Ever since I bought a region-free DVD player (aka the best purchase I've ever made EVER except, perhaps, my fog machine) and thus have looked for DVDs from all 'round yon globe, I've come to a startling conclusion. STARTLING I SAY: 9 times out of 10, the Region 2 DVD covers are better than the Region 1 covers. Now, I'm not saying this to be anti-American, so don't start busting out
Lee Greenwood or some shit. Perhaps your aesthetic tastes differ from mine and you'll disagree anyway; the point is, I am just saying.
R1 vs R2
NOTE: Dear Region 1...it does not speak well to the talents and originality of the filmmakers when you say "A
Saw-like twist at the end!" on the cover for a movie from the creators of
Saw.
NOTE: This Region 1
Prom Night cover is
especially heinous (not just ugly) because it uses a photo of Jamie Lee Curtis from
Halloween H-fucking-
20!
Of course, sometimes Region 2 gets it very,
very wrong.
NOTE: This Region 1 Prom Night cover is especially heinous (not just ugly) because it uses a photo of Jamie Lee Curtis from Halloween H-fucking-20!
Of course, sometimes Region 2 gets it very, very wrong.
I agree,
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's un-American. The real America produced tons and tons of great poster art... some of which is even what's used on those Region 2 DVDs. The corporate facsimile of America that's taken over has an inexplicable habit of purposefully using less compelling art on DVDs.
Now some of it probably does a better job of conforming to some studies about focal points and such, but a tremendous amount of it replaces interesting and eye-catching art with things that no one would even notice if it was two-feet from their eyes.
I don't know why the original poster art isn't used more, especially when older films appear on DVD- like the R2 edition of The Burning and Prom Night. Maybe it's a copyright issue? I mean, the cover for Happy Birthday to Me a couple of years back was fucking atrocious!
ReplyDeleteI did a comprehensive study using myself as the participant and it seems like Region 2 wins 7-4 from Regon 1 when it comes to cover awesomeness.
ReplyDeleteI think it's the whole keep-the-interns-busy headspace. Idle-looking folks drives middle-management nuts.
ReplyDeleteI love tinkering in Photoshop, but it definitely killed the interesting poster or DVD cover.
By the way, haven't seen Teeth yet, but that R2 cover rocks.
Ever accidentally breath in smoke-machine smoke? Ye gods, that's nasty.
ReplyDeleteOh, you're right about the DVD covers. I'm waiting for you to buy the European release of the second Mighty Ducks movie, so you can have R2 D2.
How does the region-free player work its way around the NTSC/PAL barrier? Yes, I could go look it up, but I'm lazy and you already know.
ReplyDeletethe Burning one is sick
ReplyDeleteHalloween two makes me the saddest, love the original movie poster and then they pulled this "Scarface" looking thing and just seems like a waste of an awesome poster. I feel like they redo classic films like The Burning cause somewhere some accountant said that new artwork would make people think it's a newer movie and thus make more sales or rentals.
ReplyDeleteOn my home planet of Australia, which orbits in sector 4, we often get the US cover art with the word “UNRATED” in big print left on it. No biggy right?… well… maybe… except for the fact it’s usually right next to the Australian rating! You see, having your film rated by the OFLC (Australia’s MPAA) is compulsory so there’s no such thing as unrated.
ReplyDeleteIt amazes me that the dude who has to incorporate the dirty great big heylookatme OFLC rating into the cover art doesn’t stop for even a second and think, gee maybe we should get rid of the dirty great big heylookatme UNRATED sign.
A few examples, just so you know I’m not makin’ this shit up:
Turistas - https://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/794806
The Hills Have Eyes - http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/787168
Epic Movie - http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/791940
Wrong Turn 2 - http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/796642
Serious disclaimering note: I’m not advocating this site for R4 purchases, it was just the first site that I found with the offending cover art.
Do you have a preferred company you order imports from? I've mainly used Xploited and diabolik.com.
ReplyDeleteI tend to order through Xploited or even just Amazon UK...there's a huge number of DVDs that are out of print here, but readily available from there, especially slashers. I've bought movies for under $10 (yeah, dollars) that are going for $70 over here.
ReplyDeleteThose R2 DVDs are awesome, I want them all!!
ReplyDeleteI agree...they should use the original poster art from older films and the region 2 dvd cover art is far superior than the r1.
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing -- my Prom Night dvd cover art (I bought in Dec) was the original poster...
Love the first version of American Psycho best, though. But a good thing they changed the The burning. Looks really like something you'd pick up and go "hmmm".
ReplyDeleteIf you hadn't already bought the 700 versions that were issued before...
Wow, that Black XMas one 'almost' makes me want to watch the movie.
ReplyDeleteThe Prom Night one is the worst. I get that its supposed to be Jamie's face reflected in a knife blade but if you squint your eyes she looks like a confused, melting Christmas candle.-UNK
ReplyDeleteteeth, i didn't like this movie. it didn't make me laugh
ReplyDeletei love the r2 version of bloodrayne. not only does it more accurately represent the move (i.e., it sucks), but the tiny little ben kingsley in the background who seems to be saying "please don't notice i'm in this movie" makes me giggle.
ReplyDeletegreat idea for a post -- make this a regular feature? :)
I got all hot an bothered when I first picked up a region free PAL/NTSC (fuck you, SECAM) DVD player, but other than the uncensored Australian DVD of The Plague Dogs (which I can't even watch because I'll end up crying like a little girl again) I haven't watched anything but region 1.
ReplyDeleteOn the downside, US disks usually have much better extras than their UK R2 counterparts, which is one of reason us Brits buy a lot of R1 disks from stateside suppliers. Our draconian censorship used to be a reason too, but - except in a few extreme examples - that seems to have relaxed massively these days, and most stuff comes out uncut now.
ReplyDeleteThe R2 American Psycho cover is way better, waay better.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, Blood Rayne, don't cut off your tits. I loved that game. Hot vampire chick killing Nazis.
What a sad sack of shit the film was though.
Peace,
A
Bear in mind, while our covers might sometimes be prettier, there are HOARDS of slasher flicks that were never released in the UK that the demented collector (a.k.a. me) has to import from the USA.
ReplyDelete'The Burning' cover looks nicer there, but that particular edition had sod all extras and a really cheap looking back cover with horrible scanned stills.
Strange, a few years ago I noticed the same phenomena regarding UK book jackets.
ReplyDeleteI hate the Happy Birthday To Me DVD cover SO much, I'm almost considering learning graphic design just to make an awesome one featuring Melissa Sue and her frizzies. It did come with an insert of the original kebab poster art that I used to cover up that atrocity. I recently decided to toss two VHS tapes that ceased to play that were released on DVD, (Eyes of A Stranger and Prom Night 2: Hello Mary Lou) and I've been trimming the art to fit into the DVD sleeve.
I do happen to like the OTHER re-imagined Prom Night "queen" cover art featuring Jamie Lee (not shown here) very much, even though the fact that it doesn't have much to do with the actual content of the movie should cause me to shun it.
The R2 of "American Psycho"...it's turning me on a bit personally.
ReplyDeleteBut for any film, R2 cover art is crazy. Like the one for "Boat Trip" where Victoria Silvestedt is riding a banana.
Yes. I said she is riding a banana.
Uh, uh, uh. Look at that American Psycho cover, Christian Bale is fucking sexy. European Region 2 cover pride!
ReplyDeleteI live in the Philippines. We don't get R2 covers. But I have noticed that the colors in our R3 covers aren't as dark as compared to the R1 counterparts. What's with American printing these days? I thought European artwork favored lots of earthy colors. But even the Iron Man DVD cover looks muddy compared to the R3 DVD!
ReplyDeleteBernie
Is it wrong that I find the American Psycho cover totally hot?
ReplyDeleteThat R2 version of "Silent Hill" makes me want to rewatch it. Wait, no it doesn't.
ReplyDeleteAre you sure that the R2 Bloodrayne cover isn't actually for "Bloodrayne Rennt?"
ReplyDeleteSomething else I like about Region 2. Movies with special features that R1 doesn't have. A few years ago I picked up 2 John Carpenter flicks with Carpenter commentary not available here in America. They Live & Price of Darkness. Charles Cyphers joined Carpenter on POD and was great. I recommend them very highly and got them on Amazon UK. And the covers rocked also. They Live was great and POD was Alice Cooper (I'm a big fan of Alice's)
ReplyDeleteIs it too obvious to shower some love on the placement of the word "TEETH" on the R2 cover?
ReplyDeleteAwesome.
I've been considering getting a region free player, but I've never been sure which one. I hear so much conflicting information. The covers of these movies is definitely another reason to inspire me to get one. I love these R2 ones so much better than the ones we get here in the USA.
ReplyDelete