100 YEARS OF HORROR
Directed by Ted Newsom
Passport Home Video. 1996.
26 Episodes, Approx. 23 Minute Episodes. Color/B&W.

What can be said about a DVD set that holds roughly ten hours of horror documentaries? A whole lot, and when hosted by the legendary Christopher Lee, a whole lot more. Passport Entertainment brings this entire landmark series to the masses in a five-disc set sure to please horror fans and movie buffs alike.

100 Years of Horror explores the first century of screen horror. In a case-by-case manner, the documentary discusses the making of particular films, the careers of film makers and actors and how the horror film making industry was affected by these films.

The contents of the five discs are broken down into five television-length documentaries (approximately 23 minutes each, with six documentaries on the fifth disc). The subjects covered are Dracula and His Disciples, Blood-Drinking Beings, Frankenstein's Friends, Baron Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Werewolves, Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Ghosts, Phantoms, Witches, Demons, Mutants, Freaks, Scream Queens, Girl Ghouls, Maniacs, Gory Gimmicks, Sorcerers, Aliens, Mummies, Zombies, Mad Doctors, Man-Made Monsters, Giants and Dinosaurs. The bulk of these mini-docs consist of interviews, the recollections of actors involved with these films (as well as the families of legendary actors), trailer segments and narration by Christopher Lee. Some of the material is repetitive, but there are rare home movies with Karloff, interviews with fans and industry professionals alike (such as Hugh Hefner, Sara Karloff, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Bela Lugosi Jr., Dick Miller, Don Glut and Fred Olen Ray), captivating anecdotes, film facts and trailer footage.

100 Years of Horror is more widely known than Director Ted Newsom's other documentaries, such as Monsters & Maniacs and Hollywood Dinosaurs. It is by far the highest-quality of his documentaries as far as production values are concerned.

100 Years of Horror, after its initial television run in the late 1990s, was edited down into a feature-length edition, but this set is the most complete version, retaining the individual episodes as they were originally aired. The audio and video quality of this set varies with each episode. The variation in quality is not only conducive to the film footage and differences in media used for interviews (some were shot on video, others on film), but rather due to the variation in compression of each episode. Some of the episodes appear to be slightly artifacted (or "blocky"), others seem perfectly fine. In addition to the compression issues, there is a distracting translucent logo (reading "100 Years of Horror"), or "bug," at the lower-right-hand portion of the screen. It would be understandable if the the footage was for use in broadcast, but when an individual purchases a DVD, they expect to be able to enjoy the feature without distraction.

The other annoying aspect of this set is the tricky menu system. There is no option for continuous playback, and each episode is accessed by a sub-menu system. This means that when an episode is selected, the viewer is brought to another menu that gives them the option of either playing the episode or returning to the main menu. Award-winning menu design this is not.....

Despite its flaws, 100 Years of Horror is an excellent source of horror entertainment as well as cinematic insight. It covers many subjects and sub-genres and can make a day off for any horror fan one not to be forgotten.