Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Collection, 9 Jan 2005
Norman Warren, along with Pete Walker, was the last great auteur of British 70's horror cinema. Both directors had a background in the sleazier end of British sexploitation cinema, and both took a very different approach to the genre than Hammer films and in their best films adopt a more gritty contemporary and downbeat milieu than Hammer were able to achieve.
This is an excellent collection of what are probably Norman Warren's best 4 films. "Satan's Slave" (the best of the bunch) is a tale of contemporary witchcraft enlivened by a great performance by horror veteran Michael Gough as a not so kindly Uncle. "Prey" is a genuinely unsettling and intelligent tale of alien invasion that relies (until the very end) on strong character development and mood rather than violence to achieve its effect (the theme not only echoes D.H. Lawrence's novella "The Fox", but also anticipates Michel Faber's haunting novel "Under the Skin" published over twenty years later); it has a particularly startling and effective performance from Sally Faulkner (well known to British horror fans from her appearance in José Larraz' "Vampyres").
The other two (lesser, in my opinion) films are "Terror" which is Norman Warren's personal homage to Dario Argento's "Deep Red", and "Inseminoid" which is a cheerfully over-the-top British low budget "Alien" clone.
Presentation of all four films is excellent (although Prey looks like it just might have been cropped a bit), and includes a booklet with a short essay on the director and a bonus disk containing some interesting documentary material. The packaging leaves something to be desired, Anchor Bay having chosen to repeat their "coffin box" presentation that was used for the Amicus collection which is neither aesthetically very pleasing nor particularly good at storing the discs in a safe manner.
The biggest highlight of the collection are the audio commentaries supplied by Norman Warren and screenwriter David McGillivray for "Satan's Slave" and "Terror"; the contrast between the still enthusiastic Warren and the wonderfully dry, acerbic wit of McGillivray is extremely entertaining. Sad to say that McGillivray did not provide any of the audio commentary for the Pete Walker DVD set released shortly thereafter.
Overall a very good presentation that lovingly and respectfully pays tribute to one of Britain's (largely unsung) most notable horror talents.
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic, 26 Nov 2004
One of Britain's unsung heroes of 1970s cinema, Norman J Warren pretty much went it alone with his talented crew & occasional scriptwriter David McGillivray. The results are a wonderful series of horror movies, four of which are included here. The interviews with Mr Warren offer interesting insights into how the crew coped on such low budgets, yet still managed to create impressive results. Also check out "Bloody New Year" from the US.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A box of delights, 27 Aug 2008
This box set consists of four diverse films from one of British Horrors true auteur directors Norman J. Warren. Both he and Pete Walker made important strides in changing the style and content of the horror film that was being made in the U.K in the 1970's. Whilst Hammer made some brilliant films around this time, they basically followed the same pattern, ending with good usually triumphing over evil, Dracula disintergrating, and cue the end credits. I know thats a terrible generalization, and I love both the gothic horrors of Hammer, and Amicus's more modern morality tales, but both Warren and Walker brought a far murkier, downbeat aspect to British horror films.
Take the four films in this box set. The best is Prey, a quite extraordinary film. A twisted mixture of The Beguiled and Not Of This Earth, the story concerns a carniverous, shape changing alien, who having landed on Earth, assumes human form, and finds refuge in the house where a lesbian couple enjoy a seemingly idyllic life. A fox is killed, the trio celebrate with Cake and booze and play party games. The ending is brutal, but works well. You will not see anything quite like it.
Terror is another fine film, a modern day tale of reincarnation and witchcraft, where film makers accidentally invoke a witches curse, with bloody results. Very enjoyable. Satan's Slave, like Terror is modern day witches and necromancy, as a young woman is drawn into the macchinations of her devious relatives. Slow paced, but very unsettling at times, with a wonderful musical score.
Finally, the one sour jewel is Inseminoid, a gory Alien rip off, where a group of archaeologists in space accidentially awaken a vicious,sexually active alien from its slumber, leading to great danger for all of them. It looks like an episode of Space 1999, with added gore, but is undoubtably great fun.
So four unique films that have carved their individual little niche in the history of British horror. Directors like Warren need to be celebrated and valued, as they are part of a genre that is often over generalised and scoffed at. Buy this now, and show your support
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