Favorite "small" Blu Ray distributor company

We've reached peak shenanigans when we start debating the indie cred of horror blu ray distributors.

 

Shout! Factory IS just Rhino rebranded, after all. It's a company owned by people that are millionaires many, many times over.

 

Baggio has 'small' in quotation marks and has noted that he meant non-major companies. To this degree, I think he's safe here.

However, to your point--baggio, please change poll title to 'Favorite Poorest Blu Ray Distributor.' Only the best horror comes from the poors.

 

Exactly. My point of the poll/thread was to talk about these companies that are putting out films on BLU RAY the fans want to see. Films that either never got released on dvd or were in the need for a really good upgrade. Specifically the horror & cult genre, but I didn't want to leave out all those 80's action & comedies too. This is not a poll for releases of films like Neighbors 2 starring Seth Rogan. Marvel movies, (unless it's the original Spider Man movie from 1977 ) or LOTR, etc... I used the word "small" because this is how imo I describe these companies compared to the rest. If I left out "small" then people would say where's Warner, Sony,Disney, etc... Dammed if you do , dammed if you don't.

I didn't want to argue over if Shout or Anchor Bay is a major brand or not. Because BOTH of those companies put out and continue to put out films that NOBODY is even thinking about touching. Whose main focus (for the most part) is to restore forgotten films. Wanted to list companies that actually would want to put out Blood Beach on Blu-ray if they had the rights.

I was gonna include Lions Gates but they just started that Vestron Collection. Maybe I should , what do you guys think? I didn't wanna include them because a huge portion of their catalog (until the Vestron Collection) has mostly been recent movies/TV and films that have been released before even though they have a bunch of horror.

 

Impossible to call. I favor Vinegar Syndrome, Mondo Macabro, Synapse, Severin and Arrow myself. However, Shout/Scream has undeniably been on a roll, and their work to piecing together Nightbreed and the upcoming Exorcist III is commendable, and of course the fact that they do great work on genre stalwarts while still managing to put out far more obscure titles.

Code Red, despite its 'management issues', also has an impressive slate, even outside of their upcoming editions of Opera and The Church.

 

I went with Arrow Video, Code Red, and Other (for Camera Obscura). Arrow Video is one of the best in terms of quality now, that and the titles they release were enough for them to make the list but I am also really impressed by the way they turned themselves around from not even being a second rate label. Code Red has some decent titles and their quality is decent but then there is Bill; I think he's hilarious and love the way he doesn't take any shit from his fans. I can't name another label owner that even comes close to being as amusing as him and wish he would intro all the movies he releases. Finally there is Camera Obscura, they take forever to release but their releases are always top notch as far as AV quality goes and most of their titles are ones that were either never on DVD/BD before or never had an English friendly release before.
The runner up is Vinegar Syndrome, these guys do a great job on their releases, do a lot of pretty obscure stuff, and seem like they get way more titles out than most labels.

 

Recently I've been reading reviews of their releases. They seem to be very consistent in the quality of the video presentation on their blus. Dare I say more consistent then most companies, including Arrow.

 

Vinegar Syndrome does their own scanning, restorations, and colour correction in house since the company owners also run a lab/restoration business hence why they are the only company able to keep their transfers consistent and of the highest quality. Every other company, while they work on or commission their own restorations, still have to do them through other companies/labs.