Topic: Weekend Movie Marathon: Unwatched DVDs

[addicted2dvd]

My TV is right next to my computer... I am missing nothing... unfortunately! 

[addicted2dvd]

Title: Manos: The Hands of Fate
Year: 1966
Director: Harold P. Warren
Rating: NR
Length: 69 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: Mono
Subtitles: N/A

Stars:
Tom Neyman
John Reynolds
Diane Mahree

Plot:
In this macabre tale of a trip gone horribly wrong, an innocent family becomes lost and find themselves at a remote farmhouse. The only apparent resident of the property is a strangely deformed man named Torgo, who insists he is watching the place for "The Master". What our travelers don't know is "The Master" and his demon-worshipping wives have awakened from their slumber to prey upon them for their sacrifices.

Extras:
Scene Access

My Thoughts:
This is another movie that is in the 100 movie boxset I bought. While the plot sounds interesting... the movie is far from it. I can say for a fact that my daughter is a more talented writer then the person that wrote this drivel. And don't even get me started on the acting! I came very close to turning this movie off shortly after it started. But I wanted to give it a fair chance so I could give my opinion guilt free. The thing of it is... the main plot is a decent one... and we could have seen a good movie. But it does not even come close to succeeding.  While the audio was fine... the quality of the video is very bad. It looks like it was taken from an old well used VHS tape. has the white interference lines at the bottom of the picture. The picture pauses and jerks in several scenes and the color is so off that it is distracting. The reds are bleeding into the black in some areas. And in other areas where it should be red is bled away and looks black and white. But that said... I have seen worse. Not many that is for sure. But there has been a few.

My Rating:
Out of a Possible 5

[Critter]

 

I have only ever seen this film with the MST3K voice-overs but it makes me laugh everytime! Classic stuff right here. I love the sand-fight 

[Jimmy]

Lucky you it's the best one
About the acting most of the actor were dubbed, so I think only 3 actors really talk live (Did Debbie stressed you as much as she did for me?). The camera used in the film worked only less than 1 minutes at a time (that why sometimes the editing is weird). Talking of editing what do you thought of the endless car trip at the beginning?

It wasn't so bad... half a star is way better than 2 or 3 others films.

When you will feel like make me repay my debt to you feel free to make me watch something of your choice in my collection

[Rogmeister]

On the IMDB (Internet Movie Database), people can rate movies on a scale of 0-10 and from that they come up with two listings, the 250 best movies and the 100 worst which they dub the "Bottom" 100.  For the longest time, Manos was #1 on the bottom list and I always wondered about it.  Now I at least know a bit about what it's about without having to suffer through it myself! 

[addicted2dvd]

@Jimmy... Don't tempt me! 

@Roger... glad I could be of service! 

[Jimmy]

It's there because of MST3000 mostly, it isn't a good film but certainly not one of the worst ever made.

Any chance for War of the Robot also? It's kind of like Star Wars but

[addicted2dvd]

  We will have to see if I get to that one today or not. But the scary thing is... the next one I picked is also from that 100 movie boxset!   

[addicted2dvd]

Title: The Bat
Year: 1926
Director: Roland West
Rating: NR
Length: 86 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: Music Only: Dolby Digital: Mono
Subtitles: N/A

Stars:
Andre de Beranger
Charles Herzinger
Emily Fitzroy
Louise Fazenda
Arthur Housman
Robert McKim

Plot:
A master criminal known as "The Bat" has held the city in a grip of terror during his crime spree. His latest caper involves some embezzled bank money that apparently is hidden in the bank president's mansion. A reclusive woman and her niece are currently renting the mansion, after the bank owner passes away. Our villain must find a way to frighten off the unsuspecting boarders in order to find the stolen money, as well as try to stay one-step ahead of the law.

Extras:
Scene Access

My Thoughts:
A few months ago I watched the 1959 remake with Vincent Price of this movie. At the time I didn't even know it was a remake. But I enjoyed it. So when I found out that the original silent version of this movie is in the 100 movie boxset I bought... I knew it was one I wanted to watch soon. While they did change some things in the '59 version... it is pretty much the same story. So I enjoyed it. I especially liked how they made the mask of "The Bat"... think it looked really cool. I am also happy to say the video on this one is much better then I was expecting. No real complaints on it at all. It is a good copy of a good silent film. I am glad I have it in my collection.

My Rating:
Out of a Possible 5

[Antares]

I have only ever seen this film with the MST3K voice-overs but it makes me laugh everytime! Classic stuff right here. I love the sand-fight 

Pete, you really need to see the MST3K version, it is hilarious. The best that Joel, Crow and Tom Servo served up on that show. 

[Critter]

I used to feel like such a nerd when I used to watch MST3K (I haven't watched it for a couple of years now). I loved the actual commentaries but I couldn't stand the little skits in between with the robots on that space ship or whatever it was. I found them really lame and not funny, in the end I found myself skipping all the skits and just watching the commentaries of the films.

Also if I remember correctly the Manos episode of MST3K also has quite a hilarious little commentary at the start of... I think it was a short film, or a training video called 'Hired'. Definatly a funny episode of the show.

[Antares]

The only downside to MST3K was the MST3K wannabes that started to surface in theaters all around the world. 

[Critter]

  Good Lord, actually in the cinema? Sure commentating a bad movie with your frienda can be a fun thing to do at home on the couch but not in the theatre itself. Although I must say... I certainly was tempted when I saw The Happening in the cinema, talk about 

[Jimmy]

Pete, you really need to see the MST3K version, it is hilarious. The best that Joel, Crow and Tom Servo served up on that show. 

I just can't stand them. The large majority of the films they laught at are good (I'm probably one of the few who appreciate Coleman Francis), they take the worst print they can find for every film they do, talking during a movie is annoying and they aren't really talented enough to laugh at other people works (what is easy to see in their skits). If I want to listen to someone having fun watching a movie I will take Joe Bobb Briggs (he knows what he is talking about and respect the movies) any day of the week before those so-called comics.

But I have to say that I like when they do short educational films and it's the reason why I own some of their set...

[addicted2dvd]

OK... I can hear the responses now...but I never seen a single episode  of MST3K.