Amazon has Orgy of the Living Dead (The Hanging Woman) up for pre-order. Only $14.99 for the blu-ray. https://www.amazon.com/Orgy-of-the-...ag=bluray-030-20&linkCode=xm2&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
As I said before, Full Moon isn’t getting any money before the reviews. They don’t have a proven track record.
As far as their "foreign" Blu-rays like this, they tend to do a fairly good job as far as the transfers go. Full Moon will likely never stop using antiquated DVD era lossy audio tracks though. Now if this were a DVD-only release by them, I'd be entirely hesitant.
Now shipping from Full Moon Direct: Blu-ray: https://www.fullmoondirect.com/Orgy-of-the-Living-Dead-Blu-ray_p_1545.html DVD: https://www.fullmoondirect.com/Orgy-of-the-Living-Dead-Remastered-DVD_p_1544.html Apparently includes an extra SD version "Return of the Zombies" which runs 113 minutes which is perplexing Naschy fans as no version near that length has apparently been released before.
You should contact Fullmoon to double check. I ordered from Amazon and they told me they would send me a replacement disc.
Watched Garden of the Frenchman last night from 1978. Naschy in one of his most villainous roles. Shocking to see as so much of his characters are tinged with pathos, but not in this film. A true crime film based in 1905 and perhap's Naschy's darkest film. I would enjoy an analysis of how this film could possibly resonate sociologically with residual feelings about the death of Generallisimo Franco and the toppling of his regime possibly reflected in the character arc of the churchgoer with a lifestyle of hidden brutality, especially after watching Beast and the Magic Sword's sympathetic and historically accurate portrayal of jewish characters, which felt like an inclusionary mea culpa statement by the Spanish filmmakers.
Now I'm even more interested in seeing Garden of the Frenchman when Mondo Macabro release it! Sadly, I suspect Naschy only got his chance to reflection on how Jewish people were(/are) treated because Magic Sword was a Japanese production and they had no horse in the race so to speak. I'm not certain where Naschy lands on the religious spectrum (but then, how certain can we be of anyone's?). On the Blu-ray for Devil Incarnate there's an interview with him where he says this film pretty well lays out his beliefs and outlook on life. Not exactly an apologist! But based on the film he seems about as cynical and disillusioned as one can be while still calling yourself Christian. As that was a more modern interview his outlook doesn't seem to have change much later in life.
That isn't what happened with me. I sent them an email and actually received two responses within two days. I liked the first response better so he is the one I contacted after receiving my Orgy of the Dead blu-ray. He replied that he would send me a replacement when it's pressed but that the blu-ray for Hand That Feeds the Dead should be the corrected one by the time it is released.
I emailed them again and got a much more immediate response. They say that the duplication hasn’t been completed and that it will be another week at least until the corrected discs reach their warehouse.
I am sticking with dvd over blu ray as much as I can. I feel like every other blu ray purchased on here lately has been "oh yeah I am getting mine next week and then after that the replacement comes out!" Um no. If this is how shoddily they are pressed, I shudder at how they'll age. It feels like if it were any worse, the pressings would cause the actors to flub their lines...
I know next to nothing about Naschy, and haven't seen any of his films. Are the two Shout! Factory collections a good place to start?
I would say so. Naschy was in a pretty wide variety of films and genres. Some of his films are quite serious, and others are way over-the-top. It probably makes sense to see a few of his films before deciding if his stuff is for you or not. So a collection like either of the Scream Factory sets would be a good place to start.
Shout's Vol.1 is a pretty good way to go. It has Night of the Werewolf which is a later Naschy werewolf movie but probably his best, and includes Vengeance of the Zombies and Horror Rises from the Tomb which are some of his better excursions into witchcraft/undead. At the price point it's a bit of a gamble for someone new and the other two included aren't as good as some of his other films. Vol.2 is about the same with Werewolf and the Yeti, Hunchback of the Morgue and Exorcism all being pretty good but it is more of a completist's set. Both Vengeance of the Zombies and Hunchback of the Morgue have real animal killings in them so that's something else to consider. The alternative is single movies which on Blu-ray are a little expensive for a blind buy from Mondo Macabro and aren't his notable werewolf films. And the Scorpion releases aren't his best stuff, with Assignment Terror, while a werewolf movie, being notoriously terrible. I rather enjoy Assignment Terror as a rare monster mashup but it's difficult to recommend based on how others perceive it. It's also not a good show piece for Naschy. Werewolf Shadow aka The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman (1971) is something of a fan favorite but hasn't been released stateside on Blu-ray and on DVD there's a lot of crappy PD releases. On DVD the BCI is the best, followed by Anchor Bay, but they're expensive to get a hold of now. What's the likelihood you'll enjoy them? They're cheesy Eurohorrors from the 70's and 80's with more tits than brains, and in many cases not a lot of tits, so how far does that get with you? They're fun and atmospheric so that's why I enjoy them. Shout's Vol.1 is a strong showing but obviously has a high entry fee. I'd anticipate high resale value when Shout drops it, whenever that may be, if that helps.
