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What ANCHOR BAY title should I review? (1 Viewer)

Ronald Epstein

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Just received a box filled with Anchor
Bay titles to review.

All these titles are a bit obscure for my
taste, but I do want to give the studio at
least 2 solid reviews of product this membership
would be interested in reading about.

Please help me pick two titles:

Mad Monster Party
Delirium
Hitch-Hike
Nosferatu
Aguirre The wrath of God
Woyzeck
Fitzcarraldo
Cobra Verde
My Best Friend
 

Damin J Toell

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The Nosferatu DVD is probably the new 2-disc anamorphic set, and so might be worth a review (although you might be unable to compare it to the prior release). Aguirre The wrath of God, Woyzeck, Fitzcarraldo, Cobra Verde, and My Best Friend are all older releases that AB just put out in a new Herzog/Kinski box set (along with the new Nosferatu), and so reviews probably wouldn't be of much use to the HTF readership. I don't know much about the other titles you listed, although Mad Monster Party seems interesting.
Edited to add: both Delirium and Hitch-Hike (with its attempted capitalization on David Hess's role in Last House on the Left) appear to be rather interesting Italian horror titles. HTFers who seek out such titles would likely be very pleased with reviews of them.
DJ
 

Anthony Thorne

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As mentioned above, the Herzog titles (Nosferatu, Aguirre The wrath of God, Woyzeck, Fitzcarraldo, Cobra Verde, My Best Friend) have all been around for a while, and only Nosferatu features a new transfer. The commentaries on all are meant to be worthwhile, and you might find Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre interesting if you've never seen them. (Try spotting the many obvious elements Francis Coppola ripped off from Aguirre for Apocalypse Now, for example). My Best Friend is a doco which works as something of a 'making of' for the other Herzog titles, and watching it may give you some idea of which of them could be of interest.

Hitch-Hike is a nifty little Euro thriller, with a memorably catchy Morricone score, a fun performance from Franco Nero and an equally memorable ending. Delirium is something of an unseen quantity (and you'd definitely be the first person online to review it if you covered it) but I suspect everyone who is keen to buy it already knows that they want it, and folks who have never heard of it wouldn't likely be swayed towards a purchase by a review.

My two cents: Fitzcarraldo is one of the most striking and memorable of the Herzog/Kinski features, suffered a notorious and newsworthy shoot, and is a pretty spectacular, one-of-a-kind movie. It's probably the key title of the bunch that newcomers to Herzog's work might be swayed to a purchase by reading about. Just my opinion...
 

Pete Battista

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I would Also say Nosferatu... I am a huge horror fan and just love vampire movies. I have a cheaper version of this and would love to see a review of this if it is the 2-disc set.
:)
 

David Lambert

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Another chime-in for Nosferatu here. As for the other, it seems that I've heard HTFers talking about Aguirre: The Wrath Of God for a while now, so it seems to be a natural to me.
 

Jon Sheedy

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Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre: The Wrath Of God...maybe you'll turn a few members on to these excellent, yet fairly obscure films.
 

oscar_merkx

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Nosferatu is an absolute must
I haven't seen Aguirre : Wrath of God yet I am interested to learn more about Werner Herzog
:emoji_thumbsup:
 

Jeff Ulmer

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That would be My Best Fiend, not friend. :)
I'd say Mad Monster Party plus any of the others.
 

RAF

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Fitzcarraldo.
Without a doubt this is the most unusual movie of the bunch and since some of the members indicated they'd never heard of it you would be doing them a favor by promoting it.
Not for everyone, but something you should at least experience. You may love it or hate it. Very few people are ambivalent about it. I'll shut up now so I don't influence your opinion. I'm interested to hear what you think, Ron. Put it at the top of this excellent pile of titles.
 

Randy A Salas

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Fitzcarraldo.
Without a doubt this is the most unusual movie of the bunch and since some of the members indicated they'd never heard of it you would be doing them a favor by promoting it.
With all due respect to Ron, what's the point of reviewing a DVD that's three years old and that he doesn't know? The reissue is no different than the original release, except for slimline packaging to fit inside the new Herzog/Kinski box. If members want to read a detailed review of this DVD, go here:
http://www.dvdreview.com/html/fitzcarraldo.shtml
Or a roundup of most of the Kinski titles here:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s148aguirre.html
As for Nosferatu, the only thing new is the transfer, so there's not much to review there--especially if the reviewer has never seen the original to make a valid comparison.
Mad Monster Party is the must review of this batch. It's a classic, if not as well-known, bit of animation from Rankin/Bass, and it has a cult following. It also is appearing on DVD for the first time.
Delirium and Hitch-Hike are the only other ones worth reviewing now and here, because they also are new.
 

CameronS

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Definitely Nosferatu. But then again, I'm not familiar with any of the others listed.
 

Peter Apruzzese

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MAD MONSTER PARTY - a friend of mine has it already and says it's great, but I'd like to see a second opinion. Also, you can see where Tim Burton came up with the idea for THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS - it's all in MMP.

I second the FITZCARRALDO choice.
 

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