Scream Factory Blu-ray Discussion Thread

[franken_psycho1990]

Originally Posted by zbinks

I'd be surprised if there was a third Arkoff title. Everything of note from 1956 - 1980 probably belongs to either Susan Hart or MGM.

The interview in question was posted on 12/23/2013, within two weeks after Phantom of the Paradise (12/12/2013), Evilspeak (12/13/2013) and Final Exam (also 12/13/2013) were announced, but it's not clear when the interview actually took place. I have a feeling the interview may have taken place just prior to those announcements. Transcription takes time and the interviewer's biography indicates that he's a fairly busy indiviual. The deals in question may very well be as follows:

Code Red: Evilspeak, Final Exam
Samuel Z. Arkoff estate: Hellhole, The Final Terror
Fox: Phantom of the Paradise, Ravenous, Lake Placid and three as yet unannounced titles

I hope one day they release a BD of "it conquered the world" & "The Undead"!

[Camp_Crystal_Lake]

Originally Posted by zbinks

I'd be surprised if there was a third Arkoff title. Everything of note from 1956 - 1980 probably belongs to either Susan Hart or MGM.

The interview in question was posted on 12/23/2013, within two weeks after Phantom of the Paradise (12/12/2013), Evilspeak (12/13/2013) and Final Exam (also 12/13/2013) were announced, but it's not clear when the interview actually took place. I have a feeling the interview may have taken place just prior to those announcements. Transcription takes time and the interviewer's biography indicates that he's a fairly busy indiviual. The deals in question may very well be as follows:

Code Red: Evilspeak, Final Exam
Samuel Z. Arkoff estate: Hellhole, The Final Terror
Fox: Phantom of the Paradise, Ravenous, Lake Placid and three as yet unannounced titles

Is Lord of Illusions a property of Fox?

[Ruemorgue10]

Originally Posted by Camp_Crystal_Lake

Is Lord of Illusions a property of Fox?

It's with MGM. The film was distributed by United Artists.

[BarnDoor]

Originally Posted by zbinks

I'd be surprised if there was a third Arkoff title. Everything of note from 1956 - 1980 probably belongs to either Susan Hart or MGM.

The interview in question was posted on 12/23/2013, within two weeks after Phantom of the Paradise (12/12/2013), Evilspeak (12/13/2013) and Final Exam (also 12/13/2013) were announced, but it's not clear when the interview actually took place. I have a feeling the interview may have taken place just prior to those announcements. Transcription takes time and the interviewer's biography indicates that he's a fairly busy indiviual. The deals in question may very well be as follows:

Code Red: Evilspeak, Final Exam
Samuel Z. Arkoff estate: Hellhole, The Final Terror
Fox: Phantom of the Paradise, Ravenous, Lake Placid and three as yet unannounced titles

This is good reasoning, even if I did hope the six-film deal was with MGM (hopefully there's an even larger one in the works!). It would mean that one of the Fox titles has never been released on DVD before. Any thoughts as to what this might be? A look on DVDAF and IMDB offers these as (possible) Fox titles without a DVD release (I went from 1970-1995):

To Kill a Clown (1972)
What Became of Jack and Jill? (1972)
Killer Fish (1979)
Savage Harvest (1981) (according to IMDB UA distributed this in Japan and Fox in the US; could be either Fox or MGM)
The Vindicator (1986) (this would be the most obvious choice; from the director of Visiting Hours to boot)

But there has to be more than this right? I should say that I don't know how accurate DVDAF is with regard to rights - they had Enemy Territory down as a Fox title for example, but I'm sure most of Empire Pictures' stuff is with MGM now, and indeed most people think this title is with MGM. Even so, I think it would fit the line if Assault on Precinct 13 can make it in.

[theprestige85]

Originally Posted by Mr. Thomsen

This is where it gets hairy, because the question then becomes what value does the author's (or director's) intention have for your reception/ understanding of a text (or movie)? And is the director's intention and understanding of his own work the only valid one?

.

Of course it isn't, but when it comes down to it, a lot of filmmakers don't even execute their intentions fully. A lot of what they set out to do, they don't even accomplish or it becomes completely misinterpreted whether it's due to immense ambition, studio meddling, budget constraints, etc.

One such example is Paul Verhoeven's film, Showgirls. He set out to make a film that depicted the misogyny and sleaze amongst the elite in western society. It failed, and he acknowledged himself in very recent interviews. This is why it is extremely important to listen to or read other people's interpretation of the text/film because while the filmmaker may have had very specific intentions, they could easily have misfired as Verhoeven, a highly intelligent man, did.

[Camp_Crystal_Lake]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

This is good reasoning, even if I did hope the six-film deal was with MGM (hopefully there's an even larger one in the works!). It would mean that one of the Fox titles has never been released on DVD before. Any thoughts as to what this might be? A look on DVDAF and IMDB offers these as (possible) Fox titles without a DVD release (I went from 1970-1995):

To Kill a Clown (1972)
What Became of Jack and Jill? (1972)
Killer Fish (1979)
Savage Harvest (1981) (according to IMDB UA distributed this in Japan and Fox in the US; could be either Fox or MGM)
The Vindicator (1986) (this would be the most obvious choice; from the director of Visiting Hours to boot)

But there has to be more than this right? I should say that I don't know how accurate DVDAF is with regard to rights - they had Enemy Territory down as a Fox title for example, but I'm sure most of Empire Pictures' stuff is with MGM now, and indeed most people think this title is with MGM. Even so, I think it would fit the line if Assault on Precinct 13 can make it in.

According to Scream's Facebook posts, when they introduced Hellhole and The Final Terror, they stated that both had never been on DVD or Blu-Ray before. So those two must have been the never before released titles from the interview.

I know The Final Terror had a DVD from Trinity Entertainment, but it was not an authorized release, just a bootleg. So, evidently in the interview from December, Scream meant authorized DVD releases. So, I'm assuming we have already had the announcements of the two films never previously released on DVD and Blu-Ray.

[Mr. Thomsen]

Originally Posted by demonknight

I was trying to say that reading into something too much is never a good thing. And also because of this:

I suspected as much.

I must admit, I am not sure I follow your argument, though. When is "reading into something too much" and who decides that?

I totally agree that Siskel and Ebert's reading of the slasher phenomenon was terribly misguided. It also did not make matters better that it followed the lead of certain organizations who picketed against the horror movies and had their own political axe to grind.

Siskel and Ebert's reading becomes somewhat understandable, however, if you know a little about film theory at that point in time. The dominant theory was the so-called "Screen Theory", which evolved around the British film journal Screen. Screen Theory was a bullshit mixture of semiotics, psychoanalysis, Marxism, and feminism. It basically argued that all popular culture reflected and reinforced the values of the dominant power structure, which was always understood as a capitalistic patriarchy. Women in movies were therefore fetishized and punished for their sexuality.

It's no wonder the theorists of that era, like Robin Wood and Charles Derry, loved the horror movies of the 1970s which were often somewhat open-ended and thus was read as going against the dominant order, and hated the horror movies of the 1980s, which was seen as conservative, preserving and reinforcing the dominant order's moral values (= sex is bad).

All of this was utter nonsense of course, as later theorists have shown. Carol Clover argued that slashers were not misogynistic at all but rather empowering because the central character was always a female, who was also the one to make it through the ordeal. Clover was the one who baptized this phenomenon "the final girl". Other theorist have later shown, but simply doing the numbers, that the ratio between female and male victims was very close to 50/50.

But I guess, in your view, Clover and co. also were "reading into something too much"?

Correct me if I am wrong, but it seems to me that you are suggesting that nothing of value can be learned about our culture or society by looking into the art and entertainment it produces?

[BarnDoor]

Originally Posted by Camp_Crystal_Lake

According to Scream's Facebook posts, when they introduced Hellhole and The Final Terror, they stated that both had never been on DVD or Blu-Ray before. So those two must have been the never before released titles from the interview.

I know The Final Terror had a DVD from Trinity Entertainment, but it was not an authorized release, just a bootleg. So, evidently in the interview from December, Scream meant authorized DVD releases. So, I'm assuming we have already had the announcements of the two films never previously released on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Ah. That's a shame but it makes sense if the deal is with Fox. Realistically The Vindicator is the only one there I can see Scream releasing at some point.

[bruce holecheck]

Originally Posted by zbinks

Sony let Grindhouse Releasing release fully loaded Blu-Rays of Corruption and The Big Gundown. The same will probably be true of The Swimmer.

THE SWIMMER has a brand new 2-1/2 hour documentary on it -- if that ain't a new extra, I don't know what is!

[Pete Rock]

Originally Posted by bruce holecheck

THE SWIMMER has a brand new 2-1/2 hour documentary on it -- if that ain't a new extra, I don't know what is!

If Sony is now letting other companies produce extras for their movies, then Scream needs to jump on that treasure trove immediately. Anyone know when Twilight Time's rights expire for Fright Night?

[zbinks]

Originally Posted by Pete Rock

If Sony is now letting other companies produce extras for their movies, then Scream needs to jump on that treasure trove immediately. Anyone know when Twilight Time's rights expire for Fright Night?

December 2014, if Twilight Time hasn't already renewed their license.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by theprestige85

One such example is Paul Verhoeven's film, Showgirls. He set out to make a film that depicted the misogyny and sleaze amongst the elite in western society. It failed, and he acknowledged himself in very recent interviews. This is why it is extremely important to listen to or read other people's interpretation of the text/film because while the filmmaker may have had very specific intentions, they could easily have misfired as Verhoeven, a highly intelligent man, did.

Although that still doesn't let Basic Instinct, Hollow Man or even The 4th Man off the hook--Verhoeven "depicted misogyny", all right, but I don't exactly think it was "western society's".
Deep down, he and Joe Ezterhas were MADE for each other.

Originally Posted by Mr. Thomsen

I totally agree that Siskel and Ebert's reading of the slasher phenomenon was terribly misguided. It also did not make matters better that it followed the lead of certain organizations who picketed against the horror movies and had their own political axe to grind.

Ebert, in his blog, often spoke (fondly) of Siskel being very impatient, and often cutting people off in conversation if they didn't get to the point quickly. Looking back at the reviews, you can see that whiny, self-righteous impatience when Siskel panned a movie he didn't like--He didn't enjoy panning a movie he thought "shouldn't have been made" when Ebert clearly enjoyed taking a few pokes.
I suspect S&E's "Stalk along" crusade against Friday the 13th was more Siskel's than Ebert's, although it was also from a lot of critics at the time, too.

(You have to remember, with only hi-pressure theater markets to sell to, 80's-slasher was a supply market back then from a lot of low-budget wannabes, and anyone over 24 was fed to the teeth with them at the time. They felt as frustrated and helpless then as we feel about the independent supply market of Adam Sandler comedies or Seltzer & Friedberg parodies today, with no power of directly stopping them.
As the documentaries point out, after the public blowup over the otherwise minor "Silent Night, Deadly Night", crusaders finally thought "If it bleeds, we can kill it!" and finally hoped to bury the trend once and for all.)

All of this was utter nonsense of course, as later theorists have shown. Carol Clover argued that slashers were not misogynistic at all but rather empowering because the central character was always a female, who was also the one to make it through the ordeal. Clover was the one who baptized this phenomenon "the final girl". Other theorist have later shown, but simply doing the numbers, that the ratio between female and male victims was very close to 50/50.

When we think of slasher movies, we think of Jamie Lee Curtis.
Every slasher had to have "the smart one"--"the Virgin", as Cabin in the Woods put it--to give the story a plot and have someone to help hunt down the killer, but it also emphasized that you can't just show dead teens to live teens, even though that's probably what they want. Has to be some pretense of story structure, and some illusion of "sympathetic" protagonists.

[redrunner97]

I think a better modern comparison to the 80s Slasher fad would be the "found footage" film today. Netflix Instant is over flowing with Paranormal Activity rip-offs. And just like the slasher film, they can be made so cheaply (some have even been made using iphone cameras) and there's a new batch released every week to video, and a few released nation wide every year. It's an epidemic.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by redrunner97

I think a better modern comparison to the 80s Slasher fad would be the "found footage" film today. Netflix Instant is over flowing with Paranormal Activity rip-offs. And just like the slasher film, they can be made so cheaply (some have even been made using iphone cameras) and there's a new batch released every week to video, and a few released nation wide every year. It's an epidemic.

Bing-freakin'-go. THAT'S the "supply market" plague we'd love to throttle today, since, like slasher producers, every wannabe thought he had the "next hit" to coattail on the title everybody had seen.

I'm wondering whether it even was as bad back then, because the producers had to get their money in cash from the theaters, and put more pressure on the audience to think "If you liked Halloween and Prom Night..." The download-circuit today just grinds them out and hopes the underground niche audience will "discover" them on the festival market or fan-buzz, like The Conjuring.
When The Battery tried homaging 80's posters, it sort of makes you realize just how much hard work went into the movies back then.

[HorrorBlu]

Originally Posted by HorrorBlu

I wonder if it will be the full "Sleepless Nights" doc covering all three movies, or just the segment on the first film?

Originally Posted by redrunner97

I'll be pretty disappointed if it's not the entire Sleepless Nights documentary on the SPM disc.

According to a review of the blu-ray, the Sleepless Nights doc is only 23 minutes. So it only covers the first film.

Shame Scream Factory decided to divide them up. All three segments play together extremely well as an hour long documentary.

[The Great Owl]

I just ordered the Scream Factory Blu-ray of Night of the Comet a few minutes ago. I haven't seen this film since I was in middle school back in the mid-1980s, but it's stayed in my head all of this time, and I'm interested to see how the movie stacks up to my nostalgic leanings.

This decision was prompted by my purchase and viewing of Cat People (1982) this weekend, because I was surprised at how well the movie holds up today, although it's been a couple of decades since I last saw it. The picture quality of Cat People gets a lot of flack, but the digital noise reduction did not interfere with my enjoyment in the slightest.

With Night of the Comet, Cat People, and Assault on Precinct 13 (which is my favorite of the three movies by a long mile), my Scream Factory collection is small, but awesome. I'm looking forward to Herzog's Nosferatu in a few months.

[Movie-Brat]

Originally Posted by Mr. Thomsen

Correct me if I am wrong, but it seems to me that you are suggesting that nothing of value can be learned about our culture or society by looking into the art and entertainment it produces?

Bingo, well said.

[KenHurd]

Originally Posted by rickah88

Has Scream/Shout done any deals with Sony? I ask, because I was wondering if the [Rec] series would be a good candidate? I've always wanted to see this, and I'm surprised(I guess I shouldn't be as it's Sony), that the US doesn't have any of the 3(soon to be 4) films on BD.
I saw Quarantine and thought it was okay. I understand these films are much better though.

If you want to get these movies, I recommend the Canadian releases. They're region A and have great video and audio quality. I couldn't imagine that a U.S. release would improve upon them.

[rickah88]

Originally Posted by KenHurd

If you want to get these movies, I recommend the Canadian releases. They're region A and have great video and audio quality. I couldn't imagine that a U.S. release would improve upon them.

I was thinking about going that route. I guess I like to hold out for US releases whenever possible...as this series isn't "must own" for me. Altough I'd buy day one if SF did them.
I'm just surprised these never made it to the US. Even after Quarantine? Oh well, maybe some day.

[KenHurd]

Originally Posted by rickah88

I was thinking about going that route. I guess I like to hold out for US releases whenever possible...as this series isn't "must own" for me. Altough I'd buy day one if SF did them.
I'm just surprised these never made it to the US. Even after Quarantine? Oh well, maybe some day.

Maybe when Rec 4 finally comes out the U.S. will release the entire series. I just got tired of waiting.