DVD Talk has some interesting news regarding Shout Factory's ELVIRA'S MOVIE MACABRE: THE DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT, set to street on 9/19. Apparently, there's lots of Rosaba Neri in her birthday suit, which would indicate Shout Factory used an uncut print rather than the TV print used for the original Elvira-ized broadcast. And it's 2.35:1. And the list price is $9.99.

DVD Talk's DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT review

Sounds good that they offer the feature to watch the film without Elvira's segments. Otherwise, I would have no interest in this disc. I have nothing against Elvira personally - I did watch "Movie Macabre" a few times back in the day basically to see a few of the rarer films they'd show here and there, but I never found her schtick very funny and the puns she had to say always landed with a big thud. Nice cleavage, though.

Yeah, there's definitely that...


I saw DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT run on Movie Macabre back in the day, and I'd really like to check out the uncut version. BIG bonus that you can watch it without the Elvira quips (otherwise, like Jeff said, I'd have no interest in it). Didn't mind her cheesy intros, but the comedy just wasn't funny. To give credit where it's due, Movie Macabre was the first place I got to see stuff like MARK OF THE DEVIL and Cozzi's CONTAMINATION. The show served its purpose, but I don't feel the need to revisit the comedic stylings of Elvira.

Once I get a copy I can figure out if it's uncut, it may be the US R rated release which was slightly trimmed. This is great news though, especially for fans of Paul Naschy's COUNT DRACULA's GREAT LOVE. I just ordered DEVIL'S and the Naschy film for 5.99 each over at Deep Discount DVD. They don't seem to have all the titles or the double bills listed at this point.
The full list of single releases ( which are also being double billed for 14.99 ):

SINGLE DISCS: $9.98 each

Elvira’s Movie Macabre: Frankenstein’s Castle Of Freaks
When a Neanderthal man is lynched by villagers, Count Frankenstein uses his years of research to bring the monster back to life. However, the count must avoid detection by the authorities, the furious locals, and his own daughter—who’s preparing for her wedding. Throw in a vengeful assistant (B-horror icon Michael Dunn) and you’ve got the perfect formula for thrills! 1974 Running Time: +/-89 mins. Rating: R


Elvira’s Movie Macabre: Count Dracula's Great Love
Five travelers are forced to take refuge in the legendary Castle Dracula. Unfortunately, the infamous Count Dracula (Paul Naschy) is alive and well and he’s more than eager to take in his new guests. But when one of the travelers falls in love with Dracula, she must choose between her mortal soul and an eternity as Count Dracula’s Great Love. 1972 Running Time: +/-85 mins. Rating: R


Elvira’s Movie Macabre: Legacy of Blood
When their father dies, three greedy sisters and their husbands reunite to hear the reading of the will. His fortune is theirs…assuming, of course, they’re able to survive a weekend at the family mansion. One by one, the unsavory characters find themselves the targets of an unknown killer who has plans of their own for the family fortune. 1978 Running Time: +/-90 mins. Rating: NR


Elvira’s Movie Macabre: The Devil's Wedding Night
A quest for the mythical Ring of Vermougglian leads the Schiller brothers to Transylvania and Castle Dracula, where they find more than they bargained for in the castle’s current resident and her undead servant. What follows is a ghastly nightmare of blood and sex, as the countess needs one brother for feeding and the other to house the spirit of her long-lost lover—Count Dracula! 1973 Running Time: +/-80 mins. Rating: R


Elvira's Movie Macabre: The Doomsday Machine
In an effort to further explore the galaxy, the United States is hours away from launching a manned mission to Venus. But when a Chinese plot to destroy the Earth is uncovered, the U.S. teams up with the Soviet Union to replace members of its all-male crew with women.Now, it’s up to the crew of Project Astra to keep the human race alive and thriving. 1972 Running Time: +/-83 mins. Rating: NR


Elvira’s Movie Macabre: Werewolf Of Washington
While on assignment in Hungary, a young reporter (Quantum Leap’s Dean Stockwell) is attacked by a mysterious animal. But when he returns to the United States as the President’s press assistant, authorities begin to find political socialites ripped apart by a similar creature. No one is safe while The Werewolf of Washington is roaming the nation’s capital! 1973 Running Time: +/-90 mins. Rating: PG

OH MY! By the description, title and year given, this is Andy Milligan's LEGACY OF HORROR! And since it's going by the original title, is it possible they're using an uncut theatrical print?!?! The old MPI/Gorgon tape is apparently a television edit, as it's missing pretty much every nasty moment. This could be a *major* discovery, folks...

I haven't seen either film, but Carl Monson's 1971 BLOOD LEGACY/LEGACY OF BLOOD appears to have pretty much the same plot, plus I know the Showtime channels have recently aired what appears to be a newly remastered print. The Elvira DVD probably is the Milligan film (IMDb thinks so), but I thought you might want a heads-up.

Marty's right, there are 2 films with this title. I do think this is the 1978 Milligan film though from what I have read at some retail sites. As DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT seems to be at least the R rated version, I'm hoping all the relases are likewise not TV prints. We should know next week!

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7242212

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7242212

I read a review at DVD Drive-In that THE WEREWOLF OF WASHINGTON seems to be the TV print. I guess we won't know until people start seeing more of them. It does seem that at least THE DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT is (at the very least) R-rated. I'd be happy with that, as there's really nothing else in this batch I want--I'm gonna wait and see if BCI Eclipse ends up putting out DRACULA'S GREAT LOVE before I spend money on the Elvira version.

I'd bet that LEGACY OF BLOOD will not be the Milligan film, for two reasons. LEGACY OF BLOOD recently ran on cable (FLIX) and, though the onscreen guide listed credits and synopsis for the Milligan film, it turned out to be the John Carradine movie. So I'm thinking the credits for this DVD are a result of similar title confusion. Secondly, the movies in this series of DVDs are all supposed to have aired on Elvira's show, and she never ran Milligan's film.

DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT seems to be the R version. The DVD clocks in at 1:23:02 while the Japanese tape I timed last night ran 1:23:50. I'll chime in with what's missing from the R rated US release version when my copy of the DVD arrives in the mail.
It would be great if LEGACY is the Milligan flick. I caught the Flix broadcast of the John Carridine version and it makes watching paint dry seem like a more worthwhile use of one's time.
Below is a link to the full list of films Elvira hosted.

http://www.tv.com/elviras-movie-macabre/sh...s.html&season=0

There were 140 episodes?? And I never saw one. That's what I get for growing up in Illinois.

I'm pretty sure I saw Elvira episodes when I was in college in Evanston. I was never much of a fan, but I wonder what she thinks of her old boyfriend, Brad Pitt, today.

Bob, did you ever attend B-Fest at Northwestern?

Wow - you just cracked the Angelina Jolie thing!

The only ones I remember seeing on TV from when I was a kid were THIRST and MARK OF THE DEVIL (I barely remembered that one but was shocked when I saw the film on tape years later and remembered "This played on TV!").

I attended all the NU B-Fests from (gulp) 1983-1987. THE CORPSE GRINDERS was an especially big hit one year, and PLAN 9 never failed to rouse the audience no matter when it was shown.

I've been to the last five. You should try to make it back for one. The last couple have been very '80s-oriented, no doubt because of the ages and experience levels of the students involved in picking films (GRAFFITI BRIDGE??), and because some of the older prints can apparently no longer be found in good condition. There has been buzz about going digital for the first time next year, which may or may not be a good thing.

I can imagine that the films I knew and loved from B-Fest (many of which I'd seen before on TV) are fading from view as the new kids on the block program the movies they remember from their own childhoods, many of which I've likely never seen. The big-budget TRANSFORMERS movie due next summer is the first tentpole to be launched that reflects something I was too old to experience when it was new 20-odd years ago. My nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

I cringe when movies like BRAZIL (1985) are held up as distant artifacts from a bygone era in filmmaking quality, in part because they date me (and in part because it's not really true; it's just that what holds some enduring power today stands out from a pack that had plenty of bad or indifferent to go along with the good).

Now more than ever, there's more discussion about our golden oldies (and moldies), and it's easier to find a lot of them in good condition on DVD. But it's impossible for a new generation to experience them in the same way those of a certain age did, sacked out in front of the cable-less TV, almost communing with them given far fewer distractions.

Well, remember that the bulk of those airings were in L.A. only. Shout Factory's MOVIE MACABRE releases are sticking to the single season that was syndicated across the county because they were able to license those films in a package. There was a great deal of Cannon material -- BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW, BEAST IN THE CELLAR, NEW YEAR'S EVIL, BLOOD BATH, DR. HECKYL AND MR. HYPE, ALIEN CONTAMINATION. Others came from small indies like Harry Novak (FRANKENSTEIN'S CASTLE OF FREAKS) and the Woolner Bros. (HUMAN DUPLICATORS).
I have to guess that the titles that Shout Factory is doing, much like Rhino's MST3K DVD titles, are believed to be in public domain, or that the copyright holders are willing to play ball.

Well, it looks like this Devil is only flying at half mast on his wedding night. A friend picked up the disc yesterday; here are his comments:

"Just found a copy of this at Amoeba. The good news is that it was only
$7.99. The bad new is that it is a scratchy, beat up print, letterboxed at
1.85 and not 2.35 (although the credits aren't cut off at any time). The
color seems good throughout...much better than the all-red VHS I prized so
highly. Disappointing but still a better copy than the VHS was. Also, you
can watch the film WITHOUT Elvira, which is a big bonus and quite thoughtful
of them to include this option."

Update on LEGACY...it's not the Milligan film.

Besides the missing gore shot (it still looked pretty gory to me), there is also quite a jump cut taking us from Damon (the good twin) and Neri walking up the stairs to them sitting down and talking (the dialogue is also interrupted).

Just watched the Elvira disc last night.

It's been a long, long time since I last saw the film and it was the Sinister Cinema tape, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the old Sinister Cinema tape of THE DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT was also letterboxed at something close to 1.85:1. Anyway, it sure looked to me like the Elvira disc's aspect ratio is at least approximately the correct one. I didn't notice any panning & scanning, or actors being mysteriously cut off on the sides, and the credits fit perfectly with room to spare on either side.

The time difference with the Japanese source could purely be attributed to all the distracting jump cuts due to splicing on the Elvira print. There's almost constantly green scratch lines running down the print. It even looks like the beginnings and ends of reels of film were dragged along the floor more than a few times.

But on the plus side, my Jaton enlarged the picture nicely to fit my 50" monitor, and I have to say the clarity and sharpness of the disc looked surprisingly good. Much better than a transfer from a VHS or Beta source could provide. The color tones faded into the red zone a few times, but not bad enough to call the transfer a wash-out. And yes, there's lots of gratuitous female nudity intact. So it's definitely not a TV print. And considering the clarity, it was probably taken from a 35mm source. For the price, I was quite happy to finally add this to my collection. I'm still disappointed that Media Blasters never came out with the edition they promised about five years ago, although the trailer showed up on a few of their releases around that time. Until a disc comes along that is transferred from something closer to an original negative, this may just have to suffice.

I compared the Elvira disc to the Japanese release and confirmed that the Shout ! DVD contains the R rated US edit of the film. All that is cut is 2 seconds of gore spurting out of a severed wrist, the nudity in the R version is intact. The print used really is a mess, with faded, reddish colors and is perhaps the most beat up copy of a film I have seen transfered to tape or disc. The rest of the time difference is, as guessed, due to film damage. Reels changes are all missing a few seconds, and there are a couple other 5 second hunks missing here and there, removing some dialog. The only significant ommision from the damage comes at the first reel change when the innkeeper's daughter is changing the sheets. MIA on the Elvira version is her finding the amulet she later returns with to the castle.

The ones I remember seeing were THIRST and MARK OF THE DEVIL.

Have they announced any more titles? I only picked up DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT and COUNT DRACULA'S GREAT LOVE. I don't know if I'll pick up any more but I'm curious as to what else they'll release.

What other titles are in that season that was syndicated across the country.

I'd like to see NECROMANCY and THE MURDER CLINIC, these are very hard to locate today. Alot of the other titles have been officially released, which may eliminate them from condsideration. Here is the list of shows by air date.

http://www.tv.com/elviras-movie-macabre/sh...s.html&season=0

With MURDER CLINIC, I'm sure a source will be hard to locate (I'm not sure where Shout got a letterboxed DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT but I'm pretty sure I know where they got CDGL).

If they put out NECROMANCY, it'd be nice to see the original version as the only version I've seen is the awful reworking titled THE WITCHING.

There's a lot of AIP stuff there. It would've been interesting to have Elvira paired up with Vincent Price but I think Sony/MGM would not license these titles (most of which have already been put out by MGM.

Pairing Elvira with the film KILL AND GO HIDE would be interesting (if we're talking about that as an alternate title for THE CHILD, which is a nice atmospheric little horror film with some surprising gore).

How about THE TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. SADISM which is also listed as having aired on Movie Macabre. There are a couple other versions of this on the market so why not? Its actually quite an elegant chiller on its own (with sets based on Bosch).

Actually, I was kind of disappointed in the Elvira footage in DWN and CDGL (I thought she was more amusing on those Thriller Video releases of Hammer's TV series) but the nostalgia still hasn't really worn off.