About half of my collection could be considered blind buys. But i always know something about the film. I try to get the story and any type of reviews that i can before i buy them. Very rarely do i ever do a complete blind buy, except for TV on DVD. Recently, i bought Without a Trace completely blind at the Target sale. All i knew was that it was a show about unsolved cases or missing persons. I didn't even know if it was still on the air.

But like many people i get suckered into the whole Criterion thing. If i find any Criterions during my used searches at Gamestop's i usually will pick them up, doesn't even matter what it is, mainly because of reputation and because they have very good resale/trade value.

When I begin to collect DVDs when the format debut in 1997, I've always purchased every new DVD release, movies that I've seen, or have not seen before. Afterwards, I regret on most of my blind purchases because the movies were bad. So I decided to sell all of the DVDs I didn't like, and currently, I've been more selective on the titles that I buy for that reason.... No more blind buys for me.

I blind buy a lot of times, expecially with certain genres that I like. But I do research on the movie before buying so it would be something I would want to watch. I usually blind buy foreign films since it's not something that they would show in any of the theatres around me and the cost of the DVD would be the same as watching it on the big screen. And as others do, it's easier for me to do a blind buy when it's $ 10 or less since that's almost equivalent to a movie ticket and I get to keep the DVD.

Rarely if ever in the past, and now I never do. I would rather rent something first than simply buy. It's both a matter of finances and of keeping movies and TV shows that I don't "love" out of my collection.

The only exception, I think, is for subsequent TV seasons. For example: I watched an episode of Arrested Development: S1 back when it was on, and liked it a lot, so I took the plunge and made an "educated blind buy." I ended up loving the show, but didn't watch any of Season Two when it was on, waiting for the DVDs. So in a way, Season Two was a blind buy...but not really. Same with all the Buffy seasons (rented the first season, liked it, hadn't seen any subsequent episodes, so each season was "new" for me).

About 75-80% of my purchases are "blind buys."

I collect a lot of classic movies that I buy based on reputation, reviews, actors, genres, directors, etc. I find that more often than not I end up liking the movies.

With the newer movies I haven't been able to get to the movie theaters as much as I used to due to child care issues, so I will often blind buy a movie that we didn't see in the theaters. If I'm on the fence on a new movie I will sometimes wait for sales or price drops to bring down the costs (so that I can blind buy more DVDs).

I'd say that I'm happy with the purchases about 95% of the time.

Wow, I am definitely in the minority here! 9 of my 92 DVDs are blind buys. So 10% of my purchases are blind buys; is that the lowest percent in this thread? I think someone hit the nail on the head, if one doesn't do blind buys, their collection is much smaller. Oh, and I actually had 11 blind buys, but I got rid of two because I didn't like the film. So at least I have an ok success rate on purchasing blind buys and liking the DVD.

I'm with the above post ... probably about 10% of my DVDs are blind buys. As of late, however, that number has escalated. I recently picked up probably 1/2 blind buys over the past 2 months. Granted I have done a lot of research before buying, so the titles I selected were all recommended. Deals at Movie Gallery and GameStop can really boost interest to blind buy (such as for movies like City of God, Crash, The Machinist, etc.). Also, I definitely prefer to blind buy TV shows, since there is still that level of freshness from never seeing good shows.

I almost never do blind buys. Maybe that's why I only have 84 dvds. I did however blind buy Hide and Seek because De Niro was in it and I heard Dakota Fanning was amazing and intense. Boy was I lied to. I probably should've known better after seeing De Niro's horendous Meet the Fockers. He's been on a downward slope. Hide and Seek was so shitty that I immediately sold it to a cd/dvd exchange (for half the price) unfortunately.

I also blind bought The Piano. I hated it, and not just because I didn't want to see Harvey Keital's pocka dotted penis, but also because I thought it was just a terrible movie. Holly Hunter did a good job I guess, but Anna Paquin wasn't nearly as good as people said she was. On top of that, I found her annoying. She was much better in X-men if you ask me. Took it back immediately.

I blind bought Barbershop because I heard everyone raving about how funny and new and unique it was. Barbershop was quite possibly one of the worst, overhyped let-downs I've ever experienced. Took it back.

I blind bought All About Lily Chou Chou because I love the song it has in Kill Bill. Also, Quentin Tarantino said it was great.... not that I always believe everything Quentin says... He said Hero was a great movie. I thought Hero sucked balls. Crouching Tiger was much better. I've never seen House of Flying Daggers yet, and I probably won't after seeing the dreadful Hero. Anyway, sorry, I'm rambling. I loved All About Lily Chou Chou btw. Excellent blind buy for me.

Other excellent blind buys for me include:
Battle Royale
...And Justice For All
Ray
Spirited Away
Dead Man

I think those are all of the movies I've ever bought blind.

I used to blind buy fairly often, but my collection was swelling with titles I never watched. So, I sold off a good portion of my collection and won't buy blind anymore, unless a certain film gets great reviews and at least a few of my like-minded friends give it two thumbs up.

I'd say 75-80% of my collection have been blind buys... I'd rather save my $8-10 that I would spend going to a theatre and save it to buy a movie or TV series on DVD. I basiclly leave it to critics & DVD review sites to recommend movies worth watching... and so far I've never, ever purchased a movie I have not liked.

The only movie I own I don't like is "The Whole Ten Yards" and that was a gift from my ex...

I definitely feel you there. Film is art. To each his own, though. There are those that like to own as many of the current hot titles as possible, others who like to own as many random flicks as possible - then those that want to own as MANY as possible. I have a collection approaching 150, and I think that's HUGE because the movies are all pieces of art (per se) that I will want to watch numerous times in my life. Personally, if I don't like a movie, I do trade/sell it IF I know it won't fit my taste or if I will not watch it again. Such as American Splendor. I did like that movie, but it's not be one that I will want to watch numerous times. It was a blind buy at Gamestop, and it got traded around again. One man's trasure is another man's trash. Everybody has at least 3 or 4 beloved movies in their collection that many people disliked.

Blind Buys are intensely exciting, too. It's comparable to playing Russian Roulette with your DVD player. If you like the movie, then you are overjoyed that you bought it. If you hated the movie, you wish the store you bought it from had a "This Movie Was Terrible, And I Want My Money Back" policy Of course, the average DVD is between 15-20 bucks. How much does it cost to go to the movies nowadays? I'd rather buy the DVD when it comes out for the same price and rid of it if it doesn't mesh with my taste.

To each his own

Speaking of which, I looked at your collection of 150 movies and I did not see The Deer Hunter.

Waiting on a good price for the SE to pop up on Amazon It's on a lesser want.

By the way, was ALMOST a blind buy. Decided to rent it first.

I don't do blind buys for movies much anymore - I live in Houston, and the Harris County libraries have a lot of movies and I can check them out for free, so I usually just wait until newer movies become available.

I do a lot of blind buys on TV shows. I don't have cable, and I don't watch much network TV either, so most of the TV shows I buy are either recent shows that look interesting (Lost, Veronica Mars, Wonderfalls) or cable shows (Stargate SG-1, Sex & the City, Battlestar Galactica).

I also buy a lot of older SF shows I havn't seen.

With more and more older horror and genre films coming out, I do quite a few blind buys, but try to know a little something about the film before buying. Saved myself some money by renting Satan's Little Helper first, I don't know what Lieberman was thinking, I love Squirm and Blue Sunshine was a great film but this thing was almost unwatchable. A lot of blind buys depend on the DVD company putting out the release, Blue Underground and Tartan Asia Extreme releases I will buy blind because of the quality they put into the releases.

I do have alot of blind buys in my collection. But it's probably because I don't go to movies alot. It would have to be something really interesting and on sale, like during release week or when they hit the 2 for deals.

"To each his own."

Not as often as I used to. Finances are tighter than before.