Scream Factory Blu-ray Discussion Thread

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by jim1985

As I live outside the US Amazon is my only choice . I don't mind paying a bit more for some titles especially Creepshow I need that in my collection ..

http://www.diabolikdvd.com ships worldwide.

[RedHarvest]

Originally Posted by t_rav

This post is more on the right track than most. I’ve been lurking wondering if I should chime in but decided against it. Now I think I should just say it.

This move from SF has nothing to do with punishing early shippers (with the exception of Diabolik, BB and Bull Moose would be rec’d by customers the Saturday before release date - a whopping 3 days is no big deal and nowhere close to being as early as ordering direct from SF), Amazon exclusivity, disdain for the customers or any other wild conspiracy theories.

This move is solely an attempt to maximize profits. That’s it. They paid a huge chunk of money in these new deals with WB, Sony, Hammer & Corman. It had to be done to continue on because their well was running dry. Distributors get pretty big discounts from SF in order to sell their products and still achieve a profit margin. If SF cuts out the middle man, they are getting a MUCH higher GP on each unit sold. Amazon was too large of market share to cut out completely, so they were allowed on the condition of all pre-orders being full MSRP to still incentivize customers to order direct from them. It’s that simple.

Do I agree with this strategy or think it will work? No. But I understand why they’re trying it. No need for all this vitriol toward them. Speak with your wallet. Be patient and order from Bull Moose and BB once they’re available. Calls for SF to go under because of this is just silly. Without SF, we would not be getting physical releases of most of these films. I don’t fault them for trying to recoup some of the significant financial losses they just endured. It is vital we continue to support them by buying their products, regardless of which distributor you choose.

That is all. Rant over.

Truth.

[RedHarvest]

Originally Posted by TripleHBK

You mean all those conversations about people pissing and moaning about the movies?

-"I don't like this artwork"
-"This release is encoded poorly"
-"This release has color I don't like"
-"I didn't get a slip cover"
-"This release is too bright/dark"
-"Ugh, another steelbook?"
-"Ugh, another double dip?"
-"Ugh, another bottom of the barrel title?"

Yeah I remember those too. All folks do for the most part around here is complain about titles they've recently purchased, complain about titles not yet announced, or speculate on titles they wish Scream Factory would release. Where have you been?

Despite all that I'd wager that most of the folks complaining own a substantial amount of Scream Factory titles.

Truth.

[NeMo_ET]

I've kind of expressed my thoughts about what they might be up to. That being said, can't complain too much. Being in Canada, my purchasing options are far less and I don't see the deals that some mention here. We used to have HMV and see the occasional good deal there, but now it's more limited and prices are pretty fixed across all options. Comparing to other labels, SF is actually pretty reasonably priced, although still much higher than what I typically like to pay for a blu. Vestron is considerably higher price in Canada. Arrow, although they put a lot more into some of their releases, also cost a lot more. To be honest, maybe I'm not 100% understanding the issue here because Amazon, Best Buy and anywhere else you can buy them here are all the same deal. I usually just go with Amazon because it's easy. Don't really care if I get the movie 3 days earlier or 3 days later than release.

[RedHarvest]

Originally Posted by prkchopexpress

remember when this thread used to be about movies and not people pissing and moaning? those were good times.

There's always a bunch of complainers to sift through, but I always look forward to comments/posts from TripleHBK, BarnDoor, and several others who can engage in logical and amiable discourse about film.

[Tone blare]

Originally Posted by TripleHBK

You mean all those conversations about people pissing and moaning about the movies?

-"I don't like this artwork"
-"This release is encoded poorly"
-"This release has color I don't like"
-"I didn't get a slip cover"
-"This release is too bright/dark"
-"Ugh, another steelbook?"
-"Ugh, another double dip?"
-"Ugh, another bottom of the barrel title?"

Yeah I remember those too. All folks do for the most part around here is complain about titles they've recently purchased, complain about titles not yet announced, or speculate on titles they wish Scream Factory would release. Where have you been?

Despite all that I'd wager that most of the folks complaining own a substantial amount of Scream Factory titles.

Facts. I dont know what that guy is smoking but this thread has always been full of madness.

[NeMo_ET]

Originally Posted by Tone blare

Facts. I dont know what that guy is smoking but this thread has always been full of madness.

In the Mouth of Madness? I didn't buy it. Not enough extra features. It would have been nice to have 3 slipcovers and a steelbook as well. Plus I heard a rumor there was a rogue film grain and the audio dropped slightly during the tail end of the credits.

[Member-222782]

I guess this just means I won't be blind buying much anymore and just picking up the top titles on my wantlist and only after prices come down a bit. The only time I'll probably give in to this is if Shout Factory decides to "Criterion-ize" their releases with thick clear cases, booklets and other packaging gimmicks and they do proper scans and QC everything to the point where there won't be any issues. I can't justify spending $30+ for every release.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by rocknblues81

Scream tries to get more money for their items and I try to pay less for their items. It's about as simple as that to me. Yeah, I don't like what they've done with pre-orders, but I've adjusted accordingly.

Yeah I just cancelled around 10 scream preorders I had lined up on Amazon

[tek8080]

Yeah, no more pre-ordering any Scream titles for me anymore. I just cancelled all of my Pre-orders on Amazon for August through November. I'll just pick them up from Deep Discount when they do finally list them and it's during a 15% off sale. $22 is about the maximum I am going to pay for a Scream title. I'd buy everything they came out with at $18 or less. If anything, I think they will lose money doing this...

[jthefrank]

Got the "one time" $9 refund from customer support as well. Must be a canned response they have. Either way, $26 is still the most I've ever spent, but way better than $35

[NewAgeYankee]

Originally Posted by NeMo_ET

I've kind of expressed my thoughts about what they might be up to. That being said, can't complain too much. Being in Canada, my purchasing options are far less and I don't see the deals that some mention here. We used to have HMV and see the occasional good deal there, but now it's more limited and prices are pretty fixed across all options. Comparing to other labels, SF is actually pretty reasonably priced, although still much higher than what I typically like to pay for a blu. Vestron is considerably higher price in Canada. Arrow, although they put a lot more into some of their releases, also cost a lot more. To be honest, maybe I'm not 100% understanding the issue here because Amazon, Best Buy and anywhere else you can buy them here are all the same deal. I usually just go with Amazon because it's easy. Don't really care if I get the movie 3 days earlier or 3 days later than release.

Try hitting up a Cinema One if possible. They will have deals for the Boutique labels. Far greater then HMV or Sunrise ever do and comprable to Amazon. I got the Hellraiser Scarlett Box for 69.99 the other month.

Also Diabolik,Wow HD, Deep Discounts, Arrow or Kino have great deals with cheap shipping that make them cheap even when using exchange rates.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by tek8080

Yeah, no more pre-ordering any Scream titles for me anymore. I just cancelled all of my Pre-orders on Amazon for August through November. I'll just pick them up from Deep Discount when they do finally list them and it's during a 15% off sale. $22 is about the maximum I am going to pay for a Scream title. I'd buy everything they came out with at $18 or less. If anything, I think they will lose money doing this...

Doesnt help amazon screwed me on price for rotld2 and the unborn, this is the 5th and 6th items i had to return that I preordered in the past 2 months due to stupid release day pricing. Not just scream either, like $45 ready player one 3d (ha!!) and some Vestron + olive stuff.

Bottom line cant trust amazon for competitive release day pricing anymore. While I cancelled 10 scream preorders probably closer to 20 overall canceled from Amazon.

My main go to now is Deep Discount but i try to give Walmart, Target, Bullmoose, Diabolik, BN, BB some business when prices are favorable.

[returnofthemack]

I know there was some debate in one of the scream factory threads a few days ago about amazon refunding the difference in price on release day. I was in the camp that was very skeptical but sure enough I just got a email from amazon saying they are going to refund me $9 and change on return of the living dead 2. I was prepared to pay the almost $40 price because I got a $200 gift card for buying a mattress so I didn’t care but this is a pleasant surprise. I have Brainscan preordered too and it will be interesting to see if the same thing happens.

The refund was sent without contacting customer service. Auto refund

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by returnofthemack

I know there was some debate in one of the scream factory threads a few days ago about amazon refunding the difference in price on release day. I was in the camp that was very skeptical but sure enough I just got a email from amazon saying they are going to refund me $9 and change on return of the living dead 2. I was prepared to pay the almost $40 price because I got a $200 gift card for buying a mattress so I didn’t care but this is a pleasant surprise. I have Brainscan preordered too and it will be interesting to see if the same thing happens.

The refund was sent without contacting customer service. Auto refund

It is true they will generally auto refund when price drop that close to release day and they did so, but their $25 price is still $2 higher than walmart and unborn is still $6 more than other retailers. So overall i still got bad pricing on this scream order from Amazon and am returning, even with the $2.79 return postage i will easily get better price elsewhere overall for these two titles.

They probably dropped to only 25 as they figured people wouldn't return for $2 difference, since postage is more than thaylt but not in my case.

[HorrorBlu]

Their policy is (or at least was) that Pre-order Price Guarantee was through end of day on release day. So the refunds should be automatic.

But definitely keep an eye on it. Amazon is pretty shady, so I can see them trying to pull a fast one.

[NeMo_ET]

Getting back to movies - SF has released some Warner stuff recently, haven't they? Shout Select should look at Mosquito Coast. One of my favorites. Came across my DVD and immediately looked to see if there was a bluray but there isn't!

[RedHarvest]

Originally Posted by NeMo_ET

Getting back to movies - SF has released some Warner stuff recently, haven't they? Shout Select should look at Mosquito Coast. One of my favorites. Came across my DVD and immediately looked to see if there was a bluray but there isn't!

There are still a ton of Sony and Warner titles currently in this Nowhere Zone of mystery. Titles everyone wants that you think SF would've snatched up if they were available, or titles WAC or Sony themselves would have already released. Hopefully they show up sooner or later. Now is a hot time for collectors and Blu-rays; I don't see why every studio isn't devoting some time to capitalize on the physical release of older catalog titles. Paramount, especially. Sitting on a goldmine of films, and yet instead of releasing Golden Child, Harlem Nights, and Another 48 Hours, they re-release Trading Places and Coming to America. Makes no sense to me.

[jthefrank]

Originally Posted by HorrorBlu

Their policy is (or at least was) that Pre-order Price Guarantee was through end of day on release day. So the refunds should be automatic.

But definitely keep an eye on it. Amazon is pretty shady, so I can see them trying to pull a fast one.

I definitely didn't have a refund until I sent a chat request

It was nice never having to hunt for Scream CE deals. Now I'll just have to queue them up with the Vestron stuff, and constantly check for deals. So annoying. Damn that need for slipcover uniformity!

[FForFake]

Originally Posted by BrianJoynt

It very well could be. Code Red, Twilight Time, Synapse...with the exception of Diabolik, they all sell directly from their website. Wouldn't surprise me at all.

It seems likely that as the demand for physical media continues to dwindle, this is the way things are going to be. Brick and mortars are selling fewer and fewer discs, so I'd imagine that labels are getting a smaller piece of a smaller pie. If they are the exclusive dealer, they get to keep the whole thing (minus the production and licensing costs.)

Personally, I order the stuff directly from Shout, because I like the posters and doodads, but also because I figure in the current climate, $30 or whatever isn't so bad for semi-obscure titles that we'd not get otherwise.