Why is the post-apocalypse genre so neglected on DVD?

[Kester Pelagius]

Have you ever found yourself wondering what happened to those oddball post-apocalypse movies of the 80s?  Some used to play all the time on cable and the genre even had it's own shelf space in some Mom & Pop rental stores.  Actually, now that I think about it, I may have only ever seen a few of these movies on cable.  I don't ever recall seeing a VHS of The Aftermath or Dune Warrior for sale anywhere though some titles, like Stryker ,seemed to be stocked in every rental store.

I realize that may be going a bit ways back for some and, really, the PA genre wasn't limited to the 80s but the bulk of the really great out there cinematic visions projecting dire dystopian futures for mankind came out of this decade. These dire post Armageddon movies were often so unintentionally funny that it seems criminal not to release more titles to DVD!

So what happened to these so bad they're good films?  More to the point which titles are totally AWOL on DVD?

You can read more of my ruminations on the subject (with illustrations) here.

[Menard]

I've seen many of them. Amazingly, that experience has not left me wondering why they are not out on DVD.

[Jack]

I've been wondering that as well.  I remember a ton of post-apocalyptic exploitation type stuff -  marvelous B movie material - back in the '80s.  It was its own genre.  Just take some babes and a film crew out to the desert around Hollywood and have at it.  The Roller Blade Warriors trilogy comes to mind, but there were so many more, the titles are sadly long forgotten.   I bought a movie called Galaxy Hunter on DVD a while back that really made me remember all those films.  Just pure cheese.    I'm hoping we'll see them eventually.

[DodgingGrunge]

I think one of the main reasons they have disappeared has to do with the time in which they were released.  The 1980s saw the explosion of home video and cable television, markets for film that really didn't exist before.  And the rules of the industry changed quite a bit.  There were a billion different schlocky companies quick to exploit the new formats, but ultimately they met their doom when "good" movies started coming out.  Those myriad companies have since been dissolved by banks and creditors and their assets are now tied up in miles of bureaucratic mumbojumbo.  One by one the important titles were purchased by various specialists, like Anchor Bay, and the rest are kind of being bought up in lot-sales of sorts for dollar-bin releases and 10-in-one sets.  Unfortunately, most of these nameless genre pictures aren't deemed worthy of release on their own, so they are kind of on the backburner.  Dollar-bin companies are only concerned with quantity, and so long as people are buying the collections they've got out, they aren't going to worry too much about mastering others.   

[The Burgomaster]

I bought a post-apocalyptic boxed set a few months ago.  It consisted of 3 movie:

* After the Fall of New York
* 1990: The Bronx Warriors
* The New Barbarians

It's a great set - - all of the movies are remastered and have sharp, clear video and audio, and they are all in letterbox format.  But, I agree that there are many, many of these movies that need to be released on DVD.

[Kester Pelagius]

I bought a post-apocalyptic boxed set a few months ago.  It consisted of 3 movie:

* After the Fall of New York
* 1990: The Bronx Warriors
* The New Barbarians

It's a great set - - all of the movies are remastered and have sharp, clear video and audio, and they are all in letterbox format.  But, I agree that there are many, many of these movies that need to be released on DVD.

It is a great set, that's for sure, and I'm happy to have it.  But at the same time it's sad that those seem to be the only PA movies on the Shriek Show label.  Especially since 1990: Bronx Warriors (AKA Riffs) had a sequel called Bronx Warriors 2 (AKA Escape from the Bronx AKA Riffs 2).  Funny thing about the "Riffs" series is Rats: Nights of Terror was known as Riffs 3, so right there we have the potential of a great box set!  Alas AB seems to have the rights to the latter and as for Bronx Warriors 2, it's MIA on R1 DVD.

I remember a ton of post-apocalyptic exploitation type stuff -  marvelous B movie material - back in the '80s.  It was its own genre.  Just take some babes and a film crew out to the desert around Hollywood and have at it.  The Roller Blade Warriors trilogy comes to mind, but there were so many more, the titles are sadly long forgotten.

I think one of the main reasons they have disappeared has to do with the time in which they were released.  The 1980s saw the explosion of home video and cable television, markets for film that really didn't exist before.  And the rules of the industry changed quite a bit.

I agree.  The rental and cable markets did allow for many low budget movies to be made, and seen, that might not have been otherwise.  Not to mention it helped pad the filmographies of more than a few micro budget directors.

There were a billion different schlocky companies quick to exploit the new formats, but ultimately they met their doom when "good" movies started coming out.

What?  Are you saying movies like Albert "Cyborg" Pyun's Nemesis series, Donald G. Jackson's Roller Blade series, or Scott Shaw's string of Toad Warrior knock-offs weren't good movies?

One by one the important titles were purchased by various specialists, like Anchor Bay, and the rest are kind of being bought up in lot-sales of sorts for dollar-bin releases and 10-in-one sets.

Unfortunatly the bargain bin companies aren't exactly going out of their way to find post-apoc movies.  I'm not even sure some of them know the meanings of the words they use on their box sets.  Just look at the titles on Mill Creek's "Apocalypse 20 Movie Pack" release:  (Alien) Contamination (!), Alien Species, Battle Of The Worlds, Cosmos: War Of The Planets, Counterblast, The Day The Sky Exploded, The Doomsday Machine, End Of The World, Evil Brain from Outer Space, The Last Man On Earth, Planet Outlaws (This is a movie cut together from an old "Buck Rogers" serial!), Purple Death From Outer Space (More old Buck Rogers!), Rocky Jones, Space Ranger: Menace From Outer Space (WTF?), Star Odyssey, Invasion From Inner Earth, This is Not a Test, Unknown World, War of the Robots, Warning From Space, Warriors Of The Wasteland.

Of all the movies in that set there's really only one actual PA flick to be found: Warriors of the Wasteland (AKA The New Barbarians).  The rest are either disaster films, alien invasion movies (including a few spaghetti space operas), or marginal sci-fi culled from old serials that seems to have been included as padding.

[Jim H]

After the fall of New York is the same thing as 2019, right?  The one with the whole "I came here...  To tear out the eyes, of a WORM LIKE YOU!" line?

If so, that movie was great.  I remember I watched that with a friend, and we all agreed the guy who tore out the other guys eyes in that scene..  No matter what happened to him after that scene, he'd already won.

[Neville]

Yep, it's that one. It's easily my favourite post-apocalyptic B-movie ever (the "Mad Max" films are not "B-movies"). I saw that one again a few months ago with a friend who had never seen any of those, and he was wide eyed through the whole thing, specially when the movie starts throwing out lunatic stuff, like the Big Ape or the Hero that basically doesn't get to do much, apart setting up the last female on Earth to be raped by a mutant.

[Andrew]

Yep, it's that one. It's easily my favourite post-apocalyptic B-movie ever (the "Mad Max" films are not "B-movies"). I saw that one again a few months ago with a friend who had never seen any of those, and he was wide eyed through the whole thing, specially when the movie starts throwing out lunatic stuff, like the Big Ape or the Hero that basically doesn't get to do much, apart setting up the last female on Earth to be raped by a mutant.

I discovered this one two years or so ago and have to agree, it is a fun post-apocalyptic b-movie.  Ever wonder if Parsifal thought it was funny that "Eve's" first child was extra hairy?

http://www.badmovies.org/movies/2019after/index.html

[Neville]

Well, you can't tell for sure if she gets pregnant, but after the movie ended my friend and I started joking about if Parsifal would ever tell her about the whole affair. Considering the way they look to each other at the end, I guess not.

Another funny bit is when the main characters are captured by the bad guys and get tortured. One is beaten and questioned, another tied to a machine (I think). And  Parsifal? He and the bad villainesse make out. Lucky bastard.

[Andrew]

Another funny bit is when the main characters are captured by the bad guys and get tortured. One is beaten and questioned, another tied to a machine (I think). And  Parsifal? He and the bad villainess make out. Lucky bastard.

There are a number of times that what happens to the hero is patently unfair compared to what happens to his friends or followers.  Heck, look at the midgets in their underground warren in this one.  They all die from that sonic midget killing machine that the Euracs use.

The fact that Parsifal wins a horny hermaphrodite for his part in a "winner gets the hermaphrodite, loser dies" car battle makes me wonder why in the heck he entered the game in the first place.

[Neville]

The fact that Parsifal wins a horny hermaphrodite for his part in a "winner gets the hermaphrodite, loser dies" car battle makes me wonder why in the heck he entered the game in the first place.

LOL That's a good one. Hadn't though of that. 

BTW, I finally got to see "The New Barbarians". Lots of fun, even the male rape bit. The funniest part, however, were the fights over cars going 15 or 20, and their accesories.

[Kester Pelagius]

BTW, I finally got to see "The New Barbarians". Lots of fun, even the male rape bit. The funniest part, however, were the fights over cars going 15 or 20, and their accesories.

I thought the funniest part were the conveniently placed empty containers (all spray painted silver) that people were falling into to and the Templars et al got to jump through as they rode their dune buggies into the refugee encampment (cars parked in a circle!) at the beginning.

The intro wasn't half bad either.  ;)

[ghouck]

They all die from that sonic midget killing machine that the Euracs use.

"Sonic Midget Killing Machine"? I GOTTA see this. . . Those four word don't fit together in any natural manner. .

[Jack]

You mean that burger place, Sonic, employs midgets, and someone has devised a special machine to kill them?