Freaks (1932) on DVD? (1 Viewer)

[Mark Schmitt]

Will it or has it been released? Can't seem to find much info on it. Amazon has it listed as not yet released with an uncertain release date. I seem to remember reading something about a Region 1 DVD release somewhere but it might have been for Region 2. Does anybody know anything?

 

[Larry Schneider]

About a year ago this was announced by a small company. Close to street date it was cancelled, and there's been nothing heard since. Possibly they didn't have the rights to it.

 

[Jay E]

Freaks was an MGM release so the rights are owned by Warner now. The company that was going to put this out did not have the right to release it on DVD.
I'm hoping that Warner will release some of their 1930's horror films such as Freaks, Doctor X, Mad Love, Devil Doll, Mark of the Vampire, The Mask of Fu Manchu, Mystery of the Wax Museum, The Walking Dead...ahhhhh...who am I kidding.

 

[Tom B. Stones]

Yes, this is out in R2 (Britain, to be precise).
I have not seen it, but a review is to be found here: http://www.splatterhouse.net/reviews/e-f/freaks.htm.
Hope this helps.

 

[Jay E]

Tom

The region 2 release is no longer available for sale. I guess the same rights issue also holds for the U.K.

 

[Brook K]

Given Warner's current rate of release of older catalog titles, we should be seeing this around 2015.

 

[Julie K]

There was a R2 disc available for a while. Unfortunately, that title seemed to have some problems and many discs, including the one I got, was labeled "Freaks" but was in reality a Mannheim Steamroller DVD demo.

Freaky.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

I had the same Mannheim Steamroller issue. By the time I got it and contacted Blackstar, it had been pulled from the market....I suspect that the issuer didn't really have the rights there either. Warner is such a pain in the ass...I may not get this on disc till I'm far too old to enjoy it.

 

[Chris Xolotl]

R2 DVD was, as said above, recently deleted. I almost had my mitts on it but the retailer said I was a day late and a dollar short.

 

[Garrett Lundy]

So then.. since nobody seems to have Region 1 DVD rights to Freaks, or just doesn't want to release it. What are the chances we could petition the A-Number-One horror movie restorers Anchor Bay into giving this film the Evil Dead treatment? After them I say we pester The Criterion Company about it..Look what the did for Haxan.

 

[Damin J Toell]

So then.. since nobody seems to have Region 1 DVD rights to Freaks

it's been stated quite clearly that Warner has the rights. the U.S. copyright transferred (along with many other films) from MGM to Warner in 1999.
DJ

 

[Jay E]

Garrett

Warner owns the rights to this film. If you want to petition anyone, petition Warner. Anchor Bay will not be able to release this DVD, Warner will never allow them to.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Freaks probably needs restoration.

It's been censored in the past and it is also 70 years old. Notice how most pre-1940 films need some sort of restoration or remastering to be presentable on DVD?

I hope WB plans to remaster this title (not unlike 80% of their catalog) before releasing to DVD. The newest masters of these non-remastered films can be seen on TCM and you can tell how much work needs to be put into these titles.

After all...do we really need DVD's like Madacy's "Metropolis" ?

 

[Mark Schmitt]

Thanks for the news.

Warner Brothers. Wonderful. (Note sarcastic tone)

I haven't seen the film yet. I might have to watch it on TV or the (gasp) VHS rather than waiting eons for WB to release it with a restoration.

 

[SteveGon]

Freaks is another of my most-wanted-on-dvd titles. Man, I wish Warner would let Anchor Bay or Criterion have it - I could think of a zillion cool extras for a Freaks dvd release...

 

[Larry Schneider]

There is a 1993 laserdisc from MGM that's pretty good - it includes the happy ending.

 

[Jeff_HR]

I have the same LD. Waiting for WB to release this title will be an exercise in frustration.

 

[Bob_L]

I'm hoping that Warner will release some of their 1930's horror films such as Freaks, Doctor X, Mad Love, Devil Doll, Mark of the Vampire, The Mask of Fu Manchu, Mystery of the Wax Museum

Got 'em all, Jay, on LaserDisc. And you're absolutely right, you DO want them. (It's nice to be reminded once in a while why I keep my "antiquated" LD collections. Thanks, Jay.) It would be supremely cool, however, if they came out in super DVD collector editions....

The Warner and MGM horror films from this period are INCREDIBLE. Brilliantly atmospheric, eerie, weird even by some modern standards, and quite unlike the horror product Universal was putting out.

 

[Patrick McCart]

I'd like to add that WB should make a "box set" with all of Tod Browning's MGM films (The Unknown, The Unholy Three, The Devil-Doll, Freaks, and Mark of the Vampire).

WB really should make "double feature" releases (like New Line's John Waters double-features and Universal's double-features)

A Tod Browning collection would take up barely 2 DVD-9's.

 

[Mark Schmitt]

The Warner and MGM horror films from this period are INCREDIBLE. Brilliantly atmospheric, eerie, weird even by some modern standards, and quite unlike the horror product Universal was putting out.

Oh man, now I want to see this even more, but I would love it if the first time would be on a DVD with full restoration. Not gonna hold my breath. I wish I had a LD player. I probably would have seen this a long time ago.
Nobody give anything away in this thread, please. The only thing I know about it is the pinheads "One of us. One of us. Gooble-gobble, gooble-gobble" from various parodies. Other than it's about a freak show and they used real "freaks" as actors.
I'm trying to convince a co-worker to buy a DVD player and he tells me this film "will never be out". He thinks it's too obscure, although he loved it. I'd like to prove him wrong.
What's up with WB?! To busy putting out crap! (spoken in a cranky old man voice)