TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE/GIANT LEECHES now available from Retromedia

[Jobla]

The "handsome good alien boy" was the real-life lover of TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE's director/producer/editor/writer Tom Graeff. The actor's stage name "David Love" was probably a nod to their private relationship.

[sa5150]

Originally Posted by WaverBoy

Got this in today. Both films are mastered from 16mm. Teenagers from Outer Space has nice detail and decent contrast but there are a few splices, some lines here and there, and a fair amount of speckling. Still, this is the best I’ve ever seen it; waaaaaay better than the old Scream Gems VHS I had back in the day. And I must not have ever watched it all the way through because I only remembered the opening scenes. I gotta say, this is now one of my fave no-budget ‘50s sci-fi/monster films. Perfectly, wonderfully cheesy, with charmingly amateurish but earnestly played acting, an extremely junky-looking flying saucer and a fascinatingly ridiculous giant monster, the film is well paced and pretty brutal, with one of the highest body counts I’ve seen in a ‘50s genre flick. The handsome good alien boy and the absolutely adorable Earth girl have great chemistry together. The dialogue is insanely goofy. Some of the same library music from Night of the Living Dead turns up on the soundtrack. And somehow it all just works. Very glad to have finally watched this scrappy little homemade gem in its entirety, because it RULZ.

Attack of the Giant Leeches looks to be in much better shape; after the opening scene and credits it looks quite nice with a minimum of speckling, lines or splices, and good detail for 16mm, if perhaps slightly softer looking than its co-feature. Again, by far the best I’ve ever seen it (I had a Scream Gems VHS of this one too, and perhaps one from Sinister Cinema as well). This one I had seen a few times before, and the seedy schlocky entertainment value is still there. Yvette Vickers is sexier than ever, and the swampy atmosphere, low-rent repulsive leech monsters and the weird noises they make still deliver the psychotronic goods. This drive-in cult classic is a much more professional polished low-budget product compared to the co-feature, as one would expect from the AIP team (Roger Corman’s brother Gene produced).

The unrestored soundtracks get the job done, with dialogue perfectly intelligible throughout and no real discernible distortion. The included trailers could be much better quality, especially the terrible-looking one for Teenagers that looks like a bad pixelated download, but at least they’re on there.

So, for these two it’s just film in, film out, with no restoration, but they look the best they ever have, and they’re entertaining as all hell. And somehow I don’t think they’ll be getting remastered from original 35mm elements any time soon. This most welcome release is highly recommended to all MonsterKids.

Thank you for the nice review of both films . I have this blu-ray (got it dirt cheap from makeflix sale) but never opened it , Its OOP . A Anolis German disc just came out of (Leeches) last year and seems OOP, I'm sure it probably blows this away but at almost $40+ with shipping to import from resellers. Not sure if it's worth it , Looks like a decent movie . Do you plan to get the Anolis disc and is it better then 16mm ?

Anyone know what the chances of maybe Shout factory releasing (Leeches on blu ) ? Seems most Anolis titles do end up getting a USA release . Still on the fence for the "Crawling eye /Trollenberg terror" which is a great move but feel Kino or Shout or other will be getting this pretty soon .

*Update* , Leeches will get a standard german release from Anolis . That's good news! Now hope Crawling eye gets a US release . It would be nice if Kino would do both movies .

[sa5150]

Attack of the Giant Leeches / Night of the Blood Beast , who is Gemini entertainment ? pre-orders for this double feature have been popping up .

[xXx$uicide_Ma$terxXx]

Originally Posted by sa5150

Attack of the Giant Leeches / Night of the Blood Beast , who is Gemini entertainment ? pre-orders for this double feature have been popping up .

Never heard of em and going by this artwork it'll be a BD-R. They mainly seem to release random documentary things. I'm not expecting anything good. Probably just a lazy cash grab since both movies are public domain. I've never seen Night of the Blood Beast in HD and I doubt this company is going to be the first to release it in HD.

http://geminientertainmentgroup.com/en/films/

[sa5150]

Originally Posted by xXx$uicide_Ma$terxXx

Never heard of em and going by this artwork it'll be a BD-R. They mainly seem to release random documentary things. I'm not expecting anything good. Probably just a lazy cash grab since both movies are public domain. I've never seen Night of the Blood Beast in HD and I doubt this company is going to be the first to release it in HD.

http://geminientertainmentgroup.com/en/films/

Wish is was the Film Masters .

[Jobla]

Gemini appear to be bootleggers. MGM is aware of them.

[sa5150]

Originally Posted by Jobla

Gemini appear to be bootleggers. MGM is aware of them.

Good to know , I have an official blu-ray of Attack of the Giant Leeches (standard case) from Anolis Germany .

I was interested in the second movie I never heard of .

[WaverBoy]

Originally Posted by Jobla

Gemini appear to be bootleggers. MGM is aware of them.

I’m not seeing any bootleg titles on their site. Not seeing that double-feature Blu either.

[sa5150]

Originally Posted by sa5150

Wish is was the Film Masters .

Well I got my wish and film masters is releasing this

No idea what that bootleg is from Gemini but cancelled my pre-order .

[xXx$uicide_Ma$terxXx]

Originally Posted by sa5150

Well I got my wish and film masters is releasing this

No idea what that bootleg is from the Gemini but cancelled my ore-order .

Nice! I'm sure it'll look better than the Retromedia release too. Hope they can release Teenagers From Outer Space too.

[WaverBoy]

The Film Masters version of LEECHES is inferior to Retromedia’s, which is a bit brighter and looks more filmlike with more visible detail; the FM is on the soft and murky side. I also prefer the opened-up 1.66:1 aspect ratio on the Retromedia. It will remain my go-to version.

Also, I gotta say again, I absolutely love TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE, a simply adorable film with immensely likable protagonists, lots of heart, and a high body count, one of the most entertaining low-budget sci-fi flicks of the ‘50s. I’d love to see a full-blown restoration of it, but until then, the Retromedia Blu is a perfectly fine way to watch it, it’s filmlike with nice detail along with the nicks and scratches, and it’s got that authentic drive-in feel.

[Mikezilla3k]

Originally Posted by Jobla

Gemini appear to be bootleggers. MGM is aware of them.

Can't be bootleggers when the films they release are public domain.

[Jobla]

Originally Posted by WaverBoy

The Film Masters version of LEECHES is inferior to Retromedia’s, which is a bit brighter and looks more filmlike with more visible detail; the FM is on the soft and murky side. I also prefer the opened-up 1.66:1 aspect ratio on the Retromedia. It will remain my go-to version.

Also, I gotta say again, I absolutely love TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE, a simply adorable film with immensely likable protagonists, lots of heart, and a high body count, one of the most entertaining low-budget sci-fi flicks of the ‘50s. I’d love to see a full-blown restoration of it, but until then, the Retromedia Blu is a perfectly fine way to watch it, it’s filmlike with nice detail along with the nicks and scratches, and it’s got that authentic drive-in feel.

I'd love a Film Masters double-bill of TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE and TEENAGE MONSTER (aka METEOR MONSTER).