RUBY Details; THE TWILIGHT PEOPLE, THE AFTERMATH, ONE MILLION B.C. (1940) Hit Blu!

[bruce holecheck]

From my Cinema Arcana FB page:

Some interesting news regarding VCI Entertainment's Blu-Ray slate for the rest of 2017, courtesy of a newly prepared magazine advertisement.

First up are details for their long-in-the-works HD upgrade of Curtis Harrington's fan favorite RUBY (1977). The film concerns a pregnant gangster moll who turns to the drive-in theater business following the bullet-bath her boyfriend takes right before her eyes. Sixteen years later, a series of gruesome, mysterious murders begins at their outdoor movie compound, and daughter Leslie is starting to act in unusual ways. A solid '70s supernatural thriller, the film always had a rough time gaining the reputation it deserved due to the proliferation of a censored, padded television cut that destroyed its original intentions. Dubbed a "Blood Splattered Special Edition," VCI's disc promises a new 2K transfer of the restored director's theatrical cut, straight from the original 35mm negative, and they've ported over the commentary track with Harrington and lead Piper Laurie, vintage interviews with the director, a new talk with David Del Valle and historian Nate Bell, and more. No date given, but I would expect a proper announcement shortly.

But that's not all -- the company has several other Blu-Ray bumps on the way!

Do you like Filipino insanity? How about Dr. Moreau stories? What do you think of Pam Grier? Well, with Eddie Romero's THE TWILIGHT PEOPLE (1972), you get all of the above, plus an amazing bat-man who flies around the jungle and rips up faces. A crazed little film that presents a gang of animal / human hybrids as they revolt against their creator -- it's a lot of fun if you're in the right mindset. The company's DVD looked great for the time; let's hope this disc follows suit.

If Greydon Clark's SATAN'S CHEERLEADERS (1977) doesn't put a smile on your face, what will? This primo slab of drive-in schlock follows the titular group of pom pom-pushin' protagonists who are kidnapped for demonic rituals by their school's Satan-worshiping janitor. Yes, you read that right. But things aren't always as they initially seem... Another long overdue refurbishing, I'm definitely looking forward to this one.

Not seeing a proper release since its Roan Laserdisc, Steve Barkett's THE AFTERMATH (1982) might just finally get the disc it deserves. This one's a violent, regional post-apocalypse tale that details an astronaut's return to Earth, only to find we've had a nuclear war in the interim and the planet's now populated with roving bands of mutant cannibals -- led by Sid Haig! Plenty of inspired action, surprisingly solid FX work, and one humdinger of an exploding head, THE AFTERMATH deserves to be better known than it is; hopefully this Blu-Ray will help.

Last, but not least, Hal Roach's original caveman basher ONE MILLION B.C. (1940) hits the format. Not as well known as it's '60s Hammer reimagining, because, well, it doesn't have Raquel Welsh in a fur bikini, this earlier edition was actually nominated for a pair of Academy Awards, including Special Effects and Best Score. I haven't seen it, but for those who crave the film, it's coming!

No details on any of these additional titles yet, but stay tuned to Cinema Arcana for any updates we come across!

[HuggyBear73]

Love RUBY and THE AFTERMATH. Def getting those. And will blind buy ONE MILLION BC and TWILIGHT PEOPLE.

[Jack Webb]

And all will be worthless unless VCI changes their mastering and encoding methods.

[Marshall Crist]

Originally Posted by Jack Webb

And all will be worthless unless VCI changes their mastering and encoding methods.

So true.

Still naively excited about ONE MILLION B.C. I don't think this ever made it to DVD, for some reason. Unlike a lot of movies from my childhood, this one holds up pretty well.

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by Marshall Crist

So true.

Still naively excited about ONE MILLION B.C. I don't think this ever made it to DVD, for some reason. Unlike a lot of movies from my childhood, this one holds up pretty well.

It didn't make it to DVD, and it's a pretty serious piece of genre film history, if for no other reason than footage from it turned up in AT LEAST 25 other genre movies over the years. I saw it on TCM several years ago and remembered thinking it was better than I expected.

VCI is a really bad label, but if they're the only ones that are going to get it, I will definitely buy it. Hopefully a black and white 4x3 film will suffer less from their crappy compression methods just due to the much lower bitrate required.

[Member-222782]

Looking forward to Ruby (finally!) and Aftermath. I'd lost hope Ruby would ever make it to Blu-ray since VCI's announcement for it over a year ago never materialized. A little worried about VCI's poor reputation but I'll take a decent HD edition of this until something better comes along. Aftermath sounds like a nice little post-apocalyptic flick.

[NoirFan]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

Hopefully a black and white 4x3 film will suffer less from their crappy compression methods just due to the much lower bitrate required.

It's not just the possibility/likelihood of encoding and compression issues, many/most of their releases also suffer from digital sharpening/noise-reduction, not to mention previous discs that were interlaced or had watermarks. Frustratingly, I'd be very interested in all five of these titles normally, but I have zero faith that they won't be compromised in some way. They're ruined so many films I would otherwise have in regular rotation in my collection. If I'm wrong, I'll happily order them.

[babybreese]

Anyone else develop mild depression every time VCI announces another Blu?

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by babybreese

Anyone else develop mild depression every time VCI announces another Blu?

A bit, yeah. After watching those video nasty discs from Severin I've really wanted to see Aftermath, and then it gets announced by these guys. Guess I'll be exploring other options!!

[Dex Robinson]

I buy any movie that has the word "Cheerleaders" in the title .

[saltysam]

Did these ever offer replacements for the oos Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things?

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by saltysam

Did these ever offer replacements for the oos Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things?

No, there's no chance they will. They're just a bad, lazy label. The best we could hope for is that they'll quietly release a V2 disc with it fixed and not offer any replacements. But I really doubt that would happen, either. I'd just wait for a UK release or something.

[Member-222782]

My impression of VCI based on an article I read about them some time ago was that it's a family-owned business now run by two guys (father and son?) somewhere in the Midwest (Utah, I believe) and that these dudes are sort of out of the loop when it comes to modern technology. How they got the rights to Bird With the Crystal Plumage is beyond me but they're sort of like the last remaining mom & pop-type family business whose bread and butter were mail order videos. I don't know if any of this has changed but since they can't seem to get anything right I assume it's the same situation.

[oildude]

Originally Posted by cine74

My impression of VCI based on an article I read about them some time ago was that it's a family-owned business now run by two guys (father and son?) somewhere in the Midwest (Utah, I believe) and that these dudes are sort of out of the loop when it comes to modern technology. How they got the rights to Bird With the Crystal Plumage is beyond me but they're sort of like the last remaining mom & pop-type family business whose bread and butter were mail order videos. I don't know if any of this has changed but since they can't seem to get anything right I assume it's the same situation.

Um.....Utah is not in the Midwest.

I'm cool with VCI, though, and the titles I have from them have looked okay to me. I'll continue to support a family-owned business. If someone else releases a better version down the road for a VCI title I like, then I will get that too. It is what it is.

[bruce holecheck]

RUBY is slated for September 12th:



ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. is due October 17th:



THE AFTERMATH and SATAN'S CHEERLEADERS are scheduled for November 7th:





No word on TWILIGHT PEOPLE yet.

[NoirFan]

Fingers crossed they don't botch these, I'd order them all.

[WaverBoy]

I'm in for ONE MILLION B.C., if they don't botch it like they did their CITY OF THE DEAD, one of the worst BDs released by any company in the history of the format.

[Member-222782]

Cool new VCI logo but what do the words say?

[captveg]

Originally Posted by Cinema74

Cool new VCI logo but what do the words say?

"Retro Elite"

[Katatonia]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

Fingers crossed they don't botch these, I'd order them all.

We can hope, but with VCI I always wait on reviews first anymore.

I'm really surprised they're even doing a Blu-ray for The Aftermath. They released it as a cheap no frills DVD-R a few years ago, and even botched that. It was originally announced to include the making-of bonus features that were included on the old Laserdisc...but of course it turned out to be bare bones. Hopefully they'll at least include those this time around.