The other week I was browsing through my mammoth Google Reader list of subscribed blogs and was catching up on Glenn Kenny's Some Came Running site. He had a post with a very arresting image in it (not the one above), but with no further description of the film. I was intrigued and dove into the comments to finally discover it was from "Quartermass And The Pit" - a movie from Hammer Studios that has been on my list for quite some years.
That single image boosted it way up, so I decided to look for it. No listings in zip.ca (and definitely not on netflix.ca - a good service, but needs to grow its catalog) and nowhere to be found on amazon.ca or com. OK, likely not released in Region 1. No problem...My acquisition of a region free player this past year has opened things up, so across the pond I went to look for it. My very first search on amazon.co.uk yielded several hits, but right at the top was a Hammer films box set listed at what seemed a reasonable 35 pounds. At under $60 with the exchange, it sounded pretty good and I thought maybe there would be a good 5-6 films in it. As I clicked on the link to look at its contents I felt that there was the makings of a pretty decent deal. And indeed there was...
Turns out the set contained 21 discs. Twenty One.
My jaw dropped. I scanned the list of titles and I had seen only 2 of them. Two.
Within mere seconds, that set was ordered. Hell, even if there were nasty shipping charges and duty, it still wouldn't come out to more than $4 a disc. Four.
Giddiness ensued.
I now have the set and have watched the Quartermass film which was absolutely as entertaining as I hoped it would be. I expect there will be some clunkers in the box - "Prehistoric Women" and "The Vengeance Of She" don't appear to be masterpieces (but, hey who knows?) - but I'm pretty thrilled with the purchase. There's even a couple of documentaries thrown in and several commentaries sprinkled about.
OK, maybe that's not an outlandishly amazing deal since it's still available and it's not like I had to scour for it. I still got a nice little movie geek thrill out of it though.
7 comments:
Nice to hear you've been enjoying the wonders of the UK's bargain box sets - a friend of mine (the usual host of our video weekends).
On the topic, I saw a Russ Meyer box set containing 18 films for a mere £17.95 recently. I've not bought it though. Am I being crazy in passing up on this? Meyer's films get some very good reviews as campy classics but it looks so much like daft soft core porn that I've never gone out and watched any.
Does anyone have any opinion on this - should I part with twenty quid and buy up pretty much his whole back catalogue?
Bob, what did it turn out costing in total, with the shipping? And did you have to pay duty?
James, I had totally forgot to mention that when I posted...I also forgot to say that the price when I ordered it dropped by 5 pounds. Shipping was an extra 3 pounds and it came straight to my door - no duty this time (that's the first UK order in awhile that hasn't been detoured for an extra $15 or so of duty charge). So final cost for the set --> 33.71 pounds (e.g. $54.72). So yeah, bargain!
Dave, I've only seen two of Meyer's films (the two most obvious - "Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls" and "Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill"), but I'm tempted to get that set just because it's an even better deal than the Hammer one! I greatly enjoyed those two Meyer flicks - I wouldn't call either soft core by any stretch - because they are both fun, satirical and campy without going overly broad (though the acting chops are a smidge underdeveloped). Tura Satana deserves the cult queen status she's received in many quarters - she's kinda awesome in her "take no shit" attitude.
Others would have much better appraisals of Meyer's output though - especially in regards to the other films in that set.
Ordered. I'm a sucker for a bargain so I actually ordered it yesterday before any advice!
I found it here if you're interested: http://www.dvd.co.uk/buy/catfcd271/russ-meyer-box-set-twelve-discs.htm
If they don't deliver to the US a couple of other sites probably sell it for a little more. I use this site to compare prices: http://www.pricedemon.co.uk/
Cheers!
Also if there are ever any films you desperately want from the UK and you can't get it sent over without spending a fortune, just let me know and I can order it for you and send it on. Kurt got me to send him the Martin Special Edition recently. I'm not sure if it would be loads cheaper as I'd still have to pay for postage, but the option's there if you need it.
I imagine posting a 12 disc boxset would be pricey though.
The Mummy film is actually pretty good, and made me even sadder that Seth Holt died at a fairly young age.
Also, commentary by Rita Tushingham in her film sounds to me like a major bonus.
I just realized I never responded back to the last few comments. Terribly rude of me...
Dave, glad to see you caved in and got it . B-) I haven't yet, but I may very well. Let me know what you think of it once you dig in.
Thanks for the offer of overseas posting of packages. I'll take you up on that at some point. So far it's been OK - when we order the single sets they seem to come through no problem (I just bought my wife The entire Inspector Lewis series and it was dropped at our door), but if we grab a bunch at once, they make us come get it at the local postal outlet and charge us for the privilege.
Peter, there's a few commentaries in the set which I'm looking forward to digging into - though I love a good commentary, I haven't listened to one n ages, but I figure anything about Hammer might be quite interesting.
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