Oliver Carter

General musings on Popular Culture

Tropic of Cancer aka Al tropico del cancro (Gian Paolo Lomi / Edoardo Mulargia, 1972) coming to DVD

I am pleased to find that another one of my past fan DVD projects will be rendered obsolete as the German label Camera Obscura have announced that they will be releasing the giallo Tropic of Cancer on DVD later this year.  It would be good if the artwork for the DVD is as good as the one Sutekh produced for my fan DVD (pictured below). 

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Lizard in a Woman's Skin (Lucio Fulci, 1971) DVD Promo

Promo for the forthcoming Optimum DVD release of Lizard in a Woman's Skin (Lucio Fulci, 1971).  From what I have read online it looks to be a winner.

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Goodbye Neo Publishing

Zarith, a member over at the Lovelockandload forums, posted that the French cult DVD label Neo Publishing, which specialised in releasing Italian cult film, are no longer.  It appears that the usual combination of greedy rights owners, consumer uncertainty over DVD and Blu-Ray and niche audiences has led to its downfall.  I only own one Neo Publishing release, their superior DVD release of Lucio Fulci's giallo Seven Notes in Black (1977).  I would have purchased their other releases of gialli but none of them were English friendly.  Apparently greedy rights owners prevented Neo Publishing from including English audio and/or subtitles.  Even though their releases were readily available in English friendly formats over in the US, I believe they would have attracted fans with their unique cover art and lavish presentation (as seen in some of the pictures below) had they been English friendly.  So yet another cult label goes.  I hope this trend stops soon but I have a feeling the current state of the DVD industry will lead to more specialist labels dying.  Neo Publishing's releases will most likely end up being collector's items so it is recommended that fans head over to Amazon.fr and pick up the reduced discs while stocks last.  I am trying to fight the urge to not purchase all of their gialli.


 

     

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Recommended Online DVD/Blu-Ray Shops

Who are the best online DVD and Blu-Ray retailers?  It is a very good question, one I get asked a lot.  Rather than produce a list I recently came across this post a the Empire film forums which does an excellent job of identifying the best online retailers from all over the world. My thanks go to the original poster for producing such a valuable list.

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Dark Night of the Scarecrow coming to US DVD

It looks to be official, the cult horror film The Dark Night of the Scarecrow (Frank De Felitta, 1981) will be released on US DVD by VCI in time for Halloween.  Announced early last year as both a Blu-Ray and DVD release by Image who were then on the verge of declaring bankruptcy, it was then assumed that Lion's Gate would be releasing it with newly shot sequences.  The website Horroryearbook reports that VCI will now be responsible for bringing this to DVD, though a Blu-Ray release now seems doubtful.  Hopefully this will be the original version without the newly shot sequences that were rumoured earlier this year that are intended to resolve questions audiences had about the ending.  Personally, I find the ending of the film to be superb and perfectly straight forward. 

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A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (Lucio Fulci, 1971) coming to UK DVD

Optimum have recently announced that they will be giving Lucio Fulci's masterful giallo A Lizard in a Woman's Skin a UK DVD premiere on June 7.  The blurb states that this release has been directly mastered from the original negatives and therefore 'should' be the definitive DVD release of the film.  Fingers crossed that this one gets through the BBFC unscathed, I expect that the infamous vivisected dogs sequence won't cause any trouble.  The cover art looks great.


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Dream On - The First Season £2.99 at HMV.co.uk

When I first saw Dream On in 1991 I was amazed by how original the show was.  Even now, the use of old Universal movie clips to represent the thoughts of main character Martin Tupper (Brian Benben) still holds up well.  HMV are currently selling the first season on DVD at the ridiculous price of £2.99.  You would be foolish not to add it to your collection.

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Sony cuts jobs due to dwindling DVD sales

Further indications of the declining DVD market have been shown by Sony Pictures USA who have announced that they will be cutting 450 jobs partly due to a change in people's DVD buying habits.  Although Blu-Ray sales have been steadily rising, the LA Times reports that combined DVD and Blu-Ray sales declined by more than 13% last year.  This is most likely due to the following factors:

  • Consumer uncertainty: Many consumers are unsure of whether to continue purchasing DVDs or to move to Blu-Ray
  • DVD Rentals: Rather than invest dying format many are choosing to rent films as an alternative
  • Online downloads: Again, another alternative (both legal and illegal) method to purchasing DVDs

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Ten Anticipated DVD/Blu-Ray Releases of 2010

With the current state of the DVD industry it is hard to predict what will be released in the coming year.  What follows is a list of my most anticipated DVD/Blu-Ray releases of 2010.  There will no doubt be others added over the year but here are the ones that have caught my eye so far:

Dark Night of the Scarecrow (Frank De Felitta, 1981) Lionsgate, USA: DVD. Date TBC

A little known television movie starring Larry Drake and Charles Durning.  This was originally going to be released on Blu-Ray and DVD by Image Entertainment but since they are currently considering filing for bankruptcy it looks as if Lionsgate will be attaining the rights to this cult classic.

Elvis: The Movie (John Carpenter, 1979) Shout Factory, USA: DVD. 2 March 2010

Issues with music rights have prevented this little seen John Carpenter film, which was the first of many collaborations with Kurt Russell, from being released.  Hopefully it will be the full uncut version and will feature a typically excellent commentary track from Russell and Carpenter.  Shout Factory are probably the American DVD label to watch in 2010.

The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973) Warner Brothers, USA: Blu-Ray. October 2010

One of my favourite films of all time, I just hope that Friedkin doesn't continue his unwelcome trend of tampering with his original edit as he has done with Cruising (1980) and the Blu-Ray release of The French Connection (1971).  Warner have confirmed that both the 1973 and 2000 versions will be included. 

Kingdom of the Spiders (John 'Bud' Cardos, 1977) Shout Factory, USA: DVD. 19 January 2010

William Shatner as a veterinarian trying to save a town from tarantulas.  What is there not to like?  This will be the third time I have purchased a DVD of this film.  What makes this release particularly attractive is the special features; an interview with the film's spider wrangler (what a great job title), an interview with Shatner and a commentary track with Cardos.  Another great offering from Shout Factory.
 
So Sweet, So Dead (Roberto Bianchi, 1972) Camera Obscura, Germany: DVD. February 28 2010

Aside from the forthcoming releases from maligned American label Mya Communication (I will discuss this in a forthcoming blogpost), Camera Obscura could be the label to keep an eye on for releases of rare gialli.  That cover art is sublime.

Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977) Cine Excess, UK: Blu-Ray. Today!

This should be with me tomorrow morning courtesy of Amazon.  Advance reviews have praised this anticipated release.  What next, Cine-Excess?

Thriller: The Complete Collection, Image, USA: DVD. TBC

With Image threatening to declare bankruptcy it is doubtful whether this release will happen which is disappointing considering that Tim Lucas and other respected genre enthusiasts have been recording audio commentaries for the release.  Perhaps Shout Factory can come to the rescue?

The Twilight Zone Complete Collection, Image, USA: Blu-Ray. TBC

Again, a release announced by Image.  I have been putting off completing my Twilight Zone collection on DVD ever since it was rumoured that there would be a Blu-Ray release.  Hopefully it will appear and will look as good as the Star Trek and The Prisoner Blu-Ray releases.

Urban Action Collection Warner Brothers, USA: DVD. 12 January 2010

I first saw Black Belt Jones (Robert Clouse, 1974) on VHS in the late 80's and loved Jim "Bullshit Mr Han Man" Kelly in the lead role.  It has never appeared legally on DVD and is part of this great value four-film Urban Action Collection.   It contains other Blaxploitation action classics such as Hot Potato (Oscar Williams, 1976), Three The Hard Way (Gordon Parks Jr, 1974) and Black Sampson (Charles Bail, 1974).

Who Dares Wins (Ian Sharp, 1982) Arrow, UK: Blu-Ray. 8 March 2010

Who would have expected this to be released on Blu-Ray in 2010?  Another film I remember fondly from my youth.  Lewis Collins is great in the lead role and the build up to the action filled finale is well executed. 

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What other releases would I like to see in 2010?  Fingers crossed for the following:

The Amazing Spider-Man Live Action Television series (something tells me that Marvel do not want this to see the light of day on optical disc.  I prefer it to Raimi's recent offerings).
Cold Case Files: The Complete Collection (morbid I know but this is the best true crime television series I have seen).
The Equalizer: Series Two onwards
High Crime (Enzo G. Castellari, 1973)
One Step Beyond: Seasons Two and Three
Profondo Rosso (Dario Argento, 1975) Blu-Ray (hopefully the Blu-Ray release of Suspria will lead to some of Argento's other classics being released on the HD format).

                   

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The Sweet Body Of Deborah (Il dolce corpo di Deborah, Romolo Guerrieri, 1968) coming to DVD

The Swedish DVD label Fin de Siecle Media are  releasing The Sweet Body of Deborah on November 23; the cover and disc art looks great. It will look much better than my fan DVD attempt which was sourced from a widescreen Italian VHS print.  You can see the video motion menu from my fan DVD below; it was not one of my better efforts.

   

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