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Specs for the new Re-Animator Limited Edition:

DVDActive:

[quote]Anchor Bay studios has got there hands on Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator, and will be preparing a new special edition collector's set (the film had two good releases uder the Elite title). This will be a limited, 50,000 copy run.

Extras will include:

• Brand-new remastered transfer, approved by director Stuart Gordon
• Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1), enhanced by 16x9 televisions
• Remastered Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 sound
• Audio Commentary with Director Stuart Gordon
• Audio Commentary with Producer Brian Yuzna and Actors Bruce Abbott, Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton and Robert Sampson
• All-New 70-minute featurette: “Re-Animator Resurrectusâ€

[quote="Fletch F. Fletch"]Specs for the new Re-Animator Limited Edition:

DVDActive:

[quote]Anchor Bay studios has got there hands on Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator, and will be preparing a new special edition collector's set (the film had two good releases uder the Elite title). This will be a limited, 50,000 copy run.

Extras will include:

• Brand-new remastered transfer, approved by director Stuart Gordon
• Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1), enhanced by 16x9 televisions
• Remastered Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 sound
• Audio Commentary with Director Stuart Gordon
• Audio Commentary with Producer Brian Yuzna and Actors Bruce Abbott, Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton and Robert Sampson
• All-New 70-minute featurette: “Re-Animator Resurrectusâ€

Cobalt60 wrote:I love when dvd companies "limit" a release to a number thats ridiculously higher then the demand.

Especially when the company is notorious for having re-pressed "limited" editions in the past.

Matt wrote:

Cobalt60 wrote:I love when dvd companies "limit" a release to a number thats ridiculously higher then the demand.

Especially when the company is notorious for having re-pressed "limited" editions in the past.

Yeah, and after the way that Anchor Bay has pandered to the Evil Dead crowd I always get a little "frowny" when they start talking about limited editions or special packaging.

However, I am still whispering in their ear and sending them love letters about the Jodorowsky set

Here are the specs for Phantasm out April 10 via DavisDVD:
New anamorphic widescreen transfer
DTS 5.1 Dolby 5.1 and 2.0 soundtracks
Audio commentary with Don Coscarelli & stars Michael Baldwin, Angus Scrimm, and Bill Thornbury
Deleted scenes
Behind the scenes and "Actors having a Ball" featurettes
2005 feature-length documentary "Phantasmagoria"
1979 promotional interviews
1989 Angus Scrimm covention appearance
Trailers and TV spots including the Fangoria TV commercial

Meanwhile, a sublime yet underdiscussed release finally acquired:

DEAD OF NIGHT/QUEEN OF SPADES, two post WWII Ealing Studios masterworks of horror & suspense. The confluence of my need for more Cavalcanti and talking about Gordon's DEVIL DOLL reminded me I needed to pick up this Anchor Bay double-header (2-discs). The Cavalcanti episode of this greatest of sound-era omnibus (or "episodic") films is always associated with the Gordon film, as a ventriloquist is haunted by his own puppet.. coincidentally named Hugo. This film in sum is probably the one in the talkie era which comes closest in eerie haunted effect to Lang's DER MUDE TOD and Paul Leni's D. WACHSFIGURENKABINETT, though indeed a very different kind of film than these gloomy picture-poems from the early German silent era. The rarely seen QUEEN OF SPADES sees Anton Walbrook in a very different vehicle than the Archer's films we're so used to seeing him in.

Great set by Anchor Bay (as usual), with the films spread across two discs with no hardcopy liner notes but with some poster & prod photo extras. Required viewing for any fan of vintage horror.

Thanks for the tip-off - The Queen of Spades is an extraordinary film, and would probably be far better known had it either been made by someone with a higher profile than Thorold Dickinson or been released any other time than the late 1940s, when major British masterpieces weren't exactly thin on the ground.

You can't see the attached video unless you're in a British school, university or library, but there's still a fair amount of background included in its Screenonline entry. (And here's the one for Dead of Night)

Good call, Schreck! Although light on extras, the Dead of Night/Queen of Spades double-header remains one of my favorite and most watched DVD sets of all time -- because the films are just so damn good. One minor nit-pick, though: Queen of Spades was not an Ealing film. The producer, Anatole de Grunwald, was a semi-independent producer who was in partnership with Associated British at the time, I believe.

Cavalcanti's "Ventroloquist's Dummy" segment is absolutely superb, but I'd also like to put a plug in for Thorald Dickinson's work on Queen of Spades. As Michael points out, Dickinson isn't regarded as one of the giants of British cinema, but his small output is remarkably consistent. Remember, he directed the original Gaslight, as well as the quirky and highly entertaining Arsenal Stadium Mystery (which is a kind of forerunner of Green for Danger and a must for fans of British football).

I'm in the middle of watching Tokyo Ga by Anchor Bay, and just reading reviews of it, no English subtitles, even though advertised? I guess this is all the discs and not a bad batch?

Also at the end of the film, Wenders mentions that he almost got Setsuko Hara to do an interview for the movie but she backed out at the last minute. Then he said that it was sad he never got to meet her before she DIED.....
According to what I know, she is still alive..... Mr. Wenders went to the future.....

I picked up the new Re-Animator set on Friday (the limited version with the highlighter) and I was completely blown away that Anchor Bay found a way to improve upon a pretty much perfect edition (the Elite Millenium set). The transfer is gorgeous and the sound also sounds better (to my admittedly bad ears, at least). I haven't watched the Re-Animator Resurrectus documentary yet, but I'm sure it'll be entertaining and will tell me more than I ever needed to know about the movie. Also, I love the great "big box" style painting on the cover of the keepcase.

Goodbye Anchor Bay, hello...Starz Home Entertainment

Anchor Bay Entertainment has been renamed Starz Home Entertainment. In 2006, Liberty Media (the owner of the Starz cable network) purchased Anchor Bay's parent company IDT Entertainment and renamed it Starz Media. Starz (Anchor Bay) Entertainment has been the current home for a number of cult horror films, the "Three's Company" and "Xena: Warrior Princess" television series, as well as most of the libraries of Carsey-Werner Productions, Embassy Pictures, EMI Films, New World Pictures, Rankin-Bass, Stephen J. Cannell Productions, Trancas International Pictures and some of the 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures libraries, among others.

What an awful name.

I would have hated to be at the marketing meeting when some dumb idiot decided they had to spell "starz" (sic) wrong.

The fact that meeting took place ten years ago doesn't make the situation any better. We should be particularly over the s=z '90s phase by now. The one exception I would allow is a company named "KOOL MOVIEZ". Too much going on in a name like that not to love it.

My punk-rock Johnny Cash cover band was called the Boyz Named Sue. I felt the Z was essential, for more reasons than I can list here. Starz, on the other hand...

Replacing certain letters in your name with homophones is the most drearily conventional way to stand out. And unless you're selling children's products, highly inappropriate.

I have a better solution: make your company name a dirty pun, preferably on a religious subject.

godardslave wrote:I would have hated to be at the marketing meeting when some dumb idiot decided they had to spell "starz" (sic) wrong.

"Trust me guys, this spelling will never get old and will always be hip. Just like that New Coke."

You can blame John Malone for coming up with Starz! 13 years ago when they launched the premium movie channel, and then deciding to name the parent company Starz LLC. instead of Encore Media Group. At least they dropped the exclamation point.

The Starz brand is ubiquitous in Denver. Several times a month I am confronted with the fact that the city's only legit cinematheque is housed in this unfortunately-named venue:

Antoine Doinel wrote:

godardslave wrote:I would have hated to be at the marketing meeting when some dumb idiot decided they had to spell "starz" (sic) wrong.

"Trust me guys, this spelling will never get old and will always be hip. Just like that New Coke."

This one similarly annoys me: Zurich Financial Services ending their commercials with the tagline "Because change happenz". Aaarrgghh!

If you cannot spell properly, or are misspelling to 'get down with the kids' or to try to make it seem cool to save for retirement among the younger generation, then you don't inspire confidence in providing my insurance! I'd much rather have the boring, grey man in the suit thanks!

Just pretend that "Starz" is the last name of the owner. (it's a perfectly fine German name). l~}

Anchor Bay's Response:

"The reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated!

OK -- before everyone starts sending flowers to the Troy, Michigan offices please note: Anchor Bay Entertainment has not died.

The company was purchased in a deal back in the fall of 2006 by Starz. We still have the same terrific staff as well as a great line-up of titles. The only difference is the company is expanding. The Anchor Bay Entertainment logo (and collection) will remain a huge part of Starz Home Entertainment.

We are not sure where the announcement from Davis DVD originated.

We thank you for your continued loyalty and support.

The Anchor Bay Entertainment press team."

Anchor Bay is about to step into the world of high-def on October 2nd with Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Halloween and Evil Dead II on Blu-Ray. From the covers, it appears as though they're the same as the Divimax/most recent editions of the movies; it would be a shame if they just released the 1-disc version of Dawn of the Dead instead of putting out the "ultimate" boxset on Blu-Ray. It would also be nice to see some titles we haven't seen repackaged a million times already - why no Re-Animator?

Starz/Anchor Bay is re-releasing Johnny Suede, having (presumably) wrangled the rights from Lionsgate, in widescreen for the first time in R1 and with DiCillo commentary on January 15th. Full specs here.

Yet another new edition of Evil Dead, this time 3 discs worth, on December 18th. Full specs here.

More: they're also repackaging Knightriders on the 18th. Check out the crappy new cover art, although the original wasn't much better.

Cronenfly wrote:Yet another new edition of Evil Dead, this time 3 discs worth, on December 18th. Full specs here.

This copy has the full-frame version on the second disc, which hasn't been included in any of the other editions that I know of. The widescreen version cuts out the best joke of the movie:

Spoiler

A box of band-aids floating in a pool of blood.

Not that I want to encourage Anchor Bay at all, but it's nice to see them releasing the film in its original form after so many years.

the dancing kid wrote:

Cronenfly wrote:Yet another new edition of Evil Dead, this time 3 discs worth, on December 18th. Full specs here.

This copy has the full-frame version on the second disc, which hasn't been included in any of the other editions that I know of. The widescreen version cuts out the best joke of the movie:

Spoiler

A box of band-aids floating in a pool of blood.

Not that I want to encourage Anchor Bay at all, but it's nice to see them releasing the film in its original form after so many years.

The full-frame version was the one used for the Elite disc way back when, and Anchor Bay was smart to include it. It just sucks big time that they waited this long to drop the truly definitive (SD) edition on us.