Some Choice Classic Cult DVD's in the next couple of weeks....

I'm happy to see the debut of the Billie Holiday flick LADY SINGS THE BLUES on my birthday in August... especially since I've been dying to see it for years.

Also:

Over the Top - May 31

Dead Ringers - June 7

Stripes Extended Edition - June 7

Swimming With Sharks SE - June 7

Casino 10th Anniversary - June 14

Starting Over - June 21

Tetsuo: The Iron Man - June 28

It's going to be a full summer.

Edit: Holy crap. August 30th is going to be a crazy release day with: Blues Brothers 25th Anniversary, Campfire Tales, Corvette Summer, Head Office, Heaven Help Us, Hero At Large, The Hidden I/II, The Morning After, Quick Change and Wise Guys. What a fucking great day.

I'm not familiar about The Driver, Prime Cut and Danger Diabolik. Would you care to educate me?

By your moniker, I'm guessing you've read the Parker novels. Do you know if they are all getting republished?

Normally I don't mind to much about double dipping, especially when it comes years after the first release and this time is no exception. Both Stripes and Blues Brothers will be mine in better sets. My Tesuo: Iron Man will have to sit for a while. My copy I got from eBay three years ago will have to do for now.

Surprised that no one's mentioned Night Moves, on July 12. Vintage '70s paranoia in the same vein as The Conversation and Chinatown, with Gene Hackman in his prime and an eighteen-year-old Melanie Griffith.

Also, in case anyone missed it, Sam Fuller's widescreen psycho-western Forty Guns came out on Tuesday.

Cool! They sound great!

I'm happiest about Year of the Dragon... Rourke's 2nd best after Angel Heart. I miss being able to tell his facial expressions.

Danger Diabolik will be an immediate blind buy for me. Never seen it, but it looks incredible (and even if it ends up sucking, at least I get a Beastie Boys video out of the deal).

I always liked Prime Cut...though Grofeld got the setting wrong. It's set in Kansas City, which is pure Midwest, not the Deep South by a long shot.
BTW there is a nice display of Sissy;s boobs; a memorable screen debut.
You can get into a real discussion of what is a cult film and what is not. If you go by the defination of a film that was released but did not do very well but found following then "Lady Sings the BLues" does not qualify. The film was a hit when it came out in 1971, and is seen a lot on cable. Warning: Diana ROss is incredible, and it is the first big screen role for Billy Dee Williams, but it is like "Ray": a routine biopic with excellent performances.

"Year Of The Dragon" has a great performance by Mickey Rourke that survives Micahel Cimano as a director. Sadly, Rourke was not so lucky in "Desperate Hours".

Goddamn.

I can FINALLY retire my worn VHS of POINT BLANK and my laserdisc rip of DANGER DIABOLIK.

I really, REALLY wish that was the 130 minute restored cut of Hill's near-masterpiece THE DRIVER, though.

I've had an order in at Amazon for Diabolik for a year. Z-Man, from everything I've ever heard you say about every movie you've ever loved - that flick is made for you. Diabolik tops my bastard list - whenver that hits.

And 'hell yeah' to Point Blank and Wise Guys - Thank YOU, Mr. Acavano!!!

For me, though? I'd like this SPESHUL IDISHUN DEE VEE DEE:

Folks, our prayers have been answered. Freaked is finally out on DVD. You know how long I have waited for this? Cult classic is a severe understatement. I can't believe that Nick hasn't even seen it. He must review it - seeing as he hasn't seen it before.

Freaked? Is out?! On DVD?! Where can I learn more?!!

Didnt this Diabolik movie get the MST3k treatment?

The movie looked uber shitty

Freaked comes out July 12th.

I remember Prime Cut from many years ago on the late, late show. It was edited all to hell but still you could easily tell that this was one seriously fucked up movie. And I mean fucked up in a good way; real raw and nasty tough guy shit. Gregory Walcott from Plan 9 From Outer Space, many Clint Eastwood movies and one time spokesman for Wolf Brand Chili has got to be seen to be believed as Weenie, the evil butcher. Danger: Diabolik I've seen before on AMC and always thought it nothing more than wamed over TV Batman camp, but the Tim Lucas commenatry makes me want to get it.

Wow. What an opinion you have there.

So everyone who enjoys something you don't is a mindless twit, eh? Do you ever watch or listen to stand-up comedy? If so, you lazy, mindless twit, why didn't you just sit at home telling your own jokes to a mirror? Isn't that your point, that listening to other people's jokes is a waste of time?

I think there was a lot of intelligent comedy coming from MST3K, and it was a very original and long-running show with many thousands of devoted viewers. Just because you don't "understand" why it was successful (or didn't get some of the more subtle humor of the show, most likely) doesn't mean others can't understand the show and appreciate it. I fucking hate when people make blanket statements about the viewers of a show, as if they all think alike and only get the exact same level of enjoyment out of it.

And there was plenty of room for poking fun at This Island Earth. The movie was well-made for its time, but it was and is ultimately a cheesefest.

Yeah, I'd never even heard of it until a few months ago (or I'd heard the title, but had it confused with the Clouzot film), when I was watching a few minutes of that Bava doc on IFC while waiting for something else to come on. When they started showing clips of Diabolik, my first thought was "How could I possibly have survived this long without having seen that?"

And Grofeld, although we make up a very small minority, I actually share your feelings about MST3K. In fact, if you search hard enough, you could probably find a post from about 5 years ago of me saying, almost word for word, the same thing.

Opinions are like assholes: they all get backed up once in a while.

I hope, Z-Man, that you didn't say people who enjoy MST3K are lazy, mindless twits. It's fine to not like a TV show, but it's wrong to generalize about the people who do like it.

The incredible success of the show suggests that it was funny. It had nothing to do with reinforcing someone's opinion of what is and is not a bad movie. 90% of what MST3K presented in its ten-year run as a show would be universally considered bad movies by a wide range of critics. Easy targets, you say? Again, you miss the point of the show, which was to make fun of bad movies. What's the point of making fun of "good" movies? Do you think that would have been successful? Sure, they stretched the boundaries of their premise at times, as was the case with Danger Diabolik, but it was definitely a strange movie with some wacky goings-on, so I think it still fits.

I have no interest in letting anyone tell me which movies are and are not bad, and I wouldn't assume that just because it was played for laughs on MST it is a guaranteed stinker on its own. You are insulting people, again, for liking a show they found entertaining, when one's appreciation of MST has nothing to do with which movies they appreciate or how intelligent their opinions of movies in general might be. Make a case for why you don't like the show, if you must. You are free to not like it. Just leave out the part where you judge those who do enjoy it as having less motivation and intelligence than you do. That's why I'm angry, and that's why you are getting an ass-chewing. I agree that the person who brought up MST3K as related to Danger Diabolik is making a somewhat hollow judgment, but please, keep your insults to yourself.

Okay, I've wasted enough time on you. Enjoy the rest of your life as an energetic, mindful twat.