Any Code Red release updates?

[bloodthrill]

There is definitely something to be said for disclaimers...it certainly made folks' disappointment toward the long-delayed Sweet 16 disc go down more smoothly. The general opinion seemed to be, "Oh well,its better than nothing",since we were warned in advance to expect nothing in the way of a pristine print. It seems to be that part of the hold-up one Rituals was related to lack of usable materials-just let people know it doesn't look much better than it ever would have,then there's no (or at least less) problem.

And totally agree on the restoration featurette,which provides interesting insight into the DVD company's efforts.

[ArrowBeach]

Originally Posted by FinalSora

Are you still pissed at Bill over the emails regarding The Video Dead? No offense, but you seem very passionate in your posts regarding Code Red. It just seems like there is some underlying animosity driving these posts...

Wasnt that the one where Bill told him MGM owned the film, and he contacted someone else at MGM who apperently wasnt knowledgable, and told him MGM didnt own it, and it turned out Bill was right, or somethin'?

Regardless, on RITUALS, wasn't the original films negatives no longer existed? So they had to use Lawrewnce Dane's private print? Of course, having not seen the DVD, I dont know how it looks, but what if the print was in even worse shape than what it looks now, as apperently there was restoration involved? Sometimes you cant polish crappy looking material, no matter how much you put into it.

[chrismac87]

Originally Posted by FinalSora

Where the hell do you by your Code Red discs from? FYE? I have never spent more than 15 bucks for a Code Red disc, and I have a ton of them.

Are you still pissed at Bill over the emails regarding The Video Dead? No offense, but you seem very passionate in your posts regarding Code Red. It just seems like there is some underlying animosity driving these posts...

I've purchased most of my Code Red discs online, Diabolik DVD seems to be my go to site for Code Red discs that do range from $18-25 depending on the release, RITUALS I believe is $20 through them. The local FYE doesn't carry any of Code Red's titles and I'm not about to drive an hour or more to find one that does. Unless you find them used or on sale, they MSRP is $24.98, generally speaking.

And no, I'm an adult - I'm fully over the emails regarding THE VIDEO DEAD where he once again complained, insulted my intelligence, etc. I even sent him an email apologizing for the way I reacted in that situation and he never replied.

I have no underlined animosity towards Code Red or Bill for that matter, I wear it up front and on my sleeve. I've explained my reasoning several times in the last few posts why I don't agree with the way Bill handles things and the way he talks about his customers which incidentally - is you, the person defending him. He insults or bad mouths us, I notice he has a particular problem with this forum which you are a member of, which if you may or may not notice - other studios do not do. Despite customer complaints, if there are any from companies like Synapse or Blue Underground are handled maturely and efficiently. You don't see Don May or Bill Lustig going onto Twitter or message boards complaining whatever release they just released isn't selling or calling their customers "selfish" or "ignorant" for wanting a quality product.

[bloodthrill]

Well-said,chrismac.

[FinalSora]

Originally Posted by chrismac87

I've purchased most of my Code Red discs online, Diabolik DVD seems to be my go to site for Code Red discs that do range from $18-25 depending on the release, RITUALS I believe is $20 through them. The local FYE doesn't carry any of Code Red's titles and I'm not about to drive an hour or more to find one that does. Unless you find them used or on sale, they MSRP is $24.98, generally speaking.

And no, I'm an adult - I'm fully over the emails regarding THE VIDEO DEAD where he once again complained, insulted my intelligence, etc. I even sent him an email apologizing for the way I reacted in that situation and he never replied.

I have no underlined animosity towards Code Red or Bill for that matter, I wear it up front and on my sleeve. I've explained my reasoning several times in the last few posts why I don't agree with the way Bill handles things and the way he talks about his customers which incidentally - is you, the person defending him. He insults or bad mouths us, I notice he has a particular problem with this forum which you are a member of, which if you may or may not notice - other studios do not do. Despite customer complaints, if there are any from companies like Synapse or Blue Underground are handled maturely and efficiently. You don't see Don May or Bill Lustig going onto Twitter or message boards complaining whatever release they just released isn't selling or calling their customers "selfish" or "ignorant" for wanting a quality product.

Try 3rd party sellers on Amazon; Vinylsoundsbetter, Blowitoutahere, etc. always have great deals on all the genre dvd companies product. They are very dependable, and they do not price gouge like the much touted Diabolik...

As far as defending Bill goes, I hate to be redundant, but I will always be loyal to a company that has released dvds such as "Messiah Of Evil", "Sole Survivor", "Love Me Deadly", "The Redeemer", "The Visitor", "The Undertaker", "Scream", "The Forest", DGITW, "Sweet Sixteen", "Trapped", etc.

I think there is too much positive to take into account. It's all a matter of perspective and opinion, of course. I was disappointed that NIGHTMARE took so long to get released, as it is one of my favorite films. But I understood that there were reasons beyond my scope of knowledge that caused the holdup. But other than that, I have no complaints. I thank God that Code Red exists; no other genre dvd company cares about these forgotten 70's and 80's cult classics. Code Red gives me the nostalgic feeling of growing up in the 80's when these films overflowed the horror section of the local video store. I cannot get that feeling back anywhere else. I think only Media Blasters comes close in that regard.

As far as Bill and his outlook...those are his opinions, and he is entitled to them. I don't see how they should have any effect on the released product. He has been unfairly maligned since Code Red's inception, so I am sure that has quite a bit to do with it. When Code Red came on the 'forum' scene in late 2005, I was a member of the B-HEADED board. I did not notice any tension over there, quite the opposite actually. Whereas SOME users on this particular board accused the company of being an elaborate hoax. I can understand where that would cause a seed of uneasiness to sprout.

Bill has never insulted me personally. So there is no need for me to take an offense. It's plain to see what subset of the genre dvd world he is speaking of. He has tried his best to be active with forum members, and that is commendable. I like the fact that he is a no-bullshit kind of guy. He says what he thinks. No problem with me.

[Katatonia]

Originally Posted by maskull

Not complaining or anything. Just posting up this news. Now I know why my copy didn't ship on due date.

At least he came out and told the truth about this disc recall, and what the problem was exactly. I'll give two thumbs up there.

But why didn't he ever explain and elaborate on the recall with God's Bloody Acre? Because there was no disc defect.

[tropical marsh]

Originally Posted by FinalSora

Try 3rd party sellers on Amazon; Vinylsoundsbetter, Blowitoutahere, etc. always have great deals on all the genre dvd companies product. They are very dependable, and they do not price gouge like the much touted Diabolik...

As far as defending Bill goes, I hate to be redundant, but I will always be loyal to a company that has released dvds such as "Messiah Of Evil", "Sole Survivor", "Love Me Deadly", "The Redeemer", "The Visitor", "The Undertaker", "Scream", "The Forest", DGITW, "Sweet Sixteen", "Trapped", etc.

I think there is too much positive to take into account. It's all a matter of perspective and opinion, of course. I was disappointed that NIGHTMARE took so long to get released, as it is one of my favorite films. But I understood that there were reasons beyond my scope of knowledge that caused the holdup. But other than that, I have no complaints. I thank God that Code Red exists; no other genre dvd company cares about these forgotten 70's and 80's cult classics. Code Red gives me the nostalgic feeling of growing up in the 80's when these films overflowed the horror section of the local video store. I cannot get that feeling back anywhere else. I think only Media Blasters comes close in that regard.

As far as Bill and his outlook...those are his opinions, and he is entitled to them. I don't see how they should have any effect on the released product. He has been unfairly maligned since Code Red's inception, so I am sure that has quite a bit to do with it. When Code Red came on the 'forum' scene in late 2005, I was a member of the B-HEADED board. I did not notice any tension over there, quite the opposite actually. Whereas SOME users on this particular board accused the company of being an elaborate hoax. I can understand where that would cause a seed of uneasiness to sprout.

Bill has never insulted me personally. So there is no need for me to take an offense. It's plain to see what subset of the genre dvd world he is speaking of. He has tried his best to be active with forum members, and that is commendable. I like the fact that he is a no-bullshit kind of guy. He says what he thinks. No problem with me.

Here's the thing: Bill is totally full of shit seemingly all the time. His tweets are one thing, and they should probably just be laughed off. But how can anyone defend the dude crying about how many copies of Rituals (or whatever) he's selling? And to put a gaudy disclaimer on the front of Nightmare stating how many copies he's going to press? I mean, couldn't the dude use a goddam sticker on the cellophane or something??

I don't personally have a problem with his assorted shenanigans, but a poor product is a poor product. And if somebody plops down $20+ on some shit, then it's their right to blow off some steam.

[FinalSora]

Originally Posted by tropical marsh

Here's the thing: Bill is totally full of shit seemingly all the time. His tweets are one thing, and they should probably just be laughed off. But how can anyone defend the dude crying about how many copies of Rituals (or whatever) he's selling? And to put a gaudy disclaimer on the front of Nightmare stating how many copies he's going to press? I mean, couldn't the dude use a goddam sticker on the cellophane or something??

I don't personally have a problem with his assorted shenanigans, but a poor product is a poor product. And if somebody plops down $20+ on some shit, then it's their right to blow off some steam.

I'm not defending his statements. I'm defending his right to make them. It's his perogative if he wants to share sales figures like that. People will make of that what they will. I personally find it refreshing.

I have yet to buy a poor product from Code Red. But for those who feel they have, go ahead and let loose. I'm just pointing out the positives that I think get overshadowed alot of the time.

BTW, I paid 13.50 for Rituals from the blowitoutahere website. I just cannot understand why someone would willingly go with a more expensive online store...

Synapse is the company that I ALWAYS, *no matter what store I use*, have to pay upwards of $17-$25 (before shipping), funny enough.

[chrismac87]

Originally Posted by FinalSora

I'm not defending his statements. I'm defending his right to make them. It's his perogative if he wants to share sales figures like that. People will make of that what they will. I personally find it refreshing.

I have yet to buy a poor product from Code Red. But for those who feel they have, go ahead and let loose. I'm just pointing out the positives that I think get overshadowed alot of the time.

BTW, I paid 13.50 for Rituals from the blowitoutahere website. I just cannot understand why someone would willingly go with a more expensive online store...

Synapse is the company that I ALWAYS, *no matter what store I use*, have to pay upwards of $17-$25 (before shipping), funny enough.

Yes but when you pay that $17-25 on a Synapse release, you know you're getting something of quality and substance, with Code Red - it's a 50/50 shot.

Yes Bill has a "right" to release his sales figures, yes he has a right to rant and rave about his releases not projecting his expected numbers, anyone's point here is - it's improper business ethics. Not to mention, it's poor business sense in general to insult your main customer base and honestly, at this point, considering nearly all of his releases haven't sold what he anticipated - shouldn't he I don't know, be expecting this at this point???

As far as Bill being a straight up, no kind of bull shit guy, yeah, no. He has been caught in lies countless times and he has never had any evidence to back up his statements when coming down to delays or recalls that are just sitting there.

I mean let's take this into example if you will.

If there was really any kind of an authoring error with GOD'S BLOODY ACRE - no one had any issues playing it that I've heard of. That's the first thing. Secondly, if he had a copy of the original disc, he can rebuild the disc and such in less than a day and could have a new authored version on its way to the replicators within the week. So where is it?

RITUALS, that was delayed last year supposedly due to a Hal Holbrook interview he got at the last minute and wanted to squeeze that onto the disc, okay, so where is it?

NIGHTMARE was held up due to translation of the interview with the director, and if anyone remembers correctly a year or so back - maybe longer - when people were being "impatient" about that, he claimed he was just going to release it without the feature. People volunteered their services for FREE to translate the interview, yet, we are now just getting a firm release date years later.

THE MUTILATOR - heck, I can't even begin to imagine what's going on with that one and why nothing's happened with that, but another one we were promised to get and have yet to even see any progress on in the last four years.

Let's not forget that Bill threw Don May under the bus with the transfer of JUST BEFORE DAWN that he claimed Don supervised and he didn't. Only thing Don did with JUST BEFORE DAWN with Media Blasters is give them a quote to clean it up, and they turned him down, doing their own restoration work - yet Bill told everyone not to blame Media Blasters for it's shoddy picture quality and it being cut, but to blame Don May because he supervised the transfer. Wrong. I was able to find that out with a simple phone call, there's no excuse Bill couldn't have done the same if he was misinformed.

Point is, Bill is anything but a no bull shit stand up guy, he's lied to us several times and maybe you weren't aware or simply forgot, hey, it happens, I forget things too - but he is clearly not only a liar, but quite honestly an unstable person which maybe is the kind of person you need to be to have a company with just yourself releasing these kinds films.

[Shlockjock81]

Originally Posted by FinalSora

I have yet to buy a poor product from Code Red. But for those who feel they have, go ahead and let loose. I'm just pointing out the positives that I think get overshadowed alot of the time.

Believe me, the positives are NEVER overshadowed. ANY time someone speaks up about the poor quality of a release and the frequent carelessness of Code Red, there's ALWAYS some super obsessed fanboy that will jump down their throat. You know, those fanboys who will blindly buy ANY Code Red release, even though they haven't a fucking clue what the film is about, strictly BECAUSE it's a Code Red release? Those fanboys who are more concerned with quantity (having every DVD/Blu release) rather than having a collection of quality films?

Sickening.

[Jeremy]

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

Anywhere we can watch that documentary?

It might still be online somewhere. I'll look around and PM you if I find it!

[delicreep]

Originally Posted by chrismac87

Y
NIGHTMARE was held up due to translation of the interview with the director, and if anyone remembers correctly a year or so back - maybe longer - when people were being "impatient" about that, he claimed he was just going to release it without the feature. People volunteered their services for FREE to translate the interview, yet, we are now just getting a firm release date years later.

THE MUTILATOR - heck, I can't even begin to imagine what's going on with that one and why nothing's happened with that, but another one we were promised to get and have yet to even see any progress on in the last four years.

With Nightmare, Bill did indeed enlist one of the people who volunteered their services for free. Because this person was doing the work pro bono, and because they had other paying gigs that took precedence (and this was made pretty clear to all who asked since this person is a member of this board) no firm completion date was set for the translation to be finished.


The Mutilator has been shelved for years. Bill has stated many times that the print the director has is a tape master, not film, and that no other usable elements have been found. This news is easy to find on the web.

With Rituals, it has only been 2 years since the title was officially announced by Code Red, which is a relatively brief amount of time for a niche release.

As for Bill's personality and interaction with the web community, well, I don't have much to say about that. I'm willing to buy from Midnight Video, and Bill's online dialogue is far removed from the stuff they have been posting.

[f.ramses]

Originally Posted by Jeremy

It might still be online somewhere. I'll look around and PM you if I find it!

Can you post the link if you find it? I was wondering the same thing!

[Steel76]

Originally Posted by delicreep

The Mutilator has been shelved for years. Bill has stated many times that the print the director has is a tape master, not film, and that no other usable elements have been found. This news is easy to find on the web.

Actually, Buddy Cooper has LOTS of reels and materials laying around in his garage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h39s2wotv3g
About 4.40 in.

[chrismac87]

Originally Posted by Steel76

Actually, Buddy Cooper has LOTS of reels and materials laying around in his garage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h39s2wotv3g
About 4.40 in.

Yeah and after Buddy went to Bill with the information he found the new materials, Bill got pissed because he had already begun working on a master using the quarter inch and thought Buddy was holding out on the materials intentionally. So according the those in the know the "plan" is to release THE MUTILATOR a year to six months before the license contract expires using the video master to saturate the market for the title so Buddy won't be able to get it re-released using the film print.

Kind of b/s logic if you ask me since I'm sure any of us would re-buy the film providing it's sourced from a film print instead of a tape but this IS Bill from Code Red we're talking about.

I've also received a confirmation that RITUALS is an illegal release which explains the poor quality. The rights owners in Canada originally sent a cease and desist on Bill's first attempt - which was listed on higher profile sites such as Amazon.com; notice RITUALS is no where to be found on there? A bit curious if you ask me since they are the #1 online retailer in America and they stock most of Bill's other releases. The final release has come out with barely a whisper unless you're either a fan of the film or a member of the horror community. I mean when you think about it, in the grand scheme of things only a handful of websites have the disc, and actually have it in stock to sell.

Companies like JEF films have managed to get away with it for years, BAD TASTE anyone? So there's no reason to believe Code Red didn't take a stab at it either and unfortunately this means what we have is ultimately going to be the best release even if there is a better print out there.

Sucks royally but what can you do at this point??? We trust in companies like Code Red to deliver us legitimate products that are licensed by the proper people, I don't think anyone's ever purchased a release of a movie and knew they were getting an illegitimate copy. Maybe someone told Bill they owned the rights and they really didn't, maybe he was lied to and spent the money and couldn't get it back - I don't know. I do know that if he were to sue said person for improper sales of rights of copy written material, he'd have a hell of a lawsuit on his hands that's for sure.

But that's something that I guess we will never truly know because even if Bill is telling the truth about whatever is or did go on with this and other films, he's lied so many times in the past about simple, little things - it's hard to buy into the bigger picture items.