Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DVDs. in '50s Horror and Sci-Fi Forum

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Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DVDs.

Author	Comment
BijouBob8mm	Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DVDs.	Lead	[-]
Jan 11 06 10:54 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Just picked up the DVD double features of HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER/BLOOD OF DRACULA and EARTH VS. THE SPIDER/WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST. Lions Gate has done a nice job on these, and--unlike MGM's MidNite Movies--made them a bit more user friendly by having both films on the same side of a single-sided disk. I hope we see more A.I.P. product from this era get the same treatment. Just one little complaint: no trailers. (That, and the fact the little security strips that seal the case leave a thick, gummy residue when you peal them off, so that the DVD packaging will stick to just about anything unless you clean it off with Goo Gone. For some reason, I'm finding this to be an increasingly common problem with DVDs of late.)
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Ardley Remlap	Re: Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DV	#1	[-]
Jan 11 06 12:19 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Cool! Where'd you get 'em?
BijouBob8mm	Re: Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DV	#2	[-]
Jan 11 06 2:44 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	At Hastings (a book/music/video store), but I think I've heard a couple of friends say they've seen them at Best Buy, SunCoast, and online. Well worth it! Keep 'em coming, folks!
Foulball	Re: Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DV	#3	[-]
Jan 13 06 7:19 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I got my copy of THE SPIDER/WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST off of Amazon, will watch them this weekend. I think I paid $11.00 for them.
creepycrawley	Re: Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DV	#4	[-]
Jan 16 06 10:57 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Same here, Foulball. I watched them as soon as I got the disk. Both are excellent copies. I hadn't seen EARTH VS. in quite a few years.
HammerAmicusFanatic	Re: Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DV	#5	[-]
Jan 26 06 12:56 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I picked up, Earth vs the Spider/War of the COlossal Beast, recently and was quite pleased by the picture quality. I had purchased the Region 2 disc of, Earth vs the Spider when that was released in May of 2003, but was hihgly disappointed with the quality on that disc, it seemed to have a weird shadowy effect that kind of made enjoying the film a little tough. Earth vs the Spider is great fun, I think and it's nice to see the color sequence is part of the disc for, War of the Colossal Beast.
Count Gamula	Re: Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DV	#6	[-]
Jan 27 06 1:25 AM Burgomaster Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I got both DVDs and am very happy to have them. The quality isn't the best, but it's certainly not bad. I think it's a real shame that BLOOD OF DRACULA wasn't called I WAS A TEENAGE VAMPIRE as was reportedly planned at one point. It really feels like the third film in the set. It would have been kinda neat to have the vampire girl appear in HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER too.
taraco	Re: Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DV	#7	[-]
Jan 27 06 2:30 AM Burgomaster Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Does anyone know why Earth vs. The Spider was paired with War of the Colossal Beast instead of an Amazing Colossal Man/War of the Colossal Beast pairing? Are the rights to Amazing Collosal Man owned by someone else -- which is the only explanation I can think of. david 'I don't want to grow anyMORE!'
Jameson281	Re: Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DV	#8	[-]
Jan 27 06 3:48 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Yes, AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN is owned by Susan Hart Nicholson, not the Arkoff estate.
BijouBob8mm	Re: Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DV	#9	[-]
Jan 27 06 10:19 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I didn't realize that. Since Columbia Home Video had offered both AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN and WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST on VHS as part of their Drive-In Classics series (along with a number of other AIP and Bert I. Gordon titles), I thought they were all owned by the same group.
TomWeaver999	Re: Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DV	#10	[-]
Jan 27 06 1:13 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	For a long time all the titles WERE owned by one entity (called "the Selma Group," or something like that). But then people like Susan and Herman Cohen, who were part-owners, got tired of the shenanigans of Sam Arkoff (another owner) and wanted a "divorce," so Susan and Herman each took x-number of movies for themselves (they now owned all rights), gave Arkoff a goodbye kiss (or, in Herman's case, a "Drop dead!") and left the rest of the titles to Arkoff. So now what WAS in the Selma collection is split up between different places.
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BijouBob8mm	Re: Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DV	#11	[-]
Jan 27 06 1:19 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thanks for the backstory, Tom!
Count Gamula	Re: Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DV	#12	[-]
Jan 27 06 2:14 PM Burgomaster Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	You wound think that whoever got AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN would want COLOSSAL BEAST too in order to have the whole saga of Col. Glenn Manning. I know Suan Hart owns I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF. Does she own TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN too?
Joe Karlosi	Re: Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DV	#13	[-]
Jan 27 06 2:15 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	So what are they waiting for? An astronomical sum of money? I'll give them a glass of water to release them on DVD. ---------------------- "It's MORE ... than a hobby!"
TomWeaver999	Re: Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DV	#14	[-]
Jan 27 06 3:26 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Susan made out like a bandit; maybe Arkoff didn't have any idea which of the old pics had "cult followings" and which didn't, 'cause she was able to take all The Good Ones: AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN, TEENAGE WEREWOLF, TEENAGE FRANK, IT CONQUERED THE WORLD, SAUCER MEN, etc. With only a couple exceptions, Arkoff ended up with a bunch of VOODOO WOMANs and CAT GIRLs and crap like that. Which are now being called (on DVD) "The Samuel Z. Arkoff Collection," as if Jim Nicholson never existed. The petty half (three-quarters? seven-eighths?) of me would love to see Susan put hers out as "The Jim Nicholson Collection" and ice-out Arkoff.
Brent Gair	Re: Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DV	#15	[-]
Jan 27 06 4:27 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I know Susan Hart has a small number of defenders and I'm certainly not one of them. It has occassionally been suggested that she has a entitlement to keep these films locked away based on a raw deal she may have had previously. And such LEGAL entitlement may exist but she is EXTREMELY petty in her excercise of her perceived right and film fans are paying the price. When I became aware of the problem with the availability of these films some years ago, my reseach ...well, how do I say this without sounding petty...? Frankly, it seems that Susan Hart Nicholson Hofheinz is a bit of a head case. The records are full OF MULTIPLE copyright infringment suits which she loses on a regular basis...and appeals on a regular basis. Here's the judges decision when she tried to sue A&E (Defendant) over the use of a clip based on her legal theory that film clips constituted a separate market which took precedence over the well established principle of fair use: "Hofheinz urges the Court to find that there is a separate market for film clips, and that were this Court to grant defendant'smotion that market would collapse. Setting aside the fact that Hofheinz has produced no evidence as to the existence of such a market... CONCLUSION For the reasons discussed above, defendant's motion to dismiss is granted in its entirety and the Clerk of the Court is instructed to close this case and remove it from my docket.New York, NYDated: September 10, 2001Harold Baer, Jr." I'm betting that "Mr." Hofheinz is a lawyer (not a very good one).
Joe Karlosi	Re: Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DV	#16	[-]
Jan 27 06 4:56 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The beautiful thing is, until that day when we finally get to have the "official" versions of the movies for R1, there are plenty of bootleggers out there in the meantime making us happy by providing these films. And the only one losing the money is you know who. ---------------------- "It's MORE ... than a hobby!"
BijouBob8mm	Re: Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DV	#17	[-]
Jan 27 06 5:20 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* The beautiful thing is, until that day when we finally get to have the "official" versions of the movies for R1, there are plenty of bootleggers out there in the meantime making us happy by providing these films. And the only one losing the money is you know who. A lesson lost on Warner Bros. and Fox, when it comes to the Adam West BATMAN tv series.
Jacks Garage	Re: Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DV	#18	[-]
Jan 28 06 12:08 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* The records are full OF MULTIPLE copyright infringment suits which she loses on a regular basis...and appeals on a regular basis. Not to mention the time she claimed ownership of all advertising material for these films, such as posters, lobby cards, etc., and promised legal action if collectors didn't return all of 'her property' to her.
taraco	Re: Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DV	#19	[-]
Jan 28 06 1:36 AM Burgomaster Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Fascinating stuff. These films that would be all but forgotten without fan interest, who as noted above, despite all the legal wranglings do manage to find bootlegs and dupes and keep these films alive. It really is Hollywood in microcosm, these small-bore fights over money and copyrights on things that could be of a bigger benefit to all involved if they'd simply get together and do a proper release. Instead, they will be dribbled out in cheesy double bills or multi-paks rather than get the cult-like attention they deserve. david
Gil Ray	Re: Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DV	#20	[-]
Jan 29 06 10:52 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* Earth vs the Spider is great fun I agree, a very fun movie with some surprisingly horrific imagery. The man in the intro's sudden bloody death shocked me, as did the spider-ized corpses! Also, though this has probably been brought up before, it was a real kick to see an issue (#1 (?)) of Famous Monsters tucked away in a scene! (or was that in BLOOD OF DRACULA?)... Gil
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Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DVDs.

Sam Arkoff's "Cult Classics" Double Feature DVDs.