Scream Factory Blu-ray Discussion Thread

[NeMo_ET]

I think the obscure stuff is definitely more risky. Less sales to the broader population for sure, but I also imagine they cost far less than say Mad Max, the Thing, or Carrie so who knows. Even as someone who really enjoys all movies and has seen a ton of B, low-budget horror movies, I don't jump on a lot of the more obscure stuff they offer. Years ago when they had really great sales and the CDN dollar was closer to the US, I bought a bunch of the more obscure titles for cheap. Not going to go out and pay $25 for something obscure that I've never seen or heard of unless I'm really interested in the premise. If these were in the $10-15 range, I'd be tempted to buy more.

[Catastrophe]

As has been stated by many a user in this thread, I'd say as long as they keep releasing more 'comfortable' (read: profitable, well-known) titles that can afford them the chance to occasionally dip into the obscure end of the pool. So my advice? Buy EVERYTHING!

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Dawn of the Dead has now become as much of a Holy Grail as titles like The Hitcher, Fright Night Part 2, Blood Beach, et al. And this is despite it being a very high profile title. So here's a wacky idea. Why can't (for example) Arrow and Shout!/Scream pool the sh*tload of $$$ that Rubinstein demands TOGETHER and release region-specific editions? Heck, get an Asian company (or two) to help out too! Everybody wins! Rubinstein gets his moola and we, the movie-loving schmucks, get an important film in high-definition!

[zbinks]

Originally Posted by Catastrophe

Dawn of the Dead has now become as much of a Holy Grail as titles like The Hitcher, Fright Night Part 2, Blood Beach, et al. And this is despite it being a very high profile title. So here's a wacky idea. Why can't (for example) Arrow and Shout!/Scream pool the sh*tload of $$$ that Rubinstein demands TOGETHER and release region-specific editions? Heck, get an Asian company (or two) to help out too! Everybody wins! Rubinstein gets his moola and we, the movie-loving schmucks, get an important film in high-definition!

His rumored seven-figure demand is probably extreme even for worldwide rights split among several distributors. Splitting the fees also means splitting the profits (assuming there are any profits to be had), so there may not be any particular advantage to doing so.

[bb8977]

Originally Posted by NeMo_ET

This sounds promising and I like the sounds of it.

It sound like Jamie Blanks really stepped up and helped them to create an amazing release for Urban Legend so fingers crossed for Valentine as well !

[Catastrophe]

Originally Posted by zbinks

His rumored seven-figure demand is probably extreme even for worldwide rights split among several distributors. Splitting the fees also means splitting the profits (assuming there are any profits to be had), so there may not be any particular advantage to doing so.

Most likely. But I'd still think that with a title like Romero's Dawn of the Dead, with all available cuts, with copious amounts of special features, would sell like gangbusters and make whichever company who put up Rubinstein's ransom money a tidy profit at the very least.

[JupiterMission]

I love Scream. They're the label that pulled me into the crazy world of rampant blu-ray collecting when I picked up their double feature of Terrorvision and The Video Dead because I remembered the VHS covers from the video store days. And I feel bad about titles like The Spell (which is on my list to get) not selling super well, because I love that they put stuff like that out. However, Shout/Scream so rarely do sales like Vinegar Syndrome, Twilight Time, and Kino and stuff. I know they've got to make their money back, but for the past couple years, more of my money goes to big sales from labels than individual titles, particularly with blind buys (which is what a lot of their titles are for me). It's really hard for me to talk myself into a $20-25 blind buy, yet extraordinarily easy for me to talk myself into a $10-15 one. (My Vinegar Syndrome collection is evidence of this.) For example, last summer when Scream had that huge sale, I spent like $300.

All of this to say that I think they would move more titles and possibly make more money if they had more frequent and/or more appealing sales. I know they don't want to lower the value of their products, and I know they've got to make their money back, but as it is, I tend to get one Shout/Scream title per month, get another title or two from wherever, and then splurge on some crazy label sale. I'm sure they know what they're doing, but if Scream had sales like VS or Kino or TT, I bet they could trick me into spending a lot more money on their blu-rays.

Phew. Had to get that off my chest, I guess. lol

Thanks for posting the podcast ep! Looking forward to listening.

[themp3000]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

- Sounds like they might not be taking as many risks on obscure titles in future, as certain releases are falling short of expectations (The Spell was cited as one example, but then, I'd ask how many copies of that film they expected to shift)

That’s really rather unfortunate. But I guess there’s other companies out there (like VS) that can adequately satisfy my appetite for obscurity and the unknown. It’s just a real shame to have to write off the most prolific label so these obscurities can get more exposure.

I guess there’s always the Hammer stuff to look forward to, sometime down the line. I can’t allot any budget whatsoever to Scream stuff for the foreseeable future because of the retailer holdback so who knows when I’ll be able to take that leap.

[Lacrimosa]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

- 'More than a few' Hammer films coming in 2019. I think Jeff might have said 'a lot'. The deal is with Hammer themselves, as people speculated. And they went quiet when The Devil Rides Out was mentioned.

Do we know which titles this could include?

I can't find anywhere which titles are still with Hammer vs other production companies.

[zbinks]

Originally Posted by Lacrimosa

Do we know which titles this could include?

I can't find anywhere which titles are still with Hammer vs other production companies.

If they have The Devil Rides Out, then it could be almost any of the Hammer titles that don't already have US releases. Captain Kronos would be a notable exception, since that's a Paramount title in the US, but licenses with Warner, Universal, Sony and Hammer, itself, open things up to most of the catalog.

[NeMo_ET]

Originally Posted by bb8977

It sound like Jamie Blanks really stepped up and helped them to create an amazing release for Urban Legend so fingers crossed for Valentine as well !

Agreed. My gut tells me they already have it and may have already done a lot of the work with Blanks. Get it all done at once. My guess would be that they're timing it either for a Valentine's Day 2019 announcement or release date.

[RedHarvest]

Originally Posted by Cinema74

I don't like the sound of that. Isn't everybody complaining that there's too many double dips The majority of my favorite Shout Blu-rays are the obscure ones like Ghost Town, American Gothic and Alien Predators.

Originally Posted by slasherdisc

Yeah, I actually prefer the more obscure stuff that Scream puts out more so then bigger titles. 2019 sounds like a year of less obscure and more re-releases. Shame

Originally Posted by NeMo_ET

I think the obscure stuff is definitely more risky. Less sales to the broader population for sure, but I also imagine they cost far less than say Mad Max, the Thing, or Carrie so who knows. Even as someone who really enjoys all movies and has seen a ton of B, low-budget horror movies, I don't jump on a lot of the more obscure stuff they offer. Years ago when they had really great sales and the CDN dollar was closer to the US, I bought a bunch of the more obscure titles for cheap. Not going to go out and pay $25 for something obscure that I've never seen or heard of unless I'm really interested in the premise. If these were in the $10-15 range, I'd be tempted to buy more.

I enjoy the more obscure films, as well. But we are a select (and small) group of niche collectors. Right now, Scream Factory still gets most of its business from Average Joe Idiot, just buying what he thinks he's supposed to buy, and liking what he's supposed to like. There's nothing wrong with that, because releases like that include Misery, House on Haunted Hill, and so on, which are good films in their own right. But the market for BDs is become more and more for the collector, and the collector doesn't want the same films over and over again. The question is, is the niche group of collectors and cinephiles buying enough of the obscure stuff to keep them interested in releasing it? I typically buy about 80% of their releases, because I love horror and I love supporting the label. Joe Average isn't going to buy the Spell. Collector's will. But how long before Joe Average stops buying physical media altogether, and subscribes wholly to the streaming services?

[JoelGoodsen]

Originally Posted by NeMo_ET

Agreed. My gut tells me they already have it and may have already done a lot of the work with Blanks. Get it all done at once. My guess would be that they're timing it either for a Valentine's Day 2019 announcement or release date.

I stated this earlier in the thread. I would put good money on it.

[BarnDoor]

Originally Posted by Lacrimosa

Do we know which titles this could include?

I can't find anywhere which titles are still with Hammer vs other production companies.

I'm far from certain about this, but I think these titles could be with Hammer in the US:

Plague Of The Zombies
The Reptile
The Devil Rides Out
The Mummy's Shroud
Rasputin - The Mad Monk
Quatermass And The Pit
The Witches
The Lost Continent
Frankenstein Created Woman
Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires
The Abominable Snowman
X: The Unknown
Quatermass 2
Four Sided Triangle

There's also some titles that aren't really Scream candidates, like The Viking Queen, Prehistoric Women and The Vengeance of She.

I think the following are with StudioCanal - Lust for a Vampire, Demons of the Mind, Straight on Till Morning, Fear in the Night, Scars of Dracula, Horror of Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde, Blood from the Mummy's Tomb, To The Devil... A Daughter. It's confusing as these - like those listed above - were released in the Anchor Bay collection back in the day. Someone on the Hammer thread might have a better idea of rights holders.

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

Sounds like they might not be taking as many risks on obscure titles in future, as certain releases are falling short of expectations (The Spell was cited as one example, but then, I'd ask how many copies of that film they expected to shift)

They basically said that they’ve been chewed out by their superiors for the titles that underperformed. This tells me that they’re mostly going to go the safe route (mainstream stuff and double dips).

It’s unfortunate, but I’m not surprised. After all, many of these obscure non-collectors edition releases are priced just a few dollars less than the mainstream collectors editions with lots of extras. I have to wonder how these obscure title would sell if they had sales like Kino, where they could be had for $10 or so? For many, these are blind buys, and most people just won’t spend $20 on a blind buy.

For the titles that SF has to pass on, hopefully smaller studios like Arrow, Kino, Vinegar, etc can release them.

[AKORIS]

based on the last few posts I'm kind of surprised that Scream is taking a chance releasing THE WASP WOMAN.......

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by AKORIS

based on the last few posts I'm kind of surprised that Scream is taking a chance releasing THE WASP WOMAN.......

It’s DOA. They have to know that. Maybe they have to release it as part of the Corman deal or something?

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

It’s DOA. They have to know that. Maybe they have to release it as part of the Corman deal or something?

This new mindset is concerning particularly if/when the Wasp Woman bombs. Films like Sorority House Massacre 2, Hard to Die, and even Munchies are releases I've been really, really wanting for a long time but none of them carry the mainstream appeal banner that Scream Factory could be touting moving forward.

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by TripleHBK

This new mindset is concerning particularly if/when the Wasp Woman bombs. Films like Sorority House Massacre 2, Hard to Die, and even Munchies are releases I've been really, really wanting for a long time but none of them carry the mainstream appeal banner that Scream Factory could be touting moving forward.

I’m thinking that since they have the Corman deal, they will be the exception. But many obscure films from MGM, Universal, WB, Sony, etc could all be on the chopping block.

[AKORIS]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

It’s DOA. They have to know that. Maybe they have to release it as part of the Corman deal or something?

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

I’m thinking that since they have the Corman deal, they will be the exception. But many obscure films from MGM, Universal, WB, Sony, etc could all be on the chopping block.

that's really too bad. When I heard that WB and Columbia were now options for Scream I was hoping for a floodgate to be opened for B-movies from these studios....

[BarnDoor]

I don't think Scream's release schedule helps in terms of sales for these lesser titles. When they're releasing a minimum of 4 titles a month - often more - the vast majority of people will not be buying all of them, and will prioritize accordingly. Often these lower profile titles (and non-CE's in particular) will be the ones that suffer in the rush.