Thursday, September 1

Tom Holland's Fright Night coming to Blu-ray in December...but there's a catch...

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All I can say is SCREW OFF Sony and SAE...

Via Blu-ray.com:

"Twilight Time, a specialty label which focuses on releasing vintage films previously unavailable on DVD, has struck a deal with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to license and release classic films from the Sony-owned Columbia Pictures library in high-definition Blu-ray editions.

Scheduled follow-up on December 13th is the original Fright Night (1985), the horror/comedy cult favorite written and directed by Tom Holland and starring Chris Sarandon and Roddy McDowall. According to a statement released by Twilight Time, only 3,000 units of each title will be produced, aimed at the collector/classic film aficionado market, and available exclusively online through Screen Archives, the nation's largest independent distributor of specialty soundtracks."

Hey Sony Pictures, release Fright Night properly or not at all and thanks for whoring out your catalog. This is an egregious slight to a film with a fanbase far wider than a mere three thousand. And what about all the questions this exclusively deal rises? Will this BD be a special edition and if not will this '80s horror classic ever deservingly receive one? After this crap, how long will we have to wait for a real release SE or not? Years? Who's doing the encoding/authoring of the disc?

The current barebones DVD is over a decade old and with the remake, despite not doing so hot at the box office, in the public conscious, now is the time to finally do right by the original Fright Night. Not some esoteric, boutique ultra limited edition that's bound to be hoarded and end up for triple on eBay immediately after the pre-orders are quickly filled and shipped. Shame on everyone involved in the creation of this raw deal. I guess the only possible solace might be an eventual European or Japanese Blu-ray. Or will Sony be pricks about that too...? 
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6 comments:

Jayson Kennedy said...

It's probably also going to be either $30 or $40 plus shipping...

Hopefully SAE is a victim of the economy...

Thomas Duke said...

I thought I saw a press release that it was going to be $40, and the shipping within the U.S. is $4.35...so where talking almost $45. Also, Twilight Time said that all of their blu-ray releases would just come with an 8 page booklet an an isolated score. We'll see if that's really the case.

Craig Edwards said...

Dang. I'd like to own that one - it's one of my all-time faves. But, much like my current collection - extensive but sans even one Criterion Collection release - that kind of money is too much to ask for one movie, no matter how extensive the special features are.

Explosive Action said...

You would think what with the remake doing the rounds that now would be the time to _properly_ release the original.

Anthony1138 said...

Totally overlooked this article. Boy is this dumb. Why not release the original on Blu-Ray to coincide with the remake like every other studio does? Even as a Best Buy, WalMart or Target exclusive it would be better. What a rip off.

Thomas Duke said...

Word is now that it will be priced between $30-35 (Twilight Time said that all of their Sony licensed releases will be priced this way). Still, that's potentially almost $40.

...do you dare tread upon the staircase?

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