Midnite Movies (1 Viewer)

[AlanBrom]

I voted for THE MUSIC LOVERS too. Now MGM, where can I vote for BURN WITCH BURN, VAMPIRE CIRCUS, HANDS OF THE RIPPER, TWINS OF EVIL, THE CRIMSON CULT, BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW, BLOOD AND LACE, MASTER OF THW WORLD and the dozens of other titles that you need to pay attention to?

 

[Darren Gross]

Just to clarify, MGM does NOT own either THE STEPFATHER or STEPFATHER II.

...and if Synapse is releasing Stepfather II, I hope they're able to put Jeff Burr's original cut on it. Additional material was added to the film by the studio, I believe concerning the fate of the character of the neighbor who figures things out, plus it was cut my the ratings board, I think.

 

[cineMANIAC]

Re: MGM not owning the rights to The Stepfather: Wasn't this produced by ITC and distributed by Embassy? MGM owns all Embassy properties except for the titles picked up by Studio Canal, which this is not. All the VHS copies I've seen of this had the MGM logo on them. Unless its an "expired deal" situation this is still with the Lion.

 

[AlanBrom]

If they did have the rights to the original, you know they'd release it, much like they did a recent new edition of LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT.

 

[Chuck Pennington]

I've had THE STEPFATHER in anamorphic widescreen from Germany for years, and BURN WITCH BURN (as NIGHT OF THE EAGLE), TWINS OF EVIL, VAMPIRE CIRCUS etc from the UK for even longer.

There is no need to wait for a US release in my mind if excellent foreign DVDs are available and one has the capability to play them. Many of the ones I have were pitch-corrected so the 24/25 fps issue only really effects the running time.

 

[AlanBrom]

I still want MGM to release their versions for region 1 buyers like me. Their remaster of TWINS OF EVIL (as evidenced on the now defunct Monsters HD) looks even better than the foreign DVD releases out there, and according to online reports, their remaster of THE CRIMSON CULT is longer and much better looking than the out of print British DVD which goes for mucho dinero on Amazon.

 

[Martin Welch]

Yes MGM needs to release their Hammer films on dvd here or please just license them out to another company already. I don't care if they were out in England, I live in the U.S. And sometimes they don't always get things right there. I believe the Anchor Bay pal release of BLOOD ON SATANS CLAW is not anamorphic.

 

[James 'Tiger' Lee]

Living in the UK never stopped me getting all those wonderful Midnite movies releases. I don't see why something HAS to be a US DVD

 

[JeffMc]

Very true, but you have to remember that in the US, multi-region/format players are not as common as they are throughout Europe. Many of us US customers on these forums will have region-free players, but what if you want to watch an import disc at a friend's house or lend it to someone who doesn't have the capability to play it? I'd say 99% (totally guessing) of US dvd consumers only have a region 1 ntsc player.

 

[Martin Welch]

It's the principal of the thing is more the reason why I stated I live the US. I do have a handful of foreign dvds, but I like what MGM does with these titles (when they actually release such titles) and they often look a lot better than their foreign counterparts. So those Hammer films will remain on the top of my want list.

 

[Jim_K]

1. PAL speedup (I can tolerate it occasionally if I have too but it's very distracting to me, plus it's very inconvenient if you have only one multiregion player)
2. High(er) cost of importing
3. Unavailable OOP titles and the OOP aftermarket prices that accompany it.

 

[James 'Tiger' Lee]

Aside from PAL speedup, we face these excat issues in the UK.

 

[Michael Elliott]

You know, these type of "trash" movies might be popular again in a few years where MGM can release more and be happy with the sales. It seems these non-mainstream movies come and go in terms of people wanting them. I remember a time when everyone was rushing to release Euro Horror titles and then they dried up. We had a long run of Midnight Movies and then they dried up. We have classic horror and then they dried up. The Spaghetti Western had a high spell then it died. Euro horror came back again and died again. The SW came back and died again. We had a string of Euro Crime titles, which became popular and then died again. Horror/smut was high then died and then came back.

In other words, I'm sure these will become popular again at some point and these type of films will be released again. I still think the biggest problem for the lack of sales were some poor titles released as well as them flooding the market.

 

[Darren Gross]

There are piles of Embassy properties that MGM does not own. THE PREMONITION for one.

 

[walter o]

I cant say whom, but a very reputable label will be releasing THE STEPFATHER domestically soon.

 

[Martin Welch]

That's a good thing, otherwise we'd never see any of those titles released. I wonder if MGM has BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA, another fun schlock drive-in title, the kind they should be releasing on DVD.

 

[AlanBrom]

BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA would make a great double feature DVD with JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER, even though that's been out by serveral public domain companies and only released as Midnite Movie on VHS. Damn, I miss my Midnite Movies! :-(

 

[JulianK]

Is it Criterion?

 

[Tom M]

I'de love to see a re-master of the 1961 Pit & The Pendulum. It's my favorite horror film and the R1 does not do it justice.

The R2 DVD is MUCH better. 16:9 enhanced and better print quality (less scratches, etc.) The PQ is not overly bright like the R1 but is darker and looks more natural. Color also isn't as pumped as the R1.

My only complaint with the R2 is that the Poe quote at the end is done as a subtitle and Poe isn't even creditied with it!

An HD master of this movie has been playing on some HD channels (though not ones I get) so I keep hoping for a Blu-Ray release every Halloween.

 

[AlanBrom]

It seems Vincent Price movies are the farthest thing from MGM/Fox's mindset. As of this writing, still no catalog DVDs from MGM being released past June.