You want to hear something funny? I’ve spent A LOT of time on this blog talking about movies, how they look, the acting, the music, and all sorts of stuff. I’ve also talked about remakes, sequels, visual effects, fight scenes and nearly every element that makes up a movie. I’ve even gone into a little bit of detail about how the industry works in terms of film financing. But the one thing that I’ve never really discussed was distributors. These aren’t necessarily the folks that MAKE the movies, but they tend to hold the distribution rights to certain movies. Distributors get to determine the marketing and where these movies get shown, whether it’s on the big or small screen. Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony, Disney. These are distributors, even though sometimes they can also double as production studios. But I want to get specific about home video distributors. Sometimes, the main distributors are the ones that release the home video editions of movies. But for much older, lesser known movies, the distribution rights are less than clear as to who truly owns them. But ones those rights get sorted out, sometimes the main distributors aren’t very interested in re-visiting their more…obscure entries.
Some of these obscure movies have been picked up by third-party companies. While there may not be enough of a demand for these movies that would somebody like Universal revisit them, they do allow these other companies to do so. They would get the rights, and work on cleaning up the film visually to make it more appealing to Blu-Ray and DVD collectors like myself. What I want to do tonight is discuss some of these distributor companies who specialize in finding obscure movies and making them available again to the public. For each company, I’m going to highlight two, maybe three films that best represent how these companies approach their projects.
Arrow Video
Arrow Video is a subsidiary of British independent distributor Arrow Films. These guys specialize in art house, horror, and classic films. Arrow Video specifically encapsulates the spirit of the “video nasties” era of the 1980s. The movies released under this label are generally uncut and uncensored. These guys would issue new artwork and give films a new remastered look and a choice between the original audio track and a new 5.1 surround sound track. What makes these releases so interesting and special are the features. Some of them feature brand-new interviews with cast and crew(provided that they’re still alive), as well as retrospective looks at how the film was made and received. The quality of these features is pretty high. I’ve got a few that I really like:
1. Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box
Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box is one of Arrow Video’s best releases. It includes the first three movies that have been remastered and look better than ever, but the features included are simply too numerous to reveal here. The artwork is extraordinary and you have some booklets included that have further information on the making of these horror movies. It’s a fantastic set. If you’re a huge fan of Hellraiser, this one is definitely for you. I love the hell out of it.
2. Tremors
Tremors is a classic monster movie from 1990. It’s just so much fun. Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward are simply perfect in their roles as Val and Earl. The small town of Perfection comes under attack from giant man-eating worms and these two bozos have to figure out how to save the townsfolk and their own skins. Really, what more can I say about a film so memorable? Tremors has had multiple home video releases in the past. In fact, this was the movie that really started the VHS rental craze. I’m not kidding. But this is the BEST release that the film has gotten. New interviews with Michael Gross(Burt Gummer), retrospectives on the whole franchise and what it means to people. New commentaries and a brand new feature called Pardon My French! that shows the difference between the theatrical version and the televised version. Specifically, the use of certain swear-words. It’s quite amusing, really. It’s definitely a must-own for collectors.
Shout! Factory
Up next is Shout! Factory. These guys have agreements with most of the major movie studios to produce and re-release older films. One of the subsidiaries of Shout! is Scream Factory, which is specifically geared towards horror movies. Of the distributors on this list, Shout! is one of the more hit-and-miss companies. Their recent release Brotherhood of the Wolf is a perfect example of one of their misses. The movie doesn’t look all that great and there were translation issues with the English subtitles. It was such an issue that Shout! offered to provide a free replacement disc for the film itself for a limited time while they fixed the issue. That said, they’ve got more hits than misses, but when they miss, they miss pretty badly. But, there a few movies from these guys that are beyond outstanding:
1. Army of Darkness
While the Evil Dead movies are outstanding horror movies in their own rights, the second movie was more comedic. The third film, Army of Darkness just fully embraces it’s lunacy. It’s basically a live-action cartoon, and it’s just awesome. Again, it’s one of those movies that’s gotten MULTIPLE releases, with multiple versions of the film. Well, for this Collector’s Set, we have no less than FOUR versions of the film. We have the main theatrical version, the director’s cut, the international cut, and the televised version. The televised version is hilarious for all the wrong reason, because of the censorship. It’s glorious. The special features include a new feature-length documentary on the making of the film which includes interviews with Bruce Campbell, and some other members of the cast as well as the visual effects gurus at KNB Effects Group. It’s an incredibly strong release from Shout! Factory that deserves a place in ANYBODY’S collection.
2. Prophecy(1979)
Talk about a surprise release for Shout!. Prophecy is one of those monster movies that I grew up watching. This was one of the few that actually gave me nightmares as a kid. Growing, I realized how goofy the mutated bear was, yet the film still impressed me with it’s environmental message. There weren’t a lot of horror movies at the time that did that. But this is a solid release with a better looking and sound film, but it’s the interviews with Talia Shire and Robert Foxworth that got my attention. But we also got interviews with the visual effects artists and one of the guys that played the bear. Unique perspectives all around, but I also dug the original radio advertisements.
Vestron Video
Believe it or not, Vestron Video is not a new name. Oh, no. The name has been around since 1981. It was bought out by Live Entertainment in 1991, but would eventually end up with Lionsgate Entertainment. Lionsgate would use Vestron Video as a new re-release brand for older movies, like Shout! and Arrow. This label has some of the more interesting horror movies that have been released. The list of movies under this brand comes to 23 with another being released next January. So, yeah, it doesn’t have the largest library, but the movies that it does have are pretty memorable:
1.Wishmaster Collection
I have to say that the Vestron Video Collector’s Series are mostly fantastic. The Wishmaster collection is one of my favorites. The original film with Andrew Divoff as the villainous Djinn is one of the most iconic horror movie villains. Yet, the original film also featured performances from Tony Todd, Robert Englund, Ted Raimi, and the legendary Kane Hodder. In a way, Wishmaster was kind of a celebration of horror with these actors. Robert Englund is known for Freddy Krueger, Tony Todd was Candyman, and Kane Hodder was Jason Vorhees. I’ll be honest with you, only the first two movies are really worth watching. The last two are pretty pitiful in terms of production and gore, and Andrew Divoff didn’t return for 3 and 4. Yet, it is the original film that gets the most attention in this set. As usual, we have a newly remastered film with new audio tracks, but we’ve also got new interviews with Andrew Divoff and Tammy Lauren. It’s another outstanding set of features for a film that most horror fanatics have seemed to have forgotten.
2. Warlock Collection
The original Warlock from 1990 was a very interesting movie. It was more of a fantasy film than outright horror, even though, those elements were definitely present. But the real outstanding aspect of the film was the performances from Julian Sands as the Warlock and Richard E. Grant as Redferne in one of the few hero roles that he has. What’s funny is that the roles were supposed to be reversed with Sands being the good guy, but the film-makers decided to have Sands play the villain, and the rest is history. Yeah, some of the visual effects are wonky, but it’s still a great time. Like Wishmaster, the first Warlock gets the attention with new interviews with Julian Sands and the director. This set also includes Warlock: The Armageddon, the movie that’s responsible for me getting into horror and Warlock III: The End of Innocence, a direct-to-video film with Bruce Payne as the Warlock. It’s definitely not as good as the first two movies. Again, Vestron knocks it out of the park with this one.
MVD Entertainment Group/MVD Rewind
MVD is another distribution group, but their Rewind Collection is…unique. Let’s be real for a moment here. Not every movie that’s been made deserves to be re-released. Some of the stuff that Shout! and Vestron have put out don’t strike me as movies that should be re-released or at least better than what the movie deserves. MVD Rewind’s collection is only slightly larger than Vestron Video’s. The quality with these movies is…interesting to say the least.
1.Double Dragon
Honestly, I can’t believe that I’m saying this. MVD Rewind’s release of Double Dragon is one of the best Blu-Ray releases I’ve seen a long time, and that’s incredibly surprising given the quality of this movie. Double Dragon is a VERY bad movie and very ill-conceived. Yet, the film ended up getting a really solid remastering and the special features are really good. It’s got interviews with Mark Dacascos and Scott Wolf in a brand-new documentary about the making of the movie. There’s also storyboards and marketing galleries including trailers. The disc also has the pilot episode of the Double Dragon animated show. The special features are SO much better than what this movie deserves, yet the film found its way into my collection. Then again, I do have a penchant for bad movies, so I really shouldn’t be talking.
2. Drive
FINALLY! A movie that’s TRULY deserving of a release like this. Okay, maybe not, but Drive is one of the best martial arts movies to come out of 1997, despite it being a direct-to-video release. It stars Mark Dacascos as a rogue Chinese agent on the run from his organization, but kidnaps down-on-his-luck barfly, Malik and has him drive to Los Angeles. The action in this movie is second-to-none. Not only do Mark Dacascos and Kadeem Hardison have outstanding chemistry, but the late Brittany Murphy has an appearance as a slightly unhinged hotel clerk. It’s wild. This particular release is incredible. Why? Because this release features the director’s cut of the film which has 15 more minutes put back in, and a completely different soundtrack. The extra footage is fantastic as it fleshes out Toby’s motivations for doing what he’s doing and why. It looks great and it sounds great. Like most of the films that I’ve mentioned, the special features for Drive really do shine. For instance, the disc also includes the “theatrical” cut of the film in a slightly altered aspect ratio. There’s a great commentary track with director Steve Wang, fight choreographer Koichi Sakamoto, and actors Mark Dacascos and Kadeem Hardison. There’s also an interview gallery with the cast and crew. It’s not the most extensive disc, but for a movie of this caliber, it’s probably the best we’ll ever get.
Well, folks: That’s it. Those are some of the retro movie distributors that supply us collectors with hard-to-find movies. I’m absolutely grateful to them for doing that. As a collector, helping to preserve these movies is kind of a service. I hope you all have had as much fun checking these companies out as I have. Also, if you’re looking to start collecting, be aware that with companies like Shout! Some of their movies aren’t necessarily going to stay available. My suggestion is this: If you see a movie you want being released by any of these companies, snag it while you can, because there’s no guarantee that it’ll stay in print again. Hope y’all had a great weekend and I will talk to you next time. This is Major Tom, signing off.