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Archive for category DVD Releases
Gives Me Chills, Pt. XII.
Mar 23
Gives Me Chills, Pt. XI.
Feb 22
This installment of “Gives Me Chills” (and no, I never knew that this would be a continuing series when I started) is kind of special. I know that the movie in question has been floating around for at least two or three years, looking for distribution. You can kinda tell, too; the subject matter is something that was all over the news several crises ago, and then was dropped by the ADHD-afflicted mainstream media when a new apocalyptically-overkilled potential catastrophe overtook and almost-but-didn’t-quite killed us all.
Anyway. I saw this bandied about on industry messageboards for a couple of years, always a laughingstock, and always with some lame key art. I had hoped that, if ever it got a for-real distributor, they’d find some way to market it better.
They didn’t.
Gives Me Chills, Pt. X.
Feb 16
Amazon has the release date for this movie as October 6, 2009, but they have never had the cover available for view. I found it listed on eBay, and I discovered why:
No, the director’s last name isn’t “Hayden’s,” or even “Haydens.” It’s “Hayden.” Why the possessive? THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX, MAN! THAT’S THE NATURE OF ART!!
Edit: Oh, and someone with the coincidental name of “Taylor” posted this in a five-star review on the Amazon page:
People making a movie find a curse is with it.Everything goes horribly wrong…in a horrible way. With Jael from “Americas Nxt Top Model” and Isabelle from Bravos “Make Me A Suprmodel”. To watch a preview go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUKNxHJf1uw
Somebody else look. I’m scared to.
Gives Me Chills, Pt. IX.
Dec 21
This DVD cover gets featured not because of the graphics (nothing to write home about, but certainly no worse than the average direct-to-video genre flick), but because of the title:
You look in vain for some sign that, maybe, it’s one of those charming mistranslations of something that makes perfect sense in its native tongue (usually Japanese). But no. They just ran out of good titles.
Gives Me Chills, Pt. VIII.
Nov 24
I had a couple to choose from this week, but I think I have to go with the one that’s an action cop thingie, rather than the one that’s straight horror because, well:
I understand how impoverished a microbudget production is. Really I do. But snapping pics on the set with your cell phone still isn’t nearly as good as having a real production photographer. Honest.
(What? You want to see the horror cover that was the runner-up? Fine. Click here.)
Gives Me Chills, Pt. VII.
Nov 16
I’ll let other people give you the details on the restored Metropolis two-disc set or the Criterion Collection edition of Night of the Hunter out today, or even the documentary Best Worst Movie about Troll 2 fandom. Me, I’ve got other fish to fry:
I’m not sure if it’s “the most disturbing film of 2010,” but it’s definitely a contender for the worst DVD cover. Want some more info? Here’s what Amazon says “about the director:”
William E Cheney. As a Director is known for pushing the envelope for new original scripts and the cutting edged look of his films.
The mind boggles.
(And what’s that diagonal legend across the lower half? “Trial Version – www.AudioLabel.com.” That’s right, they couldn’t even spring for the full program, $29.95, before they shipped.)
Gives Me Chills, Pt. VI.
Oct 27
Perhaps this one’s a little far afield, as it’s not a horror film, but it is in a neighboring genre. I think. This is the Amazon.com description:
Two friends are spending a week, day/night crossing London inside a black cab and reading a science fiction book. In the story their imagination is so powerful that they are able to become the characters from the book and re-create new and better realities around them in 3D and in blue.
But mostly in blue:
Also note:
This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media.
I’m really, really surprised.
Gives Me Chills, Pt. V.
Oct 5
This cover could definitely be worse — the use of Comics Sans comes to mind — but still:
Note: If you’ve made your video cover in PhotoShop in less than three minutes, you could probably afford to spend a little more time on it.
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Yes! Yes!Yes!Yes!Yes!Yes!Yes!Yes!Yes!Yes!Yes!
More when I can think a little more coherently (and I’m not about to walk out the front door).
Okay, where was I? Ah, yes: it has just been announced that Warners will FINALLY be releasing The Green Slime. The good news—hell, great news is that it will be anamorphic widescreen; the bad news is, it’s through the Archive Collection.
Given how long many of us having been hanging out for this, it may seem ungrateful to pick this moment to complain, but – I am finding myself increasingly annoyed with the implication that while fans of other sorts of films need proper releases, it’s okay to make horror and science fiction fans put up with overpriced DVD-Rs. And they know how badly we want this: it’s priced five dollars higher than its fellow releases, Antonio Margheriti’s The Wild, Wild Planet and War Of The Planets, which will also be anamorphic widescreen. All three will be “out in time for Halloween”.
And yes, of course I’ll be buying them all. Sigh.
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Gives Me Chills, Pt. IV.
Jul 28
Know how to make your DVD cover sucky? Really, really sucky? Sucky beyond all previous conceptions of suckiness?
That’s right. Fill the front of the DVD cover with text in the worst font known to man. It’s a comicsansapalooza!
(If you want a closer view of the madness, you can use the zoom feature on the Amazon listing here.)
Gives Me Chills, Pt. III.
May 19
You little ripper!
Apr 12
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Details are so far sketchy, but Synapse Films has acquired the US rights to three long-MIA Hammer films, TWINS OF EVIL, VAMPIRE CIRCUS, and my personal fave, HANDS OF THE RIPPER. The company has also snabbled the 13 episode TV show HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR, which will be issued as a box set. At the moment a September release date looks likely, but there’s no definite word yet. The three feature films may be released in Blu-Ray as well as on DVD, and lots of extras are promised. Stay tuned.
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It’s Hammer time (again)
Jan 17
April looks like being an expensive month.
The next Columbia “Icons” box set that was promised midway through last year – “Icons Of Suspense”, a collection of six thrillers from Hammer - is now tentatively slated for an April release; more details as they come to hand. This set collects Joseph Losey’s These Are The Damned (finally!), Cash On Demand (Pete! Yes!), Maniac, Never Take Sweets From A Stranger (aka Never Take Candy From A Stranger), The Snorkel and The Full Treatment (aka Stop Me Before I Kill). Once again, there is a chance to vote for your preferred cover art from the three choices shown above; the link is here.
Everyone’s probably heard this, but it’s worth repeating: Shout! Factory and New Horizons Pictures are remastering a range of Roger Corman productions. Those with confirmed release dates are Piranha (Special Edition), Humanoids From The Deep and Up From The Depths/Demon Of Paradise (double-disc) in April, and Piranha (Special Edition) (Blu-Ray), Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (Special Edition) (DVD and Blu-Ray) and Suburbia in May. Other titles listed to follow include Death Race 2000, Deathsport, Forbidden World and Galaxy Of Terror.
And in an astonishing – and astonishingly welcome – piece of news, Shout! Factory will also be remastering and releasing all eight of the “Showa” Gamera films. It is not clear yet whether these releases will include both the Japanese and American versions, but they may, at least by inference: Shout! is still trying to get hold of Gammera The Invincible, to which Kadokawa Pictures (the licensor) does not own the rights. Stay tuned for more details.
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More from the vault
Nov 19
In the wake of the Warner Bros. Archive Collection, it now seems that Universal are taking a similar tack to get some of their more obscure genre films into the market. First up, available either for individual purchase or as a box set, are House Of Horrors (1946), The Mad Ghoul (1943), The Mad Doctor Of Market Street (1942), The Strange Case Of Dr Rx (1942), and – hallelujah! – Murders In The Zoo (1933). I guess I’ll finally be able to do something about those screenshots.
In related news, Warners have finally opened up their online store to overseas customers, although their shipping costs are essentially prohibitive. However, all of the Warners and Universal discs are available through the Turner Classic Movies store (as are some RKO films; so far no genre entries, though); and they now seem to be available through Amazon, as well. So shop around.
Edited to add: After an earlier disappointment, we now have a new release date for the long-awaited (well…long-awaited by me) Special Edition of John Bud Cardos’s Kingdom Of The Spiders. Coming from Shout! Factory on 19th January next year, this release will include a new interview with William Shatner, plus a commentary by Cardos and others and a featurette on Jim Brockett, the production’s spider-wrangler.
On 1st December, Shout! Factory will also be releasing Volume XVI of MST3K, containing The Corpse Vanishes, Warrior Of The Lost World, Night Of The Blood Beast and (just in time for Christmas) Santa Claus. The first pressing will also contain a Tom Servo figurine.
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Gives Me Chills, Pt. II.
Nov 3
Remember that really really really lame “horror” DVD cover? I think I’ve found its rival.
The description for Gravestoned from the official site:
FINALLY. A HORROR FILM FOR STONERS.
Shark and Coltrane, two out-of-work pot farmers really want to break into the movie business. So they chainsaw a cadaver’s arm off and use the severed arm as a prop in a horror film. Now they have to survive a night in the graveyard with a cadaver zombie that wants his arm back! Pot smoking slacker gravediggers, a movie goddess (Lar Park Lincoln, Friday the 13th Part 7), an obsessed movie mogul, a cadaver salesman, hot cheerleaders who may be exotic dancers, a redneck who would love to grill a severed arm and a horny Scottish Terrier – they’re all here in this over-the-top horror film for stoners that has been called the most ominous use of a severed arm in the history of celluloid
Point #1: Wasn’t Charles Band’s Evil Bong (2006) a horror film for stoners? Evil Bong 2: King Bong (2009)? Shrooms (2007)?
Point #2:
How stoned do you have to be to think, “That looks like a good movie”?
Super DVD news!
Oct 28
Ironically, I was literally discussing this show with a friend just last night at the Portage Theater last night, where they were showing a John Carpenter double bill. Moreover, there was a guy selling a pirate set of the program in the lobby, which I actually stopped to look at. Glad I didn’t buy it!
From Tim Lucas, no less, the publisher of Video Watchdog: “Universal has sublicensed the rights to the classic Boris Karloff series THRILLER to Image Entertainment, which plans to release a single box set of the complete series sometime prior to Halloween next year. I recently returned from Los Angeles where I recorded audio commentaries for the episodes “The Grim Reaper” and “The Premature Burial” with screenwriter and film historian David J. Schow and director/cinematographer Ernest Dickerson. David, who wrote the classic reference THE OUTER LIMITS COMPANION and edited several books of stories by THRILLER scribe Robert Bloch, has been playing host on most of the commentaries — he had done six before I showed up. I’m also told that the set will include isolated music tracks for every episode! ”
This has been on my Top Five Want List for a loooong time. Great news! And it sounds like they’re really going to do a bang up job on it. And one big set, rather than season sets! Whoo-hoo!
The long-awaited day is here. Generations which have long since slumbered in the dust have looked forward to this time, as if to a new golden age, when their descendants would bask in the life-giving light of the greatest movie ever made, finally release on DVD.
I’m speaking, of course, of Night of the Creeps, which has heretofore been available only as deteriorating ex-rental tapes or as bootlegs copies from late-nite TV. And because it’s coming both to DVD and Blu-Ray, you’ve got the choice of TWO suck-ass covers!
Me, I plan to find a good large copy of one of the old posters (maybe from here) and photoshop some custom cover art.
Yeah, gives me chills.
Sep 23
Again, from trolling through the new release DVDs at Amazon.com, I think I’ve found the least effective horror DVD cover design of all time.
Here’s the description of Grave Danger:
Beautiful and perky Becky is home alone one dark night watching horror movies on TV when she becomes the victim of a madman terrorizing her with frightening phone calls. Soon, Becky is embroiled in a deadly game of one-upmanship as she and the caller trade titillating and terrifying tales of voodoo-possessed housewives, deadly ventriloquist dummies and omni-present watchers.
Cathy St. George (PLAYBOY VIDEO PLAYMATE REVIEW 2), Vic Martino (THE SOPRANOS) and Kaye Bramblett (SQUEEZE PLAY) star in a chilling, sexy and darkly comic anthology from underground horror maven Jim Haggerty (I DREAM OF DRACULA, THE SLASHER)!
And here’s the cover:
Ooh. Goosebumps.
Today’s the day! Phantasm 2, arguably the best entry in the Phantasm series, hits North American DVD after years of studio wrangling (it was the only of the four Phantasm movies produced with studio backing). $14.99 at Amazon.com, and possibly cheaper at other outlets.
And now, off to do my happy dance…
Update: And while we’re at it:
Bees, and the knees thereof.
Not just the first official American release of Mothra on DVD, but Battle in Outer Space and H-Man as bonuses, all for under $20 (at most vendors). Commentaries, etc.
The only complaint is that Sony seems to like that design now where they mount several discs on a single, elongated spindle. This makes getting one movie out a pain, and increases the likelihood of scratches and such. Still, a pretty fab deal nonetheless.
I think that means that pretty much all the classic Toho dai kaijus are now available here.