Why So Blu?

9 Wishes Fulfilled & 15 More To Make – Celebrating 1 Year Of Brandon’s Blu-ray Wishlist

One year ago today, I wrote an article focusing on 14 movies I’d like to see on Blu-ray for the year 2014.  That article wound up becoming the pilot for what would sort of be a regular week-to-week series from me, whining about a movie that’s only on DVD or VHS and not here to Blu-ray yet.  It also made new release announcements an extra bit of fun for me if one of my random requests wound up coming to fruition.  From the original list, 6 titles (around 43%) wound up finding a Blu-ray release this year.  In addition, from my weekly articles, 3 of those wound up coming to fruition to make the Wishlist have about a 20% success rate.  While I’ve had a lot of fun with these pieces, due to life, work, busy-ness and whatnot, the Wishlist is going to be moving from the weekly format to a monthly one.  Its not that I’m out of ideas, its just that I am not having the sort of time I used to in writing these pieces.  But hey, today is a celebration of these pieces, so, let’s take a look at some of our success stories from the past year and then let’s do 15 more for 2015!

From The Original Wishlist

Ghostbusters II (Sony; Released September 16, 2014) – Wow, not only did we finally get it, but the film came with a gorgeous 4K transfer.  The extras are a little light, but the important thing is how great the and above and beyond this presentation was.

Ginger Snaps (Scream Factory; Released July 22, 2014) – In a surprising turn of events, Scream Factory got to release this one in what turned out to be one of their best Collector’s Editions ever.  Aside from a new Katharine Isabelle interview, this is as complete as you’re going to get for the original film.

Foreign Correspondent (Criterion; Released February 18, 2014) – I asked for any Hitchock, but I did specifically name this one and that I wanted more Criterion Hitchock at that.  I got an unsuspected double wish fulfillment here in this terrific release.

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (Criterion; Released May 27, 2014) – This was just a matter of “when” and luckily that “when” was this year.  They also released The Fantastic Mr. Fox as well.  This leaves the Wes Anderson non-Criterion titles down to just his most recent films.  And I hope Moonrise Kingdom’s release is very soon!

Pumpkinhead (Scream Factory; Released September 9, 2014) – Heck yeah, I totally nailed this one.  Scream Factory and Collector’s Edition.  Surprising us though, is they also are releasing the sequel as well.  This release features a pretty terrific tribute to Stan Winston on it.

UHF (Shout! Factory; Released November 11, 2014) – This one is coming next week and I am pretty excited (I’ll somehow have to squeeze it in between episode of my Batmania marathon next weekend).  Going above and beyond too is they are releasing The Compleat Al with it!

From The Weekly Series

Leprechaun: The Complete Series (Lionsgate; Released September 30, 2014) – We weren’t sent this for review, so I owe Aaron Neuwirth a retrospective in the near future.  These came with some surprisingly strong bonus material.  I knew with the new film coming out Lionsgate should capitalize on this opportunity for the series, and I’m glad they did.

Kingpin (Paramount; Released October 14, 2014) – With Dumb & Dumber To on the way, this film became a relevant catalog title again.  This could have just been a straight port over from the original release, but paramount actually got some new stuff with Bobby and Peter Farrelly for this release.  Well done!

Lionheart: Included In The Van Damme 5-Movie Action Pack (Released; October 14, 2014) – Well this was a nice surprise.  In addition, this release also showed the first Blu-ray editions of Hard Target and Sudden Death (two of my fave Van Dammes) in the US.  This one is priced a bit too high right now, but I’m sure it’ll make its way down.

While there are some nice success stories up there, we’re still missing some groovy movies from Wishlist past like Munich (COME THE HELL ON ALREADY!), Ghost World, Cruising, Top Secret, the Phantasm movies and True freakin’ Lies to name a few.  You can always go back and check out my old lists to see what’s still not out there that should be.  Okay, now what you’ve been waiting for.  The NEW list of 15 titles for 2015.  As per usual with me, its all in alphabetical.  My picks are a little more obscure and or crazy this time around too.  Feel free to add your own picks below!

Body Snatchers (1993)

This is the only take on the Invasion Of The Body Snatchers realm to not have a Blu-ray release yet.  Its a pretty expensive one to buy on DVD too.  Why not just have an upgrade?  It comes from popular film director Abel Ferrara, who’s films may be more cult status now and has a cast that boasts a young Gabrielle Anwar, Meg Tilly, Forest Whitaker and R Lee Ermey.  No, its not the best of the Body Snatcher movies, but its a unique take, has fans and would definitely look groovy on Blu-ray.  Next September/October maybe?

Bucktown (1975)

I’ve made no secret of my disappointment in the lack of Blaxploitation movies available on Blu-ray.  This year did see Cotton Comes To Harlem and the announcement of the Blacula/Scream, Blacula, Scream double feature, but I still feel like I can barely count the number of releases on both my hands.  Bucktown sees the team up of Pam Grier and Fred “The Hammer” Williamson in a film that starts with a silly idea that is typical some of those “corrupt officials in a small town” movies, but becomes pretty brilliant when it turns that concept on its head.  Its a Top 3 all time from the genre for me, as its smarter than you’d think and features some pretty cool Grindhouse action.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) / Angel (1999-2004)

Its very surprising that these haven’t jumped over to the format.  Not only has their creator, Joss Whedon, risen into stardom with his contributions to Marvel but they have loyal fanbases that are huge on collecting things.  These would easily arouse the fans to come out and re-buy these.  Plus its been 10 years since Angel left the air.  The shows could also potentially find new audiences as they still hold up very well and have had a big influence on the television landscape as we know it today.  Plus, in regards to Buffy, some of these episodes need remastering because the transfers on some of the DVDs are garbage.

Carnival of Souls (1962)

Technically this has been out on Blu-ray before, but not really.  When you’re in a jam packed 40 FILMS ON 1 BLU-RAY type set and you’re only being presented in 480i…that’s not Blu-ray to me.  This little haunting tale, features some luscious and spooky photography that I think sincerely would benefit from being cleaned up a little and transferred to high definition.  I think it could still unsettle people today.  Its one of the earliest sort of mindf*** movies I can recall and a unique take on zombies when zombies weren’t exactly the Romero archetype yet.  To me they’re more like ghouls, but whatever they are, they’re creepy as hell.

Cleopatra Jones (1973) /

Cleopatra Jones And The Casino Of Gold (1975)

Hell yes, more Blaxploitation.  There are a lot of fun movies I enjoyed growing up that have been ignored.  Everybody knows Pam Grier’s barrage of characters like Foxy Brown, Coffy and Friday Foster but she had some competition with that of Cleopatra Jones played by Tamara Dobson.  Jones was more in the mold of a female James Bond than the tough and gritty direction that Grier’s characters took.  She had a really awesome and iconic sense of fashion too.  You might remember these more for the Beyonce character’s name mish mash in Austin Powers’ Goldmember (“Foxy Cleopatra”) than you do these films.  I do think they would make for one fun ass double feature disc though, so that’s what I’m proposing.

Deadly Prey (1987)

This film has been long gone since the days of VHS.  I’m a huge fan of crazy films, and the 80s and early 90s straight to video market pushed the limits and really put out some gems in this territory.  I found a DVD for it, but I’m not sure if its not just a straight VHS rip.  This is a crappy action movie of insanely entertaining proportions.  With a good distributor and a nice underground push, I really feel like Deadly Prey could become the next Miami Connection.  If you can find this movie, see it.  Deadly Prey is a total riot!

Double Jeopardy (1999)

Hi Brian, its Brandon.  I’m doing a one-year celebration of my Wishlist articles and I decided as a courtesy to you, I’ll add Double Jeopardy to the list of 15 for 2015.  I too, am surprised this hasn’t made it to the format as it was a hit back in the day and would make perfect for one of those $7.99-9.99 thrillers you see on endcaps and bins at the stores.  Its day will come, I’m sure.

Hard Ticket To Hawaii (1987)

This one is in here like Deadly Prey and for sort different reasons.  Hard Ticket To Hawaii falls under the more sleazey type film.  The director of the film, Andy Sidaris, made an art form of these trashy action films in the last 80s and early 90s.  He’d make big budgeted action films and cast Playboy Playmates and Penthouse Pets to star in them.  One of them was Cynthia Brimhall who was the big time star of a lot of these movies.  The “softcore” stuff in here is incredibly laughable by what we see in just regular films today (Seriously, I’m not sure anyone even gets to second base onscreen).  Its a combination of awesome practical gun and explosion effects, bad acting, hot girls and a really awesomely bad theme song that make this film enjoyable with a the right group and a case of fine brews.  If one Andy Sidaris movie should get Blu-ray treatment, its this one.

The Hitcher (1986)

Well, that remake is available…so that’s all we need right?  Or how about the one with Jake Busey instead?  Just kidding.  We need this on Blu-ray to get our taste of that out of our mouths.  This is a terrific little thriller that still manages to work, thanks a lot to Rutger Hauer’s deliciously haunting performance.  This movie is one that I’m surprised none of the Synapse Films, Scream Factory’s or Twilight Time’s have picked up to distribute.  This would be a great one to have a retrospective doc on the film.

The Last Of Sheila (1973)

A scavenger hunt on a yacht goes a bit wrong when it seems some dark secrets from the past are being revealed.  This sort of forgotten murder mystery is pretty terrific and needs a second life here on Blu-ray.  It has a cast of yesteryear superstars like James Coburn, Raquel Welch, James Mason, Dyan Cannon and a much younger than we’re used to Ian McShane.  Another fun little tid bit, is that this movie was written by screen legend Anthony Perkins.  Its a film that perfectly paces the mystery so that the audience can join in two an is either a step ahead or one step behind in a given scene.  And also, Raquel Welch in this movie would look quite astonishingly in high definition 😉 Seems like a perfect Olive Films release.

Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)

Woody Allen’s back catalog is a slow moving process in rolling out on Blu-ray.  Here’s one of his more fun endeavors and features another collaboration of he and Diane Keaton.  Comedy and mystery mix perfectly here.  A fun fact, this film was actually constructed of thrown out scenes and subplot from Allen’s masterpiece Annie Hall.  There’s also a whole other cut of that film that needs to see the light of day sometime, but that’s a story for another day.

Police Story 4: First Strike (1996)

Jackie Chan’s Police Story franchise is one of the best action/kung fu series of all time.  They all really push the limits of stunt work, still holding up and proving eye-opening to this day with the stuff they pulled off.  The fourth film in the series is the only one not available on Blu-ray yet (If you’re searching, Police Story 3 is known more as Supercop on this side of the globe).  The fourth film was called Jackie Chan’s First Strike here in the US and in the UK.  This one goes more of the James Bond route with the story and character as opposed to the first two film.  Like all Chan’s action movies, its hard not to smile and enjoy.  Personal note, Police Story 4 was actually my birthday movie back in 1997 when it came to the US.  It was a snow day for school and I drug my mother to it (She said I could see anything I wanted!) and she actually really enjoyed it.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)

December marks the last season of Star Trek: The Next Generation coming to Blu-ray.  From what I’ve read, there seem to be no plans to continue on to release Deep Space Nine.  They really should, as Trek fans are the ones who will keep picking these up because they’re completionists.  Plus, the work done in remastering both the original series and Next Generation has been utterly fantastic.  Deep Space Nine is much better than its been given credit over the years.  In today’s television climate it holds up quite well, since as the series went on it became more serialized and action based than any Trek had been.

Suspicion (1941)

Yes, I gotta have Hitchcock.  There’s still so much that hasn’t been released.  And then there’s also a few titles that don’t have a US release too.  One of his frequent collaborating performers was Hollywood legend Cary Grant.  Plenty of their work has been released already, but this is the one that’s missing.  This chilling tale of a wife who suspects her husband of plotting to kill her is one that will seemingly always hold up.  It also features Joan Fontaine as Grant’s spouse.

Tales From The Crypt (1989-1996)

HBO’s legendary horror anthology series was one of their first strides into making great television.  It featured plenty of great talent in front of and behind the camera.  Surprisingly, you’d think they’d have started putting collector’s editions of this series out by now.  It’d look great remastered for Blu-ray.  Every episode plays as its own little film, with the maniacal Crypt Keeper as the Rod Serling of the show.  There are great episodes, good episodes and the bad, but it all works out over the course of its 7 year run.  The show even spawned two theatrical releases in the 1990s.  Its one of the greatest horror television shows still to this day.

Now for you!  What would you like to see come to Blu-ray in 2015?