I’ve had to watch and review a lot of crap in my nearly decade long life as a reviewer. Usually there’s something good to say about almost anything, no matter how bad the title is. I have officially gotten the absolute worst piece of garbage that has ever arrived on my front door in Hollywood The Dark Side Collection. Honestly, that’s all I have to say…..
Editor’s note: We finally tracked Gino back down and “requested” that he complete this review. We apologize for any delay this might have caused. –Ed.
I’m back. What makes this such a horrible release, you might ask. You wouldn’t, of course, need to ask if you sat down for just 5 minutes with this crap. Let’s start with the images. Very little of this footage is actually…well…footage. Most of it is a slide show of stills presented in terrible image quality. The occasional footage is mostly film clips by the various subjects, again in incredibly bad quality. Look… I really don’t have anything else to say here, sorry.
Editor’s note: With the help of an old bike chain and a lost key lock, we’ve managed to more securely “tie” Gino to his computer, so that he may finish the review. Again, our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.
The narration has got to be a joke here. The narrator rushes through each subject like he was rattling off a shopping list. There is no inflection to his tone. He moves from subject to subject without any kind of transition or conclusion to what came before. He’s obviously reading from a not so well prepared script and wasn’t being paid by the hour. That’s it. I’m done.
Last Editor’s note (we promise): apparently the old bike chain and lock wasn’t as strong as we originally thought. Please bear with us as we make a hardware store run for something a little more….persuasive.
All right. This is the last I’m going to say on the matter. There are 2 discs here. The first is called Death & Scandal and deals with various Hollywood celebrities who have died under mysterious circumstances. It includes the obvious choices: Natalie Wood, Bob Crane, George Reeves, and Sal Mineo among others. But you won’t learn anything about the cases. There’s no speculation or information provided other than the already documented facts. Again, it’s a list. The second disc has segments on Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe. The bios are all dull and, again, merely rattle off some well known facts. I’m outta here!
Editor’s Note: Thank you for your patience.
Video
The full frame presentation is simply unwatchable. I’ve seen camcorder footage that was dubbed 16 times that looked better. To charge money for this kind of video should be criminal.
Audio
See video.
Special Features
Rock ‘N’ Roll Deaths: The same treatment is given to the likes of Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, Janice Joplin and others.
Hollywood Blondes: Insert your own Blonde joke here.
Final Thoughts
If you’re really interested in this stuff, look to Discovery or A&E for some biographies and specials that actually cover the subject. The real scandal here is that someone actually put these discs out. The ethics of whoever is responsible for this are, “Shall we say questionable?”
