Scream Factory Blu-ray Discussion Thread

[rdodolak]

I'm surprised Worship.my.wreck received a suspension, but Jay Mammoth did not. Seems some are busy pushing the report button on all posts they disagree with.

[Mayormccheese85]

Aside from Silent Night it's a pretty disappointing lineup.

[Member-222782]

Originally Posted by Seymour

Sometimes it's not about money. I remember somebody from Shout said a while back that they couldn't even get their foot in the door with Sony.

What does Indicator/Powerhouse have that Shout Factory doesn't? Is Sony biased against the US?

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Cinema74

What does Indicator/Powerhouse have that Shout Factory doesn't? Is Sony biased against the US?

They have connections, just like TT has connections with Sony.

[Jay Mammoth]

Originally Posted by Wachagonnado

Because this is totally about teams and alliances. Right.....

You don't have to do that because Arrow already puts out great stuff and obscure stuff. Same for all the other labels. scream factory does not (anymore)
But like he said, anything that disagrees with your blind views is blasphemy.

Don't get much more obscure than American Gothic, Eye of the Cat and Attack of the Puppet People. To obscure for some I guess lol

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

They have connections, just like TT has connections with Sony.

And from what I recall, the owners used to work for Sony.

Originally Posted by Cinema74

Is Sony biased against the US?

LOL. Could be since they seem so intent on only giving US customers BD-R releases.

[redrunner97]

Does MGM own I was a Teenage Werewolf? I'd love to see Shout tackle that one.

[dvdmrp]

Guys make sure you let Shout/Scream know that they need to release Attack of the Puppet People correctly in it's OAR. They are releasing it full frame. Bob Furmanek has provided documentation and evidence that shows that it was a 1:85:1 film. Please let Shout know you want this one done right in OAR.

[iamnoone]

Originally Posted by redrunner97

Does MGM own I was a Teenage Werewolf? I'd love to see Shout tackle that one.

It's one of the Arkoff titles Susan Hart owns and has been holding hostage for decades. She's worse than Richard Rubinstein by demanding exorbitant amounts. It won't come out until after she's dead.

[MovieManiac82]

Originally Posted by TripleHBK

If Scream Factory is going to go through the effort to have a comic con panel and hype up that they'll be announcing titles, then they need to do a better job of bringing their A game. Every year people are disappointed by the titles that are chosen to be announced at the convention. Had this been a friday announcement, you wouldn't have seen nearly the amount of complaints. When you go out of your way to host a panel however and want people to tune in to see whats going to be announced, then you better have something that is worth announcing. None of these titles really warrant the special attention that Comic-Con gets. In the end, Silent Night Deadly Night might, but as of right now it's an unknown.

At the end of the day though I look at the stuff Code Red is getting and churning out lately and I'm left scratching my head going... "Really Scream Factory, you didn't want that or couldn't get that over Bill?" That's not to say that everything Bill puts out they would want, but a large portion of it would fit with the line and be received very well by the fans.

There is a huge segment of the independent market still out there not to mention a decent amount of "Video Nasties" that would get immediate acclaim and attention if announced. I get that licensing deals with Universal, Paramount, Warner, etc are complicated and hard... but they can't swing an occasional catalog indie film to drum up added excitement? How is it that Arrow can release The Mutilator, The Slayer, Blood Rage, etc, but Scream Factory hasn't even attempted to release any of these VHS era slashers? (Not these titles specifically, but ones like them). It's stuff like that, that makes those of us that are disappointed by "The Strangers" and "Drag me to Hell" moan and ask what's going on.

What you consider "A" game titles is completely subjective though. Something you're not interested in, might be something someone else considers a triple A title that they've been wanting a decent Blu ray release for ages. Just cause you don't consider there announcement really good, doesn't mean someone else doesn't. As, I mentioned before. I think these decent films that got announced. We get a good release of a classic slasher (SDND) and also get another slasher (American Gothic) on Blu for the first time. What more do people want.

As for saying that other companies are releasing movies and why aren't Scream. Just go buy Code Red's or Arrow's releases then, pretty simple really. Why rely on Scream to release everything?. It's a good thing that other companies are releasing different movies, as it gives the consumer more choices when it comes to buying the more obscure horror stuff. The more companies releasing a variety of horror titles is only going to benefit fans.

[The Great Owl]

I just finished watching my Scream Factory Blu-ray of Species.



Natasha Henstridge is so gorgeous in Species. She's pure class. I was blown away by her when I first saw this movie during its theatrical release just before I graduated from college. Tonight's viewing was my first time revisiting the movie since that first viewing 22 years ago, and I'm still in awe of Henstridge's beauty.

Species begins with a brief explanation of SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), a project that, in real life, has sent repeated messages into space for years with no reply whatsoever, sort of like my own experiences with the Tinder app. In this movie, SETI does indeed receive an alien message in the form of a DNA code, with instructions on how to blend it with human DNA. The result is a hybrid creature, Sil, who, as a child portrayed by young Michelle Williams (Dawson's Creek, Manchester by the Sea), is kept prisoner by scientists who decide to terminate her life after becoming alarmed by her fast growth. Sil escapes, cocoons into her adult form, played to sexy perfection by Henstridge, and leaves a trail of bloody corpses in her wake as she searches for the ideal human mate with which to complete her life cycle and spread her genes.

The problem with Species, if it even is a problem, is that I cheer for Sil the whole time. The early shot of the humans, led by Ben Kingsley (Schindler's List, Ghandi, Sexy Beast), trying to kill the poor young Sil with poison gas puts me in her corner while failing to endear the plight of the humans to my sensibilities. For the remainder of the film, I'm hoping that the adult Sil will screw as many human dudes as possible while killing as many of them as possible and spawning offspring as often as she can. The cast of characters assigned to track Sil down, including the aforementioned Ben Kingsley, along with Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs), Forest Whitaker (Arrival, Platoon), Alfred Molina (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Boogie Nights, Spider-Man 2), and the sexy Marg Helgenberger (CSI), are likable enough, but their characters are trying to kill Sil, and, therefore, they suck and I want them dead.

Since I'm pulling for Sil to succeed in her endeavors throughout the film, my favorite scenes include the one where she wonderfully takes care of female competition in a nightclub and the one where she kills her first male victim after he takes her home from the nightclub. As soon as this rich bearded hipster dude takes her to his home and snaps his fingers to turn on the lights and the stereo, we know that he is an annoying douchebag who deserves to die in the most painful possible way. I also love the scene where she seduces another guy in a hot tub, and then scares him away by telling him that she wants him to help her make a baby. By the time she makes her way to Alfred Molina's character, she has learned not to buzzkill the attraction by mentioning pregnancy to a potential male mate, until...well...I won't spoil the scene for you.

The creature design for Sil, which was created by H.R. Giger, who also designed the iconic Alien creature, is pretty cool, but the end result is somewhat marred by dated computer effects. Thankfully, the most important visual effect of the film, Natasha Henstridge herself, is not even remotely dated.

Species spawned a litter of sequels, none of which I have seen. I should remedy that someday.

This Scream Factory Blu-ray looks pretty fantastic, considering the fact that the film style was never particularly spectacular, in the way that many mid-1990s films never looked particularly spectacular. I've got nothing but good things to say about the 4K restoration.

I'm now listening to the first commentary track, and I'll finish going through the extras tonight and tomorrow.

Good work, Scream Factory!

[ROSS.T.G.]

I would double dip Cyborg and Misery if they have upgraded transfers. I just watched Misery last winter and liked the transfer but there is room for improvement.

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by MovieManiac82

What you consider "A" game titles is completely subjective though. Something you're not interested in, might be something someone else considers a triple A title that they've been wanting a decent Blu ray release for ages. Just cause you don't consider there announcement really good, doesn't mean someone else doesn't.

Breaking down individual titles and how much we like them is certainly subjective, however I'd be willing to bet that there wasn't any real sort of audience "pop" when these titles were announced. There is certainly going to be people that love some announcements over others, however I'd love to hear a good argument as to how Drag me to Hell and The Strangers are good comic con announcements. I get that they are mainstream titles that might catch some attention, however when $5 alternatives already exist with stellar audio/picture quality and special features I don't really see any reason why anyone would get excited for these 2 titles specifically. There is a general consensus among the horror community when a title is a "hit" or when it's just one of many... none of these, perhaps with the exception of SNDN, are going to generate any significant buzz.

Originally Posted by MovieManiac82

As, I mentioned before. I think these decent films that got announced. We get a good release of a classic slasher (SDND) and also get another slasher (American Gothic) on Blu for the first time. What more do people want.

I agree with you that SNDN, American Gothic, Darkman II/III, and the other first time to Blu Ray announcements are good, but they weren't "Stay up late to watch our special Comic Con panel where we will be announcing at least 10 new titles for the coming months!" good. These were "Friday afternoon at 1pm we'll have some news regarding some upcoming films", good.

Originally Posted by MovieManiac82

As for saying that other companies are releasing movies and why aren't Scream. Just go buy Code Red's or Arrow's releases then, pretty simple really. Why rely on Scream to release everything?. It's a good thing that other companies are releasing different movies, as it gives the consumer more choices when it comes to buying the more obscure horror stuff. The more companies releasing a variety of horror titles is only going to benefit fans.

I am and I do, however my point was that some of the stuff that Code Red is releasing is generating more of a buzz than most of these Comic Con announcements. Scream Factory is a significantly larger distribution network with much more financial resources at their disposal. How Bill/Code Red is able to secure pretty much anything worth a crap is surprising to me when Scream Factory could easy pick off the best titles and leave Bill to release the ultra niche stuff.

As I mentioned, the Corman Library is ripe for the picking, where are those titles? Anything associated with the Video Nasties is going to be an easy sell why haven't Scream Factory tried for a few more of those? I'm not saying take every C level turd of a film and buy up the rights, but Scream Factory could do a better job of announcing a more balanced slate at Comic Con if they are going to participate in the convention each year.

Criterion, Arrow, Scream Factory all have down months for title announcements, however it's only the later that has chosen to make a production of things at Comic con. Stick to Friday announcements and none of the fuss of the last 24 hours would happen. Make a big production of things though and you're going to get a big response as we've seen here.

[MovieManiac82]

@ TripleHBK.

Fair enough and I can understand people's disappointment. Some announcements are going to be better than other's, its just the way it is and if you expect every big announcement to be amazing, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment. I just don't see the point in pity complaining about what they do or don't release. At the end of day, it comes down to what Scream want to release and there's not much we can do and no amount of complaining is really going to change that.

No company is every going to release our personal perfect line up. Get the releases you are hyped for and move on from the one's your not. It's not like there's a lack of choice in terms of horror getting released on Blu ray now. The past few years has been the best its ever been.

Just out of curiosity though, what titles would you like to see Scream release?

[k_huntington]

Originally Posted by Jay Mammoth

Ok I enjoy Land of the Dead, and the Dawn remake is amazing. But you really think Land is a better film than The Strangers, Drag Me to Hell or Misery?
And finally getting a CE of Silent Night Deadly Night
Great line up.

better films? i don't know... it depends on the day and what mood i'm in, i could say yes. but as far as...um... fanfare? i think announcing any film with ties to romero, should illicit a mic drop moment. so regardless of anything, if i were the studio, those would have been the cards to hold closest to me for a big event. it is what it is i guess.

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by MovieManiac82

@ TripleHBK.

Fair enough and I can understand people's disappointment. Some announcements are going to be better than other's, its just the way it is and if you expect every big announcement to be amazing, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment. I just don't see the point in pity complaining about what they do or don't release. At the end of day, it comes down to what Scream want to release and there's not much we can do and no amount of complaining is really going to change that.

No company is every going to release our personal perfect line up. Get the releases you are hyped for and move on from the one's your not. It's not like there's a lack of choice in terms of horror getting released on Blu ray now. The past few years has been the best its ever been.

Just out of curiosity though, what titles would you like to see Scream release?

At this point in time my complaints are not with what they are releasing but rather the format in which they announce said releases. Personally I wish they would forego comic-con entirely as every year it leads to this kind of debacle. I feel like if they are set on doing Comic Con then they need to split the announcements 50/50. Half mainstream re-issues that many of us can/will roll our eyes at, and half announcements directly to their core base. I feel like announcements for titles set in the 50's and 60's have no business at comic con. While there are fans of releases from these eras, and I feel like it's smart for Scream Factory to continue to release them, this is not the time and place to announce them Save those for the rest of the year. Instead, Scream Factory needs to go back to the bread and butter which has gotten them so much love in the first place... Films (specifically slashers) from the 1980's.

Announcing The Strangers, and Drag Me to Hell, and then following up with Silent Night Deadly Night Uncut (and actually talking about it being a 2k Scan or 4k Scan from the Negative) along with American Gothic would have been a fine way to start. From there I would have liked to have seen two more re-issues if need be, perhaps Misery and let's say a remastered Collectors edition of Tremors, before dropping something that we all thought would have happened forever ago, Fly II, and perhaps another Fox title, like say The Omen IV (Or even an upgraded Omen Box set). From there they should have addressed the controversy directly regarding Hell Night even if they couldn't give a firm release date. Throw in another random 80's slasher from the VHS era and call it a day. Darkman II/III like the other older stuff really isn't going to resonate with many folks. I'm happy to see them released in the states, but come on these aren't the titles that people are staying up late for. Personally I was hoping for some Child's Play 2/3 collectors editions, but I didn't expect them.

Heck, I feel like Comic Con would have been a good time to announce some Hammer horror titles if they were able to get any of those as that would have shown the fan base that there was still new directions the company could go in. Beyond that though, stuff like The Witchfinder General, Blood on Satan's Claws, Company of Wolves, anything currently available from Brian Yuzna that may be available, Clownhouse (for all it's controversy), The tv movie Gargoyles, plenty of Corman stuff (for me personally Sorority House massacre II and Hard to Die), Prom Night II/III, Alone in the Dark, Last House on the Left, Rocktober Blood, Cheerleader Camp, Trilogy of Terror I and II, etc etc etc. (Note that I recognize that many of these films may be unavailable, but it gives a general idea of the types of films which should be featured).

Essentially just look up any list of 80's slashers, find some that are available and throw one or two on every comic con announcement block and folks will feel like they at least made an attempt to cater to the core fan base even if the films themselves aren't that great. The biggest issue with this years slate is that it didn't appear to listen to what the biggest supporters of Scream Factory enjoy.

[GasmaskAvenger]

How do I get in contact with Shout Factory's customer service?

I have not had any updates on my Escape from New York steelbook AT ALL despite paying for expedited shipping and I would like to get in contact with someone.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by GasmaskAvenger

How do I get in contact with Shout Factory's customer service?

I have not had any updates on my Escape from New York steelbook AT ALL despite paying for expedited shipping and I would like to get in contact with someone.

info@shoutfactory.com

This is still a preorder, did Shout offer early delivery? Usually expedited shipping only affects the speed of delivery and does not guarantee faster order processing.

[Member-222782]

Originally Posted by TripleHBK

...my point was that some of the stuff that Code Red is releasing is generating more of a buzz than most of these Comic Con announcements. Scream Factory is a significantly larger distribution network with much more financial resources at their disposal. How Bill/Code Red is able to secure pretty much anything worth a crap is surprising to me when Scream Factory could easy pick off the best titles and leave Bill to release the ultra niche stuff.

This can be easily explained. Shout Factory, while technically an independent label, still functions as a corporate entity, which means they have to abide by a set of guidelines and rules that essentially prevent them from picking up "riskier" fare (and by riskier I mean harder-R type stuff, not stuff they feel won't sell). Code Red, OTOH, is run by a guy who isn't bound by any of that corporate bullshit and so he can release whatever the hell he wants without worrying about mothers boycotting something because of content. The thing is, and I firmly believe this, I sincerely think that people prefer the harder stuff over something they can pick up at Walmart. There's a thrill factor in hunting down the obscure titles vs casually walking into a big box store and finding a copy of Darkman II but this isn't even why I believe the obscure stuff is more popular - they're just more fun movies. I hate cookie cutter studio crap made for 13-year-olds.

[StingingVelvet]

These arguments happen every time any label announces anything. It's much easier to just chillax and remember there's lots of people out there who are desperate for something you couldn't care less about. Shout have to juggle all that along with paying the bills and saving some things for the future. Give 'em a break.