An incredible year for boutique label releases. You know it's a bumper year when both the Pete Walker and Coffin Joe box sets being delayed until next year offers you a chance to watch all the amazing titles you ended up coppin'. It's not hyperbole, 2023 was the best year in home format releases since 2020. Fact!
The only real downside was not being able to grab everything as it would leave you skint. Personally, many desirable titles were way beyond my threshold of an acceptable price range, thus that 4 disc 4K release of Dellamorte Dellamore, and a bunch of other Severin releases for that matter, were sadly avoided. Similarly, newcomers from across the pond like Neon Eagle and Terror-Vision didn't even get a look-in due to their pricing and shipping costs. Therefore, my personal picks of the year were shaped mostly by local labels.
Home Format Releases of 2023:
Enter the Video Store - Empire of Screams (Arrow)
Magic Myth & Mutilation: The Micro Budget Cinema of Michael J. Murphy 1967 - 2015 (Indicator)
Blood and Black Lace (Arrow)
From Hollywood to Heaven: The Lost and Saved Films of the Ormond Family (Indicator)
The House that Screamed (Arrow)
Full Circle (BFI)
Blood Sucking Freaks (Vinegar Syndrome)
Targets (BFI)
After Hours (Criterion)
A Gun for Jennifer (Vinegar Syndrome)
The Defilers (AGFA/Something Weird Video)
Black Magic Rites (Indicator)
Messiah of Evil (Radiance Films)
Freaks / The Unknown / The Mystic: Todd Browning's Sideshow Shockers (Criterion)
Martin (Second Sight)
The Whip and the Body (88 Films)
Some of the films which got the boutique treatment were on my wish lists, so finally owning them and getting to watch them in all their glory, made them welcome highlights in 2023. That new artwork for A Gun for Jennifer is still atrocious, regardless.
It was also somewhat strange seeing a few of my personal highlights make it on various critics' favourite physical releases this year, too.
Looking forward to what 2024 might bring, maybe we'll finally get The Hitcher after the last couple of years in delays.
6 comments:
I'm probably gonna cop that 4KHD version of After Hours.
Only new release DVDs I copped this year:
Talk To Me
Dance Craze
Doctor Who - The Underwater Menace
Been tempted to cop Skolimowski's EO on DVD a couple of times, but I know it'll make me sad and so I'd probably only watch it once.
We live in a world where Jess Franco's Dracula is out on 4K while Hammer's Dracula blu-ray is OOP in the UK and there's not so much as a 4K announcement.
Don't have the strength to watch EO with the knowledge of it containing cruelty/death to a donkey. The scenes which contained them in Banshees of Inisherin and Triangle of Sadness were bad enough for me.
Even though I preferred the follow-up with Bernard Cribbins, I ended up coppin' Doctor Who and the Daleks on 4K very recently as it was going for cheap on Amazon, after watching the Hartnell version last month.
Still haven't seen Dance Craze, but I picked up the BFI blus of Peter Bogdonavich's Targets and Ken Russell's Gothic this year. I still haven't watched The Appointment yet, which I picked up over a year ago.
One of Roy Castle's finest moments alongside Carry On Up The Khyber, Dr Terror's House Of Horrors and The Plank.
I've had the Restless Natives DVD for about 4 years and still not got around to watching it. Need to dig it out because it's supposed to be a Jock classic equal to Gregory's Girl.
Recently unearthed and old sealed envelope and the contents inside was an old Korean dvd of The Outsiders. Haven’t bought dvds in about a decade. 😀
On the Carry On tip, I watched Carry On Abroad on ITV3 yesterday and it’s probably the best thing I’ll watch on tv over the Christmas holidays.
ITV3 always rep for Carry On flicks over this period. Just checked my copy of the Christmas Radio Times and they're showing nothing but Carry On movies all weekend.
ITV3’s programme directors know what’s up. Perfect choice to end the year with Carry on Screaming.
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