SINISTER CINEMA CLASSIC HORROR TRAILERS VOLUME 4 (199?) ***

Sinister Cinema trailer collection numero four-o kicks off with previews for such ‘50s shockers as Daughter of Dr. Jekyll (a film that seems to be under the impression that Dr. Jekyll was a vampire?!?) and A Bucket of Blood, before setting its sights on Mexican horrors like Face of the Screaming Werewolf and Black Pit of Dr. M.  We also get trailers featuring Barbara Steele (The Ghost and Nightmare Castle), rare and/or cheap looking movies (The Devil’s Bedroom, Alabama’s Ghost, and Curse of the Voodoo), trailers for films that have appeared on Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Bloodlust!, Tormented, and Ring of Terror), and at least one horror flick starring an extremely unlikely leading man (Pat Boone in The Horror of It All).  The collection eventually concludes with a trio of trailers for “respectable” ‘70s horrors like The Stepford Wives, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and The Amityville Horror.  

All in all, Volume 4 is another typically entertaining trailer compilation from Sinister Cinema.  It features a good mix of black and white (Night Tide, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, and Dead Eyes of London) and color (The Gruesome Twosome, Creature with the Blue Hand, and Night of the Blood Monster) films.  Since I’ve been watching so many compilations lately, there were more than a few trailers that I have seen in other collections.  Despite that, there are just enough distinct trailers here to make it recommended.  For example, Alfred Hitchcock pops up in so many compilations in the trailers for The Birds and Psycho, two of the most famous trailers of all time.  Because of that, it was nice seeing him introducing the trailer for the lesser-appreciated Family Plot in this collection.  

As per usual, this volume is supplemented with lots of great old-timey commercials (for Dr. Pepper), coming attraction interstitials, and concession stand ads.  (My favorite was the one for candy bars that proclaims they are “Delicious and Nutritious!”)  I also found a couple of bonkers looking movies to add to my watchlist like Crash! and Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary (which has the great tagline, “It will turn your blood to ICE… for the Devil’s cocktail!”).  If it can introduce me to WTF movies I’ve never heard of, then that means Sinister Cinema Classic Horror Trailers Volume 4 has done its job.   

The full line-up includes:  Daughter of Dr. Jekyll, A Bucket of Blood, Face of the Screaming Werewolf, Black Pit of Dr. M, Night Tide, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Dead Eyes of London, The Ghost, The Devil’s Bedroom, The Horror of It All, The Black Cat, Nightmare Castle, Something Weird, Targets, The Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman, Alabama’s Ghost, Night of a Thousand Cats, The Flesh and Blood Show, Crash!, The House on Skull Mountain, Family Plot, The Worm Eaters, The Medusa Touch, Silent Scream, Bloodlust!, The Devil’s Hand, The Dead One, Tormented, The Shadow of the Cat, Dr. Cadman’s Secret (AKA:  The Black Sleep), Ring of Terror, The Mad Executioners, The Black Torment, Curse of the Voodoo, A Study in Terror, The Vulture, She Was a Hippy Vampire (AKA:  The Wild World of Batwoman), The Gruesome Twosome, Creature with the Blue Hand, Night of the Blood Monster (AKA:  The Bloody Judge), Disciples of Death, Mark of the Devil Part 2, Don’t Open the Window, Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary, The Stepford Wives, Shadow of the Hawk, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and The Amityville Horror.