I think that Shout needs to get back to basics and slow down on a lot of the gimmicky releases. Not one wants posters for box sets of random movies like the Golden Harvest boxes, and most of the expensive sets with things like records, pins, and figures usually get blown out at discounts. They need to follow the Kino model of how they handle things in terms of prices and web sales. Kino wouldn't have released a barebones 4K of Timecop and charged the same that they charge for discs with special features.

I know acquiring movies, remastering them, packaging them with new artwork and producing some new bonus materials cost money. But, I think in general nobody wants to pay high premium prices + tax and shipping for a lot of these older 25 to 40 year old titles. And they are treating them like their high quality Criterion titles and many are just pure schlock. I just got Night of the Comet, a Shout title, from Amazon for $9.99. That was never on sale on their site and it's a pretty damn schlocky 80s sci-fi comedy. That was probably the most I was willing to pay for it and many of their titles.

That barebones and pricey TIMECOP release was a bone of contention in this thread a while back. Knowing Kino’s tendency for picking up Shout titles when they go out of print (Vinegar Syndrome, too), I suspect they’ll get it at some point and do it right, and then offer it in more sales down the road. Same for FORCED VENGEANCE that DJariya mentioned. I know we all may not care for bonus features, especially if they’re just old EPK stuff or recycled from earlier releases, but the whole nature of this niche is to at least provide some contextual material and for releases like these two (but also plenty of others) it wouldn’t be difficult to round up some vintage and new stuff on a budget. Those who don’t care for supplements are still free to ignore everything but the movies themselves. The euro editions of TIMECOP proved it wasn’t difficult to include some extras, new cover art, etc. At least they seemed willing to acknowledge that the film was Van Damme’s biggest box office hit, unlike Shout.

Shout's release strategy seems to be centered around what cast and crew in the L.A. area they can lure into doing extras.

The Shaw Brothers sets Volume 3 and 4 have dropped to $80. I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on those.

Does anyone here own them?

Volume 3 and 4 both have some really good titles. Volume 3 is probably the more balanced set. Volume 4 is very "Venoms" heavy. Not a problem if you're into that style, but I find that they start to run together after a while. Though some might say 5 Element Ninjas is worth the price of admission on its own.

I actually think the best Shaw Box from Shout is the Ti Lung/David Chiang set. If I was going to get just one, that's the one I would choose.

Thanks appreciate the input.

It loooooooks like it’s a matter of Shout winding down their storefront and using GRUV as their homefront instead (as GRUV = SDS, which is Shout’s distributor).

A few previous shoutfactory.com exclusives — like Hong Kong New Wave Essentials and that huge Bava box — are now listed on GRUV.com as GRUV exclusives.

I own 1-6 and I think they’ve all got some decent titles in them, plus a few 'lesser' ones but that really depends on one's experience. I wouldn’t say there are any outright dogs since these movies are what they are, and products of their time. Generally they’re all better than most of the Bruce Lee clone movies (though not as silly and fun) so if you could handle that set, these should provide at least some rewards.

Looks like all of them except 7 and 8 are in the $80 range now (even less for Vol. 5, I think?), which is rare from Shout. That’s about what I paid for most of them, but I had to do it through the B2G1 sales at Target and Amazon, which was often a pain.

I guess if they’re shuttering the Shout store in favour of Gruv it might be a while before we see get these prices again, which is well under $10 a film.

I’d second the recommendation of the David Chiang / Ti Lung set as those two did make a lot of decent shows. Shout pricing it higher because it’s an “exclusive” is bullshit, but I’m pretty sure this sale price is as low as it’s ever been.

ETA: I'm sure folks are already aware, but their 'Going OOP' section has some really steep drops, like in the $3 to $10 range. There are some decent B pictures in there that might be worth adding on to an order to get free shipping or something. Even if you end up not liking them, you could probably flip them for the same or more.

I am grabbing those deluxe limited sets (Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, Krampus), I am a sucker for those extras they come with. They are also all at least 70% off on sale which really does strike me as a good deal.

Also going to pick up the Night of the Creeps package w/NECA figure that is half off, and Venomous, because for $3 why not?

I think I saw Venomous on Tubi and it is exactly the type of horribly bad film I am drawn to like a moth to a flame.

Almost forgot, They Live Steelbook w/enamel pin set is $26 vs $96, so another pretty good deal.

No looking back now as I just paid. Tax and package protection (aka insurance) added about $30 but the combined MSRP was originally over $900.00, lol. My total was a bit over $262.

For what it's worth – and it's worth the six bucks they're asking – REVENGE OF THE CHEERLEADERS is an amusing slice of 1970's. Just in case anyone's looking for something silly (with boobs) to add to an order for cheap. Plus it's got The Hoff.



Maybe it would be wise to hold on to all Shout titles and get the ones from your buying wish list now.

I notice they have a lot of titles selling for over half off. Are they clearing those out because they're going out of print?

They aren't included on the list of titles going out of print: https://shoutfactory.com/collections...-supplies-last

It seems like a warehouse moving-type sale as they transition away from their own storefront and onto GRUV.com.

Well this certainly says something….

The Physical Forever Club is Ending

Not a good sign, eh?

It would be a good idea to prioritize anything that they licensed from Fox and is still available, like Phantom of the Paradise. I do not see Disney reissuing that so the current blu-ray is probably as good as we will ever get. And it's not a blu-ray, but I do not see any other company going to the trouble that Shout did to license as much of the original music as they did for another WKRP release.

The funny thing about that is that the End of Days disc apparently has a long interview with the director, and in it he goes pretty in depth about Timecop. They could have held Timecop back and included that section on the Timecop disc, but whatever, at least it is out there.

Some of the titles that are unavailable at the Shout site are still in stock at Amazon and have been price-matched to Shout's site. For example, at the moment at least, Quatermass and the Pit can be had from Amazon for $9.99 and at least for me comes with overnight shipping. Others, such as April Fool's Day, have a much longer shipping window, so those titles may or may not ever ship from Amazon.

I ordered the Shaw Bros. set Volume.3. Most are out of stock or backordered on Amazon.

Mine is backordered and slated to come between November and January. I can wait. No rush.

I can't go too crazy. I just got some stuff at the Criterion flash sale. Plus, BF and Christmas are coming and I have stuff to get for family and a few friends.

Instead of going for boxsets (I would have finally gone for Universal Horror Vol 1 if it were, at least, 10 bucks cheaper) I just went for singular releases that I've neglected for far too long:

JC's Prince of Darkness
Demon Knight
Black Christmas
Phantom of the Paradise
Dracula, Prince of Darkness
Scream For Help (I had no idea they had this. Such a fun one!!!)

I only had one problem with this sale, and that was the fact that I’d picked up nearly everything (well, movie-wise) in the Shout / Scream catalog in countless other sales over the years, and almost all at higher ‘sale’ prices! Live and learn! So, to offset that I still put in a huge order of ‘resale’ stuff because their catalog generally isn’t cheap up here so even after paying hefty shipping to Canada, there will still be decent margins on everything. I picked up 31 pieces in total – mostly the ‘Collector’s Editions’ of higher-profile titles and a bunch of those cheap Corman sets – but only four that were sorta-kinda on my still-gotta-watch list: OVER THE EDGE, PRIVATE SCHOOL, MARS EXPRESS and FUNERAL HOME. Totally agree about the Fox titles in Shout’s catalog. I’m sure those will be OOP eventually and then off physical media forever. The pricing on those two Golden Harvest boxes really pissed me off after acquiring both already at what I thought were decent sale prices elsewhere, but at $30US / $43CDN I figured flipping an extra pair for about three times that on Amazon Marketplace (eventually) would offset some of the pain.

I do wonder if the move to Gruv will at least result in more sales throughout the year? Or maybe better sales? Not that Shout didn’t do their fair share of sales, but sometimes the discounts weren’t particularly appealing.

This could be a your mileage may vary situation, but I ordered the Chinese Odyssey set, Prince of Darkness, and several others and was originally given a shipping estimate for end of November, but since placing the order Amazon adjusted the arrival date on some of them to this week. I think it's Amazon reallocating their stock and shipping from other warehouses that are not local to me.

Bill Hunt posted on the digital bits that some of what is being reported online is all hype. He’s pretty well versed in the physical media world, so it’s very premature for collectors to start some hyperbolic panic and make up stuff.

I don't suppose he gave any examples of what is being made up? Otherwise what's the point of posting that?

He said most of it is all hype and if there is anything worth reporting, he will report it. So it sounds like most of what is being speculated is just rumors.