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JediTalentAgent
Jun 5, 2005
Hey, look. Look, if- if you screw me on this, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine, you rat bastard!
I didn't seen an active thread on this subject, so I figured I'd start one and provide a bit of background.

About dozen years ago, just before streaming video became more popular and just after DVD had sort of officially was poised to replace VHS entirely, there was a slight boom in collectors seeking out movies like Garbage Pail Kids on VHS.

The value of movies that had VHS releases but with audiences that seemed too small to ever get a modern DVD release and were now only to be found on defunct tape formats jump. People started paying big bucks for VHS copies of films because they were sort of seen as the last way they'd ever have a legit copy of their own.

Eventually, even stuff like Garbage Pail Kids got a DVD releases. No matter how small or forgotten, everything seemed to finally get home video releases. However, I'm sure there are still plenty of noteworthy and obscure films from the last century of cinema that are pretty much still unavailable, either never making it to the previous VHS/Beta generation or more consumer-based DVD generation that followed it.

I guess I'll start with one to get the ball rolling.

Decline of the Western Civilization 2: The Metal Years (1988) A documentary about the metal scene of the 80s. While it saw a US VHS release in 80s, some television reairings on special interest channels and some foreign DVD releases in the decades since, in the US it has never seen an official DVD release.

The usual reason I've heard for the lack of a US release is similar to that of Heavy Metal for a number of years: Music rights. I seem to recall some speculation that there were performances and songs by a few of the performers featured in the documentary that no one even knew how to get hold of the respective rights-owners to negotiate for the DVD inclusion.

Up until more recently, probably due to streaming and files making it easier to find a watchable copy of, the VHS copy has lost a lot of it's mid-00s value, where I swear I saw copies going at one time for nearly $100.

edit: Feel free to mention notable TV shows, too.

JediTalentAgent has a new favorite as of 07:54 on Aug 9, 2014

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Bip Roberts
Mar 29, 2005
Los Angeles Plays Itself is a great film-essay but it's never been released on any home-media because it has clips from probably a few hundred movies. The good news is a DVD might be coming out though.

mysterious frankie
Jan 11, 2009

This displeases Dev- ..van. Shut up.
True Stories has a DVD, but it's never gotten the Blu-ray/remaster it deserves.

JediTalentAgent
Jun 5, 2005
Hey, look. Look, if- if you screw me on this, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine, you rat bastard!
Never Too Young To Die (1986), a movie with a couple of known stars like Gene Simmons and John Stamos, never got a DVD rerelease, either, despite its minor cult status. Hell, even SA had an article on it a dozen years ago:
http://www.somethingawful.com/movie-reviews/never-too-young/1/

spank my snatch
Jun 4, 2009

I've been hoping for a DVD release of the film Twice Upon A Time for years. It's a Lucas-produced, slightly adult (some light profanity) animated film from the early 80s that used some really cool stop-motion animation. I remember it being really funny, but I was probably about 10 when I saw it and it may not hold up as well now. It had a VHS release in the 90s, but it went out of print long before VHS became obsolete and there has been no DVD release of any kind as of yet. I'd love to get my hands on a VHS copy, but even more I'd like to see it get a DVD/Bluray release simply because it deserves one. Even if it's only funny to 10 year old boys, it deserves an audience and some general recognition for its design and animation alone.

BENGHAZI 2
Oct 13, 2007

by Cyrano4747
The Poughkeepsie Tapes has never been released on home media as far as I'm aware. Last I checked it was on Youtube and I'm pretty sure one of the directors uploaded it.

bonestructure
Sep 25, 2008

by Ralp
Siesta. Not really a great movie, but an awesome cast and a thoroughly persuasive fever-dream reality soaked in 80s kitsch. Very odd flick, I keep hoping it will show up on DVD as my VHS copy is old and wearing out. Great Miles Davis soundtrack too.

Bible Ian Black
Jul 16, 2009

I'M THE GUY
WHO SUCKS

PLUS I GOT
DEPRESSION
The Invisible Maniac, in which a man is murdered with a submarine sandwich, has no plan on being released on DVD because of its poor reception, which is a shame and I don't have to explain why twice.

mysterious frankie
Jan 11, 2009

This displeases Dev- ..van. Shut up.
Also Human Highway. Why was a Devo/Neil Young coproduction never transferred onto DVD? What kind of world are we living in? I don't know if it's a good movie, but I know it's a great movie.

Krakox
Oct 9, 2012
I've been hoping for a high quality URGH! a music war dvd release for a while, but it's plagued by music rights and the fact that the rights to publish it were tied to the RCA selectavision media format apparently. WB is releasing it unrestored on dvd-r's via mail order, and there's a version of it online in HD, but it's not the same.

13Pandora13
Nov 5, 2008

I've got tiiits that swingle dangle dingle




The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest had a partial DVD release but only like 1/2 the episodes. I loving loved that show in middle school.

Len
Jan 21, 2008

Pouches, bandages, shoulderpad, cyber-eye...

Bitchin'!


I would pay good money for a dvd or bluray copy of Cartoon All Stars to the Rescue.

Mister Kingdom
Dec 14, 2005

And the tears that fall
On the city wall
Will fade away
With the rays of morning light
None of Kate Bush's work has been released on DVD officially. I know she isn't fond of The Line, The Cross, and The Curve, so that's unlikely to ever be released.

Mister Kingdom has a new favorite as of 01:17 on Aug 8, 2014

13Pandora13
Nov 5, 2008

I've got tiiits that swingle dangle dingle




Oh, and high-res DVD/Blu-Ray/Digital releases of the original cuts of Star Wars Episodes IV-VI.

gently caress you and your lovely "enhanced" versions, Lucas. I hope your estate flips on that poo poo the second you die.

ubermarcus
Mar 17, 2009
I don't believe that the cartoon The Animals of Farthing Wood was ever released on VHS, let alone DVD.
All online versions look like arse.

Same with Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea.

Mister Kingdom
Dec 14, 2005

And the tears that fall
On the city wall
Will fade away
With the rays of morning light
Disney's Song of the South has never been officially released on video in North America (although some of the songs have been in some form or another) and will probably never be. I have the Japanese laserdisc. You can find copies on DVD on ebay, but they are usually VHS rips from the European version. As far as I know, Disney has never gone after people who sell them.

RedneckwithGuns
Mar 28, 2007

Up Next:
Fifteen Inches of
SHEER DYNAMITE

Mister Kingdom posted:

Disney's Song of the South has never been officially released on video in North America (although some of the songs have been in some form or another) and will probably never be. I have the Japanese laserdisc. You can find copies on DVD on ebay, but they are usually VHS rips from the European version. As far as I know, Disney has never gone after people who sell them.

It makes me feel privileged that I have a copy of this on VHS. Even given the racial overtones the animation was pretty drat good.

Yestermoment
Jul 27, 2007

Len posted:

I would pay good money for a dvd or bluray copy of Cartoon All Stars to the Rescue.

Complete with commentary from Alf Winnie the Pooh, and George Bush Sr. (since he has the intro to it).

Rambling Robot
Sep 13, 2011
Duggar Fan Club Superstar #1 LOL

Len posted:

I would pay good money for a dvd or bluray copy of Cartoon All Stars to the Rescue.

just watched it on youtube.

what a mindfuck.

spog
Aug 7, 2004

It's your own bloody fault.

13Pandora13 posted:

Oh, and high-res DVD/Blu-Ray/Digital releases of the original cuts of Star Wars Episodes IV-VI.

gently caress you and your lovely "enhanced" versions, Lucas. I hope your estate flips on that poo poo the second you die.

Came here to post this.

It's still somewhat staggering that if you want to experience the original movie, you have to look for a Laserdisc copy.

Inzombiac
Mar 19, 2007

PARTY ALL NIGHT

EAT BRAINS ALL DAY


spog posted:

Came here to post this.

It's still somewhat staggering that if you want to experience the original movie, you have to look for a Laserdisc copy.

Disney has said they will release the unaltered cuts on blu-ray "sometime".

Yancy_Street
Nov 26, 2007

drunk octopus
wants to fight you
It is a crime that Cast a Deadly Spell was never released to DVD. That movie was amazing.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101550/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Criminal Minded
Jan 4, 2005

Spring break forever
Crispin Glover's films, What Is It? and It is Fine. Everything is Fine!, are only able to be seen on Glover's own roadshow, though a really crappy-quality torrent of the former is floating around the internet. If they ever come nearby, make a point of seeing them; they're fascinating and utterly unique, and he also does these really cool spoken-word presentations of books he's found and edited into his own narratives, with the pages projected on the screen, plus extremely candid Q&As after the show. It is Fine. Evertyhing is Fine! is a legit great movie, like the perverted lovechild of David Lynch and Harmony Korine. He deals with a lot of taboo sexual material in a frank and honest manner that you rarely see.

At least one of his motivations for never releasing the films on home video is very noble; What is It? employs a lot of actors with Downs syndrome (and it's not a cheap or tacky stunt), and Glover fears that releasing them on home media would subject clips to being taken out of context for the purpose of mocking them.

Inzombiac
Mar 19, 2007

PARTY ALL NIGHT

EAT BRAINS ALL DAY


I managed to see a copy of What is It? From a lovely hidden recording and, while very odd, is a very good movie that deserves a proper release.

Rapman the Cook
Aug 24, 2013

by Ralp

Literally The Worst posted:

The Poughkeepsie Tapes has never been released on home media as far as I'm aware. Last I checked it was on Youtube and I'm pretty sure one of the directors uploaded it.

Now talk about how cool and deep Begotten is.

Pneub
Mar 12, 2007

I'M THE DEVIL, AND I WILL WASH OVER THE EARTH AND THE SEAS WILL RUN RED WITH THE BLOOD OF ALL THE SINNERS

I AM REBORN

13Pandora13 posted:

The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest had a partial DVD release but only like 1/2 the episodes. I loving loved that show in middle school.

After reading this I was gonna bring up the Johnny Quest TV movies they made in '93/'95, but apparently they got a small DVD release in 2011.

Derail: Does anyone know if those movies were anywhere near as badass as I thought they were when I was 10?

Wilkins Micawber
Jan 27, 2005

as we leave this existence
looking for another
Fallen Rib
Childhood favorite Beezbo probably was never put on DVD. Beezbo is the tale of a well-meaning but misguided alien boy who learns manners with the help of young earthlings Gilbert and Gracie. The film may have been exclusive to Blockbuster? That is my pick, well, thank you.

Nckdictator
Sep 8, 2006
Just..someone

13Pandora13 posted:

The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest had a partial DVD release but only like 1/2 the episodes. I loving loved that show in middle school.

Your in luck (sorta)

quote:

. All 52 episodes were made available for digital purchase on the iTunes Store in 2013

Optimist with doubt
May 16, 2010

Scoop Lover

:vince:

he knows...

mysterious frankie posted:

Also Human Highway. Why was a Devo/Neil Young coproduction never transferred onto DVD? What kind of world are we living in? I don't know if it's a good movie, but I know it's a great movie.

I think it's a beautiful world we live in.

Mx.
Dec 16, 2006

I'm a great fan! When I watch TV I'm always saying "That's political correctness gone mad!"
Why thankyew!


ubermarcus posted:

I don't believe that the cartoon The Animals of Farthing Wood was ever released on VHS, let alone DVD.
All online versions look like arse.

Same with Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea.

Farthing Wood was certainly released on VHS (at least in Australia), I had one of the tapes as a kid. I think it was released in stupid ways though, like you had to subscribe to magazines or something.

Cuniculous
Apr 23, 2007

kill people burn shit fuck school
Pete and Pete Season 3 Apparently they've actually made the DVDs, and they're just sitting in a warehouse.:smith:

the
Jul 18, 2004

by Cowcaster

Cuniculous posted:

Pete and Pete Season 3 Apparently they've actually made the DVDs, and they're just sitting in a warehouse.:smith:

Came here to post this. It's a disgusting reality, and Obama should do something about it.

Inzombiac
Mar 19, 2007

PARTY ALL NIGHT

EAT BRAINS ALL DAY


Cuniculous posted:

Pete and Pete Season 3 Apparently they've actually made the DVDs, and they're just sitting in a warehouse.:smith:

What.
I thought they never got printed! Someone call Nicholas Cage!

Big Bad Voodoo Lou
Jan 1, 2006

OK Octopus posted:

It is a crime that Cast a Deadly Spell was never released to DVD. That movie was amazing.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101550/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

I've always wanted to see this and its sequel, Witch Hunt.

Justin Godscock
Oct 12, 2004

Listen here, funnyman!

13Pandora13 posted:

The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest had a partial DVD release but only like 1/2 the episodes. I loving loved that show in middle school.

We could fill up this thread with TV Shows that started to have DVD releases but got cut short because of poor sales or what have you. Gargoyles had its first season and first half of Season 2 released in 2004 and 2005 respectively but then Disney just axed plans to release the final part of Season 2 and all of Season 3 because of "poor sales". I just read, in reference for this thread, that Season 2 Part 2 got released last year but now that means Seaon 3 is still up in the air.

As well, Best Brains and Shout Factory have pretty much said MST3K: Godzilla vs. Gigan will never see home video release because Toho's asking price for the rights is too obscene for them. It's probably gotten worse with the new Godzilla film out so now Toho understands how valuable Godzilla is right now.

Robert Denby
Sep 9, 2007
Denial isn't just a river in Egypt, huh? Nah, get fucked mate.
I’ve seen so many movies in the last year or so that I’d love to see get proper releases. Belladonna of Sadness and Liquid Sky are two that are on DVD but in compromised form image-wise. Speaking of compromised home video versions, I’m still pissed that Criterion lost the rights to Ran and we got stuck with a Blu-Ray that was carelessly shat out by Lionsgate and Studio Canal.

An uncut home video release of The Devils would be nice, but we’ll never get it since Warner Bros. is apparently terrified of that movie being shown in the US outside of a few repertory screenings. Warner almost did release the movie on DVD in 2008, then decided at the last minute to cancel the release. There is a region 2 release from the British Film Institute that is fantastic, but Warner made them remove all of the director’s cut footage and any reference to it.

Twice Upon a Time is one I actually am kind of surprised hasn’t popped up on Warner Archive. That’s one that should get the special edition treatment, since there’s apparently a ton of material that ended up on the cutting room floor, including Bud Cort playing Lorenzo Music’s role, a specially-made teaser trailer, and several deleted sequences.

I’m still kind of amazed Abel Gance’s Napoleon isn’t out on Blu-Ray. There’s a new restoration of it, Robert Harris and Francis Coppola seem to have patched things up, and its one of the most famous movies that isn’t available legally. There were two screenings with a live orchestra in California and London, but other than that there hasn’t been a peep about the movie possibly being shown elsewhere. Speaking of silents, where the hell is a home video release of Greed that isn’t on laserdisc?

Even though Stanley Kubrick’s estate has done everything in their power to prevent it from ever getting out of their hands, I’d love to see the deleted material from 2001, and the alternate endings to Dr. Strangelove and The Shining.

Phase IV with the alternate ending intact would be fantastic, as would the long-promised director’s cut of The Assination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Wild Girl is a great Raoul Walsh pre-code western that only exists in 35mm; its never been on home video.

JediTalentAgent
Jun 5, 2005
Hey, look. Look, if- if you screw me on this, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine, you rat bastard!
The original cut of Smokey and the Bandit 3: Smokey is the Bandit has reportedly never been shown outside of some test screenings, so it has never gotten a VHS or DVD release. It's the version where Gleeson played twin roles of the Smokey and the Bandit. There is a teaser for it, but that's about the only video evidence of it existing.

I guess that maybe sort of almost puts it into the category of Lewis' The Day the Clown Cried, which has only been screened to some insiders.

I'm probably certain there are some fairly obscure anime out there that got brought to the US in the 80s/90s during the VHS era but were never popular enough to warrant releasing on the DVD format. According to the wiki for Robot Carnival,

"The film has never received an official Region 1 DVD release. At one point, Super Techno Arts, an American division of Studio APPP, announced plans to release a Region 1 Robot Carnival DVD, but it has yet to be released. There has been a limited Region 1 DVD release[citation needed]."

I see a DVD on Amazon, but it shows as 'all region' in the seller description and the asking price is lower than the VHS copy, which makes me think it's a copy and not an official. So, I guess for the theme of the thread, it's still sort of in limbo when it comes to an actual domestic release.

Egbert Souse
Nov 6, 2008

There's this wonderful 1943 comedy, Holy Matrimony, which has never had a video release in the US. I think there's a French or Spanish release on DVD, but not sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e59FS5eZNDc

It stars Monty Wooley and Gracie Fields. A reclusive painter travels back to England to accept an award. However, his valet becomes ill and dies. The valet is mistaken for the painter and he just runs with the mistaken identity, allowing him to remain a recluse. Some time later, the valet's wife turns up... It's funnier than my description, but it's a nice screwball comedy. No idea why it never had a video release since the bootlegs are from a great TV print and it was Oscar-nominated for the screenplay.

Choco1980
Feb 22, 2013

I fell in love with a Video Nasty

Big Bad Voodoo Lou posted:

I've always wanted to see this and its sequel, Witch Hunt.

Witch Hunt is weird, and then gets weirder if you try to compare it to Cast a Deadly Spell. Like, Deadly Spell has Fred Ward as private detective Howard P Lovecraft (yes, really) in 40s LA, only filled with magic and monsters. It has a very Chinatown-esque plot with David Warner replacing John Huston, and with Cthulhu and the gang somehow involved. Witch Hunt replaces Ward with Dennis Hopper, moves forward to the neo-noir of the 50s, and suddenly removes any and all mention of monsters existing. Now the plot centers around Eric Bogosian as a Joe McCarthy stand-in, literally hunting witches. They're both unique films, but don't expect one to inform the other at all.

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Jet Jaguar
Feb 12, 2006

Don't touch my bags if you please, Mr Customs Man.



Midwinter's Tale -- a Kenneth Branagh production about a bunch of dysfunctional actors attempting to stage Hamlet in a castle in the middle of nowhere. There's some funky "we'll burn a DVR of it if you order one" option on Amazon, but that seems sketchy at best.

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