Scream Factory Blu-ray Discussion Thread

[splintersan]

Watching Lifeforce tonight! I love this film and the SF release is pretty good.

[TheProf89]

Originally Posted by NeMo_ET

In my day, you could buy sale movies for a nickel! Seriously though, what gives? A few years back I built the foundation of my Shout Factory movies off one of their sales. Probably ordered 20 movies in one shot. The past couple haven't even phased me and the worst part is finally our Canadian dollar has come around to make it slightly more appealing.

I bought from the recent anniversary sale but this one was really disappointing. You can usually find some good older titles decently sale priced in the classic section but even that section is a bust this time.

[tylerc904]

If they did a sale once a year, as good as the anniversary one, then I'd be a happy camper. I buy the ones I really want right away/on preorder. Sales are a good time to make random blind buys or backfill.

[NightKing]

Is this sale a good price for Black Christmas?

[sb5]

It’s not too bad (I think $15 is the lowest it’s gotten, so $16 is decent) as long as your order qualifies for free shipping. Looks like for this sale buying 2 sale items qualifies.

[NightKing]

Originally Posted by sb5

It’s not too bad (I think $15 is the lowest it’s gotten, so $16 is decent) as long as your order qualifies for free shipping. Looks like for this sale buying 2 sale items qualifies.

Any recommendations for a second?

[sb5]

Just doing a quick glance at the page and not having done any price comparisons, Return of the Living Dead, Army of Dakrness, and The Thing are my favorites that are there. Prices seem decent.

[BluRayBuddy98]

Any idea where to get TCM 2 with a slip? DeepDiscount sent it without one

[20th Century Boy]

I asked a few hundred pages back but just to update, if you order directly from Scream will you automatically get corrected discs of problematic titles? (Thinking of Black X-mas and Child's Play specifically).

[20th Century Boy]

Originally Posted by BluRayBuddy98

Any idea where to get TCM 2 with a slip? DeepDiscount sent it without one

I ordered mine from Shout last year and got one.

[20th Century Boy]

Originally Posted by Prof. Lumpcicle

I'll echo what's already been said. Their annual "Shocktober" sale has declined the past couple of years. I'm sure it's due to the rising costs of their product but still, you have ONE sale a year. You gotta make it count or people will stop caring.

What's making the cost raise? Licensing? I thought mastering/transfers were getting cheaper.

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by 20th Century Boy

I asked a few hundred pages back but just to update, if you order directly from Scream will you automatically get corrected discs of problematic titles? (Thinking of Black X-mas and Child's Play specifically).

Yes, you should get the corrected versions of these titles.

[sb5]

I ordered Black Christmas during the Anniversary sale in June and it was still the uncorrected first pressing. It was easy and quick to get the corrected disc, though.

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by 20th Century Boy

What's making the cost raise? Licensing? I thought mastering/transfers were getting cheaper.

Licensing is a factor. Another thing is that physical media sales are dropping, meaning they have to make a bigger profit per unit since they sell less units than before.

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

Licensing is a factor. Another thing is that physical media sales are dropping, meaning they have to make a bigger profit per unit since they sell less units than before.

While I have no doubt that this has certainly been a factor, I also can't help but wonder if Shout's own business practices are at least partially to blame. Many of the IFC titles I own prior to the Shout partnership were in stores for $9.99 to $14.99. Since Shout took over distribution however prices now rarely dip that low and are often closer to $20 if not more. The Human Centipede trilogy was a prime example of this. Both the original and the sequel were purchased new in stores for $10 and $12 respectively. When Part 3 was rolled out with nothing new to offer other than the Shout Branding the price was somewhere around $25 and it didn't budge for months. Even now it's still sitting above $20 on Amazon. There is simply no good reason that a modern independent film like that should carry a price tag that high, especially this long after its release.

Of course there have been exceptions... The Autopsy of Jane Doe and Don't Knock Twice for instance. However these are the outliers to the standard pricing model Shout Factory chooses to utilize. If RJS (Image) and/or Magnet Releasing can consistently put out new films at lower price points, what's stopping Shout Factory other than their own business model? It's with that evidence in mind that I feel like not only are the modern IFC/Shout titles overpriced, but so are the MSRP's on catalog films as well.

Arrow seems to have figured out a way to keep sale prices competitive, it's quiet frustrating that Shout Factory hasn't as well given their dominance in the market and their massive release catalog.

[TXMoviebuff77]

Originally Posted by BluRayBuddy98

Any idea where to get TCM 2 with a slip? DeepDiscount sent it without one

eBay

To me anything under $20 is a good deal & also why judge how they choose to run business. Sometimes the B.B. I go to has scream titles & they go fast.

[Ryan7389]

I think the price point is fair for most of these titles, when you take into account the film restoration and the plethora of bonus features, it's a pretty good deal. And Amazon is almost always a cheaper option then the average retail price.

[20th Century Boy]

Originally Posted by sb5

I ordered Black Christmas during the Anniversary sale in June and it was still the uncorrected first pressing. It was easy and quick to get the corrected disc, though.

[The Great Owl]

Ghost Town and The Dungeonmaster/Eliminators both arrived in the mail from Amazon today.

I somehow glazed over these during the big Scream Anniversary sale a while back, when I was scraping the bottom of the barrel of the Scream catalogue, so to speak, but they all look like fun movies.

[Michael24]

I first stumbled across Ghost Town in a Hollywood Video about twelve years ago and liked it. Finally got the Blu-ray during this summer's anniversary sale. The story is predictable but it has some nice photography and a decent amount of spookiness. Franc Luz is an appealing hero and Jimmie F. Skaggs is a memorable villain. It's a little slow at times and some of the editing is wonky (especially during the final moments just before the credits roll), but I recall reading years ago that the film is apparently a workprint, as it was taken away from the director during post-production and released as is.