42nd Street Forever: Alamo Draft House Edition (2009)

The fine folks over at Synapse are at it again with this 5th or 6th installment of their 42nd Street trailer collection.  Basically if you haven’t seen one of these yet these DVDs are a collection of movie trailers.  But not just any trailers.  These are the kinds of movies that you might have caught in the heyday of the Grindhouses and Drive-ins.  This set of trailers was chosen by the crew down at the Alamo Draft house from their own collection of trailers. 

It starts off with a cool little public service announcement where Charlton Heston explains the rating systems and why it is useful in helping families determine what is appropriate viewing entertainment.  Then we launch into the trailers themselves.  Now I’m not going to take the time to give a list of the trailers, but I do want to mention a few of the more interesting ones.  First up is a killer Kung Fu movie called Mad Monkey Kung Fu that looks pretty freaking killer.  Then again it might not be, but the trailer is badass.  Lucky 7 looks like a martial arts movie with a bunch of kids getting their asses handed to them.  That is always a good time.  There is another trailer for a movie called Shark Hunter, with Franco Nero that looks awesomely cheesy.  This is a movie that I will have to be tracking down for my DVD collection.  Also up is a Bert Gordon movie that I’ve not seen called Let’s Do it.  Also interesting is an Amicus Sci-fi flick called the Terrornauts.  I’m a big sucker for anything Amicus and would love to check this one out.  I also enjoyed the Mind Warp trailer, but most of us know it under it’s more popular title Galaxy of Terror.  Check this one out if you can find it. 

But the collection isn’t only Kung Fu, Horror, and Sci-Fi.  They also have some pretty goofy action movies represented like the awful Mega Force.  Redneck County looks like a nice little exploitation movie that I need to find.  Also fun is seeing the trailer for Moonrunners, which I think is the movie that inspired the Dukes of Hazzard.  Charles B. Pierce of Boggy Creek and Town that Dreaded Sundown fame also has a trailer here for the Norsemen (another one I’ve not seen).  Finally they have a trailer for a movie called the Magic Christmas Tree that has to be seen. 

I really love these trailer collections for a couple of reasons.  There is nothing better than to pop one of these in when you are sitting around with your friends.  You don’t really need to pay much attention, but I guarantee you that there will be some conversation stoppers where everyone in the room will get caught up for a couple of minutes watch a trailer.  Another reason to check these collections out is that you never know what movie you might discover thru the trailer and track down.  I have a huge DVD collection and I still always manage to dig up a movie or two that I need to see.  I also recommend that you watch this collection with the commentary from the guys at the Alamo Draft House.  They explain where they found some of the trailers, and talk about the movies as well. 

This is another winner from Synapse that I highly recommend that everyone go out and purchase.  This is the kind of DVD that shouldn’t collect any dust from sitting on your shelf. 

3 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer

© Copyright 2009 John Shatzer