HISTORY:
My "world" is 'the arts' and more specifically, music, artwork and hand crafted/decorated chinaware's.
I am not a film enthusiast but an associate has asked me to find new owners for THEIR large collection of photographic and film items ... this is one of those items.
While the world of 8mm/Super 8mm is not my area of expertise, I am doing my best to establish the condition of each item that I am listing.
I tend to be quite detailed in my item descriptions, please READ all the details to decide if this item may interest you.
This reel appears to be excerpts from a couple of films, the first is Black & White and the remaining film is colour. Sound with both. Personally I thought the first film was a "hoot" so silly but fun to watch!
Now, on with the description ...
UNIVERSAL 8 FILMS - Super 8 Film
Commercial release for the Home Movie market
1st section of the reel: Screaming Skull (1958)
2nd section of the reel: The Boston Stranger (1968)
Catalogue # unknown
Spliced reel containing excerpts from two films
The first film is a "hoot" (in my view) ... reminded me of the mindless Sci-Fi horror "Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes"! The skull isn't screaming but oh my goodness, the actors do - A LOT! Lady opens the front door (which the skull had been knocking at) and sees a skull on her steps - let's out an almighty scream. Man gets "chased" down a staircase by a rolling skull, yes - lots more screaming. This skull rolls around all over the place and everyone screams! Not a lot of dialogue, just screaming. This trailer (note the tone) says it all ...
The second film starts around 7 minutes into the reel, its the original The Boston Stranger with Tony Curtis & Henry Fonda. The film explores the mind of a serial killer but with only around 7~8 minutes run time, the story is short.
Housed in a HANIMEX light Grey two part plastic case.
Leader film fitted
7" 400' Black DUAL EIGHT plastic reel
Black & White // Colour
Sound
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
Film stock and the reel is undamaged
HANIMEX light Grey plastic case is undamaged with no damage to the case i.e no cracks or broken pieces
No unusual smells detected coming off the film i.e no vinegar or musty smells
NO personal names on the case or the film reel
Both the case and reel have this information on a label
(1) B&W THE SCREAMING SKULL
(2) COLOUR THE BOSTON STRANGLER
Cleaned & Lub 11/10/83 - yes, 1983!
TESTING:
Test projector is the ELMO 1200 that I have on hand at the moment.
Film looks to be clean and in good condition, sprocket holes are not damaged.
I only ran the film for around ten minutes, this is the complete film for The Screaming Skull (I just had to watch it!) and the first few minutes of The Boston Strangler.
Screaming Skull looks good, contrast is ok and without a lot of noise. Sound is fine also although I grew a bit tired of the constant screaming.
The Boston Strangler had definitely suffered Blue dye decay, very Red/Pink with little else in the colours. Sound is again fine.
SPECIAL NOTE:
I always include a couple of "off screen" snapshots of each reel as it is played ... now my digital camera is antiquated (colour balance? what's that - like I said, this is one very OLD camera that I currently use) and it's limitations are definitely showing up in these sample photographs.
I take the screen shot in very low light levels, the camera flash is turned off (otherwise the picture is flooded with White) and the camera shutter speed is very slow.
This means I have trouble getting sharp photographs, especially when there is movement on the screen and I have noticed that after viewing quite a few films now, that my poor OLD digital camera is tending to shift images towards the Red or Yellow end of town, - in real life the on-screen Black & White picture is not as Yellow as recorded in the photographs although the second film is pretty much as shown, VERY RED!
In my opinion, after this very brief test, I am happy that the film is as stated on the box and that the film stock appears to be in quite good technical condition.
I am very fastidious and careful with these films (I am afterall doing this on behalf of another person) and I have now packed it back into the HANIMEX two piece box AND sealed the film within clear plastic - waiting for a Super 8 film horror enthusiast to "enjoy"!
