Icons of Horror Collection - Sam Katzman (1955)

The four Sam Katzman films included in his Icons of Horror Collection stand as testaments to the American atomic age, reflecting public terror and awe towards 1950s technology and the accomplishments made in science and medicine. Sam Katzman, an incredibly prolific B-movie producer whose expertise in horror and sci-fi resulted in collaborations with Ray Harryhausen (Jason and The Argonauts), originally masterminded several wonderful thrillers, classic archetypal examples for later films on similar topics. In this DVD set, two of the four films are painfully slow paced, but contain horror scenes that vibrantly combine horror, sci-fi and film noir. Zombies of Mora Tau (1957) catalogues a researching team's attempts to confiscate a diamond stash lodged on an abandoned ship in a harbor guarded by the living dead. Some foggy shots of zombified sailors, eternally guarding the gems as a curse for stealing them, provide chills if even for a few moments. The Giant Claw (1957) introduces the viewer to the age of alien invasions and military paranoia. Opening with a great shot of an Earth diorama orbiting in space, the film chronicles Mitchell MacAfee (Jeff Morrow), an electronics engineer who reports from his aircraft shadows of a large bird dive-bombing his plane. Sally Caldwell (Mara Corday) stands by at home base, continually ready for action. When one does manage to see this elusive shadow, the viewer can almost make out the giant avian claw that looks like a chicken foot. The two films that really make the collection are Creature with the Atom Brain (1955) and The Werewolf (1956), which reinvent the Frankenstein story to chronicle humans-turned-monster in the name of science. In Creature, Dr. Steigg (Gregory Gaye) has reanimated dead men with atomic energy by injecting their brains with radioactive material that exponentially increases their strength to kill normal humans. Great sequences show Dr. Chet Walker (Richard Denning), the heroic scientist hired by police, using a Geiger counter at crime scenes. Live-dead men with stitched up heads wandering stiffly around as a monster mafia, giving hearty doses of humor to this fantastic film. Likewise, The Werewolf features awesome footage of star, Duncan Marsh (Steven Ritch), turning into a wolf while managing to keep his well-tailored suit clean as he runs through the forest. During most of the film, Marsh is fleeing a well-intentioned Sheriff Haines (Don Megowan), and two villains, Dr. Emery Forrest (S. John Launer) and Dr. Morgan Chambers (George Lynn), who accidentally turn him into a wolf when experimenting with radioactive injections that would protect humans from radiation. All four films have the look and feel of the epic Universal movies like The Wolf Man, and The Mummy, and give historical context to buffs researching 1950s monster films. —Trinie Dalton Amazon.com

Katzman was a genius at making fun movies!

This collection is a great package of old time
saturday matinee classic horror. I had never seen
any of these and they are great! The best worst
movie ever made is here! The Giant Claw! Wow! The
Beast is so unbelievable and funny that it's great.
Looks like a big fake toy bird with giant claws and
the close ups are just outrageous but it's so bad
it's good! Classic! The Werewolf is much better made
and acted and a great 50's horror story. The other two
movies are also good sci fi movies and this is a very
good collection if you like fun made horror. July 7, 2008

Simple pleasures from a bygone era...and they look BRAND NEW!!!

I absolutely love this set. Though I must admit the name Sam Katzman was largely unfamiliar to me, I had previously purchased Sony's "Icons of Horror--Boris Karloff" collection, and was thrilled with that. This set did not disappoint, as I had indeed seen all of these films many times on TV in my youth, and watching them again now has been like welcoming old friends into my home.

The most amazing thing about this set is the quality of the film transfers to DVD--pristine and magnificent, these movies have never looked so good! As an example, I was watching "The Werewolf" last night and just could not BELIEVE the picture quality--I was floored, it literally looks brand new! The prints of these movies shown on TV in the past have been downright murky--"Zombies of Mora Tau," in particular, always looked so foggy/hazy/grainy it was actually difficult to tell what was going on! No longer--these prints are clear as a bell--and it's like seeing them with a new set of eyes!

Sony, PLEASE keep up the good work, these "Icons of Horror" (and now "Icons of Adventure" -- equally awesome!) collections are really among the industry standards relating to transfer quality of older low-budget films which normally would have been overlooked--very impressive. I see that the next "Icons of Horror" will be released in October (2008), and will include Hammer films such as one of my all-time favorites, "The Gorgon." A wonderful way to celebrate Halloween this year!

June 29, 2008

Classic Katzman

Had never heard of Sam Katzman before Amazon recommended this 4 movie DVD set. Glad they did. These are 4 great B-Movies. The Giant Claw is similar to other B movies such as some of the Japanese cheese like Gamera etc. Creature With The Atomic Brain is similar to the 1960 sci-fi movies like Not Of This Earth,Brain From Planet Arous anyhow you get the idea. Zombies Of Mora Tau about modern day Diamond Hunters in the South Pacific trying to recover diamonds from a long ago ship wreck garded by Zombies both on land and sea to keep treasure hunters from cashing in on the diamond loot. I really liked this movie. Finally The Werewolf was a nice change from the usually Lon Chaney/JR format. Set in more modern time near Big Bear Lake in California. Over all a very good collection on 2 dvds. Highly recommended. April 26, 2008

sam kazman

i only got this dvd for the giant claw only. its great dvd its pre rodan. April 24, 2008

Great quality

Four good B-movies from the 50's. The quality of the pictures on these DVDs is perfect. The giant claw is one of the funniest monster ever made. Please more Icons of horror! March 12, 2008

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