DVD Review - Zombies Unbrained

 
Zombies Unbrained
12 Film Flesh Fest
Directors: Herk Harvey, Sam Newfield, Amando de Ossorio, Ray Austin, Jean Yarbrough, Ubaldo Ragona, Sidney Salkow, John "Bud" Cardos, George A. Romero, Jesús Franco, Juan Ibáñez, Jack Hill, Jerry Waren, Victor Halperin
Starring: Candace Hilligoss, George Zucco, Barbara Ray, Mark Burns, Dick Purcell, Vincent Price, Bo Hopkins, Duane Jones, Manuel Gélin, Boris Karloff, Don Sullivan, Bela Lugosi
Studio: Mill Creek Entertainment
Release Date: August 20, 2013
Retail: $9.99

ASIN: B00DJ44LI6

Running Time: 6 hours 32 minutes
Rating: PG, R, Not Rated

Review:

The ratings-hit AMC's The Walking Dead returns tonight with its fourth season, but zombies have crawled their way onto screens way before the comic-flesh-eating-fueled way before the original comic book printed. Mill Creek Entertainment recently released a 12 film flesh fest on a 3-disc set titled Zombies Unbrained, featuring masters of horror Vincent Price, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.
 
The films on the 3-disc set are:

• Carnival of Souls (1962) - This eerie film matches some of the best Twilight Zone episodes. Filmed in three weeks, the movie centers around Mary Henry is a solo-survivor of a drag race, which her friends plunged to their deaths in a river. To get over the tragedy, she takes a job as an organist at a Church in Utah, but before long strange occurrences begin and she begins to believe she is being stalked by a mysterious man. She doesn’t know that death is coming for her!

• Dead Men Walk (1943) - Dr. Lloyd Clayton murdered his twin brother Elwyn in self-defense, but Elwyn returns from the dead as a vampire.

• Horror of the Zombies (1974) - This movie is the USA public domain version of The Ghost Galleon, the third movie in the Blind Dead series. When a publicity stunt goes horrible wrong, two female models are stranded on a mysterious galleon at sea. The women are unaware that the undead legions of the Knights Templar are aboard and they want blood.

• House of the Living Dead (1973) - A PG British horror film that has appeared under the titles Curse of the Dead, Doctor Maniac and Kill, Baby, Kill. When Michael's fiancée arrives on the South African plantation and there is a little surprise waiting for her - Michael's deformed twin brother, Breck, a maniac. Odd little film with no gore or zombies, despite what the title suggests.

• King of the Zombies (1941) - In this horror comedy, a Capelis XC-12 crash lands on an island and the survivors take refuge at a mysterious mansion owned by Dr. Miklos Sangre. Soon, they are convinced the mansion is haunted by voodoo zombies. 

• The Last Man On Earth (1960) - There is a mistake on the back of the DVD jacket, as the movie came out in 1964 and not 1960! Based on the I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, Dr. Robert Morgan (played by Vincent Price) is the last remaining man on Earth as a plague has turned everyone else into vampires. During the day, he is vampire hunting and spends his nights hiding in his house as vampires walk the darkness. Suddenly, he learns that he is not alone. Other versions are Omega Man, I Am Legend and I Am Omega.

• Mutant (1984) - Two brothers are run off the road and are forced to stay in a small town, where the citizens are suffering for a strange illness. Originally titled Night Shadows.

• Night of the Living Dead (1968) - The king of all zombie movies! George A. Romero's classic film about a small group trapped inside a farmhouse with tons of zombies walking about outside.

• Oasis of the Zombies (1981) - Released back in 1982, this is considered the worst zombie film of all time. Treasure hunters are looking for the lost Nazi gold, which happens to be guarded by the Afrika Korps zombie soldiers. Also known as Bloodsucking Nazi Zombies and Treasure of the Living Dead. 

• The Snake People (1968) - In one of the last Boris Karloff films, voodoo has taken over a remote island, lead by an evil priest Damballah. Captain Labesch arrives on the island to bring some kind of law and order. Also known as Isle of the Snake People and Cult of the Dead.

• Teenage Zombies (1959) - A group of teens get stranded on an island, but they are unaware that there is a mad scientist who wants to turn people into zombies. Criticized for using too much stock footage.

• White Zombie (1932) - Bela Lugosi starred in the first feature length zombie film, which is based on the book by William Seabrok. A couple, Harron and Madeline, plan on getting married on a plantation owned by Charles Beaumont in Haiti. Charles is in love with Madeline and he turns to the zombie master Legendre for a little voodoo help.

Out of the recent movie collection DVD sets Mill Creek Entertainment has been releasing, Zombies Unbrained is one of the better ones, though most of the movies are the public domain versions and the picture quality varies from movie to movie, some are decent and others are below standards. I had already seen the majority of the films on this collection, with the exception of the Blind Dead film Horror of the Zombies, House of the Living Dead, Oasis of the Zombies (horrible movie) and The Snake People (extremely weird, but interesting). Of course my favorites are Carnival of Souls, Night of the Living Dead and The Last Man On Earth, which I have seen several times. The set is under ten dollars, which is a cheap price despite the VHS quality. Overall, I enjoyed watching Zombies Unbrained, which is a perfect movie collection to watch around Halloween.

*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.