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Haunted Histories Collection Megaset
A&E Video // Unrated // September 29, 2009
List Price: $79.95 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Film:
History Channel's Haunted Histories Collection brings together twenty documentary-style explorations behind some of the most "spine-chiling" myths among civilized culture, from vampires and poltergeists to the history of Halloween. It's a collection that follows through in illustrating some of the world's "scariest" stories, even if they don't physically scare themselves; from discussion about Bathory as an original vampire to discussion about Marie Leveau as the queen during Voodoo's Creole epoch, there's certainly an onslaught of fascinating tales cradled within the set. Each episode, most lasting roughly 45 minutes, mixes expert interviews with dramatizations of historical events that enlighten its audience to the events underneath both proven and unproven phenomenon.
One of the issues in tying them all into one collection comes in the prospect of repetitive material, as compelling as the content may be. Some of the recurring topics stay fresh and enlightening, like "Vampire Secrets" in comparison to "Bloodlines: The Dracula Family Tree", however the "Hauntings" and "Poltergeist" material blurs together in a whirlwind of ex post facto interviews that can't elucidate the topic. It doesn't help that those features mostly interview victims of paranormal activity without empirical, audience-friendly evidence to back it up. Hearing historians and vampire enthusiasts dissect Lady Bathory as a vampire and connect her to the whims behind Bram Stoker's writings of Dracula becomes fascinating due to their ability to sell the idea based on her murderous, morbid acts as recorded in history, but watching paranormal investigators yammer on about a "blue light" existing while videotape footage shows nothing but a black room transforms it into a tough sell. They're intriguing, based on the victim's emotionality regarding the events and the activity they claim to have occurred, but not persuasive enough as a historical program.
Just about every episode in the bundle struggles with some of The History Channel's programming weaknesses -- namely a lot of theorizing and deviation from the material amid the recounts of naturally intriguing history. It becomes especially obvious during the more theatrical, longer pieces, where they show the same close-ups of costume-draped individuals and stay persistent in saying the same material over and over to try and get a goosebump-laden rise out of its audience. Still, this boxed set completes a full bushel of all of the programs from previous Haunted Histories collections (Vampires, Witches, Poltergeists, and More and Dracula, Witches, Voodoo, and Exorcism reviewed on DVDTalk), bringing them all into a massive onslaught of historical creepiness that's compelling simply for the context.
The fourth volume, centered on haunted cities like Savannah, Ga and Washington DC, proves to offer some of the better entries of the bunch. They bring together authors and historians to describe the histories behind specific landmarks, and then photograph these locations in a form of video log. It's a similar framework to that of the Poltergeist and Haunted Houses segments, yet the capturing of the specific locations adds a sense of travelogue enjoyment -- along with adding a few ideas of locations to stop at when vacationing at the specific locations. From discussion about a bar along the riverside Georgia city once inhabited by pirates to the persistent ringing of a bell around Washington D.C.'s Octagon find the perfect blend between historical context and eeriness.
It's best to look at the Haunted Histories Collection as a giant box of campfire stories bound together in one massive eighteen (18) hour stream, each one carrying their own level of quality from piece to piece. The difficulty in evaluating each one comes in differentiating whether the program's content itself justifies the time spent within lackluster pacing and humdrum reproductions of historical content. Case for example: each of the elements discussed in the "Salem Witch Trials" piece remain intriguing, including depictions of their executions, but the pacing and discussion brings the mood down to a very inactive and deliberate rhythm. Some are much better, like the overlong but thoroughly engaging "Vampire Secrets" and the exquisite "Haunted History of Halloween" that dives into its pagan connotations of the holiday, which justifies some of the other droll and tedious segments. Even with their misfires in rhythm, it's hard not to find a curious level of satisfaction in soaking in the material within each of these Haunted Histories programs.
The DVD:
History Channel's Haunted Histories Collection comes in a hefty boxset spread across eight individual cases. Previous volumes available in program-per-case offerings have been condensed to two or three discs per case to conserve space. It's worth noting that some of the better pieces in the pack are available to purchase on an individual basis, like Vampire Secrets, the Haunted History of Halloween, and Haunted History: Savannah, but purchasing just one or two of them will come close to half the list price of this full-on set. Here's a breakdown of the programs available in this package, arranged in the original volumes:
Each of the programs are available in 1.33:1 full-frame offerings that sometimes switch over to letterbox framing for a few of the reenactments. These aren't features made to be evaluated based on their visual quality, as the transfers are merely serviceable reproductions of videotape-to-disc pieces. Aliasing, shimmering, and all the other issues pop up, but at least the colors stay strong and the image remains in-tact. Audio comes in Dolby 2.0 Stereo offerings that mostly preserve the sound quality to fine degrees. Some interview tracks grow a little wonky and vocals scrape the higher levels of audio tracks to near distortion levels, but that's only in a handful of cases.
Final Thoughts:
Though they've all been available in other sets released throughout the past few years, this History Channel: Haunted Histories Collection Megaset gathers all of their eerie documentaries into one batch -- making it a perfect purchase to nail down the whole she-bang for one flat price. The documentaries themselves are hit-and-miss with quality in regards to interview quality and dialogue revolving around the topics, but they all elaborate on the eerie origins behind a plethora of elements cropping up in modern horror culture. Recommended.
Thomas Spurlin, Staff Reviewer -- DVDTalk Reviews | Personal Blog/Site
 |
One of the issues in tying them all into one collection comes in the prospect of repetitive material, as compelling as the content may be. Some of the recurring topics stay fresh and enlightening, like "Vampire Secrets" in comparison to "Bloodlines: The Dracula Family Tree", however the "Hauntings" and "Poltergeist" material blurs together in a whirlwind of ex post facto interviews that can't elucidate the topic. It doesn't help that those features mostly interview victims of paranormal activity without empirical, audience-friendly evidence to back it up. Hearing historians and vampire enthusiasts dissect Lady Bathory as a vampire and connect her to the whims behind Bram Stoker's writings of Dracula becomes fascinating due to their ability to sell the idea based on her murderous, morbid acts as recorded in history, but watching paranormal investigators yammer on about a "blue light" existing while videotape footage shows nothing but a black room transforms it into a tough sell. They're intriguing, based on the victim's emotionality regarding the events and the activity they claim to have occurred, but not persuasive enough as a historical program.
Just about every episode in the bundle struggles with some of The History Channel's programming weaknesses -- namely a lot of theorizing and deviation from the material amid the recounts of naturally intriguing history. It becomes especially obvious during the more theatrical, longer pieces, where they show the same close-ups of costume-draped individuals and stay persistent in saying the same material over and over to try and get a goosebump-laden rise out of its audience. Still, this boxed set completes a full bushel of all of the programs from previous Haunted Histories collections (Vampires, Witches, Poltergeists, and More and Dracula, Witches, Voodoo, and Exorcism reviewed on DVDTalk), bringing them all into a massive onslaught of historical creepiness that's compelling simply for the context.
The fourth volume, centered on haunted cities like Savannah, Ga and Washington DC, proves to offer some of the better entries of the bunch. They bring together authors and historians to describe the histories behind specific landmarks, and then photograph these locations in a form of video log. It's a similar framework to that of the Poltergeist and Haunted Houses segments, yet the capturing of the specific locations adds a sense of travelogue enjoyment -- along with adding a few ideas of locations to stop at when vacationing at the specific locations. From discussion about a bar along the riverside Georgia city once inhabited by pirates to the persistent ringing of a bell around Washington D.C.'s Octagon find the perfect blend between historical context and eeriness.
It's best to look at the Haunted Histories Collection as a giant box of campfire stories bound together in one massive eighteen (18) hour stream, each one carrying their own level of quality from piece to piece. The difficulty in evaluating each one comes in differentiating whether the program's content itself justifies the time spent within lackluster pacing and humdrum reproductions of historical content. Case for example: each of the elements discussed in the "Salem Witch Trials" piece remain intriguing, including depictions of their executions, but the pacing and discussion brings the mood down to a very inactive and deliberate rhythm. Some are much better, like the overlong but thoroughly engaging "Vampire Secrets" and the exquisite "Haunted History of Halloween" that dives into its pagan connotations of the holiday, which justifies some of the other droll and tedious segments. Even with their misfires in rhythm, it's hard not to find a curious level of satisfaction in soaking in the material within each of these Haunted Histories programs.
The DVD:
History Channel's Haunted Histories Collection comes in a hefty boxset spread across eight individual cases. Previous volumes available in program-per-case offerings have been condensed to two or three discs per case to conserve space. It's worth noting that some of the better pieces in the pack are available to purchase on an individual basis, like Vampire Secrets, the Haunted History of Halloween, and Haunted History: Savannah, but purchasing just one or two of them will come close to half the list price of this full-on set. Here's a breakdown of the programs available in this package, arranged in the original volumes:
| Haunted Histories: Volume 1: Hauntings Vampire Secrets Salem Witch Trails The Haunted History of Halloween Poltergeist | Haunted Histories: Volume 2: Haunted Houses More Haunted Houses: Tortured Souls and Restless Spirits Zombies Voodoo Rituals In Search of the Real Frankenstein |
| Haunted Histories: Volume 3: Bloodlines: The Dracula Family Tree Exorcism: Driving Out the Devil Witch Hunt Exorcising the Devil Voodoo Secrets | Haunted Histories: Volume 4: Haunted Tombstone Haunted Washington, D.C. Haunted Savannah Haunted Hawaii Haunted Chicago |
Each of the programs are available in 1.33:1 full-frame offerings that sometimes switch over to letterbox framing for a few of the reenactments. These aren't features made to be evaluated based on their visual quality, as the transfers are merely serviceable reproductions of videotape-to-disc pieces. Aliasing, shimmering, and all the other issues pop up, but at least the colors stay strong and the image remains in-tact. Audio comes in Dolby 2.0 Stereo offerings that mostly preserve the sound quality to fine degrees. Some interview tracks grow a little wonky and vocals scrape the higher levels of audio tracks to near distortion levels, but that's only in a handful of cases.
Final Thoughts:
Though they've all been available in other sets released throughout the past few years, this History Channel: Haunted Histories Collection Megaset gathers all of their eerie documentaries into one batch -- making it a perfect purchase to nail down the whole she-bang for one flat price. The documentaries themselves are hit-and-miss with quality in regards to interview quality and dialogue revolving around the topics, but they all elaborate on the eerie origins behind a plethora of elements cropping up in modern horror culture. Recommended.
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