Scream Factory Blu-ray Discussion Thread

[tisdivine]

Originally Posted by Jlouisbarrett

These two have been near the top of my want list for quite some time. Berserk! especially, as it was one of Crawford's only color films and I think its circus setting, with its rich color palette, lends itself well to the Blu-ray format.

I wouldn't mind Trog, either (which there is an existing HD master for -- it's available on Amazon, I believe).

I havent actually seen Trog yet but I dig Crawford in weird films so I would def pick it up too lol

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by Jobla

Does Scream have a relationship with Sony? Sony owns BERSERK and STRAIGHT JACKET.

Last week's episode of FEUD: BETTE AND JOAN recreated a couple of scenes from STRAIGHT-JACKET, including the beheading in the barn. John Waters played director William Castle!

Sony is willing to license, but they won't allow new extras to be made. They don't want to hire a team of lawyers to clear any new content. SF has said that they're not interested if they can't do new extras.

But they've released titles in the past that have had little to no extras before, so I don't get what the issue is. The well at Universal and MGM is quickly drying up, and they're going to need titles that will sell to keep the line going.

[painiac]

i can't imagine the angst that will be brought on by a swath of Scream Factory releases that lack the bells and whistles for which they are known.

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by Jlouisbarrett

I wouldn't mind Trog, either (which there is an existing HD master for -- it's available on Amazon, I believe).

WB has it.

[BarnDoor]

I can imagine the backlash if Scream released something like Candyman with no extras, but certainly there are a bunch of older or more obscure Sony titles they could have got away with creating no new extras for, especially if they released them as double features (something like Torture Garden and The Creeping Flesh, for example, or the William Castle films). Silent Rage is another one - after all, no one is expecting a new interview with Chuck at this point. I'm sure they would have done a better job than Mill Creek in such instances. Some ideas of post-1970 titles alone given what is left:

Creatures the World Forgot (1971)
Fragment of Fear (1971)
Shadow of the Hawk (1976)
The Eyes of Laura Mars (1978)
Nightwing (1979)
Ravagers (1979)

Piranha II (1982)
The New Kids (1985)
Out of the Dark (1988)
The Seventh Sign (1988)

I haven't listed the likes of 976-EVIL and most 90s titles as I think people would want decent editions of those. But for the above and quite a few pre-70s titles I haven't listed I don't see why Scream wouldn't take a chance on releasing them with no new extras.

[The Great Owl]

I just ordered...

Demented
From Beyond

...and pre-ordered...

Species
The Man from Planet X


I'm planning to pre-order The Night Of The Sorcerers / The Loreley's Grasp and The Bat People from Amazon as well, but I'm going to bide my time, since they are both listed at $29 and change on Amazon now.
(I like to deduct funds from my bank ledger as soon as I pre-order, instead of waiting until my account is actually charged.)

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

I can imagine the backlash if Scream released something like Candyman with no extras, but certainly there are a bunch of older or more obscure Sony titles they could have got away with creating no new extras for, especially if they released them as double features (something like Torture Garden and The Creeping Flesh, for example, or the William Castle films). Silent Rage is another one - after all, no one is expecting a new interview with Chuck at this point. I'm sure they would have done a better job than Mill Creek in such instances. Some ideas of post-1970 titles alone given what is left:

Creatures the World Forgot (1971)
Fragment of Fear (1971)
Shadow of the Hawk (1976)
The Eyes of Laura Mars (1978)
Nightwing (1979)
Ravagers (1979)

Piranha II (1982)
The New Kids (1985)
Out of the Dark (1988)
The Seventh Sign (1988)

I haven't listed the likes of 976-EVIL and most 90s titles as I think people would want decent editions of those. But for the above and quite a few pre-70s titles I haven't listed I don't see why Scream wouldn't take a chance on releasing them with no new extras.

While I would prefer some new content for a release like Candyman, the DVD already had a fair amount of content included on it that could be ported over and released. I'm also not sure if Sony's policy on no new extras carries over to Commentary's or not. Assuming it doesn't Scream Factory could likely record 2 new commentary tracks (Clive Barker and then Cast and Crew) and then also carry over the existing commentary. It could then provide multiple audio tracks (Original Theatrical and any DVD era or modern remixed tracks) It would of course need to ensure that the full unedited cut of the film is included, and then port the following special features..

The 24-minute Sweets to the Sweet: The Candyman Mythos documentary about the making of the film.

The 11-minute Clive Barker: Raising Hell is a bio featurette that covers the author's career from the very beginning, touching mostly on his film work.

-5 minutes of lurid Bernard Rose Storyboards, a montage of them set to Philip Glass music.

Include the usual reversible art, slip cover, and throw in a DVD to round out the package and make the edition "feel" like it has more content than it really does, and while not as amazing as we would like... it would still be a respectable Collectors edition of the film that would do it justice. A fresh scan would also do this film wonders and so assuming the audio and picture qualities were top notch I think most folks would be pretty happy.

I have the Universal release from the UK currently and while it's better than nothing, there is substantial room for improvement and I feel like going down the path I laid out, even without a plethora of new special features, would satisfy all but the most dedicated of fans.

[babybreese]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

Sony is willing to license, but they won't allow new extras to be made. They don't want to hire a team of lawyers to clear any new content. SF has said that they're not interested if they can't do new extras.

Indicator in the UK are filling up their discs with extras for Sony films....so guessing this is a US only situation?

[Member-222782]

Originally Posted by tylerc904

Hell Night would be the best Scream release since the triple-punch of Carrie/Black Christmas/Child's Play for me.

Given the secrecy these labels hold so dear when it comes to which titles they have acquired, and given what Jeff Nelson said on that interview, "hopefully we can get it", I'd say they already have it and are just trying to throw people off for now. They know it's a big title and won't risk other labels trying to get their hands on it by saying something like "we're going to try to get it". I'll bet Hell Night will be one of their comic-con announcements this Summer.

[BarnDoor]

Originally Posted by cine74

Given the secrecy these labels hold so dear when it comes to which titles they have acquired, and given what Jeff Nelson said on that interview, "hopefully we can get it", I'd say they already have it and are just trying to throw people off for now. They know it's a big title and won't risk other labels trying to get their hands on it by saying something like "we're going to try to get it". I'll bet Hell Night will be one of their comic-con announcements this Summer.

If they do have Hell Night I think they'd want to release it in September or October, in which case they'd reveal it before SDCC. But if it's coming in November or later it would be an SDCC reveal. Maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves - I just hope they have another batch of SDCC announcements full stop. I also hope they've acquired Alligator and Alligator 2.

Didn't Bill (Olsen) hint a while back that there might have been a breakthrough with Hell Night? I don't think there was any indication that Code Red would release it, but another label. If it was Arrow, say, I doubt he would have been as coy.

[Member-222782]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

Didn't Bill (Olsen) hint a while back that there might have been a breakthrough with Hell Night? I don't think there was any indication that Code Red would release it, but another label. If it was Arrow, say, I doubt he would have been as coy.

I forgot what he said exactly but he alluded to the film having had some progress passing into the "someone's got it" stage. Bill has had a previous relationship with Shout Factory so I think this is a good bet. And, no, it did not sound like Bill was the one who will release it. Perhaps we are indeed getting ahead of ourselves so I think it's best to just put this behind us until more concrete evidence surfaces

[painiac]

Originally Posted by cine74

I forgot what he said exactly but he alluded to the film having had some progress passing into the "someone's got it" stage. Bill has had a previous relationship with Shout Factory so I think this is a good bet. And, no, it did not sound like Bill was the one who will release it. Perhaps we are indeed getting ahead of ourselves so I think it's best to just put this behind us until more concrete evidence surfaces

but i want pages and pages of baseless speculation!

[Seymour]

Originally Posted by babybreese

Indicator in the UK are filling up their discs with extras for Sony films....so guessing this is a US only situation?

Yeah, I don't think the extras thing is the problem anymore. It's just that Sony doesn't want to work with/license to Shout Factory cause they already have a couple of "go-to" labels that they have established relationships with (Twilight Time, Mill Creek).

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by babybreese

Indicator in the UK are filling up their discs with extras for Sony films....so guessing this is a US only situation?

SF said before on a podcast that clearing content is much easier in the UK than the US.

[20th Century Boy]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

SF said before on a podcast that clearing content is much easier in the UK than the US.

I thought they said clearing music, specifically, was easier.

[Jlouisbarrett]

I was curious about the Crawford titles that were mentioned, so I searched the iTunes Store and found that Strait Jacket, Trog and Berserk! are all available in 1080p HD. So it's odd to me that, even with existing HD masters, none of these have been released on Blu yet. Trog I can understand, since it's with Warner but I'm surprised Twilight Time hasn't snatched up Strait Jacket or Berserk! by now. They seem like no-brainers.

[TripleHBK]

What's the cheapest anyone has found "The Stepfather" for and where at?

(Mini Rant Time)

It drives me nuts that these older discs never seem to be put into any really good sales. I mean in the case of The StepFather the disc is 7 years old... at some point you would think that it would make good business sense to drop the price to the more reasonable $15 mark so that folks have a bit more reason to pick some of these pre-scream factory titles up before the license expires. I'm sure there are folks like me out there that would happily snag these at a more competitive price if given the opportunity. I (and others) have waited 7 years at this point... pretty sure we're not going to suddenly decide one day that paying $18 - $30 is suddenly something we want to do when there are so many other releases that are new to market at similar price points. I'm not asking for bargin bin pricing... but $14.99 (plus shipping) for a 7+ year old release doesn't seem crazy to me at this point.

[Jlouisbarrett]

It's $18.39 on Amazon, which is what I paid for it and I do think it is a very reasonable price and certainly not far off from your desired $15 price point.

[TripleHBK]

I just bought a stack of Arrow titles last month that were released no more than 2 years ago (some only being a few months old) between $11.75 and $18 (after shipping). Scream Factory can do better than $18.39 on a film that was released on Blu Ray 7 years ago. As I said before, If someone wasn't willing to spend that amount of money over the last 7 years, it's unlikely anyone is suddenly going to change their mind. Lowering the price point on a title after 7 years seems like a pretty sure fire way to ensure you can continue to sell copies.

[Worship.my.wreck]

Originally Posted by TripleHBK

I just bought a stack of Arrow titles last month that were released no more than 2 years ago (some only being a few months old) between $11.75 and $18 (after shipping). Scream Factory can do better than $18.39 on a film that was released on Blu Ray 7 years ago. As I said before, If someone wasn't willing to spend that amount of money over the last 7 years, it's unlikely anyone is suddenly going to change their mind. Lowering the price point on a title after 7 years seems like a pretty sure fire way to ensure you can continue to sell copies.

Not to mention whenever they do have their sales for valentine or Halloween or whatever most of the titles are still 17.99. You can hardly call those sales. Speaking of which, I'm waiting for the SF sale at Amazon. Should be next month if I'm correct? That sale last year was pretty good. Looking to pickup a bunch of stuff.