NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Film Masters Blu-ray (January 2024): Film Masters have transferred a Roger Corman Double Feature of Devil's Partner and Creature From The Haunted Sea to separate dual-layered Blu-rays. Both films are offered in 1.85:1 (theatrical) and 1.37:1 (TV) versions. For Devil's Partner these are the same film but the TV version of Creature From The Haunted Sea runs about 1/4 hour longer than the theatrical version and is a bit less of a mess.

The Devil's Partner transfer is described as a "new 4k scan from 35mm archival elements". Creature from the Haunted Sea is a "new 4k scan of 35mm archival elements with supplemental 16mm".

The theatrical version of Creature From... also has source issues and the presentation starts with this text screen: "Creature from the Haunted Sea has long been in a state of poor condition as a public domain film. We were fortunate to find a rare surviving 35mm print, which was scanned in 4K and has undergone a tremendous amount of restoration. Unfortunately, as is the case with physical assets, some sections were simply too degraded to repair. Consequently, parts of this presentation use a restored HD 16mm print inserted in order to present the most complete, true-to-original viewing experience possible."

Image quality is reasonable - aided by the max'ed out bitrates. Obviously, Creature from the Haunted Sea is much weaker showing imperfections and a fairly wide range of inconsistency - where Devil's Partner can look effective, bright with modest texture - if never stellar. Contrast is well rendered, no compression issues and there are day-lit instances of brief depth. I enjoyed Devil's Partner and never found any part of the 1080P distracting with inherent weaknesses - it's clean and I was pleased. The inclusion of both TV versions - essentially making the film(s) transfers single-layered - had no impinging effects as they have short running times from one to 1 1/4 hours long. I was so happy to just watch, the rather under-seen, Devil's Partner.

NOTE: We have added 70 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-rays, Film Masters use DTS-HD Master dual-mono tracks (16-bit) in the original English language. Effects are, predictably, modest for both films. On Devil's Partner there is an occasionally dramatic score by AIP regular Ronald Stein who has done more than his share of this genre (The She-Creature, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Dinosaurus, Day the World Ended, Journey to the Seventh Planet, Queen of Blood, It Conquered the World, Not of This Earth, Dementai 13, Spider Baby etc.) plus some atmospheric theremin. For Creature from the Haunted Sea the score was by Fred Katz (Ski Troop Attack, The Wasp Woman, A Bucket of Blood, 1960's The Little Shop of Horrors)  sounding clean with audible dialogue in the lossless transfer. Film Masters offer optional English (SDH) subtitles for the feature and English subtitles for the commentary tracks - on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

Aside from the 1.37:1 TV versions of both films, we also get commentaries! For Devil's Partner by Larry Strothe, James Gonis, Shawn Sheridan, and Matt Weinhold of the Monster Party Podcast described as "What happens when four Comic Con hardened sci-fi/horror fans sit around some microphones, slam down cocktails, and argue about all things monstrous? It's a podcast called Monster Party! You have been warned." It's a devilishly amusing time and they make astute observations discussing the production, actors, make-up, the title font, the plot etc.. The Film Masters Blu-rays also offer a commentary on Creature from the Haunted Sea (for the theatrical version only) by Tom Weaver (They Fought in the Creature Features: Interviews with 23 Classic Horror, Science Fiction and Serial Stars) playing audio snippet comments from interviews he conducted. He reminds us that there are optional subtitles as the recordings are often sub-par. There are diversions of Roger Corman, plenty of 90-year old Kinta Zertuche (writer known for The Wasp Woman, The Last Woman on Earth and Beast from Haunted Cave etc.), lots of Betsy Jones-Moreland (The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent), Antony Carbone (The Pit and the Pendulum), Larry Blamire (Tales of the Callamo Mountains), Weaver reads comments of cinematographer Jacques R. Marquette. More Weaver fun delving into Corman's Puerto Rico Trilogy (The Last Woman on Earth, Creature from the Haunted Sea, and Battle on Blood Island), and/or last of an unofficial trilogy of black comedies by Griffith and Corman which included this, A Bucket of Blood (1959) and The Little Shop of Horrors (1960.) Weaver also reads from Corman's How I Made A Hundred Movies In Hollywood. We also get Ballyhoo Motion Pictures third part of "Hollywood Intruders: The Filmgroup Story" by C. Courtney Joyner (The Savage B's: A Tribute to B-Horror) and Daniel Griffith. Part one was on Beast From Haunted Cave + Ski Troop Attack Double Feature Blu-ray. Part Two was an extra on the recent The Terror 1963 The Little Shop Of Horrors 1960 Double Feature Blu-ray. There is also a 10-minite interview with Roger Corman on the formation of 'The Filmgroup', re-cut trailers, based off of the original theatrical trailers, for both features as well as an original Creature from the Haunted Sea theatrical trailer, from 16mm archival elements, scanned in 4k and a couple of minutes of restoration video for that film. The package contains an inserted 24-page booklet with essays by Tom Weaver for Creature from the Haunted Sea and Mark McGee writes liner notes for Devil's Partner.

While both film's posters are exploitive-ly unrepresentative of the respective content, you really have to admire the chutzpah of the Devil's Partner marketing with a scantily clad, rag wearing, female carrying a lit torch - riding a centaur - in a graveyard. None; lady horseman, centaur, nor graveyard, appear in the film. Devil's Partner is an odd gem in a genre rife with weak slap-dash exploitation. It was made in 1958 (co-written by actor Stanley Clements who played "Duke" Coveleskie in The Bowery Boys film series, directed by Charles R. Rondeau and produced by actor/stuntman Hugh Hooker) but it was not released until 1961 after it was acquired by Roger and Gene Corman's Filmgroup playing as a double feature with Creature from the Haunted Sea. Rondeau would later direct some memorable TV including multiple episodes of Mission: Impossible, Get Smart, and The Odd Couple among many others. We get the innocence of postwar small-town America hiding immortality-seeking, devil-worshiping rituals! Ed Nelson plays 'Nick Richards' and is always recognizable having appeared in episodes of The Fugitive, The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and many western television programs plus films like The Brain Eaters, and Corman's Attack of the Crab Monsters as a mere sampling of his extensive acting career. Jean Allison is sweet, girl next door, 'Nell Lucas' - and has appeared in numerous films and TV series throughout the 1950s to the 1980s. And who doesn't remember Edgar Buchanan as Uncle Joe Carson? in Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, and The Beverly Hillbillies. He plays Nell's dad 'Doc Lucas' sussing-out bizarre shape-shifting attacks, involving a dog, a snake and a horse!... with his friend, the town Sheriff. I LOVED it. On the other hand, super low budget, Creature from the Haunted Sea, is an unfunny, un-scary horror-comedy with the worst 'creature' costume ever - although the longer TV version seemed better fleshed-out plot-wise. The Tom Weaver commentary with many interview recordings is significantly more entertaining. I was so taken with Devil's Partner that this Film Masters' Blu-ray set still gets a whole-hearted recommendation.

Gary Tooze