http://www.lfvw.com/

While looking for the DVD, Le Samourai, I stumbled across these guys. Anybody have experience with them?
Thanks.
J

yes, i have ordered from them on several occasions. They are a very very small outlet, but I have never been disappointed with their service. I check their site about once a week just to see what goodies they have found around the world. I think they're a great company. I think they are located really near to me because I always get stuff from them really quickly.

Thanks. I just ordered Le Samourai from them. I'm starting to feed my new CH500 PAL dvds and I've been waiting a long time to see Le Samourai.
J

lol, I still have kept myself from buying a region free player. I see it as a self-restricted cap to my already outrageous dvd spending habit. I have stacks of dvds now I don't have time to watch So I have only been able to buy Region 0 NTSC discs from luminous so far. I hope you get a good disc! I never know anything about these dvd companies from other countries that make the dvds sold on these import sites, so it is always a bit of a gamble.

I can never understand why people buy their import discs through companies like Luminous when you can almost always get the discs cheaper by ordering them from their country of origin. Why pay Luminous to do the "importing" when you can do it yourself for much less? We're living in the age of the Internet, so there's no reason to pay extra for "importing" services.

For instance, Luminous charges $34.95 plus shipping for LE SAMOURAI, but you can get it for $22.50 plus shipping at cinestore.com. Why pay Luminous an extra $12? Go to Amazon.fr, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.jp and compare some prices. Luminous and other importers sometimes charge twice what you can get a disc for from Amazon. And we all know that Amazon doesn't even have the best prices!

Just to show I'm not picking on Luminous, here's another example: ISLAND OF THE FISHMEN is being sold by another importer xploited.com for $27.95, but you can get it at Amazon.de for $16.99. Both these examples are routine mark-ups.

Not to mention the bootlegs that Luminous tries to pass off as "imports" like CUTTHROATS NINE and AMUCK. The latter disc is mastered from a multi-generation pan-and-scan VHS dupe. Who do they think they're fooling?

Places like Luminous served a purpose back in the day when they were strictly VHS bootleggers, but now that you can order DVDs from around the world at the touch of a button, why in the heck would you want to pay their inflated prices? Take a look at the non-US e-tailers thread at the top of the page and forget about these silly importers.

Well, I agree. It's comparable to getting HK DVDs from US sources when HK sources are cheaper.

The reason I got Le Samourai from Luminous is that I did got to the French Amazon first where it was listed as out of print.

I did a google and the first place that popped up was luminous. Just a matter of being too quick on the trigger.
J

I can forsee some situations where it might be advantageous to order from Luminous. For instance, shipping rates from German suppliers can be out rageous (I believe that Amazon.de wants 25 Euros to ship an order to the US). That's not so bad if you're ordering 2 or more films and can amortize that over a number of discs, but if you only want one film and Luminous has it in stock and your total delivered price would be less odering from them, why not?

I like Luminous. They are a good one-stop shop for those of us who don't have the time to navagate and translate foreign language websites. Another plus, if you're interested in genre product, you can be sure they'll have it.

But most importantly, customer service. I've never had a problem returning something that was defective to Luminous. Maybe the same can be said with ordering overseas, but I'll tell you one thing, when I got a region free dvd player from them that arrived DOA, it was a no muss/no fuss return and exchange. And when the second machine arrived and it had a small defect in the playback (this was an old Apex), they not only took it back (even though by the time I noticed the defect they no longer stocked that model), but they offered me full credit. This was full credit on a purchase that was six months old. For that type of customer service, you're going to get my loyality for life!


thomas

My experience with Luminous was much different; I tried to return a videotape that wasn't what I ordered, and not only did I never hear back from the guy after repeated, polite emails, but I had to contest the issue via my credit card company to get the charge removed. Coupled with the month plus it took to get the tape, I'll never deal with them again.

If you're just buying one disc you might want to use someone like Luminous, because Cinestore.com charges $20 Euro to ship DVDs to the USA! Plus you have to send them a PDF document of a passport or Driver's license with the same address as your credit card before they'll process your first order. At least that was the case with me.

Those problems aside, what I did to defray shipping costs at Cinestore.com was to order JOHNNY GUITAR, the Coffret Claude Chabrol II (a collection of 5 Chabrol films on 5 DVDs), along with LE SAMOURAI, so that my discs were shipped at approximately 3 bucks a pop.

cheers, Tony Block

BTW the anamorphic transfer of the PAL R2 of LE SAMOURAI is stunning, and the movie looks even better now than it did when new prints of LE SAMOURAI circulated at the Art Houses a couple of years ago.

Actually, their shipping fee to the US is 13 euros.

Yep I got the German PAL R2 LOST HIGHWAY for approximately $25 US (11 Euro for the DVD & 13 Euro for shipping).

cheers, Tony Block

Tony -- your review prompted me to finally replace my New Yorker Video VHS with the R2 disc and you are absoutely correct. This version is -- by far -- the best I have ever seen the film look.

Where did you order yours? I ordered mine on 2/2 and I'm still waiting for Luminous Video to ship mine. I finally e-mailed them and Fred tells me they're out of stock, but expecting more real soon now.
J

I noticed that Tony over at xploitedcinema.com added it on Saturday (for $29.99 I might add) and I received it yesterday(!) I have not placed an order with Luminous yet only because my experiences with xploited have been nothing short of excellent.

Thanks for the info. I just ordered my Le Samourai. I'm cancelling with Luminous as soon as I get home tonight.
J

Glad to hear it TR. You too J!

I've used Xploited to buy
ICHI the Killer (SE)
Dellamorte Dellamore
Paris, Texas
and other titles too.

Always happy with their service.

The only downside with Le Samourai is only two chapter stops, but that's one more than Mr. Lynch often gives us.

cheers, Tony Block

So luminous is similar to video search of miami then? I find it funny VSOM is offering bootleg DVD of titles like IF DOG RABBIT, ORDINARY DECENT CRIMINAL, GYPSY MOTH with portugese subtitles for 35 bucks when you can buy a legit U.S version off everyone else for less than 15 bucks!

After waiting nearly a month for luminous video to get Le Samourai to me, I gave it up and ordered one from xploitedcinema on thurs -- and paid less. It showed up today -- Saturday. Kudos to these guys.

still waiting to hear back from Luminous on a Bardot movie i ordered back in july '02.

i have a friend with a video store who has some experience with them and says they are generally pretty slow.

so far i'm not impressed.

if i could navigate those damn french sites i would order it direct, but i always seem to get tripped up in the adress section- they seem to want some kind of passport or id # that i have no clue about and when i leave the field black all i get are error pages.

probably just as well...i'm already spending way too much on domestic material that i haven't watched yet.

joelgee -- glad to hear that you had an experience with xploitedcinema similar to the ones I've had over the past few months. I really can't recommend them highly enough, and it's great to have Le Samourai with a fine transfer...

Amen. What a pleasure it is to deal with a hasslefree organization. They had several things I'm interested in and I'll be tossing some more dough in their direction.
J

Still, it's good to keep in mind that you will be paying marked-up prices (often well above list price) when ordering through importers like Xploited, Luminous and Poker. Their service and "one-stop shopping" access might make it worth the extra $$$ for many people, but more often than not you can easily find these discs far cheaper when ordering from their country of origin. Some international shipping charges can be outrageous and will eliminate any savings, but there are many, many foreign e-tailers who charge reasonable rates for shipping to the U.S.

For instance, Bensonsworld.co.uk used to offer FREE shipping to the U.S. and now only charges 50p! Their sticker prices on DVDs are often half of what importers charge. More common are places like DVDland.it (an Italian e-tailer) who charge around $5 shipping to the U.S. By ordering a disc that costs $15 plus shipping from DVDland.it (let's say THE SECT, for instance), you'll save an extra $5 to $15 depending on who your preferred domestic importer is. Ordering multiple discs from a foreign source will often save you even more when it's all added up.

LE SAMOURAI is a different case, since it looks like it's no longer available in France, but before you plunk down money for more import titles, it's worth looking at the foreign vendors for a better deal.

I agree 1000%. That's exactly what I did, but it's good to remind people.
J