perversity of even the most lik- able characters, and numerous surreal set-pieces combine to create an atmosphere unique to this film. The best transfer to be found in the SCREAM THEATER collection (rich and colorful at 2.35:1) ironically would have to go with the film that’s occasion- ally the hardest to watch: the genuine human autopsy footage late in the film may take place at a slightly more comfortable dis- tance (thanks to the letterboxing), but it’s even more unsettling when one realizes that it was ac- tually performed in front of the supporting cast! While the co-feature seems completely incompatible at first glance, it does, indeed, involve nasty medical experiments per- formed on unwilling subjects... and it’s a DVD first! The film presented under the easily misidentified title ZOMBIE is ac- tually the original, uncut ver- sion (92m 11s) of the B&W 1964 Del Tenney opus better-known in its 1971 release form as I EAT YOUR SKIN (see VW 127:25 for
complete details). Under that title, it’s yet another public do- main standard, but VCI’s trans- fer is letterboxed at 1.77:1 and quite nice on the eyes—at least until an inexplicable visual qual- ity drop in the final reel. ZOMBIE will never be confused with a genuinely “good movie,” but here it’s far more enjoyable than its bottom-of-the-barrel reputation would suggest.
The eighth and final SCREAM
THEATER volume is a repackag- ing of VCI’s DRIVE-IN DOUBLE FEATURE, and sure enough, both films contain sequences set in drive-ins. Curtis Harrington’s 1950s period piece RUBY (1977, 84m 10s), in fact, takes place al- most entirely within the confines of such a passion pit (which, to the delight of fans, screens AT- TACK OF THE 50-FOOT WOMAN but, to the annoyance of perfec- tionists, before it was actually made). See VW 14:52 and 86:63 for details, but rest assured that the “Alan Smithee” TV print has been consigned to the distant past: VCI again presents the un-
cut version in a reasonable trans- fer. Unsurprisingly, it’s a bit dark, but the gruesome highlights still leap out at you. The collection wraps up with Chris Munger’s 1976 thriller KISS OF THE TA- RANTULA (84m 8s). While merely “WILLARD with spiders” on the surface (mortician’s daughter Suzanne Ling sics her pet taran- tulas on those who wrong or threaten her or her father), KISS manages to create a lingering disturbance in the viewer—partly on the strength of the grisly “drive- in” sequence which lands the film in this collection, but mostly thanks to a truly macabre finale which doesn’t even involve the spiders (said arachnids, surprisingly, cease to play an active role with a third of the movie yet to go).
While it’s unlikely that anyone would want to collect all eight volumes presented here (even if they wanted all the films they encompass), VCI’s SCREAM THEATER does offer sufficient treasure for the taking (accord- ing to one’s own taste for terror, naturally) at an affordable price.
Janit Baldwin as the possessed heroine of Curtis Harrington’s drive-in thriller RUBY.
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