Considered one of television's few Holy Grails of horror series, the Boris Karloff-hosted anthology show "Thriller," airing from 1960 to 1962, is now available on one massive, 14-DVD set containing all 67 episodes and more than 50 hours of bonus features. In other words, save your pennies.

Only a sample disc was made available for review, containing a pair of first-season episodes: "Pigeons from Hell" and "The Grim Reaper." Both look great in black and white, and it's a kick to see Karloff play Rod Serling, even if the show isn't quite up to the quality bar set by "The Twilight Zone."

Based on the Robert E. Howard story, "Pigeons" is the better of the two, creating a mini-movie of menace as two stranded men spend the night in a haunted house. Adapted by "Psycho" author Robert Bloch, "Reaper" stars William Shatner and Natalie Schafer from "Gilligan's Island."

But one can't help but wonder how much better these would be at half the length. Fifty minutes apiece is a bit much for their simple plots; "Zone" kept things tight in (mostly) half-hour slots. "?Rod Lott

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