The Man From U.N.C.L.E. DVD Set Reviewed - Every Single Episode and Disc (Plus Extras) Examined!

Here's the most comprehensive review I've found on the recently released Man From U.N.C.L.E. DVD set from Time Life. Boy, that must've been a fun job! -Ed

From Stamford, Connecticut (!!!): The Curse of the Living Corpse and The Horror of Party Beach!

I finally got around to watching the "double feature" DVD of The Horror of Party Beach and The Curse of the Living Corpse , two 1963 black and white horror films that were filmed in and around Stamford, CT (!) by producer/director Del Tenney for the teen-age Drive-In crowd. (What? You don't remember Drive-Ins?)


Living Corpse shows the influences of the then-current Eurohorror Gothic films styles seen in films like Mario Bava's Black Sunday (1960) and Riccardo Freda's The Horrible Dr. Hitchcock (1962), plus the series of Roger Corman-directed films based on Edgar Allan Poe's works, as well as apparently being an influence itself on the later Dark Shadows TV series (1966-71). The plot concerns a nobleman seemingly returning from the dead in 19th century New England to kill off members of his family one-by-one, but (as with all these types of films) Things Are Not What They Seem. The cast is mostly unknowns from local stage productions, but one member of the company, the recently deceased Roy Scheider (here billed as "Roy R. Scheider), went on to such successful films as The French Connection (1971), Jaws (1975) and All That Jazz(1979). Here's a nice online review of the film.




Then there's The Horror of Party Beach, which is set in the "present" and concerns a bunch of badly outfitted monsters attacking "teens" (who look 25 and older!) on and around Stamford. (I had fun recognizing High Ridge Road in a few scenes.) The picture came out at the same time American International Pictures' "Beach Party" movies were hitting theatres and it also seems to borrow cues from such 50s science fiction classics as 1954's The Creature From The Black Lagoon. Here, via YouTube, is the trailer for The Horror of Party Beach :



Despite their very low budgets and broad acting styles, both of Tenney's films are enjoyably entertaining and fun, and it's a shame Tenney "retired" from the film biz after doing these movies. (He returned, briefly, with 2003's Descendant , which I have not yet seen.) At least Dark Sky Films' DVD manages to present both films in pristine shape for future generations to view.

-Ed