Dark Force Entertainment Discussion Thread

[WillieMLF]

Originally Posted by redrunner97

The completist in me wants to upgrade Scream, but it's objectively the worst slasher flick of the golden age... if not the worst one ever made.

A pathetic abortion of a film. If you can even call it a film. It's more like a collection of pointless scenes that only loosely fit together to barely resemble a movie, occupied by motiveless characters who don't really do or say or feel anything. The "plot" is non-existent and the ending feels so abrupt and lacking in resolution because virtually nothing happens for the full runtime prior to the credits rolling. It's god-awful.

So, it's the golden turd of Dark Force releases?

[Cujo]

Two long-standing preorders, my Scream UHD and the Indicator Murphy set, both shipped yesterday morning. Not a fan of Dead Pit, but I can't wait to upgrade Final Exam whenever it's ready. Huge favorite.

[Member-222782]

Originally Posted by Cujo

Two long-standing preorders, my Scream UHD and the Indicator Murphy set, both shipped yesterday morning. Not a fan of Dead Pit, but I can't wait to upgrade Final Exam whenever it's ready. Huge favorite.

Final Exam on 4K? I want it but I'm only preordering when it's ready to ship. The gaps between preorder and shipping are getting really wide over at the Dark Forces, which makes me uneasy.

[ol_Dut]

Watched Moonlighting Wives last evening. It is definitely a good-looking film. There are a few random and brief instances of damage every now and then, but they are few and far between. Colors are pretty vibrant, detail is good, and the audio track is certainly sufficient for what it needs to get across. The film is pretty engaging and pushes things probably as far as it could for 1966. Much of Sarno's skill and his trademark fixation on naughty goings-on behind the squeaky-clean suburban facade are front and center here. The plot concerns an enterprising woman in a bad marriage who is looking to make some extra cash so she starts a "stenography" business. As demand grows, she recruits more and more talent, creates a network of hotels who want in on the business, and even prints catalogs so customers can order to their exact taste. But as jealousies, greed, and insecurities rage, just how long can this lusty empire last? Our female leads are excellent and carry the film with ease, while in an interesting twist, the male characters, while important to certain plot points, are definitely secondary. This is a great disc for those thinking about picking it up.

[Nosferatu31]

Originally Posted by CrowKiller

So Defalco is scalper scum now? I wonder who the fools are that actually bought them. Probably the same people that would buy Roadhouse for over a $100, instead of waiting a month and getting from VS directly much cheaper. Obviously these will be on sale again (next sale?). Severin are the kings of bullshit. Doubt they'd spend that much money putting that together and just throw away the rest of them. I'm sure Four Flies will show again at it's normal price.

You're right about them being the kings of bullshit, they're quickly becoming my least favorite label. If people really want a copy of Four Flies they can email Severin and they will send an invoice, don't have to wait for the next sale.

[Bradsdadg]

Update from FB earlier tonight:

ATTENTION DEAD PIT 4K UHD REPLICATION UPDATE: The much anticipated #2 Dark Force 4K UHD release is currently in replication and expected to be completed in a little over a week. Due to the high production cost of 4K and significant technical delays we encountered we have opted to reduce the Limited 2000 run to 1000. All pre-orders will be shipped first and any excess inventory will then be likely sold off quickly. Stay tuned for a live sneak preview of the #1 Dark Force 4K release the 1981 horror flick SCREAM later tonight.

[rdodolak]

I guess Dark Force will be getting out of the 4K business.

[DaylightsEnd]

Sounds a bit like they didn't pre-sell nearly as many 4k copies of Dead Pit as they thought they would, and now aren't willing to come out of pocket and write a decent-sized check for the large volume of stock they were originally going to order of that title. I'm suspecting the Scream 4k offering didn't exactly set sales records either, being considered by many as one of the most reviled slasher-era hack films of the genre.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by DaylightsEnd

Sounds a bit like they didn't pre-sell nearly as many 4k copies of Dead Pit as they thought they would, and now aren't willing to come out of pocket and write a decent-sized check for the large volume of stock they were originally going to order of that title. I'm suspecting the Scream 4k offering didn't exactly set sales records either, being considered by many as one of the most reviled slasher-era hack films of the genre.

That wouldn't be surprising when it's hardly available for preorder. Did it ever go back up other than the very brief preorder period?

[hainesdogg]

one of these days I'll time it right and get to purchase something. I always have money when the online store is out of stock and closed.

[El Sleezo]

Dead Pit was also re-issued like 6 months before the 4K announcement with Kino. I don't know how many Dead Pit fanatics there are for such a quick turnaround lol.

[redrunner97]

So does this mean we aren't getting Final Exam 4K?

[asmodeux21]

I got around to seeing "Scream" on 4k UHD. It's not bad at all. There is decent color and very nice grain( hey, at least, Dark Force Entertainment kept their hands off DNR). I spotted some film related specks/marks as well as some compression artifacts here and there, but considering a lot of the movie took place at night time, it's a pretty damn good effort overall. At the end of the day, it looks exactly like it should look like...a low budget early 1980s horror film shot on 16mm. My 2 cents...

[toodeepuntilnow]

Expectations should have always been lower for movies like Dead Pit and Scream 4Ks but DF doesn’t do themselves any sales favors with their store setup. I’ll buy both (and Final Exam) after I see initial reviews if I can ever catch them in stock in the store.

[gunnerg]

I watched the 4k of Scream last night. I immedietly saw & heard an improvement. Was happy with it, bitrate was in the 90's. The opening title credits appeared to be redone. I have no complaints of dark force leaving out Maria's B Movie Madness mode. But why in hell did they keep the blu ray back cover art template exact, with Maria's image and stating it is available on the disc? That was weird. Will be buying an empty 2-disc 4k case to include the code red blu ray in the same case. Then the case info will be accurate. I'll totally buy all of these non-hdr 4k upgrades from darkforce on titles I want. Dead Pit isn't one of them. But Final Exam is! I just hope in the future they make the case art reflect what is actually on the disc.

[Member-222782]

Originally Posted by gunnerg

I watched the 4k of Scream last night. I immedietly saw & heard an improvement. Was happy with it, bitrate was in the 90's. The opening title credits appeared to be redone. I have no complaints of dark force leaving out Maria's B Movie Madness mode. But why in hell did they keep the blu ray back cover art template exact, with Maria's image and stating it is available on the disc? That was weird. Will be buying an empty 2-disc 4k case to include the code red blu ray in the same case. Then the case info will be accurate. I'll totally buy all of these non-hdr 4k upgrades from darkforce on titles I want. Dead Pit isn't one of them. But Final Exam is! I just hope in the future they make the case art reflect what is actually on the disc.

Was it a grid template? I kind of liked that format when Shriek Show/Media Blasters was using it for their DVDs. Bill decided to keep using the grids for Code Red when he started the label but it always felt like someone else's idea. The fact that DF kept the same exact template of the DVDs/BDs is just plain laziness on their part.

By the way, how the heck are people already receiving this? Didn't this just roll off the assembly line

[gunnerg]

Originally Posted by Cinema84

Was it a grid template? I kind of liked that format when Shriek Show/Media Blasters was using it for their DVDs. Bill decided to keep using the grids for Code Red when he started the label but it always felt like someone else's idea. The fact that DF kept the same exact template of the DVDs/BDs is just plain laziness on their part.

By the way, how the heck are people already receiving this? Didn't this just roll off the assembly line

I don't really know template terms. But it's a carbon copy of the first pressing code red blu ray cover. They did do some text editing, but left some on that shouldn't be there. The 4k also does not include a theatrical trailer. Film and commentary track only.

Here they are together...

[redrunner97]

Direct-to-consumer blu-ray labels are a blessing and a curse for real. Crazy money for a 4K slapped in a case with basically the exact same blu-ray cover, just the logo at the bottom changed lol.

[jmilo61]

Originally Posted by redrunner97

Direct-to-consumer blu-ray labels are a blessing and a curse for real. Crazy money for a 4K slapped in a case with basically the exact same blu-ray cover, just the logo at the bottom changed lol.

That's not fair. They also changed some all-caps text to lowercase. Makes it easier to read the special features that aren't included on the disc.

[willo007]

Originally Posted by gunnerg

I don't really know template terms. But it's a carbon copy of the first pressing code red blu ray cover. They did do some text editing, but left some on that shouldn't be there. The 4k also does not include a theatrical trailer. Film and commentary track only.

Here they are together...

So, it doesn't bring a standard Blu-ray disc, slipcover and drops the special features with the exception of the commentary?