42nd Street Forever, Volume 4: Cooled by Refrigeration (2009) Reviews

• The Best

  rcoates-661-222492010-03-22

  This entry, along with volume 3, represents the best the 42nd Street Forever series has to offer. These theaters didn't just play rotgut sexploitation and kung fu movies; there was wild variety, and that's the history this series aims to preserve. The groan-inducing guilty pleasure appeal of some of the admittedly awful-looking comedies keeps the proceedings varied and unpredictable. The top-notch rapid-fire commentary by Gingold, Poggiali, and Samuelson is the cherry on the top of the rotten pile. Recommended not only to aficionados of violent, sleazy, and obscure movies, but to anyone interested in the history of popular cinema. Five stars. Dig it.

• Rituals: "If You Go Into the Woods Today"

  jrd_732016-12-15

  Forty Second Street Forever Volume 4: Cooled by Refrigeration offers more awesome trailers and another great commentary by Michael Gingold, Chris Poggiali, and Edwin Samuelson. This collection includes great trailers for two of my favorite overlooked horror films, Rituals and Let's Scare Jessica to Death (although the latter trailer is spoiler heavy). In addition, there are trailers for such gems as: Bonnie's Kids, featuring the lovely Tiffany Bolling and Robin Mattson; Cornel Wilde's end of the world film No Blade of Grass; Jonathan Demme's Fighting Mad; and, another personal favorite, Without Warning, under the title It Came Without Warning. Paul Naschy even gets represented with The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman. Of course, there are some duds. The painful trailer for Americathon brought back nightmarish memories of my single viewing of that film. In addition, no amount of good will would make me set through Can I Do It. . . Til' I Need Glasses or Die Laughing (which, judging from its trailer, I strongly doubt will happen to anyone watching that movie). Also, the inclusion of The Loves and Times of Scaramouche seems rather baffling. All of these complaints (even about the Americathon trailer) are quibbles compared to the strengths of the DVD. In terms of recommendations, I would like to see March or Die with Gene Hackman, although it seems a little high brow for the disk. Blackout and Die Sister, Die! look enjoyable as well. Lastly, the film I most want to see because of its trailer is Schizoid, in spite of the lukewarm reception it receives on the commentary track. Speaking of the commentary track, this was another entertaining and educating commentary. Particularly worth listening to are the comments about The Klansman, Silent Scream, The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman, and Yor, the Hunter from the Future. Volume four comes close to rivaling the previous entry in the series. All of the 42nd Street Forever disks are worth purchasing, but volumes three and four are trailer collection perfection. I have never found better trailer compilations.