Movies too bad to survive DVD

[voltron]

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?

Not sure if that one's legit, but here's some great news, zombie: X-Ray will be released on Blu-ray as a double feature with Schizoid in late August!
http://www.amazon.ca/X-ray-Schizoid-Double-Feature-Blu-ray/dp/B00CPTUNUG/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1374768727&sr=1-1&keywords=x+ray+schizoid

[claws]

Lots of good and bad Indie Horror movies never made it to DVD because the original print is either lost - or in bad shape. Bad print movies that got released to DVD after a long delay: One Dark Night (1983), Scared to Death (1981), The Redeemer (1978), Day of the Animals (1977).
A case of bad (English) audio was the reason why Anthropophagus (1980) took so long to hit DVD.
Anchor Bay was supposed to release The Prey (1980) to DVD. Apparently they were in possession of the R-Rated print but wanted the unrated Asian version which they couldn't track down.

[Gst0395]

One bad horror movie I've heard about is Night of Horror (1981). Based on IMDb reviews (like this one at the top), it sounds particularity horrible. It only seems to have received an obscure VHS release by Genesis Video with no sign of a DVD release.

[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?

Not sure if that one's legit, but here's some great news, zombie: X-Ray will be released on Blu-ray as a double feature with Schizoid in late August!
http://www.amazon.ca/X-ray-Schizoid-Double-Feature-Blu-ray/dp/B00CPTUNUG/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1374768727&sr=1-1&keywords=x+ray+schizoid

Awesome.  will grab that for sure.

[Pacman000]

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.

I've heard that you had to register your copyright within 5 years of publication from 1979 to 1989.  Is that true?

[Rev. Powell]

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.

I've heard that you had to register your copyright within 5 years of publication from 1979 to 1989.  Is that true?

I don't think so, but maybe. Some of this stuff is governed by regulations rather than statutes, and before 1976 some of it was even governed by state laws. But 1979-1989 doesn't match any of the major revisions of copyright law. Big changes happened in 1976 and 1992.

This is why non-specialists really can't determine whether something is in the public domain or not. It's even more confusing because the music used in a movie, for example, may be published separately and have a whole different copyright term.

[Doc Daneeka]

I have a VHS copy of a film by Lorenzo Munoz (of HIP HOP LOCOS infamy) entitled BARRIO BOYZ, which hasn't made it to DVD, or even IMDb, despite only being made in 2000

[zelmo73]

I don't believe that Mac & Me has ever made it to DVD...and quite frankly, I honestly never took the time to check if it ever did or not. The only '80s film that was more critically panned than Mac & Me was Ishtar (which, ironically, did come out on DVD).

[JPickettIII]

really the dumbest movie ever

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

I have seen this.  Bad bad movie.

[Mofo Rising]

There's a documentary making the rounds about VHS collectors. I imagine it will be of interest to all.

Rewind This!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj1Y7eMNOzo

There's a lot of movies that are now only available on VHS. And once those magnetic tapes degrade, they're gone.

I've got a crapload of VHS tapes on my shelf that I can pretty much guarantee will never get any official DVD release.

Who's going to release these?

Mutant on the Bounty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4n1ZP2kAGY

Age Isn't Everything

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Nz-lnobfO4

[lester1/2jr]

JPIcket3 - I read an interview with Brad Pitt once, he was talking about the crappy straight to video movies you have to do as an actor when you first come to Hollywood. He mentioned Tomcat. I didn't think it would be as weird and off putting as it was. freakin cat dancing

[Pacman000]

Some good movies have never had an official DVD release.

A few years ago, we wanted a copy of "Onion Head" staring Andy Griffith.  We checked around, but, alas, it's not on DVD.  We had to order a VHS from another state!

[MrMari]

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?

I have actually ordered from these guys. They do VHS to DVD-R transfers and make no bones about it. This is no different than what the sellers do on sites like iOffer.com. Rev is correct. Many of these sellers write verbiage that the movies and TV shows have fallen into public domain status but I am sure that due diligence has not been done by these retailers to determine these things. 

It gets strange when you see really bad movies that DO make it to DVD. Many of them though cut out scenes for what ever reason. Take for instance the Kathy Willets movie "Creep" from 1995. Now that movie was just BAD. Somehow, it got a DVD release even though it was shot on video to begin with.  Strange thing was that they cut the DVD version up so bad that they made the movie worse than it already was. LOL. I got lucky and snagged a VHS copy from a dying mom and pop rental store.

An example of a really good movie that never got a proper DVD release would be "Household Saints" from 1993. That is one of my all time favourite early 90s New Line releases and its stuck in low fi VHS land.

Companies like Code Red, Scorpion Releasing, and Shout Factory are making most of my dreams come true though.

[Pacman000]

Some good movies have never had an official DVD release.

A few years ago, we wanted a copy of "Onion Head" staring Andy Griffith.  We checked around, but, alas, it's not on DVD.  We had to order a VHS from another state!

Onionhead is now on DVD; at Warner Archive.  Sure, it's a DVD-R, but it's still an official release.

[chrisr]

Spookies from 1986 comes to my mind.