Blue Underground

[JPJ]

Stroszeck,I believe the reason was rights issues(or Italian rights holders demanding too much money).

[stroszeck]

Why would they invest time and money into a restoration before locking down the rights? Thats frustrating.

[nolanoe]

Any news on upcoming Fulci-BDs? I am crossing my fingers for Manhattan Baby and Contraband as well as his early "Gialli" (One on top of another to Psychic).

[JPJ]

Any news on upcoming Fulci-BDs? I am crossing my fingers for Manhattan Baby and Contraband as well as his early "Gialli" (One on top of another to Psychic).

I think they don't have rights for giallos you mentioned,Don't torture a duckling could be a possibility?

[nolanoe]

Well, given that One On Top/Perversion Story and Lizard have pretty decent DVD transfers, I am more interested in Manhattan Baby and Contraband though.

[Anthony Thorne]

Blue Underground have recently announced that the spaghetti westerns A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL and DJANGO KILL! are next in line for Blu-Ray upgrades. I'm keen to purchase the latter. The German Koch Media DVD of BULLET features an alternate English dub track that to my ears is better than the one Blue-Underground used for their DVD. It'd be nice if BU were able to add it to their own release.

CONTAMINATION and EMANUELLE IN AMERICA will have to get Blu-Ray upgrades at some point. I'm sure there are other BU titles that also rank highly.

[JPJ]

Bullet for the general is going to be a two-disc set.On bonus disc there's Gian Maria Volonte: Un Attore Contro (112 Mins.).Their site promises that the movie itself is"freshly transferred in handsome High Definition".This is ,in my opinion, one of the few essential spaghetti westerns so hopefully they'll do it justice.All video versions I've seen so far look kind of fuzzy and washed out.

[Duncan Hopper]

This is indeed very good news, quien sabe? has been crying out for a decent transfer, plus it will be excellent to hear the Bacalov/Morricone soundtrack properly.
And what with that intriguing Gian Maria Volonte doc, this is a must buy.

Edit: Just noticed 'Gian Maria Volonte: Un Attore Contro' is on YouTube in full, but without subs. It looks superb, right off the bat it has Theo Angelopoulos commenting, a great start, really looking forward to this now.

[JPJ]

Also excited about the Volonte doc.I wonder if Alex Cox is on board?Lately I've been reading his spaghetti western book 10 000 ways to die,overall it's a worthwhile read but his hatchet job on Melville's Le Cercle Rouge is absurd.Basically it's on the grounds that Melville didn't like Gian Maria Volonte,not as an actor,as a person or his political views.I agree with Cox that Quien sabe? is a (near) masterpiece.

[dwk]

BU is releasing four Volumes of DVD triple packs.

MIDNIGHT MOVIES VOL 1: HORROR TRIPLE FEATURE (A BLADE IN THE DARK/MACABRE/SHOCK)


MIDNIGHT MOVIES VOL 2: WESTERN TRIPLE FEATURE (COMPANEROS/FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE/RUN MAN RUN)


MIDNIGHT MOVIES VOL 3: ACTION TRIPLE FEATURE (BIG RACKET/HEROIN BUSTERS/STREET LAW)


MIDNIGHT MOVIES VOL 4: THRILLER TRIPLE FEATURE (BLOODSTAINED SHADOW/SHORT NIGHT OF GLASS DOLLS/WHO SAW HER DIE)

[Der Spieler]

I might buy the thriller one.

[colinr0380]

Those sound good value, though I guess that it sadly implies that these films will not be re-released on Blu any time soon. The Thriller set is probably a good alternative to the long out of print Giallo Collection, though without The Case of the Bloody Iris (which was one of the least essential films of the set but still had its moments along with a really catchy theme tune!)

[JPJ]

I might buy the thriller one.

Both Short night of glass dolls and Bloodstained shadow are essential if you are interested in giallos,go for it.

[domino harvey]

Of course I already just bought a title from each of the interesting-looking sets

[dwk]

Of course I already just bought a title from each of the interesting-looking sets

Ouch. Fortunately for me I don't own any of the films in two sets, Horror and Action, that I'm interested in (I used to own an Anchor Bay double feature of A Blade in the Dark and Macabre but I sold it.)

[JPJ]

Dvdtalk reviews A Bullet for the general.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/55023/bu ... general-a/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[dwk]

According to DVD Aficionado, Blue Underground has 3 more Midnight Movie releases set for August 8. Unlike the first four, these are double features and have an MSRP of $14.98.

Midnight Movies Vol. 5: Sci-Fi Double Feature (Contamination & Shape of Things to Come)


Midnight Movies Vol. 6: Car Crash Double Feature (Cannonball & Fast Company)


Midnight Movies Vol. 7: Crime Double Feature (Grand Slam & Revolver)


About 6 or 7 years ago, BU released all of these same double features as "Two-fers", so maybe they'll re-issue some of the other "Two-fers"

[dwk]

Three more double features ($14.98 MSRP) due out on October 30th:

Midnight Movies Vol. 08: Cannibal Double Feature (Cannibal Man & Cannibals)


Midnight Movies Vol. 09: Zombie Double Feature (Hell of the Living Dead & Nightmare City)


Midnight Movies Vol. 10: Killer Critters Double Feature (Rats: Night of Terror & Venom)

[doc mccoy]

Bullet for the general is going to be a two-disc set.On bonus disc there's Gian Maria Volonte: Un Attore Contro (112 Mins.).Their site promises that the movie itself is"freshly transferred in handsome High Definition".This is ,in my opinion, one of the few essential spaghetti westerns so hopefully they'll do it justice.All video versions I've seen so far look kind of fuzzy and washed out.

I just wanted to add to this - Un Attore Contro is an absolutely superb doc and it has inspired me to go and seek out more Gian Maria Volonte films. A very strong extra, comparable if not superior to the film itself.

I hope that this Bullet for the General release sells really well, particularly as BU seems to be slowing down their blu slate.

[JPJ]

Bullet for the general is a fantastic release indeed,must get to Volonte doc soon although I think the makers were unable to licence a lot of film clips they wanted.

Just watched the US version(115 min.) of Bullet... so here's a couple of random observations:
-Fassbinder "borrowed" the famous(?) "He tried to kill Nino and Nino is...a friend of mine" scene for one of his early films(probably The American Soldier,can't remember for sure).Maybe RW was intrugued that Volonte's character El Chuncho clearly falls in love with Nino("The kid")

-Someone(the distributor?)cut out couple of key lines from the last scene.Apparently they thought that "Quien Sabe?" would confuse American audiencies.Fortunately the international version(118 min)is also included on BU's disc.

[dwk]

SNUFF Blu-ray is in the works

We were actually just reaching out to Roberta Findlay, because we’re putting out Snuff again as a Blu-ray. We have a lot of interesting extras to put on it. You know, what appeals to me is the mystique of the film. And what interests me is how [Allan Shackleton] took what was in the news about snuff movies, and created controversy around this awful movie by shooting some additional footage at the end. Also, him hiring protestors and the whole marketing campaign the guy did. All that stuff interested me. I think the movie itself is so bad, it’s unbelievable. But now we’re gonna give it to audiences in high definition. And in fact, I was just going over a scene in the movie with my associate. We were talking about color correction in a day-for-night scene, and I was telling him “Make sure you can balance the shots.” It was this really badly shot day-for-night footage. It was shot in South America, except for the end. The end was shot in Chelsea.

[knives]

I wonder if they will look for the original cut.

[dwk]

No details yet, but BU is releasing Maniac Cop 2 and 3 on Blu-ray

[dad1153]

"Maniac Cop 2" has been on rotation in the Showtime channels as recently as a few months back. They were still using the full-screen non-HD transfer from back when the movie premiered on cable in '91, which stood-out since Showtime is one of the few premium cable channels to air HD movies OAR. Hopefully BU actually spent some coin on a decent or at least a newer-than-23-years video transfer for the BD.

[domino harvey]

Considering Blue Underground is run by the director, I'd expect it to look as nice as the label can afford