Venom on Your DVD

By: BRIAN THOMAS
Date: Tuesday, April 22, 2003

Nothing lasts forever. In my younger days as an avid comic-book collector, I eventually had to face the fact that despite every effort to keep them in a protected, hazard-free environment, pulp paper periodicals were a fragile medium at best and would inevitably crumble to dust. Videotape is even more fragile slim cellophane in a brittle plastic cassette, prone to snags and flaking. When laserdiscs first hit the market they suffered from an initial high defect ratio and manufacturers quickly became used to replacing defective units.

On the other hand, the compact disc and DVD formats have always been promoted as tough and damage-resistant. A single disc is supposed to last for centuries, even if you use it for a beer coaster. However, this has turned out not to be the case some discs are prone to "DVD rot," the same sort of corrosion and warping issues that plagued some LDs (though the risk is lower due to better packaging and manufacturing methods), plus dual-layer discs are vulnerable to delamination a breakdown of the sealant between layers.

Well, no one really expected that problems like these wouldn't appear as the format aged. But the real dilemma is that manufacturers have so far failed to admit to these problems, often refusing to replace an affected disc. If a problem crops up on first use, they're more likely to take care of it, but the problem we're talking about appears much later. No doubt this is because they don't want to open a can of worms imagine if everybody sent in their discs for replacement every time they suspected some problem. We urge readers to treat your DVDs well, but if you have a problem with a disc that won't go away no matter how well you take care of it, please contact the label. Maybe if we all work together rationally we can find a solution.

SPOTLIGHT OF THE WEEK

Hopefully, DVD rot will never touch this week's cherished Spotlight Item, which comes totally out of left field:

[ ]VENOM OF THE NINJA (Crash) Surely the strangest title to come out of the mid-1980s Ninja Boom - in which scores of crappy movies were produced about ninjas, and many others were re-released with "ninja" in the title is Robert Tai's NINJA THE FINAL DUEL. Soon after first viewing this gonzo extravaganza that includes ninjas on bouncing water spiders, a jive-talking Shaolin monk from Harlem, and a nude kung fu fight by Alice Tseng, I learned that it was actually a feature version of Tai's obscure Taiwanese ninja TV series NINJA KIDS. Crash Cinema has unearthed this series and is making it available in three separate volumes under this title (also available as a box set), complete with broadcast opening and closing credits.

NEW RELEASES

[ ]BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES: Tales of the Dark Knight (Warner Bros.)

[ ]BIKINI AIRWAYS (Retromedia) A new T&A comedy in which a Hot Chick inherits an airline. Say, isn't this awfully derivative of BIKINI CAR WASH? Includes "Making Of," trailers and gallery.

[ ]BLACK BELT JONES 2: THE TATTOO CONNECTION (Pathfinder) Retitled for video to cash in on Jim Kelly's hit, this Hong Kong production co-stars Chan Sing and big Bolo Yeung. This edition restores 10 minutes to the running time and includes an audio commentrak and trailer.

[ ]BULLFIGHTER (Pathfinder) Oddball supernatural action with Willem Dafoe, Donnie Wahlberg, and Michelle Forbes.

[ ]CARNOSAUR / CARNOSAUR 2 (New Concorde) The original beat JURASSIC PARK into theaters, which is about all that can be said for Roger Corman's lame dino-monster series.

[ ]CHALLENGE OF THE SUPERFRIENDS: Attack of the Legion of

CHALLENGE OF THE SUPERFRIENDS: Attack of the Legion of Doom

© 2003 Warner Bros.

Doom (Warner Bros.)

[ ]THE CURSE (Arrow) Amy Laughlin finds "that time of the month" has another meaning when she's bitten by a werewolf. Includes commentrak, trailer, gallery.

[ ]DANCE OF DEATH (Ground Zero) Angela Mao stars in this kung fu thriller with action direction by Jackie Chan.

[ ]DARKNESS FALLS (Columbia/Tristar) A vengeful spirit attacks a small town disguised as the Tooth Fairy. Disc includes the source short film.

[ ]DEADLY SPECIES (Artisan) PREDATOR-like tale of a stalking monster in the Florida Everglades.

[ ]GWAR: DAWN OF THE DAY / IT'S SLEAZY / RENDEZVOUS WITH RAGNAROCK / TOUR DE SCUM (Red) Hard Core Metal's favorite gore monster cartoon band in a quartet of disc releases.

[ ]HOCUS POCUS (Tai Seng) Lam Ching-Ying (MR. VAMPIRE) and Stephen Tung star in this 1984 action-horror-comedy.

[ ]IRON PHOENIX (Ground Zero) 1973 kung fu fest starring Judy Lee (Chia Ling). This is either a retitling of GIRL NAMED IRON PHOENIX or it's sequel THE IMPUDENT IRON PHOENIX.

[ ]JUSTICE LEAGUE: Justice on Trial (Warner Bros.)

[ ]KILLING SPREE (Sub Rosa) 1987 horror mayhem from director Tim Ritter (TRUTH OR DARE?). Includes commentrak and feature-length "Making Of" film BLINDED BY THE BLOOD.

[ ]KUNG FU HERO (Ground Zero)

[ ]MIDNITE ANGELS (Ground Zero) Teresa Woo's Hong Kong Girls with Guns flick (a.k.a. ANGEL) starring Moon Lee and Yukari Oshima.

[ ]NECROPOLIS AWAKENED (Pathfinder) More zombie splatter action, with commentrak, outtakes, storyboards, and "Making Of."

[ ]ONCE A THIEF (Columbia/Tri-Star) U.S. release of John Woo's charming heist/action flick starring Chow Yun-fat and the recently-deceased Leslie Cheung.

[ ]QUEEN KONG (Retromedia) Rula Lenska hunts for a giant female gorilla in this rarely seen '70s spoof. Includes trailer and director's commentrak.

[ ]SERIAL KILLER Box Set (First Look) A three-disc set of documentaries cover Ed Gein, Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy.

[ ]X-MEN: EVOLUTION: Mutants Rising (Warner Bros.)

ANIME ADDITIONS

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

[ ]AI YORI AOSHI-MY DEAREST #2 (Pioneer)

[ ]ARJUNA - Understanding #4 (Pioneer)

[ ]BEYBLADE (Pioneer)

[ ]GREAT DANGAIOH Volume 3 (Viz) Episodes 8-10

[ ]INU-YASHA #5: Secret of the New Moon (Viz)

[ ]MOBILE FIGHTER G-Gundam Collector's Box III: Vol. 7-9 (Pioneer)

[ ]MOBILE FIGHTER G-Gundam Round 7 (Vol. 7) (Pioneer)

[ ]MOBILE FIGHTER G-Gundam Round 7 (Vol. 8) (Pioneer)

[ ]MOBILE FIGHTER G-Gundam Round 7 (Vol. 9) (Pioneer)

[ ]THE SAMURAI Volume 1 (ADV Films)

[ ]SPEED RACER COLLECTION: Volume One (Artisan) The first 11 episodes of this classic anime TV series from 1966.

[ ]TRANSFORMERS: Season 2 Box Set 2 (Rhino)

[ ]TRANSFORMERS: Season 2 Box Volume 5 (Rhino)

[ ]TRANSFORMERS: Season 2 Box Volume 6 (Rhino)

[ ]TRANSFORMERS: Season 2 Box Volume 7 (Rhino)

[ ]TRANSFORMERS: Season 2 Box Volume 8 (Rhino)

And be sure to check back next week and every week for CINESCAPE's DVD Shopping List!

DVD Shopping List is our weekly DVD column.

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