I recently discovered the best thing to happen to TV-watching horror movie fans since Universal leased out its back catalogue to syndication in the 1960s. It's called Monsters HD, a high-definition movie channel that plays nothing but horror and sci-fi favorites around the clock, in glorious widescreen. Why hadn't anyone thought of this before? And why did it have to wait until the HD era? Beats me, but I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth.To give you just an example of what I'm talking about, here is a sampling of the films being offered on Monsters HD during this very month:
- Planet of the Apes
- Bride of Frankenstein
- The Day the Earth Stood Still
- The Raven
- Horror of Dracula
- Bubba Ho Tep
- Day of the Dead
- Dragonslayer
- The Fog
- Poltergeist
- An American Werewolf in London
- The Thing (both versions)
- Tombs of the Blind Dead
- One Million Years B.C.
- The Mummy (Hammer)
- Halloween
- The Omen
- The Abominable Dr. Phibes
My wife has (correctly) pointed out that were I to have Monsters HD at home, I would probably never leave the house. Unfortunately, I only came to discover the channel because my parents have it. Yes, dear old Mom and Dad have entered the world of high-def before me. But that's OK, because now that they've moved out here to the wiles of Connecticut from the mean streets of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, flicks like Motel Hell, The Howling and Waxwork are just a two-minute car ride away. I haven't spent this much time with the folks since I got married.
Monsters HD is currently available to subscribers of Optimum iO TV and Dish Network. But only those with HD, of course. Sadly, I discovered that you can't even record the movies on a videocassette. Boooo! I guess it's all part of cable/sattelite's master plan to persuade everyone to switch over to HD as soon as possible. Consider me convinced. As for the wife--well, I'm hoping they'll start up a Hallmark Channel HD real soon...
** 5/14 UPDATE ** Well, it looks like the Solomon curse has struck again. No sooner do I sing the praises of Monsters HD than Dish Network promptly drops the channel. Apparently, there's a big legal squabble going on, with Dish citing low ratings and repetitive programming as the cause, and Monsters HD claiming breach of contract. But the service is still available via Optimum iO, which means I'm still in business.
7 comments:
It is cool to see some of these older films in HD, many of them before they've even reached DVD in this format... sometimes it's even like watching a new movie altogether. But your enthusiasm for this channel will quickly wear off after a couple months as you notice they pretty much play the same stuff over and over and over every month. I've had this channel for over a year now and I think they've maybe added a half dozen different films in all that time.
I know what you're saying, but the way I see it, even the movies they're showing in May alone would take me a year at least to watch. So I think it'll be a while before it gets old.
I really wish I had this since I love me some horror, but at the same time, I would probably never do anything else. Ever.
HD is great - Movies in Blu Ray are even better, if you can imagine that. They actually stopped making movies in HD. Blu Ray will take over.
Yeah, the Solomon Curse strikes again, ha ha! After reading the news this morning over at Bloody Boring Disgusting I quickly checked my channels and all the good HD movies channels were indeed long gone.
Still got Golf in HD though... kill me.
Crap! I've been thinking of switching to Dish ONLY because of this Channel's existence (the existence of Kung Fu HD helped too). Oh well. I guess Direct TV it is. I can still get Chiller there, right?
As of now, it's only Optimum iO that carries Monsters HD.
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