October's haul of DVDs could easily have been all classic horror films. A flood of Halloween releases on the 11th and 18th were very tempting, but with so many unscreened classic horror titles already in the library, I decided to acquire only certain essential titles for now, in favor of feeding other obsessions, old and new.

THE FLY COLLECTION contains two films already owned, THE FLY and its first sequel, RETURN OF THE FLY. The original is an iconic 50s monster movie enlivened by some memorably silly dialogue and Vincent Price's melodramatic hand-wringing, and RETURN OF THE FLY its even sillier direct followup. The third feature film in the box, though, is the long-unavailable CURSE OF THE FLY. I have scant memories of seeing CURSE on TV in the early 70s. The film has a minor cult status for its bizarre melodramatic mood and for taking welcome liberties with the concepts set by the previous films.

BEAST WITH A MILLION EYES is a notorious Roger Corman film in which the monster called for by the title was ruled out by the budget. The substitute solution - a monster confined to its crashed spaceship using telekinesis to possess and control living things, thereby having at least a metaphoric "million eyes" - still so taxed the funds that the crashed spaceship had to be made from a dented coffee pot.

GORILLA AT LARGE was one of those films which was in constant rotation on KBHK 44's monster movie programs in the early 70s, but which I somehow never managed to see all the way through - no doubt because it isn't very good, but that's all the more reason to finally get it over with. The title is the premise, which is always a good sign.

The generically named MIDNIGHT MOVIES COLLECTION is actually a box set of four Ray Dennis Steckler horror and comedy films - two of each - from the 60s. THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES WHO STOPPED LIVING AND BECAME MIXED-UP ZOMBIES is one of my very favorite trash horror films of the era, and I already owned it as a single, but had not yet had the moral conviction to purchase THRILL KILLERS, RAT PFINK AND BOO BOO and THE LEMON GROVE KIDS MEET THE MONSTERS. This box is astoundingly cheap, only $14 at Deep Discount DVD. Steckler may be an acquired taste, but at that price for four features with commentaries and massive extras, how can you go wrong? The commentaries alone are worth the cost, as Steckler documents the making of some of the lowest-budget genre films ever screened in theaters. And THRILL KILLERS is actually a pretty robust little psycho-on-a-rampage piece. It looks like a second collection will be released in November at the same price point.

Since finally succumbing to the lure of KILINK, the Turkish interpretation of Italy's masked anti-hero KRIMINAL, I have been moved to purchase the entire catalog of Onar Films. Onar is a tiny company dedicated to the very difficult and noble task of restoring Turkish genre films for DVD release. I have a pretty good idea what to expect from 3 DEV ADAM and the two Superman films, but WHATEVER TITLE ia a complete mystery. It looks like it might mingle Turkish folk tales with some Italian horror motifs, but I won't know until it gets screened.

LE BAMBOLE is a 1965 anthology film packed with Eurostars and helmed by a who's-who of Italian directors whose films are largely unavailable on DVD. Mauro Bolognini, Dino Risi, Luigi Comenici, and Franco Rossi have only a handful of DVDs between them.

The release of I VINTI very nearly completes Antonioni's early filmography on English-friendly DVD. The only pre-L'AVVENTURA feature not yet available with subtitles is LADY WITHOUT CAMELIAS, and of course his early documentaries remain missing. (Of his later films, CHUN KUO CHINA is the one I most crave. I saw this about ten years ago when The Castro Theatre had a week-long Antonioni retrospective, and would love to have a DVD set of it, tricked out with as many extras as could be mustered.)

Finally, WHAT? is a rogue Roman Polanski sex comedy of which I know nothing at all save that it was filmed in Italy.

There has recently been a flood of 70s and 80s vintage European softcore sexploitation films coming to DVD. The relatively new company Severin Films is responsible for much of this very welcome glut, and have most recently released the notorious Italian film MALABIMBA and a more obscure knock-off called SATAN'S BABY DOLL. I've been slightly remiss in keeping up with Severin's releases, and so also purchased their earlier GWENDOLINE to begin filling in some of the gaps.

SCHOOLGIRL REPORT 2 is the second in the long-running German "Report" series, Mondo-like fake documentaries on the important social issue of shifting moral values among Germany's youth in the 1970s. The films are narrated in a stern and totally deadpan German voice while frizzy-haired Eurohippies cavort to incongruous (and terrific) jazzy lounge music - had any real college students been involved in the making of these films, rather than the middle aged men who actually made them, surely these would have had rock soundtracks. These films must be experienced to be believed, they are an absolute hoot in any context. I'm saving this one to watch on Christmas.

TEENAGER LIEBEN HEISS is the original title of a film better known in English as BLUE JEANS. I recall a Variety ad for it under that title, but otherwise know nothing about it. Gloria Guida - known to me in name only - seems to have a bit of a cult.

WICKED WOMEN is a late-70s Jesus Franco film produced by Erwin Dietrich. With this purchase, I currently own 49 Jesus Franco films on DVD. One day, I hope to explain why.