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--- March 18, 07 Hello everyone, I guess its time to finally bring back the editorials. So from now on, everyone week I'll comment on some DVD releases, news items, what to expect and more. I finally recently got the Media Blasters edition of ANTHROPOPHAGUS. Now I wasnt expecting anything perfect from them but come on! The audio on the film is simply terrible!! It sounds so distant and soft. I could barely hear what everyone was saying. And to make things worse, the English subs didnt worked on my LG or Panasonic player. Things are getting very fustrating with Media Blasters. They keep on releasing movies with below average to extremely poor transfer. And I won't even start about the whole LIZARD IN A WOMAN SKIN'S fiasco which we'll have to pay twice for it. A good news is that Anchor Bay seem to finally be back in full force. Their upcoming Special Editions of PHANTASM and PHANTASM III are on the top of my "To Get" list. I just received their new Limited Edition of RE-ANIAMTOR which a very cool seringue highlighter. This two disc edition features loads of extras and a brand new transfer. Another World Entertainment just released Lucio Fulci's THE NEW YORK RIPPER, as part of their Giallo Serie in which the first title was PUZZLE. This edition includes a specific scene in its proper place while other releases (US, Australia, Holland and France) have the scene out of sequence. A must for all! It seems that the upcoming March 27th Dark Sky Films edition of Mario Bava's KILL, BABY, KILL has ben cancelled. Nothing official yet. Severin Films edition of Lucio Fulci's PERVERSION STORY features the French cut, so beware if you plan on getting it. As for myself, I immediatly bought it since its the best version available right now on DVD. And finally, my most anticipated box set of the year is without a doubt The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky in which $500 000 was spend on the restoration of the films! Amazing! In case you have been living in a cave for the last few months, here's all the details: ABKCO Films and Anchor Bay Entertainment have just announced a pair of titles that we've been waiting for on DVD since Day One of this format... EL TOPO and THE HOLY MOUNTAIN! No kidding! Anchor Bay will release a special limited edition collector's box set, The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky, on DVD on 5/1 (SRP $49.98). The set will contain EL TOPO, THE HOLY MOUNTAIN and FANDO Y LIS on DVD, fully restored and remastered from new HD transfers in anamorphic widescreen video, with Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 audio (EL TOPO is 125 minutes in Spanish, THE HOLY MOUNTAIN is 114 minutes in English, FANDO Y LIS is 93 minutes in Spanish). The box set will also include 2 music CDs containing the soundtracks for EL TOPO and THE HOLY MOUNTAIN, as well as a DVD of Jodorowsky's never-before-released first film, LA CRAVATE. EL TOPO and THE HOLY MOUNTAIN will also be available separately (SRP $24.98 each). The EL TOPO DVD will contain audio commentary by the director, the original theatrical trailer (with English voice-over), a 2006 on-camera interview with the director as well as an exclusive new interview, a photo gallery and original script excerpts. THE HOLY MOUNTAIN DVD will include audio commentary with the director, deleted scenes with commentary, the original theatrical trailer (with English voice-over), the Tarot short with commentary, a restoration process short, restoration credits, a photo gallery and original script excerpts. FANDO Y LIS will include audio commentary with the director and the La Constellation Jodorowsky documentary. Subtitles on the discs will be available in English, French, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. Awesome news indeed! --- April 27, 06 Hey everyone, damn its been way too long since i've last talked to you. Lots of things have happened since the last time. But what is everybody talking about right now?! HD-DVD VS. Blu-Ray There seem to be a lot of confusing among people as to what exactly will be HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. What it will represent for us the consummer. Well i'm confused too. Companies are rushing their products to the market to be first. Already many problems, glitches and incompatibilities are know. Sure this always happen with first generation product but do we really need another format to replace the current one? With studios like NoShame, Blue Underground, Dark Sky Films, Synapse Films, Tartan Films and others releasing amazing DVD edition I don't think we need another format... especially not a war format. Just forget about Blu-Ray. Sony fucked up with Betmax and to a lesser extend with UMD... apart from the Playstation 3, Blu-Ray won't be worth anything. A post by Synapse Films head Don May Jr. at the Mobius Home Video Forum points out that Sony, who has approval power over all titles released on Blu-Ray, has already vetoed certain more adult-themed titles such as THRILLER A CRUEL PICTURE and THE IMAGE. Supposefly they have no interest in so-called "adult" titles. Are they blind?! Porn and adult movies is the reason VHS won even though Betamax was better format. Sony are blind and only think about their PS3... Plus there's the various audio formats which are confusing and not working properly with the current machines out. Even if you do buy an HD-DVD player now, you'll STILL have to buy another player later on if you want the full audio capability! I don't think there is a need for SUSPIRIA, THE THING, BLACK CHRISTMAS or THE BEYOND to get a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray treatment. The leap of "quality" isn't as huge as when we moved from VHS to DVD almost ten years ago. --- January 3rd, 06 Well 2005 is already behind us already, so happy new year to everyone! If one thing remained cleared about DVD in 2005 is that everyone has been "converted" to the format. While companies have been fighting over which format will replace the current DVD, studios from around the world have released some of the best edition ever! Here's a look at five of them which stole my heart. CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST
Without a doubt one of the most wanted and anticipated released for horror fans around the world! GrindHouse Releasing first announced this one in 1998... seven years later its here. The infamous Ruggero Deodato movie never looked as good. This edition is jam packed with extras which fans of this cannibalistic terror will chew on!
PHANTASM
One thing that I could never understand is why and how Anchor Bay in the UK could release complete box serie of horror franchise such as THE EVIL DEAD, HOUSE, HALLOWEEN and now PHANTASM but not in North America. Well for fans of the flying sphere, this is the edition to get! Since Universal owns the rights to both part 2 and 3, we'll probable never see this release here. And for sure, never we'll get such a kick ass packaging!
KING KONG
Finally! Merian C. Cooper's classic and groundbreaking masterpieceis now on DVD! This has been for years one of the most wanted movie to be put on DVD. Now thanks to Peter Jackson's remake we can enjoy this 1933 masterpiece on DVD loaded with extras and great transfer. This is the KONG movie to see!
GODZILLA Final Box Set
The box set that will stomp your ass! Contains 27 previously released Godzilla films and a triple-gatefold digipak for the three bonus disc. This set is simply too amazing. Why it is not number one?! First of all, there is no English subtitles for the movies and at a price tag of $925.99 US... my girlfriend would kill me if i'd buy it!
BLIND DEAD Box Set
Make no doubt about it, Amando de Ossorio's Blind Dead serie is one of the most respected and well made horror serie ever. Anchor Bay first released the two movies as a double feature disc back in 1998 but this amazing coffin box set is what I've been dreaming of since my first nightmarish screening of TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD. Here's what you get: Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono) Waste no more time and get it now! --- March 1st, 2005 Damn... time goes by way too fast. Its already been over a year since my last editorial. I promise that it won't take so long next time... infact, it try my best to do this at least every two months. Between work, a girlfriend, a kid, going out and surfing the net... its hard sometimes to find time to watch movies, especially in theaters. I used to go to the movies at least once a week, now with overpriced ticket, idiots teenagers talking loud and poor movies coming out I found myself going once every three or four weeks in 2004... sad. That why I love the whole DVD thing, I can watch the movies I want when I want to and without any dumb fucks annoying me! Like in 2003, imports were mostly what I got in 2004. South Korea continued to released great edition for movies like ARAHAN, OLD BOY, ZATOICHI, MEMORIES OF MURDER. From France we got the very cool but poorly transfered STAR CRASH while the Dario Argento's DOOR INTO DARKNESS tv mini serie from the 70s came out from Italy. Lots of cool disc also came out from North America like the New Line Platinum edition for FREDDY VS. JASON, THE MUNSTERS box set and what had to be the most anticipated genre release ever, Anchor Bay's four disc set of George A. Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD. Media Blasters released a few good disc like BRONX WARRIORS but continuted to release badly framed or cut edition of most of their DVD... they better get their shit together 'cause we the fans are starting to get angry! By the way, here's the results for the Best in DVD voted by you last December: ** BEST BOX ART FOR VHS OR DVD: ** BEST DVD: What the world was talking about in 2004 was Blu-ray Disc vs. HD-DVD. I can't believe that we are already about to change format since the current DVD format is perfect as it is and there's still so many movies to be released. As for me, I won't jump into the Blu-ray Disc or HD-DVD bandwagon... not now anyway. Also there's been many legal offensive waged by the MPAA against piracy. I'm not for piracy but to charge $25 plus for a movie is ridiculous, especially these days with DVD players so common. There is over 96 millions DVD players sold in North America... its time for the studios to rearange their prices. Also since the last time some major changes happened in the DVD CRYPT team. Mark and Brad are gone to other things, same for Brendan who now pursuits a writting career in British genre magazines. Mike Long joined us in late 2003 along with Chris Mayo and the Euro horror fanatic, the "Black Gloved Killer". Thanks to all of them for their great work and thanks to you for your constant support! Let's all spread the words around about DVD CRYPT! --- January 15, 2004 Welcome back everyone. 2003 is now a thing of the past and whay a great year it was for us DVD addicts! I guess I can speak for most of us when I say that most of my money went into DVDs. Tons and tons of discs were released through the year making it kinda hard for the budget to follow... oh well. 2003 saw William Lustig departing from Anchor Bay to start Blue Underground who released some great disc like THE PROWLER, TWO EVIL EYES, VAMPYRES and THE MONDO COLLECTION box set! MGM released tons of awesome titles like Wes Craven's LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, DERANGED/RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, THE HOWLING and ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK Special Edition. Synapse were a little late on their schedule but still managed to released some great ones like WILD ZERO which features the first ever 'Drinking Game'! Unearthed Films released one of the most infamous genre film ever, GUINEA PIG FLOWER OF FLESH AND BLOOD and gave it an awesome transfer with some of the coolest menus ever! Barrel Entertainment released two obscure and highly anticipated titles, the two disc edition for the rarely seen LAST HOUSE ON DEAD END STREET and NEKROMANTIK 2. Anchor Bay slowed down this year but released some worthy edition for THE HILLS HAVE EYES and DAY OF THE DEAD, unfortunately I can't say the same thing about their HALLOWEEN edition which features an excellent documentary and a commentary track but they completely missed it with the transfer. Paramount finally lowered their prices but still are releasing mostly bare bones and rated version of their library which is is shame. One of the biggest surprise of the year ended up being one of the biggest disapointment... Media Blasters acquired tons of great films but postponed most of them or released them cut or badly framed. Hopefully they will get their shit together. Still they released some very good disc for 2019 AFTER THE FALL OF NEW YORK and ICHI THE KILLER. And New Line continued to impressed me with amazing edition for films like BLADE II. And lets not forget Lions Gate who released films like MAY, HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES, IRREVERSIBLE and lots more! But for me 2003 will be the year that I really went crazy into getting imports! Trust me, if you don't already own an all region PAL/NTSC player you don't know what you are missing! One of the best DVD I got in 2003 was released in France from Canal+ for Gaspar Noé's masterpiece, IRREVERSIBLE. It also came with Noé's previous film which is another must see SEUL CONTRE TOUS (take not that it was released in North American as I STAND ALONE but this edition was cut so avoid!). Without a doubt, the best edition of ICHI THE KILLER is the Dutch one which is a amazing two disc edition featuring loads of extras and the best looking transfer of all the editions available. Lots of films from Japan's wild child Takashi Miike were released around the world, especially in the UK thanks to Tartan who had SHINJUKU TRIAD SOCIETY, RAINY DOGS and LEY LINES out! A cut but still very good edition of LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT was released in the UK by Anchor Bay featuring loads of extras not in the MGM NTSC Region 1 edition. Some very good edition were also released in Spain like the one for Jaume Balaguero's yet to be release in North America by Dimension, DARKNESS. France also had their share of worthy edition like the one for DEMONLOVER which comes in a beautifully designed digipack and features the best looking menus of the year. But after the US, Korea was the country to release the more splendid DVD edition of the year; SYMPATHIE FOR MR.VENGEANCE, SAVE THE GREEN PLANET, JU-ON THE GRUDGE (a Japanese film getting a better edition in Korea), A TALE OF TWO SISTERS and MALENA are some of the most amazing edition I have ever seen! Expect 2004 to be even more insane for your wallet... things are just starting! As for DVD CRYPT, we'll try our best to bring you all you need to know about the format so you can enjoy it at home. Reviews should be added almost on a daily basis, the best DVD of 2001 and 2003 featurette are coming soon, a special article on packaging is in the work, expect some interviews and more! Thanks again and help us spread the word about us! --- August 27, 2003 Hello again everyone. Time sure fly by fast... DVD CRYPT is almost 4 months old! With an average of five reviews a week, I think the site is doing pretty good. It is slowly starting to become a ressource to be reckon with. We also had a contest with Unearthed Films. Unfortunately, one of the winner never received the disc... twice it was send back from the Canadian customs to Unearthed Films. It happened also to one of the other winner, but on the second time he got his disc... I still haven't received mine... I guess Canadian customs have a problem with the cover and content of JUNK, ridiculous! I am very please with the interview with Stephen of Unearthed Films. I am planning on having more interviews coming soon... these things take time. Also the BEST DVDS section is coming along fine, my look at the best disc of 1998, 1999 and 2000 is already online... 2001 and 2002 will be coming soon. BLADE Platinum Series took the number one spot for 1998, HALLOWEEN Limited Edition took that spot in 1999 and finally SE7EN Platinum Series took number one for 2000. I would love to read what you think were the best releases. I am also very happy that Mike Long and Brendan Maltman have joined Mark, Brad and myself as reviewers. A new reviewer will soon join us... focusing on more independant and underground horror films! We try to cover as much as we can... I personally try to review as much Asian disc as possible. Expect reviews of 1-ICHI, RESURRECTION OF THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL, SYMPATHIE FOR MR VENGEANCE and tons of Takashi Miike films from yours truly very soon! One more thing I would like to talk about is the great amount of genre releases in the last recent weeks, its getting almost insane... which is a good thing. Just yesterday over 35 new horror DVDs were released! I will need a second job to afford all these! And finally, everyone should get their hands on the superb DVD DELIRIUM book from Fab Press. Its around 640 pages and contains over 1000 reviews of genre films on DVD! As always, thank you for your support! :) --- May 6, 2003 Hello everyone and welcome back to the DVD Crypt! Back in December of 1998, myself and Tim Roach, the webmaster of A Fistful of Dario web site, unleashed upon the internet what was at the time the first web site dedicated to horror films on DVD, the DVD Crypt. The site was a big success and was online for almost two years. Unfortunately we had to close it down. Since then, most of the emails I receive ask me if I'm going to bring back the Crypt. It took me a while to do it but I feel that now the time is right. Back in 1998, the DVD format was rather new. From all my friends living around here I was the only one having a player. I remember when I first got my Panasonic A-110 back in mid 1998, that most believed DVD wouldn't really take and would become a niche market item similar to Laser Disc. I remember reading on various forums that we would never see obscure, rare, or out-of-print films on DVD. Five years later things have changed and the DVD format has taken over the Home Video world. Films like LAST HOUSE ON DEAD END STREET, that were though to be lost, received a superb two-disc special edition release! Films like NEKROMANTIK and THE BEYOND, which weren't available on VHS for years, were released with pristine transfers and loads of extras! Today there is no doubt that the DVD format is one of the best things for horror fans since publishers are always looking to release hard to find films and give them the treatment we could only dream off years ago. So, why bring back the Crypt now especially with all these other web sites already covering the format? With access to DVDs from around the world, thanks to the Internet, so many titles are now available making it difficult and confusing to choose between good and bad releases. While there are plenty of sites dedicated to Region 1 NTSC titles, few cover the ones coming from around the world. Our plan is to review DVDs being released in region one and also cover all the other regions, PAL and NTSC. You can expect reviews of titles to be released, just released, and past releases. We will post a couple of updates each week. It takes a lot of time to review a DVD, especially the ones jam packed with extras, but here at the Crypt our goal is quality over quantity. Each DVD will receive a rating based on the quality of the disc and not of the film itself. We'll review everything from the image transfer, the audio tracks, the extras, and the packaging. The ratings will be based on the fact that the image features no signs of compression, artifacts, distortion, skin tones and how darker scenes are rendered. That the audio track(s) features a clear, responsive and well balanced mix, no hiss or noise distortion, new improved audio track and original audio track accessible. As for the extras we'll look for great menus with animation, music and sounds, chapter stops, commentary track, deleted scenes, documentaries, behind-the-scenes, featurettes, easter eggs, and film score. And finally the packaging should feature great cover art, booklet and/or inlay card, keep case, snap case, jewel case, cardboard box all in a nice graphic presentation. The rating system will go like this and will be illustrated by a DVD icon:
These ratings will be assigned to the movie (transfer), audio, extras, and packaging plus an overall rating and recommendation. But wait there's more! Special icons will also be use to show the content of the film itself. In the weeks and months to come the section called "Best DVDs" will grow and feature all of the DVDs that received a perfect score. I plan on making the "Coming Soon" section the most comprehensive and informative available anywhere with dates for all the upcoming titles, with the box art and the specs of the disc. Expect also articles on various subject concerning the DVD format, interviews with people in the industry, contests, an active forum where you can talk with other DVD addicts and more! If you have any comments, suggestions or would like us to review your film(s) on DVD, please email me.
DVD CRYPT is part of
GOREZONE Delivering daily horror news since 1998! Kim Dubuisson (a.k.a ARC-VILE)
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