Your Opinion Wanted! Shameless Sleeves - Black Cat and Venus in Furs

[Paul@TheOverlook]

I think the people that these titles are aimed at do understand that these taglines are supposed to be ironic, mate. Do you really think anyone who is overtly PC or of a sensitive disposition would be interested in watching a film called TORSO?

[Sam@Cult Labs]

I can agree with both sides of the argument, having rewatched New York Ripper last night, I sometime wonder why I watch this stuff. Maybe I shouldn't look too deeply into it.

As for the covers, These films are exploitation movies after all, for better or worse, and their content is a little touchy. Tarting them up so they look like safe horror movies would not only affect sales, it would be disingenous. People know what they are getting. Venus in Furs is a movie about S&M that objectifies women. It is of it's time. the cover reflects the content, in which pretty much every scene contains some kind of graphic sex.

[Zarith]

Originally Posted by Sam@Shameless

I can agree with both sides of the argument, having rewatched New York Ripper last night, I sometime wonder why I watch this stuff. Maybe I shouldn't look too deeply into it.

As for the covers, These films are exploitation movies after all, for better or worse, and their content is a little touchy. Tarting them up so they look like safe horror movies would not only affect sales, it would be disingenous. People know what they are getting. Venus in Furs is a movie about S&M that objectifies women. It is of it's time. the cover reflects the content, in which pretty much every scene contains some kind of graphic sex.

I don't mind shocking images, neither graphic sex, however I believe these movies are much more than just violent exploitation trash. They deserve good looking sleeves. Sergio Martino's Torso, for example, is one of the most fascinating giallo ever made. It's violent, sure, but it's also beautifully directed. It has an "artistic" quality. Your cheap layout doesn't reflect this at all.

Reducing these movies to cheap shockers and selling them like pornos is sad. Fan of Italian horror movies are not just retarded kids obsessed with violence and sex. Some might watch these movies for the cinematography, the music, the very specific atmosphere, the suspense,...

Why not use the original artworks? They were shocking enough, I believe...

Well, this is only my personal opinion, since you asked

Thanks for releasing these movies anyway!

[Sam@Cult Labs]

I love the fact that some of these movies balance art and trash, that's part of the attraction for me, but selling these types of movies is an art in itself and history dhows that very few of them were trailed in cinemas or portrayed in lobby one-sheets as works of great import or filmmaking skill. That's where the surprise comes in! I always loved the most lurid trailers and provocative posters and the shameless house style taps into that, revisiting the grisly video covers of the early 80s, before our beloved leaders decided that they were too much for the general population to take. Real fans of Italian genre cinema already know about the delights that can be unearthed, but in a packed horror market place, sleeves that jump out of the racks at people will help to increase the popularity of these movies. No one is going walk past that Killer Nun sleeve without at least a second glance...

[Sarah@Cult Labs]

I can see your point, Zarith, but isn't Shameless's "mission statement" (as it were) to release these films in an 80s exploitation video style? These covers reflect that style pretty damn well as far as I can see. Some people, myself included, do watch these films for their artistic merit. But when they were first released, they were released as cheap shockers with lots of sex and nudity. Audiences tended to discover the artistic merit later.

For example, I love Dario Argento's Deep Red. It's probably my favourite film of all time and when I watch it now I watch it for the cinematography, the beautiful score and then amazing use of colour. The first time I watched it I watched it to see someone get scalded to death in a bathtub.

The Shameless covers are pretty raw but I can remember being a little kid in the 80s and seeing video covers in the local shop that looked exactly like the covers for Torso and Venus In Furs. So aren't Shameless just achieving their goal?

PS. The Venus In Furs cover is growing on me. My only concern would be that someone who didn't know a lot about the film would just dismiss it as a porno. But I guess that people who seek out films like this already know a fair bit about them anyway, don't they?

[Almar@Cult Labs]

Thank you everyone for your feedback so far - I appreciate the honesty and the thought that has gone into these replies.

Some of the proposed sleeves are rather close to the knuckle but with limited budgets, disappearing retailers and that sea of slick DVDs that we need to be found in we have to be pretty in your face and with stuff coming up like our release of Night Train Murders in Feb .

I think Torso is a brilliant film and on the back sleeve when you see it you'll see that we're holding it up as equal to the best output of Bava and Argento but that 'Where whores meet saws!' line has had our best reaction so far - we need to get people to pick up the DVDs.

But... we do have to be careful not to go overboard as otherwise as the months go on nothing is going to look shocking any more so with the comments in mind on this board so far I'm mindful to keep The Black Cat as it is now.

I do like though that fans of these movies do tend to be the best informed and often most intelligent film fans out there and this board so far supports that so welcome all, thank you for your feedback - it is being taken on board and please keep coming back. I've got some thoughts on getting fans more involved in the sleeves - just got to work out what's possible... I'll be back!

[Philleh]

I love them, the tagline for Torso is genius. Please don't change it!

I would like to give you a heads up though, not sure if it's just here in Cardiff, but I can't find your DVDs ANYWHERE! Virgin, HMV, Borders. WH Smith... Nada!

I saw New York Ripper in HMV for about two days a few weeks back, but i've not seen it since. Hope they haven't been taken off the self.

[Almar@Cult Labs]

That tagline isn't changing - I notice some people Stateside complaining about it. Good.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone struggling to find Shameless titles in the shops. Out of your list only HMV will have them but restocking seems to be a lot slower than I'd like. It's one of the reasons our sleeves have to be so punchy and lurid - we're going straight into the obscure section of any shops that do stock us so we need screaming DVD cases if we're to have any hope of people picking us up.

[Sam@Cult Labs]

Almar,

Good News, New York Ripper and Phantom arrived in the shop today

[Almar@Cult Labs]

That's a ridiculous time to wait though surely for a new release?