MoviePhanatic00

I'm sorry if this is old news or a duplicate posting, but I got an email about a 5 for $55 sale on Warner Archive. While browsing titles I was shocked to come across "If Looks Could Kill." Sure there is terrible acting, sure it's cheesy, sure it stars Richard Grieco, but darn it there is just something awesome about this flick. Too bad I can't find 4 more titles I want.

Also there is a new style cover art for this one, which looks great compared to the rather blah covers they typically use.

If you this one that has been on your want list, here you go.

http://www.wbshop.com/If-Looks-Could...ml?cgid=5for55

EdTheRipper

Excellent. I've been wanting this one for a while.

-TRANCE-

FINALLY! I honestly really enjoyed the hell out of this movie. I've owned the vhs and soundtrack for years. This was one of those early 90s movies that would play on HBO all the time.

marty888

I'm in - one of my favorite "guilty pleasures"!

matome

Is this anamorphic?

stingermck

I saw this in the other thread. How long has it been available? Too bad its not getting an 'official' release. i have it sitting on my DVR right now.

orangerunner

I'm surprised a title like this doesn't get a proper pressed run. The minimum run for pressed discs, in most cases, is 1000 copies. With the cult status this film has, I'm sure they could unload 1000 copies easily enough.

It's nice to see they chose the original movie poster cover art as well.

Lastdaysofrain

Ordered it this morning, I have it on Laser Disc, but an upgrade is welcome.

marty888

Just ordered this, using the two $5-off codes revealed in the Bargains thread (WELCOME09 and CABINWB) dropping the "5 for $55" down to "5 for $45" - nice!

Alan Smithee

Again, there's no reason for a movie like this to be released that way. It would have sold a decent number as a regular release.

MoviePhanatic00

Got an email that it shipped, wow, that was fast, I let you know my impressions of PQ once I watch it, but I might be bit biased, last time I saw it was on Netflix streaming, the PQ was so horrendous on that, I thought I was watching a VHS that had been reduped about 5 times.

Lastdaysofrain

The old laser disc actually looks pretty decent, I think it also may be open matte.

I actually don't think this would have sold very well on DVD if it was released as a "pressed" disc, is there an army of Richard Gricco fans out there living underground?

I saw this in theatres, it's an underrated movie, but I don't know if it has a big cult audience.

dx23

This film, as well as Angus, has a big cult following. It should sell well if they release both of them as pressed discs, not DVD-Rs.

Geofferson

I too have been waiting for this -- may have to pick it up.

Lastdaysofrain

Define "Big Cult Following", I bet it's not actually that much. I'd love to see both those movies have a full blown, two disc, special features packed release, but there's no market for it. Warner wants to make money, if there was a market for it, they'd release it.

mdnitoil

Frankly, if I already had this on laserdisc I wouldn't waste a lot of money being the guinea pig for the Archive release. One of the tenents of the Archive releases is that Warner will use the best available master they have...in other words there is every chance that they are repurposing the exact same laster master you already own. Absolutely none of the titles in the Archives are guaranteed to be remastered. Just food for thought.

rw2516

They do make new masters for the widescreen titles, because they are 16x9. They just don't do any restoration or cleanup.

smurr05

I bought 'Carny' and never realized it was a dvd-r until reading some of the posts on this forum. Regardless it is anamorphic and the picture looked good and played fine on my Sony 5 disc player so I am happy with my purchase as it is one of my favorite Jodie Foster films-

orangerunner

One of the meanings of cult is it has a small but dedicated fan base. They'd be crazy to produce a double disc special edition on a large scale but a run of 1000 single-layer bare-bones copies would certainly find their buyers.

There's plenty of cheaply produced movies that never saw a theatrical release and yet they have a DVD or even a Blu-ray release.

rw2516

But these are more recent movies in pristine condition. It would cost hundreds of thousands, if not millions to restore all these 80s and older films that have been released on dvd-r unrestored to the expectations of dvd and blu-ray consumers. It's not worth the money or all the bitchin' and moaning about the quality to give most these titles a pressed dvd release. Why bother putting these out on dvd when all the reviews will mention the less than perfect color, fading, dirt, scrathes, etc. Alot of these dvd-rs aren't even progressive, 480i.
If all these titles did get a pressed dvd release, would all those hesitant about dvd-r and reviewers state "who cares about the source quality, we've got it on DVD!"?

These MOD programs of the studio are all about the movie, and nothing about technology. That's who they are marketing to.

orangerunner

I suppose you're right, they would get some flack about the quality in the pristine Blu-ray era. But still, pressing 1000 discs with packaging would cost Warner about $1000. If they sold 50 copies for $20 a pop they would get their money back. A DVD master has already been authored even though it's probably stuck from the 1" analog master tape or possibly the Laserdisc.

I'm sure most of the titles in the Warner archive, had they been pressed, would be in $4.99 dump bin at best. I guess it's not worth it for a big studio like Warner.

I still remember 20th Century fox getting Anchor Bay to release some of their lesser titles on DVD like License to Drive, Off Limits & Dirty Mary Crazy Larry.

It's too bad so many of these films will be lost on a VHS tape or Laserdisc as most people don't know they're available through Warner or don't bother to order it specially.

A film like Bandslam didn't even get a Blu-ray release because, I assume, they felt there wasn't enough interest in the movie to justify the costs of an HD release.

rw2516

I believe the cost of restoration and clean up for pressed DVD expectations is more a factor than cost of production.

Another analogy that comes to mind concerning this issue;

Let's say Led Zeppelin has tapes of 300 complete performances dating 1969-79. These are less than desirable quality, mono soundboard recordings. They have neither the time, desire or money to do a first rate remastering of all these shows for cd release. They put them on their website for download in a format that allows you to burn them as an audio CD. The website states, "Hey guys, we've all all these shows if you would like to have them. They are what they are. Not the best quality. But we will make them available to you at $10 a piece if you want them."

matome

Took the plunge on this. I hope it's a decent anamorphic transfer.

adrenaline78

Do you get a case and artwork with these dvd-r's??

Adboy151

Yes, you get a keep-case and artwork. With the March releases Warner moved away from a templated-style artwork (key art in a floating box) for all their MOD releases...



...and have started to use a film's key art for the front and the spine: