Joel Goodsen

Hello folks

I was recently about to purchase The Car on region 1 DVD and noticed it is OOP. I purchased a copy off Ebay, which was your standard release.

Looking at some listings, I have seen listings with a gold disc and some with a silver case. Was there 2 different releases of this on DVD? Anyone know for sure?

Cheers

Nebiroth

The Car is a very early Anchor Bay release. Lots of Anchor Bay discs of that vintage have gold appearance - it's discs made at that time used a different, and heavier, lacquer layer (a layer that coats the metallic data layer and sits between that and the clear polycarbonate plastic of the disc). It's also why many early AB discs (and indeed, lots of discs that are that old) display the "coffee stain effect" which is where the disc appears to have an uneven series of darker/lighter gold coloured patches. That's due to the lacquer being unevenly applied during manufacture. Some of my very early A&E discs are the same.

It should not affect playback at all, and does not indicate a special edition of the discs. AFAIK The Car happened to be issued in a silver coloured case rather than the standard black for some reason.

Manufacture has improved since then, so newer discs aren't such a deep gold colour - indeed they mostly look silver.

So, AFAIK, there was only ever one version of this title.

Joel Goodsen

Yeah I was thinking along those lines, But I am pretty sure there was 2 releases. The release I have is definately not a bootleg and it is issued in a standard black case and the disc is silver.

rw2516

Pretty sure The Car came in silver case only. An original(not bootleg) will have both the widescreen(anamorphic) and full screen versions on same side, artwork on other. 5.1 surround. Also there is an insert. I had two and sold one on ebay. I made a point of taking pictures so buyers could see the silver case and the insert.

Joel Goodsen

Just checked the DVD. It has widescreen and fullscreen on the same side and has the insert. It is definately an original release. There must of been 2 releases.

matome

Hmm...I'll take a look at mine when I get home

highclassrob

Any chance of a blue underground rerelease? Does Bill Lustig have the rights to this one too?

islandclaws

I think they've reverted back to Universal, and you know how they love to reissue old horror movies in grand editions.

laserdogg

My copy is in the silver case w/insert and is the only release I've ever noticed. It was purchased 11/7/99 at Best Buy for 14.99 FWIW

Joel Goodsen

Hmm maybe a few copies were released in a black case. Its got the Anchor Bay logo on it. I was expecting there to be 2 releases the way some were described on Ebay. " Silver case with limited Gold disc! " like it was a gold mine and sort of hinting that there was a normal release AND one with the silver case and gold disc.

I'll leave this one to unsolved mysteries I suppose.

Mountain Biker

The copy I bought from DDD years ago came in a black case

wewantflair

This disc was definitely released both in a black and a silver case. The silver is cooler looking, but the black is a bit less common.

matome

Mine is black with "The Car" in silver lettering.

Nebiroth

Incidentally the film has been released here in the UK by Universal, in 2005, so it will undoubtedly be on a "silver" disc in a standard black case. The cover is virtually identical to the Anchor Bay one.

So make sure that you aren't buying an r2 release.

Ignore the "gold disc!" stuff. There was never a special release with a disc made of gold or anything like that. A lot of the early AB discs have a gold colour. Some Ebayers are being cunning - it is indeed "gold" (but only because it happens to look that way and so are a lot of other discs),it is indeed "rare" and "limited" (but because they only made so many and it's now OOP) and it is in a "silver case!" (but because they happened to have some silver cases at the time).

None of these things mean that it has anything particularly "unique" about it.

If you want the film, cheapest way is to go multiregion and get the uK disc!

It would not suprise me to find some unscrupulous sellers actually selling those as the Anchor Bay one. They look virtually the same.

Joel Goodsen

Oh yeah its definately Region 1, I live in the UK and did see the DVD for sale on region 2 but if I can get my hands on a region 1 DVD that is oop and may fetch me some extra cash if I ever need to sell it, Im not one for turning it down

I thought the gold disc stuff seemed abit far fetched but with the silver case aswell (which you dont see many from AB) I thought it may well be something of a rare item, but I do remember seeing gold disc DVDs when I first started buying.

Im pretty happy with the deal I got, I only paid 3 or 4 pound more than the UK release would of cost me and its nice to have an OOP region 1 release that may fetch abit more (be it without the silver case and gold disc)

Cheers