SHAM043: CONTRABAND - Original Announcement
 

SHAM043: CONTRABAND
aka THE SMUGGLER

Contraband (aka The Smuggler) is an uncompromising and suspenseful Italian gangster movie by Lucio Fulci - known as the Godfather of gore for his films like New York Ripper and The Beyond. Fulci is first and foremost a talented filmmaker and story teller: here his uncompromising style depicts the ultra violence which permeates the Neapolitan underworld (where not even GOMORRAH dared to tread!).

Hard-as-nail stalwart Fabio Testi (Revolver; What Have You Done to Solange?) stars as Luca, a cigarette smuggler who triggers an eye-popping violent mob war after his brother is shot and his wife kidnapped.

He will face Marcel Bozzufi (best known as French Connection's villain!) who co-stars in this depraved mayhem as Fulci unleashes his trade-mark gut-splaterring, brain-exploding, flesh-frying scenes of unimaginable cruelty and carnage.. that will turns the bay of Naples red!

This Shameless numbered and limited edition will feature an exclusive animation LENTICULAR card bringing to life one of the film most iconic violent scene of the film.

Count me in! Don't have this on dvd so will definitely be picking it up

Never seen this, so I'll be picking this one up :nod:

Its a good film. Just a shame that its been readily available for years.

Yep I will get this one!

True, but not in the UK. Only a small percentage of the UK buying public import discs, and companies like Shameless know this.

Im in the minority that import so ill pass on this occasion. For anyone that hasn't seen it you are in for a treat, lots of gore in this one.

I wouldn't say you're in the minority, most members on here import, but Shameless rely on high street shops like HMV for business, so they have to take that into account :nod:

To me although i own it, it is a decent release as it's never had a UK release and isn't one of Fulci's more famous films that gets a new edition every five minutes.

A very good film for those who haven't seen it. As has been already mentioned its full of gore.

As with The Washing Machine, I haven't seen this, but have heard very good things about it, so it'll be a definite purchase.

Fantastic film. Compulsory purchase. Well done Shameless!

But will it be uncut?

If it has the Italian audio track I'll buy it, if not I'll pass.

ohhh look forward to getting and seeing this

this might not make it through uncut

According to the BBFC website, it was last classified in 1987, when 2 minutes and 52 seconds of cuts were needed to secure the 18 certificate.

On what grounds?

theres a brutal rape scene that might offend the bbfc

As long as it isn't worse than those in the recent I Spit on Your Grave films or Irreversible, I can't imagine there being too much of a problem – a lot has changed at Soho Square Square since 1987!

There's a horse trip clearly visible on a TV one of the old Mafioso is watching which might be cut.

Kyle, do I win a prize for guessing correctly? :pray: :lol:

Yeah,some Contraband mate....go to this address and ask for big Vern......


Great film!
It's a pity Fulci is remembered more for his maggot-fests and not more often for outings like this!

Oi! Stay out of it Reaps, or you'll end up sleeping with the fishes! This is between me and Kyle. :)

Cool, I'll pick it up, like to see what Shameless has in store for us 'Pasta Gangsta' fans in the future.:)

My guess for the lenticular cover is the scene at the horse track in which one of the Mafiosi has the misfortune to kiss the barrel of a gun. :eek:

Sadly I bought the blue underground DVD years ago, so it's not top of my list. However if it has a new transfer I maybe interested.

I invented sleeping with the fishes.....:lol:

Kyle,give that man a ceegar :smokin:

Or that scene with a guy from the Highlands with a gun to his temple.....;)

Fantastic news!

Hmmm, can't place that scene? I've obviously only seen the cut version. Are you reading this, Kyle? :)

I'm curious about #42. Is it being reserved for a DVD only release of The 10th Victim? Or is there something else lined up?

Edit: Or is the Dual Format The 10th Victim number 42? The SHAM500 thing kind of gave me the impression it would have a different set of spine numbers, but possibly not?

It's included in the Reaper cut.:tongue1:

This is a must have title. I'm looking forward to this and The Washing Machine, to be honest I am more impressed with the Shameless releases than the Arrow ones.

I agree BAKA. I had hoped Shameless has sorted out their numbering after the last fiasco. I like the idea of the dual formats having a new series starting at 500, but had hoped they would have a #42.

I too import films JAMIOUSE and I agree, it would be good if Shameless could avoid the Blue Underground releases - they are quite readily available in the UK, especially with most of them being Region 0. As an idea, if they pay attention to this, if they must release something Blue Underground has released then it would be nice to have some unique special features to make it a bit different.

Arrow seem to have taken their eye of the ball and seem more interested in working out how many pounds they can add by releasing dual format. Their duals are great quality, but their choice of films is slipping and I miss their posters :)

As Shameless have said before, most of their sales come from shops, not the Internet, most likely from people who have never imported a DVD or BD in their lives. It's surprising how many people don't shop online and only buy DVDs/BDs from shops, so Shameless releasing titles which have already been released by Blue Underground might not eat away at their overall sales as much as you'd think.

Exactly Nos. This might sound silly to us, but I can't even tell you how many times someone has asked me what dvds/BD's I've got, and ask if they can borrow it, when I say it's a Region 1/A disc, they ask what that means.

The same happens to me. My mum sometimes asks if I have a film because one of her friends wants to watch it and, if I say it's Region 1 (I don't think any of her friends had a Blu-ray player!), she has to explain what it means to them, which means I have to explain it to her!

Even my brother, who knows all about region coding and that there are different versions available in different localities, has very few DVDs that weren't released in Britain and hasn't imported a single Blu-ray Disc.

I consider myself a collector and avid horror fan. I love my shameless, arrow nucleus, second sight, vipco and 88 films.

But I don't import. Never saw the need. There are always films I want that are out here. I'm not mad about extras. I do sometimes find snobbery from 'some' that do import. I really don't know why it bothers them so. I love shopping in hmv.

I import if there's a better edition overseas, as much as I'd like to support UK companies, the majority of time foreign exports are better, and sometimes cheaper too