Misted movies on DVD
James Anatidae
DVD? Well, after doing a little research, I've found that there are a
surprising number of misted movies on DVD in their original forms. I've
assembled I believe is a complete list, with links to purchase. You could
pick up a few and mist them yourself! (Note: This isn't a plug for
Amazon.com. They're just the site I personally use for online shopping)
* - New since last posting
102S - Radar Men From the Moon
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004X029/
105 - The Corpse Vanishes
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305636419/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004WL4P/
106 - The Crawling Hand
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005MKNR/
107 - Robot Monster
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004Y7GR/
108 - Slime People
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005MKNQ/
109 - Project Moon Base
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305869359/
201 - Rocketship X-M
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305869367/
203S - The Phantom Creeps
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6306004572/
211 - First Spaceship on Venus
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004W19F/
*322 - Master Ninja I
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000054OU6/
402 - The Giant Gila Monster
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005A07K/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005BJXA/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000034DE4/
404 - Teenagers From Outer Space
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004W1A5/
406 - Attack of Giant Leeches
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005A07L/
406S - Undersea Kingdom
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004YS6Q/
407 - The Killer Shrews
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005A07I/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000034DE4/
408 - Hercules Unchained
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005LKHO/
409 - The Indestructible Man
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305436401/
423 - Bride of the Monster
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00003XAMP/
502 - Hercules
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005LKHN/
513 - The Brain That Wouldn't Die
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005A07M/
514 - Teen-Age Strangler
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005ALLZ/
523 - Village of the Giants
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005AUK5/
607 - Bloodlust
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005A07O/
610 - The Violent Years
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005ALM0/
621 - The Beast of Yucca Flats
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004W192/
623 - The Amazing Transparent Man
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305436401/
702 - The Brute Man
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000IYR2/
706 - Laserblast
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305490074/
M01 - This Island Earth
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305077983/
902 - The Phantom Planet
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000055XNA/
904 - Werewolf
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004ZESH/
909 - Gorgo
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305989419/
912 - The Screaming Skull
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005A07V/
1001 - Soultaker
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000IZ0C/
*1002 - Girl in Gold Boots
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005OCL1/
1011 - Horrors of Spider Island
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004Z4VJ/
Brian Lee Hendrickson
and release MST3K episodes on DVD.
Brian
(I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired!)
George Johnson
news:9mefl3$1cbl$1...@news3.infoave.net...
| Tired of waiting for Rhino to get off it butt and release MST3K episodes on
| DVD? Well, after doing a little research, I've found that there are a
| surprising number of misted movies on DVD in their original forms. I've
| assembled I believe is a complete list, with links to purchase. You could
| pick up a few and mist them yourself! (Note: This isn't a plug for
| Amazon.com. They're just the site I personally use for online shopping)
I spotted the "Killer Shrews / I Bury the Living" combo at Best Buy in the
$10 DVD aisle.
A company by the name of Madacy Entertainment
http://www.madacyuk.com/ or
http://www.madacyvideo.com/
It looks like they have the DVD rights to The Lucy Show, Sherlock Holmes,
and John Wayne's stuff too.
It was a tad hard finding the Un-MSTied titles, but they were in the
"Killer Creatures Double Feature" menu.
http://www.madacyvideo.com/doublefeatkc.html
dhmac
news:3b8b09b5$0$1523$272e...@news.execpc.com...
>[...]
> It looks like they have the DVD rights to The Lucy Show, Sherlock Holmes,
> and John Wayne's stuff too.
>
> It was a tad hard finding the Un-MSTied titles, but they were in the
> "Killer Creatures Double Feature" menu.
>
> http://www.madacyvideo.com/doublefeatkc.html
>
them are Public Domain titles. Any company can release them on DVD and others
besides Madacy have (Elite, for instance). This begs the question: why hasn't
Rhino released all of the MST episodes that feature these Public Domain movies
on DVD, or even VHS?
Greasyfries
on
> DVD? Well, after doing a little research, I've found that there are a
> surprising number of misted movies on DVD in their original forms.
Also, "Hercules" and "Hercules & The Captive Women" are available in France
on DVD, in widescreen and in Italian.
Del March
of
them are Public Domain titles. Any company can release them on DVD and others
besides Madacy have (Elite, for instance). This begs the question: why hasn't
Rhino released all of the MST episodes that feature these Public Domain movies
on DVD, or even VHS?
>>
Because the MST episode itself is NOT public domain.
Adam Tyner
being MSTied is the cause of the excruciatingly slow release schedule,
why doesn't Rhino shift their focus towards the public domain? I
believe "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" is public domain, and perhaps
that factored into that episode being an early MST3K DVD release.
-Adam
delm...@aol.comBITEME (Del March) wrote in message news:<20010828230217...@mb-cj.aol.com>...
Joe Blevins
I notice that several of these titles were released by the Wade Williams
Collection. They also handle all the Ed Wood movies. Their DVD of
"Plan 9" is very well done, and I was satisfied with their DVDs of
"Bride of the Monster" and "Jailbait." "Glen or Glenda," however, had
some problems. At first, I was glad to see that the picture and sound
quality seemed to be better than the VHS version released by Rhino a few
years ago. (Rhino's version featured some loud, distracting audio
distortion at various points, and VHS quality isn't that hot to begin
with.) However, the Wade Williams Collection DVD has some MAJOR flaws.
The print they used seems to skip some frames, causing several lines of
dialogue to be truncated or missing entirely. These same lines of
dialogue were intact in the Rhino VHS version, so I know they're part of
the film.
In the Rhino version, for instance, Dr. Alton says, "Yes, but I wonder
if it warranted the death penalty it received. I don't think so." In
the DVD, he merely says, "Yes, but I wonder if it warranted the death
penalty it received," and then the film cuts to Lyle Talbot. There's a
second or two missing. Then, there's the scene with the two workers at
the smelting plant. In the Rhino version, the scene ends with one of
the workers suddenly talking in a Marilyn Monroe voice, saying something
like, "Yeah. Good night, Joe." In the DVD version, that line is
missing entirely. In a later scene, Dr. Alton explains that Alan has to
learn "the responsibility of a woman in her sex life." On the DVD, the
words "sex life" are skipped. And, sadly, the DVD even garbles that
famous scene in which the narrator tells us that "this rough, tough
individual is wearing satin undies under his uniform." On the DVD, you
can't quite make out the "rough, tough individual" part.
These are just a few examples. I'd proceed with caution before buying
the Wade Williams Collection DVD of "Glen or Glenda." (Unless you get
it as part of the "Worst of Ed Wood" set.) The Rhino version of "Glen
or Glenda" on videocassette has a more complete version of the film,
even though the picture and sound are not as sharp as the DVD.
Speaking of Ed Wood on DVD, please do NOT be fooled into purchasing
Rhino's DVD called "Pretty Models All in a Row." (The DVD cover
features Wood's name and picture very prominently, and the credits have
obviously been doctored to play up Wood's involvement as actor and
director.) The disc's one good feature is that it contains a nice
little documentary called "Look Back in Angora," but this is available
seperately. The feature itself is horrible beyond belief: not
entertaining or enjoyable on any level, just tedious and embarrassing.
It's very difficult to sit through this film. It even fails as smut,
since it's so monstrously unsexy. Not just unsexy, but ANTI-sexy.
Consider yourself warned. "Orgy of the Dead" is much more fun, as long
as you keep your finger poised near the fast forward button. It's the
_one_ movie in which you'll want to fast forward through nudity to get
to dialogue scenes. The dialogue is classic Wood nonsense; the strip
scenes become monotonous. "Pretty Models" is just the monotony minus
the fun. If you want to see the "Plan 9" of soft porn, see "Orgy of the
Dead" and leave "Pretty Models" alone.
--Joe--
dhmac
- Attack of the Giant Leeches
- The Amazing Transparent Man
- The Indestructible Man
- The Giant Gila Monster
...and some others
Rhino could release the MST episodes featuring these Public Domain movies as a
part of their agreement with BBI without worrying about rights issues for the
movies. Instead, we get no new releases at all (I'm not counting re-releases in
a different format, although I am looking forward to the DVDs coming out).
"Adam Tyner" <use...@weirdal.org> wrote in message
news:c9361124.01082...@posting.google.com...
Adam Tyner
but oh well...
The Beast of Yucca Flats (40/174 in the Satellite News poll)
The Corpse Vanishes (105/174)
The Crawling Eye (4/174)
The Painted Hills (162/174)
The Screaming Skull (95/174)
The Slime People (80/174)
Teenagers From Outer Space (20/174)
Tormented (98/174)
I'm too lazy to check to see if any of those episodes have shorts that
might pose some sort of problem. "Teenagers From Outer Space" seems
like a pretty solid choice for an MST3K VHS/DVD release, and I've
always been partial to "The Painted Hills", even if no one else is.
:)
I'm curious why Rhino had any interest in that DVD poll if they're so
blatantly disregarding the results, "Manos" and "Mitchell" aside. To
save anyone the trouble of checking, "I Accuse My Parents" ranked 62
in the poll, with "Red Zone Cuba" at 57. These aren't as ridiculously
low as "The Beginning Of The End" (159 of 174 episodes), but still,
there are episodes Rhino's previously released on VHS that ranked far
above these. "Pod People", "Cavedwellers", "The Sidehackers", and
"Catalina Caper" were previous VHS releases that ranked higher in the
poll than these two titles, and those are four of my favorite episodes
anyway.
When Rhino first started to release MST3K DVDs, I complained a bit
about the inclusion of the un-MSTied versions, preferring to have two
episodes on a single disc to better use space. Although I'd still
prefer two episodes over an un-MSTied version, I have to admit that I
was looking forward to having "Manos" in its pure, original,
terrifying form for some as-yet-undetermined diabolical purpose. I
wouldn't mind the lack of the un-MSTied versions if these discs were
double-features, if the list price were dropped another $5 or so, or
even if there were some assurance that these discs would be released
on a more regular basis.
One possible solution would be for Rhino to create a
rhinohandmade.com-style site to sell MST3K DVDs online. I'm not sure
if the cost of a low-run number of DVDs would be prohibitive, but here
are what seem to me to be some of the advantages:
* Cheap to author -- the show wasn't shot on film, so there's no
pricey telecine process, and there's also no need to do any heavy
audio remixes. No need for special features. Of course, they'd be
appreciated, but wouldn't make or break a sale for me. I'm not sure
what the total turnaround would be, but could it really be more than a
few days at most for materials they have on-hand? I wouldn't think
authoring a disc every couple of months would be an extensive drain on
their current DVD projects.
* Cut out the middleman -- a cliche, I know, but unlike selling the
titles through traditional pipeline, Rhino would keep the majority of
the cash. I'm not sure how much Rhino gets for every $20 disc out
there, but could it be more than a few bucks? In this scenario, Rhino
would grab a pretty hefty portion of the loot, plus they'd almost
certainly charge for shipping and handling on top of that.
* Demographics -- I'd assume a pretty hefty portion of the MST3K
fanbase has Internet access and has few qualms about ordering online.
I'd imagine most of these fans have DVD players or plan to get one
soon. Considering how many DVD discussions there are on ratmm, this
seems like a possibility. I could see somewhere around 2,500 discs
(baseless, unsubstantiated guess) per episode consistently selling
out, though probably not much more than that with a project like this.
I'd love to be proven wrong, of course.
* Consistent sales -- Rhino Handmade's products are really diverse,
but because of that, the average visitor there would probably only be
interested in a couple of discs they offer in a year. I mean, a Devo
fan would snap up the Mothersbaugh/Devo-related discs, but would they
want a limited edition Sonny Bono CD? (Maybe, but that's not my
point.) By offering a similar product to a dedicated fan base on a
regular basis, sales shouldn't fluctuate _wildly_ from month to month.
* Marketing the discs would be cheap -- spread the word to a couple of
sites and within a few days, pretty much everyone knows about it.
Plus, slap a promo for the site in front of the features on other
Rhino releases (or maybe inserting a card advertising the site with
the liner notes on other releases) to help build interest.
* A lot of these discs wouldn't end up on shelves anyway -- I'd assume
most retailers aren't too keen on stocking large numbers of TV
releases. I mean, when I look at how many Star Trek discs there are
at Best Buy and then think of how many TV shows there have been
throughout the history of the medium... Rhino would probably have a
difficult time having a retailer stock more than, say, 5 MST3K titles
at any given time. My local Best Buy just recently started carrying
all 4 of the current Rhino discs at once, and it took me months to
find either of the last two releases on store shelves. (I ordered
mine online, but I always browse the horror/sci-fi aisles in their
entirety. Whatever.) By setting up a Rhino Handmade-style shop
online, Rhino can at least make a little money with product that would
go otherwise unreleased.
* Cheap site -- no need to outsource the site to some other company,
hire 20 people, and invest millions of dollars. Rhino already has the
software, technology, and experience to sell product online, and the
site could get away with being barebones and
almost-entirely-featureless.
* If it's a success, Rhino could use the same technology to distribute
other shows they have. One disc with a couple of VR-5 episodes would
probably bring in decent numbers in retail, but the whole series?
This sort of site would be perfect for cult series like that, which
Rhino has plenty of.
* Helps gauge interest in certain titles -- if a title sells a large
number of copies very quickly on this site, it might help Rhino
determine what might do well in retail.
A couple of figures pulled out of the air with little to no basis in
reality -- if Rhino were to release two titles a month with each
limited to 2,500 copies at $20 (consider s&h separate), that'd be $1.2
million a year. Even if duplication costs are high for a low run,
they'd _still_ be making a decent profit. Sure, these are paltry
numbers, but how much are they making on an individual MST3K disc as
it is after all the costs have been subtracted? The advantage of
doing everything themselves instead of spreading the money out to
distributors, retailers, etc. would almost certainly offset the
additional production costs.
Disadvantages? Higher duplication costs. Plus, a
rhinohandmade.com-style site gives people the option of choosing, and
less-desired titles wouldn't sell nearly as well. Even limited to
2,500 copies, although I think most titles would eventually sell out,
it might take a while to get to that point.
Possibly more potentially successful would be a subscription service.
Say, $25 a month and you get a different disc delivered to your door
every other month. That way, Rhino could intersperse some of the less
popular titles and they'd have a captive audience. :-) I'd prefer a
Rhino Handmade site to just have the option of choosing what I'd get,
but I'd be a part if either came to be.
Of course, even all of that assumes that some new contract is
negotiated with BBI or whatever. Is Rhino limited to 25 DVD releases
as well?
-Adam
"dhmac" <dhma...@altavista.com> wrote in message news:<9mk74f$ln1$1...@slb4.atl.mindspring.net>...
Stephen Cooke
On 30 Aug 2001, Joe Blevins wrote:
> Cool list! Thanks!
>
> I notice that several of these titles were released by the Wade Williams
> Collection. They also handle all the Ed Wood movies. Their DVD of
> "Plan 9" is very well done, and I was satisfied with their DVDs of
> "Bride of the Monster" and "Jailbait." "Glen or Glenda," however, had
> some problems. At first, I was glad to see that the picture and sound
> quality seemed to be better than the VHS version released by Rhino a few
> years ago. (Rhino's version featured some loud, distracting audio
> distortion at various points, and VHS quality isn't that hot to begin
> with.) However, the Wade Williams Collection DVD has some MAJOR flaws.
Some of the film collectors on one of my other newsgroups (Yes, I admit
it, I've been seeing other newsgroups. Can you ever forgive me?) have some
rather nasty things to say about Mr. Williams, one of the more
unscrupulous operators in the film biz. And thanks to him we have a
choppy, hard-to-watch DVD of the noir classic Detour, which will prevent
anyone from releasing a properly restored version for some time to come.
Not all of his discs are bad (Kronos is a hoot, and in relatively decent
shape), but you have to do some research before buying any of them.
swac
But he's no Raymond Rohauer...
Joe Blevins
Stephen Cooke wrote:
>
> On 30 Aug 2001, Joe Blevins wrote:
>
<snip stuff regarding quality of Wade Williams Collection DVDs>
> Not all of his discs are bad (Kronos is a hoot, and in relatively decent
> shape), but you have to do some research before buying any of them.
I second that. Wade Williams has the rights to a *lot* of well-known
"b" movies and has released many of them on DVD. Wade Williams DVDs are
quite common to find in stores, and there are some tempting titles. But
I'd read some reviews (like those on Amazon.com) and maybe ask around on
Usenet before actually *purchasing* any of them.
And referencing a previous thread, if you're going to buy the original
"Night of the Living Dead" on DVD, don't get the Anchor Bay version.
It's a ripoff. The Elite version is the one you want.
Getting a little further afield here, I notice that Roger Corman's
movies are coming out pretty regularly on DVD... sometimes as rather
deluxe editions ("Battle Beyond the Stars"), sometimes with no frills
whatsoever. I'm still looking for a halfway decent DVD of the original
1960 "Little Shop of Horrors." (From the same people who made "The
Undead" and "Gunslinger.") The version released by the Platinum Disc
Corporation is cheap and widely available, but it's very very low
quality, obviously mastered from a videotape -- complete with glitches.
Even at five or six bucks, it's a waste of money. "LSOH" is also
available on a DVD called "Jack Nicholson Double Feature" paired with
"The Raven." The quality here is marginally better (no obvious
glitches), but there are no extras on the disc either.
Speaking of Corman, whatever happened to the DVD of "Rock & Roll High
School"?
--Joe--
Stephen Cooke
On 30 Aug 2001, Joe Blevins wrote:
> I second that. Wade Williams has the rights to a *lot* of well-known
> "b" movies and has released many of them on DVD. Wade Williams DVDs are
> quite common to find in stores, and there are some tempting titles. But
> I'd read some reviews (like those on Amazon.com) and maybe ask around on
> Usenet before actually *purchasing* any of them.
His Detour disc is especially distressing, because there was a deluxe
restoration done on this film recently (UCLA? Library of Congress? One of
those places) but you'd be a fool to put out a restored version since
Williams' version would just confuse people and cut into your already
admittedly meagre sales. But if you're looking for a copy of Teenage
Monster, go ahead, fill yer boots.
> And referencing a previous thread, if you're going to buy the original
> "Night of the Living Dead" on DVD, don't get the Anchor Bay version.
> It's a ripoff. The Elite version is the one you want.
Apparently there's also a Region 0 import of this that's not bad, but it
doesn't have the extras of the Elite version, which is also a deluxe
digital restoration.
> Even at five or six bucks, it's a waste of money. "LSOH" is also
> available on a DVD called "Jack Nicholson Double Feature" paired with
> "The Raven." The quality here is marginally better (no obvious
> glitches), but there are no extras on the disc either.
Both of those films have been treated abominally on home video, and DVD is
no different. It's hard to justify doing proper restored transfers when so
many public domain copies fill the bargain bins, from so many different
companies.
By the same token, I'd like to get the restored copies of westerns The
Shooting and Ride In The Whirlwind, with Nicholson and directed by Monte
Hellman, but they're kind of expensive, and might have been better served
by placing both films on one double feature disc.
> Speaking of Corman, whatever happened to the DVD of "Rock & Roll High
> School"?
I got my copy new for $10...
swac
It should still be available as either a Lumivision title (the company
went under, but copies are still floating about) or a Slingshot title
(they bought the Lumivision catalog and then went under.)
Lugosi
[--]
> "LSOH" is also
> available on a DVD called "Jack Nicholson Double Feature" paired with
> "The Raven."
Nitpick: that should be "paired with The Terror."
/John
http://www.darkhop.com/
remove "rarely"
Joe Blevins
Lugosi wrote:
>
> Joe Blevins wrote:
>
> [--]
> > "LSOH" is also
> > available on a DVD called "Jack Nicholson Double Feature" paired with
> > "The Raven."
>
> Nitpick: that should be "paired with The Terror."
>
Oops. You're right. What can I say... it was late when I typed that
message, and my brain was not functioning properly. Either way, the
disc is of mediocre quality. Stephen Cooke summarized the problem
exactly: when films fall into the public domain, there are lots of poor
quality copies flooding the market, so there's no apparent need to do a
decent transfer. Low-quality VHS tapes of public domain movies have
been filling bargain bins for years, and now the same thing is happening
on DVD. These items aren't difficult to spot. Extremely low prices and
generic-looking artwork are some dead giveaways. And it's never a good
sign when the sleeve overemphasizes the participation of a supporting
actor who went on to be famous (i.e. Jack Nicholson, who has one
memorable scene in "LSOH" but is only a minor supporting character in
the film). But sometimes, these "el cheapo" tapes and DVDs are the only
way to get a copy of a certain film.
If you want the original "Little Shop of Horrors" on DVD, I guess the
"Jack Nicholson Double Feature" disc is the way to go, even though the
sound quality leaves a bit to be desired. The Platinum Disc version is
awful (despite its "special edition" label). Don't waste your money.
--Joe--
Stephen Cooke
Here's the problem with Public Domain discs: some of them are acceptable
quality, and a very few are even very good. God only knows where their
transfers come from, but occasionally you can find a gem. For example,
Platinum has put out some handsome-looking collections of Little Rascals
and Three Stooges shorts that you can pick up for under $10 at Wal-Mart or
wherever that look as good as anything from the major studios. However,
Platinum has also issued a My Man Godfrey that is grainy and washed-out,
obviously mastered from a dupe 16mm print that has had its artifacts
multiplied by the digital pixel format that is DVD. Unless you have
top-notch materials to work with from the beginning, DVD will just amplify
the flaws in your source.
However, the Platinum My Man Godfrey is miles ahead of the Madacy My Man
Godfrey, which looks even worse, and is even missing a couple of minutes
of key footage! Now, Criterion has gone and issued a deluxe, remastered My
Man Godfrey with outtakes and other extras, but it would cost me roughly
$50 to purchase it in Canada. But it's tempting...
Another example is Front Row Entertainment. Front Row has issued a
widescreen DVD of the '60s action classic Zulu that is widescreen and of
decent visual quality. It's source is either a cable TV broadcast or the
old, out-of-print Criterion laserdisc (this is most likely). And it's
available for around $7.99! It'd be hard to compete with that (and in fact
there are several different Zulu discs out there, of varying visual
quality) and you might be foolish to try. The Front Row disc is easily
worth what I paid for it, but I might have paid twice as much for a nicely
refurbished edition, but even if one is done, I might not shell out for it
a second time.
And to further muddy the waters, Front Row has issued DVDs of old Jackie
Chan movies that look abominable. So you can't go by a brand name to guide
you through the wacky world of PD movies on DVD. Your best bet is to ask
on alt.video.dvd and try and find others who have seen these discs and
base your decisions on their opinions.
Stephen