Apocalypse: 20 Movie Pack [4 Discs]

DVD FEATURES:

• Number of Discs: 4
• Screen: Color
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Ian McCullough - Hubert
       Bruce Kellogg - Wright Thompson
       Anna Kanakis - Alma
       Buntaro Miake - Komura
       Lisa Hahn - Hamilton's ass't
       Dick Cogan - George Coleman
       Marilyn Nash - Joan Lindsey
       Andrea Coppola
       Zora Kerova
       Patsy May McLachlan
       Adrienne Corri - Doris

• Director:

  Luigi Cozzi, Peter Maris, Anthony M. Dawson, Alfonso Brescia, Paul Stein, Paolo Heusch, Harry Hope, Lee Sholem, John Hayes, Akira Miwa, Chogi Akasaka, Ubaldo Ragona, Sidney Salkow, Hollingsworth Morse, Ford I. Beebe, Saul A. Goodkind, David MacDonald, Frederic Gadette, Koji Shima, Enzo G. Castellari, Terrell O. Morse, Bill Rebane

• Producer:

  Claudio Mancini, Ugo Valenti, Thomas Sagone, Louis Jackson, Guido Giambartolomei, Charles Band, Gil Shiva, Robert L. Lippert, Edward J. Danziger, Harry Lee Danziger, Frederic Gadette, Fabrizio de Angelis, Irving A. Block, Jack R. Rabin

• Screenwriter:

  Luigi Cozzi, Erich Tomek, Vassily Petrov

• Screen Story:

  Guy Morgan

• Screenwriter:

  Jack Whittingham, Sandro Continenza, Marcello Coscia, William Leicester, Richard Matheson

• Book Author:

  Richard Matheson

• Screenwriter:

  James Eastwood, John C. Maher, Frederic Gadette, Tito Carpi, Enzo G. Castellari, Antonio Visone, Millard Kaufman

• Cinematographer:

  Giuseppe Pinori, Raffaele Masciocchi, James Wilson, Mario Bava, Stanley Cortez, John Huneck, Franco Delli Colli, Jack Cox, Brick Marquard, Fausto Zuccoli, Henry Freulich, Allen G. Siegler

• Composer (Music Score):

  Goblin, Carlo Rustichelli, Andrew Belling, Paul Sawtell, Bert Shefter, Edwin T. Astley, Greig McRitchie, Claudio Simonetti, Ernest Gold

• Editor:

  Nino Baragli, George Serallon, Otello Colangeli, Gene Ruggiero, Peter Taylor, Harold J. Dennis, Gianfranco Amicucci, Terrell O. Morse

• Production Designer:

  Norman J. Arnold, Antonio Visone

• Art Director:

  Beni Montresor, Giorgio Giovannini

• Associate Producer:

  Harold E. Knox

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Red Law, Bert Ross, Massimo Loffredi

• Makeup:

  Pier Antonio Mecacci, George Partleton, Kiva Hoffman

• Special Effects:

  Giovanni Corridori, Jack Whitehead, Germano Natali, Irving A. Block, Jack R. Rabin

• First Assistant Director:

  Max Varnel

• Stunts:

  Riccardo Petrazzi

• Short Story Author:

  Virgilio Sabel

• Technical Director:

  David D. Martin

• Production Director:

  Jane Huizenga

REVIEWS:

• After receiving word that the area is about to be hit by atomic missiles, a California sheriff sets up a road block on a quiet mountain road to keep drivers from entering the city or adding to the massive traffic jams on the highways. The citizens who are stopped comply, at first confused by the policeman's demands, then panicked once they are briefed on the situation. The sheriff declares martial law and orders a semi truck emptied of its cargo to use as a makeshift bomb shelter. The group is a typical cross section of humanity: a swinging beatnik couple, a kindly old man and his teenaged granddaughter, a cowardly businessman and his sexually repressed wife, a lonely truck driver, and a homicidal maniac. As they work and argue together, strange alliances arise. The bulk of This Is Not a Test is fairly talky like a filmed play, but the performances are fine within the tight constraints of each actor's assigned stereotype. The film moves quickly towards its inevitable conclusion, however, gaining considerable tension with every minute. Ultimately, each character has to make and face a choice regarding their impending deaths. Work together desperately to secure a shelter that has no serious hope of providing safety? Or climb up on top of a mountain alone and watch it all go to hell? Director Frederic Gadette (a TV director, this rarity is his only known feature film) does an exceptional job with bare-bones resources in this honest, humane thriller. ~ Fred Beldin, Rovi
• A truly dreadful science fiction disaster, The Doomsday Machine cries out to be one of those so-bad-it's-hysterical films. But there are precious few laughs in Doomsday, even of the "I can't believe it's so awful" variety. Rather, one watches Doomsday and grows increasingly amazed at how overwhelmingly boring the picture is. And this is in spite of the fact that there are numerous things that should make one laugh out loud, such as the fact that the producers spliced in at least four different space ships to represent one single vehicle -- and that none of the ships really resembles the other. Or the fact that much of the film was created several years after the main bulk of the picture, utilizing a different set of actors purporting to be some of the same characters. As might be surmised, the screenplay is idiotic and seems to have been written by a kindergartener and rewritten by a nursery school student. The acting is inexcusable, and at times sad: Grant Williams, after all, helped make The Incredible Shrinking Man a classic, and Bobby Van and Mala Powers shouldn't be reduced to fodder such as this. Do I need to add that the direction is atrocious? Only those who truly must see EVERY sci-fi film should bother with Doomsday. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi
• Known by many different titles, this post-apocalyptic gem is remembered for its dime store budget and uncompromising doses of outrageous violence by one of the masters of Italian cult cinema, Enzo Castellari (The Bronx Warriors, Keoma). This flick not only features exploding arrows, but it's cast includes both George Eastman and Fred Williamson, while the funky score is delivered by none other than Claudio Simonetti (of Goblin fame). Fans of the genre will revel in its early 80's schlock as characters spew horribly dubbed dialogue while zooming around in ridiculous looking bootleg bubble cars made from spare Volkswagen parts. As far as the style in the Italian wasteland goes, the mohawks are all hot and so are the costumes -- especially the hilarious see-through plastic body armor that the hero sports during the big finale. For all you gore lovers, there's exploding heads and torsos abound in one bloody kill after another, racketing up the violence beyond the gratuitous level and into flat-out comedy at times. Capturing the true spirit of the low budget rip-off flicks from early 80's, The New Barbarians is neither smart nor original, but a riot for anyone who gets off on Mad Max and all of its the junky followers. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi
• This ambitious but threadbare exploitation opus does its best to combine modern gore and old-fashioned sci-fi elements but the end results are far from impressive. Writer/director Luigi Cozzi's approach is agreeably unpretentious, stitching together ideas from worthy sources as diverse as Alien, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers and Zombie, but his combination of these elements lacks the inspiration and craftsmanship to make this patchwork approach work. Even at a 90-minute length, Alien Contamination drags interminably due to Cozzi's poor pacing. Some horror fans might find themselves drawn in by the film's array of gruesome makeup effects scenes but even these moments aren't terribly impressive due to poor editing and staging that makes them look unintentionally silly. The script's ham-handed dialogue doesn't help things, veering between phony science jargon that makes Ed Wood's scripts sound like Shakespearean works and groan-inducing romantic banter that fail to spark any interest in the colorless leads. The performances are the final nail in the coffin: genre vet Ian MacCullough acquits himself well but the other performances are either inert (Louise Marleau) or amateurish (Marino Mase). To sum up, Alien Contamination fails to deliver even by exploitation film standards and is likely to disappoint even the most patient viewers. ~ Donald Guarisco, Rovi