I enjoy my horror movies, and strive to find as many as I can. In the process, I have found that as cool as it is to collect the "Special Director's Cut Holographic Foil Cover Necronomicon Edition" of a movie, it's more economical (for me at least) to simply buy box sets. Of course, there are other advantages... as well as disadvantages to buying box sets.
The obvious advantage is the financial one that spurred me into collecting them. I have one box set that has fifty horror movies (pretty much all of them black and white ones from the 1920 up to the 1950's). It only cost me $20.00. When you do that math, that's $2.50 per movie. When you compare that to the price of most single movie DVD's- $9.00 to $24.00, and you can see the financial value of purchasing box sets. A definate point in favor of them.
Another advantage is the variety of box sets. Are you a fan of a franchise such as, "The Omen"? Well, you can probably find a box set that has all the movies in it. I have one with all "The Omen" movies- including the 2006 remake. Like vampire movies? There's a box set. Need to add some serial killer movies to collection? Got a box set for that as well. There is a box set for pretty much every franchise or category of horror film to be found that will satisfy your horror craving.
The next point could be an advantage- or a disadvantage, depending on how you view it: copies of movies. Many box sets will include movies that are part of other box sets. For some this is a waste of DVD space- what good is having more than one copy of a movie in your collection? Well, for me, having that extra "copy" is nice. I had one box set where it's copy of "Dementia 13" was unwatchable due to minor damage to the DVD. Since this is one of my favorite movies, I was- well, annoyed to say the least. Luckily though, another box set had a viewable copy (in fact, this movie is in three of my box sets). Because of this, box sets can allow a collector to rest assured that they'll have at least one (hopefully) copy of a movie they'll be able to watch.
Another mixed blessing of box sets are the variety of movies in them. Many of the films are little known or independent movies, so there is always the chance that you'll find a real gem of a horror movie. I know I always feel satisfied with a box set purchase when I find a well done movie that few people know about. Of course, to balance the joy of finding a gem, you'll also find some real lumps of coal in your box set stocking. I have a few in my box set collection where I can honestly say that I've seen better stuff made by YouTube users.
One disadvantage of box sets (besides those for franchises) is the lack of "Special Features"- which is one of the reasons why horror fans will buy the "Special Director's Cut Holographic Foil Cover Necronomicon Edition" of movies and franchise box sets. It's always interesting to see the trailers, deleted scenes, and featurettes. Having said this, I do, however, have ONE general horror movie box set that DOES have special features on it for the movies: "Horror Movie Classics (Collector's Edition)" by Madacy Home Video. They included:
- Movie Trivia for each movie;
- Biographies of cast and crews;
- Blooper reels;
- News reels; and
- Movie poster gallery.
The only other disadvantage is finding time to watch all the movies. Even though I watch about three horror movies a week so I can review them for the site, I STILL a have two or three box sets (with 25 to 50 movies apiece) to work through. Add to that the fact that as soon as I see a new box set, I more or less buy it, you can see how it could prove disadvantageous to a horror fan's life.
However, looking back on this article, I would have to come to the conclusion that buying box sets definately has advantages over buy single DVD's that outweigh any disadvantages. Given that, I think I'll continue to buy my box sets... and find joy in their contents...
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