Post your blind DVD purchases here (1 Viewer)

[Louis C]

I am curious what DVDs you have bought based only on word of mouth, an Epstein review, Digital Bits review, IMDB summary, just because, etc.

Were you pleasantly surprised, or did you have pangs of regret after only seeing the first few minutes?

What is your 'batting average' on blind purchases? (good vs. lousy vs. mediocre)

I bought quite a few using an Epstein review, or checking 'DVD Verdict'. And if both sources say it is a good one it almost always is to me.

If it sounds like a movie that I might like, I'll buy it blind, but I always check reviews first. I find Roger Ebert's taste in movies is fairly close to mine, although we part ways on some interesting ones.

Your thoughts here ______

 

[RobD]

My last blind purchase was Suspiria, very very happy with it. Bought it just because it was high up the list of Anchor Bay sale titles. I always pay < £10 on blind buys.

I did grab alot of very cheap laserdisc batch blind buys and about 25% I consider excellent (Rewatch a few times), 50% reasonable (Enjoyable at least once) and 25% poor. Because they are in batches I dont have so much choice of the titles however.

 

[Louis C]

Hmm, will have to read up on Suspira. Guess I should post a few blind buys I made as well.

Amelie - was pretty good, great quality, colors, but kind of a chick flick, still 3 out of 4 stars

Memento - was excellent, a great blind purchase 4 out of 4

Some blinds I've bought but still haven't watched:

Almost Famous
XXX
Signs
About a Boy
Shakespeare in Love

 

[Scott_F_S]

Most recent blind buy for me was Xena Season One. I'm about halfway through it. It's OK, but I'll probably e-Bay it when I'm finished. I'm finding it a little tedious.

Past blind buys that have been fantastic: Boogie Nights, Nurse Betty, The Great Escape, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Sopranos first season, Buffy first season.

Past blind buys that have been not-so-fantastic: Shadow of the Vampire, Royal Tanenbaums, Blow, The Mexican.

 

[Jeremy Allin]

All ratings out of :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

Enemy at the Gates - :star: :star: :star: :star:
Fast and the Furious, The - :star: :star: :star:
Glengarry GlenRoss - :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - :star: :star: :star: :star:
Heat - :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:
Jurassic Park 3 - :star: :star: :star:
Nightmare Before Christmas, The - :star: :star: :star: :star:
Ronin - :star: :star: :star: :star:
Tombstone - :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

I've had really good luck. I'm sure there are a few stinkers not listed here as they are no longer part of my collection. 99% of my blind purchases are because I've heard really good things about a movie - not just because I feel like taking a chance with nothing to base it on.

 

[RobD]

Louis,

IMHO thats a pretty good selection of blind buys (Except XXX )Pretty big titles though so you most likely will do fine blind buying them.

Alot of my blind buys are cult/foreign releases cos theres less reviews and I'm less likely to have seen them before

A couple of other good blind buys I grabbed recently:
Gattaca - R2 Superbit (Excellent Film, Very Good Transfer)
Sex and Lucia - R2 (Solid Transfer, Good Film)
Lengends of the Fall - LD (Before Rons Review)
Dawn Of The Dead - LD (Poor transfer but decent film)
Battle Royale - R3 (Reasonable Transfer and excellent film)

Wasn't so fond of:
Man Bites Dog - R2 (A little too slow paced and obscure)

I plan to blind buy:
Stunt Man (R1 Anchor Bay)
Opera (R1 Anchor Bay LE - Like cheesy 70s film sountracks)
I spit on your Grave (R1 Elite ME)
Tommy (R1 Superbit)
Seven Years in Tibet (R1 Superbit)
Requeium For A Dream (R1 If Cheapest)

 

[Bryan X]

Well, if by 'blind' you mean not having seen the movie previously at the theater or somewhere else, then 99.9% of my purchases are blind buys.

I'd say about 3% I regret buying.

 

[Dave Molinarolo]

Well, if by 'blind' you mean not having seen the movie previously at the theater or somewhere else, then 99.9% of my purchases are blind buys.

I'd say about 3% I regret buying.

Agreed. I'd say most of my "new" movie purchases are blind buys because I rairly go to the theater any more. Why? Because the DVDs are out within 4-6 months after the theatrical release anyway.

However for those DVDs I've bought to replace my VHS tapes, well...you know the answer to that.

But for all my TV series DVDs, I'd say that if going by episode by episode, then 80% of those are blind buys.

 

[Malcolm R]

I seem to buy blind quite a lot more than most who've posted so far.

Blind Buys:

• The Count of Monte Cristo
• Friday
• Princess Mononoke
• Kiki's Delivery Service
• Spirited Away
• Atlantis: The Lost Empire
• Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
• Below
• Sunset Boulevard
• Black Christmas
• Brotherhood of the Wolf
• Dagon
• Dog Soldiers
• Donnie Darko
• Ginger Snaps
• Ice Age
• Pulp Fiction
• Lilo & Stitch
• The Man Who Wasn't There
• Mulholland Drive
• A Simple Plan
• Queer as Folk (US-Showtime)
• Van Wilder (bought on word-of-Chmiel) :b

Blind Buys:

• Near Dark
• Ringu
• The Royal Tenenbaums
• Evolution
• Blood Simple
• The French Connection
• Go
• The House on Haunted Hill (2000)
• Legend
• The Wicker Man
• Pi
• Requiem for a Dream
• Moulin Rouge
• Better Off Dead

Plus I have a ton of blind buys I haven't watched yet. :b

 

[ChristopherBlig]

The Limey (great choice, the movie ruled)
Insomnia (very good, widescreen too)
Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas:Criterion (wacky trip, awesome extras)
Blood Work (disappointed)
Ninth Configuration (truly a hidden gem, recommend to everybody)
The Gambler (another hidden gem, shame there was no trailer)
still haven't seen
The Duellists
Don't Look Now
The Brotherhood

 

[Patrick McCart]

My last few blind purchases:

Goldfinger (SE)
Metropolis (Kino)
Minority Report (widescreen)

 

[Karl F]

Since I own a video store, rentals are free (well, after I've bought the disc in the first place) and convenient, so I almost never blind buy.

I did buy the Hitchcock Box Set from Criterion, though, having not seen Spellbound, Rebecca, or 39 Steps. You know, I figured, how can I go wrong?

I also sometimes buy Asian films -- at a Japanese mall up in Canada -- blind; they're cheap (maybe $7 US), and if I don't like 'em enough to keep 'em, I can "sell" them to the store for rental. I especially look for films than Miramax has the US rights to -- I picked up Mr. Nice Guy, for instance, last time I was up there, and Jet Li's Swordsman II, which I think Miramax has released here as Legend of the Swordsman, dubbed only.

I ordered a couple of films from Korea blind: Joint Security Area, which is really good, and The Foul King, which I haven't gotten to yet -- but it's a Korean Professional Wrestler comedy, so I simply don't see how I can go wrong with that.

I also picked up the Mexican Santo films blind -- only one's been released, and there's two more coming up. Santo vs. The Martian Invasion isn't good, necessarily, but as a bit of a Lucha Libre buff it's still worth it for historical reasons.

Oh, and I bought a used copy of The Apartment for three bucks. I think that's it.

--K

 

[Tony Stirling]

I don't normally buy DVDs sight unseen but I've made a couple of exceptions due to the trust I have in the director:

Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki, and

The Dekalog by Kieslowski.

And I would strongly recommend both of these films, too. I was not in the least disappointed.

tony

 

[Joshua_Y]

I dont know...I've probably bought about 100 DVD's as Blind Buy's...I will maybe list em later...

 

[Todd_Brown]

The one's I'm most happy with:

Moulin Rouge
Metropolis (KINO)
The Ring
Sunset Boulevard

Todd

 

[Brad Eisenhauer]

I blind buy quite frequently, and I'm generally pleased with the result. I've seen a lot of films this way that I never would have otherwise.

Starting with the most recent:
Comedian
Major League
Clerks - ***
The Sum of All Fears
Catch Me If You Can
Spider-Man
Fiddler on the Roof
Suicide Kings - *
The Duellists - ****
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - **
American Beauty - **
Road to Perdition - **
The Pit and the Pendulum - **
The Masque of the Red Death - **
The Premature Burial
The Fall of the House of Usher - **
The Three Musketeers (1973) - ***
The Four Musketeers - ***
Strange Brew - ***
License to Kill - **
Brotherhood of the Wolf - ***
Austin Powers in Goldmember - ***
Richard III (1995) - ***
Hamlet (CC) - ***
Sanjuro - ***
Yojimbo - ***
The Hidden Fortress - **
Seven Samurai
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade - ****
Backdraft
12 Monkeys - ****
Legend - **
Chasing Amy - ***
A Bridge Too Far - ***
The Usual Suspects - ****
A Fish Called Wanda - ***
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - ****
Blood: The Last Vampire - **
The Godfather: Part III - **
For a Few Dollars More - ***
The Magnificent Seven - ***
The Good the Bad and the Ugly ****
A Fistful of Dollars - ***
Akira - ****
Nuremburg - ***
Jesus Christ Superstar (2000) - ***
Legend of Crystania - **
Excalibur - ***
Blade Runner - ****
From Russia with Love - ***
Amadeus - ****
Cast Away - **
Dungeons and Dragons - *
The Right Stuff - ***
Stir of Echoes - **
Time Bandits - **

Some planned blind purchases in the near future:
Three Colors Trilogy
Throne of Blood (CC)
Miller's Crossing
Once Upon a Time in America
Gangs of New York

 

[Simon_Lepine]

I would say that around 60% of my collection are blind buys, it's just more exciting for me to buy stuff I haven't seen before. Considering rental fees are around 25% of the price of the DVD, I feel I'm usually not taking a big risk.

I also go by directors I know, so I know what to expect. My last blind buy was Criterion's Carl Th Dreyer Box Set and I'm very happy with it.

 

[Paul_Scott]

isn't going out to the movies a Blind Buy?
having a comfy, somewhat extravegant HT (for my budget anyway), makes me want to pick up more material 'blind'.

some recent titles off the top of my head;

Day For Night (after the first few minutes i was ready to quit and ebay it, glad i stuck with it,...a wonderful film, especially for film lovers!)
Count Of Monte Christo
Signs
Secretary
Femme Fatale
Far From heaven
Pursued
Contempt
The Crazies

i probably have several hundred titles in my collection that were blind buys.
about 40 of those are in a pile waiting to be sold off.

 

[Louis C]

Some planned blind purchases in the near future:
Once Upon a Time in America

Brad, I doubt you will be disappointed with this title.

I also bought Minority Report as a blind purchase and would give it 2 1/2 stars.

 

[Todd Phillips]

I tend to blind buy mostly older movies that would be harder to rent (usually on the recommendation of familiar reviewers or friends):

Alec Guiness Collection
Broadway Melody of 1940
The Ghost Breakers
The Importance of Being Earnest
Iron Monkey
Journey to the Center of the Earth
My Man Godfrey
Patton
Rififi
Support Your Local Gunfighter
The Shop Around the Corner
Sleuth
The Third Man