THRILLER was and still is a genuine timeless Classic from the Golden Age. The highly literate stories were superb and scary, and always left me with nightmares.
Karloff's sly macabre intros were priceless and really set the suspenseful and darkly atmospheric mood.
In great league with TWILIGHT ZONE, ALFRED HITCHCOCK & OUTER LIMITS; perhaps even a few nods superior.
Universal should release all the episodes on DVD to forever preserve and savor these rare gems.
Stephen King devoted a few insightful pages of this one-of-a-kind show in his DANSE MACABRE, calling it the greatest suspense and horror analogy ever produced.
Universal released six episodes of Thriller on LaserDisc and VHS a few years back. Unfortunately whoever picked the episodes to release apparently didn't know the show too well as several of the episodes are not the best from the series. Of the episodes released The Premature Burial (starring Karloff) and The Terror in Teakwood are the best and represent how truly great the series could be. The Incredible Doktor Markesan (starring Karloff) and The Grim Reaper (with William Shatner) are second tier Thrillers and quite good in their own right. Masquerade (with Elizabeth Montgomery and Tom Poston) is a pretty irritating comedy episode and The Premonition (again starring Karloff) is very slow moving. You may be able to find them on EBay or at certain video outlets. Good luck.
I liked Masquerade and The Grim Reaper always scared me. I don't remmeber the others, I havn't seen them in years. I remmeber Th e Premonition a little though. I never really watched that one. It is too slow and I was only five or somthing when I watched them.
Not likely. It's not so much Universal to blame. The copyright to this series was bought by Ms.Lindsey Dunlap. She was supposed to have the series released on video years ago but has never done so. For now all you can find are copies made by fans taped from various parts of the country. Far as I know, they are no longer being shown.
Saw this board a couple of weeks ago, don't know about DVD but all interested should check out a soundtrack CD called 'The Original Music of Thriller' by Pete Rugolo and his Orchestra on the Fresh Sound label, it includes the theme and 11 other titles from the show, among them 'The Hungry Glass', 'Girl with a Secret' and 'Twisted Image'. Great stuff, a must have for Thriller fans, I go into a 40yr retro rush whenever I play it!! (shortly, I'll be able to take advantage of Denny's Senior menu discount) It also has the Music from the 'Richard Diamond' show, also terrific stuff. Sorry for the late reply--
Sad to say Universal has a negative attitude about many of its' celluloid holdings, as in they're not interested in releasing any of the older stuff. The studio does not seem to care about its' early productions. That is apparent in tours of the studio. I first saw the series, 1st run as a young teenager. As I read in another posting, I also taped the series, most episodes when the Sci-Fi Channel aired them in the mid-90s'. Later edited out the commercials. The series still holds up! "Pigeons From Hell" was and still is, one of the best episodes.
Read this post last year about the obscure soundtrack CD of Pete Rugolo. Sounds interesting, but what I'm REALLY (!!!!!) interested in is a CD of the scores that a younger Jerry Goldsmith did for the show. Those were the ones that were most especially scary and creepy. Seems like Rugolo did most of the early ones, while Goldsmith and someone else ( whom I'm forgeting )did the other ones. Goldsmith's uncertain, frightning scores at the end credits were so perfect for this show. I see no mention of a soundtrack collection of any of his early tv work, which was considerable. If anyone hears about such an anthology ( hopefully including thriller!!! ), let us know.
It seems a later thread then this ( 2005 ) is talking that Universal might put it on DVD after all later this year.
The series being released by A&E is not BORIS KARLOFF'S THRILLER (1960) but the British series THRILLER (1973). Nevertheless, I'm glad to see that the 1973 series is coming out.
Check out the UK site - www.sendit.com - and you will THRILLER listed under FUTURE RELEASES... 10 episodes! The site offers no further information but I am presuming that the listing does refer to this classic Boris Karloff hosted TV series.
I have heard that also, but alas the Thriller being released is not the Boris Karloff series, it is a British series from the Seventies. I remember watching it,it was not bad but it certainly was no THRILLER. Hopefully if we keep the pressure on, Universal will release this wonderful classic on DVD. Outer Limits, One Step Beyond, TZ and soon Alfred Hitchcock are on DVD--why not Thriller?
Officially, I do not know if Universal or whomever owns the masters have plans of releasing this 50's icon on DVD, however...
There is a website called skaryguyvideo.com who has the complete set (17 DVDs) of this series. The transfer is excellent and he has them listed and presented in chronological order.
I also bought the book 'This Is A Thriller' which gives you a very good synopsis of each episode. The earlier episodes are very good crime dramas, some with a twist worthy of Alfred Hitchcock Presents but... when Thriller found it's niche, it came alive.
I couldn't wait to view the John Newland (One Step Beyond host) directed 'Pigeons From Hell'. Perhaps the episode was overhyped to me but I found other lesser known episodes more creepy than this one. Still, it's fun to see today's older actors in earlier roles, doing much better work then than now.
i have three of them, but would like to see more. Also, I've come across the first volume of a two volume release of a 1950s television show Karloff did called The Veil, which apparently stayed in the can. It's fun stuff, but not as stern as Thriller.
100.00 bucks on that skaryguyvideo site, its tempting but I buy this stuff and never end up watching it, lol. I did like watching Karloff though on Thriller. I highly recommend getting Karlof in the movie "Targets", I got it in a store for like 7 bucks, he's great and the thing of it is he tells this story about a man trying to escape death (the reaper) and the man is in Iraq, the way he told that tale it totally freaked me out because I was going to Iraq in 2 weeks! Someone needs to have a public domain cable channel that plays only obscure stuff. Why not? There's a freaking channel for some stuff out there I'll never watch! I'd probably watch a public domain channel everyday! They could show a Thriller episode followed by One Step Beyond and than show stuff like Kuckla, Fran and Ollie and than Felix the Cat (the one with the Master Cylinder from the 50's), come on you would be watching that stuff kickin back and lovin it! Than they could show Love American Style and than The In Laws. You know they show the Dick Van Dyke Show over and over and I hate that show! Even the Munsters are getting played out, that show only lasted 2 seasons and its been played for 40 years! I'm watching this One Step Beyond collectors edition from Diamond Entertainment (schlock miester's of crap releases) as I write this and that show is without a doubt, very very boreing. Give me some Thriller!
what was the title of the one with russell johnson, it's the one where he and his wife with another couple spend the night in a creepy house with a real scarey looking old lady appearing in the dark...whooooooooooo...i just remember this scaring the crap out of me when i was a kid. they MUST RELEASE THIS ON DVD!!!!