The Giant Gila Monster/The Wasp Woman

Rating:
Summary: Great Drive-In Experience!!!
Review: As American drive-in theaters dwindle more and more each year, Elite Entertainment is here to save our outdoor movie-watching heritage! Both volumes (out of a proposed 15) deserve more than 5 stars because of the love put into 'em and uniqueness they possess. The films are obviously pure 1950's B-cheese, but the extras are outstanding. This DVD gives the viewer the actual experience of being at a drive-in movie theater, complete with a double feature, cartoon and all the intermission extras: "Let's all go to the snack bar", a PIC mosquito coil ad, clock countdown ("the next show will start in 5 minutes!") and lots more. Plus DISTORTO - a process that you have the option of experiencing...or not. DISTORTO makes the film sound as if it were coming out of one of those terrible car window speakers, complete with the ambience of a drive-in: people talking during the movie, kids giggling, etc. Of course, you can view the films without it as well. Try this DVD! It's a five-star plus!

Rating:
Summary: Great concept, good (but not great) execution
Review: I have both discs in this series and they are quite enjoyable.

The Wasp Woman benefits from a strong lead performance by Susan Cabot and The Giant Gila Monsterf benefits from... being unintentionally hilarious.

It's great to see the selection of Drive in clips for advertising and intermision and they are very well transferred (even better than the films).

The "distorto" sound is cute.

Here's where this series needs to improve:

More new (old) drive in clips, some are recycled from the previosu release.

Better transfers of the features. Although "Wasp Woman" shows a nice improvement over the other transfers of "Gila Monster", "Giant Leeches" and "Screaming Skull"

Encode it so it's all one program. When you select The "Night At The Drive In" all the segments are on "seperate tracks". In other words, when one segment ends, the player has to search out the next segment (causing a pause in sound, most noticible when you have the distorto sound on).

Encode it so the DVD player can show the time. At present, there is no time code and that bugs me.

Keep the content same era oriented. In this case, the movies are from 1960, the cartoons seem to be from the 30's or early 40's. Most of the ads seems to be late 50's, early 60's and the intermission film has to be early 70's (it shows pictures of the moon landing, which took place in 69). Make volumes that have 50's films and exclusivly 50's clips, then others that have 60's and 70's films and clips. establish a verisimilitude that will help you believe you are time tripping to a drive in at the time period of the movie.

That also goes for the "distorto sound". Sometimes we hear comments from people inside the "virtual car" we are in. The comments seem too ironic and modern in tone. They don't talk like people from the era the movies are in. It's fun in an MST3K sort of way though.

This is a good series that has the potential to be something great. A really special way to see these B movie charms.

While they are thinking of "concept discs" over at Elite. They might also consider making a TV chiller theater style series. With vintage hosts and ads. This is the way I discovered many of these films in the 70's and it would be cool if someday a DVD presentation could reflect that.

Rating:
Summary: Great...unless you have the first Elite drive-in disc!
Review: If this is the first drive-in disc from Elite that you've ever seen, you'll probably get a lot of enjoyment from it.

Unfortunately for me, I had already purchased and watched the first one in the series ("The Giant Leeches" and "The Screaming Skull"). It was fun, but the problem is that virtually all of the extra drive-in stuff was *exactly* the same on the second disc as it was on the first disc! The "Pic" mosquito coils, "Let's All Go to the Lobby" (not really a drive-in short anyway), Chilly Dilly pickles...the list goes on. For the price of these discs (they're up in Criterion territory, pricewise), I expected to at least get all-new material.

The other thing with both of the drive-in discs is that the film transfers are not so hot. That's all I'll say; if you want details about grain, scratches, splices, etc., look up more detailed reviews on, say, Google, and you'll get the scoop. The bottom line is that the source material and transfers are pretty cruddy. Again, if Elite wants to put a price tag on their DVDs that is approximately the same as many Criterion DVDs, they need to pony up with quality and all-new material. I'm going to proceed very carefully before I even consider purchasing a third drive-in disc, as I felt a bit rooked this time around.

Rating:
Summary: Good smoochin' movies!
Review: If you can't get too much of a mediocre thing, this Drive-In Double Feature is for you! Date up your honey and get set for some serious smoochin'...you won't miss much in this pair of less-than-classic horrors.

Give your lips a break when the wasp woman and the gila monster make their brief appearances, and be sure to stuff a sock in the speaker when Don Sullivan starts crooning "Laugh, Children, Laugh" way too many times (twice feels like twenty) in The Giant Gila Monster!

Rating:
Summary: Interesting combination
Review: The Giant Gila Monster

A huge slithery tongue

This is a picture of life before CGI. The contrived dialog is part of the mystique. You get to see hotrods and large lizards. The blob it is not; but it is a necessary addition to any 50' collection.

A teenage boy and a teenage girl disappear together and the law is getting suspicious.
I want to ask the monster if teenagers taste like chicken.
Watch for your self.

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The Wasp Woman

Maintaining that wasp waist

Janice Starlin (Susan Cabot) head of a cosmetics company was told the she needs to stay young to promote the product. What can she do? Enter garage scientist Eric Zinthrop (Michael Mark) with a dubious formula made from wasp royal jelly. He explains that "just a little dab will do you." She gets greedy and shoots up with the extra strong stuff. This gives her a BUZZ and can have biting consequences.




Rating:
Summary: GREAT DOUBLE FEATURE
Review: This great release from Elite's Drive-In Discs range couples two of my all-time favorite B-movies together in one irresistable package!

THE WASP WOMAN tells the story of ageing cosmetics empire magnate Janice Starling (Susan Cabot) and her desire to hold onto her fading looks. Enter a kooky scientist who has developed a youth serum from the queen wasps, and who has the power to drag her - and the company - back into youthful vitality. Neeedless to say, poor Janice gets hooked on the stuff and turns into a wasp creature that must kill. Also featuring Barboura Morris and Fred Eisley.

THE GIANT GILA MONSTER is a campy little gem starring teen singing sensation Don Sullivan. When a giant lizard begins wreaking terror over the town's teens (who mainly sit around in hotrods making out), the monster finds a great way to appease its burgeoning appetite. Featuring Lisa Simone as Sullivan's just plain-annoying French girlfriend, the movie is a laughable horror flick with a most irritating song ("Laugh Children Laugh") that was actually penned by Sullivan!

Of course, the highlight is the "Drive-In" feature which couples the two films together along with "Betty Boop" and "Popeye" cartoons as well as concesssion stand ads, trailers and intermission announcements. Featuring Elite's famous DISTORTO sound system!

Fantastic and well worth a look.

Rating:
Summary: Another great disc from Elite!
Review: This second entry in their Drive-In Discs series is just as good as the first! The movies are just as cheezy, and the Distorto sound is as lo-tech as ever! This has everything that made the first one great. If you're looking for a great night of family fun, these discs are just the thing!