Non-Criterion Boutique Home Video Discussion (Kino, Warner Archive, Arrow, Indicator, Vinegar Syndrome, Code Red, etc.)

It's worth it!

I just got a region free 4K for Xmas and have basically spent the last two months buying stuff I’ve wanted for years.

Yeah it's a perfect (and justified) temptation to do just that. (Signed, guy who picked up the Gormenghast Blu-ray yesterday.)

Note for the interested - 4K discs are all region free, regardless of origin or player. Blurays are obviously still subject to region A/B/C restrictions.

Went with The Yakuza, On Dangerous Ground, The Shop Around the Corner, The Hunger, and Judgment Night on the WB sale. Cut about half of my wishes from the cart to get it down to only those titles.

I went well and truly overboard with this WB Archive sale, thanks to having plenty of advance warning (and to make up for missing basically every previous one). Blew a not inconsiderable chunk of my stimbus on 16 titles to get to free shipping:

Curse of the Cat People (the inevitable fuckup that no big sale purchase can be without; I didn't realize there was a blu-ray from Shout Factory so I'll try and flip this somehow)
Lady in the Lake
Desperate Living
M Butterfly
Twice Upon a Time
Pink Flamingos
The Witches blu
The Boy Friend blu
Performance blu (dumb mistake with the audio track aside, it's one of my favorite movies of all time and a nice upgrade over the SD disc)
Suspicion blu
Key Largo blu
Body Snatchers (Ferrara) blu
The Hunger blu
Out of the Past blu
The Thing From Another World blu
Dial M for Murder blu

I bought five titles from Kino Lorber last night: Blue Collar, the restoration of Murnau's Faust, Bob le Flambeur, and two Forties noirs: Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (come on, with that title, how could I not?) and Cover Up.

Very risky buying based off titles. But I take this risk regularly.

Oh, I read a review of it several years ago that stuck it in my head. But it is an all-time great title.

You've convinced me

I bought Burn, Witch, Burn based on the title. They got me! It was originally titled Night of the Eagle!

are there any good podcasts that cover this sort of stuff? or just older films in general.
those Indicator Noir boxsets have become lust objects for me

I think in terms of being purely about home video releases Just The Discs is probably your best bet. If we're talking old movies in general that widens the remit considerably: The Movies That Made Me (co-hosted by Joe Dante), Cinema Smorgasbord (mostly off the beaten track stuff), Cinema60 (deep dives on stuff from that decade), Important Cinema Club, PopScreen (films featuring or about pop stars) are some of my faves.

Also if you're in the UK and looking to navigate the Talking Pictures TV schedule - or if you're just looking for some good old timey British film recs - I co-host the official Talking Pictures TV Podcast :)

cool! I should watch Talking Pictures more than I should, I just never think of watching "normal" tv these days so something that flags up forthcoming stuff would definitely help. it's like I'm your target audience!

Shout! Select sale: https://www.shoutfactory.com/sale/shout-select-ticket-to-savings

I love Shout! Factory's output but their sale prices are usually a little meh. That said, these are about the lowest prices you're likely to see for some of this stuff.

Also, I have no idea what the criteria is for their Select line. It's the same mixture of high- and lowbrow that constitutes the rest of their stuff, and they generally put together a solid package of supplements, so...(shrugs). But if you've been looking to pick up a copy of both Holy Motors and Doctor Detroit, now's your chance!

Three O' Clock High was released on BR! Wow! But yeah, prices are a tad high.

I bought a Shout Select blu of Shakedown (1988) after a friend couldn't stop talking about it.

haha, I got Holy Motors and... the 'Burbs

i didn't get anything but this inspired me to finally drop $$$ on the scream factory friday the 13th set

money i don't have.... many movies i already own...... whateverrrrr

I'm saving so much money by not going to bars

Arrow Academy getting folded into Arrow proper

Academy fans, we have some big changes to share with you all...

The good news is this isn't a goodbye so please make sure to follow us over on @ArrowFilmsVideo to keep up to date. We thank you all for your years of support and hope you stick with us! pic.twitter.com/yAy5vrfvqF

— Arrow Academy (@Academy_Arrow) March 22, 2021

Also just a vague announcement atm but there's gonna be a big Arrow sale on/around Easter. Start savin' yer change, kids!

i don't think i'd realised before reading that tweet that Second Run were part of Arrow.

also i notice they have released Imamura's Black Rain but only as part of a triple release for £50, and i've already got one of the other films 8(

I think Arrow distribute Second Run (also: Third Window Films, which do interesting Japanese stuff) but it's not a sub-label like Arrow Academy was.

Arrow sale now live.

For UK-ers: https://arrowfilms.com/shop/easter-carnage-sale/
For US-ers: https://grindhousevideo.com/collections/easter-carnage-sale

This has to be the last sale I partake in until the next B&N one, seriously. Stocked up on Altman (Gosford Park + Images), the Imamura box and Distant Voices, Still Lives.

Went a bit mad on that Second Run sale as I haven't exactly been splashing out lately anyway, got this lot for £60 all in:
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
Fruit of Paradise
A Jester's Tale
Red Psalm
Distant Journey
The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On
Journey to the Beginning of Time
Invention for Destruction
Silence and Cry
The Shop on the High Street
A Case for a Rookie Hangman

I've never been disappointed yet by anything they've put out, also not too bothered about the lack of Criterion-style extras tbh.

Oh man, lots of good stuff on that Arrow sale. Maybe I should burn more of that stimulus money...

The extras on Second Run discs aren't bad, by and large!

um, easily a dozen things in the arrow sale that would sit unwatched in front of the tv for years before i got around to them.

plugged the gaps in my Yakuza Papers collection
Daisies was removed from my basket at checkout :(

For those who aren't in the know: if you see an Arrow box set that tickles your fancy, buy it and buy it quick. They seem to almost all wind up as limited editions whether that's the stated intent or not (although some do eventually get rereleased minus the frills).

And I mean limited. There's at least two that immediately come to mind which were released in the latter half of 2020 and are already OOP.

Wasn't going to bother with Arrow sale but HGL, Phantasm and Vincent Price/Poe box sets at half price yes please.

I'm still suffering from last month's Network sale where they offered 40% of everything and I ended up dropping a couple of hundred quid.

Daisies was removed from my basket at checkout :(

Valerie and her Week of Wonders for me.

since they've not been mentioned here yet, just wanna give a shout out to milestone films, who've done a beautiful job restoring and releasing dvds of films by shirley clarke, charles burnett, kathleen collins, lotte reininger, evgeni bauer and many others

I tried the first Yakuza Papers and couldn't keep up at all - so many different dudes shooting up different places to keep track of.

Good news for poliziotteschi fans (so I guess aldo and me) - Arrow are releasing a box set for the genre.

Bad news - I've never heard of any of the films in it and there's no Di Leo, Castellari, Martino, Lenzi or Damiani to be seen amongst them.

https://arrowfilms.com/product-detail/years-of-lead-five-classic-italian-crime-thrillers-1973-1977-blu-ray/FCD2123

I can't say that it maintains across the line, but I've yet to be disappointed by any of the Arrow releases that I've bought sight unseen*, so I'm starting to rely on their judgment more.

*although I've knowingly bought box sets knowing they contained some garbage (see: Hellraiser IIII)

I've seen Highway Star, which is a spectacular if not particularly plot heavy heist movie, and Colt 38 Special Squad (mainly because I'm a fan of What Have You Done To Solange) which is much more what you'd expect and great fun. I might have to pre-order this one

Speaking of poliziotteschi, the record label that put out some of my soundtrack-y stuff (among others) is moving into film releases now. Probably haven't done enough to call it a boutique distributor yet though tbh but these releases seem to be popular:
https://www.cineploit.com/?page_id=2470

That's cool!

I think the Lady Scorpion set came out in a cheaper version, so that one I'm glad I didn't jump at the first version

It's all streaming on Prime in the US, but I still kind of want the physical copy when they inevitably disappear (same with the Stray Cat Rock set).

Stray Cat Rock is a must-buy (also have the Lady Scorpion set but have yet to dive in), thank u 2 Arrow for hipping me to '60s & '70s Japanese exploitation cinema generally and the fierce wonder of Meiko Kaji specifically.

Oh, here's another thing if my sale announcements haven't already bled you dry. So there's this bookstore ( https://hamiltonbook.com ) whose blu-ray buyer gets his hands on some pretty good stuff which is occasionally out of print (eg a bunch of Twilight Time stock just after they closed shop) and often at some really good discount prices. They do a new drop every fourth Monday evening and will be doing so this coming Monday. It's a real grab bag but it's worth checking out when the drop comes (particularly since he sometimes only gets a handful of copies of something good that sells out that night).

I had the Arrow Gamera sets (each for about $20 cheaper than I'd seen them anywhere else) sitting in my Hamilton Book shopping cart for too long and they disappeared. 😢

I've been tempted by Hamilton many a time, but always forget to buy before the item I really want disappears, just as in your case. The prices often seem too good to be true for brand new merchandise.