Midnite Movies (1 Viewer)

[Eric Huffstutler]

There is no reason to shortchange a movie like "A SONG IS BORN" as I happen to like that movie too.

I can see where a "feel good" musical with several classic stars would have more mass appeal than "Vampire Circus". It isn't about a select niche group who participates on the various horror based forums but the majority who don't participate and spend their dollars at Wal-Mart, Target, Barnes and Noble, and the likes.

Don't get me wrong, I too would like to see some of the horror and sci-fi come our way just not the more modern splatter and exploitation movies but the older classics.

Eric

 

[James 'Tiger' Lee]

Why can't we have exploitation and splatter horror too?

 

[James 'Tiger' Lee]

Those new masters are appearing on HD TV I understand

 

[ahollis]

I agree that the money problems that MGM may be facing should not dictate their releases; however there is a thought that they are purposely limiting their releases until the agreement with Fox has ended. There release philosophy has been strange with the three Goldwyn musical releases this month and the two Goldwyn releases in the Fox Musical box set last November. But again these are minimum releases.

The question on why can MGM make an HD transfer of the Incredible Melting Man, but can not put it out on DVD is basically answered in that they are doing the HD transfers for their HD Channel and Comcast’s HD channel. It would seem like a simple decision to go ahead and release it to DVD, but they have other plans in mind.

Besides waiting to the Fox agreement to end, they could have decided to wait until downloading is norm or they could be working on an archive program like Warner.

 

[DeWilson]

Does anyone have a list of the MIDNIGHT MOVIE titles that were released on VHS that HAVE NOT had a DVD release?

 

[Jim_K]

Undoubtably the Golden Age of catalog titles on DVD is pretty much dead. I don't expect much of anything going forward even once the economy rebounds so anything that does make it out I'm going to cherish ala Sony's Icon's of Sci-fi Toho collection, Warners next Noir set, Universal's Backlot series, etc.

Downloading is years away but I have zero interest in it.

I'm afraid burn on-demand DVDR's ala Warner Archives are probably going to be the short term stop gap until downloading takes off.

ArChive = Alpha quality presentation at Criterion-like pricing. The worst of both worlds.

 

[John Sparks]

Just bought "Empire of the Ants/Tentacles" for $5 just to get "Tentacles!" Now I have them all. They just need to put out the few that werren't 16x9!

 

[TravisR]

I'm kind of in that boat (I'll buy physical media until it ends) but if downloading is the only way to get smaller titles, I'll do it.

 

[Martin Welch]

I can think of:

THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN
MASTER OF THE WORLD
BURN WITCH BURN
QUATERMASS XPERIMENT
BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE
PHANTOM PLANET
JESSER JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER

I know some of these are DVD public domain labels.

 

[Martin Welch]

Believe me, I in no way meant to shortchange the movie, and I'm glad it's out on DVD as it should be. I was just trying to make a point rather, that if they they were still releasing old films of different genres, they could at least thow us a few bones at Halloween time as horror is known to have a substantial enough buying audience.

 

[JeffMc]

HIGH SCHOOL HELLCATS is another one that came out on VHS as a MM that never made it to DVD.

 

[George Reis]

Fox (the ones keeping the bulk of the MGM back catalog hostage), please take note of this recent quote concerning the Warner Brothers Archive Collection:

“The launch of Warner Archive exceeded our wildest expectations,” said George Feltenstein. “We’ve had such a tremendous response to this effort to the point where we had to bring additional resources online to meet demand. Clearly there is an insatiable appetite for classic movies and television shows.”

Make note, CATALOG TITLE DO MATTER!

 

[ahollis]

It is not Fox keeping the MGM titles hostage, but MGM themselves. The agreement allows Fox to distribute the titles and work with MGM in marketing the releases. MGM decides what and when a title is released.

 

[Martin Welch]

This would indicate that Fox does very much have control over what's getting released.

 

[George Reis]

Fox is very much calling shots, and they recently requested new DVD transfers of several MGM titles mentioned here in this thread, showing specific interest in one in particular, but has since failed to get it on the DVD release schedule. As it stands now, their MGM Halloween DVD schedule is just a bunch of rehashed titles. Pray for change.

 

[ahollis]

For personal reasons I have been praying for a change also.

While Fox may ask for transfer, it the decision of MGM to give it to them or not, which is why titles have failed to get on the DVD release schedule. Just look at the line up for the Western and War films that FOX/MGM is releasing this May. While they are interesting titles and I will want a couple, there are still better titles in the vault that have been transferred for the HD channels.

The thought at the studios is that MGM is does not want to release the titles that are showing specific interest because they want to do it themselves. They are already making plans to re-start their own DVD distribution section. They are a studio in flux and are desperately trying to find solid ground, which again, I certainly hope they do soon.

The agreement called for several guaranteed payments from Fox to MGM. Those payments have now ended. Since the payments have ended the faucet has been turned off with just sporadic pictures of small interest (I make no assumptions on what people like, since I purchased the last two musicals in April).

There is also a huge void coming from Fox at this time also. Their Film Noir series appears to be dead except for the eagerly awaited Manhunt in June. There web site has a few titles that I hope are on the horizon, such as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. But all we have heard about is a special edition of Diary of Ann Frank.

 

[Martin Welch]

MGM has no catalog titles coming out in June (unless they announce some at the last minute) so the reality of all this horrible news is really settling in.

 

[ahollis]

MGM also does not have film to release to theatres for the summer, their next release is in September and is a remake of FAME. The news is dire.

On another note, they have an Unlock the Vault sweepstakes on their web site asking you to vote from a list of movies you would like to see on HD, Download or DVD. There were only a couple of films I voted for and none listed in this thread. But readers might find this interesting.

 

[Colin McGuigan]

Any chance of a link to that?

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Here it is:

MGM.com : Official website of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. - Ars Gratia Artis

The films:

SLIPPING INTO DARKNESS (1988)
BURIED ALIVE (1990)
RING OF THE MUSKETEERS (1994)
GHOST TOWN (1956)
TRUE BLOOD (1989)
PACIFIC VIBRATIONS (1971)
STATIC (1986)
A DOLL'S HOUSE (1973)
PRISONER OF THE MOUNTAINS (1997)
LAWS OF GRAVITY (1992)
THE MUSIC LOVERS (1971)
FREELANCE (1971)
BLOOD GAMES (1991)
CALIFORNIA CASANOVA (1991)
LADYBIRD, LADYBIRD (1995)
THE IN CROWD (1988)
ENCOUNTER AT RAVEN'S GATE (1990)
DIAMOND SKULLS (1991)
SLEEPAWAY CAMP II (1988)
BRIDGE TO NOWHERE (1988)

Wow, a lot of head-scratchers as far as the list of titles to vote for goes, other than Ken Russell's THE MUSIC LOVERS and maybe one or two others.

Nothing necessarily against the films themselves, but are people really clamoring for this stuff, or does MGM's marketing staff don blindfolds and pick random titles out of a hat?

Putting aside the desired horror/sci-fi/monster movies in this thread for a moment-- do western fans, for instance, realllllly want GHOST TOWN over, say... BANDIDO (1956, Robert Mitchum / dir: Richard Fleischer), THE MERCENARY (1968, Franco Nero, Tony Musante & Jack Palance / dir: Sergio Corbucci) or a widescreen legit edition of DEATH RIDES A HORSE (1966, Lee Van Cleef & John Philip Law)?

For crime fans, FREELANCE instead of ROLLING THUNDER (1977, William Devane & Tommy Lee Jones), THE DESTRUCTORS (1974, Michael Caine, Anthony Quinn & James Mason) or THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN (1976)?

Very strange doings, imho.