Reel.com is dead
 

Admittedly, they'd been going down the tubes for a while, but they were one of the first sites that I started using when I got access to the Internet way back when, and lots of their older stuff was fun to look through. They don't appear to have even archived anything. I'll be off in the corner, crying softly.

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

You could share in the tears being shed here:

Defunct Technology or Websites You Miss?

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

Most of it's gonna go this way sooner or later. ;)

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I'll miss their crazy coupons from back in the day. If anything, they're the ones that started my addiction.

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

THey were still around? I thought they died long ago. I remember fondly the days of the crazy coupons and the little freebies that they and dvd express used to throw in the boxes with the dvds. Still ahve some post it notepads from reel and dvd express.

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

^ I just got to the last post-it on a DVDExpress pad the other day. Couldn't bear to use it for sentimental reasons, threw it in one of my exclusive boxes.

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The bright orange ones?

They were the site I started buying from exclusively. I still have some that are kept around for just the same reason ..

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

Oh, yeah. I remember that, too. TOSHIBAFREEDVD, wasn't it?

I was barely out of college, had my first DVD player, and was getting about four DVDs from Reel.com a week back in '99 or '00.

40% off of pre-orders, free shipping, and a $5 off of $15 coupon meant getting a $30 MSRP DVD for $12.99. (Of course, with the price cuts these days, most of those DVDs I got for $13 can now be had for under $10. Which, I guess, is one of the main reasons I'm so bearish on Blu-ray.)

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

Yep! Think I have some reel.com magnets somewhere, but haven't seen them in years.

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

I thought they were dead years ago. Didn't IMDB buy them?

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Yeah, they were dead as a retailer, but the site still worked for movie news or something. Someone else can clarify I'm sure.

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

I believe so. They began outsourcing a lot of their reviews to filmcritic.com at one point too, but some their old descriptions, "movie anatomy tabs," and old reviews were great (Tor Thorsen and Jim Hemphill in particular were favorities, where did you guys go?). I wish that they'd at least archive it all or something.

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

Yes, they stopped selling DVDs years ago, but remained in operation as an info site.

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

Give this a shot:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.reel.com

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

Thanks to Reel coupons I was able to obtain the first Stanley Kubrick (white box) set, and the Nightmare box (much more expensive when it first came out), back when my DVD collection was really taking shape. Hmmm, I think I "misplaced" my Reel promo freebies in my last move...

Good memories. Makes me nostalgic for that DVD-only rental/sales store that was around in the Pacific Northwest for about two years, Backlot DVD, I think? That was a shame when they closed as well.

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

never heard of them hehe

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Yeah, the early days. I got Titanic 50% off plus The Shining as a throw-in. Those 40%-off-all-preorder days were deadly on my wallet.

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

+1

I actually started buying DVD's from them BEFORE I had a DVD player. Their coupons were insane!

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

Same here. They sold DVDs for half off retail, so I bought a lot of DVDs for $12.49 which I still have.

Hollywood Video bought Reel years ago. Amazon bought IMDB.

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

At first I thought you were referring to reelz.com

that would have been scary.


Didn't reel.com do a special promotion for the 2 VHS set for Titanic when it came out in 1998?


I remember there were commercials on TV promoting the home video release of Titanic back then and reel.com was involved in some promotion for the release.

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

Wish they would have kept their reviews archived online. That is a lot of work to just hit the delete button on.

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

I was also one who started my addiction thanks to Reel.com. I remember ordering a ton of items from them at insane prices.

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

Is this topic a joke.

Reel.com was bought out and was redirected to Hollywood .com
about 7-8 years ago.

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Ah, the coupons, the trivia...and was it Reel that sent the popcorn too? Those were the days.

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

Man this takes me back-- I had just gotten my first player, and those coupons helped me build my DVD collection.
Not only did they have 40% off of pre-orders, free shipping, and a $5 off of $15 coupon, they also had a $10 off of $25 coupon.
Which leads me to--
the craziest deal I ever got at Reel: I had ordered 2 DVDs, both pre-orders at 40% off, and used the $10 off of $25 coupon. One of the DVDs was Metallica's SM with the San Francisco Symphony. Well, the street date for that DVD got pushed back to an unknown date, and Reel's system cancelled it from my order, yet they still sent me the other DVD at 40% off, free shipping, and still applied the $10 off $25 even though my order was no longer over $25!! And that actually happened to me a couple of times with DVD's who's street dates got pushed.
That ever happen to anyone else here?
Ah the memories (and the savings...)
And no, this topic is not a joke, it's absolutely true which is why Reel pretty much crashed and burned....

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

I think it was 800.com that included packets of microwave popcorn in their DVD shipments.

In a few of my shipments they sent Red Vines instead, which got me started on those.

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

Anyone remember 800.com's 3-DVDs-for-$1 promotion back in late 98? And because they didn't ship **RIGHT AWAY** the self-righteous indignant nerds on the Usenet nearly lost their freakin' minds. Good times :)

I remember getting some killer deals, like Criterion Brazil on DVD for like $15 (3-disc edition) or the first Kubrick collection for $40, etc. It was an absolute pillaging on the part of savvy consumerrapists. And we knew the gravy train was over by late 2000, but wow what a ride.

Also, adult movies

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

I just popped one of those bags a few months ago. It was totally fine, and no one could tell the difference between it and a 'fresh' bag.

Expiration dates are a total sham to get consumers to throw stuff away and buy more.

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

That's how everyone maximized their coupons. Place an order with a pre-order then cancel the preorder. The coupon is already applied.

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

I can understand not calling them if the pre-order cancelled accidently, but doing it on purpose? No wonder they went out of business.

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

I know all this is true, i used it to get many dvds too.

I meant the way the op was bringing this up as if Reel just went down, when it has been down for well about 8 years now.

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

Just to clarify, again. Reel as a retailer went down 8 or whatever years ago. But until recently it still operated as an apparently popular review and information site.

The OP may not have even known it used to be a retailer.

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

Good point I hadn't thought of that part of it.

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Trevor, you were around back then. There were numerous discussions about multiple accounts as a way to use coupons multiple times as well as ways to get the deal on just one DVD instead of 2. I'm not saying I approve, I'm just remembering what a lot of members did. That's why there started to be so many rules about what we could post. Posting of work-arounds became frowned upon.

Re: Reel.com is dead
 

Yup, checkout and ordering technology was much more primitive back then. We saw a tremendous number of multiple accounts at 800.com, especially during the 3 for 1$ sale. You can look back and argue the intelligence of having such a sale and how it was too tempting not to cheat on it. But back then, pre-internet-meltdown, the name of the game was not profit but getting a large user base so you could justify going public with a big IPO. Still, I remember going through pages and pages of listings of suspicious orders (multiple orders from the same address), trying to determine whether people were cheating or did they just happen to live in the same dormitory or something similar. Back then, no matter how hard we tried to automate the rules we set, there were people who could get around the automation and legitimate purchasers who were turned away.

Even today, the one order per household rule affects people. I know of people who tried to order their government coupons for digital TV adapters only to be turned away because someone else who used to live in the same apartment they did had already redeemed the coupon.

A bit off topic, I guess. But I had forgotten all about Reel.com too.