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Great! I've enjoyed the previous releases and, though I dislike the fact that they are colorizing these films, they do provide a decent B&W transfer. House on Haunted Hill is one of my campy favorites. Can't wait to hear what Mike does with it.

The Monkees

Interesting...

Vincent Price is my favorite actor of all time. I hate when they colorized BW films, but I'd like to hear this commentary. If it's a reasonable price I might pick it up.

Al_Tahoe

Thanks for the heads-up!

As long as they include the original B&W transfer... I'm definitely in.

EDIT: View..., are there other releases besides Carnival of Souls and Reefer Madness?

Geofferson

In color...

darkside

I'm in. I already have the Roan release of this movie, but I have bought all the Mike Nelson commentaries up to this point and will definitely pick this one up as well.

The colorizing is fairly pointless, but they actually did put it to decent use in Reefer Madness. The also include a B&W version so its not that big of a deal.

Concerning the above question. Mike also did a commentary on the Legend release of Night of the Living Dead.

caiman

This is one of my favorite movies. The only version I have currently is the HoHH/Last Man on Earth 2-pack from Diamond. I've been wanting to upgrade.

I wonder, will Mike's commentary be available on the black and white version? I'm not too interested in the color version.

Steve Phillips

If the DVD includes a home "Emergo" kit, I'm sold....

Mondo Kane

Gotta admit, I've always wondered what that scary, old hag looks like in color.

Does anyone know the ratio on this movie? This might be Legends first cinemascope DVD.

ViewAskewbian

It was for Carnial of Souls which was the last release. Hopfully they are leaning this way.


(PS: Rumour is that the next Nelson Commentary will be on Plan 9 From Outer Space)

JOE29

I'll think about getting this as i've held out on the prior releases. But I really hate the colorization of B&W movies and would not even touch it if it was only released in color. and if I get it I still wouldn't watch the colorized version only the B&W version.

darkside

The commentaries have been on the black and white versions of every one expect Reefer Madness if memory serves. I don't think you will be forced to watch the color version on this one.

Steve Phillips

The movie is not in 'scope. The Warner version (the best out there) includes both full screen and matted 16X9 anamorphic versions.

lotsofdvds

His commentary on Living Dead was only on the color version. He mocked the colorization process several times on his track.

darkside

Just to note the Mike Nelson autographed version of this one is available for sale as of today. Granted unless you are a MST3K nerd like me you may want to pass on this. It is a total cost of $20 for this with shipping and handling. I bought the Carnival of Souls release at the full price only to see it drop later when they still had autographed copies available that did not sell.

Anyway I ordered mine today and look forward to it. The regular version from Legend will go on sale September 6th. As noted above if you are looking for a good version of the film, get the Warner release that is in anamorphic widescreen. This version is pretty much for the commentary track.

darkside

Just to give a quick review. I received and watched this DVD today. Mike's commentary is probably the best one he has done so far for Legend. He went for straight riffing instead of trying to slip in facts about the making of the movie. Its still not as good as a pure MST episode, but he has quite a few great riffs during the film. He gets off to a very strong start during the openning of the film and there aren't too many dead spots from there on. Very solid effort from Nelson on this one. As with Carnival of Souls you get a special Nelson written insert with some rather cute guarantee about the quality of the DVD. He also does a voice over for the special features menu.

Just to note this version from Legend is open matte as was mentioned earlier. I like the film better in the Roan version I have that is 1.66:1 (probably even better in the 1.85:1 Warner version). Its a very cheesy film with terrible special effects and everything works better in the tighter frame. Makes you feel more closed in while watching. With the open matte you see ceilings and it really makes the cheap sets and effects look even worse.

Other than the effects the quality of the film is pretty much on par with the Roan version (which was fairly good) for the Black and White version. There are defects in the print here and there, but the contrast is pretty good and it didn't seem overly faded. It is not as sharp as the Warner version however. That version has the most detail of any available. The color version looks about as good as this kind of technology can. If you didn't know better you would probably think you were watching something shot in color in 1958. Problem is the color version compounds the earlier problem with the open matte and again makes the cheap effects look even worse and the drab sets really were not meant to be in color. The severed head and skeleton walking around just scream fake in color. At least in the widescreen black and white version it was a bit easier to suspend disbelief on this stuff.

Also the Mike Nelson commentary is available on the black and white version and unlike previous releases his riffing does not involve the color process at all (Legend may have requested he not aim his humor at their technology, who knows) so you won't miss any jokes watching it in black and white.

Overall I enjoyed it and hey its the closest thing I'll get to a new MST3K episode so its worth $20 to me. As with Carnival of Souls he signs the cover with a silver sharpee. The sig is much bigger this time around though. I guess more for your money.

Joe Molotov

I just wish they could get some of the other guys in there. If they could get Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett to join him for the intros to "The Three Stooges in Color" (which sadly were not really very funny, the intros that is, not the shorts) then you'd think they could join him for the commentaries on these Legend DVDs. I've only heard the one for Reefer Madness, and it was pretty funny, but Mike seemed a little lonely without anyone else to bounce jokes off of.

mndtrp

I hadn't heard of Nelson doing commentaries before. Is this the way the MST3K thing is going without new episodes? If it's still funny, I may pick it up. I enjoy the movie as it is, so this could be a cool bonus.

darkside

In a recent interview the three of them said there was no way possible to do MST3K again due to costs and figuring out the rights to the characters.

However, they stated there was a good chance of all three of them doing direct to DVD stuff like Mike is doing with Legend. Hopefully that will happen. They are all three currently doing intros for Encore so they are still around.

ToddSm66

...so Nelson has done these commentaries for:

Reefer Madness
Carnival of Souls
Night of the Living Dead
House on Haunted Hill


...any others that I'm missing? Think I'm going to pick these up, and want to make sure I get them all.

majorjoe23

Are you sure? I think if you start the movie and change audio tracks you can watch it in B&W with the commentary.

lotsofdvds

One of them said in an interview that the three of them will be doing commentaries for Rhino DVD releases. Rhino has a huge catalog of cheesy crap, so it'll be as close to MST3K goodness as we'll be able to get.

Calboy

Mike Nelsons commentary on the film House on Haunted Hill was terrible I love commentary tracks on films but his commentary on this was awful had to turn it off I hated his commentary He is a total asshole

chuckd21

Harsh.

caiman

Hi there, me from 15 years ago. How ya been?