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[Inspector Tanzi]

I'm not enough of a video-phile to notice these things, I guess. I buy a blu ray from 88 I get a really nice looking print of an obscure Italian flick

I wouldn't say anything they put out is obscure, Andy.

[broonage]

I have almost all the CO releases (didn't bother with Wild Beasts or the Mattei flick), love them! Still need to grab the last one on blu. Bit of a pain to get my mits on a copy (too expensive or only via German language sites, wish they'll sell on Amazon!) I'll grab Amuck from CO too probably.

I still believe that 88 are doing a good job letting us genre fans get our hands on some obscure cinema in HD. Yeah they aren't the platinum of video companies but I appreciate how we can get a good genre flick for less than a tenner! As the for extras I think they more or less great!!

CO are like the Noshame of this decade, outstanding and I hope they continue giving us amazing disks! I hope they look into some Mattei actioners 

CO can easily be bought via amazon germany. the structuring of all amazon sites matches despite the variation in languages, to a very large extent - plenty of people manage to navigate without really understanding the different languages.

88's selection of films is far from obscure, i'm afraid - perfectly well known, obvious to the point of not really needing any specialist knowledge beyond what's generally known by fans of such films. this is why i don't mind paying out more for alternative editions from elsewhere or waiting on new versions in years to come - because they're picking what's long been regarded as films that come around again. CO, on the other hand, do spot and select some very obscure stuff.

I normally use Beyond Media, but such a pain to navigate through etc, they don't have facets or such and I find myself swimming through pages to see what they have. They did recently put English but also 15€ minimum postage. For a while paying by Paypal was such a chore too. Great guys and service though! I had a look on Amazon.de, good to know although the price of the last CO is ridiculous and they don't mail out of Germany.

My use of the word "obscure" was not my intention, (I guess Hands of Steel is obscure to some folks lol), but yeah I meant "cult/underground".

I'm not trying to compare CO with 88, my only point (as mentioned above) is that I find what they are doing for Italian cult cinema is brilliant. 7 bucks for a HD genre film is a no brainer to me.

CO are by far the best label out there hands-down!!

[logboy]

I'm not trying to compare CO with 88, my only point (as mentioned above) is that I find what they are doing for Italian cult cinema is brilliant. 7 bucks for a HD genre film is a no brainer to me.

i'm not sure what it is exactly that they are doing, for whatever cinema anyone cares to mention from the range 88 releases.

making it more readily available? the internet makes these things increasingly easy to spot.
making it more cheaply available? frequently flawed, but better exists at little extra cost.
making it more frequently available? okay if it's done right, wrong if not that great.
making it more easier to have a regular interest? plenty of resources cover multiple sources.

my aim isn't to call out 88 in isolation as much as it is to point out that the habits and culture of those interested in anything might be regarded as obscure / cult / alternative / underground is that research has always been necessary (never easier, still laborious) and and the rewards have tended to require ongoing expectation of seeking more complete and improved presentations of known films - at high(er) cost if truly unavoidably necessary. additionally, discovering lesser known films and trying to locate or encourage wider interest in others in the hope of encouraging companies to release them in ways which take things out of the realm of fansubbing bootlegs, defunct VHS copies or similar.

labels that are apparently careless in their work increase the frustration and remove the consideration - the combination is the deadly part, kills interests as people eventually feel they're not had good vfm - as much as they provide pitfalls for all people in the fanbase and fill gaps in the market for films which could have been handled better. this would free-up a limited commercial capacity to work on other, potentially lesser-known or little-seen films to have a crack at being monetised and legitimised.

sounds negative, i'm sure, but i always suspect there's a lot more detail to be dealt with relatively underground interests that are tempting to ignore, but fatal to not approach with increased consideration.

[broonage]

Right I think I'll just leave it be after this post. 

I don't want to sound like a fanboy (i certainly don't have that profile lol) but here's my final thoughts.
I see 88 as a company giving genre fans like myself decent HD versions of cult cinema for cheap. What is there possibly to complain about in this? I don't see it, at ALL!! I still don't see where they have done anything wrong for the releases I have but don't forget the example mixup of the HK flick earlier.   

Of course they aren't CO or Noshame (i'm not sure they are trying to be) but all I see is a company releasing good films that I want in my collection in HD, English-friendly, nice packaging, original Italian where possible, with really nice extras. All for anything as cheap as £7. I see good quality and "bang for the buck". I don't see any confusion or questions about their releases. Go back even 10 years where we had to pay in excess of £25 for a Blue Underground genre DVD imported. Now we have a similar company giving us the goods for more than half the price. We are really really spoiled these days.

Companies like CO go further in their work and that's why everyone adores their discs (and rightly so).

My conclusion to all this:

• 88 are a brilliant company releasing good films in good quality with good extras for peanuts. Therefore: buy their stuff!!
• CO are the kings of genre discs, if you like the film don't think, just buy!!!
• If you have a choice of versions of a release between these companies then yeah if you can afford it go for the CO one

[logboy]

Go back even 10 years where we had to pay in excess of £25 for a Blue Underground genre DVD imported.

i've always kept track of my buys, and the costs of them, and the average price i was paying for a USA disc (for many many years) was £7 each plus about £3 postage. i would buy two at a time as it still slipped under the (then) £18 duty limit and matched my frequency of purchases most effectively.

even considering how i am also willing to pay many times this when absolutely necessary, the average i've paid for a film over the years (without postage) is £10. that's 15+ years of purchases, mostly imports.

[babybreese]

I just went with 88 for the 1st time ever, somewhat begrudgingly.

As CO gave them AMUCK it should look alright ( I hope ).
I just spent $45 importing 2 MALES FOR ALEXA from X Rated and wasn't ready to drop another $45 on a single film.  So I imported AMUCK from 88 for $15 shipped, still I feel like I have tainted myself.

88 just seem like opportunists, they don;t care about the films, they just want to make $$.
A vast majority of their releases look bad too, and if the film comes out elsewhere it always looks better ( hoping AMUCK avoids this curse ).

Worst of all they coddle and employ Wadd-Douche, who is a blight on all of fandom.

[logboy]

( hoping AMUCK avoids this curse ).

i will repeat it, just in case > the 88 disc of 'amuck!' uses CO's master, licensed to them. still awaiting reliable review before spending even £9 on it - you never quite know if something has been done to make the master work not quite as well as the CO disc.

[Inspector Tanzi]

Worst of all they coddle and employ Wadd-Douche, who is a blight on all of fandom.

Unfortunately he mars many a release and continues to do so.

[BAKA]

I just spent $45 importing 2 MALES FOR ALEXA from X Rated and wasn't ready to drop another $45 on a single film.

How is this, out of interest? Tempted to pick it up from Amazon.de. It appears to be English friendly, but how is the release? I can't seem to find impressions anywhere.

[babybreese]

Not quite as clean as AMUCK, the source here has the occasional imperfection and the scan is less than fully optimal.  I thought it just grainy at first but this could be scanner noise.

Over all the Italian version looks very nice, the Spanish version seems noticeably rougher ( it has no nudity and features some different non nude takes and a different credit sequence).

There is also a thrrid version from German via tape that runs much shorter and has some comically bad sex inserts....it and pretty much all the extras are not English friendly.
It's a very nice upgrade for oen of Rosalba's best starring roles.

Some grabs from the Dvd that comes with the Blu ( I can't do Blu caps )
Click to enlarge

[BAKA]

Not quite as clean as AMUCK, the source here has the occasional imperfection and the scan is less than fully optimal.  I thought it just grainy at first but this could be scanner noise.

Over all the Italian version looks very nice, the Spanish version seems noticeably rougher ( it has no nudity and features some different non nude takes and a different credit sequence).

There is also a thrrid version from German via tape that runs much shorter and has some comically bad sex inserts....it and pretty much all the extras are not English friendly.
It's a very nice upgrade for oen of Rosalba's best starring roles.

Thanks for the impressions and caps, extremely helpful. I'm definitely going to pick it up. I can live with a little scanner noise, more than often it is the burden to bear with these films.

[babybreese]

Review for 88's version.
Outside of the abhorrent Dr Wadell's insipid contributions, the disc is fine.
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Amuck-Blu-ray/146784/#Review

[CameraObscura]

[Jonny]

Looks stunning!

[Inspector Tanzi]

Looks stunning!

Sure does, well worth the extra in my eyes.