MGM: Please Release SEs of TWINS OF EVIL, HANDS OF THE RIPPER and VAMPIRE CIRCUS! (1 Viewer)

[James 'Tiger' Lee]

I keep telling you people! Get a multi region player and get them cheap from the UK.

 

[JeffMc]

I think some of us prefer the non-PAL speed-up and thus continue to wait for a US release of certain titles. Personally, I do have a multi-region player - and I have some PAL discs as well for titles that I must have NOW and can't wait for. But usually, I'll just do without on titles I've seen or don't really need because I have so much to watch as it is.

One of the other major reasons to hold back on buying imports for some people is that multi-region in the US is still very limited amongst the general population (what, maybe 1% of the US has a multi-region player?). This is not Europe where everyone has the capability to play any region. Sure, you can watch the import disc on your own player, but what if you wanted to lend it out or watch it on a friend's unit? Do they have a multi-region player? In the US, the odds are probably not. So you have a disc you can only watch on one machine.

 

[AlanBrom]

I have a multi region player, and I have some of the foreign discs of these, but there's no reason these shouldn't be out in Region 1, especially since MGM's new transfers on them (especially TWINS OF EVIL) are the best that's out there.

 

[James 'Tiger' Lee]

Well I'm the only person I know with a multi region player

 

[WadeM]

I decided not to wait another 10 years for something that may never happen, so I'm now region free!! My patience is exhausted. I ordered Twins of Evil, Vampire Circus and Hand of the Ripper, along with the Ultimate Hammer Box set while it was on sale at a huge discount awhile back and all of the other Hammer titles that are out of print . Now, I'm just waiting for Sony to finish their Hammer releases so my Hammer collection will be complete (as far as titles I want).
My region free player automatically adjusts the PAL speed up.
Between the Hammer titles, and some Hitchcock titles, I just couldn't wait for R1 anymore.

BTW, Vampire Circus is available on a region-free DVD at amazon. (edit: do not order the region-free, it's a very poor quality DVDR bootleg! --get the upcoming Synapse release!!)

 

[AlanBrom]

I hate the fact that MGM is still hanging on to these and teasing us with listings like this on their site:

http://www.mgm.com/view/Movie/2092/Vampire-Circus/

Then they suggest I might also like MONSTER DOG and TERRORVISION, but hell, I can't buy those titles either!!!

 

[WadeM]

Originally Posted by AlanBrom ), and WB assigning She to the DVD-R Archives, and the outrageous prices for the OOP titles from Anchor Bay and the fact that Amazon is offering some of the OOP Anchor Bay titles on DVD-R -- my money can now go to other regions.

 

[Worth]

Ask and ye shall receive...

http://www.fangoria.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=520:more-hammer-dvds-coming-from-synapse-films&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=167

Synapse Films has acquired the rights to four titles from the library of the classic British horror studio.
Synapse’s Don May Jr. gave us the scoop that they’ve picked up Robert Young’s VAMPIRE CIRCUS, John Hough’s TWINS OF EVIL and Peter Sasdy’s HANDS OF THE RIPPER, along with the classic 13-episode TV series HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR. “We have new high-definition transfers of all three features. It’s very possible we will be putting out the three features on Blu-ray as well. If we do, we’ll announce both the DVD and Blu-ray releases at the same time.

 

[WadeM]

Originally Posted by Worth has acquired the rights to four titles from the library of the classic British horror studio. Synapse’s Don May Jr. gave us the scoop that they’ve picked up Robert Young’s VAMPIRE CIRCUS, John Hough’s TWINS OF EVIL and Peter Sasdy’s HANDS OF THE RIPPER, along with the classic 13-episode TV series HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR. “We have new high-definition transfers of all three features. It’s very possible we will be putting out the three features on Blu-ray as well. If we do, we’ll announce both the DVD and Blu-ray releases at the same time.

That, my friend, is awesome news!! (and hilarious for my misfortune!!). I received my supposed region-free DVD of Vampire Circus and it turned out to be a DVDR bootleg!! I'm getting my money back. Ha! I'll gladly pay Synapse for these titles, which are guaranteed to be FANTASTIC!! (Although I already have the Hammer House of Horror set from A&E.) For those who don't own that TV series, I highly recommend picking up Synapse's upcoming release. Most of the episodes are excellent, and much better than anything I expected. Hmmmm..... I wonder if a new thread should be started ?

 

[AlanBrom]

When I started this post almost two years ago, I never thought it would come to this point, a point where we can now rejoice!

Wade, don't feel bad at all. If it's any consolation, I too spent money getting DVR-Rs and in some cases, Region 2 discs on these titles, but I'll GLADLY pay Synapse for official Region 1 releases! I'm sure Synapse's releases will be the best presentation of these ever, as Don May Jr. seems to know how important these titles are to the fans. I'll also be buying the Hammer House of Horror series over from them (I totally agree with Wade, most of them are excellent).

Thanks Synapse Films!!!!!

 

[DeWilson]

I'm gussing they will be getting their master elements from Hammer,not MGM?

 

[WadeM]

Originally Posted by DeWilson

I'm gussing they will be getting their master elements from Hammer,not MGM?

What Synapse wrote on another forum:
"The VAMPIRE CIRCUS and TWINS OF EVIL transfers came from MGM and are actually better looking than their HD broadcast versions. HANDS OF THE RIPPER should be complete soon with digital restoration."

 

[AlanBrom]

What Synapse wrote on another forum:
"The VAMPIRE CIRCUS and TWINS OF EVIL transfers came from MGM and are actually better looking than their HD broadcast versions. HANDS OF THE RIPPER should be complete soon with digital restoration."

[SIZE= larger] F#%$ Yeah!!!!![/SIZE]

 

[ahollis]

Could the reason MGM never released THE VAMPIRE CIRCUS and TWINS OF EVIL is that they did not own the DVD rights to the two films. If so, I kind of feel bad about the all the things I thought and said. (No really I don't, they deserve it anyway).

 

[Martin Welch]

Could the reason MGM never released THE VAMPIRE CIRCUS and TWINS OF EVIL is that they did not own the DVD rights to the two films. If so, I kind of feel bad about the all the things I thought and said. (No really I don't, they deserve it anyway).

You don't have to feel bad about a thing you said about MGM. They've actually had the DVD rights to all three Hammer films that we're talking about for years, but just sat on them, even after doing new transfers on at least two of them. The rights recently went to Granada, and I imagine that's when Synapse wisely got a hold of them for home video. It's a great time to be a Hammer fan and collector of Region 1 DVDS.

Now we can get back at being angry at MGM/Fox for not releasing THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT, BURN WITCH BURN, THE CRIMSON CULT, MASTER OF THE WORLD, QUEEN OF BLOOD, BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW, DIARY OF A MADMAN, THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN, etc.

 

[Nebiroth]

The reasons are:

Basic mismanagement of the MGM catalogue which includes an entanglement with Fox at one point. They also got their fingers burnt by a misjudged resurrection of the Midnite Movie range (which to my mind failed largely because they released, ironically, too many at once, with some very odd titles and at a weird time of year).

And secondly because they are only interested, now, in releasing stuff that has a surefire fat profit attached to it. Because of this studios will do only one of three things:

Not release anything else at all.

Release it on Made on Demand discs (like the Warner Archive)

License out to smaller labels that operate on a smaller scale and with lower profit expectations (like MGM to Synapse, and Paramount to Olive Films)

 

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by Nebiroth

The reasons are:

Basic mismanagement of the MGM catalogue which includes an entanglement with Fox at one point. They also got their fingers burnt by a misjudged resurrection of the Midnite Movie range (which to my mind failed largely because they released, ironically, too many at once, with some very odd titles and at a weird time of year).

The only other company that has mis-managed their library as bad as MGM has been Lionsgate. And Paramount is trying to get that number 2 spot, but at least they made a deal with Olive Films for a number of titles.

 

[DeWilson]

Originally Posted by Nebiroth

The reasons are:

Basic mismanagement of the MGM catalogue which includes an entanglement with Fox at one point.

MGM itself has been mismanaged for decades!

 

[FrancisP]

How much chaos is MGM in? The only crown jewel they have left are the Bond films and apparently the next Bond film is on hold indefinitely because of the chaos at MGM. This is a film that's likely to make money.

 

[ahollis]

Eon Productions does not want to tie themselves down with MGM at the present. They do not know if the company will get sold and if so, to who, or if it will go bankrupt. This is a smart thing for them to do, but hurts the franchise some. They went through this several years ago between License to Kill and Goldeneye (1989-1995). MGM was in turmoil then and Eon did not want to pursue any films until there was some kind of out come. The same can be said of the period between Die Another Day and Casino Royale (2002 - 2006). MGM was going through one of its sales then too. They just keep rebooting the franchise.

There is a rumor that if MGM goes bankrupt, Eon Productions can get out of their agreement and sell the series somewhere else. I would think they could then do as Lucas did with the last 3 Star Wars, just make a distribution deal and Eon putting all the money up. Then they would own them entirely. This does not answer the question of where does the existing Bonds go and what will happen to them.