THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE (Bo Arne Vibenius, 1973) -- Synapse Films, 2022

[Thebunk]

So got a shipping confirm and I saw on Reddit or FB that people started getting this.

[davidthenikonuser]

Originally Posted by Thebunk

So got a shipping confirm and I saw on Reddit or FB that people started getting this.

How? The release date is March 8th.

[jmilo61]

Originally Posted by davidthenikonuser

How? The release date is March 8th.

Gotta get these out there before more people realize there's a fancy UHD coming out a couple months later. That'll motivate you to bump up the timetable.

[Thebunk]

Originally Posted by davidthenikonuser

How? The release date is March 8th.

Synapse has long been known (and now even advertise this fact) to ship their direct preorders out months in advance. They did the same thing with The Kindred, Living Dead at Manchester Morgue as well.

[Mr. Thomsen]

Yeah, saw a couple of people on my FB feed post pictures of theirs, so it's definitely out there.

[Rayjg]

This will be a Collector's Item. Much like The Carrier.

[Cinema84]

Originally Posted by Rayjg

This will be a Collector's Item. Much like The Carrier.

I don't want to live in a world where junk is considered Collector's items

[nekromantik]

I will wait for the 4k from VS

[thetitanicneversunk]

i like to imagine they're shipping out now because the license rights expire at the end of this year and if they're all shipped by december 31st, it technically still was legal..

[WaverBoy]

Yeah, I’m not rushing to pick this one up. I’ll be waiting for the VS.

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by thetitanicneversunk

i like to imagine they're shipping out now because the license rights expire at the end of this year and if they're all shipped by december 31st, it technically still was legal..

If I were to guess, I'd wager that you likely aren't too far from the truth. Diabolik DVD has this listed as sold out despite it being a pre-order which seems unusual.

[jmilo61]

Originally Posted by TripleHBK

If I were to guess, I'd wager that you likely aren't too far from the truth. Diabolik DVD has this listed as sold out despite it being a pre-order which seems unusual.

I'm just speculating like everyone, but isn't entirely possible Synapse has disc rights for a quite a while still, but just some exclusivity period has expired.

So the owner is free to license it out to someone else (Vinegar Syndrome) and has the new 4k scan to dangle as an incentive, which VS certainly got exclusive rights to with the new license.

But nothing stopping Synapse from dumping their old master on disc and making a quick buck before its too late.

Certainly seems reasonable, and then there's no major controversy here. But we'll never know since we'll never know the details of either parties license. But the fact that VS isn't putting a stop to this release (or vice versa) makes this seem possible.

[Edenbeast]

Anyone got pictures of the packaging?

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by jmilo61

I'm just speculating like everyone, but isn't entirely possible Synapse has disc rights for a quite a while still, but just some exclusivity period has expired.

So the owner is free to license it out to someone else (Vinegar Syndrome) and has the new 4k scan to dangle as an incentive, which VS certainly got exclusive rights to with the new license.

But nothing stopping Synapse from dumping their old master on disc and making a quick buck before its too late.

Certainly seems reasonable, and then there's no major controversy here. But we'll never know since we'll never know the details of either parties license. But the fact that VS isn't putting a stop to this release (or vice versa) makes this seem possible.

I'm going with the 4k myself but this Synapse seems a better budget option than the DVD for those that want the movie but don't want to spend what will probably be $40ish for the VS release.

[jcs913]

I think this is one of those times Synapse sat too long on a title and it came back to bite them. They could be rushing to get it out before people realize the Vs version is coming, but I think the former is likely.

[slybone]

Saw a post this morning on FB from a guy who pre-ordered 1 copy, Synapse mailed him 3 copies. He thinks it was some kind of mistake, I’m not so sure.

[Cinema84]

Originally Posted by slybone

Saw a post this morning on FB from a guy who pre-ordered 1 copy, Synapse mailed him 3 copies. He thinks it was some kind of mistake, I’m not so sure.

They can't give these away fast enough

Bit of a lame move on their part tbh. Thank goodness they got The Kindred out before this lol. This would've added another delay while they got themselves preoccupied with rushing this obvious cash grab out. Hopefully their next release won't take a backseat now.

[Thebunk]

Originally Posted by slybone

Saw a post this morning on FB from a guy who pre-ordered 1 copy, Synapse mailed him 3 copies. He thinks it was some kind of mistake, I’m not so sure.

I got 2 copies of my pre-order for the Kindred (sent separately and 2 weeks or so apart) and noticed on my Thriller shipment confirm that they sent 2.

Both cases I only ordered 1 and through ebay.

[Thebunk]

Originally Posted by thetitanicneversunk

i like to imagine they're shipping out now because the license rights expire at the end of this year and if they're all shipped by december 31st, it technically still was legal..

I get this take and with most other labels I would agree.

But as I and others have mentioned, Synapse have a LONG history of sending pre-orders, ordered direct on their website are always sent months in advance. The track record is there and if you look back enough, you can see where they advertise the fact that they ship direct orders months early. I get the controversy surrounding this but Synapse is a long standing, reputable company.

I think Jmilo61 is likely closest to the truth. Synapse don't release many titles in a year (since it is mostly a 1 to 2 man operation) and my feel on the situation is:

- Synapse likely held off on releasing on Blu in hopes of getting better elements from the rights holder.
- They likely got no where with them so decide to remaster the poor master that they used for the DVD to put out what they could, knowing there was a lot of demand for this release and really, no good Blus available anywhere.
- By the time the VS news broke, the horse was likely already out of the barn. The news likely broke about VS releasing it with new elements\better transfer\extras and the discs were already manufactured. Looking at the timeline from the "soft" VS announcement to when the discs have been shipping, there has been less then a month.

We don't even know if a C&D exists or what Synapse's legal right is to the version they are putting out either.

[HorrorBlu]

Originally Posted by Thebunk

- They likely got no where with them so decide to remaster the poor master that they used for the DVD to put out what they could, knowing there was a lot of demand for this release and really, no good Blus available anywhere.

If they're using the same transfer they used for their DVD, then they could have released this blu-ray at any point in the past decade. Why right now all of a sudden?