5minutestolive.com / revengeismydestiny.com

[ToyMan]

these two sites offer some rather rare materials, at somewhat hefty prices. until the recent MGM dvd release, 5minutestolive was the only place you could purchase a mass-produced "garbage pail kids" disc. now, admittedly, the video quality was poor, and some people have concerns with the ethics of unauthorized releases, but until they get real releases, these are sometimes the only sources for what seem to be some rather amazing films.

for example:

----ARREBATO----(5minutestolive.com)

Made in 1979, this incredible art film by Spanish director Ivan Zulueta tells the delusional story of an independent filmmaker and his bizarre dissent into drugs, vampirism, and his own cinematic visions. While watching, one can't help but see the connections to David Cronenberg's Videodrome, which this film predates by 5 years!

This daring film combines the best elements of Bunuel, Arrabal, Cronenberg and Lynch without ever seeming derivative, phony or self-conscious.  Arrebato is without a doubt a lost classic that needsto be revived. Simply put, this is one of the most haunting, strange and original films you will ever see!
In Spanish with no English subtitles. (aww...)
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---HOUSE/HAUSU----(5minutestolive.com)

The story is about 7 Japanese sisters visiting their grandmother in a strange house which turns out to be a demon that eats young virgins. One girl is eaten by a piano, another is consumed by her bedding, and the rest are even more weird and strange, and to reveal them would give too much good stuff away.

The real insanity of the film comes in the form of its visual sense. Director Nobuhiko Obayashi fills his film with so many off the wall visual moments, it's like watching a film made by 30 different directors. There is animation interspersed with live action, weird back projection visuals, strange lighting, visual proportion manipulation and a lot more. Plus the film is so categorically disjointed it can only be described as a satire/slapstick/horror/gore/coming of age genre bending masterpiece.
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i'd previously purchased "godspeed you black emperor", and i was totally disappointed, given that the disc was apparently sourced from a 3rd generation vhs copy, and they classified the video quality as "b", using a standard grade school letter grading system, and that the subtitles were in white text, on a black and white image... the "lost and found video night vol. 5" was better. the quality varied from clip to clip, but it seemed appropriately scuzzy-looking, as it was sort of a video zine.

i've just ordered "hausu" because i couldn't find it anywhere else, and it sounds AMAZING. i'm also thinking about buying the classic "3 dev adam", aka "3 mighty men", the turkish cap america & el santo VS evil spiderman "film" from revengeismydestiny.com.

anyone have any other experiences with these sources, or know of similar ones?