The Quest to Own Our Favorite Movies

Nosferatu (1922)
Yes, the silent film! Being a movie in the public domain that is over 100 years old, Nosferatu has been plagued by terrible transfers and low-rent DVDs for as long as home video has existed. Luckily, Kino Lorber, a reputable company that usually makes great releases, has put the movie on Blu-Ray. Personally, I have no issues at all with Kino Lorber’s release – I think the tint and transfer look great, the original score is included, and the movie is fantastic. However, it’s a controversial release, as some people swear that there are major framerate issues in the release and that the Region B “Masters of Cinema” release is superior. I can’t tell you one way or the other, but if there are enough people making a lot of noise, I can’t say it’s “Easy” to just pick up KL’s release.
Difficulty: Medium

Oldboy (2003)
A celebrated masterpiece of Korean cinema shouldn’t be hard to find, right? Wrong. The version of this movie we ended up with was a Tartan Asia Extreme DVD release because it has tons of special features, an intricately-detailed (if tonally-inappropriate) DVD menu, and even an inexplicable English dub we’ll never use. There’s a 4K release in the UK from Arrow, and a Region A 4K that is currently running for $999! What a deal! So, yeah, either import the 4K from Arrow, get a Blu-Ray release for $64, or get a 4K for a thousand. Or just do what we did, go to eBay, and get the DVD for a little bit less. It’s ridiculous that this is so difficult to get in the US.
Difficulty: Hard

Paprika (2006)
This is an interesting one. There’s a very good Blu-Ray you can easily buy, but Sony released a 4K UHD release that’s gorgeously-upscaled and we were lucky enough to pick up. The problem is, it’s out-of-print now! So, you can buy this movie, and it’s a very good version, but it’s not the ostensibly best version.
Difficulty: Medium

Perfect Blue (1997)
This is in a similar situation to Paprika – there’s a 4K UHD Collector’s Edition for around $100, or you can get the nice Blu-Ray steelbook from GKIDS for a more reasonable price. The 4K may be expensive, but it’s a nice package and the movie is pretty available so I’ll say this is Easy.
Difficulty: Easy

Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
Shout Factory comes to the rescue again with a fantastic Blu-Ray edition of a great movie. It’s a strong release, with lots of special features, and it looks and sounds great. And after you’re done watching it, you can visit the Swan Archives and check out even more behind-the-scenes info about it.
Difficulty: Easy

Pig (2021)
Another recent movie that was released in time to get a Blu-Ray release. It’s not a standout, but it’ll get you the movie, and that’s what counts.
Difficulty: Easy

Pink Flamingos (1972)
Another movie picked up by Criterion during their big John Waters phase, and an absolutely incredible release to boot. It has a hilarious slipcover patterned like the infamous brown paper package Divine receives in the movie, the main case has a portrait of Divine looking appropriately filthy, and it’s loaded with features and is as good a transfer as you’re going to get. I recommend this one highly…if, you know, this is the kind of movie for you.
Difficulty: Easy

Pompo: The Cinephile (2021)
Another surprisingly-easy find from GKIDS, with a solid Blu-Ray release and even a director’s commentary! As much as I complain about living in a world where there aren’t as many easy-to-find discs of obscure Japanese live-action movies out there, at least anime usually gets something between GKIDS and Discotek.
Difficulty: Easy

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)
A movie that is still in print and easy to find on Blu-Ray, which is nice. Considering it was a flop, it’s probably as best as it’s going to get, and it’s a good release. I would be remiss, though, if I didn’t mention that there’s a very funny Steelbook edition that shows the art of the “scene” involving giant mutant invading bugs. That, unfortunately, is hard to get a hold of.
Difficulty: Easy

Porco Rosso (1992)
Another Ghibli film that lapsed from Disney distribution and was picked up by GKIDS and Shout Factory. There’s even a new special feature on the GKIDS release, a textless opening and ending credits. License rescues should happen more often.
Difficulty: Easy

Power Rangers (2017)
This was the first 4K disc I owned. I couldn’t believe it had a 4K release with a shiny slipcover and everything! Mandy and I will love this movie forever, and I’m glad it seems to have been one of those early UHD releases where they were really pushing the format and releasing all the newest movies on it. In fact, this was one of the first releases to include Dolby Vision, something that is now often standard in new UHD releases. Pretty cool piece of history! One day this movie will get the respect it deserves. Today is still not that day, unless you’re us, but at least from a technical perspective it’s as good as it’s gonna get.
Difficulty: Easy

Princess Mononoke (1997)
Another GKIDS license rescue, this version is actually better than the Disney release, as the picture quality is even higher. It’s as good a release as you’re going to get, and it’s still in print.
Difficulty: Easy

Psycho (1960)
This movie is technically very easy to get. It’s when you start looking for Alfred Hitchcock collections that things get weird. Psycho was released on 4K UHD and looks and sounds great, but it feels like every few years a new “Ultimate Alfred Hitchcock Collection” drops. Do you want a four-pack with Psycho, Rear Window, Vertigo, and The Birds? Until recently, that was the only way to get this movie on its own. Or maybe you’d prefer a 15-movie collection with the previously-mentioned movies and several other ones? I love movie collections, but with how odd Hitchcock rights are (something I’ll touch on more a little later) it can become a minor headache getting exactly the ones you like. Still, Psycho is here! And with two cuts, the theatrical and Director’s Cut versions! Nice!
Difficulty: Easy

Psycho Cop Returns (1993)
Vinegar Syndrome! My friend, my nemesis. This delightful bad slasher (by the future writer of Phineas and Ferb, Dan Povenmire, and the guy who would go on to direct Underdog, Adam Rifkin) has an excellent Blu-Ray release…which is now impossible to buy unless you’re willing to pay $99 or more because of VinSyn’s limited stock strategy. We were very lucky, because Mandy bought this after finding the movie on streaming, which is also how we discovered Vinegar Syndrome in the first place.
Difficulty: Hard

Re-Animator (1985)
Unlike the sequel, Re-Animator is pretty easy to get. Arrow Video used to have the Blu-Ray rights, and we own that version, but they recently went to Ignite Films who offer a 4K/Blu-Ray combo pack that has all the previous special features plus a brand new restored transfer and tons of new features. It goes in and out of stock, but the company is committed in keeping it available and printing new copies of both the special edition and the basic two-disc with Slipcover editions. Crucially, the set contains both the Unrated and “Integral” edits of the movie. Of course, a caveat is that the Integral isn’t quite accurate to the theatrical version of the movie, so maybe it’s not a perfect form of preservation, but it’s still as good as it gets for now.
Difficulty: Easy

Rear Window (1954)
Everything that applies to Psycho applies here. You can get it alone or in one of the collected editions. Funnily enough, we only own an old DVD box set that Mandy bought back in the day. Maybe we’ll upgrade it some day.
Difficulty: Easy

Rebel Without A Cause (1955)
In 2023, Warner Archives went all-in on physical media, and luckily this was another one that got great treatment fairly recently with a 4K UHD release you can still easily buy. I actually found this at Best Buy without knowing it was even coming out, and I had a pretty strong reaction to seeing a movie that I had recently watched and absolutely loved just hanging out on the New Releases shelf. I miss those days.
Difficulty: Easy

Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)
Sometimes it pays to love a weird cult classic. A Blu-Ray exists, it’s easy to get, and you can usually pick it up for about $5 these days. On top of that, it looks and sounds like it should and there’s a solid amount of special features (including multiple commentary tracks!). I’m surprised Lionsgate hasn’t tried giving this a Vestron or Lionsgate Limited release, but at least they’re keeping this in print.
Difficulty: Easy

Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Speaking of Lionsgate, they recently remastered and released this movie in 4K UHD, and included an updated Blu-Ray on top of that. And that’s great! The original Blu-Ray release of this movie, while in-print and regularly released, was one of the earliest releases on the format and had aged pretty poorly in terms of digital compression. The new version looks and sounds amazing, The special features leave something to be desired for such a beloved movie, but apparently they’re the same as they were on previous releases, so that’s fine.
Difficulty: Easy

Robocop (1987)
Now this is interesting. I may often sing the praises of Arrow Video and the hard work they put towards their remasters, but just like VinSyn, they’re not without fault. Their biggest problem, in my eyes, is that they’re stingy with their releases. That is to say, if you’re getting one of their movies, you’re either getting only a 4K disc or only a Blu-Ray disc. This is kind of annoying, especially since it seems like the Blu-Ray is out-of-print! Sure, I can play the Robocop 4K, and it has the Unrated cut which is the version of the movie I would most want to watch, but it looks like they had a now out-of-print 4K/BD combo that had multiple cuts of the film. It’s frustrating enough to bump this movie up a rating. It’s not a deal-breaker, but it’s something to keep an eye out for.
Difficulty: Medium