Vestron Video Collector's Series Discussion Thread

The German Blu-ray of Warlock: The Armageddon almost looks too good at times. A lot of the early CGI effects in the film really look fake in HD now. I never noticed them much on VHS/DVD/TV, but those effects really stand out in HD. They weren't really bad CGI effects for the time and technology, but they definitely date the film now.

I still love the film though, bad effects and all.

 

Starz has it in HD :0

 

Does that mean Anchor Bay has the licence to release it in the US?

 

Anchor Bay is on the verge of extinction.

Lionsgate still owns the US rights to all three Warlock films and, as of December, they also own Starz and all of it's subsidiaries, including Anchor Bay. I think they've already stopped using the Anchor Bay label for new and upcoming releases, and I suspect the older releases will eventually be folded into Lionsgate, as well.

 

Lionsgate seems to still let Anchor Bay keep going despite the merger. Case in point:
https://www.amazon.com/Yu-Gi-Oh-Dark-Side-Dimensions-Blu-ray/dp/B07227RMSD

 

A silent night deadly night complete collection is now possible with all 6 films

 

Ok now this makes sense. I was wondering why AB was MIA with Return to Nuke 'Em High Vol 2 since they put out the first one. Makes sense why it's took so long to get done.

 

Maybe, maybe not. That is just pre-release artwork which often changes. Amazon has the release studio listed as Lionsgate.

Lionsgate would do well to just phase the label out completely, given how bad their sketchy their quality has become over the years now.

 

If they're going to bother recognizing that disaster of a remake exists, they might as well throw in Santa's Slay as well. Them making any killer Santa movies themselves is bragging about having the rights to something and not giving a crap about how they treat it.

 

I agree that the remake isn't that great. I watched it a second time a while ago and just couldn't get into it.

The original is in need of a decent release though. I recall hearing Anchor Bay fucked that release up and that it was basically an up-convert.

 

How did Army of Darkness handle the issue of Blu-Raying the extended / director's cut of the film stitching in edit inserts of inferior quality?

 

The extended and director's cut versions of Army of Darkness on Blu-Ray, didn't need any inserts, as they are using complete 35mm prints = Perfect quality all the way through.

I remember the horror of watching the old Anchor Bay dvd, and the quality just got worse and worse, like a 20th generation VHS copy.
Then just a few years later, MGM released the full extended version on DVD in Asia, from a complete 35mm print, which took a huge dump on that shitty Anchor Bay disc. It was also later released on DVD in Sweden.

Did Anchor Bay ever release that pristine transfer, or were they stuck with their "bootleg"?

 

I didn't know they ever found a complete print.

Thus, the same question remains with SNDN. Do they have a complete print of the film with full death scenes? Will that look good on Blu?

 

What Steel said haha. I honestly wasn't sure myself as I haven't gotten around to watching the DC on the new Shout disc.

 

If an uncut negative surfaces/still exists and is scanned and restored properly, of course it will look good. But only materials still known/used for previous transfers (Blu-ray shares the same transfer as the DVD) were sourced from a theatrical/R-rated source and the uncut scenes may only exist from a tape transfer of a workprint as that's still all we know.

 

Yeah, that's what I thought when I made my first post.

 

Anchor Bay may be shit now but I wouldn't have gotten into film collecting if it weren't for them so I'd hate to see them completely disappear. I still have some AB DVDs that will probably never be upgraded, like the Angel trilogy and a couple of other holdover Lakeshore titles and some others. They were Gods back in the day. Sad.

 

^ This.

 

Watched Parents finally. I really dug this flick. Although it was borderline uneventful at times, I thought it had great atmosphere and was well acted. Randy Quaid really gets pigeonholed, for obvious reasons.....we all know Uncle Eddie. But I thought his performance here was outstanding. I also think the little boy does a good job.....he plays a very convincing little creep. Kicking myself for waiting so long to catch, but I'm glad I saw it for the first time on blu ray. Looking forward to watching again sooner than later.

 

Agree. Back then they were excellent.

On a side note I would love if Vinegar Syndrome got their hands on the Angel films.