Actors: Tempestt Bledsoe, Lili Taylor, Steve Buscemi, Gina Gershon, Deborah Harry
Executive Produced: Richard P. Rubinstein
Number of discs: 9
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Entertainment One
Release Date: March 18, 2014
Run Time: 1560 minutes
Our Score: 5 out of 5 stars
Any horror fan that grew up in the 80’s should remember the series “Monsters”, which used to play in syndication along with “Tales from the Darkside”. This anthology/horror series aired from 1988-91 with 72 half-hour episodes. This show is easily one of my favorites of all-time. No, it may not be the best but it certainly reminds me of my childhood and attributed to my love of horror today. I probably shouldn’t have been watching it at the age I did but I just couldn’t get enough of it. Luckily, thanks to Syfy and Chiller channels, this show was given a second life and has been showing over the last decade. The series has never been released on DVD EVER and thanks to eOne (who are my heroes this month), this series finally gets put out in a fantastic DVD box set.
This series delivered a great blend of horror along with comedy, sci-fi and fantasy. What I love about these episodes the most is that you are able to watch and re-watch them and they never get old. When they were re-airing on Syfy, I used to leave it on loop day after day and I couldn’t get enough. The practical effects in the film are fantastic and look great, of course not to today’s standards, but I remember I used to be quite scared of some of these show’s creations growing up, so I think it was quite effective. The show also was jam packed with an amazing cast of actors whether big stars then and big stars now. If you are reading this eOne, if you can get “Freddy’s Nightmare” complete series on DVD, I will be your best friend forever! This is must have for any horror fan, NO QUESTION!
Season one consists of the following episodes: 1. The Feverman; 2. Holly’s House; 3. New York Honey; 4. The Vampire Hunter; 5. My Zombie Lover; 6. Where’s The Rest Of Me?; 7. The Legacy; 8. Sleeping Dragon; 9. Pool Sharks; 10. Pillow Talk; 11. Rouse Him Not; 12. Fools Gold; 13. Glim-Glim; 14. Parents From Space; 15. The Mother Instinct; 16. Their Divided Self; 17. Taps; 18. The Match Game; 19. Rain Dance; 20. The Cocoon; 21. All In A Day s Work; 22. Satan In The Suburbs; 23. Mannikins Of Horror and 24. La Strega
Season one consists of the following notable talent including David McCallum (“The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”), Marilyn Jones (“Murder, She Wrote”), ‘Little Mike’ Anderson (“Twin Peaks”), Andrea Thompson (“Babylon 5”), Robert Lansing (“Automan”), Tempestt Bledsoe (“The Cosby Show”), Meatloaf (“Fight Club”), Kin Shriner (“General Hospital”), John Diehl (“Stripes”), Mary Woronov (“Death Race 2000”), Alex Cord (“Airwolf”), Jeff Conaway (“Babylon 5”), Frank Gorshin (“Batman”), David L. Lander (“Laverne & Shirley”), Tori Spelling (“Beverly Hills, 90210”), Kent McCord (“Galactica: 1980”), Teri Copley (“We Got It Made”), Billy Drago (“The Untouchables”), Kim Johnson Ulrich (“As the World Turns”), Adrienne Barbeau (“The Fog”), James Morrison (“Space: Above & Beyond”), Eddie Velez (“The A-Team”), Christopher Noth (“Law & Order”), William Prince (“Dallas”), Linda Blair (“The Exorcist”), Rob Morrow (“Northern Exposure”)
Season two consists of the following episodes: 25. The Face; 26. Portrait Of The Artist; 27. A Bond Of Silk; 28. Rerun; 29. Love Hurts; 30. The Farmer’s Daughter; 31. Jar; 32. The Demons; 33. Reaper; 34. The Mandrake Root; 35. Half As Old As Time; 36. Museum Hearts; 37. Habitat; 38. Bed And Boar; 39. Mr. Swlabr; 40. Perchance To Dream; 41. One Wolf’s Family; 42. The Offering; 43. Far Below; 44. Micro Minds; 45. Refugee; 46. The Gift; 47. The Bargain and 48. The Family Man
Second two consists of the following notable talent including Darren McGavin (“A Christmas Story”), Lydia Cornell (“Too Close For Comfort”), Marc McClure (“Superman”), Ren Woods (“Beauty and the Beast”), Soupy Sales (“What’s My Line?”), George Hall (“The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles”), Fritz Weaver (“The Martian Chronicles”), Gina Gershon (“Showgirls”), Richard Moll (“Night Court”), Barbara Billingsley, Leif Garrett, Lili Taylor (“Almost Human”), Steve Buscemi (“Boardwalk Empire”), Raphael Sbarge (“Once Upon A Time”), Anne Meara (“ALF”), Jerry Stiller (“The King of Queens”), Amy Stiller (“Zoolander”), Orson Bean (“The Hobbit”), Barry Nelson (“The Shining”), Troy Donahue (“Surfside 6”), Judy Geeson (“Star Maidens”), Phillip Abbott (“The F.B.I.”), Abe Vigoda (“The Godfather”) and Kim Griest (“Manhunter”)
Season three consists of the following episodes: 49. Stressed Environment; 50. Murray’s Monster; 51. Bug House; 52. Cellmates; 53. Outpost; 54. The Hole; 55. Small Blessing; 56. Shave And A Haircut, Two Bites; 57. The Young And The Headless; 58. The Waiting Game; 59. Sin-Sop; 60. A New Woman; 61. Malcolm; 62. Household Gods; 63. The Space-Eaters; 64. The Waiting Room; 65. Leavings; 66. Desirable Alien; 67. A Face For Radio; 68. Werewolf Of Hollywood; 69. Talk Nice To Me; 70. The Moving Finger; 71. Hostile Takeover and 72. The Maker
Finally, season three consists of the following notable talent including Carol Lynley (“The Poseidon Adventure”), Joe Flaherty (“Freaks and Geeks”), Karen Sillas (“Under Suspicion”), Maxwell Caulfield (“Grease 2”), Juliet Mills (“Nanny and the Professor”), Julie Brown (“Earth Girls Are Easy”), Kevin Nealon (“Saturday Night Live), David Spade (“Dickie Roberts”), Wil Wheaton (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”), Matt LeBlanc (“Friends”), Linda Thorson (60’s “The Avengers”), Ed Lauter (“B.J. and the Bear”), Farley Granger (“Strangers on a Train”), John Saxon (“A Nightmare on Elm Street”), Tony Shalhoub (“Monk”), Deborah Harry (band member Blondie), Morton Downey, Jr. (“trash TV”), Laura Brannigan (American singer), Richard Belzer (“Homicide: Life on the Street”), David Spielberg (“One Life to Live”), Dennis Christopher (“Breaking Away”) and Pam Grier (“Jackie Brown”).
Having watched these episodes on TV as a kid, WAY before anything called high definition was around and then re-watching them on Syfy and Chiller in the last decade, they have never been delivered in great best condition. Today these episodes on DVD are not stunning but they do the trick and personally, I think the show has never looked better. There are no additional special features included in this set. I figure that they had as much talent as they did in this show, they could have gotten at least a few interviews or commentary tracks on these episodes but nonetheless, at least we have them. The set comes with three cases, each with its own season. There is great cover art for each particular season and there is great images in case the case as well. There is no boring black case here. They aimed to impress and succeed no question.
