The Arrow Thread

[Boo Radley]

I've become wary of Arrow over the last couple of years. Don't get me wrong here, I would much prefer them to be releasing titles than not but they need to pay a bit more attention to their final product before releasing it onto the money paying public.
I loved and bought all of their 4 cover slipcase editions but the quality control on some of them was atrocious, The Beyond, Tenebrae, Bird with Crystal Plumage and Zombie Flesh Eaters to name a few.
Now when they show a load of titles my first thought is, "How many of this batch is going to be substandard?"
They are worthy of praise for a lot of other films and in the main do a sterling job, but the uck-ups makes me pause now and I wait a while to see what feedback appears before spending my hard earned.

[Stephen@Cult Labs]

And when was the last time they had a ****-up? Over a year ago with ZFE. I think they've learned their lesson. They have some great people working for them now in QC. I really don't think anyone has anything to worry about.

[Michael Brooke]

Originally Posted by Boo Radley

I've become wary of Arrow over the last couple of years.

Only over the last couple of years? That's a bit worrying, because that's when they massively upped their game!

Don't get me wrong here, I would much prefer them to be releasing titles than not but they need to pay a bit more attention to their final product before releasing it onto the money paying public.

Which is exactly what they've been doing over the last couple of years - so which titles have you been having problems with?

I loved and bought all of their 4 cover slipcase editions but the quality control on some of them was atrocious, The Beyond, Tenebrae, Bird with Crystal Plumage and Zombie Flesh Eaters to name a few.

The first three of those titles were released in 2011, before they brought in their current QC team. (Full disclosure: I'm part of it) Zombie Flesh Eaters is the only significant slip-up since then that I'm aware of, and I'd hardly call it "atrocious". Not least because that disc remains one of Arrow's finest transfers to date - and the mistake was swiftly rectified.

Now when they show a load of titles my first thought is, "How many of this batch is going to be substandard?"

None, hopefully.

Of course, mistakes do occasionally slip through the net, but the QC process is far more rigorous today, as is the initial inspection of masters - these days, they're more likely to fix problems that have found their way onto other releases (for instance, dodgy sound sync on one of the versions of Lifeforce, or a missing audio stem in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which afflict the US versions but not the Arrow one).

I'm not at liberty to name titles, but a handful have been dropped from Arrow's release schedule because the masters didn't get through the initial inspection process - whereas previously they seem to have assumed that the mere existence of an HD master was good enough.

They are worthy of praise for a lot of other films and in the main do a sterling job, but the uck-ups makes me pause now and I wait a while to see what feedback appears before spending my hard earned.

Did you cut and paste this post from a year or so ago? Because your arguments are very seriously out of date!

[Stephen@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Michael Brooke

Only over the last couple of years? That's a bit worrying, because that's when they massively upped their game!

Exactly. ZFE was almost a year and a half ago. Any who's still wary of buying an Arrow release just has to look at their track record since then.

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Michael Brooke

Absolutely not - that "Theater" would be changed to "Theatre".

Funnily enough,the Warner Terror Vision VHS remained with the American 'Theater'....and the previous VHS incarnation was the English spelling.

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Stephen@Cult Labs

Exactly. ZFE was almost a year and a half ago. Any who's still wary of buying an Arrow release just has to look at their track record since then.

Exemplary.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Stephen@Cult Labs

Exactly. ZFE was almost a year and a half ago. Any who's still wary of buying an Arrow release just has to look at their track record since then.

If i'm honest there was so much flak flying around on here about that release it feels like it was only yesterday.

At times it felt like it was bringing the forum to it's knees.

Anyway that's the past now.

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by The Reaper Man@Cult Labs

Exemplary.
.

I don't think you've owt to worry about Boo.

[Stephen@Cult Labs]

How's this for reverse artwork for The Delta Force? Don't get your hopes up though, it's not real. Just something I threw together using the French poster.

[Michael Brooke]

Originally Posted by The Reaper Man@Cult Labs

I don't think you've owt to worry about Boo.

Well, sometimes things aren't fixable (a recent example being that notorious shot in Tenebrae where Anthony Franciosa's hands briefly get digitally mixed up with the letter that he's opening: that was burned into the French HD master that at the moment is the best available), but a lot of the time they are - and they usually get spotted at the QC stage if not earlier.

But I can certainly say with extreme confidence that the QC process at Arrow currently rivals that of any other UK label, and almost certainly exceeds quite a few.

(In fact, I'm writing this while waiting for the ISO image of the DVD of White of the Eye to download - by this time tomorrow I'll have watched the film, listened to the commentary and watched all the extensive extras, as well as checking all the menu links to make sure they do what they're supposed to. Handily, it's a dual-format release which effectively means that the video files and subtitles get two passes just to be sure - although this particular film should have a reference-quality transfer as it's a 35mm-sourced James White original.)