Posted on: October 25, 2010 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

There are few in the way of such comprehensive collections of early horror trailers, and Mad Ron’s Prevues From Hell ensures that viewers have an amazing treasure trove of these to sink their teeth into. The film itself provides nearly fifty trailers, comprising a veritable laundry list of titles from the classic period to the then-present (1987) in horror, gore, and other related genres. Trailers include those created for Three on a Meathook, I Drink Your Blood, and Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS. In-between these trailers, a narrative is weaved with a ventriloquist and eir dummy, Happy Goldsplatt; fans of shows like Mystery Science Theatre 3000 will get some semblance of what ultimately influenced their creative process.

While the film does represent something that only a small subset of the DVD-watching public will seek out, I feel that the release of this film is important for a few reasons. First off, it brings a film previously only viewable on VHS into DVD media, while for those that wish to see and understand exactly what the directors and film companies wished audiences to take from a thirty-second or minute preview, the film is now readily available. The additional fleshing out of the film provides enough in the way of glue to keep viewers focused in for the entirety of the release.

Understanding the various formats and sources that this film is built off of, Virgil’s version of Mad Ron’s Prevues From Hell should be seen as a blueprint for bringing other mixed-quality types of film into the twenty-first century. Search out this DVD at your local well-stocked independent video store or buy it from the company’s web site yourself.

Rating: 8.3/10

Mad Ron’s Prevues From Hell (DVD) / 2010 Virgil / 82 Minutes / http://www.virgilfilmsent.com

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