The Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection: Volume 1

Five of the 1950s' best science-fiction flicks are featured in this three-disc set. First, the itsy, bitsy spider turns into a 100-foot-tall terror in "Tarantula" (1955), as a lab experiment backfires, unleashing a rapidly growing arachnid on the countryside. John Agar, Mara Corday, Leo G. Carroll star. Then, intrepid archeologists exploring caves in the mountains of Asia encounter "The Mole People" (1956), hunchbacked, bug-eyed creatures who serve an subterranean race of albinos. With Agar, Hugh Beaumont, Cynthia Patrick. An ordinary man (Grant Williams) is exposed to radiation and discovers to his horror that he's become "The Incredible Shrinking Man" (1957). "The Monolith Monsters" (1957) are meteorite fragments that grow into crystalline towers and start wiping out a small Southwest town...and anything else in their path. Williams, Lola Albright star. And a college biology professor is transformed into a rampaging Neanderthal man thanks to a serum extracted from the fossil of a prehistoric fish, in "Monster on the Campus" (1958). With Arthur Franz, Joanna Moore. 6 1/2 hrs. total.