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I'm glad to see that they have something on the release schedule, it seems like it's been a while since I've seen anything new from Blue Underground. have they been having financial/legal trouble?

patrick wrote:I'm glad to see that they have something on the release schedule, it seems like it's been a while since I've seen anything new from Blue Underground. have they been having financial/legal trouble?

From the sounds of the recent Deadpit.com audio interview with Lustig, there just aren't that many new titles to go after. He also announced upcoming projects like a newly remastered Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, a new edition of Dario Argento's The Stendahl Syndrome (previously released by Troma), and a potential Dario Argento box set down the road (though he was unsure). He also mentioned that they've started to slow down on pursuing new titles and that he's now eager to move on.

Lustig said he would only be concentrating on one more year of running Blue Underground and then he is going to go back to filmmaking. Apparently BU will then focus mainly on reworking their catalogue, which I can only assume includes new editions for films such as the Argento/Fulci titles that have since reverted back to him. It's too bad we're going to lose such an awesome DVD producer, but I think we have to acknowledge that he's pretty much done as much as we could ever expect from anyone in the field.

One last note: Has anyone heard anything about Four Flies on Grey Velvet? I was wondering if Lustig/BU were still looking to secure the rights and materials, or if they had given up. Oh, and on a depressing note, he did mention during the interview that Anchor Bay had passed up releasing Jackie Kong's unbelievably great Herschell Gordon Lewis homage, Blood Diner. Apparently AB had the rights through their acquisition of New World Pictures, but there was literally no material by which to prepare the transfer. That really, really, really sucks.

The one thing I'm still hoping for from Blue Underground is a reissue of Phenomena, I assume they hold the rights to that as well.

Interview with Bill Lustig

-Can I ask some more about the upcoming releases of Blue Underground? You're planning on doing a special edition of Stendhal Syndrome.

-Coming out in September, yes.

-Would you consider letting Dario Argento do an audio commentary in subtitled Italian?

-Well - no - we're not doing an audio commentary, but we're shooting an interview with him next thursday. Him and Asia and Giuseppe Rotunno, Sergio Stivaletti and the author of the book. We're shooting those interviews in Rome on the 18th and the 19th. And when I say 'we' - I'm not going to Rome, it's going to be David Gregory who works for me.

-Will you feature both the English and the Italian versions?

-Yes - the English and the Italian. We just finished the transfer in high-definition under the supervision of the director of photography, so it's the definitive version.

New Argento release info

From Fangoria:

Blue Underground just sent over the specs for its two-DVD release of Dario Argento's THE STENDHAL SYNDROME, which arrives September 25. Starring Asia Argento as a policewoman who experiences hallucinatory responses to works of art as she tracks a sadistic serial killer (KING KONG's Thomas Kretschmann), the movie will be presented uncut (119 minutes) in a 16x9-enhanced 1.66:1 transfer, with 6.1 DTS-ES English and 5.1 Dolby Surround EX and 2.0 Dolby Surround English and Italian audio tracks. The first disc will also include the theatrical trailer, while the second contains the following featurettes:

• Director: Dario Argento
• Inspiration: Psychological Consultant Graziella Magherini
• Special Effects: Sergio Stivaletti
• Assistant Director: Luigi Cozzi
• Production Designer: Massimo Antonello Geleng

Retail price is $29.95. The same day, Blue Underground will rerelease the two-disc special edition of Argento's SUSPIRIA ($19.95) and the single DVDs of OPERA and CAT O'NINE TAILS ($14.95 each) previously issued by Anchor Bay. Cover art for STENDHAL is coming soon. —Michael Gingold

Cover art for Suspiria is included on the Fango link.

One last note: Has anyone heard anything about Four Flies on Grey Velvet? I was wondering if Lustig/BU were still looking to secure the rights and materials, or if they had given up. Oh, and on a depressing note, he did mention during the interview that Anchor Bay had passed up releasing Jackie Kong's unbelievably great Herschell Gordon Lewis homage, Blood Diner. Apparently AB had the rights through their acquisition of New World Pictures, but there was literally no material by which to prepare the transfer. That really, really, really sucks.

Four Flies... is still held by Paramount, and I'm curious to know if Paramount licensing out select titles to Criterion could mean we'll finally see it on DVD, since Paramount doesn't seem to have plans for it and it would probably sell better coming from a niche company like Blue Underground (I've heard Anchor Bay is still interested in it as well).

It's a shame about Blood Diner, although you can get an R2 version with solid video and audio, so I'm wondering where they got their materials from.

I finally got to see a Blind Dead box in person this weekend, man is that some ugly packaging (as much as I like the concept). I also picked up BU's release of The Bloody Judge, which is a pretty atypical Jess Franco film with a solid Christopher Lee performance.

patrick wrote:New Argento release info

From Fangoria:

...the movie will be presented uncut (119 minutes) in a 16x9-enhanced 1.66:1 transfer, with 6.1 DTS-ES English and 5.1 Dolby Surround EX and 2.0 Dolby Surround English and Italian audio tracks.

I'm not so familiar with this film, but isn't the Italian language track considered to be the definitive one?

Argento's films are all dubbed in post-production, so it's not really an issue of being "definitive" since neither the Italian or English tracks were recorded on-set.

Point taken, but the Italian version has Asia's real voice, and there is no substitute for her breathless tones.

Very true, and the actor who dubs her voice in the English version is absolutely terrible - I'm looking forward to throwing the Troma DVD in the trash when this comes out.

Any updates on the new edition of Suspiria from Blue Underground (due out late September)? Is it basically a repackaged, half-priced two disc edition of the Anchor Bay SE, with the same extras and documentary, or will it contain more extras and a new transfer (although I can't imagine the film looking any better than the original DVD)?

Well, Deep Red didn't recieve a new transfer - and it needed it more than Suspiria, as the final shot is pointlessly freeze-framed in the otherwise flawless Anchor transfer. Also, fans want the uncut 105-minute English-language version, not simply the 126-minute English/Italian language version, which many feel plays too slowly. Tenebre also needs a genuine 1.66:1 anamorphic transfer of the uncut version. 5-way comparison here. Example 4 is the most telling - the Japanese image seems the most accurate, but in example 7 it seems way off - unless a blue tint is part of the original design.

The BU Suspira that's coming out is an exact port of the 2-disc Anchor Bay edition, just like the rest of BU's Argento reissues. From what I understand (and I believe this was discussed earlier on the thread), Blue Underground is making these available to satisfy demand and then pulling them and upgrading them over the next few years.

I'm awfully unfamiliar with the vast bulk of the releases of Blue Underground. If any of you were gonna recommend ten of these releases, which ones would they be? I'm looking for recommendations here...the only films I think I've seen here is Django, My Beautiful Career and Q...and I've heard of Jess Franco...

Trib

I've enjoyed The Alan Clarke collection, Franco's Venus in Furs, Armstrong's My Brilliant Career, and Cronenberg's Fast Company (more for the two short films included, really). I'm not familiar with much other than that.

Steven H wrote:Armstrong's My Brilliant Career

If you're going to get My Brilliant Career -- and I highly recommend it as one of the best and least pretentious period films ever made -- then you might as well lay out a couple of extra bucks and get BU's My Brilliant Career/Starstruck two-pack. Starstruck is a totally disarming little musical (again, one of the best and least pretentious of its decade), and if you like New Wave pop, you'll probably find it a lot of fun.

Interview with Bill Lustig from the Twitch site.

Can someone suggest which Argento DVD's are worth replacing (from Anchor Bay originals) to Blue Underground? Thanks.

They're exactly the same. Only the cover artwork changes.

Thanks, Lino.

10kBullets reviews the new edition of The Stendhal Syndrome.

kekid wrote:Can someone suggest which Argento DVD's are worth replacing (from Anchor Bay originals) to Blue Underground? Thanks.

Unless plans have changed, Blue Underground is supposed to be working toward a gradual re-release of these films with new transfers and occasional touchups. The current re-releases was just part of a transition as the rights have defaulted to Lustig from Anchor Bay.

Tribe wrote:I'm awfully unfamiliar with the vast bulk of the releases of Blue Underground. If any of you were gonna recommend ten of these releases, which ones would they be? I'm looking for recommendations here...the only films I think I've seen here is Django, My Beautiful Career and Q...and I've heard of Jess Franco...

I would recommend any of these without question: Bone, God Told Me, The Blind Dead Collection, Mannaja: A Man Called Blade, Deathdream, Keoma, Companeros, The Crazies and Zombie.

Digital Bits has just announced today that Blue Underground has a huge slate of films coming to Blu-ray in 2009 and 2010. Among these titles are Two Evil Eyes, Maniac, The Prowler, Fast Company, God Told Me To, The Toolbox Murders, and The Blood Spattered Bride. This report might be more worthy of the Blu-ray thread in general, but still good news for those who want to see their favorites in high-definition.

Blue Underground has officially listed on its website that the Euro-shocker Torso and the outrageous satire The 10th Victim are due on July 28th. Also, Blu-ray editions of Circle of Iron, David Cronenberg's Fast Company, and Bad Boy Bubby are due in May and July, respectively.

Does anyone know if Stereo and Crimes of the Future will be in HD? That's the main reason I would aim to double dip, but I can't seem to find out the info. anywhere.