The end of a era: Something Weird Video shutters it's doors at the end of '24!

[El_Fez]

Damn, this is some sad news. These guys kept me in all kinds of sleaze during my youth!

IMPORTANT NEWS FROM SOMETHING WEIRD VIDEO

January 2, 2024 marks the ten year anniversary of the death of SWV's late great founder, Mike Vraney. He is missed by so many of us. With that said SWV has a major announcement to make. 2024 will be the LAST year for the SWV mail order, Downloads, and website. Mike Vraney never intended for Something Weird Video to continue after his passing. His wife and business partner, Lisa Petrucci, has been keeping things going since 2014 to honor her husband's legacy. She is the only employee still working at SWV, and frankly, is exhausted and has decided it's time to wind some parts of the business down. The current SWV website, Downloads, and mail order just doesn't bring in enough revenue for SWV to continue indefinitely and there are many expenses involved with keeping this website and company going. SWV basically brings in just enough money to cover the monthly business expenses, credit card fees, and overhead. So it's been like running a not-for-profit company considering there isn't enough income coming in to even pay the one employee who works there 24/7.

There are other factors like we're down to three DVD-R duplicators that still function, it’s very difficult finding 8X blank DVD-R discs that work with my old duplicators, and plastic DVD cases are also getting harder to find as well as being expensive now. SWV still offers a small selection of classic DVD-R titles that haven’t come out on Blu-ray yet, but not for long. Once the duplicators die and the manufacturing supplies run out, it’s time to pull the plug on that part of the business. There are many other good reasons why this particular chapter needs to come to an end, but it would take a book to list them all.

So that said, November 1, 2024 will be the LAST day people can order from the SWV website (as it exists now). We will be keeping the BACK END of the SWV website active until December 31, 2024 so that Weirdos can still access their customer accounts and Download Orders. But after January 1, 2025 there will NOT be a way to get access to past Download Orders! So we strongly suggest that you go into your customer account and make sure that you’ve Downloaded and backed up all your video files and store them somewhere safe! (Prior to December 31, 2024 we can also still add more Download Attempts on existing Download Orders.)

The SWV website was recently updated with the latest Blu-rays and there’s some new links on the front page for Pallbearer Press (who are doing our SWV t-shirts now!) and new products Links. Check it out!

Something Weird will continue, but as a leaner meaner version of itself. There will be a NEW Something Weird website starting in 2025. It will be a point of purchase for partner Blu-rays, the remaining deadstock of Image Entertainment DVDs, Modern Harmonic LPs and CDs, as well as old SWV catalogs, related paper ephemera, and anything else we feel like peddling and promoting on there. It will be a much simpler website that Lisa can maintain, manage and update herself.

On a brighter note, there are lots of Blu-rays and other projects in the pipeline with partner labels. We can’t say what they are, but 2024 should be a terrific year for new restorations and Blu-ray releases.

[Trekkie313]

Hoping they get bought out by a company like Shout! or Kino.

[hainesdogg]

Originally Posted by Trekkie313

Hoping they get bought out by a company like Shout! or Kino.

The way the announcement reads is that they are ending their DVD-R and download business but still licensing their catalog to third parties and selling those titles via their website.

[fatboyslim142]

Originally Posted by hainesdogg

The way the announcement reads is that they are ending their DVD-R and download business but still licensing their catalog to third parties and selling those titles via their website.

Apparently Nicolas Winding Refn owns the rights to a lot of films Something Weird Video has released. I just wish the director would go back to doing more Danish films as that's what his best films are.

[kanderson]

Originally Posted by fatboyslim142

Apparently Nicolas Winding Refn owns the rights to a lot of films Something Weird Video has released. I just wish the director would go back to doing more Danish films as that's what his best films are.

He really doesn't own the rights since the majority of the SW library were public domain films. What he bought was the elements that SW had.

[Jobla]

Among other items, Refn bought OLGA'S HOUSE OF SHAME, WHITE SLAVES OF CHINATOWN, and the Arch Hall films from SWV.

[fatboyslim142]

Originally Posted by kanderson

He really doesn't own the rights since the majority of the SW library were public domain films. What he bought was the elements that SW had.

You know what I meant anyway.

[Smegma]

You left out this part:

Here’s a few hints:

AGFA + SW - Even more of what you’ve come to expect from our unholy union!

Severin Films + SW - There will be an important announcement in early 2024! Weirdos have been waiting patiently for this director and producer’s outrageous oeuvre to come out on Blu-ray!

Kino Cult + SW - More Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture including dazzling new restorations of TEASERAMA, VARIETEASE and BUXOM BEAUTEASE!

Distribpix + SW - We’re cherry-picking the best of the legendary Movielab / Bonded film archives for super deluxe Blu-rays!

Modern Harmonic + SW - More Something Weird soundtracks on LP and CD!

Pallbearer Press + SW - More sick and stylish SWV-related t-shirt designs!

Cultpix + SW - Cultpix will be adding even more SWV content to their sinsational streaming platform in 2024! Stay tuned for the Something Weird Channel in 2025!

Lisa is also planning to finally start to work on Something Weird Press in 2024. She initiated some book projects last year, but the day-to-day customer service and doing the mail order, plus having to work on multiple Blu-ray releases at a time have distracted her from diving deep into publishing. But stay tuned!

[AndrewFM]

Phew. Seems like a modernisation and not a real closure.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by AndrewFM

Phew. Seems like a modernisation and not a real closure.

Yeah, more of a streamlining process.

SW put together some of the best packages of the DVD era and had such excellent production values to their releases I often wish other labels had followed their lead. Compared to let's say, Paramount, whose DVDs were often bare bones and wildly overpriced, SW put out a week's worth of entertainment in a single affordable release. They were and still are a one of a kind label.

[SWV]

This is Lisa from Something Weird Video. SWV is NOT shutting down or closing! The subject line above is incorrect. We are just ending the DVD-R and Downloads at the end of 2024! SWV will continue to exist and have a NEW website (just no DVD-Rs or Downloads)! We will continue to partner with AGFA, Severin Films, Kino Cult, Pop Cinema, Cultpix, Distribpix, byNWR, Film Masters, and other video companies and film archives on new restorations and Blu-ray releases. It's my intention to start a Streaming Channel in 2025 where much of the SWV content will still be available. I will be starting Something Weird Press this year, a publishing company which will focus of SWV-related subjects. I don't know why people are saying SWV is closing or shutting down because it's NOT! Just adapting and changing with the times! No one should expect SWV to do things the way they were done for the past 30 years (and Mike Vraney never intended for the company to continue as it was.) SWV Forever!