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

I've been waiting for arrow sale but i was in fopp the other day and they had a couple of things i wanted at sale prices so i just bought them there

Mad Fox (tomu uchida)
Blind Woman's Curse (meiko kaji's first film)
(and Here Come The Warm Jets on cd)

Mad Fox has got to be the quickest I flipped a cover around, from that crappy yellow one to the OG japanese artwork
placed my first ever order via VS to get the early Deaf Crocodile stuff that was on sale, only label they do that I'm really into tbh

(Blind Woman's Curse isn't in the website sale, maybe because it's dual dvd/br, so i lucked out there)

On the US Arrow site it's $17

BWC is £18 on the uk website, seemingly not in the sale, but was £9 in fopp (down from £15)

Don't think anyone has posted this yet?
https://error4444.bigcartel.com/products
They've been around over a year and focus on crazy and/or notorious Hong Kong and Japanese films.

Vinegar Syndrome Labor Day Warehouse Sale

https://support.vinegarsyndrome.com/en-US/warehouse-sale-2023---info-310661

The event, which kicks off at 12:01 PM EDT on Friday, September 1st and runs through 11:59 PM EDT on Monday, September 4th, will see discounts of 50-70% off dozens of overstock items, including numerous VS and Partner Label limited edition slipcovers, standard (including going OOP) Blu-rays, along with a ton of merch and clothing.

Additionally, ALL VS DVDs will be marked down to just $5 and ALL will be going OOP once our current inventory runs out!

Why you do this to me

re: that error4444 site, I have the Gold Ninja release of Thrilling Bloody Sword and it's full of fun weirdness, if they've got a proper scan & translation of it I'd be v interested in upgrading. Challenge of the Lady Ninja & Imperial Sword Killing The Devil looks like good times too.

There's under a week left in the second run sale at the BFI shop if anyones interested

https://shop.bfi.org.uk/dvd-blu-ray/second-run-special-offer.html?p=4

I did pick up fatal termination from error4444 in this last wave. I haven't seen it yet tho... well, except for the notorious car stunt which even offended this jaded old soul.

thrilling bloody sword is a lot of fun. agreed that a real restoration of that would be an instant buy.

heard good things about the Red Spell Spells Red release from them.... still their stuff is too pricey for a blind buy unfortunately

I caught a screening of that recently. it was their "animal cruelty-free" cut from that release, which I appreciated. but the edited movie did seem to be missing a significant part of its nasty core...

Vinegar Syndrome is doing its Black Friday preview sale this weekend, worth poking around some of the new stuff there.

My wallet's eternal threat. Kinda tempted to preorder that new Lost Films boxset though I know in my heart it's probably a huge waste of money. But it looks fun!

I couldn't bring myself to pay any of my money for it but I'm sufficiently intrigued so my wife is buying it for my Christmas

Honestly not a fan of their new trend of putting up pre-orders without having the extras listed yet. I pre-ordered Showgirls and was pretty disappointed that they didn't add another audio commentary to counterbalance to old joke one from the guy who doesn't even like the movie.

Anyway, there's another Kino Lorber sale right now so I can allocate my funds towards instead a random jumble of art movies and genre crap for $8-10 bucks a disc.

old joke one from the guy who doesn't even like the movie

I've been a friend David Schmader for some years now and trust me, you are completely misunderstanding his commentary if you think he doesn't like it.

I don’t begrudge a commentary track that doesn’t take the movie all so seriously

The Second Run edition of The Cassandra Cat (also known on twitter as The Cat Who Wore Sunglasses) is a must for anyone into midcentury modern aesthetics. Film is great, has that Czech fairytale vibe and prolonged musical sequences that are like an artsy take on MGM musicals; copy is pristine, beautiful beautiful colours; good commentary and booklet essay, plus a short animated film from the same era that also feels like a Czech cousin to the UPA stuff.

That's a brilliant film.

One of the reasons why I named my cat Cassandra (wow, 30 years gone now RIP) was because of that movie

have never heard of Cassandra Cat but i'll add it to my next arrow order.

googling that led me to the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize list which is a fascinating list of things i love and things i've never heard of.

Arrow Films US has a loaded Blu + 4K of The Warriors coming in December

https://www.arrowvideo.com/the-warriors-limited-edition-blu-ray/14941926.html

https://www.arrowvideo.com/the-warriors-limited-edition-4k-uhd/14941925.html

I'm kinda surprised that this looks like the first 4K release anywhere for the Warriors. At least it includes the theatrical cut so I can avoid the terrible 2005 comic book version that seemed like the only way to watch this on streaming for a long time.

If I'm reading that right, they're clearing the deck extras-wise to ensure the highest bitrate on the director's cut, and jamming the extras on the theatrical cut's disc. Which, first world problems yes yes yes, is a fly in the ointment to this otherwise great-looking release.

(Kinda stoked about Arrow's Day of the Locust announcement too, btw.)

Arrow films Halloween sale on again. that first Shaw box set is getting cheaper every time. do i pull the trigger now or wait until Christmas sale in a month and a half?

annoyed that the ju-on box seems to have gone though.

I was lucky enough to scoop up Shawscope Vol. 1 for 60 bucks from Hamilton Book when they had a big Arrow drop back in March. Now I just need to watch it.

Kind of annoyed that Shout Factory seems to have picked up the Shaw Bros. mantle (with three big box sets already released or announced for this year). I mean, I'm glad the stuff is getting a release, but those suckers are never coming down to a reasonable price.

It does feel like a dick move for them to muscle into Arrow's territory like that, especially since aiui a lot of the releases are old copies...but all's fair I guess.

i think i prefer shout factory's packaging 8)

Whichever one starts releasing the old Shaw musicals and melodramas gets my eternal respect (nb neither will).

I enjoyed the first one because it felt a lot more varied but box 2 has been a real slog, still only halfway through it.

Shawscope 2? It's really more varied than 1, it's just the variety is backloaded - Boxer's Omen, Mercenaries From Hong Kong, the 80's Jet Li shaolin films made on the mainland, a Johnnie To film from the 90's!

Shawscope Vol 2 seemed a little more consistent to me from the title list, but I haven't really sat down and bought/watched these titles in a row any time recently

Made a bit of headway with V2 and you're right, the variation is there but takes a long time coming.

v1 no longer turning up in searches. i guess everyone else was tempted by the cheapness.

Shout Factory doing 4 main Shaw boxed sets so far, and a Brave Archer set and a Ti Lung/David Chiang set. That's 6 boxed sets in a very short time.

Even if I could watch region A, I'm burned out too badly for these, I don't think I'll finish the Shawscope 2 even (regret buying it). A shame there wasn't more Wuxia high fantasy early on because I'd still buy more of them.
I'm skipping most of the new martial arts releases, I'm sorry but I just can't get that excited for Jet Li somehow.
But there's still things I'm looked forward to.

Fatal Termination sold out, hope another company picks it up.

FYI for anyone who wanted Shawscope v1, Arrow has released a regular edition of the films as three separate box sets, currently for pre-order at $30 each (under the "Shaw Brothers Presents" name) so if you just want the movies this is the way to go

Just hit the Mercenaries/Boxer's Omen disc on V2 and I don't know what I was on about, it's amazing.

Boxer's Omen gave me real Mystics In Bali vibes.

my orders get bigger every time. this time it was

Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea
Battles Without Honor and Humanity box
The Snake Girl And The Silver-Haired Witch
The Cassandra Cat

two czech and two Japanese. my wish list is emptying out.

I'd seen the smaller Shaw boxes but didn't think to compare the contents. those seem much more manageable

Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea
The Cassandra Cat

2 fantastic films. Not seen the other 2 you mentioned. Please let us know how they are!

Battles is a series of yakuza films, the first of which (yakuza papers) is in the 1995 kinema junpo list I've been using as a checklist (seen 22 of the top 25, goes down drastically after that). didn't enjoy YP when i watched it but maybe it'll be easier to follow the second time. meiko kaji is in these, briefly.

snake girl is described as twisted children's film. I'm imagining something like hausu crossed with kuro neko but we shall see.

I've got things from my first two orders yet to watch so...

(actually that's confusing. my copy of the first of the those is called 'Battles without honour and humanity' subtitled 'Yakuza papers Vol 1' and the box is also called 'battles without...' but contains the entire series (5 films). there's also a follow up trilogy by the same bloke called 'new battles...')

The Snake Girl And The Silver-Haired Witch is an adaptation of a Kazuo Umezu/Umezz manga, a mystery from the pov of a young girl, I like it.

Saw _The Cassandra Cat_ at my local Alamo a few days ago, really great experience.

xp did not know it was an Umezu adaptation, now i definitely want to see it!

koog's purchases are all bangers, possibly except the Yakuza Papers box - remember watching the first one and just being consistently confused by the sprawling cast and double crosses, but since then I've a) gotten a taste for intricate yakuza plots thanks to the video game series of the same name and b) gotten a deeper appreciation for the works of Fukusaku, so perhaps I should revisit.

You can REALLY tell Snake Girl is an Umezz adaptation, his fingerprints are all over that thing. Spookily enough, after I watched my Arrow disc once it broke itself in two within my player, something which hasn't happened with any disc before or since.