Val Lewton Horror Collection

[mikelz777]

The Val Lewton Horror Collection

This set contains the following features:

-Bedlam

-The Body Snatcher

-Cat People

-The Curse of the Cat People

-I Walked with a Zombie

-Isle of the Dead

-The Leopard Man

-The Seventh Victim

-The Ghost Ship

Does anyone out there own this set? What are your thoughts and impressions? I just ordered this set today and I'm hoping it comes in before Halloween.

[BruceH]

I keep meaning to get this set, but still haven't taken the plunge. I dipped a toe in, though, by borrowing the first case from a library, the one with Cat People and Curse of the Cat People...VERY good. Subtle, artsy in the best sense, horror films. If the rest of the box is half as good, it's well worth it. My friend Kalo swears by this box.

[Dave James]

I have this. Very '40's. Of those I've watched, my favorite is "I Walked With A Zombie." Very atmospheric and creepy. Lots of voodoo and all that. Good Halloween fare for sure.

Up over and out.

[Stefan Wood]

Highly recommended! Isle of the Dead is also very good, as is the Seventh Victim, a remarkable movie not only for its content but its downbeat resolution. Those and Cat People and I Walked with a Zombie are fun watching. His son, Val Lewton Jr., sometimes goes to the same figure art drawing sessions that I go to here in DC. Nice guy, who is thrilled about this set.

[mikelz777]

It sounds like a set I'm really going to enjoy. Some of the selling points for me was the black and white noir quality of these films. Also the subtlety where it is more frightening and suspenseful to suggest something rather than show it outright. The Saturday afternoon matinee, B-film quality also has a certain air of charm and nostalgia for me.

[Shawn]

This is an essential set, whether you're a fan of the macabre or not. These films were a training ground for immense talent (Jacques Tourneur, Robert Wise, etc), offered GREAT roles to a couple of the most mis-used actors of the era (Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi) and were immaculate in all other areas as well. Far from B-Movie quality as you can get...these were art house films before the art house existed. The cinematography on films like I Walked.. and The Leopard Man is amazing considering the non-existent budget.

Don't let the titles fool you either...

Curse Of The Cat People is a touching little fantasy film, perfect for Sunday afternoon watching with the family.

I Walked With A Zombie is a variation on Jane Eyre.

Bedlam is a historical drama.

Isle Of The Dead is a wonderful examination of superstition and paranoia brought on by the horrors of war.

The Seventh Victim is easily the first "mature" look at satanic cults.

Highly recommended.

[Kalo]

YES! I agree that this is essential. Some of the best, most poetic American films of the 1940s. With a sense of dread and a deep sadness that eclipses most "horror" films.

I Walked With a Zombie is a B-Movie masterpiece, better than most A pictures. The two Cat People films are wonderful psychological studies, with the second being even finer than the first. The Seventh Victim is an incredibly underrated film, the darkest of all the Lewtons, and one that Hitchcock likely stole from (shower scene!).

The other films are worthwhile, too, and include excellent turns by Boris Karloff. A great set that I'm very glad to own.

[BruceH]

I'll buy it, I'll buy it....I really will!!!

[Shawn]

I'll buy it, I'll buy it....I really will!!!

If I don't get a better paying job soon...I'll sell ya mine!

[ghost of miles]

We got this set last year and have now watched about five or six of the movies--just finished watching ISLE OF THE DEAD about an hour ago (nothing like a good Val Lewton flick around Halloween time). The cinematography in these films is gripping, and they nearly always find a perfect realm somewhere between psychological and supernatural, somehow making events believable in a way that makes the stories truly anxiety-inducing... again, as others have pointed out, by what's not there as much as what is. Highly recommended.

[BruceH]

Saw I Walked With A Zombie on TCM last Friday. Very good. Just hearing the voice of George Sanders come out of his brother Tom Conway (who looked more like Errol Flynn than anyone else) is kind of creepy.

[Kalo]

Saw I Walked With A Zombie on TCM last Friday. Very good. Just hearing the voice of George Sanders come out of his brother Tom Conway (who looked more like Errol Flynn than anyone else) is kind of creepy.

Good call on Tom Conway looking like Flynn, BruceH. He was definitely a good deal better-looking than his brother George, and just as sneeringly urbane. Leaving open the questionas to why George became the bigger name by far. Luck of the draw, I suppose.