The Stephen King Collection (Pet Sematary Special Collector's Edition / The Dead Zone Special Collector's Edition / Graveyard Shift / Silver Bullet)

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The Stephen King Collection, a box set of four films, Graveyard Shift, The Dead Zone, Silver Bullet, and Pet Sematary, is great in that it provides viewers with a full range of King movies, from the truly eerie to the terrible. The set's two finest movies, The Dead Zone, directed by David Cronenberg and starring Christopher Walken, and Pet Sematary--arguably King's finest story adapted to film--both come as Special Collector's Editions, with excellent bonus material, including lengthy interviews with both Stephen King and the directors. Pet Sematary, shot in King's home territory, Maine, tells the story of city slickers Rachel and Louis Creed (Denise Crosby, Dale Midkiff), who move to the country to raise their daughter, Ellen, in peace. They learn that they've relocated onto a trucking thoroughfare, and Ellen consequently loses her pet cat. The plot quickly riffs out into mystical, traumatic territory. Louis's neighbor Jud Crandall takes Louis to ancient Indian burial grounds, where the dead are reanimated. The Creeds's zombie cat sparks this Frankenstein-ian adventure, pitting urban settings against rural, and the horrific against the pastoral. Pet Sematary looks more and more like Hitchcock, thanks to director Mary Lambert's careful attention to detail. The low point in the set is Graveyard Shift, a washed-up story about a cotton factory that's not only infested by carnivorous rats, but also hosts a dragon/pterodactyl. As night-shift employees get continuously munched, Bachman Mills' owner Mr. Warwick is forced to clean up squalid conditions, for which he hires a basement clean-up crew. Crew members are slaughtered as they try to combat their discovered behemoth, and grizzly scenes showing rats, humans, and the beast's head being chewed up in the cotton gin reduce Graveyard Shift to schlock gore. One is reminded of the intricacies involved in adapting books to film. As King has managed to be an integral part of his film projects, there are still successes and failures. All the movies in this set, though, still bear King's trademark, a love for "supernatural deadfall." --Trinie Dalton

Description

With the Stephen King Collection, fans can own 4 of his best films in a spine-tingling, horror-filled 4-disc Collection. Collection includes Pet Semetary SCE, The Dead Zone SCE, Silver Bullet, and Graveyard Shift.

Customer Reviews:

Good Collection of King Movies.......2007-03-19

Certainly, my opinion is subjective because I like this sort of fare, silly and all. "Graveyard Shift" is indeed the weakest one, made entertaining by the bad acting of all involved. "Pet Sematary" is also badly acted, though Fred Gwynne is on hand to save much of it. It's one of King's more mean-spirited plots, and if there was humor involved (as the extras purport), I missed most of it. "Silver Bullet" is an odd film, a rather sweet coming-of-age film with a twist. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. (Even Corey Haim was almost tolerable.) And, of course, the special edition of "The Dead Zone" stands way above the rest. Fine acting and direction help secure its place among the best King films. Save it for last...OK, some are silly and mindless, but I like most horror films for that very reason. This collection has the added benefit of a couple of winners. The widescreen transfer is excellent. The price is good. I recommend it...all 4 are true to King, inasmuch as they all take place in Maine.

Two five star movies, one four star movie, and one stinker........2006-10-10

I give five stars for The Dead Zone and Silver Bullet. I give four stars to Pet Semetary. Zero stars go to Graveyard Shift. All in all, it is a good set that is worth the price for three of the films. Just buy it for The Dead Zone, Silver Bullet, and Pet Semetary.

Stephen King DVD Collector Set (Misery / The Dark Half / Needful Things / Carrie)

Average customer rating:

Three of these movies rock and one sucks.
Mixed bag of classics and also rans
Good value, light on features
Great Stephen King movies
King best movies

Stephen King DVD Collector Set (Misery / The Dark Half / Needful Things / Carrie)
Starring: Stephen King Collectors Set
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00009OWI3
Release Date: 2003-08-26

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Misery
Based on the chilling bestseller by Stephen King, Misery was brought to the screen by director Rob Reiner as one of the most effective thrillers of the 1990s. From a brilliant adaptation by screenwriter William Goldman, Reiner turned King's cautionary tale of fame and idolatry into a mainstream masterpiece of escalating suspense, translating King's own experience with obsessive fans into a frightening tale of entrapment and psychotic behavior. Kathy Bates deservedly won an Academy Award for her performance as Annie Wilkes, an unbalanced devotee of romance novels written by Paul Sheldon (James Caan), whose books provide Annie with a much-needed escape from her pathetic life and her secret, violent past. After Annie rescues the injured Sheldon from a car accident, she seizes the opportunity to nurse her favorite writer back to health, but her tender loving care soon turns to terrorism as she demands that Sheldon write his latest novel according to her wish-fulfillment fantasies. From this point forward, Misery percolates to a boil as equal parts mystery, thriller, and cleverly dark comedy, with the helpless author pitched in deadly warfare against his number one fan. While Bates carefully modulates her role from doting kindness to sympathetic loneliness and finally to horrifying ferocity, Caan is equally superb as the celebrated author who must literally write for his life. It's essentially a two-actor film, but Richard Farnsworth and Lauren Bacall are excellent in supporting roles as they investigate the writer's mysterious disappearance. Frightening, funny, and totally irresistible, Misery was such a hit that some of Bates's dialogue entered the popular lexicon (particularly her nagging reference to Caan as "Mister Man"), and its nail-biting thrills remain timelessly intense. --Jeff Shannon

The Dark Half
Although it lacks the creepy subtleties of Stephen King's celebrated novel, George Romero's underrated adaptation of The Dark Half ranks among the best films based on King's fiction, with Romero taking care to honor King's central theme while serving up some gruesome gore in the film's much-criticized finale. Inspired by King's own admission that he wrote several novels under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, The Dark Half explores the duality of a writer's impulse, ranging from literary respectability to the viscerally cathartic thrills of exploitative pulp fiction. Author and teacher Thad Beaumont (Timothy Hutton) finds himself torn between those extremes when he "kills" his profitable, pseudonymous alter ego George Stark (the bestselling "dark half" to Thad's light), who then assumes an evil, autonomous form (again played by Hutton) to lethally defend his role in Thad's creative endeavors. Forced to wrestle with this evil manifestation of his own unformed twin, Thad must fight to protect his wife (Amy Madigan), their twin babies, and his own survival as an artist. Romero skillfully develops the twin/duality theme to explore the writer's dilemma, and Hutton is outstanding in his dual roles, playing Stark (in subtly fiendish makeup) as a redneck rebel with a knack for slashing throats. Julie Harris adds class in a supporting role, and horror fans will relish Romero's climactic showdown, in which swarms of sparrows seal Stark's fate. It favors a pulp sensibility with clunky exposition to explain Stark's existence, but The Dark Half is a laudable effort from everyone involved. --Jeff Shannon

Needful Things
Stephen King adaptations are strictly hit-or-miss propositions, and this supernatural thriller from 1993 is definitely a "miss," based on one of King's lesser novels and starring Max von Sydow as the evil proprietor of a small-town antique shop named "Needful Things." That's the place where anyone can go to find the one thing they cherish the most (the town's aging jock finds his old, high-school letterman's jacket there, for example), but of course there's a price for such priceless keepsakes. Yep, that's right ... von Sydow is Satan, and his customers pay for "needful things" with their souls. The sheriff (Ed Harris) catches onto this hellish predicament, and, well ... let's just say things go downhill from there, with von Sydow delivering sardonic wisecracks as he wreaks devilish havoc on the town. Lots of stuff gets blown to bits, by which time this movie has long since worn out its welcome. Harris and von Sydow do their best to liven up the dreary scenario (directed by Charlton Heston's son, Fraser), but this is strictly for die-hard King fans, and even then the recommendation is marginal. --Jeff Shannon

Carrie
This terrifying adaptation of Stephen King's bestselling horror novel was directed by shock maestro Brian De Palma for maximum, no-holds-barred effect. Sissy Spacek stars as Carrie White, the beleaguered daughter of a religious kook (Piper Laurie) and a social outcast tormented by her cruel, insensitive classmates. When her rage turns into telekinetic powers, however, school's out in every sense of the word. De Palma's horrific climax in a school gym lingers forever in the memory, though the film is also built upon Spacek's remarkable performance and Piper Laurie's outlandishly creepy one. John Travolta has a small part as a thug, De Palma's future wife, Nancy Allen, is his girlfriend, and Amy Irving makes her screen debut as one of the girls giving Carrie a hard time. --Tom Keogh

Description

Disc 1: CARRIE SPECIAL EDITION Disc 2: NEEDFUL THINGS Disc 3: THE DARK HALF Disc 4: MISERY

Customer Reviews:

Three of these movies rock and one sucks........2007-03-26

An good set for the most part. Three of these movies are excellent and those films (Carrie, Misery, and The Dark Half) do justice to their books. Tha last one, however (Needful Things) is just a butchered mess. Just buy this for the three good films and junk the bad one.

Mixed bag of classics and also rans.......2005-12-31

While this set doesn't include all the best films made from King's novels, at least two of these are absolute classics. "Misery" is available here as a full and widescreen presentation. The image quality is decent here but it could look a whole lot better. There aren't any notable special features which is too bad--in the UK and Europe this has been released as a "Special Edition" with commentary by Director Rob Reiner and Writer William Goldman.

"Carrie" is the "Special Edition" released a couple of years back. The anamorphic widescreen presentation looks extremely good. This edition features "Acting Carrie" a very good documentary with Stars Sissy Spacek, Amy Irving and others. We also get "Visualizing Carrie" a documentary featuring Brian DePalma discussing his approach to the film. "Carrie: The Musical" a featurette on the disasterous Broadway version. Finally there's background on Stephen King and his novel as well as an animated photo gallery with behind-the-scenes photos. There's no commentary track from DePalma or any of the stars.

"The Dark Half" had much promise but George Romero's film of King's novel doesn't quite live up to its potential. Still, the film has its moments unfortunately this full screen presentation of the film doesn't do it justice. There's no extra features to speak of and the transfer is so-so and the film really would benefit from a widescreen presentation and commentary track by Romero.

"Needful Things" always felt over-the-top to me. It has a fine screenplay by W. D. Richter ("Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "Stealth") but Fraser Heston's direction seems intent on proving his chops as a director at the expense of the story. The transfer is pretty good here as well. A couple of terrific performances highlight the movie including the late J.T. Walsh, Max Von Sydow, Ed Harris. Despite the potential here "Needful Things" just misses the mark despite an excellent cast and production design.

So I'd give five stars to "Carrie" and "Misery"; two stars for "The Dark Half" and "Needful Things". It's a pity that this set just repackages previous releases and doesn't have another disc of extras. This is a economic way to get all four films if you must have them but, really, only two of these films are essential.

Good value, light on features.......2005-08-10

This collection is pretty good, but there really were no special features. Good value if you are a Stephen King fan and are just in it for the films themselves.

Great Stephen King movies.......2005-06-29

Movies derived from Stephen King's novels range from excellent (THE SHINING) to excremental films like Dreamcatcher. This DVD Collector Set has 4 of the greatest adaptations of Stephen King's impressive novels. MISERY (1990) is a top-notch thriller and one of the best that has ever been made. Psychological thrillers are the best of the genre thanks to an Oscar-winning performance from Kathy Bates as the obsessed fan. Set in the deserted part of America, moody and lethargic Stephen King delivers great human suffering, vanished and broken on the borders of true hell, ran by obsessed woman. James Caan is Paul Sheldon, an author who kills off his popular literary character Misery. Problem is, Annie Wilkes (Bates) reads his heroin-offing book, and goes a little crazy... The ankle-breaking scene is excruciating, and the final brutal fight between Caan and Bates is vicious. Like the excellent SECRET WINDOW, an obsessed fan getting a little too fanatical with the author's stories is a re-occurring theme. Everything in the film is absolutely great: acting, script, directing and a chilly musical score from Mark Shaiman.

THE DARK HALF (1993) is a movie with an implausible plot, but is executed very well. In fact, it's done so well that you end up forgetting how implausible it is. So if you postpone your disbelief a little, chances are you'll like it. Horror master George A. Romero handles the suspense very professionally, but above all, Timothy Hutton's acting is the stand out of the film. His portrayal of Southern madman (ghost) George Stark is intense and will make you thinks of straight razors in a whole new light. Not a horror classic, but original and it does get a few scares out of you. The Stephen King book was better, but the film does a surprisingly good job of adapting it. NEEDFUL THINGS (1993) is a fascinating story of a mysterious old man (Max von Sydow) who opens a novelty shop in a sleepy little Maine town. He has something that everyone wants, but wants something in return from everyone. Simple currency has little allure for this devilish merchant. He feeds off hate and carnage, and uses the simple townsfolk to carry out his desires. CARRIE is possibly the best King adaptation, and one of the most faithful. The problem with some movies derived from his novels, is that some inept directors norse up the source material by changing too much. But thankfully Brian DePalma gets this just right. Sissy Spacek turns in a great performance and John Travolta started his acting career in 1976 in his first movie. Put together with MISERY and DARK HALF, this is a very impressive collection of King movies and a must-have for horror buffs.

King best movies.......2003-07-15

These are some of the best movies that are based from Stephen King novels. Carrie is a movie that any Stephen King fan must own. To have it on a box set with Misery is best. Dalf Half is also pretty good. For most who haven't seen it is about thee other half of the writter and how it can take control when it feels threaten. Needful things is a movie that goes beyond horror and teaches people a lesson. These are a few of Stephen King best movies. Which fans must own to have a true King's Collection.

Stephen Chow: A Chinese Odyssey Series (HD Remastered Edition) DVD Boxset

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Stephen Chow: A Chinese Odyssey Series (HD Remastered Edition) DVD Boxset
Director: Jeffery Lau
Manufacturer: Mega Star (HK)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Product Features:

2 disc package (ALL region NTSC)
A Chinese Odyssey pt. 1 "Pandora Box"
A Chinese Odyssey pt. 2 "Cinderella"
HD Restored & Remastered & Multi-Languages
64 page Hardcover Photo Album

ASIN: B000K6WLOW

Stephen King Collector's Set (The Tommyknockers / Storm of the Century / Rose Red / The Dead Zone)

Average customer rating:

Stephen King Collector Set
Creepy as HELL :-)

Stephen King Collector's Set (The Tommyknockers / Storm of the Century / Rose Red / The Dead Zone)
Starring: Jimmy Smits , Marg Helgenberger , John Ashton , Allyce Beasley , and Robert Carradine
Director: John Power (II) , and Craig R. Baxley
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00007L4KQ
Release Date: 2003-02-11

Customer Reviews:

Stephen King Collector Set.......2003-04-09

I just recently bought this DVD mainly for Rose Red and Storm of the Century. Two of King's newer Made for TV mini-series. These are definately two of his best and most watched series.

I only gave this product a 2 because the Dead Zone and Tommyknockers just don't deliver. Don't get me wrong, I love USA's Dead Zone series but this is only the pilot epsiode. I'd rather buy the complete first season. The glimpse of 2nd season special feature was only about 3 minutes long and didn't give any good details.

Then the Tommyknocker fiasco. I don't know about anyone else but I had problems with my copy. The sound and audio does not match on screen. You see the actors talking but you have to wait a half second to a full second before their lips move. Pretty bad. And of course I couldn't exchange it for another copy since I had already taken it out of the plastic. What a bummer.

Other than that, Rose Red and Storm of the Century are worth buying this. Give me what I want and I'll go away. hahaha. LEGION

Creepy as HELL :-).......2003-03-11

This collection of Stephen King videos has kept me hooked for hours in front of the TV.

OF the four series that this collection contains, "Storm of the century"( 2 DVDs) and "Red Rose" ( 2 DVDs) somehow overshadows the other 2. With these 4 in the collection along with "Shinning", you can have a great collection of scarry and out of the world videos. Moreover buying these 4 together in this collection is cheaper for my wallet too :-)

DVD:

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