Mill Creek sets cheap at Amazon…

Updated on February 17, 2010 By Ken Begg 14 Comments

I can’t explain why I find these sets so counterintuitively satisfying.  I can only assume they call to mind those halcyon days of going to video stores and renting heaps of poorly framed anonymous schlock each weekend, hoping against hope for one reasonably good flick.  And as well of buying boxloads of similar fare off eBay when the video store market crashed.

Even so, if nothing else, you get a lot of really weird, obscure crap in these sets, even if the presentations generally suck.  On the other hand, unlike with videos (from which most of the films are ported over), these don’t weigh a ton, take up a lot of self space, go wiggy after a number of years.  Besides, when you’re paying something like a quarter  a movie, you can’t complain too much.

The biggest problem with these is that the sets often sold out quickly, and then would only be available for list price (a lot steeper) or even off-market prices.  Check Amazon for some of the sets that have gone out production, and you’ll find third parties trying to get $100 or more for some of the sets.

Right now, however, Amazon is selling a bunch of these sets for over half off, and if you get over that magic $25 order mark, you get free shipping to boot.  That’s pretty sweet.

I also love the Amazon reviewers who list every movie on each set.  Good on you, folks!

For what it’s worth, I find the best ways to search for these is to search under DVD and use “50 movies pack” as the search term. Generally you get a bunch of them, if not all, that way.

By the way, I’ve been busy writing some actual, you know, reviews to be posted by the end of the month, but after that I’ll get back to running through some of the sets I’ve bought myself. I just ordered that 100 film sci-set today.

Pin It



Related Posts

  • BeckoningChasm

    “War of the Robots” is a “Chilling Classic.” Just sayin’.

    Also, if folks buy a lot of these, they’re actually getting fewer films as there are lots and lots of repeated titles across the sets.

  • Ericb

    Isn’t it cheating a bit to have both Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet and Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women on the same set.

  • BeckoningChasm

    EricB, they’re not only on the same set, they’re also ONE right AFTER the OTHER! (At least on the version I own.)

  • Also, if folks buy a lot of these, they’re actually getting fewer films as there are lots and lots of repeated titles across the sets.

    That’s true, so you want to check the line-ups, and if you’re planning to buy a lot of these films, you can buy the megapacks. They actually have sets that offer 250 films!

  • Two different movies, though. Watch them both and argue with your friends about which sucked worse!

    By the way, BC, having just seen War of the Robots, I’d certainly say the idea of watching it again is chilling. So there’s that.

  • fish eye no miko

    I have kind of a strange question: There are packs of 50, 100, and 250 (!!)… Does the quality of the movies (both the presentation as well as the actual movies themselves) decrease as the number of films increases?

  • fish eye no miko

    Oops, forgot to mention: It’s fun to look at these packs and see how many of these films have been on MST.

  • Does the quality of the movies (both the presentation as well as the actual movies themselves) decrease as the number of films increases?

    No, they just don’t get any better. The bigger sets have more discs, so the roughly four movies per disc ratio is maintained. Indeed, I think the bigger sets just incorporate the smaller sets into one package, so you’re really get the exact same discs, just more of them.

  • Because MST3K had just a low budget, they showed public domain films when they could. So yeah, there’s a lot of overlap.

  • BeckoningChasm

    I think Mills Creek (and before they went belly-up, Treeline) only had, like, 300 films. They just shuffle them around from box to box. “Hey, let’s call this one ’50 Spine-Tingling Classics!'” “Yeah, and we can call this one ’50 Rocket Ship Classics!'”

    (Actually, that’s probably not fair, since they have boxes for Comedy, Family, Hollywood Stars, Westerns, etc.)

  • BeckoningChasm

    A word of caution: scour the reviews to find out of the box actually has the titles that Amazon says. (Check the most recent reviews). The “50 Sci Fi Classics” box used to have “Zontar, The Thing From Venus” and “Robot Monster” and it seems it no longer does. (I own the Treeline version which has both films.)

  • fish eye no miko

    Ken Begg said: “Indeed, I think the bigger sets just incorporate the smaller sets into one package, so you’re really get the exact same discs, just more of them.”

    Oh, yes, that makes sense. Thanks for the reply. (-:

  • Rock Baker

    Mill Creek is known for putting out these cheapo sets, but I got hold of the “Gorehouse Greats” collection -which should’ve been released as the Crown International Pictures Drive-in Classics Collection- and you’d be amazed that Mill Creek was also responsible for that release. For the most part, the prints looked incredible and were even letterboxed. Probably the only time you’ll ever see such a wonderful transfer of a gigantic turkey like Blood Mania! It appears Crown International was involved in the production of the set, too bad they didn’t insist some trailers be included. Except for the bare-bones nature of the disks, it was probably the best looking collection of drive-in junk you’ll ever see.

  • BeckoningChasm

    Related: DeepDiscount has the complete “Deadwood” series for $72.