Powerhouse Films

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Yep. Mexico Mababre is a set to cherish.

So much so that i've only watched one of the four films. I'm saving one for October and two to watch over Christmas.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

What chance a Tigon box set from Powerhouse?

The Blood Beast Terror, The Body Stealers, Zeta One, The Beast in the Cellar, Doomwatch, The Creeping Flesh and Neither the Sea Nor the Sand would be extremely welcome.

[Trashforcash]

Originally Posted by Michael Brooke

The Hammer boxes have sold very well indeed - in fact, I think Volume 6 has just gone OOP, bang on schedule (only Vol 5 has been a slow seller, and that's not too surprising given that Visa to Canton was included more for its extreme rarity than for its artistic merits) - and we'd love to do more, as they're huge fun to work on.

But rights and materials are proving a pretty insuperable challenge, forcing us to indefinitely shelve plans for a turn-of-the-Sixties Hammer comedy set (which most likely would have been Volume 7), and there's simply not enough out there available for licensing to put a viable alternative together.

But it's not as if we're twiddling our thumbs not producing other similar stuff - in particular, it's pretty much inconceivable that Hammer fans won't adore Mexico Macabre, which was put together in exactly the same spirit.

Thanks for the reply. I think the Hammer sets are awesome, it's just so annoying that the Hammer rights reside with 100s of different people! Indicator have done great work in highlighting lesser know Hammer to the world, and turned me into a Hammer obsessive in the process.

Will definitely check out Mexico Macabre, but I the meantime I'm going to pick up that Lost Continent dvd I've been sizing up.

I'd love to see a Tigon set, or perhaps an Amicus one if there are any rights around? Scream and Scream again, Madhouse etc...

Keep up the good work!

[Rob4]

Originally Posted by Trashforcash

Thanks for the reply. I think the Hammer sets are awesome, it's just so annoying that the Hammer rights reside with 100s of different people! Indicator have done great work in highlighting lesser know Hammer to the world, and turned me into a Hammer obsessive in the process.

Will definitely check out Mexico Macabre, but I the meantime I'm going to pick up that Lost Continent dvd I've been sizing up.

I'd love to see a Tigon set, or perhaps an Amicus one if there are any rights around? Scream and Scream again, Madhouse etc...

Keep up the good work!

Scream and Scream Again is AIP (library owned by MGM) and is being released by Radiance this month. Tigon's appear to be with Screenbound and have been out for a while but they are licensing the better titles to 88Films for bigger releases. I agree a boxset of some of the lesser Tigon titles with improved extras would be welcome.

There was talk floating around that Indicator would have access to some of Studio Canal's unreleased Hammer films such as Frankenstein Created Woman and The Lost Continent, but judging by Michael's response above this was never on the cards?

Tbh honest if the Hammer titles that Studio Canal have released themselves were released again with improved extras I'd buy them again, especially if they were in Indicator boxsets and One Million Years BC deserves the big box treatment!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Rob4

Tbh honest if the Hammer titles that Studio Canal have released themselves were released again with improved extras I'd buy them again, especially if they were in Indicator boxsets and One Million Years BC deserves the big box treatment!

I wouldn't. I have all the StudioCanal Blu-rays (Except Straight on Till Morning which i'm not bothered about) and am perfectly happy with them. Yes extras are sometimes minimal but a good 20 minute interview with Rigby is all that's really needed in my opinion.

Things are too expensive and also there's too much to purchase to keep buying the same titles over and over.

[Michael Brooke]

The chances of StudioCanal letting Powerhouse have titles of theirs that they’ve already released and which are still in print (and which will presumably remain in print indefinitely, since they own them outright) are basically zero. Sorry!

[Nuno_Miranda]

But what about those titles from the 1930s and 1940s? Wouldn'0t they be out of copyright by now? I mean, I may need to read up on EU copyright law...

We discussed this some time ago when I made that mockup for an Exclusive box, and the rights of some were with Network, but it no longer exists. Maybe there is an opportunity here?

I'd so very much buy a box (or three!) of Hammer rarities!

[Michael Brooke]

Under EU copyright legislation (which we're still in sync with, and I can't see that significantly changing), they'll definitely still be in copyright. Even films from turn of the 20th century pioneers like G.A. Smith are still in copyright (because he died in 1959, less than 70 years ago), and Cecil Hepworth's equally 120-plus-year-old films only fall into the public domain next year.

The challenge with the early Hammer titles is (a) they'll need extensive restoration work along the lines of what we've been doing with Tod Slaughter's probably more commercially appealing back catalogue (so you're still talking a hefty production budget merely to beat them into releasable shape), and (b) right now they may well be tied up in the fallout from the Network collapse, as they had the rights to Hammer's pre-Curse of Frankenstein films, so I've no idea what's happening with them at the moment, or indeed how far Network got with restoring them (although I suspect with the very early Hammer titles, it's "not very").

Trust me, we're keeping a very close eye on the Hammer situation, and will pounce if anything changes to our advantage (for instance, Sony creating HD masters of three more comedies besides The Ugly Duckling), but I'm afraid nothing's going to happen any time soon. Hence us focusing on Hammer-adjacent projects like Jean Rollin, Mexican genre films and (forthcoming but imminent) Ozploitation, the last two on the grounds that tentative toes in the water a couple of years ago (Roadgames, Mad Dog Morgan, La Llorona, The Phantom of the Monastery) turned out to be surprisingly big hits that sold out much faster than expected.

[Nuno_Miranda]

Originally Posted by Michael Brooke

Under EU copyright legislation (which we're still in sync with, and I can't see that significantly changing), they'll definitely still be in copyright. Even films from turn of the 20th century pioneers like G.A. Smith are still in copyright (because he died in 1959, less than 70 years ago), and Cecil Hepworth's equally 120-plus-year-old films only fall into the public domain next year.

The challenge with the early Hammer titles is (a) they'll need extensive restoration work along the lines of what we've been doing with Tod Slaughter's probably more commercially appealing back catalogue (so you're still talking a hefty production budget merely to beat them into releasable shape), and (b) right now they may well be tied up in the fallout from the Network collapse, as they had the rights to Hammer's pre-Curse of Frankenstein films, so I've no idea what's happening with them at the moment, or indeed how far Network got with restoring them (although I suspect with the very early Hammer titles, it's "not very").

Trust me, we're keeping a very close eye on the Hammer situation, and will pounce if anything changes to our advantage (for instance, Sony creating HD masters of three more comedies besides The Ugly Duckling), but I'm afraid nothing's going to happen any time soon. Hence us focusing on Hammer-adjacent projects like Jean Rollin, Mexican genre films and (forthcoming but imminent) Ozploitation, the last two on the grounds that tentative toes in the water a couple of years ago (Roadgames, Mad Dog Morgan, La Llorona, The Phantom of the Monastery) turned out to be surprisingly big hits that sold out much faster than expected.

Thank you for taking the time to explain, Michael, much appreciated. Only when you mentioned it did I remember that the UK is no longer in the EU, I had just assumed you were still in. It's still a mini-shock.

I totally understand the restoration cost vs profit for the earlier titles. I realise that not everyone mnay not be as keen as I am to watch them...

I already have my Tod Slaughter box in pre-order. This is one bit of British horror that passed me completely by and I can't wait to discover it. That it has the Powerhouse treatment is all the better.

Thinking of Severin's "Cushing Curiosities" box, I'm sure there are still many opportunities for a little box package of hitherto unseen (although not unknown) materials from beloved actors -- they (or Powerhouse!) can easily do a couple more boxes of largely unseen Cushing stuff, especially from the later 70s! -- or directors (early Terence Fisher?) for us to explore.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

It would be nice if we could get Moon Zero Two and When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth in quality UK releases on Blu-ray.