Dan Taylor (of Exploitation Retrospect and The Hungover Gourmet) and I have an ongoing discussion of DVDs that we absolutely need in our collections but as of today, are still not available. This began with a discussion of the Stuart Gordon flick, From Beyond, which was then shortly thereafter announced on DVD. Following that, we pined for Fred Dekker’s other cult favorite, Night of the Creeps, which was also recently announced for an October release. So the question now is: What’s left?
I found my answer. I recently watched Phantasm 2 on FeartNET when it occurred to me that Universal still hadn’t released that movie. You can get all of the Phantasm series on DVD except for part 2, which is my favorite of the series. It’s a strange movie that doesn’t necessarily make much sense but it has some cool ideas and a bunch of killer scenes. Reggie’s four barrel shotgun is still a topic of discussion among horror fans. It’s good stuff, I tell you, and I’ve never understood why this one, of all the Phantasm sequels is not available. Decadent 80’s horror in that Coscarelli style that avoided the trappings of the late 80’s horror franchise while establishing the series as a sequel franchise. Further sequels were full of good ideas, but they never matched up. The cut that circulates on cable is also the theatrical cut and I’d love a good release with the gore left intact.
Yes, I realize that I could buy a Region 2 release from Europe where the movie is widely available, but my all-region player is in the basement and doesn’t like my DVD-R boots. So what movie would you kill for that isn’t available in your particular region?
May 2, 2009 9:17 pm
Rec was for a while. It’s hard to say which one, it seems that everything is available now. Ghoulies go to College that’s a tough one.
May 2, 2009 9:38 pm
I’m still waiting on a theatrical release version of Grindhouse, complete with all the trailers and such. I get pissed every time I remember that it’s not out yet.
Thanks for bringing it up…
May 2, 2009 9:40 pm
Ha! Count on me, man.
I’m pretty sure that the version that streams over Netflix is the complete theatrical version but I, too, would like to own it. I think there’s a Japanese release that has the whole cut but owning it depends on your ability to play Japanese DVDs. One more reason to buy a region free player.
May 2, 2009 10:07 pm
I would love them to re-release Joe Dante’s “Matinee.” I haven’t seen that movie in a dog’s age. I also wouldn’t mind “Battle Royale” finally coming to region 1 DVD.
May 2, 2009 10:10 pm
PHANTASM 2 is an excellent choice Bryan! I’m a huge fan and recently saw it on the big screen during a movie marathon. Still love it and would love to see a nice special edition DVD to replace my VHS. Another flick I’d love to see get a decent release is the proto-ROBOCOP flick THE VINDICATOR, a mid-80s Canuxploitation flick about a scientist who gets turned into a killing machine and is being hunted by the corporation that created him and a bounty hunter named, uh, Hunter played by Pam Grier.
May 2, 2009 10:29 pm
My pick is ‘Rolling Thunder’, which i think you can only get in Spain…for some weird reason. I always heard there was a problem with the rights…But i guess that isn’t the case in Spain.
May 2, 2009 11:54 pm
Blood Diner. I want an official DVD release of Blood Diner, with a feature about Little Jimmy Hitler.
May 3, 2009 12:03 am
Well, it was MONSTER SQUAD, but now that we have that one… I’d say THE PEANUT BUTTER SOLUTION.
May 4, 2009 9:27 am
Vampire Circus. I love this Hammer Film from the 70’s. It can’t seem to get a Stateside release. Someday.
May 5, 2009 1:35 am
The Korean film Resurrection of the Little Match Girl needs an R1. Sun-Woo Jang’s cross from Art film to Sci-fi is bizarre and definitely speaks to a nitch market but I’m in that market and I imported the DVD before it won all those huge awards years ago because I couldn’t wait. 7 years later and I’m still waiting. The part which bugs me is the DVD I have is the R0 and the subs are babelfish quality but it’s the best English subbing around.
A good comparison would be eXistenZ only with a bit more love for video games as a story telling structure. The amusing thing is this one makes Cronenberg’s film seem mainstream and strait forward… so yeah its not a big market. Too much action for art film… too much artistic license and metaphor for sci-fi. Still no R1 DVD.
May 7, 2009 7:05 am
Chris… there was a nice looking widescreen print of ROLLING THUNDER on cable a year or so ago! A ton of stuff that’s not out on DVD (like VIGILANTE FORCE which I just caught) is showing up via OnDemand and Comcast’s new action channel, IMPACT.
July 4, 2009 12:58 pm
I would really love to see Wired available on DVD (although it would appear that I am the only person that actually liked the movie)
Also I would love to see Nothing Lasts Forever officially released (although there are bootleg DVDs around).
Finally I would love to see The Day The Clown Cried out of morbid curiousity
July 4, 2009 5:31 pm
A while back some friends challenged me to find The Day The Clown Cried online when I made the egregious statement that I could get a bootleg of anything. Believe it or not, I found torrents for that movie, which obviously they’re not as I’m told Jerry Lewis has the negatives and won’t ever release them. Ever. But I have to wonder what those torrents actually are since they stop downloading around 80%.