Cold War Creatures: Four Films from Sam Katzman Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.5

Cold War Creatures: Four Films from Sam Katzman Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 10, 2021

Sam Katzman's name may frankly not be held in the same general esteem as some other famous Golden Era producers like David O. Selznick or Adolph Zukor, but for sheer number of films produced and perhaps especially in cost to profit ratio, Katzman might eclipse more ostensible luminaries than you might expect. While Zukor, as the head of Paramount Pictures, got literally hundreds of "presents" credits, his actual producing credits (according to the IMDb) number fewer than a hundred, and Selznick logs in with even fewer than that. Of course both Selznick and Zukor tended to enjoy much more fulsome budgets and more glittering marquee stars than Katzman, a hardscrabble guy who started working in the film industry when he was barely a teenager, and who then climbed the ranks to work at a number of studios, including "poverty row" centers like Monogram, but also 20th Century Fox, Metro Goldwyn Mayer and Columbia, ending up with (again according to the IMDb) 239 credits as producer. The four Katzman produced efforts Arrow Video has aggregated in this appealing collection may arguably not be from Hollywood's "real" Golden Era, with, as the title of the collection may hint at, these films all emanating a mid- fifties ambience that sought to attract younger viewers in particular away from the hypnotizing influence of that confounded television invention, often courtesy of plots that included science fiction and/or horror.

For reviews of the four films in this set, please click on the following links:

Creature with the Atom Brain Blu-ray review

The Werewolf Blu-ray review

Zombies of Mora Tau Blu-ray review

The Giant Claw Blu-ray review

Cold War Creatures: Four Films from Sam Katzman Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Video quality of each film is assessed in the above linked reviews.

Cold War Creatures: Four Films from Sam Katzman Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio quality of each film is assessed in the above linked reviews.

Cold War Creatures: Four Films from Sam Katzman Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Supplements included with each film are detailed in the above linked reviews. Additionally, this is yet another beautifully packaged release from Arrow, one which also includes two separate 80 page collector's books, one featuring extensive new writing, and the other featuring reproduction stills and artwork, along with new writing by Stephen R. Bissette. Two double sided posters and reversible sleeves, as well as mini reproductions of lobby cards for each film, round out the non disc swag of this nicely done release.

Cold War Creatures: Four Films from Sam Katzman Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sam Katzman may have frankly concentrated more on quantity rather than quality, but that said, even the low budget offerings in this set show what a capable producer he was, and each of the films has its own (sometimes kind of peculiar) pleasures. Arrow has once again come to cult cinema lovers' aid by offering a release with solid technical merits and some outstanding supplements, all in a very handsomely packaged product. Recommended.