Cartoon Roots: Halloween Haunts (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

The third volume of Tommy Stathes' absolutely vital Cartoon Roots Blu-ray series may be my favorite one yet (though it's extremely tough to decide as I love 'em all!). As indicated by the title, the theme this time is scary supernatural creatures and horrific happenings, and Halloween Haunts delivers in spooky spades. We've got two wonderful live action/animation Out Of The Inkwell titles from the Fleischers featuring Ko-Ko the Clown, THE OUIJA BOARD (1920) and KO-KO SEES SPOOKS (1925); two titles from Walter Lantz featuring Dinky Doodle and Pete the Pup which are heavily inspired by the Fleischer Inkwell series and are right up there with them in style, wit and quality, JUST SPOOKS (1925) and PETE'S HAUNTED HOUSE (1926); three Felix the Cat cartoons, the first of which, SURE-LOCKED HOMES (1928), is a surreal masterpiece of the macabre; one of the best Tom & Jerry cartoons from Van Beuren Studios (this series features a human duo and is unrelated to the later famous cat and mouse combo), WOT A NIGHT (1931); ALICE'S MYSTERIOUS MYSTERY, a super-twisted, incredibly brutal contribution from Disney involving a murderous cult that kidnaps dogs right out of their schoolhouse and does unspeakable things to them, featuring the long-lost complete ending that is missing even from Disney's own DVD release; and much, much more. On the extras front is a most interesting Behind-The-Scenes gallery of press clippings, reissue title cards, 16mm film cans and boxes, and other ephemera related to the films; there's at least one related item for every film in the collection, and the inclusion of this material is way above and beyond and is most appreciated by this collector!Tommy and his team have rounded up the best available prints of these rare titles and restored and stabilized them with loving care, and have commissioned delightful music scores for all the silent cartoons, with excellent results all around. If you're reading this review, you're obviously a classic animation fan, which means that you need to add this to your collection immediately if not sooner.

For those who love vintage cartoons, I highly recommend this. Tommy Stathes, the guy behind this Blu Ray, is very passionate about film preservation much like Steve Stanchfield, so don’t expect this to be a bad unlicensed DVD with bad picture quality, but the opposite. The silent cartoons in particular are a real treat, my favorite being the Mutt and Jeff cartoon Slick Sleuths. Bold King Cole, the only color cartoon on this Blu Ray, looks beautiful. Some prints may have scratches, but that’s a source material issue and the high resolution completely makes up for that. Buy this and support the small companies that actually restore vintage cartoons that most people wouldn’t bother investing their time in.

If you already know you already know. If you don't already know and you're reading the reviews, it's time for you to know. 1907 live action mixed with animated and that's just the beginning.

Clean transfers of a moody spooky batch of great cartoons.If it sez Tommy Jose Stathes, it’s worth twice the price!

A great trip down memory lane with some of the best artists of all time. I did recommend this very much.

I love this collection of cartoons! I run a Halloween event with my animation group and this was the perfect DVD to share! The cartoons themselves are really great quality. I would only wish it had a little more content.

Cartoon Roots: Halloween Haunts is a true treat. The short films are beautifully restored. Most feature amazing, innovative techniques and original storytelling. One of my favorite things about early film is how creative and innovative the early filmmakers were. This was all new with no real precedents, and the animators were a lot of young kids with wild ideas, so they were really free to experiment and fail. I don't think we'll ever see such an era again. And THREE Felix the Cat cartoons! Does it get better than that? I give it 4 out of 5 boxes of popcorn.

The best of the three Cartoon Roots blu rays. All three are stellar. Buy all three to support a lot of hard work in restoration and musical scoring. “The Fresh Lobster” is the greatest surrealist short I’ve ever seen.