Wildo1966

I recently came across some expensive MGM Midnite Movies Double Feature dvds, does anyone know if they are ALL OOP now? It seems the Deranged/Motel Hell is the big money dvd getting up to $100 on Ebay. Is it true that Best Buy was the only store carrying this series? I bought about 10 of them when BB had the big sale on them....

zombeaner

Many are still in print, or at least available.

kintnerboy

No, they are not all OOP. Only the ones released in 2002-03. Mostly the old Roger Corman / Vincent Price films and a couple of Annette Funicello / Frankie Avalon movies (as well as Deranged - Motel Hell).

No, they were not only sold in BB. However, few stores have the shelf space to carry the whole series, so you'd do better to order them online.

Motel Hell seems to be selling for around 30-40 dollars.

MGM is re-releasing the Beach Blanket films soon in a box set, and there is a remake of Motel Hell slated for next year, which would certainly call for a re-release of the original.

renaldow

I beg to differ. While some of the MGM Midnite Movie line is still available on shelves, nobody is making them anymore. When they're gone, they're gone. They are OOP.

Quatermass

Some of them were Best Buy exclusives for a while, but eventually were sold elsewhere. There's a good list in this old thread:
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread....page=1&pp=25&h.
I hope they bring them back, they were great.

JOE29

I'm glad I grabbed up the ones that I wanted while they were readily available.

matome

I'm sure they'll eventually be back, as Fox is probably just repackaging them with their logos since they acquired MGM.

Peep

Damn!! I just realized yesterday that I have a sealed extra copy of "Deranged / Motel Hell". I was getting ready to dump it, literally, as nobody I know has heard of either movie.

Nebiroth

There is some confusion about the range. Many were originally exclusive to Best Buy...and many also went out-of-print fairly soon after their original release. However, back in 2006 many were given a second print run in addition to being made general releases, whilst titles that had been single discs were paired with a film new to the range and re-released as Doubles.

This gives the impression that they are rarer than they in fact are.

However, it appears that they are indeed out of print again. Some are relatively easy to pick up, some are not.

Thankfuly I learnt the lesson about the fickle nature of the Midnite Movies and picked up all the ones I was interested in during their last re-release!

There were a couple of releases a while back - some naff pirate films cashing in on the Dead Man's Chest movie. They were released as Midnite mOvie Double Features, but some joker changed the cover art design so they didn't match! Rumour is that there will be more releases in autumn this year.

Unfortunately the whole thing is a mess, because good old Sony acquired the Columbia Tri-Star library and decided the best thing to do was to leave it mouldering in a cellar whilst they re-released a movie they re-released three months ago ...

gorgo99

LOL! That's funny... I always considered Motel Hell a bit of a classic of 80s fun-horror. I thought everyone had seen it... even my mother-in-law has seen it!

"Deranged" I haven't seen, but it's supposed to be quite a good Ed Gein inspired film.

rw2516

Is the first issue of Countess Dracula/Vampire Lovers worth bucks? When first released MGM used the un-cut European version with all the full frontal nudity even though the cover says PG. It was only on sale a few days before they pulled it and it went OOP for a few weeks until they could get the corrected PG version out there. I've got it just wondering.
Also, I bought all the original single discs of the beach movies which were ws on one side, fs the other. On one of the double features they screwed up and used the full screen side of a movie even though the cover says widescreen. Worth anything? Can't remember which one it was.

Quatermass

It's good, but it's presented in kind of a weird way as a documentary reenactment. Every so often the camera will pan away from the actors to a "reporter" with 70's hair & clothes holding a microphone a few feet away who adds some factual comments. It kind of reminds me of the historian in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I think it would have been better with that stuff cut out, but the low-budget home movie look of the film makes it seem more realistic. I'm not sure if it's on the DVD, but my old VHS copy had some actual photos of the crime scenes and it looked like the movie was a pretty accurate portrayal of the Ed Gein murders.

scarredgod

i THINK only the sleeve was changed to reflect the real rating and that the movie itself is the same on both versions.

GOS

If Fox do, I hope they release them as individuals, rather than double features. I'd love to own What's the Matter with Helen?, but there's no way I want Who Slew Auntie Roo? in my collection.

JOE29

Fox also needs to release Witchfinder General aka. Conqueror Worm. I heard that was put on the back burner, I believe that was supposed to be a Midnite Movie but never made it for some reason.

cultshock

Just to clarify, Sony actually acquired MGM, but surprisingly, Fox managed to negotiate the video distribution rights for most MGM films, with a few exceptions (i.e. CASINO ROYALE was released on video by Sony)

I guess I should pick up the ones I still need/want while I still can.

man*machine

As someone mentioned above, the re-issue version of COUNTESS DRACULA is the exact same disc as the first one. All they did was change the "PG" on the back cover art to say "UNRATED" instead. Thus, no parent would flip out that there was rampant nudity in a PG film. So the original pressing is not really anything special unless you are a rabid collector who just wants to have it.

The beach movie you refer to was HOW TO STUFF A WILD BIKINI. The original single-disc release was a flipper (both WS and FF), but when they put the movie on the double-feature release, they accidentally used the full-frame version. The original release still never became all that valuable (in fact you can still get it for under $10) and it is now set to be re-released in a Frankie-Annette box-set soon - the WS version may be included on that.

Peep

To clarify further...

Sony teamed up with other investors to buy Fox, and the new board (which now included some Sony people) agreed to a deal where Sony distributed the bulk of the MGM library. The deal included a clause that let MGM back out of the deal if certain metrics were not met within a year. The metrics were not met and Fox offered a deal that was so much better than what MGM was making from Sony that even the Sony board members voted to switch.

The Fox deal promised minimum amounts that nobody thought that Fox would me able to meet if the deal was purely percentage-based. But, by agreeing to these minimums, it didn't really matter to MGM if Fox could deliver the sales that they promised.

So, everybody wins. Sort of.

Sony gets to focus on their own library and still make money off the Fox deal by being co-owners of MGM. MGM sees more catalog sold and still gets money even if it doesn't. And Fox gets more titles and gets to make Sony look bad.

cultshock

Thanks for the details, I wasn't aware of the specifics. But you mean Sony and other investors bought MGM, not Fox, right? You had me confused there for a minute, I had to reread that a few times.

Do you know why Sony is able to distribute some big titles, like CASINO ROYALE? Is that some deal they worked out with Fox?

renaldow

Links? I haven't seen one get that high. I've been selling some new, sealed copies of some other films and have been getting upwards of $35. I haven't seen any of the Deranged/Motel Hell discs going for more than that.

Wildo1966

Check Amazon.com 3rd party prices, they are up to $100 and I did hear some sold that high on another dvd board...

renaldow

You can't go buy Amazon 3rd party prices. You can list things at any price you want there. That doesn't mean people are buying it. Most of the ones selling on Amazon are going for the $29-$39.

kintnerboy

You certainly can go by them. Last week there were 3 copies of Fear City listed for $110.00. Today they're all gone. That means they sold. It also means they should have been listed at $150+


Motel Hell had been selling at $50 and higher, but as more and more people find out about it (this thread will add to that) the temporary flood will lower the price.

Peep

Yeah, MGM, oops. Thanks for catching that.

Casino Royale, along with the 2nd Craig/Bond film, are Sony/MGM co-productions and have their own distribution deals. I don't think Sony has any rights to a 3rd Craig/Bond movie, if one gets made.

renaldow

Use a little common sense here.

Yes, if all the sellers are selling an item for around the same price, that is what the item generally sells for. As in your example, they were all selling for $110.

However, if all the sellers are selling them at different prices, as is the case with Deranged/Motel Hell, you cannot logically take the highest price one and say that's what they sell for. You can especially not do that if half of them are selling for around $30, and one seller decided to put it at $100. For your logic to work, you would have to assume that people want to spend more money instead of wanting to spend less money. And, you'd have to assume that every seller under the $100 mark was an idiot who was practically giving that dvd away.

This thread is not effecting the price of the DVD. You have to assume that everyone who shops on Ebay or Amazon reads this forum. They do not. You have to assume that everyone who sells that DVD reads this forum. They do not.

Run along and go check Ebay right now. You won't find many copies of Deranged/Motel Hell selling at all. There is no glut to drive down prices. And, like I've already said in this thread, I generally know the prices of the Midnite Movies as I sell a lot of new ones on Ebay. They aren't selling any different than they have been, and there haven't been anymore listed than normal. You're assuming a lot here, and none of it is backed up by logic or actual empirical facts.

I'm not doubting that one copy at some point sold for around $100 on Ebay. I am doubting that they "sell" routinely for this price. I haven't seen it, and as mentioned, I look and know the market.

There's one on Amazon now for $740. Can you now say that Deranged/Motel Hell is selling for $740? No, because nobody is going to buy it for $740. Your logic is as ludicrous as your assumptions.