Dr. DVD

Okay, I love movies like the two Conans, Excalibur, Beastmaster, and Sword and the Sorcerer. More or less because they weren't afraid to have violence, blood, and blatant romancing of naked wenches. There is a place near me that has these things on sale for reasonable prices, but the thing is I have owned some of them before and wound up getting rid of them because I thought the picture and sound quality sucked overall.

Before I re-purchase, is there any word on if we will be getting better versions of any of these movies? I like them and would like to know if I should save for better transfers.

Deathstalker II

I have all of the discs you mentioned, and of them I will say this:

Conan1&2 were re-issued in a 2-pack 'Franchise Collection' that includes the remastered 'Barbarian.' I don't foresee a re-issue anytime soon.

Excalibur seems likely to get a re-issue, as it has been around for a long time in its bare-bones edition. Of course, it's pretty cheap right now.

Beastmaster was just re-issued late last year in a Divimax edition from Anchor Bay, so I doubt that one will get another re-issue soon.

Sword and the Sorceror was a decent Anchor Bay disc, so I'd say just pick that one up. However, I wouldn't dismiss the possibility of a re-release, so that's a judgement call. Last I knew, it was pretty cheap, so I'd say go for it. You don't want it to vanish the way that Anchor Bay's "The Car" did, and end up going for 100 bucks on Amazon.

bboisvert

CONAN -- We may see a reissue at some point (especially for the second film). But, this being Universal, you can never be sure what they're planning -- or that there's even a plan at all. I don't think a reissue will happen right away (if at all) and the existing 1-discer with both films is inexpensive, so I'd say you would be safe buying it.

EXCALIBUR -- the current disc is definitely a candidate for a new edition, with mediocre picture and only a commentary track for extras. But I don't know that one is even on the planning board. Once again, this is a dirt-cheap disc, so I wouldn't hold back.

BEASTMASTER -- full agreement. The current edition looks and sounds fantastic and has tons of extras. I don't forsee another edition of this too soon, and I'm not sure what more they could do to improve it. It really gets first-class treament on DVD.

SWORD AND THE SORCEROR -- I'm not sure if there is any hope for a reissue, but I don't think I'd exactly call the existing disc "decent". There are no real extras at all (just a couple of trailers) and the picture quality is abysmal. The thing looks like a dub of an old VHS tape. If you wanted to skip one of the titles you listed, I have a nomination right here.

JOE29

I'd love to see Excalibur remasterd. It's one of my favorites and deserves a remasterd edition.

Joe Molotov

If you have a region free DVD player, MGM has released a fairly nice Special Edition for Conan the Destroyer in Australia. Not only is it slightly longer than the American cut, but it also has a commentary, a few featurettes, and a DD 5.1 soundtrack.

Deathstalker II

Spoken like a true DVDphile!

I guess I say decent because I struggled for years with only a Pan&Scan VHS and laserdisc before the golden age of DVD, that delivered a (dare I wish it?) WIDESCREEN version of The Sword and the Sorceror!!! (you think the DVD picture is bad? Honestly, try watching one of these versions again...you may find you were a tad hard on the DVD )

As a BIG fan of this oft-overlooked classic of barbarism and bloodshed, I know only too well that any true genre aficionado would be filled with grief at having the chance to possess it, only to see it vanish into the mists of legendry...or onto the OOP sales lists of greedy Amazon vendors.

But--as I said, that is a judgement call. I agree that a new edition would be the bee's knees, but if it's within arm's reach, and cheap enough, well...

The flip side is that you could just give it a rent.

JOE29

I'm just about ready to watch Excalibur again tonight. So before I mention this tomorrow I thought i'd do it tonight before I watch the movie.
" Any new news on a remastered edition of Excalibur?"