The Velvet Vampire, one of the most interesting if little seen horror films from the early seventies, has just been given its first proper DVD courtesy of Shout Factory's Roger Corman's Cult Classics Collection. Stephanie Rothman's fascinating chiller, which features a lovely Celeste Yarnall as its title-charcter, has been grouped in an odd collection entitled Vampires, Mummies and Monsters and it shares space with Lady Frankenstein, Time Walker and Grotesque. Even though it has been released as part of a collection, Shout Factory has given The Velvet Vampire slight deluxe treatment and the film features an audio commentary with Yarnall and film-historian Nathaniel Thompson. Plus, Rothman's film has never looked better and comes in 16:9 enhanced widescreen. The Velvet Vampire is a flawed but important work from the undervalued Rothman and I am glad to see it has finally been given a good home on disc after years of shoddy treatment.
2 comments:
I love these Shout Factory Corman releases. Not every one of the films is a winner, but they've released a ton of great stuff on DVD and Blu, and in my experience always treat the films right.
I'd forgotten about this one, so I'm glad you've pointed it out. Didn't know anything about Velvet Vampire, but I've been meaning to see Lady Frankenstein for ages and there hasn't been a good DVD I was aware of. Here's hoping this release fixes that.
Thanks Daniel! I am a Lady Frankenstein fan as well by the way. I totally agree with you Shout's Corman series...what a marvelous job they are doing. Thanks again!
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