October 3rd is going to be a scary day for Warner Bros.
Prepare for twice the fright this Halloween when Warner Home Video debuts the Hollywood's Legends of Horror Collection October 3. The collection includes three double feature discs with six classic titles -- Mark of the Vampire/The Mask of Fu Manchu, Doctor X/The Return of Doctor X, and Mad Love/The Devil Doll -- available as a collection only. Featured are expert commentaries by the late director Vincent Sherman, horror scholar Tom Weaver, authors Steve Haberman and Greg Mank along with genre historians Kim Newman and Steve Jones. The three disc set will be available for $39.92 SRP.
Mark of the Vampire (1935)/The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932)
The star of one movie played the title role in Dracula; the other was Frankenstein's monstrous experiment of flesh and bone. Movie fans have slept with one eye open ever since.
Bela Lugosi again dons the cape in Mark of the Vampire, a tale of murders believed to be the macabre work of bloodsuckers. Tod Browning (Dracula, Freaks) directs the splendidly atmospheric tale that ends with an unexpected jolt.
Boris Karloff aims for world conquest in the wickedly warped title role in The Mask of Fu Manchu. Assisted by his temptress daughter (Myrna Loy), Manchu seeks the sword and mask of Genghis Khan and their magical powers. If those powers aren't enough for global rule, there's always Manchu's diabolical death ray (the film's lab equipment is by Frankenstein's Kenneth Strickfaden).
Special Features for Mark of the Vampire:
- Commentary by genre historians Kim Newman and Steve Jones
- Theatrical Trailer
- Subtitles: English, Francais & Espanol (feature film only)
Special Features for The Mask of Fu Manchu:
- Commentary by Greg Mank, author of Karloff and Lugosi: A Story of a Haunting Collaboration
- Subtitles: English, Francais & Espanol (feature film only)
Doctor X (1932)/The Return of Doctor X (1939)
Is there a (mad) doctor in the house? "Yes!" shrieks Doctor X. Filmed in rare two-strip Technicolor, the movie centers around an eminent scientist who aims to solve a murder spree by recreating the crimes in a lab filled with all the dials, gizmos, bubbling beakers and crackling electrostatic charges essential to the genre. Lionel Atwill is Doctor Xavier, pre-King Kong scream queen Fay Wray is a distressed damsel and Lee Tracy snaps newshound patter, all under the direction of renowned Michael Curtiz (Casablanca).
"He lives to kill and kills to live," proclaimed an ad line for The Return of Doctor X. Humphrey Bogart, his hair streaked with a shock of white in his most famously atypical, yet wonderfully creepy role. Bogie plays a pallid, bunny-cuddling, once-dead fiend who needs his victims' blood to stay alive. Vincent Sherman (Mr. Skeffington, Old Acquaintance) directs.
Special Features for Doctor X:
- Commentary by horror scholar Tom Weaver
- Theatrical Trailer
- Subtitles: English, Francais & Espanol (feature film only)
Special Features for The Return of Doctor X:
- Commentary by director Vincent Sherman and Chronicles of Terror author Steve Haberman
- Theatrical Trailer
- Subtitles: English, Francais & Espanol (feature film only)
Mad Love (1935)/The Devil Doll (1936)
Famed surgeon Dr. Gogol (Peter Lorre) adores actress Yvonne Orlac, who is married to a brilliant pianist. But Yvonne turns to Gogol for help when her husband's hands are maimed in an accident...and Gogol obliges by replacing the hands with those of a recently executed killer. Experience the rest of this bizarre Mad Love for yourself as Lorre makes his impressively eerie American debut. Karl Freund (The Mummy) directs with expressionistic flair.
In the quaint toy shop of The Devil-Doll, Devil's Island escapee Paul Lavond (Lionel Barrymore) poses as a female shop proprietress and uses secrets of miniaturization to turn humans into elusive minions who inflict revenge on all who sent him to prison. Tod Browning (Freaks) directs. Maureen O'Sullivan co-stars. And little horrors loom large.
Special Features for Mad Love:
- Commentary by Steve Haberman, author of Chronicles of Terror
- Theatrical Trailer
- Subtitles: English, Francais & Espanol (feature film only)
Special Features for The Devil Doll:
- Theatrical Trailer
- Subtitles: English, Francais & Espanol (feature film only)
HOLLYWOOD'S LEGENDS OF HORROR COLLECTION comes to DVD October 3, 2006 and will sell for $39.92.