The Corner Penthouse

This is one of an ongoing series of reviews that looks at various Blu-ray compilations of movie trailers and TV spots, most notably Umbrella Entertainment's Drive-In Delirium series and Garagehouse Pictures' Trailer Trauma series. Today's review details Trailer Trauma 1. Read on to find out more...

As the title implies, this release contains trailers from the 1960s through the 1980s, with the main focus being Grindhouse-type films: horror, action, martial arts, exploitation, and blaxploitation. There are absolutely no mainstream Hollywood motion pictures represented here, so this release may not be to everyone's liking. Of course, if you like LOTS of nudity and mature content, then this WILL be to your liking. This disc would be rated R, if it were rated in the U.S. A few of the blue/green/red "bands" are included before or after the trailers. There aren't too many, thankfully, as I couldn't imagine sitting through them before each and every trailer.

The trailers are not shown alphabetically or chronologically. I'm really not sure what the order is, though some similar-themed films are kept together. For the most part, there is one trailer per chapter. All of the movie years come from the IMDB and are assumed to be correct. The trailer list included inside the case doesn't list the years. I looked EVERYTHING up in the IMDB and used that.

-- SPECIFICATIONS --

The total trailer runtime is 2:17:06. The full chapter/trailer list is below, following this review. All content is presented in English uncompressed PCM 1.0 Mono, aside from trailers in foreign languages, which are noted in the trailer list below. There are no subtitles, but were you really expecting any?!? All trailers are shown in full 1920x1080 high definition, with various aspect ratios per each film. The disc is region-free and plays fine on U.S. Blu-ray players.

-- PICTURE & AUDIO QUALITY --

Almost all of the trailers were sourced from dirty/damaged film reels. As such, most of them are littered with scratches and dirt, with picture that doesn't always have the best color balance. Although I'm not knowledgeable on the technical aspects of sound-on-film, I do know that the picture and the matching audio are not in the same exact physical spot on the reel. So, if there's physical damage, and you see it in the picture, you won't hear in in the audio track until a second or two later. I believe that this is why the audio in several trailers starts in-progress a second or two after the video starts. This also explains why a few trailers are cut off at the end. I noted these cut off trailers in the list below.

I should note that Garagehouse Pictures are well aware that the content is not up to the high quality one would expect from a Blu-ray release, as the note below is included inside the case.

Due to the age, printing processes and deterioration of the original elements, some colors and soundtracks were no longer possible to be recovered 100%. This edition attempts to restore the closest possible picture and sound fidelity of the trailers as they were originally released.

However, I'd like to point out that (1) The note is INSIDE the case, so you are not given this warning BEFORE you make your purchase and open it up; and (2) These Trailer Trauma releases are not cheap bargain bin releases, and for roughly $30 each, I would expect better quality. Some may disagree with me, and even appreciate the defects as they make the trailers feel more "vintage" and "authentic", but I have to call it like I see it. Also, why is it that the cheaper-priced Australian-imported Drive-In Delirium releases have better quality for a lot of these same trailers?

-- SPECIAL FEATURES --

There are no special features at all.


-- PACKAGING --

The single disc comes inside a standard 12mm clear Blu-ray case. The reverse/inside of the case artwork is a trailer/chapter list on the left side and on the right, under the disc, is a variation on the case artwork.

-- CONCLUSION --

I can't say that I'm too thrilled with this one. None of the films represented here interest me, and the quality SUCKS! A lot of these trailers can be found in better quality on the various Drive-In Delirium releases. I would use those releases as the "base set" and just pick up the Trailer Trauma volumes that contain the unique trailers that you're interested in.

• Trailer Trauma 1
• Trailer Trauma 2: Drive-In Monsterama
• Trailer Trauma 3: '80s Horror-Thon
• Trailer Trauma 4: Television Trauma
• Trailer Trauma 5: '70s Action Attack!

The Blu-ray set was purchased with my own money and was NOT provided to me by anyone involved in the production or distribution of it.



I noted trailers that are also found on the Drive-In Delirium (DID) volumes, but I can't guarantee that they are the exact same trailer. They're for the same movie, under the same title, and they don't seem different from what I remember seeing on the DID releases. In all likelihood, they ARE the same trailer.

01. Title / Restricted Animated Cat 02. Death Bed (1977) 03. The Hex Massacre + Lucifer's Curse (double feature) (1977) (ALSO ON DID4) 04. Dawn of the Mummy (1981) 05. Dark Sunday (1976) 06. Sunday in the Country (1974) 07. Don't Open Till Christmas (1984) 08. Savage Weekend (1979) (ALSO ON DID1) 09. Mean Frank and Crazy Tony (1973) 10. Wacko (1982) (ALSO ON DID2) 11. Hysterical (1983) (not same as on DID3) 12. The Incredible Torture Show (aka Bloodsucking Freaks) (1976) (ALSO ON DID3) 13. Mondo Magic (1975) 14. Coonskin (1975) (animated) 15. Fingers (1978) 16. Revenge of the Living Zombies (aka Flesh Eater) (1988) 17. The Children (1980) (ALSO ON DID2) 18. Dr. Frankenstein on Campus (aka Flick) (1970) 19. Dracula Blows His Cool (1979) 20. Creature from Black Lake (1976) 21. Goliathon (aka The Mighty Peking Man) (1977) 22. The One-Armed Executioner (1981) 23. Naked Vengeance (1985) (ALSO ON DID5) 24. Food of the Gods II (Gnaw: Food of the Gods II) (1989) (ALSO ON DID2) 25. Fright (1972) 26. Jack the Ripper (1976) 27. The Annihilators (1985) 28. Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! (1971) 29. Sands of the Kalihari (1965) 30. Sacrifice! (aka The Man from The Deep River) (1972) (trailer with alt title on DID4) 31. The Games Schoolgirls Play (1972) 32. The College Girl Murders (1967) (audio off sync) 33. Beyond and Back (1978)

34. Black Fist (aka Bogard) (1975) 35. Penitentiary II (1982) 36. Dog Tags (1987) 37. Nightmare (1981) (ALSO ON DID2) 38. Superstition (1982) 39. Andy Warhol's Frankenstein (in 3-D) (1973) 40. Homebodies (1974) 41. The Alpha Incident (1978) 42. Mutant War (1988) (in progress) 43. Eliminators (1986) (ALSO ON DID2) 44. 9 Deaths of the Ninja (1985) (ALSO ON DID2) 45. Stoner (1974) 46. Next! (aka The Next Victim) (1971) (both titles used) 47. The Rah Rah Girls (aka What Have You Done to Solange?) (1972) (tv spot) 48. Paranoia (1969) 49. Silent Madness (1984) 50. Trick or Treats (1982) 51. The Creeper (aka Rituals) (1977) 52. Tango Macabre (aka Seizure) (1974) (in French) 53. Ironmaster: La Guerre Du Fer (Ironmaster: The Iron War) (1983) (in French) (end cut off) 54. No Retreat, No Surrender (1986) 55. Knights of the City (1986) 56. The Legend of Frenchie King (1971) (end cut off) 57. The Farmer (1977) 58. Smokey and the Good Time Outlaws (1978) 59. Smokey and the Hot Wire Gang (1979) 60. The Demon Lover (1976) 61. Diabolic Wedding + Legend of Horror (double feature) (1974) (audio cut off at end) 62&63. Grave of the Vampire + Garden of the Dead (double feature) (1972) 64. Hell Hunters (1987) 65. Return Fire: Jungle Wolf II (1988) (sd source) 66. Captain Apache (1971)

THE END