Blue Underground/William Lustig interview up at PopImage.com (1 Viewer)

[Drew Reiber]

That probably means The Church as well. Did anybody hear about a possibly longer version of Phenomena out there? I could have sworn I heard about it on this forum. Maybe that's something we're going to see when it is rereleased.

 

[Michael Elliott]

The Japan version of PHENOMENA has around five minutes of extra footage but I believe Argento likes the other versions more.

SLEEPLESS will be re-released by Lions Gate at some point. I wasn't told when though.

 

[Drew Reiber]

Any word on whether or not they plan on restoring it to Argento's cut of the film? I hear they not only cut violence, but also some of his more bizarre photography.

 

[Michael Elliott]

We didn't go into much detail. I was talking to the guy about MARTIN and we were only on the phone for five minutes. I asked about SLEEPLESS and got a "we plan to revisit it at some point". Could be next year or ten years from now. I haven't seen the Artisan disc so I'm not sure what's missing. Wasn't it P&S?

 

[Drew Reiber]

Disgustingly, yes it was. I'm not entirely clear on the issue of what is cut, because IMDB does not have all the correct information to compare the US cut to the Italian one. Several comments I've seen on the web, including IMDB, explain that there are differences that seriously harm Argento's design.

Heck, even gratuitous violence is an essential part of what makes him an auteur. Luckily, I hear there is a Region 0 copy out there so I don't have to wait for Lion's Gate/Artisan to continue ruining film presentation (Martin, Sleepless, Waxwork, etc.).

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Yes, I spoke with Jay Douglas about this in July. He did tell me that they had found a "much longer cut" of Phenomena and were going to include it in the DVD release next year. I know he told me how much longer it was, but I've since forgotten the exact number, but it was definitely more than the 5 minutes on the Japanese LD.

In the same conversation he told me that Sony is the rights holder to Ilsa The Tigress Of Siberia and that they wouldn't be able to do that one for obvious reasons.

Jeff

 

[Drew Reiber]

That's excellent. Did you hear anything else regarding the Argento rereleases?

 

[Kevin M]

Personally I would like to see the rest of Michele Soavi's work put out on DVD, not just The Church & the future release of Dellamorte Dellamore, including some of his recent TV work.

Regarding the current DVD of The Church I thought the AB DVD was pretty damn good....unless they cut something.

 

[Drew Reiber]

I'm more interested in his genre work specifically, so the release of films like The Sect are more important to me. However, if Blue Underground plans to re-release Soavi's work, I'd rather wait for those. If not, I'll get around to the those available through Anchor Bay (Stagefright, The Church) eventually. I'll definitely get Dellamorte Dellamore when it comes out though. That film is an amazing work of art.

 

[Anthony Thorne]

I know that there's a Euro disc of ILSA THE TIGRESS OF SIBERIA, and I may have to grab it sometime to complete my set of ILSA movies. Beyond that title though I don't see any huge need for BU to revisit the ILSA movies. I also just watched THE CRAZIES last night. I found it to be just an okay movie, but it reminded be that BU seem to do a great disc even when the film hovers around so-so.

In response to Roland's question from a few days back, here's the covers for Jess Franco's VENUS IN FURS and 99 WOMEN, both out early next year from BU. The 99 WOMEN cover shown here is the 2-disc version - there's also a single disc edition coming out that will lack the extended hardcore print included in the 2-DVD set.

 

[Drew Reiber]

Has anyone bought/seen the just released DVD of The Loveless + Willem Dafoe? Btw, I always add "+ Willem Dafoe" to any movie he is in, because he is that awesome (Platoon, Last Temptation, Spider-Man 1&2, etc). Katheryn Bigelow is an interesting director (yes, I know she only co-directed this) and the producers sound somewhat capable, but I had no idea what to make of the trailer. How is the movie, transfer and supplements? Thanks.

 

[Anthony Thorne]

There's a solid review of the film up at Mondo Digital:

http://www.mondo-digital.com/loveless.html