Let me ask y’all a question: Have you ever had an itchin’ to read a book, watch a movie, or a play a video game that you haven’t seen in years or decades, but can’t find them anymore? There’s a really good reason for that: It’s out of print. Now, why would something go out of print in the first place? Simply put: A complete lack of demand. A lack of demand leads to less and less copies of something being made. Once it gets to the point where that particular item either doesn’t make any money more or at the very least, not enough to warrant continuing to produce said product, it gets pulled and put on a shelf somewhere in the back or some warehouse. It happens all the time. Especially before the digital age. For movie fans, finding a specific title can be pretty tough. During the 80s and 90s, there were tons of movies being made, but some of the low-budget indie flicks ended up getting lost in the shuffle, because the marketing wasn’t as good or the films were too similar to whatever else was playing at the time. For some collectors, having some of these titles is rarely anything more than having bragging rights about having a movie that’s no longer available. I get it, I’ve got a few of them myself. A lot of the movies that ended up going out of print were usually low-budget B-movie sci-fi/horror films that most people turned a blind eye to. Over the last decade or so, however, we’ve seen DVD/Blu-Ray distribution companies find these “missing” titles and remaster them for modern collectors. Some of these Blu-Ray sets include a huge amount of extra features including new interviews with cast and crew members, as well as other forms of trivia and marketing materials. For this post, I’m going to go over a number of movies that have either been out of print or notoriously difficult, at least here in the United States.
Blue Monkey(Insect)
This one is actually has a very recent Blu-Ray release, courtesy of Dark Force Entertainment and Code Red DVD. I gave the film an 8/10 in my review, which you can reach by clicking the reviews tab above. The movie is about a hospital that is under siege by a giant bug that is also spreading a deadly disease all over the place. I referred to the film as an Aliens rip-off, but it’s also an homage to the giant bug movies of the 50s, just with more gore. This one was notoriously hard to find, because it was only available on VHS from the 80s and once it stopped selling, it disappeared. I ended up getting a bootleg DVD copy about two years ago, but the picture quality was awful. They had ripped their VHS copy and put it onto a DVD. This was from an online store that specialized in dealing with out-of-print movies. I found out a couple of weeks ago that the movie was going to show up on Blu-Ray, so I had to have it. The picture and sound quality of the film is phenomenal. It’s the best the movie has looked in years. Unfortunately, the only extra feature that the disc had was the film’s trailer. I get the feeling that they had problems finding the people involved with the film and having them talk about it. The film’s lead, Steve Railsback had been reported as regretting being a part of the movie. Was it worth the 30 bucks I paid for it on Amazon? In terms of picture and sound quality, yeah. I just wish the disc offered more than just a trailer.
Galaxy of Terror
When it comes to B-movies, Roger Corman is king. Sure, the late Larry Cohen had a few movies to his name, but nobody could match Mr. Corman in terms of quantity. This guy was putting out movies left and right including Death Race 2000 and Humanoids from the Deep. The movie was about a group of space explorers as they intercept a signal coming from a mysterious planet and they go to explore it. What? An Alien rip-off? Say it ain’t so! #sarcasm. Galaxy of Terror was notorious for a lot of different reasons, including being a blatant rip-off of Ridley Scott’s sci-fi/horror masterpiece. There’s no getting around. The movie featured early performances from genre favorites like Robert Englund and the late, great Sid Haig. This was also one of the first movies that legendary director James Cameron had worked on as a production designer. Really, though, the big reason why this movie is infamous is because of the “worm scene” in which a worm gets a little too cozy with Taaffe O’Connell’s character. Roger Corman was infamous for putting his female characters in extremely compromising positions and situations. This movie was out-of-print until Shout! Factory’s Scream Factory division got a hold of the rights and put out a pretty decent collector’s edition with a lot of extra features. It’s a damned goofy-ass movie that people tend to refer to when it comes to notorious movies.
DeepStar Six
Okay, this one wasn’t as hard to find as the previous two films, as DeepStar Six actually got a DVD release back in 2001 when the format was still new. But when Artisan Entertainment got sold to LionsGate Entertainment, a lot of films released under Artisan got left behind. DeepStar Six was one of those movies. The film was about a crew of underwater scientists who inadvertently unleash a giant creature at the bottom of the ocean. It was a pretty solid late 80s creature feature, and while it was the first of several similar movies, it got pushed aside when James Cameron’s The Abyss was released in 1989. I had the movie on VHS for years and then I bought a used copy of the DVD at GameStop when they sold used DVDs. DeepStar Six finally got a proper home video release on Blu-Ray last year from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. Not only was the video improved, but so was the sound. We also got a number of fantastic features including two commentaries from the film-makers as well as interviews from the film’s two leads. It was a film that was a lot better than it had any right to be. Great acting, decent set and creature designs, and spooky music encompass a solid monster movie.
Drive(1997)
It’s not very often that an over-looked low-budget indie flick can end up being one of the best action movies ever made, especially during the late 90s. Drive(not to be confused with the Ryan Gosling movie of the same name)was a huge surprise, especially to fans of Jackie Chan-style kung fu movies. The film is about a renegade Chinese agent, Toby, who is on the run from his former employers. He has a bio chip in his chest that allows him to be faster and stronger than anybody else. It’s a simple enough setup, but what really sets this movie apart from everything else is not just the incredible fight scenes. Oh no, the chemistry between Mark Dacascos’ Toby Wong and Kadeem Hardison’s Malik Brody is hilarious. When they meet up with the late Brittany Murphy’s character, things really get out of control and end in absolutely amazing finale. Drive is one of the best movies of its kind, and the fact that there hasn’t been a proper DVD/Blu-Release yet is shocking. Good news: MVD Rewind will be releasing a collector’s edition of the film in May that includes an extended director’s cut of the film as well as the US “theatrical” cut of the film. It’s about damn time.
These are just a small handful of movies that I’m glad are getting a second chance at being in people’s collections. I think it’s amazing that some of these companies like Shout! Factory and Kino Lorber are seeing the value of these “forgotten” films and are re-releasing them to potentially new audiences that may have never seen them before. But these are also a way of saying: “We appreciate what these movies mean to you.” That’s why we are seeing releases with a lot of care and effort put into them. While Blue Monkey deserves a little bit more, it’s still leagues beyond what we had before. Now, with digital media and streaming platforms, preserving these films for future generations is easier than ever. Yeah, not every film can be a Star Wars or a Lawrence of Arabia. That much is clear, but some of these movies were made just for the sake of being fun and goofy, and there is nothing wrong with that, but giving these films a second chance is an appreciation of the art form. It really is, regardless of how silly it gets. These movies are some of the reasons why I love film.