SUPER HORRORAMA SHRIEK SHOW (1994) ***

Super Horrorama Shriek Show is a solid trailer compilation from the good folks at Something Weird.  It features nearly two hours’ worth of horror trailers, with a couple of spook show previews, intermission ads, and old commercials tossed in there to spice things up.  They are presented in chronological order (for a little while at least), which is cool because it gives you a sampling of the various trends throughout the years.  You also get a nice variety of horror stars such as Lon Chaney Jr., Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Michael Gough, all of whom pop up several times.  

The first half is devoted to trailers from the ‘50s and ‘60s.  Because of that, much of the early going is rather tame, but hang tight.  The trailers definitely get bloodier, gorier, and racier as they go along.  The relatively harmless stuff from Columbia (The Werewolf and Curse of the Demon) and Universal (Curse of the Undead and The Leech Woman) eventually gives way to the more adult offerings from Hammer (Doctor Jekyll and Sister Hyde and Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell) and AIP (Deathmaster and Count Yorga, Vampire), before concentrating on Blaxploitation (Blacula and Abby), undisputed classics (The Exorcist and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre), and slashers (My Bloody Valentine and Friday the 13th).  

Many of the trailers from the ‘70s featured in the second half are short and sweet (sometimes fifteen or thirty second spots).  While I would’ve liked to have seen the full previews for these films, they come at such a fast and furious pace that it’s hard to complain.  Since many of the ads are so brief, it gives us that much more room to cram more of them in there.  Sure, many of the trailers have cropped up on other collections before, and a lot of the prints are beaten all to hell, but connoisseurs of trailer compilations will have a lot of fun with Super Horrorama Shriek Show.  

The full trailer rundown includes:  The Return of Dracula, The Werewolf, Curse of the Demon, The Man Without a Body, Indestructible Man, The Cyclops, Fright, Horror Hotel, Giant from the Unknown, Curse of the Undead, Macabre, The Tingler, The Leech Woman, The Woman Eater, Blood of Dracula, House on Haunted Hill, Tales of Terror, The Premature Burial, Black Zoo, House of Fright (AKA:  The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll), Horror of Dracula, Horrors of the Black Museum, The House of the Damned, The Old Dark House, Night Creatures, Doctor Jekyll and Sister Hyde, Dracula, Prince of Darkness, Berserk!, Circus of Horrors, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Captain Kronos:  Vampire Hunter, The Fearless Vampire Killers or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth are in My Neck, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride (AKA:  The Satanic Rites of Dracula), The Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, a double feature of Night of the Witches and Dr. Frankenstein on Campus, Tales from the Crypt, The Chosen, Raw Meat, The Legend of Hell House, The Exorcist, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Incredible Melting Man, The Children, The House Where Death Lives, Something is Out There, Rabid, The Car, Tourist Trap, Burnt Offerings, The Changeling, Terror in the Wax Museum, Point of Terror, The Tempter, Axe, Deathmaster, Rattlers, It’s Alive, Don’t Open the Window, Willard, Count Yorga, Vampire, Equinox, Seizure, a double feature of The Velvet Vampire and Scream of the Demon Lover, Humanoids from the Deep, Blacula, Sugar Hill, Abby, The Sinful Dwarf, Eaten Alive, My Bloody Valentine, Terror, and Friday the 13th, as well as a handful of ads for upcoming Something Weird releases.