Grampa’s Silly Scaries (Cartoons)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: D     Cartoons: B-

 

 

Some items are such novelties that their picture and sound quality are not always the main point or feature.  The Munsters continues to be very popular with fans of all ages, so the idea that Al Lewis as Grampa Munster hosted a thrown-together set of select cartoons is itself a sort of Pop Culture item that many would otherwise expect to be stuck with on cheap VHS or bootleg copy there of.  Grampa’s Silly Scaries is one of two such hosted compilations now on DVD.

 

To say that the picture and sound quality is average at best and that the Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is varied is the best way to put it without going into “unnecessary” detail.  That there are no extras is irrelevant.  This is simply a new way to have a later collectible for fans of the TV series, Horror and these cartoons, which are:

 

1)     Casper in A Haunting We Will Go

2)     The Cobweb Hotel

3)     A Cartoon Travesty Of The Raven

4)     Frankenstein Monster

5)     Three Stooges Versus The Mummy Ghost

6)     Popeye in Fright To The Finish

7)     The Pincushion Man and The Balloon People

 

These are actually not bad and a better copy appears on the terrific double set complication from VCI called Somewhere In Dreamland, a collection of Fleischer Color cartoons.  Most of the shorts here are from that studio or what was left of it when Paramount Pictures took over.  Too bad better copies of all seven toons were not available, as they could have been insert-edited into the Lewis footage.  Still, it is good for a watch and not bad for kids, despite the picture quality.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo