Serial Killers Movie Set

Starring:Various
Studio: Brentwood Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

Intelligently done - not for thrill seekers.
Some interesting segments but watch out for the music
informative

The Serial Killers
Starring: Serial Killers
Manufacturer: Mpi Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0009OL8GM
Release Date: 2005-08-30

Description

The Serial Killers is a fascinating and shocking documentary of the most notorious murderers of our time. Infamous serial killers such as Kenneth Bianchi, Ted Bundy and Henry Lee Lucas give chilling first-hand accounts of their brutal crimes. The program also examines the sadistic exploits of lesser-known murderers whose crimes are just as terrifying and bizarre. Profiled in this 3 disc set are:Michael Bruce Ross (The Roadside Killer), Arthur Shawcross (The Monster of the Rivers), Catherine May Wood and Gwendolyn Graham (The Lethal Lovers), Douglas Clark (The Sunset Slayer), Harvey Louis Carginan (Harv the Hammer), Theodore Robert Bundy (The Ladykiller), William Heirens (The Lipstick Killer), Kenneth Allen McDuff (The Broomstick Killer), Kenneth Bianchi (The Hillside Strangler), Henry Lee Lucas (The Confession Killer), Ronald DeFeo, Jr. (The Amityville Horror), James A. Paul (The Executioner).

Customer Reviews:

Intelligently done - not for thrill seekers........2007-02-16

Obviously structured to be a television series, this is a series of twelve interviews with notorious serial killers.

This is not a slick, glamorized series. This would not be of interest for someone who wants graphic pictures of victims, or slow-motion details about the killings, the cases or a "how to." More than enough of this information comes out, but it is often relayed in a very matter-of-fact blasé tone of the killer himself - recounting it as if it were a trip to the corner store. In some respects this series does start out almost boring... but this is obviously orchestrated, to tailor it's own audience to the text, to eliminate the thrill seekers.

What this series is: a thoughtful series of interviews with the serial killers. The focus here is not on the gruesome, but on the minds of these (mostly) men, and how their minds work - or don't as the case may be. The cumulative effect is slow and powerful. The series as a whole becomes possibly the strongest intelligent argument for the death penalty that has even been created.

Others have noted that the music is odd, but again, by the end, the irregular rhythms and random notes echo the distorted viewpoint of the thought process of these people. Exceptionally well done - for someone seeking an in depth look at the psychology of these killers. It leave us seeing some deep similar facets: their inability to say "I killed"... but instead saying, "she got herself killed," how each of them who is able to be somewhat introspective flatly states that there is no solution for them but to be put to death, how pornography and popular culture tool sexual fantasies in this direction, and how everyday people around them were often complicit in really sickening ways.

The series is intentionally structured to become more psychologically complex toward the end, which makes it get more interesting as it progresses. (That does not lend itself to film-making, but more to a learning/clinical process, which again, seems to be the intent, and the accomplishment here.)

Deeply thought provoking.

Some interesting segments but watch out for the music.......2006-09-16

This DVD contains approximately 6.5 hours of interviews with various serial killers and one mass murderer (Ronald DeFeo Jr, who one night shot his entire family while they slept, "inspiring" the movie "The Amityville Horror"), and various law enforcement officers, lawyers, psychiatrists, etc who were involved in the cases.

Some of the serial killers are very well-known, such as Ted Bundy, Kenneth Bianchi ("The Hillside Strangler") and Henry Lee Lucas ("The Confession Killer"), whilst others are not so well-known. The segments I personally found most interesting were those on Ronald DeFeo Jr, Ted Bundy and Kenneth Bianchi. I had previously know little about Kenneth Bianchi, and I found the descriptions of some of his murders particularly disturbing, especially those relating to the two young girls he murdered.

As someone who has thought of myself as having good intuition in relation to people's characters, the aspect of this movie and others like it that I find most unnerving is that the majority of the killers interviewed appear quite "normal" and articulate, even gentle or docile in some cases (e.g. Arthur Shawcross, "The Monster of the Rivers"). Though admittedly, there are a few you would definitely not want to take home to meet your mother (e.g. Douglas Clark, "The Sunset Slayer")!

Unfortunately, there is one aspect of this DVD which lets it down considerably, and that is the music. It really is just not scary, is irritating and does not suit the subject (especially that funky slap bass sound)! Furthermore, it is repeated at the beginning and end of each segment. If the DVD could somehow be reproduced with different, more appropriate music (and not repeated at the beginning and end of each segment), it would be greatly improved. Watching this DVD reinforced to me how important the soundtrack is in the overall quality of a movie or documentary.

If you want to purchase a really good DVD about serial killers and psychopaths, I would strongly recommend "Serial Killers - Profiling the Criminal Mind" (also listed as "Serial Killers 2-Pack") which includes stories on John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer and Charles Manson, and includes interviews with Manson, Patricia Krenwinkle and Leslie Van Houten.

informative.......2006-06-04

This 3 DVD set is nicely put together. 6.5 hours of hard-hitting, brutal info into the how & why, etc.

It wouldn't be a bad idea if a few more horror writers and/or serial killer flick makers would get this DVD for the info alone, and maybe their films wouldn't suck so bad.

Am not pushing gore here, because gore and buckets of blood (alone) do not make for a great scare flick at all, but am talking about looking into these minds here, taking the time to see what serial killers are actually about, why they do the horrifying things that they do, etc.

The only negative is the irritating music that they keep repeating over and over and over and over... It's done after each segment. Oh man, what agony. Had to keep my finger on the volume button throughout basically. They could have also gone into each childhood a bit more (because, as you know, this is where it started, where the problem began; yes, you have the RARE bad seed now and then, but usually, very often, the serial killer's mother was a prostitute, or else there was abuse, all sorts of abuse--sometimes both).

Other than that, this package is definitely worth getting. I don't regret paying what I paid for it.

Average customer rating:

Do NOT buy the R-Rated Version
amazon does carry th unrated
Um... did I miss something here?
murder set peices
One star for Lionsgate DVD, Four Stars for Unrated Directors Cut!

Murder Set Pieces
Starring: Sven Garrett , Tony Todd , Cerina Vincent , Gunnar Hansen (II) , and Edwin Neal
Director: Nick Palumbo
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000JMK6UI
Release Date: 2007-01-09

Description

A fashion photographer exposes his demented childhood and zooms his evil lens on the oldest profession under the moon...in quite possibly the most notorious serial killer film ever made.

Customer Reviews:

Do NOT buy the R-Rated Version.......2007-05-14

There is a UN-RATED version of this title available. If you want the real thing dont buy the R rated. Search other online shops for the other version.

amazon does carry th unrated.......2007-04-26

only buy the unrated... would you buy porn with no sex.... why buy one of the most violent films... cut????

Um... did I miss something here?.......2007-04-18

Okay, I'm confused. Wasn't this supposed to be the most disturbing graphic horror movie ever made? What a colossal ripoff.

Based on things I've heard around on the internet, I was expecting to see the pinnical of depravity represented here. Not so. There are scenes that show a bit of blood sure, and the killer gets into frequent depraved situations, but they don't show anything! Whenever a scene has the potential for extreme violence or gore, they pan away or cut to a different scene. All that's really left after that is bad acting, boring dialog, and scenes of the killer driving his car around town. And some naked chicks.

Okay apparently there is a director's cut available which contains the scenes that everybody's flapping about. However now that I've seen the movie and know how lame and boring it is, I have no motivation to see the director's cut.

And BTW, the version I got had some serious problems with the center (dialog) audio channel on the 5.1 track. It was plagued by frequent dropouts, to the extent that I could barely make out some of the dialog. Somebody in the Quality Assurance department at Lion's Gate dropped the ball. Or maybe they were lulled to sleep by the long scenes of vaccuous dialog.

murder set peices.......2007-03-26

look to be fair i have not seen the loins gate version but reading the reviews its been cut to ribbons msp must be seen in an ucut form yes it does shock it does have some images that are taboo like the child stabbing which is disturbing but it is a film and they are actors again watch it uncut its a punch to your senses

One star for Lionsgate DVD, Four Stars for Unrated Directors Cut!.......2007-03-26

All the other reviewers are correct: if you've ever wanted to see the justly-hyped, infamous MURDER-SET-PIECES for yourself, the one DVD to get is the original (now sadly OOP) Fright Flix Director's Cut Version, NOT...I repeat NOT...the severely censored Lionsgate version. In its origial form, MSP is truly one of the most graphic, brutal, creepy, disturbing, yet incredibly effective horror movies ever made - at least in the slasher genre. MSP makes "Maniac" look like "Happy Feet!" It's not art, but it's not a hack job either. For what it's worth, you can't fault director Nick Palumbo for delivering the goods: you will cover your eyes and cringe as he depicts some of the most bloody, intense sexual violence/torture sequences ever inflicted on an audience - rape, yup, decapitation, yup, cannibalism, yup, chainsaw to the head, yup, multiple stabbings, yup, shootings, child murder, yup, nail-through-the-arm, yup, should I go on? NONE of this, alas, can be found in the Disney-fied Lionsgate DVD - what is the point of proclaiming on the DVD cover "the most graphic horror movie ever made" and then proceeding to hack out all the "offensive" content? Better to check other websites or ebay to find a copy. I'd like to see what Palumbo...er...um...whips up next?!

Average customer rating:

A lesser Fulci effort
Hit or miss, this one is a miss...
Simply Must Be Seen
Avoid.

Touch of Death
Starring: Brett Halsey , Ria De Simone , Al Cliver , Sacha Darwin , and Zora Kerova
Director: Lucio Fulci
Manufacturer: Shriek Show
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0007CNY0Y
Release Date: 2005-06-14

Description

Directed by Lucio Fulci (Zombi 2, City of the Living Dead, The Beyond) 'Touch of Death' follows the gory misadventures of subdued psychopath Lester Parson (Brett Halsey) as he goes about his business seeking out lonely desperate (and mainly hideously unattractive) women in the newspaper classifieds section whom he seduces, plies with booze then maims and slices before dining on their flesh! His brutal doings don't go unnoticed as he soon becomes victim to an extortion attempt by a local tramp and that combined with his growing gambling debts leads to some rash moves by the desperate unhinged loner in this comically dark rare Fulci gem.

Customer Reviews:

A lesser Fulci effort.......2007-05-12

No figure in the horror film genre is as divisive as Lucio Fulci. After watching his films, viewers tend to move into one of two camps. One side hails Fulci as a master of terror, a man who upped the gore quotient in his films while creating wonderfully atmospheric pictures. For these people, Fulci is up there with the likes of Dario Argento as one of the best Italian horror directors. The other camp sneers at these claims, pointing to the plodding pace of his films, the use of extreme gore to camouflage plot holes, and the director's inability to draw good performances out of his cast as evidence of mediocrity. Initially, I enjoyed Fulci's films, specifically "Zombie," "City of the Living Dead," and "The New York Ripper" because I did not know any better. When I came on the scene, you went to Fulci to feed your gore cravings. What a difference a few years exploring the genre makes! While I will not go so far as to remove Lucio from my play list, I have seen enough of his films to realize he is not a cinematic genius. He is at best a competent director, at worst an abysmal one, and there are plenty of examples of bad filmmaking in this director's filmography. Welcome to "Touch of Death".

The movie introduces us to a sad, pathetic loser named Lester Parson (Brett Halsey). Old Lester has a big problem with the ponies, one that finds him constantly digging himself deeper into debt in order to satisfy his cravings at the racetrack. He also has a problem trying to pull off that cheesy looking beard, but that's another story for another day. Anyway, Parson loses so much money gambling that he must constantly borrow dinero from a local loan shark to cover his bets. You know what happens next: Parson owes so much money that the shark threatens to send a few bonecrushers over to Lester's place unless he pays his debts. Ooooh! Fortunately for our bearded hero, he hits upon an excellent plan that will not only pay off Luigi the Loan Shark but also fill his wallet to the brim with some walkin' around money. What's the plan? Simple. He pores through lonely heart ads in the newspaper, finds a suitable mark, and then homes in for the wooin' and the robbin'. Yep, that's right. Lester Parson preys on lonely old biddies, really ugly old dames too, and cleans out their bank accounts.

To insure the success of his nefarious schemes, Parson has to kill his victims. Unfortunately for them, Lester seems to relish sending these ladies into the great unknown. I offer as proof of this assertion one of the opening scenes of the film, the one in which we see Les firing up the old chainsaw in order to reduce one of his conquests to her component parts. Fulci makes sure we understand what's going on by letting the camera linger on the unfolding atrocity. And linger. And linger. Yecch! We'll see more violence later, including a nasty bludgeoning and magic with a microwave, before the movie judders to a stop. Too, Uncle Lucio makes Parson a cannibal--just as a lark, I'd imagine. Let's see, what else happens? Oh yeah: someone else seems to be ambling around mirroring Lester's atrocities, which makes our man a wee bit nervous. He's so nervous, in fact, that he spends some time trying to discover the identity of this nefarious culprit. He also spends a lot of his free time tape recording comments about his various activities. Did I mention the tape machine talks to our hero? Uh huh. Looks like Lester's a little light in the head as well.

"Touch of Death" isn't a stellar addition to the horror canon, but then again Fulci wasn't turning out his best work by 1988. His glory days came earlier, in the 1970s and early 1980s. This movie, while gory in spots, fails to capture the charm of his earlier outings. In those movies Fulci would spread the sauce from beginning to end. Here, we see a trio of heinous crimes--a bum run over with a car, the bludgeoning followed by fun with microwaves, and the chainsaw gag--and then the gore essentially disappears. Seeming to sense that the movie won't live up to expectations, Fulci lards the film with healthy doses of black comedy. See Lester try to stuff body parts in the trunk of his car! Har Har Har! See Parson grimace as he must romance his extraordinarily ugly conquests! Oh, my sides! Granted, smooching a gal with hairy moles or cold sores isn't my cup of tea, but it's not particularly amusing either. The funniest thing about "Touch of Death" involves nothing that appears in the film but rather the realization that Lucio made the movie for television. For television! Those wacky Italians! In what bizarro universe would a movie like this appear on television?

Considering the less than sublime quality of the film, it is somewhat surprising to see "Touch of Death" receive such an excellent treatment on DVD. I'm not talking about the picture quality, which isn't good by a long shot. It's the extras where this Media Blasters disc really shines. Included for our pleasure is a lengthy audio commentary from none other than the late Lucio Fulci! It is not actually a commentary in the traditional sense (he doesn't even discuss this film) but a sort of synopsis of Fulci's career spanning the time he spent as a screenwriter up to the arrival of his 1971 classic "Lizard in a Woman's Skin". Then we get comments from Fulci historian Paolo Albeiro and an interview with star Zora Kerova. Cool! Trailers, a still gallery, and a promo for "Touch of Death" round out the disc. Obviously, Fulci aficionados will want to pick up this disc. All other viewers should start with his classic stuff and work their way up to this one.

Hit or miss, this one is a miss..........2007-02-06

...it started off pretty interesting, brutal gore effects as this guy starts chopping off a female body, then about two deaths later the movie just takes one big dump. We jump from one thing to another totally different, and you are left counfused as to what is the whole point of the story. This is not typical Fulci as there is humor implemented in some of the deaths which I found odd for a Fulci flick. There was just too much confusion here for anything to connect, and at the end I was a bit disappointed with this one. If you are a Fulci fan get it to add to your collection, otherwise steer clear or rent it only.

Simply Must Be Seen.......2006-07-05

At last a lost classic has made it's way onto DVD. For a Fulci fan this DVD is a true reward. The story and script combined result in a Black Comedy Masquerade. I really don't want to give too much away other than this movie is truly a must see. See it with a group of friends that know or don't know Fulci's work and you will be in for a night of humourous Italian Horror. For a fan of Italian Horror don't go into it expecting Suspiria or Zombi because this movie is nowhere near that in mood instead, go into the film expecting Dario Argento's The Card Player or Joe D'Amato's The Grim Reaper mixed with light Tarantino-esque wordplay and scenes (in particulary the newscasters and homeless man scene) and you will not be disappointed. Honestly, this film would rank as one of my top five favorite Fulci films.

Avoid........2006-04-25

This is just dreadful. I regret every second of the 80 minutes I spent watching this dreck. I think it's supposed to be a comedy, but I don't remember laughing much, except at a few blatant inconsistencies and downright glaring errors.

An unnattractive middle-aged man called Lester meets up with rich unnattractive middle-aged women via lonely hearts ads, and then murders them for the money he needs to feed his gambling addiction. That's the whole plot, and that's really all that happens. Along the way there is an attempt at intrigue when Lester starts to get phone calls from a mysterious stranger who taunts him about knowing his secret, but its so badly implemented, you may not realise what is actually supposed to be happening. The sequences in which Lester murders the rich widows are all quite brutal but also seemingly dressed up as comedies. One sequence has a woman bludgeoned with a wooden pole and then shoved into an oven. It's very cruelly depicted, but it is played out against blaring big-band waltz music, with Lester pulling faces and adopting comedy poses throughout. Another scene has the victim murdered while she constantly sings shrill opera songs...you have to see this to believe it!

Actually - you don't have to see it at all, in fact I strongly recommend you avoid this flop. Fulci does not seem to know which hat he is wearing and there's no evidence of any of the flair seen in his earlier career. One sequence stood out to me as particulalrly wretched: the revelation when Lester suddenly realises that he has no shadow. Fulci seems unable to think up any visual representation of this phenomena on screen, so from this point on he just films the actor as normal, shadow and all!! And thus totally blows the whole angle. Either he had zero budget for effects, or he just didn't care enough to think up any way of showing it. Whatever it was, that should give you a taste of how lame this whole project is. I couldn't even understand most of the film, and there certainly wasn't anything on screen worth looking at half the time. Even the ending was as flat as a pancake. A real dud.

Average customer rating:

Let Me Explain My 4 Star Rating
Horrible
Well.........

Serial Killers Movie Set
Starring: Various
Manufacturer: Bci / Eclipse
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005U4VL
Release Date: 2002-01-29

Customer Reviews:

Let Me Explain My 4 Star Rating.......2005-12-27

First I have to say I love these Brentwood 4 paks and I have several of them. But this particular one is pretty bad. Lets start with the last movie in the 4 pak, Human Prey-Horrible, no need to even watch it, 0 stars but still better than Cold Creek Manor next is Jack the Ripper with Klaus Kinsky 3 stars a good film but nothing to brag about, then there is Dr. Ice staring a Poor Man's Tiger Woods, not only is it bad but the movie cuts off before the end so you don't know how it ends. And finally there is 1-900 not to be confused with the Dutch film 1-900 that came out in 1984. Anyway dispite the cheap camcorder look and horrible acting by the main male character, this film was pretty good. The soundtrack is excellent for such a low buget film, and the story idea was very good. The acting was pretty good by everyone except the main male Character, the one who didn't like 900 numbers. I really see what they were trying to do in making this film. Anyway had the filmakers had more money this would have been a decent film.
I can't believe I am saying this but I would actually recommend buying this film for 1-900, and watch it a few times. If worse comes to worse you can get a group of friends come over for a Worst films of all time party. See who can bring the worst movies, you will win with Dr. Ice, but if someone happens to have something worse than Dr Ice, just drop the secret weapon on the pak Human Prey, and you will win hands down.

Horrible.......2005-05-14

Dr. Ice cuts off close to the end of the movie. No credits or anything. Human Prey was awful. Jack the Ripper is the only justification for owning this set. I didn't even bother with 1-900.

Well................2003-07-23

I don't know why I bought this, I guess it was because I had just gotten my DVD player, so I wanted to build my collection, and this was four movies for 10 bucks, so I said,'Ok, I'll buy it.

THEY SUCKED!

The only reason I give it two stars instead of one is because of two things:
1)Jack The Ripper is good.
2)Lots of frontal nudity.

Otherwise, don't buy.

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