Box of MyST

By BRIAN THOMAS     April 08, 2003

I really seem to have touched a nerve with my column last week the installment that announced the honeymoon was over with DVD. My initial peeve (that I didn't have enough time for all the extras on some DVDs) was purposely lame in order to stir up more response, and I got plenty of it. The number one complaint readers have about DVD is, to quote one letter, "when a movie comes out on DVD... then months later a special edition comes out." We'll deal with the separate issue of director's cuts later, but let me try to explain why this happens.

All the extras on DVDs are expensive to produce and master, and it's a gamble for them whether they'll sell enough units to justify the extra expenditure. Labels like Criterion curtail these costs by charging more money and marketing to a limited audience of film fans who expect deluxe packages and are willing to pay more for them. But studios know that most people aren't willing to pay $40 to own a movie, and try to keep prices down to around $20-25. Then when the initial release sells out, instead of just re-issuing the same disc, they try to drum up more business with a few extras in a Special Edition. The music biz does the same thing when they include new tracks on a greatest hits album.

Sometimes this backfires many fans were put off when Fox issued X-MEN 1.5 in February, citing it as an example of pure greed aimed at squeezing the fans. I see some signs of improvement, though.

For one thing, labels are including more extras more often even "smaller" films are accompanied by extras, as they've become an expected ingredient to DVDs. Last year, expecting big sales on a sure hit, Columbia/Tristar issued four different editions of SPIDER-MAN simultaneously, manufacturing the more expensive editions in lower numbers. And though New Line couldn't do the same with FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, they made sure that fans knew that the deluxe extended edition would be coming soon, and provided discounts to those that wanted to trade up (and a ticket to TWO TOWERS to boot).

Hopefully, we'll have fewer examples of labels bilking their biggest supporters in the future. But the gamble will likely always be with us. Hey, how was I to know when I bought that fuzzy tape of METROPOLIS that there'd be a deluxe restored version on a shiny little disc 20 years later?

SPOTLIGHT OF THE WEEK

[IMG5R]When I first heard about MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000, I thought, "Who needs a bunch of clowns talking over a movie? I can make fun of movies myself." But the first time I actually watched the show, I was immediately hooked, and it's now one of my favorite TV shows of all time. Some of the Rhino DVDs of the show include the uncut movies as a bonus, so you can still make fun of the movies yourself uninterrupted.

[ ]MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 Box Set Volume 3 (Rhino) This set includes four discs in an attractive and amusing box. Experiment #518: Mike Nelson & the robots view THE ATOMIC BRAIN, which is the TV title of MONSTROSITY a 1964 weirdie about a rich old lady plotting to have her brain transplanted into the head of a young cutie. Experiment #202: Joel Hodgson is on hand to laugh at SIDEHACKERS, the stupidest motorcycle movie ever made. Experiment #320: John Carradine and Tor Johnson in THE UNEARTHLY. Rhino wasn't able to get the video rights to include the film shorts sometimes shown on MST3K and features together, but it has collected some of them separately. Volume 2 of these shorts makes its DVD debut in this set, including "Catching Trouble," "Last Clear Chance," "A Day at the Fair," the hygienic "What to Do on a Date" and "Keeping Clean," and the sad "The Days of Your Years." No word from Rhino at press time on whether the uncut versions of any of these (or trailers) are on the discs.

NEW RELEASES

[ ]ANTIBODY (First Look) In our Lance Henriksen movie of the month, Lance gets shrunk a la FANTASTIC VOYAGE to surf the bloodstream of a terrorist to disarm a bomb-detonator chip!
[IMG2R][ ]CHEERLEADER MASSACRE (New Concorde) Finally, the cheerleader genre is given serious treatment on film.
[ ]THE CHUBBCHUBBS (Columbia/Tristar) Yes, this is the same CGI toon that was shown in some theaters with MEN IN BLACK II and STUART LITTLE 2, and was included on the MIIB DVD. But since it just won an Oscar for Best Animated Short, Sony is putting it out on its own low-priced disc this Friday (4/11).
[ ]CITIZEN RUTH (Buena Vista) Laura Dern is a riot in this black comedy about the controversy surrounding a pregnant paint huffer. Commentary by director Alexander Payne.
[ ]HARRY POTTER & THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS (Warner Bros.) The second installment in the dependable fantasy series comes to DVD this Friday (April 11) in both widescreen and fullscreen editions. Both include extended/deleted scenes, interviews, interactive features, games, screensavers, trading cards and more.
[ ]LIVE BY THE FIST (New Concorde) Kickboxing programmer with Jerry Trimble.
[ ]A MAN, A WOMAN & A BANK (Anchor Bay) 1979 heist comedy starring Donald Sutherland and Brooke Adams.
[IMG6R][ ]MONSTURD (Dead Alive) A poop monster from beyond the crapper seeks vengeance!
[ ]ONE MAN ARMY (New Concorde) Another kickboxing epic with Jerry "Golden Boy" Trimble.
[ ]RAIDERS OF THE SUN (New Concorde) After the Apocalypse, Richard Norton kicks Filipino ass.
[ ]SANITARIUM (MTI) Medical horror starring spoon-bending illusionist Uri Geller, known in Europe as DIAGNOSIS.
[ ]3 FROM THE MIND OF STEPHEN KING Box Set (Anchor Bay) A triple play of Big Steve's weakest: CHILDREN OF THE CORN, CREEPSHOW 2, MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE
[ ]ZATOICHI MEETS YOJIMBO (AnimEigo) Shintaro Katsu's blind swordsman crosses swords with Toshiro Mifune's crafty bodyguard in this classic 1970 samurai flick, finally available on DVD via AnimEigo's website (in stores May 13).

ANIME ADDITIONS

And finally, we close off each weekly list with a rundown of the constant stream of anime imported from Japan:

[ ]ANGEL OF DARKNESS Movie 2 (ADV Films) Available 4/11
[ ]BIG WARS (Central Park Media)
[ ]CITY HUNTER (.357 Magnum) (ADV Films)
[ ]COMPILER #1C (ADV Films)
[ ]EXCEL SAGA #6 (ADV Films)
[ ]FOUR PLAY (Central Park Media)
[ ]LUPIN THE 3rd - Love Heist #2 (Pioneer)
[ ]MAMA MIA! (Central Park Media)
[IMG4R][ ]PATLABOR THE MOVIE: WXIII (Pioneer)
[ ]PATLABOR THE MOVIE: WXIII Ultimate Edition (Pioneer) Three-Disc Set, includes much bonus material
[ ]RUPAN III: THE FUMA CONSPIRACY (AnimEigo)
[ ]SUGAR, A LITTLE SNOW FAIRY - Sweet Mischief #1 (Pioneer)
[ ]TOKYO BABYLON (Central Park Media) The Prequel to X - The Movie

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DVD Shopping List is our weekly DVD column.

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