It appears that Cult Epics has this slated for a future release under the Renee Daalder Collection. No date announced and no artwork.
www.cultepics.com
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I just bought the British DVD on ebay for a total of $6 American- and that INCLUDES shipping to the states!
The British disc is REGION FREE, so region coding won't be a problem. It is a PAL disc, but computers can play PAL just fine- that's only a problem with NTSC-formatted DVD players.
As long as you're ok with watching the movie on your computer (or if you have a DVD player that can play PAL as well as NTSC- I do not), then it is really, really cheap to get this movie legally. This movie is nowhere near as rare as most people seem to think. Yes, it is not available in America, but a region-free disc is still convenient enough, until an American release comes along.
As far as I'm concerned, paying $6 for the movie and having to watch it on my computer is a much better deal than paying upwards of $50 for a used VHS!
Was what you purchased an official release or a bootleg copy? I'm just wondering because the price seems too good to be true. And is it full-screen or widescreen? A lot of booties are just the VHS version convered to DVD-R.
shareIt was a legitimate DVD, not a bootleg!
If the price seems too good to be true, though, it's because the quality is not too good- it's a typical public-domain quality DVD: it's fullscreen, and it looks like it was transferred from a VHS. Not horrendous (I've seen worse quality from public domain releases), just about what you'd expect from a decent-quality VHS copy of the movie (except much easier to find than VHS copies). It even came in a slim DVD case.
I don't know what the status of the film is in the UK, but I might guess that it's public domain over there. Or maybe the studio that picked up the rights just didn't especially care. There are two different UK DVD versions, though- maybe the other one is better quality. The one I got has a picture of a guy holding up an axe.
But anyway, it is a legit disc, and not a DVD-R, and for a movie this rare (in America), what more can you ask for?
What is the studio that released this on DVD? Did it have any kind of booklet? Does it have a menu with chapter stops? Sorry for all the questions -- I'm just very curious.
The fact that it is VHS quality and full-screen suggests to me that it's a bootleg. As far as the film being in the public domain, I guess that's possible. How long is copyright good for, anyway -- 30 years?
Regardless, you got a good deal. And if no studio's coming forward to give this a high-quality release, I guess VHS quality/full-screen is all we can expect from a DVD of this film.
It's from 23rd Century entertainment, or 23rd Century media, or something like that. It doesn't have a booklet, but then again, very few major companies print booklets lately, except for in special editions.
But everything else it has- a well-enough-designed menu, chapter stops, and fairly cool disc artwork. I've become pretty good at spotting bootlegs, and I'm pretty certain this isn't one.
Yeah, for some reason there are some relatively recent movies (as in, newer than what we commonly think of public domain as being) that have slipped into the public domain somehow. Like how in America, Ken Russell's film "Gothic" is public domain, and has a bunch of poor quality, VHS-transferred DVD releases. And that's from the late-80's, and was a major-studio movie (Virgin media) with a great cast; not nearly as indie as Massacre. I have no idea how that happened, but it's a shame, since it means we don't have any better-than-VHS-quality DVD of it in America, like they do in Europe (the widescreen European DVD by MGM is the one to buy). Same thing with massacre- guess we can't expect anything better. It gets the job done, though.
And actually, a 70's semi-exploitation b-movie like this feels pretty much at home in a not-too-sharp print. It doesn't detract, like it would from a higher-budget film like Gothic that relies heavily on visuals.
Interesting you should mention "Gothic." I have one of those cheapo DVDs for that film. The box says it's from Miracle Pictures, but the disc says Passion Productions. It's transferred from VHS (quite shabbily, I might add), full-screen, and has six chapter stops, placed randomly every 20 minutes or so. It's too bad this slipped into the public domain, but I guess I should have known when this cost $1.99. Fortunately, I have seen "Gothic" on the big screen, so I know that an incredible experience that can be – though not nearly as incredible as Ken Russell's "Tommy," which I've also seen in various incarnations.
Regarding "Massacre at Central High," it does sound like you have the real deal, or at least as real as we're ever likely to get on a DVD release. I have seen "Massacre" twice on the big screen, first at a drive-in during the late '70s (the best way to experience it), and second at a midnight movie a few years ago. The director was in attendance and was talking about participating in the DVD release, but apparently nothing came of that. I've also rented the film on VHS from a local video store, but this one looked like a bootleg because it had photocopied artwork.
I agree that an imperfect print detracts nothing from this film. I mostly watch old movies on VHS anyway, because they're so cheap and accessible. I think too much emphasis is placed on sound and picture quality today at the expense of good scripts and performances.
I totally agree. I hate how some films are just allowed to be lost because the existing prints aren't regarded as high-enough quality for a decent DVD (or especially Blu-Ray) transfer. Some films look best in high quality, but for some films like this, a certain beat-up quality actually can add to it. There are some movies (mostly cheesy, drive-in style horror flicks) that I actually would much rather watch on VHS, because it adds to the experience: preferably a really old VHS, produced by a really obscure company that's been out of business since the late 80's, and which comes in a giant box, like a lot of early tapes did.
That said, I highly recommend that any fan of Gothic pick up the widescreen European DVD by MGM- not only does the correct aspect ratio make the shot compositions look a lot better, but the colors are less faded, and really make the vivid images stand out.
I shall seek out the European MGM DVD of "Gothic" because the one I have really doesn't do the film justice, and this film really needs to be presented properly to be fully appreciated.
And yes, B-movies and grindhouse fare look great on VHS, especially when the boxes have the original poster art (a practice that seems to be lost on DVDs). I've found a lot of excellent, obscure titles like "The Sender" and "The Haunting of Julia" at Goodwill stores and in the clearance bins of video stores. And I love seeing images like the Vestron logo and the trailers to even more obscure films that look like a parody these days.
It was released by Dead Of Night who, like Vipco and a few others, release a lot of (often otherwise rare) horror films on DVD in the UK rather cheaply. The transfer seems to be taken from VHS, though they have clearly sourced a copy that was in good condition so it's definitely worth a look, particularly if you're in the states where no DVD seems to exist of this at all.
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It appears that Cult Epics has this slated for a future release under the Renee Daalder Collection. No date announced and no artwork.
Ah, but I do so wish that the year on your post was 2009 rather than 2008!
cinefreak
I am going to head to amazon and see if they have this on DVD now.
shareIf you checked out Amazon, you probably found out (as I did) that the DVD starts at $39.99. It's probably a bootleg anyway, transferred from VHS. And you need an "all region" player because it's PAL 2.
shareGo to eBay and type in this title. They always have this film on DVD for under $10 or so (including shipping). You will have to buy it from England, however. But that's not a problem. I own the DVD and it is from DEAD OF NIGHT, as one person posted earlier. The DVDs from England are 100% legal and legit. If you go to Amazon.co.uk you can see that the Amazon company in England sells them for 5.89 British Pounds (U.S.$9.50). I doubt that a company such as Amazon would sell a bootleg. The DVD plays fine as well. It is region free PAL, so you should have no problem playing it. Even it it were a Region 2 DVD all you need to do is change your DVD player to Region Free. This can be done quite easily on about 70% of all DVD players. All you need is the code for your DVD player model. I converted all my DVD players in about 45 seconds each. I would go for the DVD just for the better picture quality and the convenience. If you can't change your DVD player to Region Free, post again and I can try to help. I order tons of DVDs form Amazon.co.uk because they often have older movies that never made it to DVD in the U.S.
shareThanks very much for the tip! The manual for my DVD player has the instructions for making it Region Free. Thanks again!
shareNow it appears it will be coming to DVD again. I hope whoever it working on it gets it out soon. a GREAT slice of 70s cinema that NEEDS, no, BEGS to be released!
shareSeems like we've been down this road so many times, so I'll believe it when I see it. This is an excellent, subversive satire that's been neglected for way too long.
shareDo you have any details on this? Anyway, there's a great MACH discussion group on Facebook that includes three actors from the movie - Derrel Maury (David), Rex Steven Sikes (Rodney) and Jeffrey Winner (Oscar).
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