Scream Factory Blu-ray Discussion Thread

[fred25_Ca]

Yeah, I also doubt we're getting any of the Warner ones. Which is really too bad because Horror of Dracula and the Mummy are my two favorite Hammer movies and they have zero special features in North America as of now. Pretty frustrating. :P

[zbinks]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

I've always felt that Scream Factory's strength lies in getting the major studio titles out there. This certainly isn't getting any easier with the MGM, StudioCanal and Universal vaults near exhausted now in regard to SF-type fare, and Fox out of bounds. But in other ways this strength seems all the more acute now, given that, Criterion aside, they're the only US label able to wrestle titles from Warner Bros and Paramount. I appreciate people want UHD upgrades, but my chief desire will always be new to Blu-ray titles, and I'm grateful for whatever Scream can give us from the Warner Bros and Paramount vaults. I hope we continue to see more of those kinds of releases going forward, as well as a few more Sony titles (and of course the odd significant independent deal, like the one that gave us the Alligators and Sword and the Sorcerer).

I'm not finding an exact quote, but I'm almost certain that Cliff MacMillan has mentioned in the past that they tend to favor larger catalog (Major Studios, Corman, etc.) acquisitions and explained the rationale behind it; something to the effect of spreading the overall cost and that bigger deals give greater flexibility to offset underperforming titles with better performing titles, whereas the small, one or two title acquisitions are effectively "sink or swim".

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by zbinks

I'm not finding an exact quote, but I'm almost certain that Cliff MacMillan has mentioned in the past that they tend to favor larger catalog (Major Studios, Corman, etc.) acquisitions and explained the rationale behind it; something to the effect of spreading the overall cost and that bigger deals give greater flexibility to offset underperforming titles with better performing titles, whereas the small, one or two title acquisitions are effectively "sink or swim".

Don May talked this exact topic almost 10 years ago. When folks were questioning the logic behind steelbook sales and overall sales of titles like Phenomena, Tenebre and the not yet released Suspiria, he responded by basically addressing exactly what you said in a round about way. That is, larger deals allows for less risk as the success/financial future of the company/deal doesn't lie on each individual title selling at a minimum X number of copies, but rather that the total units sold across ALL the films included in that deal just need to hit a certain mark. In other words if they only needed to sell a total of 6000 units but one title Sold 5000 all on it's own, it's ok if those other two titles sold only 1000 each as they'd still be exceeding the numbers they needed to hit.

This makes perfect sense and does explain why the well often seems so dry. Where as some other distributors are off making one off deals for random titles, Scream Factory is simply looking to mine whatever is available to them from the majors by casting the largest net possible.

I guess to my initial comments I made earlier... I feel like in the early years those nets included a better balance of known sellers and unknown risks where as recently things have seemed to shift more toward the known sellers with very little room for the quirky outlier unknown risk titles, and it's that sense of adventure/chance that I miss with most of the announcements over the last 2 years.

Buying/owning Physical media is often largely about the sense of exploration for me. Taking a chance on a blind buy is something I love doing and finding previously unviewed hits is far more rewarding than simply watching something on a streaming network or digitally downloading. Hell it's the reason I started the Recommend an Indie horror film thread...

In the end I realize that Shout Factory (and all distributors) are in the business to make money and so I don't fault any of them for their decisions... however these days it often feels a bit less exciting/adventurous and a bit more routine and predictable whenever those new titles are announced and I miss that feeling that monthly announcements used to bring.

[Topher76]

Originally Posted by Chie Satonaka

I wish they would release Hammer House of Horror. It's gotten a Blu ray elsewhere so he elements exist. I've seen an episode on Pluto (I think it was even on Shout Factory TV) and liked the show. Seems strange it has yet to release. I also don't see Waneer giving up their hammers. We'd be more likely to see a deluxe re-release of the Mummy and Horror of Dracula in the vein of Curse of Frankenstein from the archive themselves.

The Imprint release is region free and a nice package. The whole series is streaming on Shudder right now too.

[zbinks]

Originally Posted by TripleHBK

[Show spoiler]Don May talked this exact topic almost 10 years ago. When folks were questioning the logic behind steelbook sales and overall sales of titles like Phenomena, Tenebre and the not yet released Suspiria, he responded by basically addressing exactly what you said in a round about way. That is, larger deals allows for less risk as the success/financial future of the company/deal doesn't lie on each individual title selling at a minimum X number of copies, but rather that the total units sold across ALL the films included in that deal just need to hit a certain mark. In other words if they only needed to sell a total of 6000 units but one title Sold 5000 all on it's own, it's ok if those other two titles sold only 1000 each as they'd still be exceeding the numbers they needed to hit.

This makes perfect sense and does explain why the well often seems so dry. Where as some other distributors are off making one off deals for random titles, Scream Factory is simply looking to mine whatever is available to them from the majors by casting the largest net possible.

I guess to my initial comments I made earlier... I feel like in the early years those nets included a better balance of known sellers and unknown risks where as recently things have seemed to shift more toward the known sellers with very little room for the quirky outlier unknown risk titles, and it's that sense of adventure/chance that I miss with most of the announcements over the last 2 years.

Buying/owning Physical media is often largely about the sense of exploration for me. Taking a chance on a blind buy is something I love doing and finding previously unviewed hits is far more rewarding than simply watching something on a streaming network or digitally downloading. Hell it's the reason I started the Recommend an Indie horror film thread...

In the end I realize that Shout Factory (and all distributors) are in the business to make money and so I don't fault any of them for their decisions... however these days it often feels a bit less exciting/adventurous and a bit more routine and predictable whenever those new titles are announced and I miss that feeling that monthly announcements used to bring.

I think we also take it for granted how easy it is to actually ascertain who the legitimate rightsholders are, obtain their contact information, get them to a negotiating table and make a mutually agreeable offer to license / purchase their film(s), all the while trying to outbid / outmaneuver any number of competitors. It probably only gets harder and harder with each title you are able to acquire, and the rewards probably get slimmer and slimmer.

I suspect Shout! Factory (and a whole slew of others) had been, at least figuratively, knocking at the Chase family's door to acquire Alligator and The Sword and the Sorcerer for the better part of the last decade (perhaps more), with Alligator II as a toss-in, and I suspect it took a literal pandemic to secure that license.

[Tony5523]

Originally Posted by BluPat

The last few weeks I've made 2 trips to 2nd & Charles and traded in a total of like 100 Blu-rays to make room for the 4Ks being released of older films I'm getting and I've gotten like $150 store credit. I took like the duplicates I had and kept the better versions, took Blu-rays that I have the 4Ks of. Some Blu-rays that 4Ks are coming. And I used to buy Blu-rays *just* to buy them and I unloaded all that to make room for my most treasured collection.
Made room for like all the 4Ks of Dario Argento, John Carpenter, box sets like Friday the 13th, Phantasm, The Omen, The Fly.... Etc.
I've started being more conscious of what I'm buying.

Same here.. every so often I'll look through my shelf and say why in the world do I own that movie. I have a box I'm filling up and once it gets to capacity it's all getting traded in.

[kngtmat]

I like to see the 1983 movie Hysterical. Was Embassy Pictures last released on Image DVD 2001. It's been 20 years it got a release by someone and don't think it's streaming or at least anywhere official.

[lildemon666]

Would you guys buy all their collectors editions that you missed or wait and see if shout will upgrade to 4K or give the rights to another boutique label?

[AKORIS]

Originally Posted by lildemon666

Would you guys buy all their collectors editions that you missed or wait and see if shout will upgrade to 4K or give the rights to another boutique label?

at this point I think it would be foolish to buy "older" Collector's Editions since SCREAM seems to be releasing everything in 4k "upgrades" as of late...

[zbinks]

Originally Posted by lildemon666

Would you guys buy all their collectors editions that you missed or wait and see if shout will upgrade to 4K or give the rights to another boutique label?

There are definitely titles where it's only a matter of time. The question is, "When?". This year? Next year? Five years from now? Ten? I think it's safe to say that, six years into the 4K UHD format, we're much farther behind on format upgrades than we were at this same point in the Blu-Ray format and the titles that are getting upgraded... are really kinda random. I probably wouldn't have pegged the X-Ray / Schizoid double feature as a logical candidate for a 4K upgrade, ahead of so many other titles, but here we are. It's really going to depend on who the licensor is, who winds up with what titles, and what film elements are in play for a new master. Otherwise, there's no real rhyme or reason to what's happening with the format, IMO.

[Michael24]

Originally Posted by lildemon666

Would you guys buy all their collectors editions that you missed or wait and see if shout will upgrade to 4K or give the rights to another boutique label?

I'd just buy any that I hadn't gotten yet (or hope for a release from another label if they were OOP) since I don't care about UHD.

[lildemon666]

Originally Posted by zbinks

There are definitely titles where it's only a matter of time. The question is, "When?". This year? Next year? Five years from now? Ten? I think it's safe to say that, six years into the 4K UHD format, we're much farther behind on format upgrades than we were at this same point in the Blu-Ray format and the titles that are getting upgraded... are really kinda random. I probably wouldn't have pegged the X-Ray / Schizoid double feature as a logical candidate for a 4K upgrade, ahead of so many other titles, but here we are. It's really going to depend on who the licensor is, who winds up with what titles, and what film elements are in play for a new master. Otherwise, there's no real rhyme or reason to what's happening with the format, IMO.

I hope we get 4K releases of poltergeist 2/3, return of the living dead 2, silent night deadly night 2, silent hill, silver bullet just to name a few.

[fred25_Ca]

Originally Posted by lildemon666

I hope we get 4K releases of poltergeist 2/3, return of the living dead 2, silent night deadly night 2, silent hill, silver bullet just to name a few.

Oh man, i'd be totally down for a 4k upgrade of Silver Bullet, with the original poster on the slipcover. Such a great and moody poster!

[JoeKilledKenney2020]

I would also be down for 4K Blu-ray releases of Orca (1977), Bug (1975), and Prophecy (1979) with more footage that were cut from their theatrical releases.


Bug was released in U.S. festivals as “The Hephaestus Plague” with more footage like the mayor.

Orca had bad editing with footage probably left in the cutting room floor before its release in theaters. There could more footage probably from the interpositives.

Prophecy had gore footage cut out (not for censorship, mind you) before it’s completed PG releases in theaters.


These three titles need a new 4K Collector’s Edition in their own uncut versions restored from the original film elements, and a TV cut too. My wishlist is that they can include original Japanese theatrical trailers along with Domestic trailers in their special features with English subtitles.

[rasbumr819]

The best thing, to me anyways, about shout releasing the 4K upgrades is the presumption that the price of the original will finally plummet. A few titles I might upgrade, but largely the blu ray is serviceable and better than whatever the original studio released. But I went back and finally picked up some titles for under ten bucks; titles I don’t care to own for uhd prices like candyman, the howling, and the craft.

[filmlover22]

are really that many people upgrading that many releases to 4K? I guess I am personally 'burned out' from upgrading after upgrading pretty much all of the DVDs to Blu-rays. I can count on one hand (and have fingers left over!) of blu-rays that I would want to upgrade to 4k..

[Member-222782]

Originally Posted by filmlover22

are really that many people upgrading that many releases to 4K? I guess I am personally 'burned out' from upgrading after upgrading pretty much all of the DVDs to Blu-rays. I can count on one hand (and have fingers left over!) of blu-rays that I would want to upgrade to 4k..

Personally, I'm primarily upgrading if something was shot on film. I don't need to see digitally shot stuff in 4K*

*with exceptions

[starsteam]

The only Scream Factory CE I skipped was Garbage Pal Kids. So far, The Howling and Escape from NY are the only ones I'm upgrading to 4K. There's a few like Army of Darkness and Child's Play I would upgrade, but I'm satisfied enough with the BD copies of most.

I am having trouble deciding to catch up on the Blue Underground catalog or wait though.

[critterdvd]

Originally Posted by filmlover22

are really that many people upgrading that many releases to 4K? I guess I am personally 'burned out' from upgrading after upgrading pretty much all of the DVDs to Blu-rays. I can count on one hand (and have fingers left over!) of blu-rays that I would want to upgrade to 4k..

Your not the only one, I'm the same way especially when it comes to the upgrades of existing boutique label releases. For example I've purchased 'Escape from New York' 5 times in my life: VHS, Widescreen VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray and SF Blu-Ray and I'm just too burnt out to purchase it on 4K, especially when there are no new bonus features. I'd rather spend my $30 on a money I don't already have in my collection, such as "Sword and the Sorcerer" or "Alligator"...

[DukeTogo84]

I wonder how the 4K scans for the Paramount titles work. For example, Ghost and the Darkness. Does Scream pay for that to be done, and if Scream wasn't interested in the title, would it have gotten a 4K scan. Or is something like a 4K scan was already done, which is why Scream picked it up?