Upcoming Shout Factory releases

[Anthropophagus]

Great news, I'm in for The Burning for sure.

[fattyjoe37]

I'm happy for both! Glad that Evictors is included in the Town package, but strange that its only on the DVD. It'll be mucho compressed sharing a DVD with Town. Even if all they have is an SD master, why not just throw it on the Blu? Also, will there be a reversible cover showing that this is actually a double feature?

Not complaining, just asking questions. I will buy day 1 no matter what.

[fceurich39]

awesome news in for both the burning and town that dreaded sundown i am so tired of watching town from my fleshwound video hd bootleg

[Zollman]

Shout released and is releasing some of Fortune Star Jackie Chan movies which come from SD masters.
I asked Cliff MacMillan about why he did it he responded with:


"These are the master furnished to us by Fortune Star. I questioned them regarding them being uprez SD transfers and they told me "no, they were transfers done in Canada a few years ago".
It's bad business to say "Sorry, all the fan boys say you are lying that these are SD masters"

Should I contact them and tell them they are liars?"

I called him out on lying, and he went apeshit.


I did this on Blu-Ray.com's forum and was summarily suspended till April. I blogged about the true nature of MacMillan's work ethic. I shat on his bitchyness to much support from my followers. After several days MacMillan sent me a private text message on Facebook, here is a screen cap of it:

[Zollman]

So, in short Cliff MacMillan isn't the most honest on the level type guy...

[X-human]

I don't see the "lie" here, frankly there are just really shitty HD transfers out there. Some people love to call these things "upconversions" but I don't see the necessity of defining them specifically as such. They're just bad and could be better; that's all that needs to be said.

MacMillan by his own admission seems unimpressed with the transfers, so what more do you want him to say? If he wants to keep his job he's said too much already. So say in your reviews the transfer is shit, don't spend your money, and move on to the next Blu-ray release.

This schoolyard bullshit is a waste of everyone's time.

[Vance Vandy]

The Evictors deserves so much better. I'll be buying Town used.

[chrismac87]

Originally Posted by Zollman

Shout released and is releasing some of Fortune Star Jackie Chan movies which come from SD masters.
I asked Cliff MacMillan about why he did it he responded with:


"These are the master furnished to us by Fortune Star. I questioned them regarding them being uprez SD transfers and they told me "no, they were transfers done in Canada a few years ago".
It's bad business to say "Sorry, all the fan boys say you are lying that these are SD masters"

Should I contact them and tell them they are liars?"

I called him out on lying, and he went apeshit.


I did this on Blu-Ray.com's forum and was summarily suspended till April. I blogged about the true nature of MacMillan's work ethic. I shat on his bitchyness to much support from my followers. After several days MacMillan sent me a private text message on Facebook, here is a screen cap of it:

In no way does Cliff come out and confirm that these are not upconverted masters, he doesn't say they are either but he's not denying that. He's simply saying the company that sent these to their company to be released claimed them to be HD masters and he even questioned that himself. But he's also in the right to not question the supplier because it puts a bruise on a business relationship that companies like Shout need.

I mean Echo Bridge's transfers are always put into question, even with shit quality, those are still HD masters being put to a disc. Regardless if someone thinks they are or not.

Shout has released a pretty decent product as far as I'm concerned - the special features are always plentiful, the transfers are always adequate if not outstanding, not to mention they're probably one of the last companies putting any kind of effort into horror titles. Anchor Bay and Blue Underground have pretty much jumped ship. Synapse and Shout are really the last two companies doing anything with the horror catalog titles, as fans we should try to support them and put our trust in them than insist on calling them out as "liars" because a transfer wasn't up to snuff.

Seriously, get off the hobby horse and move on - I know there are important things in life but really, is this what is important to you? Is this something you want to spend this much time on to get under someone's skin to the point where the feel the need to email you privately to badger you? Which incidentally was immature of him to do, it is however twice as bad for you to be posting it publicly as he is human, you did aggravate him to the point of getting to that kind of message and honestly - I've seen you go after him more than once, so I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner. His disgruntled remark should have stayed as it intended; private, waving it around like some victory flag isn't scoring you any points - which I'm sure isn't your concern, but why else post it unless you're trying to prove something?

There's more constructive ways of dealing with these situations, simply you can just not support the company by no longer purchasing their titles, or you can accept the fact that this is the way things are with these titles in question and move on. You coming on here or anywhere else calling someone out as a "liar", especially when it's clear no one has lied, isn't constructive at all and again, it's not going to get anyone on your side of things. Just move on, go outside for a walk, listen to some music, write a sonnet, whatever floats your boat my friend but save the internet trolling for the high schoolers.

[Body Boy]

Omg. Okay, all this sheeping has to end. Like soon.

I know that some information can only be passed down secondhand, but Christ, think about it. If there's only so much one can do for a film, upgrading to a more expensive Blu transfer is NOT the way to do it. It's like people expect the world of everything. Shout sees that Evictors cannot be Blu material. If they go for it, what will happen? "Worst BLU transfer in history! Unbelievable. Should have stuck with just DVD." Which is what they're doing. I love these films. Best quality is what I strive for. But please. understand the terms in which they must compute. If something isn't available, you can't appease due to this. Reconsider. The last thing that we need is a Generation Y "I'm entitled to this" viewpoint. I bet that Evictor's transfer will be beautiful enough. I hope so at least. If it's not, I doubt that it was Shout's intention to be rude and offend us horror lovers. Ridiculous! Whatever they shell out, I can bet that it will be to their reasonable best. And for that I love them. <3

There's only so much horror niche labels around. Attacking the current most prominent is not helpful in our situation. Though I entertain the idea of possibilities.... peace!

[maybrick]

I'm actually a bit surprised by this because I watched the Evictors on Netflix and it looked very nice. But then, I watched it on my iPhone.

[bruce h]

Originally Posted by X-human

This schoolyard bullshit is a waste of everyone's time.

You ain't kidding. I've worked with Cliff multiple times over the years on several projects, at both Ventura and BCI prior to Shout, and he's always been a stand-up guy with his heart in the right place, and he's been instrumental in getting a lot of great cult films out there for fans -- ofttimes against any sort of common fiscal sense. Anyone who thinks otherwise is an ill-informed fool.

[crikan]

Originally Posted by Zollman

So, in short Cliff MacMillan isn't the most honest on the level type guy...

Seems to me that you were out of line. Its nice to see Cliff is a human being and not some uptight corporate marketing stiff.

Posting a private message is a chicken shit move and shows a lack of integrity on your part. It also shows that his message has some truth to it.

[Anthropophagus]

I'd say the Facebook message wasn't wrong.
People keep shitting on these niche companies and the releasing of obscure films, perhaps they'll get fed up and cease operations. Then we can all wait for the big studios to deliver quality output like they have with the Friday The 13th film franchise.
Frankly, if it's not good enough for you just don't buy it, is it really that hard?

[Matt89]

Originally Posted by maybrick

I'm actually a bit surprised by this because I watched the Evictors on Netflix and it looked very nice. But then, I watched it on my iPhone.

Did you like the film? I just recently got American Netflix and was surprised to see that on there so I watched it. Good atmosphere but I felt the movie was rather drab overall. I dunno. Maybe I was expecting more and need to give it another watch.

~Matt

[Zollman]

Yeah, but it's dishonest to knowingly release SD materials as a blu ray.
He wouldn't do that for The Evictors, what does that tell you?
It tells you that it involves a line he'll only cross when nobody's looking.
I respect the man, but he could have said that Fortune Star provided the elements and we were obligated to use them for Blu Ray.
Instead he deflected and attacked.

I do realize posting a PM is chicken shit move, but I'm just returning the favor.