DJariya

Fucking Finally Good Guys Wear Black is on sale. And the 2 Death Wish movies too. I guess I'll be checking my Wish List tonight after work. Bye Bye money

DJariya

I didn't go crazy. Just got the ones I really wanted. Others can wait for next year. I just got enough to satisfy the $50 for free shipping. My Chuck Norris and Death Wish collections are done. And I also completed my Hannibal Lecter trilogy on 4K. Got Stone Cold because I heard it's a guilty pleasure.

MooMooMooMoo

2nd request: has anyone seen the Kolchak TV series? Is it worth spending $40 on?

MooMooMooMoo

I've got $126+ tax in my cart. Don't know if I'm going to bite on some of it as finances really suck right now.

BobO'Link

I purchased the DVD set a couple of years back (~$10 IIRC) to check it out as I'd recalled it being kind of "meh" when it first aired. I liked it better than back then (I thought it kind of fun in the right frame of mind) but doubt I'd spend the $$ to upgrade to BR. I'm happy with the DVD. If you really liked the movies then go for it. They're a pretty good indication of what you'll see in the series.

DJariya

You always complain about how poor you are. Maybe it's time to really reassess your spending? Ex/ Stop looking at this forum for physical media deals for FOMO.

MooMooMooMoo

Thanks! I've only seen the movies.

MooMooMooMoo

I don't have a family. Music & movies is where my money goes, if you must know.

PhantomStranger

Are we talking about the show itself or the A/V upgrade over DVD? Kolchak is considered the precursor to X-Files but it's an episodic procedural delving into weekly monster and paranormal stuff circa the 1970s. As someone who didn't grow up on the show and only first watched it within the last decade, it's mildly decent if you dig that stuff. Frankly, I love its near-contemporary Leonard Nimoy's "In Search Of" paranormal documentary series far more. Kolchak did have a big influence I feel on horror well into the 80s, if only because it filled a gap for horror fans after the salad days of all those anthology shows in the 60s and early 70s.

My short answer is it's not incredibly vital unless one has a real nostalgia for the era.

MooMooMooMoo

Thank you. The Show itself. I kinda sorta enjoyed the 2 films. Even with the huge discount this is a lot to pay for 1 Season; if it isn't that good probably not worth it.

BobO'Link

The DVD set is at GRUV (Universal's online store) for $9.99 - free shipping (plus sales tax) and there's a 20% off "new user" code you can get:
https://www.gruv.com/product/kolchak...ete_series_dvd

Also at Amazon for the same price (non-free shipping unless you have Prime):
.
That might be the better choice to let you see if it might be worth upgrading in the future. Kino's quite likely to put it on sale again.

MooMooMooMoo

Good point. I do have prime as I get it at 50% off due to my income level. Our state has the highest sales tax in the USA, but that's still just another $1.30 or so.

Edit: Thanks for mentioning the 20% off at Gruv. As this was shot for TV in SD in the 70's & appears to be an official Uni issue, there will likely be little difference between dvd & blu. Came to $8.80 with tax, Not sure how Kino came up with a $100 list price for the blu, but this should do me!

Does Gruv usually offer free ship at $10?

BobO'Link

GRUV offers free ship period. Amount of order does not matter.

Brian T

Wouldn’t the show have been shot on film, though? Looks like the Blu set has new scans, so presumably there would be a difference. However, in no cases do new scans make old shows and movies scarier, funnier, more dramatic, etc. The written and performed content doesn’t really change, so with a cult show like this the DVDs seem good enough. The $100 list price probably just makes the ‘sale’ prices look better.

Kurt D

I LOVED Kolchak as a kid. I have the DVD set and it is, frankly, crap. Lazy monster-of-the-week crap, although it did generate some atmosphere from time to time (Spanish Moss Monster) while also some pure crap (the Headless motorcycle rider with the 5-foot-tall torso).
On the other hand, McGavin's comic interplay with his editor, compatriots, and the police, was pretty entertaining. (The title sequence and theme song are the best part, all things considered.)


I'd probably bite at 25-30 dollars for the collection for better PQ and commentaries. We'll see.

MooMooMooMoo

Makes me glad I just bit for the dvd set.

DJariya

Funny thing to mention. I paid $35 at a comic convention last year for a bootleg DVD version of an old 1 season 80s TV show called “The Master”. It stars Lee Van Cleef. The PQ was shit. Like 80s VHS. Little did I later realize Kino Lorber had an official remastered version. It’s on sale for $27.99 and on BD too.

https://kinolorber.com/product/the-m...series-blu-ray

BobO'Link

I consider it cheesy TV horror wannabe stuff, yet it *is* fun for what it is. BUT I grew up on a steady diet of Saturday TV matinees of horror movies and late night horror host shows filled with "classic" horror movies - the ones that give you nightmares (as a kid). I was quite jaded towards horror on TV at a young age and have always considered most TV "horror" to be more than tame (and usually quite lame as well). The ones I accepted as horror (for some episodes) are Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (though most of those are crime based and not even close to being horror). Just about every other TV horror show I considered "meh" at best - and that includes Night Gallery. I *might* have liked Boris Karloff's Thriller if I'd seen it back then but I only found out about it as an adult and saw it when it was released on DVD. It's OK but not as good as those 3 I mentioned and grew up watching.

Like you, if that BR set ever gets to the $20-$25 range I might bite but those DVDs are more than sufficient until then.

MooMooMooMoo

There were so many single layer counterfeits of Thriller, I wouldn't be willing to buy a set today without first testing the discs. There's a huge difference in pic quality between the single layer pirates & the dual layer real edition, & the packaging is perfect on the pirates. The market was flooded with these 3-4 years ago.

I enjoy the Karloff's (especially the non horror of Colonel March of Scotland Yard, which finally became available as a high quality stream about a year ago). Prior to that it was only circulating as a low quality Betamax broadcast copy.

I'm also a fan of Twilight Zone & Outer Limits, & to a lesser degree Tales Of Tomorrow & similar. I even was surprised to discover I enjoyed a recent binge of all the Alfred Hitchcock 2 TV series.

PhantomStranger

I was absolutely bonkers for The Master when it aired. I dressed up as a ninja for like three straight Halloweens because of it, lol.

coyoteblue

I picked up The Haunted Castle (1921)/Finances of the Grand Duke (1924) and Filibus (1921).

andicus

I remember enjoying Kolchak, as a kid. I was really spooked by the episode "Firefall."

Yeah, I think I'll order it. My wife never knows what to get me for Christmas, so this can be part of it.

I'm also going to order The Indian Doctor - complete series. I enjoyed that quite a bit, and had no idea it was available on Blu-ray.

Thanks Adam Tyner, for posting that huge list.

Also, for any Canadian buyers, Unobstructed View has all these (at least all that I checked) titles on sale, as well. They surprisingly don't work out to much more than the US sale prices plus exchange. Hopefully they've improved their shipping times.

Crap. Now you've got me second guessing myself on Kolchak. It's $56 CAN, which is really pushing it, based on your description.

Okay, they've (Unobstructed View) lost their fucking minds on shipping. $14 for a $23 set.

Kurt D

Thumbs up for Filibus. 100 years before its time, that movie.

MooMooMooMoo

Thanks for the Gruv DVD tip. The picture q is better than average for a 70's dvd TV series, & the shows aren't that good. HOWTF KIno thought they could get away with a $100 list price is beyond me!

DJariya

My shipment just arrived today. Took about 10 days.