As Halloween quickly approaches, the studios have started to release piles of horror DVDs. Many of the releases are dreck and or needless re-issues, while other releases (such as "The Fly Collection") are a welcome treat for horror aficionados.

: "The Fly" revolves around a scientist named Andre Delambre, who is working on transporting objects through space. While testing the transporter himself, a fly gets caught in the transporter with him, which results in Andre slowly transforming into a man-fly hybird. The original film (while inferior to David Cronenberg's masterful re-make) is a respectable 50's horror thriller, mainly due to memorable performances by Vincent Price and Al Hedison. Hedison is especially notable as he perfectly shows how the character is slowly losing control over his humanity. As with most classic horror film, the story can be a bit goofy and ridiculous at times. I mean, how many flies live in their house/lab? There seems to be an infestation! Granted, the flies were meant to foreshadow events, but we get the point early on. There's no need to beat it into the ground. "Return Of The Fly" takes place several years later and focuses on Andre's son Philippe trying to pick up where his father left off. The sequel starts out promising in the first half hour as it seems to be a tragic tale of a son falling victim to his father's past mistakes. Instead, the story ventures off into a frightfully dull subplot involving an assistant of Philippe's (who turns out to be a murderous criminal). The only real highlight of the sequel is Vincent Price reprising his role from the first film. "The Curse Of The Fly" sadly doesn't contain a fly or Vincent Price. Instead, the story focuses on the grandson of Andre Delambre (Martin Delambre) who is experimenting on humans. At the same time, Martin is adjusting to married life with a former mental patient while trying to keep secrets about his work away from her. The plot does have an interesting psychological aspect to it. The idea that a mental patient winds up marrying a mad scientist who does unthinkable, horrifying things that only people could imagine is clever. The movie is also a fitting conclusion to the tale of the cursed Delambre family. With that said, "The Curse Of The Fly" isn't a particularly good sequel and turns out to be poorly paced and generally uneventful when it is all over and done with.

The 2.35:1 widescreen picture looks very clean on "The Fly" and "Return Of The Fly." However, "The Curse Of The Fly" appeared a bit fuzzy at times. The English 4.0 stereo track on "The Fly" was clear, as were the English stereo tracks on "Return Of The Fly" and "The Curse Of The Fly." On "The Fly," there is the option to listen to Spanish and French mono tracks, and on "Return Of The Fly" and "The Curse Of The Fly" you can play Spanish or English mono tracks.

"On "The Fly" disc, there is an audio commentary with actor David (Al) Hedison and film historian David Del Valle. The track is very playful as the two talk back and forth about memories from the set, cat cruelty, Herbert's bad leg, shooting the infamous ending, etc. Usually when two strangers do a commentary track together, it's horrendously awkward. That is not the case here. On the bonus disk titled "The Fly Collection Disc Of Horrors" there are a ton of extras. Here's the list: Trailers for "Perfect Creature," "28 Weeks Later," "The Lost World," "Chosen Survivors," "The Earth Dies Screaming," "The House On Skull Mountain," "The Mephisto Waltz," "The Vault Of Horror," "Gorilla At Large," "Mystery On Monster Island," "Witchcraft," "Man In The Attic," "Devils Of Darkness," and "A Blueprint For Murder." Lobby cards and posters, photo galleries, trailers for all three Fly films. Pressbook gallery for "The Curse Of The Fly." A TV spot for "Return Of The Fly." A Fox Movietone News clip about the premiere of "The Fly." English/French/Spanish subtitles. An 11 ? minute featurette titled "Fly Trap: Catching A Classic"- The extra contains interviews with screenwriters, directors, film historians as they discuss the trilogy, the fly mask, the success of the original film, etc. A 44 minute Vincent Price A&E Biography that chronicles the life and times of the legendary actor. The highlights include learning about Price's love of art and seeing clips of Tim Burton's short animated film titled "Vincent." A booklet of facts. "

20th Century Fox did a bang up job in releasing the original Fly trilogy on DVD (with a ton of extras to boot). Old school horror fans should certainly give this set a look. To be honest, however, I'd recommend picking up David Cronenberg's "The Fly" first as it is superior to the original.