Fox's Disappointing Halloween Promotion (1 Viewer)

[Brandon Gantt]

Tales from the Crypt (1972) just aired on AMC. Does FOX still hold home video right, since they were just the distributor? I agree there are plenty of horror/thriller gems in FOX's catalogue that they could have given us.

The Nanny (1965), The Anniversary (1968), Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1965) could have been marketed as a Bette Davis promotion.

Peter Staddon mention One Million Years B.C. being released with some other Raquel Welch titles later this year. Hopefully this will still happen.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

As far as I can see, this announcement was only for budget line releases, not the whole slate. I wouldn't expect popular titles listing at $9.95 MSRP. Chances are the better catalogue, including 1M Years BC will be announced later, at a $19.95 or higher list.

 

[Nick Graham]

I wasn't aware of My Neighbor Totoro and To Walk With Lions when I first posted. As for Ginger Snaps, I assumed Fox wouldn't sully their reputation by putting their name on Artisan's garbage...but you guys have me thinking I assumed incorrectly.

 

[Walt Riarson]

Terror Train
Tales From The Crypt (1972)
Cemetery Man
The Innocents
Visiting Hours
Bad Dreams
The Entity
Long Weekend
Night of the Comet
Freaked
One Million Years B.C.
The Nanny
The Anniversary
Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte
Alligator People
The Lost World
Curse of the Fly
Devils of Darkness
The Earth Dies Screaming
Hand of Death
The Other
The Mephisto Waltz
The Day Mars Invaded Earth
House of the Damned

That's two years worth of good Halloween promotions, Fox. Come on, do not disappoint us.

 

[Justin_S]

This lineup makes me sick! Where is the ghost/rape classic, THE ENTITY? Where is the fantastic zombie/end of the word gem, NIGHT OF THE COMET, or the truly frightening and underseen nature amok film, LONG WEEKEND?

The above films are among my most wanted on DVD, and so are several of the other horror classics that they are sitting on, such as my favorite zombie film of all time, CEMETERY MAN (aka DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE), the slasher gem, TERROR TRAIN, the brilliant supernatural epic, THE INNOCENTS, the underrated BAD DREAMS and THE OTHER, and the stellar anthology, TALS FROM THE CRYPT.

Fox needs to smarten up and release the classics that I mentioned above, and not the tripe that they are releasing in this line (other than GINGER SNAPS, but I already have the Canadian SE of that gem)!

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

I was praying for an OAR release of "Race With The Devil"-- geez, even Sony put out "The Brotherhood of Satan" last year!

 

[Brian Lawrence]

Most of these titles (If not all) have already been released on dvd by cheapo studios. I highly doubt that Fox are going to waste time giving these new transfers. Look for the same exact discs with different packaging, so it's probably not a case of Fox wasting their efforts on junk but simply a process of slapping the Fox label onto them and trying to blow them out around Halloween time at your local Wally-world bargain rack

Ginger Snaps is the only gem in this pile, It deserves a new widescreen transfer, but I would not get my hopes up.

While the Canadian disc has some nice extras and is in widescreen, the transfer could be better. It's not really bad, but the compression is a bit weak at spots and the overall image has a slight bit of a smeary look to it.

 

[JeffMc]

Oh my God - someone actually knows about LONG WEEKEND?!?! Wow - impressive! An excellent well-made flick with some really unsettling moments - I still have the old TWE video of it because I doubt it will ever see the light of day again. Can't believe someone else would even know of the film - much less ask for it! Good job - you are a REAL horror connoisseur - no amateur! Does Fox actually own this title, though? I would love to see it as well as most of the others mentioned in this thread.

BTW, here's my quickie write-up of LONG WEEKEND last time I sold one on ebay:

RARE and OUT-OF-PRINT video of LONG WEEKEND in it's original clamshell case from long-gone TWE VIDEO. What a find this one is! This 1978 nature-strikes-back thriller from Australia is about a young attractive couple who take a weekend drive to spend the night camping in the country. On the way, they accidentally hit a kangaroo with their car. As they continue to approach their destination, they hear weird animal wailings and are subjected to various inexplicable attacks by various wildlife. Man has fooled around with nature just one too many times... and now nature will take care of man. And someone please tell me what exactly is that scary thing in the water that keeps wailing and crying and eventually comes on shore to terrorize the couple. Yikes! Creepy moments, realistic set-up, excellent characterizations and acting, polished direction, non-exploitative thrills - all add up to a real gem of unusually gripping horror that will get under your skin. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for jaded horror fans! Why was this film relegated to straight-to-video obscurity in the US? Starring John Hargreaves and Briony Behets. Directed by Colin Eggleston. 95 minutes. NOT RATED (R - equivalent).

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Weak batch of 'horror' films, if I may call them that. Boring!

What about The Innocents or The Entity?

I'm sure those two will be out soon - The Innocents is a stone classic, and The Entity has been out in region 2 for about a year now, so surely Fox is do the same in the U.S?

But that batch is very weak. :frowning:

Go, MGM and Warner in August! A horror fan's dream come true if ever their was one!


Gordy

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Disappointing is right. Perhaps they still have a few bigger titles up their sleeve.

Although every single one of those cheeseball horror flicks will inevitably end up on my Netflix queue....

 

[Jim_K]

Yuck. Nothing that interests me in this batch.

I agree that The Innocents would be a deserving Halloween title.

I'd like to know whatever happened to One Million Years B.C., The Fly SE & Predator SE all of which were mentioned as coming out this year in the last Fox chat.

 

[Jay E]

I agree, it's a shame that The Innocents isn't available yet on DVD!

Would love to see many of the other titles mentioned already such as:

The Earth Dies Screaming
The Other
Mephisto Waltz
Curse of the Fly
The Alligator People
The Lost World
Hand of Death
Tales From the Crypt
The Anniversary

And that line-up of Horror films for $9.95 is an embarrassment. People should pick up the Canadian release of Ginger Snaps anyway, it's loaded with extras.

For those with multi-region players, The Nanny is being released in the UK on June 23rd. Fox has already released The Entity and One Million Years B.C. on DVD in the UK.

 

[Matt<>Broon]

If you're region 2 enabled then Medusa have a more than decent release of 'Dellamore Dellamorte' complete with making of and commentary (although you'll need Italian to understand them).

The disc does have English dub & subs for the feature.

Edit : I forgot, USA dwelling fans of this zombie flick (and there are a number, Sandy Petersen claims it's his favourite Zombie Flick of all time) will know it as 'The Cemetary Man'.

 

[Brandon Gantt]

The R2 release of The Nanny from Studio Canal/Warner will be full screen. FOX has a nice widescreen version which, has been making the rounds on TCM, I'd rather have that on DVD.

 

[AlanBrom]

You know, if Fox had licensed THE NANNY, THE ANNIVERSARY and ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. to Anchor Bay like they did with all the other Seven Arts/Hammer titles they owned, those three would be out on DVD by now. But typically, we're still waiting!

 

[Jan Strnad]

To a lot of people, horror is horror is horror. They don't discriminate, and for them, the budget release of a second-tier (or third- or fourth-tier....) movie is perfect.

It's no substitute for the good films, though, and I hope Fox will be releasing some of the better films mentioned in the posts.

I'm dealing with this "all horror is the same" perception right now. I have a very mainstream horror screenplay about to go out (based on my book), and my agent isn't really familiar with horror. We're working together to assemble a list of potential producers to receive the script, but it takes a bit of explaining on points like, why my story isn't really appropriate for a "monster" movie producer like Lou Arkoff (though I'd write a monster movie for him in a heartbeat).

I think that Fox is aware of the differences and is probably holding out their better horror films for non-budget release.

Jan

 

[Simon_Lepine]

Just wanted to add another voice for The Innocents, it's one of my most wanted film on DVD, really a shame that's it's not available yet.

Never understood the appeal of Ginger Snaps, thought it was pretty bad when I saw it. Maybe I should give it another try since many horror fans seem to like it.

 

[Dave Mack]

Hey Jeffrey,

I only mentioned Snoopy Come Home because I sae it in Chuck's sig. under his "Dream DVD's"...
Been WAY too long for that title...

 

[Mark Edward Heuck]

Well, MGM owns NIGHT OF THE COMET, and likely LONG WEEKEND as well (TWE's library was part of their Polygram purchase), and those will likely hit DVD before the prime Fox horror material will.

THE NANNY, THE ANNIVERSARY, and even ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. are wholly-owned Fox productions made with Hammer (Seven Arts had only a minority stake in B.C.), which is why they did not go to Anchor Bay. The other Hammer/Seven Arts collaborations have their homevideo rights owned directly be Hammer, not Fox, which is how the Anchor Bay deal was brokered. (The TV rights are owned by Seven Arts' successor Warner Bros.)

 

[AlanBrom]

Hi agree Gordy and Scott. I'm a diehard horror fan, and I wouldn't touch those titles with a ten foot pole. This is Fox we're talking about, not Simitar. Where's the stuff we really want?