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

much thanks for the input folx

Who is gonna step up and release SMALL AXE on a decent format? Or ATLANTA? I’m not buying a fucking DVD in 2021.

DVDs are apparently still the highest-selling physical media format in 2021. With VHS presumably coming in a close second.

Cheapest format in still being the most popular SHOCKAH!

Of course part of the continuing popularity of DVDs is mass sales to libraries, and also bargain bin catalogue titles and multi-film combo packs at big box stores.

Hey, I still buy lots of DVDs (because cheap)! It's more weird to me because physical media in general is on the wane and is being largely phased out in a lot of retail outlets so it seems like less and less of an impulse purchase for general consumers and increasingly the realm of collectors. And a lot of collectors bitch if something doesn't get a 4k release these days.

I must have every grain of film from poverty-row exploitation classics shown down to the tiniest pixel known to earth or else.

If Straight To Hell is the Alex Cox movie, well, it's him and a buncha 80's rock stars playing spaghettin western, super disposable but if you're a fan of the ppl involved it's good fun.

Be warned, Cox went back and fucked with Straight To Hell, adding digital blood to all the gunfights and some weird Tim Burton-esque animated sequences, and that's the version Kino Lorber put out. If you want the original theatrical version you have to seek out the old Anchor Bay DVD.

xp In fairness - you might as well get the best version that's available? The jump in quality from DVD to Blu-ray can be pretty immense, if not always. And most collectors end up rebuying the same films over and over and over again anyway...

Even the shittiest, grimiest low-budget film from the '70s on BR can be astounding to see after decades of crappy TV and home video transfers, and there's more companies out there now than ever doing great restoration work.

Speaking of, the Ask Any Buddy podcast, which has rapidly become a favorite of mine, has a new episode up that features one of the cofounders of Vinegar Syndrome. Haven't listened yet but the description sounds v. relevant to yer points raised:

https://www.ask-any-buddy.com/podcast/special-bonus-episode-j-c-crickets-sex-demon-1975-with-joe-rubin

I spring for the Blu-ray more often than not, but I also admittedly watch a lot of total garbage that either hasn't made its way to Blu-ray or isn't worth more than buying a '10 movies for 10 bucks' set to see. And on the rare occasion when I'm impressed enough by trash, I do upgrade.

Resisting 4K upgrades with every fiber of my being, though.

My take on 4K is: if I never had it or I only had it on DVD, especially if it's a very early DVD, I'll spring for it. If I already had it on Blu-ray, I'm good.

I'm entirely ambivalent about 4K, although I could probably be persuaded were anyone to make the case.

I would have thought supermarkets had a big part in the surge of dvd sales, especially when people were reluctant to go anywhere else

I've resisted 4K so far, but right now it feels like you need a really solid theater setup, like 55" screen, appropriate viewing distance, etc. which makes it tougher to justify the investment. I'll get a PS5 someday, though.

I’m not too fussed about 4K (despite owning a 4K setup) but here in PAL land, most DVDs use a 25fps speedup rather than the 3:2 pulldown that NTSC discs have. Blu rays use 24fps and my setup shows them at 24. Combining that and the near-double resolution, it’s not even close.
I’ll happily buy and watch a $2 DVD from a flea market but haven’t bought a new DVD in years except when forced to by lack of alternative.

Indicator to launch US branch in January '22

https://www.mediaplaynews.com/distribution-solutions-inks-distribution-deal-with-powerhouse-films-label/

Ha, missed that the thread was updated, was just coming to post that.

GIVE US HARRYHAUSEN

^^^^ THIS

BUT ALSO GIVE US YOUR "BIGGEST EVER ANNOUNCEMENT"

So looks like the Indicator exciting news was the Sinbad re-release (which I am obviously all over and have ordered already).

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/29/archive-reviving-mexican-popular-cinema-permanencia-voluntaria

Amazing news which shows where Indicator are going next.

Wow, yes. This is excellent news! Kino announced and subsequently cancelled a slate of Santo films a while back, so I'd been curious to see where they would end up.

Now to anticipate the Arrow-esque frustration of seeing which releases Indicator will grace the US with and which they will not.

Will WB actually allow Batwoman to be released?

Ahem, I believe you may be confusing Batwoman with La Murcielaga. Certainly no relation there that I can see.

(There are already a couple 'Batwoman' releases floating around out there (including a recent Blu-ray which is unfortunately dubbed-only), so people seem to be getting away with it.)

Talking of getting away with it, my Turkish Star Wars turned up. Yet to find out how it looks.

Mine too, and me neither. It exists, though, which is something!

I watched it, all the soundtrack cues are there and the picture is....as good as could possible be expected.

Now to anticipate the Arrow-esque frustration of seeing which releases Indicator will grace the US with and which they will not.

Surely the demand for Mexican genre cinema will be superior in the US so they'll make sure to include all of those? Unless there's rights issues...

Coming Soon on 4KUHD!
BRAND NEW Dolby Vision HDR Restoration to be Supervised by Brian De Palma!
From a 16-Bit 4K Scan of the OCN!

Dressed to Kill (1980) Starring Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, Keith Gordon & Dennis Franz – Written & Directed by Brian De Palma pic.twitter.com/VSdClqZLWJ

— KLStudioClassics (@KLStudioClassic) October 31, 2021

Totally take back what I was saying about underwhelming selection of japanese releases, there's a lot of good coming out. Very curious about Sailor Suit And Machine Gun

That Yokai box set is good fun.

On the third Indicator noir set and boy the batting average with these is not great, so many films that are neither good nor noir. I understand they didn't just put all the obvious greats in one set because they wanted multiple volumes but jeez, it's like an average of one truly good movie per set. For completists only (which I guess I am).

Like so far the third set is:

Johnny O' Clock - Silly crime movie with Dick Powell, was surprised to find out it's not based on a radio serial because that's what it feels like. Marginally noir, endearing three star effort.

The Dark Past - Overcooked home invasion film with Lee J. Cobb as a psychologist and William Holden as the least convincing gangster of all time. Campy psychobabble. Not noir unless you think anything focusing on Freudianism is.

Convicted - Adaptation of a play that had already been filmed as The Criminal Code, dir: Howard Hawks, and there is zero reason for you to see this if you've seen that version (also on Indicator). Noir? Do you think a movie about a good boy getting redeemed by a prison warden is gonna be noir?

oof, I preordered the reprint of the first 2 sets when they were £29.99 each the other week, the reviews I read seemed pretty good as well?
I'll still watch them obv but yr killing my hype!

I mean they do include a couple of great ones per set: in Vol.1 Drive A Crooked Road is an amazing twisted film with Mickey Rooney (!) and The Line Up is Don Siegel already as savage as his later rep would be. Five Against The House is interesting too for its flippant, modern tone, even if it doesn't entirely work. Vol.2 has Murder By Contract, which is a great early hitman film (Scorsese is a fan) and Tight Spot, which despite being p much a filmed play is a lot of fun thanks to Ginger Rogers. Just be prepared that each set will include a fair batch of middling to bad films.

The positive reviews I'm guessing have more to do with the editions - every film gets a commentary track, and they add in some extra stuff that historians are gonna go for. Personally though there's only so many Three Stooges shorts I can take, and I'm not quite auteurist enough to sit through an Israel recruitment film because Joseph H Lewis directed it or a navvy safety film because Budd Boetticher made it.

I just hope ppl aren't buying these as an introduction to the genre. The old Warner Bros DVD boxes, or at least the first three or four, are a much better overview of the genre's essentials.

yeh I couldn't give less of a fuck about the 3 Stooges even tho giving each film a thematic short is a nice idea in theory. I've seen most of the "big" noirs so was hoping this would be a good way to see some of the lesser lights.

at least it's not as bad as that Giallo Essentials set, which looks anything but essential

I very nearly pushed the button on the noir sets in the sale, but feel better about not doing so now.

On the other hand I did overindulge in both the Arrow and Severin seasonal sales - the Japanese exploitation collections were all reduced for Arrow and the Lenzi/Baker set was finally in stock at sales time at Severin.

The slipcase looks lovely in those giallo sets but 'essential' should sue for defamation.

turns out the local hmv has an entire display of arrow film blurays, and 88 and criterion and all sorts of others.

they had the yakuza papers box and all the individual films apart from the one i was looking for, typically.

ended up spending my vouchers on the criterion lone wolf and cub box.

Admittedly I've only watched two of the films in the first Indicator Columbia Noir box, but I think Daniel RF is being a bit harsh here. The two I watched - Boetticher's Escape in the Fog and Lewis's The Undercover Man - were both pretty solid B pictures with plenty of interesting undercurrents. Undercover Man isn't really a noir in the classic sense, despite some spectacular black and white cinematography from the great Burnett Guffey. so I agree that these boxes might possibly have been better named Columbia Crime, but I guess 'noir' makes for a slightly more commercial title.

And as always, Indicator's extras and presentation make the boxes beautiful, desirable fetish objects - even with those unwatchable Three Stooges shorts.

I'd argue Escape In the Fog is way too goofy and light hearted to be noir either. The supernatural element is never explained and it feels less like that's the point and more like they couldn't be bothered to find a resolution. Tbf tho Boetticher's westerns are amazing work so perhaps I went in with too high expectations.

The Undercover Man is ok, three stars out of five I'd say.

I don't know whether the market has died or nobody is looking this close to Christmas but I've just managed to snag the two Indicator Harryhausen sets for just over £100 the pair.

Unless they've finally agreed a reissue with the estate and it's leaked? Last I had heard they'd changed their position to 'never say never' but weren't hopeful.

Both the Christopher Lee and Andy Milligan boxes are going to be in the Severin sale for the first time on Black Friday. The former is patchy but will have enough value in it at the discount price (I personally think there's enough in it anyway but ymmv). Andy Milligan is as acquired taste as they come but I love them.

Prime opportunity for Severin to fuck up massively here though, running this sale at the same time as trying to get these orders out at the same time as the nunsploitation and folk horror box preorders (a week apart, I am in for both). They've already said none of the Black Friday stuff might go out until January.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was my experience last year. They release some great stuff but they really need to admit already that they can't handle the other aspects of their business. Which is okay! There are lots of other great boutiques that farm out their ordering and distribution.

I thought there was enough value in the Severin Christopher Lee set even at full import price (I found a very slight cheaper copy on eBay) - none of the films come close to matching something like Bava's The Whip and the Body, but I was pleased to have things like the German Fisher Sherlock Holmes movie in a quality presentation.

I enjoyed The Body Beneath as a bonus on the BFI's Flipside/Milligan set but possibly not enough to spend £200 on more of same. Ditto the Al Adamson set, which I'm sure is interesting but...

Has anyone bought product from the Australian specialist label Imprint? They've got a number of desirable releases - I'm particularly wanting this cool vintage horror set

https://viavision.com.au/shop/silver-screams-cinema-1944-1957/

and this 70s Hammer set

https://viavision.com.au/shop/hammer-horror-four-gothic-horror-films-1971-1972/

but needless to say these things are not cheap on Amazon and elsewhere, and I'm wary about importing directly from Aus.

pvmic but I actually thought the Polish TV series was the highlight of the box (if only tangentially Lee-related). The one-to-one long interview in French was tremendous too.

The Body Beneath is one of the best and very typical so you'll know your own tolerance based on that. The outliers like Nightbirds and Vapours are probably the highlights but they're pretty much exceptions to his house style.

I'm enjoying the Al Adamson set but it's taking a long time to get through. I've never felt like blasting through - in fact it's rare for me to watch him two nights in a row. I'm just about to get into blaxploitation (9 discs down out of 14) so that might change.

I've imported directly from Australia and NZ before (although was pre-COVID) without dramas. In fact, those sets look great so I might get on them myself.

Right, I have ordered them and had the order accepted. Let's see what happens.

The discs are waiting to be loaded on a plane at the moment.

In other news, Hammer have formed a new company with Network to do restoration and then release of the Hammer catalogue. I'm not sure it's particularly a good fit because Network's stuff is often 'do minimum' to get it on sale but the recent reissues of Dark Eyes of London and I Don't Want To Be Born were pretty good (if a little light on extras compared to, say, Indicator) so maybe I'm unfairly judging.

Australian discs took a week to be allocated a flight and still waiting for that flight to take off with no indication of when. Lack of info is frustrating.

Severin seem to have been on top of things and have hit (more or less) all the preorder dates and a big chunk of the way through Black Friday. Good work by them.

That Yokai box set is good fun.

This was good advice, thoroughly enjoyed the original trilogy with the Takashi Miike remake of Spook Warfare to come.

Indicator have announced the first two Mexican films for March, looks like they'll be individuals rather than sets which is disappointing from my perspective but probably not surprising until they've tested the appetite of the public.

I think this is the thread with the right audience for this amazing story from Stephen Thrower.

https://www.facebook.com/1456085621/posts/10224933056421090/

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