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

I don't personally feel like there's been much of a drop-off (although they're certainly putting out more mainstream stuff of late) but there's a lot more competition these days, a lot of other boutique labels covering similar ground. So they're probably getting snaked on the rights to release some things they would've had a clear and easy path to a few years back.

I have to wonder if it has been difficult getting some rights, Jasper Sharp often works with them and I'm sure he has a skyscraper wishlist of japanese films but it's been a trickle and usually films that have already been on dvd.

I dunno, Japanese cinema seems like the one area where they're still dilligently at it - the Gamera boxes, Yasuzo Masumura's works, the Invisible Man series.

I do think Arrow's taste is less than reliable, so whenever they release some z-grade horror it's as likely to be a poor generic offering within the genre as something special.

Also the Arrow Academy brand getting subsumed into the main line makes me worry that they're going to almost totally neglect arthouse stuff outside of like huge names/guaranteed sellers. Can't imagine anything like the Taviani Bros box set getting released anytime soon.

Annoyed at mostly-non-response from arrow customer services. Give me my discs!

Kino Lorber having a sale.

https://www.familyvideo.com/deals/kino-lorber-deals

might be better off waiting until the next sale from Kino directly, prices all seem a bit higher since it's through FV

Yeah, the prices aren't great and I'm not seeing much that hasn't shown up on recent Kino sales. Maybe like The Barbarians, if you're into total trash (nb, I'm way into total trash).

I don't think anyone on this thread will judge anyone else, lol

bad news for Australian lovers of unusual cinema: "Unfortunately we do not have any more copies of "The Boys" available - we may have been able to source one a month or so back, however we have recently moved warehouses and any obsolete/out of print titles were destroyed prior to the move."

sorry, that was an email from Madman Entertainment

So, seems I am keeping the mistaken order I recieved - anything here worth watching?

What have you done to Solange

Deranged

The Night Evelyn Came out of the Grave

The Red Queen Kills Seven Times

Nightbreed

Deep Red

The Prey

Death Walks on High Heels

Rawhead Rex

Death Walks at Midnight

Creepshow 2

Edge of the Axe

I've seen Nightbreed (which I dig, I love Clive Barker), Rawhead Rex (not great - I liked it as a kid) and Creepshow 2 (which I don't remember).

Some cool giallo in there! I liked Solange and Deep Red, haven't seen the others though I'm curious to

If Deranged is the 1970s Ed Gein one starring Roberts Blossom, then it's a classic. If it's some later slasher flick, probably not. The Red Queen Kills Seven Times has a good soundtrack, couldn't tell you any more about it. Deep Red goes without saying.

you gotta keep edge of the axe bc larraz is a genius (i haven’t seen it yet)

Creepshow 2 is not great but it's got some New World Pictures camp nostalgia appeal.

The politics of the hitchhiker segment are also worth examining.

Red Queen Kills Seven Times has, as stated, a great soundtrack - it's prob my all-time fave Bruno Nicolai theme.

Chirping in to say Red Queen is the pick of the bunch - the nightmare scene as she runs through the massive corridor is amazing - but all the other advice above is otm. I'd also rep for Evelyn which veers closer to exploitation than giallo but is still worth your time.

Thanks for the tips!

Just a quick heads up that Severin have just said on Facebook that they still have copies of the Andy Milligan set, and to go to them and not scalpers.

Ooh, cool. Thanks for that.

Also for anyone who was interested specifically in the single big limited edition Arrow Gamera set (I already just bought the two smaller sets), I just noticed today that grindhousevideo.com has some copies available.

Flash sale on Shout! Factory titles that are going out of print soon (including Freaks and Geeks, as noted elsewhere): https://www.shoutfactory.com/page/list/id/282113

Actually, it's a pretty shit sale. Probably should've checked before I posted, lol.

SF is majorly stubborn about their retail prices. Even on sale, that F&G set is more than BB's regular price for it.

Btw, amazed that Vinegar Syndrome is putting out WINTERBEAST on Blu-ray:
https://vinegarsyndrome.com/collections/horror/products/home-grown-horrors-volume-one

xpost Yeah, IDGI. I would be regularly pouring money into Shout's coffers if they'd just loosen up on their prices. After Criterion, theirs is probably the biggest catalog of stuff that I want but only occasionally buy because of the $$$.

xpost again, I hadn't actually looked at the contents on that VS set as I assumed it was just a collection of SOV garbage. Huh. Will investigate further.

Arright, I think that trailer just got its hooks in me.

I finally got my Arrow order: can I just say that My 20th Century is lovely.

Recent Arrow announcements include a set of spaghetti westerns to go with the eurocrime one and the Daimajin trilogy, a sort of Japanese take on the legend of the Golem.

Wow, very happy about Daimajin!

Well, I guess it just took Hammer vol 3 at original rrp to start me off on the Indicator sets.

Daimajin trilogy is more expensive than I expected but I really want this.

Yeah, pretty sure I'm gonna preorder. But if money is an issue, I'm sure they'll release it in a cheaper standard edition a couple months later like they did with Gamera.

...this I didn't expect.

***NEW TITLE ANNOUNCEMENT***
Coming to Blu-ray 8/24 from @KLStudioClassic

Jane Wagner's Moment by Moment (1978) pic.twitter.com/SsVvW7hRbO

— Dawn of The Discs (@dawnofthediscs) May 19, 2021

i dunno, that kinda movie's like 100% in KL's wheelhouse

Cult Epics have been releasing the works of Nouchka van Brakel, a Dutch female director from the country's 70's sexploitation heyday. Cool to see someone besides Verhoeven get some shine.

Strip!

Buy me a drink first.

Australia's Imprint label dropping Blus of The Straight Story and Drugstore Cowboy in August.

https://viavision.com.au/shop/the-straight-story-1999/

https://viavision.com.au/shop/drugstore-cowboy-1989/

I powered through those Three Stooges shorts in the first Indicator Noir box set but I'm now on vol.2 and have decided life is too short.

How are the noir boxes? Not something I'm particularly au fait with.

Do you mean in terms of movies or extras?

Moviewise, Columbia b's aren't like the first thing I'd urge noir neophytes to see - they're certainly not at the level of those old Warner Bros DVD noir boxes - but I'd say the overall level is solid and so far every one of them has had something to distinguish it from the generic cop procedurals that sometimes get pawned off as noir. Biggest highlight on the first box is Drive A Crooked Road, an erotically charged thriller with Mickey Rooney as a sexually frustrated mechanic getting used as a patsy in a gorgeous beach house setting.

Extraswise, Indicator doesn't have the pull to get as much in the way of interviews with actual participants as Warner Bros or even Criterion would be able to, but they're creative in making up for this: a lot of short films by the same directors, mostly non-fiction and public information type stuff. Also every film comes with a Stooges short that is themtically related to the film, a very neat trick even though as I said you can only watch so many of those. This also means commentaries tend to be less by scholars who've written three books on the film and more by enthusiasts and Film Twitter types, which can be good or bad.

Vinegar Syndrome's Halfway to Black Friday sale is live now through Monday. There's a bunch of new releases and most of the rest is all 50% off.

https://vinegarsyndrome.com/

Thanks Daniel, I meant in terms of the films to be honest. It's a genre I've never really got into and was wondering whether I was missing out but sounds like there are better options.

Yeah, I'd def watch Out Of The Past, Asphalt Jungle, The Killers, The Maltese Falcon and Touch Of Evil first before digging into the Columbia vault.

Arrow Video announced various 4K UHD versions of David Lynch's Dune, which are now up for pre-order

Vinegar Syndrome Halfway to Black Friday sale currently live, now through Monday afternoon. Prices on new/limited releases are a little ehhhh but dig in to their older stuff and you'll find some decent deals. Get all the Rudy Ray Moore you can handle!

Just got an email from Kino Now about their Memorial Day sale.

man where has this thread been that I didn't know about, this is my fuckin area even though I almost never find the time to watch the stuff I get. like I got a set of these back in January but by the time the kids turn in I have exactly two hours tops to pursue anything I wanna do before I crash, and by that point a movie will usually put me to sleep

anyway I am hoping that finding this thread will encourage me to watch the cool boutique dvds and blu-rays I have stacked up by the TV