Arrow: Cheapest Prices/Best Places to Buy/Pre-Orders/Deals

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Now that the Arrow USA titles have been announced, how will pre-orders for the American editions be handled? Arrow USA will be distributing the titles themselves, right?

[Ashirg]

MVD will be distributing them.

[What A Disgrace]

I hope the Arrow USA label isn't going to affect the (quarterly?) Arrow Video flash sales. I have a massive backlog that I want to just take care of in one fell swoop, and soon.

[rapta]

I hope the Arrow USA label isn't going to affect the (quarterly?) Arrow Video flash sales. I have a massive backlog that I want to just take care of in one fell swoop, and soon.

I don't think they'll be quarterly now, otherwise there'd be one due over March...so perhaps 3 a year instead? I'm thinking perhaps next week when they announce the July slate? After all, they put the announcement forward a day early so perhaps they're leaving the Friday reserved to sort out a sale...I can't think of any other reason why they would announce titles on a Thursday (considering they usually do it on a Friday).

Also, a bunch of newer titles have been cheap (£7) in Fopp recently...the Borowczyk titles for example (I bought the Short Films & Animation one), which could indicate a discount on stock and therefore a sale. Of course, this is all speculation until one actually happens!

[EddieLarkin]

I can't think of any other reason why they would announce titles on a Thursday (considering they usually do it on a Friday).

That particular Friday is a holiday.

[TMDaines]

I will have to check Fopp in Manchester on Saturday in that case.

[rockysds]

Ask and you shall receive: Mega-sale running until midday March 30th (UK time).

[EddieLarkin]

There are a few never before discounted titles, primarily The Visitor, The Incredible Melting Man, The Girl Who Knew Too Much, Rabid Dogs and Shivers.

Remember that your current points are only worth half of what they usually are when redeemd against sale items, but sale items give back double in points.

[Drucker]

The 1946 Killers and Naked City have been added!

[swo17]

I was kind of hoping that the Vincent Price set would be included...

[Finch]

I got the 1946 Killers and would have bought Day of the Dead as well if I hadn't just gotten the Shout Factory BD in the post the day before yesterday. Was also considering Rabid Dogs but wasn't sure about blind-buying since I haven't really liked Mario Bava's 70s films, especially compared against his 60s work.

[Paul Moran]

Ask and you shall receive: Mega-sale running until midday March 30th (UK time).

Thanks, rockysds. I'm subscribed to their newsletter, but they never seem to send one. I'm sure I will find something to use my 3067 points on!

[exidor]

The sale prices don't apply when you use points - £7.99 = 1600 points. Better to buy stuff for cash in the sale and then use the points on a preorder.

[chatterjees]

I used few points when I placed an order today for 6 sale items.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

And the recent Bound and L'Assassino are half off of what I spent on my Amazon pre-order last year.

[rapta]

I can't think of any other reason why they would announce titles on a Thursday (considering they usually do it on a Friday).

That particular Friday is a holiday.

Ah! Touché...

There are a few never before discounted titles, primarily The Visitor, The Incredible Melting Man, The Girl Who Knew Too Much, Rabid Dogs and Shivers.

Remember that your current points are only worth half of what they usually are when redeemd against sale items, but sale items give back double in points.

Seems they're not giving double points though...have asked them about it on Facebook, but no reply yet.

Glad they added Siodmak's The Killers and Dassin's The Naked City. Scooped them up straight away and cancelled The Incredible Melting Man.

May still order that tomorrow though...that or Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, which I have been eyeing up for a long time now. I was also looking into The Girl Who Knew Too Much, but I'm not hugely into gialli...is it a good Bava to start with? Is it at all like most other gialli?

[Banasa]

The Girl Who Knew too Much is sort of a proto-giallo. It's interesting in seeing the difference between the English and American versions, but I don't find it as interesting as Bava's Black Sunday or Black Sabbath. It has some beautiful shots and some good moments, but even the extras on the disc seem to be a group of the Arrow Video regulars saying "c'mon, it's not that bad guys!" while defending it.

As for myself, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is the only item I picked up. I doubt it's anywhere near out of print but I'm curious about Hooper's two proto-Texas Chainsaw Massacre shorts and look forward to the extras mostly.

[rapta]

The Girl Who Knew too Much is sort of a proto-giallo. It's interesting in seeing the difference between the English and American versions, but I don't find it as interesting as Bava's Black Sunday or Black Sabbath. It has some beautiful shots and some good moments, but even the extras on the disc seem to be a group of the Arrow Video regulars saying "c'mon, it's not that bad guys!" while defending it.

As for myself, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is the only item I picked up. I doubt it's anywhere near out of print but I'm curious about Hooper's two proto-Texas Chainsaw Massacre shorts and look forward to the extras mostly.

That's kinda what I thought, I'll give it a miss then. Sounds like one for fans of Bava or gialli.

I went for Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 as well...worth it for virtually £8 - as you said, for Eggshells and the extras (and yeah, what is the printrun? It's been out for about 18 months and still not sold out). By the way, if you're UK-based, it's worth mentioning some of the regular editions are in the Amazon 3 for £17 offer so might work out a bit cheaper than Arrow's sale prices (a little miffed as I recently bought De Palma's Sisters on eBay for £7 and now it's in the Amazon offer). The sale has been extended to 5pm GMT tomorrow now too.

My copies of The Killers and The Naked City are on their way...glad they were added to the sale, very pleased! As is my pre-ordered copy of Day Of Anger from Amazon. I also look forward to seeing what Arrow have in store for us on Thursday (July title announcements)...apparently there'll be a couple of Academy titles at least, which has me very intrigued (since there were no Academy announcements for June).

[tenia]

I believe the printrun for TCM2 is 3000 copies.

[Bürgermeister]

I believe the printrun for TCM2 is 3000 copies.

you need to add another 7000 to that figure.
It's 10,000 which is why they're practically giving it away and have been since 3 or 4 month after it's release.

I guess that's what you get for giving such a mediocre film a high "limited " run.

[Banasa]

To be fair, I don't think Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 has ever been released in the United Kingdom in any legal form. So a grand release of it makes some more sense for a film that is finally made available, even if it's reputation is not exactly the greatest.

They also had Battle Royale at a similar limit that also has yet to sell out, which is a film with a much more positive reputation.

Even among their limited edition steelbooks, the only ones to sell out have been Big Trouble in Little China, Zombie Flesh Eaters, and Battle Royale. Outside that, the only items that have really vanished quick were Hellgate and that Hell Comes to Frogtown that were extremely limited.

I believe they won't be having too many things listed at 10,000 in the near future as I imagine there's a storage area somewhere with tons of copies of the film just sitting.

[Paul Moran]

...Seems they're not giving double points though...have asked them about it on Facebook, but no reply yet...

Looks like they've sorted it out now. I ordered 12 titles at £7.99, total £95.88, and I can see from my account that 1916 RewardPoints have been added, making my total 4983. (I decided to take exidors' advice, not to use them on sale items.)

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Extended sale means I picked up the new Bava direct from Arrow as well as some Criterion noir that Arrow has bested: The Killers (Siodmak) and Rififi (Dassin). I'm really getting used to accruing points on sale items!

[rapta]

To be fair, I don't think Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 has ever been released in the United Kingdom in any legal form. So a grand release of it makes some more sense for a film that is finally made available, even if it's reputation is not exactly the greatest.

They also had Battle Royale at a similar limit that also has yet to sell out, which is a film with a much more positive reputation.

Even among their limited edition steelbooks, the only ones to sell out have been Big Trouble in Little China, Zombie Flesh Eaters, and Battle Royale. Outside that, the only items that have really vanished quick were Hellgate and that Hell Comes to Frogtown that were extremely limited.

I believe they won't be having too many things listed at 10,000 in the near future as I imagine there's a storage area somewhere with tons of copies of the film just sitting.

With Battle Royale, it might be due to the several editions of it (1-disc, 3-disc, limited box, limited edition digipack, steelbook), combined with the mediocre reviews concerning the transfer. As for the others, that's understandable...though I was shocked to see the Big Trouble in Little China steelbook sell out so fast (I had it on my wishlist, and had to go for the amaray in the end). Also, kicking myself for not picking up the ZFE steelbook when I had the chance (was working in HMV, but didn't have a Blu-ray player at the time).

There have been some others recently that are OOP (or almost OOP)...I notice the Stray Cat Rock box set isn't available anywhere (though somebody on another forum reported finding one copy in an HMV store), and the recent Thief 2-disc edition seems to have almost sold out (currently only available from MovieMail or Arrow direct)...plus I can see the Withnail & I set going the same way at some point soon. Also, goes without saying that the Camera Obscura set was quickly OOP after the rave reviews about it, but the separate titles are obviously still widely available.

I agree that things will be limited more often now. The upcoming Massacre Gun and Retaliation are both limited (to 3000 in the UK, and 3000 in the US), which is probably in response to the mediocre sales for Branded To Kill (which I personally bought on release, but soon entered their flash sale so can't be selling all that well). I think they'll keep doing the same for niche stuff, but others they might still print a lot as they will be steady sellers (or they were just cheap to acquire). I wonder how quickly the upcoming Bob Hoskins set will sell out?

[What A Disgrace]

It wasn't part of the sale, but Tobe Hooper's Funhouse is £6.30 on Amazon UK, which is even better.