Blood Rage (1987)

[OrchidClub]

I noticed the Blu-ray.com reviewer called this release "mediocre". What the hell? This release is TERRIFIC. Even if you don't like the film you have to admit Arrow put a lot of love into it, there are lots of extras, and the transfer is stunning.

[JoeBuck]

Originally Posted by OrchidClub

I noticed the Blu-ray.com reviewer called this release "mediocre". What the hell? This release is TERRIFIC. Even if you don't like the film you have to admit Arrow put a lot of love into it, there are lots of extras, and the transfer is stunning.

He gave the features a 4.5/5 and pq/aq a rock solid 4/5, its the fact that he thought the movie was garbage that brought the score down, and from the amount of footage Ive seen I can understand it.

[OrchidClub]

Originally Posted by JoeBuck

He gave the features a 4.5/5 and pq/aq a rock solid 4/5, its the fact that he thought the movie was garbage that brought the score down, and from the amount of footage Ive seen I can understand it.

Doesn't matter. It's not right to call such a stellar package "mediocre".

[nitin]

Originally Posted by OrchidClub

Doesn't matter. It's not right to call such a stellar package "mediocre".

Where does it say mediocre? The final star rating obviously takes into account what the reviewer thought of the film.

[JoeBuck]

Originally Posted by nitin

Where does it say mediocre? The final star rating obviously takes into account what the reviewer thought of the film.

This.
The final score represents whether he would reccomend buying it or not.
He thinks the movie sucks too much to flat out reccomend and suggests a watch/rental before purchasing, hesays fans of it will be happy.
Totally reasonable in his rating.

[OrchidClub]

Originally Posted by nitin

Where does it say mediocre? The final star rating obviously takes into account what the reviewer thought of the film.

The summary page says: "Blood Rage Blu-ray delivers great video and audio, but overall it's a mediocre Blu-ray release."

[nitin]

Originally Posted by OrchidClub

The summary page says: "Blood Rage Blu-ray delivers great video and audio, but overall it's a mediocre Blu-ray release."

ah ok, I was looking at the review page itself.

[jstxanothrxstory]

Originally Posted by RadicalThrasher

The first day I received this and I realized the dvd was region locked I sent Arrow an email ( this was before anything was posted about it from them on social media). They told me they'd let me know when there was news. Thought I'd share that today I received this:

Dear customers,

Once again, we'd like to apologise for the region coding incident that occured on our release of BLOOD RAGE. We are aware of this issue and would like to thank you all for your patience.

We have already manufactured the replacement Region-free DVD and we will make an official announcement tomorrow with all the details on how to get your replacement disc.
So keep an eye on our website and/or social media pages!

Thank you all for your ongoing support and best wishes for 2016.


Arrow

Sounds like good news to me.

I have a bad habit of throwing away my receipts, so I really hope that this doesn't involve something like that.

[jstxanothrxstory]

Originally Posted by OrchidClub

The summary page says: "Blood Rage Blu-ray delivers great video and audio, but overall it's a mediocre Blu-ray release."

I believe that's just the site's default wording based off the stars awarded.

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by jstxanothrxstory

I believe that's just the site's default wording based off the stars awarded.

Yeah, I think it must be automatically generated since I see similar messages so often on other reviews. I understand why people are pissed that they think it's being called a mediocre release, but it says first in that sentence that it has GREAT video and audio, which means I think anyone that's interested in the film at all will not be dissuaded by the "mediocre" that follows.

The review isn't unfair, I just still think it's funny that almost every Arrow review from him is of a release with some huge negative (if the video's good, then he hates the movie, and if the movie's good, then the video is bad, and if the movie's good and the video quality is good, then the aspect ratio is off!!). It's starting to look bad considering he also reviews every single Criterion release and gives most of them top marks for everything, even the ones that are controversial on this forum (though he obviously isn't blind fanboy ala Tooze since he caught Dressed to Kill and the handful of French films with mediocre transfers). One of these days there will be an Arrow disc he likes and this pattern will end, but I see why partisan people are starting to make a stink about it. Many Arrow discs don't get reviewed, though, so probably some of them are fine, plus I think he liked Day of Anger pretty unreservedly. I'm glad he sticks to his guns instead of just giving automatic top marks to everything to encourage more people to use the buy it now link and get more Amazon $$ though, that's for sure.

I don't really disagree with his review of this, but I found the movie funnier than he did. I certainly understand thinking it's bunk if you're accustomed to much artier fair like Giallos, which I am pretty sure he is! I think I'm going to subject some friends to it soon and see if that makes me like it even more. It seems like those who liked Sleepaway Camp will probably like it too.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

Yeah, I think it must be automatically generated since I see similar messages so often on other reviews. I understand why people are pissed that they think it's being called a mediocre release, but it says first in that sentence that it has GREAT video and audio, which means I think anyone that's interested in the film at all will not be dissuaded by the "mediocre" that follows.

The review isn't unfair, I just still think it's funny that every Arrow review from him is of a release with some huge negative (if the video's good, then he hates the movie, and if the movie's good, then the video is bad, and if the movie's good and the video quality is good, then the aspect ratio is off!!). It's starting to look bad considering he also reviews every single Criterion release and gives most of them top marks for everything, even the ones that are controversial on this forum (though he obviously isn't blind fanboy ala Tooze since he caught Dressed to Kill and the handful of French films with mediocre transfers). One of these days there will be an Arrow disc he likes and this pattern will end, but I see why partisan people are starting to make a stink about it. Many Arrow discs don't get reviewed, though, so probably some of them are fine, plus I think he liked Day of Anger pretty unreservedly. I'm glad he sticks to his guns instead of just giving automatic top marks to everything to encourage more people to use the buy it now link and get more Amazon $$ though, that's for sure.

I intentionally try to stay out of these "discussions", but every once in a while I feel that it is fair to state the obvious so that there isn't any confusion.

So, let's have a round of clarifications.

1. "Mediocre". The text that appears in the overview section under screencaptures provided with each review on the site isn't provided by the reviewers. It is system-generated. The synopsis in the overview section also isn't part of the review -- that's why we have review and overview tabs.

2. There are two tabs -- Overview and Review. If you wish to read the site's official review, you need to click on Review. This should have been clear by now.

3. "Funny". I don't know where you find the humor, but if you are going to criticize don't pass half-truths to back up your arguments. So, instead of bombarding you with examples proving exactly the opposite of what you claim, let's have one link for you here and one here. Later on, I could post more, if needed.

4. "Pattern". I do see a pattern, but the one that I have been observing is very different.

5. "Guns". Thank you. I do stick to my guns. I always have and I don't intend to change anything. I'll mention something else here so that you take it into consideration when you criticize in the future. I don't play favorites with anyone, and when I review, each disc goes through my player -- I don't review stats and I don't review screencaptures. I will tell you exactly what you will see when the disc gets into your player.

Thanks.

Pro-B

[cakefactory]

Hmm, missed those two. I did remember that you liked Spider Baby as well. The way that the site displays ratings if you search by label made it confusing, most of the ones that showed up with star ratings didn't actually have site reviews, and then some of the ones without star ratings DID have reviews. I saw other people complaining in the B&BL thread and had recently read the Wake Up & Kill, Hound of the Baskervilles and Blood Rage reviews, so it was all fresh in my mind. I legitimately did think it was "funny" as in "humorous" as opposed to "strange/suspect" since all the negative statements were clearly justified (I have both Hound and Blood Rage and agree with you entirely!). I also have Scanners and Thief and Mulholland Dr and think they all look gorgeous despite the hundreds of pages of rage about them on these forums. I am amused by people identifying conspiracy theories where they aren't. I guess I shouldn't feed their fires. Apologies!

[pro-bassoonist]

Fair enough. I understand your points, cakefactory

You are probably correct that the site could be a bit overwhelming because there are so many options now. But you have to keep in mind that there is different information under each film/release because the site is optimized for Google search. In other words, as a member here you have much more options and resources than visitors do. The official site review, however, is under the review tab. (Obviously, we have to have a review first).

Thank you for your clarification(s)

Pro-B

[Val Lewton]

Pro-B, the overall rating of 2.5 out of 5 is a bit perplexing to me too. As a reviewer, no one could possibly expect you to like most of the movies you're tasked with reviewing. But shouldn't the overall score reflect the quality of the release, as opposed to your personal feelings about the film?

Does this work the other way? Would you give a high overall mark to an "important" film despite lousy transfer, audio, extras, presentation, etc?

An example would be you colleague Brian Ordorf who had this to say about Vinegar Syndrome's Don't Go in the Woods:

...clearly there's public appetite for ramshackle, nonsensical productions like this. For those brave souls, here's your "Titanic."

Obviously not an enormous fan of the movie itself, but it was given a 4.5 out of 5 because it was a fantastic release.

Most genre fans that pick up releases like Blood Rage or Don't Go in the Woods are already aware of what we're getting into with titles like these. We ultimately care about the quality of the release itself.

I hope you don't take offense to this, I was just curious about your overall rating. I have no issue with the quality of your reviews, they're excellent and more informative than most.

[pro-bassoonist]

Val,

This is a very good post with excellent questions.

I typically try to make it as clear as possible in the overview section of the review (this would be the Overall Score and Recommendation section) how I feel about the entire release.

But one of the great things about the review format we have here is that we have multiple sections that address different areas of the release -- technical presentation, supplemental features, etc. So, ideally a reader should know what to expect from a release that is reviewed here. (For a few years now I have even been adding packaging photos in our reviews -- and on the site as well -- when I have finished market versions of the releases I review, so that people can see exactly what they are spending their money on).

However, at the end of the day the most important factor for me is the quality of the film. If it is an excellent or important film I believe that people will want to see over and over again, I make it very clear why the release is worth purchasing. The opposite is also true. A release can have plenty of special features, but if the film is of questionable quality, I don't recommend the release. (There can be exceptions where the release can have a terrific documentary or some really valuable supplemental features that can be a good enough reason to recommend it).

I would like to clarify something else. I don't give automatic high scores to releases with a lot of supplemental features. As with everything else, quality is more important to me than quantity. I've noticed that some people seem to believe that the more supplemental features you have, the better the release is. I disagree.

Let me give you an example that I think will make it clearer to you how I grade supplemental features. Lawrence of Arabia is approximately 227 minutes long. So, technically you can have only one old/new audio commentary on it that will qualify as "more" than what is on the Criterion release of Marketa Lazarová. However, the type of supplemental material on the latter I find much more valuable, which is why I would grade higher.

Blood Rage: I thought that it was as bad as the many films that appear in Something Weird Video's catalog. I made this very clear. Therefore, this is a "risky" release which should appeal only to fans of the film.

Thank you for the questions, Val

I have to go now.

[Val Lewton]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Thank you for the questions, Val

I have to go now.

Thanks for the response, Pro-B. Ideally, people should read the whole review. I have no qualms about your review for Blood Rage, I think it's an excellent summary. The only reason I brought up the "overall rating" was to get some clarification on how that works.

Cheers.

[jarrod_inf]

Picked this up for 25 at a local MTC. It's nice to pick this up at a physical location. This is a blind buy but from what I read it's going to be perfect for me.

[NoirFan]

My corrected R1 DVD arrived from MVD today.

[KeithVK]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

My corrected R1 DVD arrived from MVD today.

Sorry if I missed this somewhere... what do I need to do to receive the corrected DVD? I'm just worried because I got this as a gift and have no receipt. Thanks in advance!

[Tchotchke]

Originally Posted by KeithVK

Sorry if I missed this somewhere... what do I need to do to receive the corrected DVD? I'm just worried because I got this as a gift and have no receipt. Thanks in advance!

Keith, this is what Arrow posted on Facebook...


***BLOOD RAGE US RELEASE – DVD DISC FAULT***

Calling all US Arrow fans! As some of you have already noticed, the DVD copy of Blood Rage included in our US release has been incorrectly region-locked. We can only apologise for this oversight.

The good news is we will be running a replacement scheme for those of you that wish to get your DVD copy replaced. Indieigogo backers, a replacement disc will be sent to you automatically so you won't have to do anything!

If you have a US edition of Blood Rage and require a replacement DVD disc please contact: customerservice@musicvideodistributors.com with a copy of your proof of purchase (this can be a screengrab or photo of your order confirmation) and your address details. You do not need to send your set to us to obtain a replacement disc.

Please note that ONLY US copies of this release have been affected. If you have the UK version your disc is a-okay and will NOT need to be replaced.