DVD/BR Collector Thread for the Physical Media Enthusiasts

[Curt McGirt]

Barry Lyndon is the real "Huh? Not yet already?" of the bunch. A real big one.

[odessasteps]

I thought that was an upgrade.

[Curt McGirt]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu7teeIHmw8&ab_channel=SeverinFilms%2FIntervisionPictureCorp.

Jake West visits the Severin Cellar

[odessasteps]

Giant Qatermass Experiment box set in June 

Quote

***ANNOUNCEMENT***

Coming on June 9th on #4K in the UK from @Hammer_Films: #TheQuatermassXperiment (1955)! 

Explore the chilling sci-fi classic that put Hammer on the map. Created by the legendary Nigel Kneale and directed by the great Val Guest, The Quatermass Xperiment is available for the first time ever in 4K UHD and Blu-ray. 

In this tense, suspenseful tale of scientific ambition gone awry, a space expedition takes a nightmarish turn when an astronaut crash-lands on Earth—only to begin mutating into something horrifyingly inhuman. As his transformation accelerates, his struggle to contain violent urges proves increasingly futile. Scientists and authorities race to understand the catastrophe unfolding before them, in a desperate attempt to prevent a monstrous disaster.

Blending horror and science fiction in the way that only Hammer can, The Quatermass Xperiment delivers a haunting vision of the terrifying consequences of unchecked exploration. This definitive boxset comes packed with special features and additional material.

This limited collector's edition comprises:

Five discs in a stylish digipak, including two UHD and three Blu-ray, with the Hammer content duplicated across both formats. English, French, Italian, Spanish, German subtitles on all versions of the film.
Included in the same set as the film for the first time, the existing episodes from the original BBC television series. 
Three iterations of The Quatermass Xperiment: the widescreen 1.66:1 UK Theatrical Version, the fullscreen 1.37:1 As-Filmed Version and the widescreen 1.85:1 US Theatrical Version re-titled The Creeping Unknown.
Brand-new 5.1 mix for 1.37:1 and 1.66:1 versions alongside the original mono film soundtrack.
Packaged in a high-end, leather-feel slipcase with debossed red and silver titling.
A rigid inner box featuring new artwork by cult favourite artist Graham Humphreys. 
A double sided poster of original one-sheets
Eight act cards featuring facsimiles of the original UK cinema lobby cards.
180 page booklet featuring new and reprint articles and reproductions of original publicity. 
56-page comic featuring a reprint of the comic strip from legendary 1970s magazine The House of Hammer.
The discs feature:

New commentary with actor and comedian Toby Hadoke, Nigel Kneale’s biographer Andy Murray and Wayne Kinsey, writer of numerous books on Hammer.
New commentary with Stephen R. Bissette, artist and film historian.
New commentary with filmmaker and Hammer expert Constantine Nasr and writer/producer Dr Steve Haberman.
Archive 2003 commentary with director Val Guest and Hammer expert Marcus Hearn.
The Legend of Nigel Kneale: The Creeping Unknown. Who was Nigel Kneale? Toby Hadoke investigates the man and his influence in part one of a brand-new two-part documentary.
Unstoppable: Unleashing The Quatermass Xperiment. A close look at the making of The Quatermass Xperiment, with contributions from Jon Dear, Stephen Gallagher, Toby Hadoke, Wayne Kinsey, Andy Murray and Stephen Volk.
The Quatermass Experiment: the remaining two episodes of the landmark 1953 BBC serial.
Patient Zero. Award-winning actor and writer James Swanton, who played Carroon in the live, 70th anniversary production of The Quatermass Experiment, examines the life and career of Richard Wordsworth.
Monstrous! Stephen R. Bissette talks briefly about Phil Leakey and the make-up effects used in the film, for a section trimmed from the audio commentary.
The Eric Winstone Bandshow. A musical short from Hammer that played alongside The Quatermass Xperiment at the August 1955 UK premiere.
The Kneale Tapes. A 2003 BBC documentary that explores the career of Nigel Kneale, arguably one of the most significant writers of the post-war generation.
Cartier and Kneale in Conversation. From the 2005 BBC DVD. Writer Nigel Kneale and producer Rudolph Cartier reminisce about their work on the seminal Quatermass series.
Making Demons. From the 2005 BBC DVD. An interview with Jack Kine and Bernard Wilkie, visual effects pioneers at the BBC.
Val Guest 2000 interview from the Festival of Fantastic Films archive.
Val Guest 2003 interview from original UK DVD release of The Quatermass Xperiment.
Exhuming The Quatermass Xperiment. A look behind-the-scenes at how the new 4K restoration of The Quatermass Xperiment was made.
Original trailers, foreign titles, Super 8 cut-down versions and the original BBFC censor cards for both The Quatermass Xperiment and The Eric Winstone Bandshow.
Extensive image gallery of stills and publicity material, alongside tracks from James Bernard’s score.
Quatermass and the Pit Omnibus Titles. From the 2005 BBC DVD. The bespoke titles used for the omnibus repeat edition of the third Quatermass TV series.
TV Series Photo Gallery. From the 2005 BBC DVD. Rare photos of the original BBC productions.
The features, packaging and specification on this page are not final and are subject to change 

https://hammerfilms.com/products/the-quatermass-xperiment-limited-collectors-edition

#BluRay #PhysicalMedia #BluRays #BoutiqueBluRay #CultMovies #DiscConnected #HammerFilms #ValGuest

 

[odessasteps]

[Control]

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/jet-li-chow-yun-fat-hong-kong-cinema-classics-shout-studios-1236379959/
 

Shout Studios releasing a bunch of Hong Kong films this year. The title I’m most excited by is PEKING OPERA BLUES.

[odessasteps]

You can find your own link for the Ben Affleck Criterion Closet video. 

#Armageddon 

Edited April 29 by odessasteps

[HarryArchieGus]

On 4/8/2025 at 4:31 PM, odessasteps said:

If you’re a criterion channel subscriber, be on the lookout for a $25 coupon. It might only be for folks who have been subbed for all six years though. 

Did you get this? I'm an OG subscriber, but haven't see this in the inbox. I love that Criterion allows the combination of coupons. I've got some serious accumulation going on here! Might even have enough to cover the shipping to Canada!(!!)

Edited April 29 by HarryArchieGus

[Curt McGirt]

17 hours ago, odessasteps said:

You can find your own link for the Ben Affleck Criterion Closet video. 

#Armageddon 

How much and what kind of speed was he on for that? 

[odessasteps]

2 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said:

Did you get this? I'm an OG subscriber, but haven't see this in the inbox. I love that Criterion allows the combination of coupons. I've got some serious accumulation going on here! Might even have enough to cover the shipping to Canada!(!!)

I believe mine came the same I posted that, so 2 3 weeks ago 

[HarryArchieGus]

4 hours ago, odessasteps said:

I believe mine came the same I posted that, so 2 3 weeks ago 

Found it! Thanks for the tip.

[jaedmc]

Vinegar Syndrome announced some of their Half-Way to Black Friday releases and it's a doozy.

A restored "dirtier" version of Bob Saget's Dirty Work starring Norm.

A 4k of Eddie Murphy's Golden Child.

A 4k of William Friedkin's Jade w/ Linda Fiorentino and the glasses guy from CSI: Miami.

And Cinématographe is releasing the Jonathan Demme/Spalding Gray collab Swimming to Cambodia.

 

[Andrew POE!]

Jade in 4K will be really rough to watch. Although Angie Everhart in 4K....mmhmm.

[jaedmc]

I haven't seen Jade since it came out, and teenage me really just wanted to see bewbs, so I'd be interested in watching it again without fast forwarding through all the talking.

Excited to put The Golden Child and Dirty Work on my shelf though.

[odessasteps]

This made me look if Criterion’s edition of Bound came out in 4K for similar prurient reasons, 

[odessasteps]

 

[odessasteps]

 

[Andrew POE!]

August Criterion Collection releases got announced today:

- Cairo Station

-Compensation

-Saving Face

-A Confucian Confusion / Mahjong

-Shoeshine (4K!!!!!)

- The Burmese Harp (4K!!!!!)

- Fires on the Plain (4K!!!!!)

My poor wallet.

[odessasteps]

 

[Curt McGirt]

This may be the first time I've not heard of a single film on a Criterion drop. 

Questlove's choices all being music related isn't really surprising, but he picks some killers. I really need to see Bamboozled. I JUST saw Gimme Shelter on TV out of nowhere a week or two back. Of course I knew everything about it, know the whole history of the Hell's Angels, knew about the murder and of Jefferson Airplane getting terrorized, but it's the other things like the Stones seeming kind of callous about the whole thing -- Richards probably never cared one lick about any of it -- and the haggles with the promotion which are all about greed and keeping their property secure instead of anyone's safety, that resonated the most with me. You could tell it was over, that's this is where it was at, and the 1970s had begun. 

EDIT: I gotta correct myself, just to be fair, I think the Stones started caring after they caught the actual footage of the murder live on tape. Something leaves Jagger right then. Or maybe not? Who knows what goes on in a man's mind, having that happen right in front of them and then seeing it in full. (Also, it's really cool hearing those songs stripped down to nothing with no bells and whistles. They sound almost totally different. One sounds like a Beatles ripoff, and one sounds like the Stooges!)

Edited May 19 by Curt McGirt

[Curt McGirt]

We were talking about this on the Discord: There's a 14-disc (!) Mario Bava collection coming out on Shout Factory, and Severin is also releasing four individual discs of Lamberto Bava. And Kino is putting out Danger: Diabolik! So, woof. 

[Curt McGirt]

Plus Vinegar Syndrome is doing up Stephen King and George Romero's much overlooked The Dark Half. 

[Curt McGirt]

Also this 

Quote

Our full slate of NINE Halfway to Black Friday new releases is now available for pre-order! From Vinegar Syndrome proper, we’ve got the 4K UHDs of DIRTY WORK (including the infamous “Dirtier Cut”), William Friedkin’s JADE, Stephen King adaptation THE DARK HALF, and 70s slow-burn classic LET’S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH; from VSU, the 4K UHD of Eddie Murphy genre mash-up THE GOLDEN CHILD; Hong Kong Girls-with-Guns trilogy IRON ANGELS 1-3 from VSA; anti-western CHARLEY ONE-EYE from VSL; Jonathan Demme’s SWIMMING TO CAMBODIA and the4K UHD of Jim McBride’s BREATHLESS from @cinematographefilms; and from Degausser Video, CRIMINALLY INSANE 2! All @VinegarSyndrome

 

[Andrew POE!]

On 5/20/2025 at 6:06 PM, Curt McGirt said:

We were talking about this on the Discord: There's a 14-disc (!) Mario Bava collection coming out on Shout Factory, and Severin is also releasing four individual discs of Lamberto Bava. And Kino is putting out Danger: Diabolik! So, woof. 

I want the 14 disc Mario Bava collection NOW. Give me Fulci collection and Argento collection and that's giallo heaven.

[Curt McGirt]

Okay, so this is the deets on the Lamberto Bava set, the High Tension thing above. It's extremely interesting as I didn't know any of these movies existed -- this is not the expected Stagefright/Sect/Church/Blade in the Dark set I thought it was gonna be. And they are gonna be GRAPHIC, as this trailer attests to. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYz5pv4eJAQ&ab_channel=SeverinFilms%2FIntervisionPictureCorp.

Spoiler

***NEW TITLE ANNOUNCEMENT***

HIGH TENSION: FOUR FILMS FILMS BY LAMBERTO BAVA

Order Link: https://severinfilms.com/.../high-tension-four-films-by...

Includes 4 Uncut Films Directed by The Maestro of the Macabre With First-Time-Ever English Tracks, 5+ Hours of Special Features & Bonus CD

In the late ‘80s, Lamberto Bava agreed to direct a four-part anthology series for Italian TV under the title High Tension. But when executives saw the completed features’ extreme themes and graphic violence, their broadcast was blocked for nearly a decade and they have only existed as grey market bootlegs since. Tomas Arana stars as a horror director stalked by evil forces in THE PRINCE OF TERROR, written by Dardano Sacchetti and featuring grisly FX by Sergio Stivaletti. In THE MAN WHO WOULDN’T DIE, adapted from a short story by poliziotteschi novelist Giorgio Scerbanenco, the survivor of a home invasion seeks vengeance. Daria Nicolodi stars in SCHOOL OF FEAR about a student academy with a dark secret. And in the giallo shocker EYE WITNESS, Barbara Cupisti stars as a blind woman who ‘sees’ a murder. All four films are scanned in 2K from the original camera negatives with Italian and first-time ever English tracks, plus over 5 hours of Special Features and a Soundtrack CD curated by Simon Boswell featuring music from High Tension, THE MASK OF SATAN, DEMONS 2, DELIRIUM and more.

DISC 1: THE PRINCE OF TERROR

“A MUST-HAVE GEM…

Lamberto Bava’s one-surprise-after-another spook show has scenes so outrageous they can make you break out into applause.” DVD Exotica

For the first film in the series, director Lamberto Bava and screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti (THE BEYOND, DEMONS) delivered “a wild ride” (Euro Fever) that’s part home-invasion thriller, part supernatural shocker and one totally over-the-top gorehound blast: ‘Prince of Terror’ Vincent Omen (Tomas Arana of THE CHURCH and THE SECT) is cinema’s top horror director. But when a disgruntled screenwriter – a no-holds-barred performance by David Brandon of STAGEFRIGHT – attacks Omen and his family in their secluded villa, it will unleash a grisly maelstrom of graphic brutality courtesy of special effects maestro Sergio Stivaletti (THE MASK OF SATAN, CEMETERY MAN). Carole André (YOR: THE HUNTER FROM THE FUTURE) co-stars in “one of the rarest of Bava’s ‘80s horrors” (The Bloody Pit of Horror), now scanned in 2K from the original camera negative with a first time-ever English language track.

Special Features for THE PRINCE OF TERROR:

● Audio Commentary With Mondo Digital's Nathaniel Thompson And Troy Howarth, Author Of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years Of Italian Giallo Films

● The Adventure Of Anfri – Interview With Director Lamberto Bava On High Tension

● We Call Him Maestro – Lamberto Bava On THE PRINCE OF TERROR

Feature Specs for THE PRINCE OF TERROR:

● Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1

● Audio: English Mono, Italian Mono

● Closed Captions: English SDH

● Subtitles: English Subtitles

● Runtime: 92 mins

● Region: A/B/C

DISC 2: THE MAN WHO WOULDN’T DIE

“VERY EXCITING…

This is one of Lamberto Bava's more successful films. He manages to walk the tightrope of evil violence without excessive splatter.” ItaloCinema

In the early ‘70s, the legendary Mario Bava began adapting a savage short story by poliziotteschi novelist Giorgio Scerbanenco (CALIBER 9) for a film project. When Lamberto Bava eventually directed it in 1989 – from a screenplay by Gianfranco Clerici (HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK, THE NEW YORK RIPPER) – Italian TV refused to broadcast the violent thriller for nearly 20 years: After an art heist in a luxury villa goes horrifically wrong, a gang member (Gino Concari of Andrea Bianchi’s MASSACRE) left for dead will hunt down his accomplices in a mission of brutal revenge. Keith Van Hoven (Fulci’s THE HOUSE OF CLOCKS), Lino Salemme (DEMONS) and Martine Brochard (THE VIOLENT PROFESSIONALS) co-star in “the rarest film in the High Tension series” (FilmTV), now scanned in 2K from the original camera negative with a first time-ever English language track.

Special Features for THE MAN WHO WOULDN’T DIE:

● The Scerbanenco Touch – Interview With Director Lamberto Bava

● Stephen King Italian Style – Interview With Screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti

Feature Specs for THE MAN WHO WOULDN’T DIE:

● Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1

● Audio: English Mono, Italian Mono

● Closed Captions: English SDH

● Subtitles: English Subtitles

● Runtime: 95 mins

● Region: A/B/C

DISC 3: SCHOOL OF FEAR

“UNDESERVEDLY OBSCURE…

With SCHOOL OF FEAR, Bava becomes a skilled professional. He is expert at staging atmospheric set-pieces.” Tim Lucas, Video WatchBlog

In the most unsettlingly creepy film of the quartet, producer/director Lamberto Bava – along with screenwriters Roberto Gandus (MACABRE, PAPAYA: LOVE GODDESS OF THE CANNIBALS), Dardano Sacchetti (THE PSYCHIC, ZOMBIE), Giorgio Stegani (CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, EYE WITNESS) and composer Simon Boswell (DEMONS 2, SANTA SANGRE) – present a private academy where the curriculum is defined by unadulterated evil: When an idealistic young teacher (Alessandra Acciai of Luigi Cozzi’s THE BLACK CAT) arrives mid-semester at an exclusive school, she’ll anger the stern principal (Italian horror icon Daria Nicolodi), unlock a nightmare of trauma and discover that child’s play can be the deadliest game of all. Stefano De Sando (Bava/Cozzi’s Night Shift) co-stars in this “absolutely wild” (B&S About Movies) shocker, now scanned in 2K from the original camera negative with a first time-ever English language track.

Special Features for SCHOOL OF FEAR:

● The Tale Of Evil Children – Interview With Director Lamberto Bava

● Play The Game – Interview With Screenwriter Roberto Gandus

● When Bava Met Boswell – Interview With Composer Simon Boswell

Feature Specs for SCHOOL OF FEAR:

● Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1

● Audio: English Mono, Italian Mono

● Closed Captions: English SDH

● Subtitles: English Subtitles

● Runtime: 100 mins

● Region: A/B/C

Disc 4: BOSWELL/BAVA Compilation CD

DISC 5: EYE WITNESS

“EXCEPTIONAL AND EXTREMELY CINEMATIC…

A well-constructed thriller saturated with Hitchcockian touches and a magnificent performance by Barbara Cupisti.” FilmTV

For his final film in the High Tension series, director Lamberto Bava crafted a unique twist on the giallo genre with a screenplay by Giorgio Stegani (SCHOOL OF FEAR, CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST) and Massimo De Rita (BLASTFIGHTER, STREET LAW) from a story by Bava, a haunting score by Simon Boswell (PHENOMENA, STAGEFRIGHT) and an outstanding performance by Barbara Cupisti of CEMETERY MAN, THE CHURCH and OPERA fame: When a blind woman (Cupisti) is the only witness to a murder, the cops – and the killer – set their sights on ending her ordeal forever. Mary Sellers (THE MASK OF SATAN), Alessio Orano (LISA AND THE DEVIL) and Antonella Antinori (BURIAL GROUND) co-star in “one of the best Bava films ever” (ItaloCinema), now scanned in 2K from the original camera negative with a first time-ever English language track.

Special Features for EYE WITNESS:

● Audio Commentary With Mondo Digital's Nathaniel Thompson And Troy Howarth, Author Of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years Of Italian Giallo Films

● The Last Giallo – Interview With Director Lamberto Bava

● Love Is Blind – Interview With Actress Barbara Cupisti

Feature Specs for EYE WITNESS:

● Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1

● Audio: English Mono, Italian Mono

● Closed Captions: English SDH

● Subtitles: English Subtitles

● Runtime: 100 mins

● Region: A/B/C

This looks like a must-buy set. It's crazy this shit even exists.