88 Films

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PianoMan88
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2016 4:50 am
Location: Toronto, ON

Re: 88 Films

#51 Post by PianoMan88 » Tue Dec 27, 2016 11:09 pm

A question for those of you who own a few of the "Italian Collection" releases.

What is the booklet situation? Are they included with every release? And if so, is it limited to the first pressing only (ala Arrow) or do they keep re-printing the booklets?

I am a big fan of Italian movies on Blu-ray and looking for good releases from a reputable company.

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manicsounds
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
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Re: 88 Films

#52 Post by manicsounds » Fri Dec 30, 2016 11:36 am

I have a few of the Italian Collection releases but I don't recall any booklets.

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Alphonse Tram
Joined: Tue Nov 25, 2014 11:32 am

Re: 88 Films

#53 Post by Alphonse Tram » Fri Dec 30, 2016 12:26 pm

There is no booklet, just a single sheet of thin card with alternative poster art, with other titles from the range on the other side. The only release with a booklet, that I'm aware of, is Zombie Holocaust.

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chatterjees
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Re: 88 Films

#54 Post by chatterjees » Fri Dec 30, 2016 4:10 pm

I have the full range of the Italian Collection and also their Slasher Collection. There are some which came with 4-8 pages worth of leaflets. There is no booklet in any of them. Although most of them came with postcards. Leaflets are provided with the following titles -
#1 Night Train Murders
#2 The Bloodstained Shadow
#5 Zombie Holocaust
#12 Man from Deep river
#14 Burial Grounds

All of these have postcards too.

Unfortunately, their last 5 releases (can't remember the exact numbers), all came with store exclusive slipcovers, but didn't include any postcard or any leaflet.

Surprisingly, their latest release of The Ghost Town, which doesn't belong to these series, came with a thick booklet.

So far, they don't have anything like "limited to the first pressing only", but what they do is that they offer store exclusive slipcover cases for may be first 200 direct buys from their store. You can't get those slipcovers from other retailers.

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PianoMan88
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Re: 88 Films

#55 Post by PianoMan88 » Fri Dec 30, 2016 11:30 pm

Many thanks for the detailed reply chatterjees! I think I will limit my purchases to the movies I want, rather than collect all the releases.

I do like their presentation and uniformity.

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JamesF
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 1:36 pm

Re: 88 Films

#56 Post by JamesF » Fri Feb 09, 2018 11:56 am

88 have pulled off quite a coup with the worldwide Blu-Ray premiere of Alfred Sole's Alice, Sweet Alice, currently scheduled for a July release and now available to pre-order. Sadly it's not from the original negative scan that Warner Archive have been working on for years that aired on TCM a couple of years ago, but even from a 35mm print, this (extremely spoilery - seriously, don't watch it if you haven't seen the film) restoration demo looks quite good.

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L.A.
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 7:33 am
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Re: 88 Films

#57 Post by L.A. » Mon Apr 16, 2018 7:38 am

Filmwerk’s review for Alice, Sweet Alice. It seems the Blu-ray can already be bought directly from 88 Films’ website.

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JamesF
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 1:36 pm

Re: 88 Films

#58 Post by JamesF » Mon Apr 16, 2018 11:18 am

Yes, they've been selling it as a webstore exclusive for about a month or so. Here's my review from the other forum:
Having watched thorough my copy of the Blu-Ray this morning, and compared it side by side with the DVD, I thought I'd update on how it matches up to the VHS and DVD. Full disclosure - I donated the TV spot and compiled the poster gallery for the disc, so I understand if anyone subsequently accuses me of being biased when endorsing the disc. Needless to say, I was happily impressed, and while there's certainly room for improvement if Warner ever releases their OCN restoration, I think this is a fine stopgap and shits all over any other video transfer of the film released so far. Some notes:

The print used for this release is actually from its 1981 re-release as Holy Terror, complete with alternate opening credits that prioritise Brooke Shields above the other cast members. (There's also a text card after the opening credits spelling out the date and location which isn't in any other version.) Despite reports that the Holy Terror version was missing 10 minutes out of the middle of the film in cinemas, this Blu-Ray is completely uncut, running 106 mins 52 seconds. Comparing against speed-adjusted copies of the Communion VHS and 88's earlier DVD, I noticed there appears to be a handful of shots missing a few frames at the start and end of shots here and there, but nothing anyone would miss or notice (they probably add up to about a second in total). Also it should be noticed that this print restores a few seconds of footage missing from the DVD master: a shot of the undertaker at Karen's funeral whispering in Catherine's ear; the priest exiting his house and saying "Tom"; and the fade to black as the camera pans down the church following Tom's murder. Again, nothing essential, but it's nice to have them restored all the same.

In terms of what's missing compared to the DVD: the end credits on the Blu-Ray don't have any music as per the original theatrical release, though the music restored for the laserdisc and DVD is still heard at the end of the commentary track. It's a shame it wasn't included on the main feature audio, but certainly you could argue it's "authentic" given it was silent on every theatrical and video release prior to the laserdisc/DVD masters. In terms of extras, the original stills gallery is not carried over, and there's no presence of the original Communion or Alice Sweet Alice opening credits, which again is a shame if you're a ridiculous completist like me. (My fantasy special edition of this film would have seamless branching options to watch the film with any of the title sequences, including the rarer The Mask Murders title.) But it would be churlish to argue against the strengths of this release on that basis, especially as the commentary is included which is certainly the most essential of those early extras.

I could nitpick in small ways like that but ultimately I think 88 Films (and The Ark, who handled the digital restoration of the battered print) have done a terrific job given the source they had to work with. There's room for improvement, but until someone obliges (if ever), this will do very nicely.

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L.A.
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Re: 88 Films

#59 Post by L.A. » Fri Apr 20, 2018 3:23 pm

The Super Inframan @ Beaver. Maybe some extras would have been nice.

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domino harvey
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Re: 88 Films

#60 Post by domino harvey » Thu Jun 21, 2018 3:38 pm

Deluxe edition of Bad Dreams coming next month. Looks like some great extras, but it lacks the commentary and fascinating alternate ending from the Scream Factory disc, so might merit a double dip. This is one of the best horror movies of the eighties, and one where a seemingly outlandish premise actually makes sense in the end-- quite a reversal from how that usually goes!

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Cronenfly
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 12:04 pm

Re: 88 Films

#61 Post by Cronenfly » Wed Aug 29, 2018 12:47 am

Anybody had Eyeball ship yet? I have an Amazon order pending but it looks like stock is limited.

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dwk
Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm

Re: 88 Films

#62 Post by dwk » Wed Aug 29, 2018 12:54 am

88 tweeted out that they (both Amazon and 88's own webstore) have sold put of the Eyeball limited edition. So I wouldn't expect Amazon to fulfil your order.

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domino harvey
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Re: 88 Films

#63 Post by domino harvey » Wed Aug 29, 2018 1:38 am

But that one guy posted 12000 words on why we shouldn't worry about Amazon.co.uk preorders

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tenia
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Re: 88 Films

#64 Post by tenia » Wed Aug 29, 2018 1:51 am

Come on, you know that it's not the point that was made. :wink:
Last edited by tenia on Wed Aug 29, 2018 3:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Cronenfly
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Re: 88 Films

#65 Post by Cronenfly » Wed Aug 29, 2018 2:14 am

This is annoying but at least a stripped-down version is coming in September. I would not have minded having the booklet but everything else meant nothing to me. Should not have been surprised this was so popular but I still kind of am. I won’t hold my breath but my order does still seem to be actively pending (ie some of the options as to what I can do to the order have disappeared).

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Adam X
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:04 am

Re: 88 Films

#66 Post by Adam X » Wed Aug 29, 2018 9:08 am

Diabolik DVD wrote:Good news and bad news about 88 Films EYEBALL. The initial pressing with the bells and whistles is completely sold out everywhere. We were able to grab some more from the label and also some from our distributor in the UK so we have more on the way. The bad news is that because we didn't get them all direct we had to pay more for a good chunk of them and have to raise the price a bit. They should come in around $24.99 instead of the $19.99 we have them for now. It is unfortunate but the only way we could secure more. If you don't care about the super swanky edition, there is a plain old vanilla version coming soon as well which we will have up for order as soon as we get through these !

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Cronenfly
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Re: 88 Films

#67 Post by Cronenfly » Fri Aug 31, 2018 2:22 pm

Amazon did come through with my Eyeball just today, so anyone else who pre-ordered should not necessarily give up hope.

M Sanderson
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Re: 88 Films

#68 Post by M Sanderson » Sat Oct 06, 2018 10:39 am

Anyone seen an early or review copy of 2 Evil Eyes yet? Is is the same as the old BU, or better, with a fresh scan in better resolution?

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What A Disgrace
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Re: 88 Films

#69 Post by What A Disgrace » Fri Oct 26, 2018 10:33 pm

Cronenfly wrote:
Fri Aug 31, 2018 2:22 pm
Amazon did come through with my Eyeball just today, so anyone else who pre-ordered should not necessarily give up hope.
My copy of Eyeball is preparing to ship now, along with all of my October pre-orders save one - including Night of the Demon, but not Nightmare Alley! Amazon UK seems a lot more trustworthy than Amazon USA in terms of honoring pre-orders, at least in my experience.

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domino harvey
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Re: 88 Films

#70 Post by domino harvey » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:25 pm

Nightmare Alley doesn't exist yet, the label rep said it was bumped to next year

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What A Disgrace
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Re: 88 Films

#71 Post by What A Disgrace » Sat Oct 27, 2018 8:01 am

I figured it was something like that. I'm sure I, and my copy of the limited edition of Eyeball, will survive.

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: 88 Films

#72 Post by colinr0380 » Tue Nov 06, 2018 6:27 pm

88 Films is about to release Hackers on Blu-ray in the UK (it has been out in the US for a couple of years through Shout! Factory), which was vying with The Net, Virtuosity, Johnny Mnemonic and Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace for silliest cyberspace move of 1995 (the best is of course Ghost In The Shell!), and in a serendipitous move the Red Letter Media channel has just had a discussion on the film with Macaulay Culkin!

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domino harvey
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Re: 88 Films

#73 Post by domino harvey » Tue Nov 06, 2018 6:29 pm

Hack the Planet!!! I already have the Shout Blu-ray. It's a ridiculous movie, but also the most endearing of the cyber-swath you've identified

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colinr0380
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Re: 88 Films

#74 Post by colinr0380 » Tue Nov 06, 2018 6:45 pm

I would agree especially because as that video reminded me, Hackers has by far the best zeitgeist capturing soundtrack at the very least. I also remember liking Virtuosity the best at the time, though this comes with the disclaimer that I have not seen that film in almost two decades! The Net is probably the best 'time capsule' film mostly because it keeps trying to tie itself in with current technology and kind of unintentionally works now as a window into mid 90s computer technology, even if it is doing things (like ordering food online) that probably only a select few in the San Francisco area could reliably do at the time! Johnny Mnemonic was of course the biggest disappointment being based on the work of the progenitor of cyberspace, William Gibson (like Clive Barker in some ways another author whose great, evocative writing appears difficult to translate directly to film without seeming a bit silly). Lawnmower Man 2 was just terrible, but at least terrible in a unique way I suppose!

It comes a bit later but I'd also throw that 1998 film by Takashi Miike, Andromedia in with this group as well. Particularly because it features director of photography Christopher Doyle in a bizarre acting turn as the villain which I would like to think is an intentional reversal of Takeshi Kitano's role as the villain in Johnny Mnemonic!

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Gregory
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 4:07 pm

Re: 88 Films

#75 Post by Gregory » Tue Nov 06, 2018 7:37 pm

Strangeland is worth mentioning—not only starring Dee Snider as Captain Howdy but also written and coproduced by the man, playing to anxieties about the internet, the mentally ill, tattoos, and body piercing, and he's been talking about a sequel for over 20 years now.

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