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The fine folks at the MGM Limited Edition DVD-r dove deep into their vaults to present a groovy sixties ghoulfest on DVD for all you fear fans. Doctor Blood’S Coffin was a staple of late night TV and horror hosts for several decades ( Chicago’s Svengoolie featured it 1998 ). It’s bright color photography made it a valuable asset to stations wanting a break from the black and white classics. Of course Coffin may owe its existence to the success of Hammer Films’ color fright fests of the late 1950′s. After the box office numbers generated by these new takes on Frankenstein and Dracula, many other British studios wanted a piece of the growing thriller audience. Caralan Productions even went as far as hiring the beautiful ( and buxom ) Hazel Court ( Peter Cushing’s doomed love from Hammer’s hit The Curse Of Frankenstein ) as the leading lady. Perhaps due to budgetary constraints,...

Directed by: Sidney J. Furie

Written by: Nathan Juran, James Kelley, Peter Miller

Cast: Kieron Moore, Hazel Court, Ian Hunter, Kenneth J. Warren

Mod DVDs are a boon to genre movie fans. Studios are releasing movies that wouldn't generate enough profits to make a wide release feasible, thus allowing fans to purchase films that might have remained in a vault forever. The cost is a bit of an issue (you can't wait for these titles to end up in a Walmart dump bin sale), but at least one can buy a decent quality DVD without resorting to bootleg copies.

That said, I doubt many horror fans were clamoring for Doctor Blood's Coffin, a recent addition to the MGM Limited Edition Collection. While the film does feature the lovely Hazel Court, its plodding story and lack of monster action dooms this 1961 British horror film to being little more than a decent time-waster you'd catch on television.