Winston T. Boogie
Senior HTF Member
So, as far as I'm concerned this was a great year of blu-ray releases. Lots of great catalog titles from companies like Twilight Time, Shout Factory and Kino. We got a lot of westerns on blu-ray in 2014 which is always something I look forward to as well as many horror titles which seem to always be solid sellers.
I'd like to talk about some of the releases from 2014 I picked up that I thought were just tremendous efforts by the companies that put them out and made collecting blu-rays so much fun in 2014. I also hope that people participate in this thread and list their favorite releases from 2014.
I will start with two huge collectors editions that came out this year, one that got a lot of discussion here and one that I can't recall seeing any mention of here. Both of these films were long sought after by collectors and film buffs and the companies that released them out seemed to really put in fantastic efforts with a great deal of care in putting these packages together. These are both truly "collectors editions" that surpass the work of other blu-ray releases and I think should sit on your shelf next to past releases that really were amazing like the Blade Runner set that included every possible version of the film.
So here we go:
First up and a release I would certainly call one to consider for best blu-ray of the year Mondo Vision's box set of Andrzej Zulawski's Possession.
Coming in a gorgeous velvet slipcover that holds the inner case that contains the blu-ray and a compact disc of the soundtrack as well as a beautiful book and a slew of other goodies the attention to detail here is just amazing. Limited to 2000 copies I can only say that 2000 people are going to be thrilled to have this set. This quite honestly is the most gorgeous blu-ray package I own and you could pretty much display it as a work of art. I don't really recall anybody discussing this release here and perhaps that was due to the hefty price tag of this set leading to not many people here owning it. Also I'm not sure there was much promotion of the fact that this was being released so that may also have impacted how many people have picked this up and as far as I know plenty of copies remain available. The film itself is also probably not for everyone but I would say fans of the work of David Cronenberg, particularly something like Videodrome, would enjoy this film immensely. The transfer is spectacular and I doubt many people have ever seen the film in the quality we get here so not only is the packaging beautiful but so is what is inside it. For those that don't want to spring for the big limited edition set Mondo Vision has also released the film in a package that just includes the blu-ray that is included with this set. Don't hesitate to pick this up if you have any interest as you will not be disappointed.
The next release I'll mention is Shout/Scream Factory's release of the long sought after director's cut of Clive Barker's Night Breed. Which again came in a special limited edition box set with a hefty price tag. I do think the limited edition was well worth getting containing both the newly minted director's cut of the film and the theatrical cut on a separate blu-ray.
These two releases I think really are great examples of what makes collecting blu-rays such a great thing for film buffs. All the extras, multiple versions of a film, director's cuts never before available and a lot of thought and care going into the making of these sets.
I'd like to talk about some of the releases from 2014 I picked up that I thought were just tremendous efforts by the companies that put them out and made collecting blu-rays so much fun in 2014. I also hope that people participate in this thread and list their favorite releases from 2014.
I will start with two huge collectors editions that came out this year, one that got a lot of discussion here and one that I can't recall seeing any mention of here. Both of these films were long sought after by collectors and film buffs and the companies that released them out seemed to really put in fantastic efforts with a great deal of care in putting these packages together. These are both truly "collectors editions" that surpass the work of other blu-ray releases and I think should sit on your shelf next to past releases that really were amazing like the Blade Runner set that included every possible version of the film.
So here we go:
First up and a release I would certainly call one to consider for best blu-ray of the year Mondo Vision's box set of Andrzej Zulawski's Possession.
Coming in a gorgeous velvet slipcover that holds the inner case that contains the blu-ray and a compact disc of the soundtrack as well as a beautiful book and a slew of other goodies the attention to detail here is just amazing. Limited to 2000 copies I can only say that 2000 people are going to be thrilled to have this set. This quite honestly is the most gorgeous blu-ray package I own and you could pretty much display it as a work of art. I don't really recall anybody discussing this release here and perhaps that was due to the hefty price tag of this set leading to not many people here owning it. Also I'm not sure there was much promotion of the fact that this was being released so that may also have impacted how many people have picked this up and as far as I know plenty of copies remain available. The film itself is also probably not for everyone but I would say fans of the work of David Cronenberg, particularly something like Videodrome, would enjoy this film immensely. The transfer is spectacular and I doubt many people have ever seen the film in the quality we get here so not only is the packaging beautiful but so is what is inside it. For those that don't want to spring for the big limited edition set Mondo Vision has also released the film in a package that just includes the blu-ray that is included with this set. Don't hesitate to pick this up if you have any interest as you will not be disappointed.
The next release I'll mention is Shout/Scream Factory's release of the long sought after director's cut of Clive Barker's Night Breed. Which again came in a special limited edition box set with a hefty price tag. I do think the limited edition was well worth getting containing both the newly minted director's cut of the film and the theatrical cut on a separate blu-ray.
These two releases I think really are great examples of what makes collecting blu-rays such a great thing for film buffs. All the extras, multiple versions of a film, director's cuts never before available and a lot of thought and care going into the making of these sets.
