My 16th Anniversary Blog

 

Saturation Disclosure

16 Years Of NUTS4R2

Well today marks the 16th anniversary of the blog and so, thank you to those who have stuck with me so far and, as always, thanks to the new readers. I literally only found out it was an anniversary a day and a half before this thing has to go up but, hopefully this one won’t seem too rushed in the writing.

Okay, so for this year’s post I thought I’d once again talk about what the beloved and much appreciated boutique blu ray labels are doing, this time in their own countries… although it was inspired by an email I received from Indicator this morning about a label talking about another country.

So on the pre-release/pre-order announcement of Indicator’s deluxe blu ray release of Lamberto Bava’s Macabre, there was, shouting out in upper case letters, the following disclaimer/heads up!*

PLEASE NOTE: THE US EDITION OF MACABRE WILL BE RELEASED BY VINEGAR SYNDROME USING THE SAME RESTORATION AND EXTRA FEATURES AS CO-PRODUCED BY POWERHOUSE FILMS AND VINEGAR SYNDROME.

Which hit me as an odd but, certainly, welcome caveat. On the plus side… finally a label who recognises that probably more than half of the people who would buy such a title would be getting it from whichever country releases it first. They’ve pre-warned customers that they can get, more or less, the same content in both countries from both Indicator (in the UK) and Vinegar Syndrome (in the USA). So, yeah, more of this kind of forewarning please, it’s very welcome.

Alas, sadly for me (and also probably for many of the UK audience that such a title would appeal to), my first reaction was… ‘Wait. Didn’t I already buy that title fairly recently from 88 Films, also in the UK?’ And the answer, again sadly, was yes!

So we are now in a situation where a film is licensed to one company and, not that long after (only six years, in fact), the same film is being sold by another label, who now have the licence. Rather than said label, in this particular instance Indicator, releasing something that hasn’t been released already in a) the UK or b) the rest of the world.

So yeah, every time this stuff happens, I feel like I’m being punished by the very labels I make a point of supporting. Do I need to buy this one again? Both Indicator and Vinegar Syndrome tend to be thorough with their materials, transfers and extras but… well I’ve bought stuff from 88 Films before which seems to be using the same elements as Vinegar Syndrome so… is it really worth it to double dip on this title? Especially since, like most physical media buyers I know, another ten years may roll by before I even get a chance to watch it because of all the good stuff that’s getting released these days.

And it’s not like this is an isolated incident either. Around a year ago I bought an HMV Exclusive in the UK box of the classic 1970s film Westworld (I revisited it but I haven’t even got my review up on this blog yet) but, already, Arrow Films UK have brought out their own special edition of the film.

Similarly, I bought the 88 Films UK blu rays of the Shaw Brothers productions of Black Magic and Black Magic 2 not all that long ago... so imagine my slight disappointment when I found both films had been included in Arrow’s UK’s recent Shawscope Volume 4 boxed set.

I think there needs to be some law around about how long a licence can be sold onto another company and a new version put out, to save all this double/treble dipping. Certainly for releases in the same country but, bearing in mind that the target audience for these particular things are going to be buying from all the different territories then, well... globally too.

Just a little food for thought there. And if you’re still reading then, thanks once again for supporting the NUTS4R2 blog. It really is much appreciated.

*As I was writing this, the email announcement of the same film came into my inbox from Vinegar Syndrome, which included more hidden and similar but, less shouty, wording.