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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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Aug 7, 2014 05:52
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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/
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Aug 7, 2014 20:24
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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.
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Aug 11, 2014 04:51
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Jet Jaguar posted: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. That's been mentioned a few times now, I think even Angus from the 90s is the same way when I recall someone else wanting a copy of it. I admit, it's a way to have a physical copy of the films, I get the nature of the service is allowing for fans to get a 'legit copy' of the movie, but at the same time just feels tacky and cheap and in a way almost inauthentic given the price they're asking for. All the ones I've noticed seem to be WB Archive release. I don't know if other studios just figure its easier to give something an actual printing and just shove an obscure film in a moderately-priced bundle with a bunch of other films, sort of like when you see those multipacks of movies that feature 1-2 big films and a few odd titles thrown in to fill out the set. MissEchelon posted:Mummy Market (it had a different name in the US, I think) was a kids' movie about two kids who don't like their mum so they go to the mummy market and trade her for a new one. And then they don't like the new one so they trade her and so on, eventually learning a valuable lesson or something. I watched it all the time as a kid, but it had a very limited VHS run and was never released on DVD, as far as I can tell. Every few years I try to track down a copy but I never can seem to. I think in the US this might have been called Trading Mom. If it's the one I was thinking of it had Andre the Giant in it and Siskel and Ebert loving LOATHED it with a passion. JediTalentAgent has a new favorite as of 07:41 on Aug 12, 2014 |
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Aug 12, 2014 07:37
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Another not on DVD, maybe: Josh and S.A.M. I seem to remember it similarly reviewed poorly at the time it came out in the early 90s but still got a VHS release and is available on a few streaming services, but no DVD release. While their parents are getting a divorce, two kids run away with a car. I seem to think Ebert and others similarly criticized it due to it putting kids into dangerous situations and treating it like fun. It's sort of interesting to think about that there was sort of a trend in the mid 80s-early 90s of kid-aimed/kid-starring films that were sort of all about putting kids into more mature, dangerous or adult situations. It looks like some movies in that mold that even did get DVD releases are maybe now out of prin, at least based on their Amazon price listings: Explorers with kids in danger and being sort of foul-mouthed, Milk Money where some kids save up to hire a hooker. DARYL, about a robot kid programmed to be a killer. All have DVD releases, mind you, but their prices seem so high right now on Amazon that it makes me think they are out of print and/or rare. Goonies, thank God, is still out there, though, at an affordable price...
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Aug 27, 2014 07:14
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Hearing Mind's Eye reminded me of The Wizard of Speed and Time: It had a VHS/LD release, but according to wiki there's never been an 'official' DVD. However, the filmmaker, according to wiki, has allowed people to file share the movie online for burning to a DVD without any comment. Video store in our town used to play that all the time on their TVs, for some reason.
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Aug 30, 2014 07:51
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