Adam takes stock of the year that was 2017 in boutique home video releases and counts down the best the year has to offer.
It’s that time of year. List time!!! We take stock of the best and brightest in Blu-Ray and Home Video releases of the year. 2017 had its share of good and bad releases. On the B-Movie Isle doing the numbers, we’ve reviewed approximately 110 video releases this year. That’s not individual films but actual releases. This felt like a banner year for boutique labels as we’ve gotten some great titles. So much so that we’ve decided to do a top twenty list. It’s a bit of a cheat because 20 – 11 are basically the runner’s up but we can do what we like here.
Without further adieu…
The Runner Up List:
20. Robocop 2 & Robocop 3 – Scream Factory
19. Wolf Guy – Arrow Video
18. Suspicious Death of a Minor – Arrow Video
17. Comes a Horseman – Twilight Time
16. House: The Complete Collection – Arrow Video
15. Paul Naschy Box Set 1 & Paul Naschy Box Set 2 – Scream Factory
14. Misery – Scream Factory
13. Stalker – Criterion Collection
12. Donnie Darko 15th Anniversary Box Set – Arrow Video
11. George A Romero Between Night and Dawn Box Set – Arrow Video
Now onto the Top Ten!
10. Pink Panther Film Collection Starring Peter Sellers – Shout Select
In the last two years, Shout Select has quickly distinguished itself from other premium labels like Criterion. They’ve gone much deeper into the Cultish entries or forgotten entries. This Pink Panther box set collects all of the best Pink Panther movies. Hence the “starring Peter Sellers” moniker at the end. The Transfers vary in quality (some are amazing others are meh) but it’s the special features that are the real draw here. Culling all archival and some new special features that will take one week to pour over. Essential for any collection because… Peter Sellers.
9. Pulp – Arrow Academy
Pulp is everything I love about Arrow Video. Taking a cult or forgotten title. Supplying great special features that illuminate the film. Add a flawless transfer and viola… a great package too good to pass up. From my original review: “Pulp is the sort of discovery one makes and asks after; how did I live without this film in my life? A cool breeze of a crime/mystery film that is so unexpected and visually astute you’re going to have to watch it twice just too fully appreciate what Mike Hodges and Michael Caine are up to. The follow-up to the now classic British Gangster film Get Carter. Pulp feels like a direct conversation/counterpoint with that Carter. Where that film is direct, dirty, lean, mean and designed to hurt, Pulp is evasive, funny, dirty (in a different way), and designed to delight and confound.”
8. Tampopo – Criterion Collection
Ramen + Sexy Time + Ken Wantanbe in an early role. What’s not to like? The answer is nothing. This eventually dethrone Big Night as my favorite “food movie”
7. Re-Animator – Arrow Video
Thirteen is this release of the Stuart Gordon Cult Classic’s lucky number. As in thirteen hours of bonus content. Arrow has gone all out with this Re-Animator in this very luxurious edition. My thoughts on the film from my initial review: “That is not to say that the film isn’t funny and lives up to its reputation as a raunchy gorefest. By the time the notorious cat attack scene plays outs the film is running on all cylinders and just ups the gore quotient to an amazing level. The film occupies a very rare space; slapstick comedy horror. Even in that rarified sub-genre, the film stands above; Re-Animator’s spiritual cousin (of sorts) Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn. It’s not to take down the Evil Dead sequel. Not in the least. Re-Animator is more refined, Billy Wilder if you will. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn is blunt force trauma, The Marx Brothers if you will. Both Billy Wilder and The Marx Brothers are amazing filmmakers. Just one happens to be a little bawdier, where the other is more artful. That artful refinement is thanks in large part to Gordon.”
6. The Apartment – Arrow Video
Billy Wilder’s classic gets the home video release it deserves. Some would have thought Criterion would eventually release it. I’m glad they didn’t because we would not have this amazing Arrow Video set. From my review: “Billy Wilder’s The Apartment does in a little more than two hours what Madmen attempts to do in seven seasons and doesn’t come close to the sharp biting observations that Wilder and IAL Diamond (his co-writer) have overstuffed this comedy classic with. Wilder’s “rom-com” is definitely a com but not much of a rom… but that isn’t a bad thing. In fact, The Apartment does not utter that clichéd refrain until the very last moments is a testament to Wilder’s refusal for schmaltz and the film’s enduring nature. The sour bitter pill that Wilder and Co. make you swallow about corporate America is eased through with the pinch of the sweetness of the burgeoning relationship between Bud ‘C.C.’ Baxter (Jack Lemmon) and Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine) at its end.”
5. Streets of Fire – Shout Select
Walter Hill was the unofficial Spotlight Director for the B-Movie podcast. We covered five of his film on the Pod and in this column. My favorite Hill Joint just happens to be the best release that Shout Factory (through their Shout Select emblem) released. The disc is armed with hours of bonus features and a beautiful new 2K transfer its aimed at fans and convincing non-fans alike that it’s truly a great film. From my review: “Streets of Fire is a cult classic of the highest order. The film has only grown in esteem in the 33 years since its initial theatrical release. A unique vision of Rockabilly fantasy world, co-writer/director Walter Hill’s own Star Wars/Flash Gordon homage remixed by way of Elvis and Sgt. Rock. Instead of Space Ships, Blasters, and Lightsabers, Hill gives us Coupes, Nickel Plated .45’s and Pickaxes. The film is early 50’s era pop culture mashed with Hill’s sensibilities as an action director and visualist. A film set in eternal night, streets dosed in a fresh sheen of rain, lit in neon.”
4. Ronin – Arrow Video
Sound and fury. This release is all about Arrow’s transfer and sound mix. Ronin delivers in one of the most pleasing transfers and bombastic sound mixes of the year. And they’ve managed to combine all the special features from all the previous editions along with a few new goodies to make one of the best arguments for Ronin being one of the top three action films of the 90’s. From my review: “Ronin is Frankenheimer taking the action film to its barest essentials for maximum effect. The last great film of his career shows the director in a playful mood creating a deconstructionist spy/action film. Frankenheimer pushes the film beyond the genre trappings aiming for something more polished and refined than your standard action fare. This isn’t a James Bond style complex plot to destroy the world. Nor is it Brian De Palma playing an ornate shell game with Mission: Impossible.”
3. A New Leaf – Olive Signature Series
If there was any justice in this world eventually Elaine May will be discussing in the same manner that her contemporaries were. While men like Mike Nichols, Warren Beatty, and Woody Allen took the spotlight, she created the backbone to their work that would shine incandescently. Olive Film’s release of A New Leaf is her directorial debut is a great start on that road. This combination of perfect film, beautiful transfer and special features make this one of the best of the best of the year. A New Leaf is a perfect example of was is a The B-Movie Podcast and Isle’s Movie; an Amazing film that’s been forgotten by many. From my review: “A New Leaf is the darker side of the comedy with Walter Matthau cast as Henry Graham a New York dilatant so clueless he doesn’t understand the concept of “You have no money”. As his trust fund has dried up because of frivolous spending Henry is forced to find himself a wife. Henry finds an unsuspecting mark in Henrietta Lowell (May) a clueless klutzy Botanist with a huge inherited fortune. His plan is not just to marry her but to also find a way of killing her off to allow him to continue with his bachelor lifestyle unabated.”
2. Phantasm Box Set – Well Go USA
Well Go USA managed to make a huge impact in the Home Video Market in 2017. Already known by many for their Asian Genre Cinema releases, they managed to up their giving in every way with this box set. Housing all of the Phantasm films and every single piece of archival special features and new content. Don Coscarelli’s nightmare logic horror series is given it’s just due to this release which sports a brand new restoration of the original that was done by Bad Robot. The set is not just exhaustive it’s exhausting (in a very good way). The set itself took us a large part of the summer to soak it in. The only unfortuante part is that if you didn’t get it during it’s intial release you are out of luck because it’s out of print. None-the-less this is a hugely impressive set that was better than any other box set released this year for the B-movie conesurer.
1. Suspiria – Synapse
There isn’t enough hyperbole that can be written about how amazing this release Blu-Ray release looks and sounds. Synapse has given Suspiria the treatment we (re: B-Movie Geeks) know it deserved. It would have been enough if the film was released with only the 4K remaster but this is Synapse. They managed to put every bit of content from all the releases of Suspiria on this disc, and a few additional bits. Add in the legendary score by Goblin on CD. Wrap it in a steelbook that for my money is the best designed Movie Art of the year. What you get is the best Blu-Ray release of 2017 for one of the greatest films of all time. The only problem is that this version (which at the time of writing this peice) is that the 6,000 unit run is all that Synapse can produce. So get it before it’s gone!
With 2017 behind us it’s onto 2018 and all the amazing Blu-Rays (and UHDs) to come…