Movies too bad to survive DVD

[Olivia Bauer]

There are a lot of bad and good movies on VHS, almost all films have a DVD release after the conversion. But there are very few films so terrible that they never saw conversion and were left behind to remain on VHS until it became movie purgatory. I'd like a list.

[lester1/2jr]

really the dumbest movie ever

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTGTLwpcTjM

[Jack]

Not one of Stephen Baldwin's more memorable ones.



That's actually a favorite of mine.

[Andrew]

There are films which have not had a DVD release, but I have to say that the lower cost of releasing on DVD compared to what it was for a VHS release means they've probably just fallen to the wayside rather than being too bad.  I'm sure quite a few movies are stuck in legal limbo, which I believe is the case for "Moontrap", and then there are others which are just forgotten and not considered profitable to release.  That the Asylum and other companies are cranking out movies like crazy for SyFy and other outlets cannot help the chances for something like "Primal Scream" (1987).

Personally, I've been pleasantly surprised by a number of older movies that have made it to DVD.  Seeing "Bog" on DVD completely surprised me, as have a few others that are just mind-numbingly awful.

Sadly, I wish we could get some of the old sword and sorcery films released - even some of the really bad ones.

[Criswell]

Actually, Moment by Moment is so bad it's not available on anything.

[voltron]

I've mentioned this before, but Ken Russell's Whore (1991) has yet to be released on dvd yet. Not a "bad" movie by any means - it really blows my mind that you can find insane amounts of Z-grade garbage (not knocking that stuff, mind you :)) that have legitimate dvd releases, but for whatever reason Whore is not available as of yet.  I really can't see a lot of the stuff released by RaeDon making the cut. Then again, stranger things have happened I guess.

[lester1/2jr]

Badmovies should re-release Tomcat with MST3K type commentary except only sound effects

[zombie no.one]

I was about to bemoan the fact one of my b-m faves HOSPITAL MASSACRE has never seen a DVD release , but I just found this site, which claims to have it

http://www.j4hi.com/page6/page424/Hospital_Massacre.html

Anyone bought from here, or similar places? Is it legit?

[lester1/2jr]

Just for the hell of it is a well known one.

[Trevor]

Actually, Moment by Moment is so bad it's not available on anything.

I actually saw this when it was first released *HITS SELF REPEATEDLY*  

[Trevor]

Percival Rubens' The Demon 

Yes, I know it's available on DVD but the master that was used for that and the VHS release is a real crappy one: my place of work has the uncut version on 35mm film and I wish that could be used as a digital master to re-release the DVD and a BluRay if possible.

[Rev. Powell]

I was about to bemoan the fact one of my b-m faves HOSPITAL MASSACRE has never seen a DVD release , but I just found this site, which claims to have it

http://www.j4hi.com/page6/page424/Hospital_Massacre.html

Anyone bought from here, or similar places? Is it legit?

They are a bootlegger, for sure. They don't own the rights to the titles, they assume the copyrights are abandoned. They're probably mostly duping VHS prints. Quality will be a coin toss.

[zombie no.one]

thanks Rev. confirmed my suspicions. I don't really want a DVDr of a VHS copy

btw I thought copyright didnt expire till something like 50 years after being set, wouldn't they be infringing it by doing that on 70s/80s movies? (Not that they probably care)

[Pacman000]

thanks Rev. confirmed my suspicions. I don't really want a DVDr of a VHS copy

btw I thought copyright didnt expire till something like 50 years after being set, wouldn't they be infringing it by doing that on 70s/80s movies? (Not that they probably care)

Copyrights last longer than 50 years.  They're betting that no one cares to enforce the movies' copyrights.

[Rev. Powell]

thanks Rev. confirmed my suspicions. I don't really want a DVDr of a VHS copy

btw I thought copyright didnt expire till something like 50 years after being set, wouldn't they be infringing it by doing that on 70s/80s movies? (Not that they probably care)

Determining the copyright status of something is complex, because it depends on the laws in effect at the time the film was made. But basically nothing from the 1980s should be in the public domain, with very few exceptions.

There is periodically legislation in Congress to basically legalize bootlegging by recognizing abandoned/orphaned copyrights as part of the public domain. It would be a great idea but it never gets anywhere, probably because no one has much of a financial stake in passing it.