Optimum / Studio Canal Thread
 

Optimum have delayed the Region 2 release of Rider On The Rain until September. I read recently on the film's IMDb forum that Optimum have been trying to find the English dubbed version. Apparently the previous release was a French dubbed version and the picture was terrible.

It was either on the Anchor Bay forum, Cult Movie Forums or on here, where I'd asked about a Charles Bronson film I'd seen a DVD of on the shelves in my local HMV. Someone replied saying the picture was poor and that it may be or was a public domain release.


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Other Optimum releases

I recently bought a Lee Van Cleef western called Barquero on R2 which I'd never heard of before. Inside was a booklet telling you about past, present and future Optimum releases. What particularly caught my eye were the following (these have been mentioned in recent news articles on websites DVD Times and DVD Active):

Electra Glide In Blue
Hardware: Special Edition.

I'm waiting for their release of Hammer's LOST CONTINENT (1968) an adaption of Dennis Wheatley's Uncharted Seas.I have the OOP Anchor Bay r0 disc but the film is cut together from about 3 different print sources of varying quality.I'm hoping that this will be taken from a better source.

I was thinking of starting an Optimum thread!:)

I picked up their disc of Turkey Shoot recently and was suprised to find they had actually bothered to include some extras! It had the featurette from the Umbrella disc and a interview with the director, which i think was shot for this release.

Optimum are re-issuing Xtro and Emmanuelle.

Their last release of Emmanuelle was pretty good. First time uncut in the UK and a nice print.

Their recent release of THIEF is anamorphic and crystal clear!:woot:

I'll definitely pick up Xtro, the last time I saw this was on pre-cert video.

Some great titles on Optimum. I think I have about 30 of their releases. My first Optimum, and probably one of my favourites is Lynch's Naked Lunch which I bought back in 2004.

Hopefully they'll release the complete version. The Film 2000 DVD is missing a few brief (non-violent) scenes that are present in the German DVD and old UK video versions.

This new edition is going to have a new documentary.

Can't wait to see a decent transfer of XTRO.
Optimum may not go bonkers with the extras on their older films,but I don't think I've seen a bad transfer yet.
The German XTRO disc I have is shoddy to say the least.:pout:

The German dvd I used to have (and traded on here) had two versions of the film Vince.One I'm sure was the director's cut and the other the theatrical version.Be nice if Optimum did this....:coolblue:

It's not a classic by any means but I enjoyed it. The first appearance of the alien on the road is genuinely creepy.

It will have some extras as they went through the bbfc the other day.

Sorry to be pedantic - but don't you mean Cronenberg's Naked Lunch?

Or to be even more pedantic Cronenberg's Burroughs's Naked Lunch. :madgrin:

If i recall correctly it's actually a crew member facing forward in the 'crab' position wearing the alien costume back to front and it is indeed creepy. Xtro is a weird and wonderful little effort where the selection of strange events in the movie actually work in it's favour rather than against the film.

Remember the legendary 'Action Man' scene with Anna Wing from Eastenders?

Hopefully Optimum will do something special with this sci-fi horror oddity.:)

That's true enough and the likes of Killer Klowns From Outer Space, The Inglorious Bastards, The Exterminator, The Antichrist, Maniac Cop and Prison among others could all have benefitted from having some decent bonus material included. It's this lack of effort towards extras that put's me off investing in some of Optimum's offerings. They're not a bad company they could just be a little bit better at times.:)

Optimum's Rosemary's Killer was uncut but the sleeve was awful. Very sparse on the extras too.

RK may be short on extras but the transfer is superb.


I like the artwork.

You're right you know... apologies for that - Brain freeze - I had Lynch on the brain there! :tsk: :der:

The U.S BU disc has the original artwork (one of my all time favourite posters/sleeves) and an excellent selection of extras. Good print too.

As much as i like RK im not really bothered about extras as i very rarely listen to commentarys.

It's one of the better commentaries. The behind the scenes featurette is also very good.

I used to love listening to commenterys but i just cant anymore.

I remember someone quizzing Optimum about this,and the reply was something like...Due to the money involved for extras in the back catalogue titles,the money available was for putting out a large quantity of Canal's back catalogue with a decent transfer,with little or no extras.The newer releases would come with extras,subtitles etc.
You can't knock Optimum for their sheer output.Yeah it's nice to have releases with extras,of course it is.:) A lot of the cult titles they put out would probably never see the light of day in the hands of another Studio;
How many times on here do we mention that we'd wish Warner,MGM etc would let some moths out of their vaults?:pout:
Perhaps Optimum simply don't have access to materials for some of their films....:confused:
Look at their release of Richard Stanley's HARDWARE...absolutely knockout.
Any other region release is gonna be hard pushed to top this.:coolblue:
And probably won't.:)

Excellent news.:coolblue:
It will also be great to see Rene Clements Hitchcockian thriller RIDER ON THE RAIN finally digitally remasterd.:woot:

According to the bbfc Optimum submitted both Enlgish and French versions of Rider.

Even better.The artwork for RIDER ON THE RAIN is pretty cool,but the Embassy VHS was class.Something sinister about it.....
The new Optimum release is taken from the U.S. VHS.....:coolblue:

I think it was in the IMDb alternate versions section for Thief that I read there was some footage cut from the film. When I saw this Region 2 disc of Thief wasn't getting any extras I had my doubts that this new release would have any deleted scenes as extras or deleted footage inserted into the film.

Didn't notice.

Yeah along with Last Of The Mohicans,Michael Mann changed some things for the director's edition of Thief.I don't know if the original region 2 MGM disc or the new optimum release is the revised version or the original cut.

Just ordered the R1 Image Entertainment Xtro SE (with Xtro II as a bonus feature) from Amazon marketplace for the paltry sum of £3.71 delivered, if the Optimum release improves on this version I may well pick that up too. :)

I have Image's U.S. DVD of Xtro as well as Film 2000's British edition and i'm prepared to invest in Optimum's equivalent if the bonus material is worthy and the film is a complete print.

Harry Bromley Davenport's extra-terrestrial low-budgeter is just such an enjoyably odd little outing that i think it's about time the movie came our way intact so here's hoping Optimum don't let us down.:)

I'm sure it will be a decent disc SD.....:)

Here are the running times for the Film 2000 and Optimum editions:

Film 2000 - 83m 26s

Optimum - 83m 28s

Hmm, doesn't look too encouraging that Optimum are going to put out a restored edition does it? I may well just stick with the Image R1 disc if that is the case.

The BBFC say it includes additional material.

Well, we can only hope Optimum will put out a restored version.What is the point of releasing it otherwise when you can buy the decent Image R1 disc at less than a fiver online?

I've yet to check out my U.K. DVD of Xtro (still sealed like many more of my movies!) but judging from the sleeve it appears to be more or less a carbon copy of Image's U.S. version.

I'd like to think Optimum's print will be unexpurgated but after checking out the running times posted earlier i must say i've got my doubts. I certainly hope they're unfounded.:confused: