Gosh, whilst I don't agree (Peeping Tom, or The Red Shoes, or The Wicker Man for me) that is a lovely looking page, and I look forward to giving it a proper read later. Nice work.

I've had the dvd for well over 10 years now and can honestly say I think it's been watched maybe twice, the last time being about 10 years ago, just didn't do it for me. My opinion may change if I rewatched it but I found it a bit slow going :)

I always thought ist was unspoken label-philosophy to focus on italian films of the respective era whether they be Gialli or any other genre.


Yes, we maybe have different definitions of "gialli". I still think Amsterdamned is never near to ist. I agree it't a "whodunnit", but a classical, clean one where the Police always has the control and where the culprit is almost known from the start.

I reckon there must be several other films that would fit much netter in the catalogue and which haven't seen any decent DVD-Release yet.

But that isn't the case. It is all about red herrings and an outrageous development when it comes to the killer's identity. Very Giallo, I thought.

I think many of us in Britain and the States etc are sometimes guilt of having a very fixed and narrow view on what makes a giallo. I've seen some people get all narky over someone labeling Suspiria a giallo, yet I don't think such comments can be simply dismissed as a classic newbie mistake.



For Italian audiences, the term "giallo" is used to refer to any kind of thriller, regardless of where it was made. Thus American, British or other western thrillers such as Psycho, Vertigo or Peeping Tom are, for Italian-speaking audiences, examples of gialli. For English-speaking audiences, the term has over time come to refer to a very specific type of Italian-produced thriller which Italian audiences have historically referred to as "thrilling all'italiana" (in other words, thrillers in an Italian style) or, sometimes, "spaghetti thrillers". So, for Italian audiences, the term "giallo" denotes a broad genre (the thriller), and the term "thrilling all'italiana" denotes the specific subgroup of films (a subgenre) that have come to be known by English-speaking viewers as gialli.

The film subgenre that emerged from these novels in the 1960s began as literal adaptations of the books, but soon began taking advantage of modern cinematic techniques to create a unique genre which veered into horror and psychological thrillers.

Even so, I think that other than the country of origin, Amsterdamned falls neatly into the Giallo all'italiana concept, never mind that it would definitely be labelled "Giallo" in Italy as a general murder-mystery.

I don't think that's true as Shameless just seemed to release films which hadn't been released in Britain previously or hadn't been released very well. Whether it was by design or coincidence that their first DVDs (New York Ripper, Phantom of Death, Killer Nun, Torso etc) were Italian films is something only they can answer.

Since the covers are deliberately yellow in the style of old Giallo paperbacks I'd say it was definitely by design.

Shameless are probably only releasing AMSTERDMANED because the people behind Cine-Excess have talked them into it.

Their parent label Argent has put out around 20 releases and all but one - ATTACK FORCE Z - is Italian. And they only did that because it was owned by the same Italian licensor they got most of their Argent/Shameless titles from.

Very true.

A great example of an American Giallo is Basic Instinct. Ha, that was directed by a Dutchman as well.

Very true. Actually, looking at the first 20 Shameless releases, all of them are Italian films, so it can't be a coincidence!

From Amazon:

Not exactly earthshattering specs, but they sound good enough and, as I don't own or haven't seen them, I'll buy both.

Disappointing full stop.

Verhoeven's earlier HE FOURTH MAN also share many similarities to the giallo.

Best American giallo is DRESSED TO KILL, imo.

I've never seen Dressed to Kill. :o

Body Double is also a classic imo.

Jesus guys, would you rather have new releases of previously available films, or rerelases of titles already released by the company?
We should be glad Shameless is releasing something new at all, and these releases also make me more likely to purchase these films, and make it easier for me to get them.

Personally if that was all they did I wouldn't see there being any point of Shameless even being there. They should be ashamed that they aren't stretching the potential of the label. I guess they are called Shameless for a reason...

You're missing the point. I already own House and Amsterdamned so why would I buy them again? Because they're in a yellow box? I don't think so. And let's say the previous UK releases have already shifted a few thousand units to UK customers. How many will actually buy these new re-releases? The demographic Shameless are aiming for already have these films on DVD and there's too few labal fans for them so sell to (that is, tho0se who'll buy them simply because they're Shameless releases). To me, it seems like a bad business move and I predict that these will prove to be poor sellers. Now if they'd given both a BD upgrade, then that's a different conversation altogether. But they're not. Just DVD releases, films most of us already have on DVD. Just who is Shameless going to sell these films to?

Shameless can release what they like and I'm not really complaining - but I fear that bad business practises like this will spell the end of Shameless. That's my main concern. It's all very well Shameless looking at sales figures and saying 'Hey, House with Laughing Windows sold loads on UK DVD! Let's buy it!' Exactly, it sold loads, you've already lost that slice of the market. Try moving into untapped territory.

Yeah, first they released two boxes of re-releases and when they announce a couple new releases which everyone really looked forward too... well, those were re-releases to, but from another UK label.

If they soon release a good DVD or BD of Your Vice is a Locked Room... i may forgive them for their recently lazy attempts to do something good.

Well, since I don't have either of these, I'll be buying them. But if you're not buying them, fine. Just stop your bitching people. Muahahahahahaha :D

Well, at least Shameless didn't release this. It's a crime, make no mistake. 'Shudder'
https://eu.movieposter.com/posters/a...n/78/MPW-39417

That's a great film. I really love how they managed to show you his entire face for the majority of the film.

Re: the new releases, didn't Almar say ages ago that most of Shameless and Arrow's sales come from casual high street buyers. If that's still the case then surely these will sell well as the original dvd releases aren't, to my mind, freely available on the shelves of HMV.

Not that I don't want releases of rarer, more unavailable films, like The Frightened Woman and Footprints were, but after the constant reissue box sets these 2 forthcoming releases are at least a step in the right direction

YOU SSSSSSSSSIN!!!!!!!!! :mob::mob:

:p

Agreed ten fold. I adore the design of the re-releases but bwyond that there's not much to them. These new releases are deffinetly what's needed at the moment.

Not bitching, as such, just concerned that it's a bad business move. Most of the people that want these films already have them. I'm not a label fan, I'm interested in the films - and since I already have them I won't be buying them again. That's all I'm saying, a re-release, you have to admit, will be selling to a much limited demographic of an already limited demographic than if it were a previously unavaillable title. If these sell poorly and put Shameless in the red, people's opinions will soon change, I'm sure. Then everyone will say (in hindsight) that Shameless shouldn't have picked these titles up. ;)

I'm also not bitching, there two titles I don't actually own and I don't own them for a good reason. I won't be buying these releases as I don't like either film! It just annoys me and a great many others on here that Shameless are releasing two titles already available. Given the companies very low product turn out this year I do fear for their future. Has any reason been given why Amsterdammed and Windows are been released, is there a special deal with Nouveax Pictures?

Only if you stop your bad artwork nagging :tongue1:

Never!!!!!!! :lol:

Typical :tongue1:

Then i won't stop bitching, bitch.

;)

:lol: Fair enough.

Exactly what I'm thinking.
You guys are lucky you even have a label dedicated to these kind of things.
In Australia we have jack shit.

Anchor Bay Australia? Force Video? Umbrella? What do you mean no dedicated genre labels?

You guys got I Spit On Your Grave and Cannibal Holocaust uncut - that's more than we're allowed in the UK. ;)

Strewth! There have been some great genre films released on DVD on Australia such as Stone, Time Guardian, Razorback, Dark Age, The Chain Reaction, Fantasm, Nightmares, Long Weekend, Mad Dog Morgan, Patrick and Thirst etc.

Anchor Bay Australia has not released that much at all, Umbrella's ok, but they really release only the big titles, and I've not heard of Force Video.
But anyway, there are a LOT of horror titles unavalible in Australia

That could be said for almost anywhere. There's a lot that's still unavailable here in the UK. There's stuff available here that's not in Aus and vice versa. But you might be surprised at just how much stuff is available in Australia if you know where to look. The guys I talk to certainly find plenty of good stuff to get their hands on and I have, in the past, imported a fair few R4 titles that were unavailable over here (like the Heston film the Awakening). Australia was also the first country I know of to get Death Wish 2 full uncut on DVD.

I'm more thinking of just horror titles, and the UK certainly has a hell of a lot of those, plus also, a fair few of those released are barebones.
Also, when there is a R4 version of something I want to find, like Bad Taste, I can't find the bloody thing anywhere!!!

It is funny because there is interesting stuff that isn't available in one region that is available in a different one.

I love classic Australian exploitation cinema but, as you would expect, a lot of the better releases come from Australia. That makes sense of course, but can be a little frustrating. The best release of Not Quite Hollywood, for example, is the Australian one by far because, unlike the other releases in other parts of the world, the Aussie one has 2 DVDs worth of content.

I hear what you're saying though.

I can understand this. Apparently Razorback has a really nice edition in Australia.

Now that's a film that totally deserves an Arrow Blu upgrade :pray: