Criterion Collection

Bargain Criterion

I am a bargain hunter in general, but I love to dig for things. I have made it pretty much a standard that I don't pay full price for Criterions even though I love them. I have a hard time paying $40 for a movie. Here are a few that I have found for really really low prices.

Seven Samurai - $7  (Blockbuster used area)

Carnival of Soulds - $5 (Second hand store)

Band of Outsiders - $6 (Bizarre junk shop in Niles Michigan)

Shock Corridor - $8 (Going out of business clearance at Hollywood Video)

 Robocop - $25 (ebay, usually sells for $80ish... its out of print)

 I will add more if I have any new super on the cheap aquisitions.

Re:Bargain Criterion

HarmlessAndroid:

Shock Corridor - $8 (Going out of business clearance at Hollywood Video)

Wow that's one of my favorite movies!!  I really need to start keeping an eye out on those bargain bins mor often.

On second thought is the hunt really worth the catch?

Re:Bargain Criterion

Re:Bargain Criterion

I just found brand new Dead Ringers on an Amazon seller for 16 bucks...usually goes for around $40 or $50, it was a great find.

Re:Bargain Criterion

Smooth_J:

I just found brand new Dead Ringers on an Amazon seller for 16 bucks...usually goes for around $40 or $50, it was a great find.

It might not matter too terribly much (as the features and all of that should largely be the same), but Dead Ringers is one of the OOP Criterions out there where the market has been flooded with bootlegs.

Given that the seller was selling this at such a discount, you might want to check your copy. If it's the same bootleg that been making the rounds for a
few years, the most noticeable error will be that in the "Original Aspect Ratio" icon on the back of the case, it will say "Ampect Ratio" instead of "Aspect Ratio."

There will also be a few grammatical/spelling errors in the liner notes that aren't there in the official release.

I'm hopeful that you managed to score the official release on the cheap, but  thought that you might want to be made aware of the bootleg issue just in case.

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I checked the dude out and it seemed relatively legit...that does sort of suck though I'll be sure to look over it.

Re:Bargain Criterion

Smooth_J:

I checked the dude out and it seemed relatively legit...that does sort of suck though I'll be sure to look over it.

Yeah, I only know all this 'cause I got burned myself (on eBay) a while back. I think the color on the menu on my disc might be a little bit off, too, but the film plays fine and the extra features are all there-- so I ended up keeping the disc.

Re:Bargain Criterion

neal:

Yeah, I only know all this 'cause I got burned myself (on eBay) a while back. I think the color on the menu on my disc might be a little bit off, too, but the film plays fine and the extra features are all there-- so I ended up keeping the disc.

I just got the DVD, it seems allright but I've got a sneaking suspicion it's a bootleg (though the only discrepancy I found was the "Ampect Ratio").  I just saw something about somewhere else where people were analyzing it, and it almost seems as though everybody who owned one at this point either has a bootleg or the first version...who knows though.  It plays fine, so I'm not all that upset.

Re:Bargain Criterion

Smooth_J:

I just got the DVD, it seems allright but I've got a sneaking suspicion it's a bootleg (though the only discrepancy I found was the "Ampect Ratio").  I just saw something about somewhere else where people were analyzing it, and it almost seems as though everybody who owned one at this point either has a bootleg or the first version...who knows though.  It plays fine, so I'm not all that upset.

Yeah. Like I said, I kept mine, too, as it had all of the right stuff on the disc and played fine.

Here are the other issues I know about in some of the bootlegs (based on a list taken from another forum)

In the insert:

- 21 rows down on the inside left of insert - "anre" should be "are"
- 12 line down on the inside right of insert - "itis" should be "it's"
- Author name inconsistancy "Christ" vs "Chris" HAHA on inside right of insert
- 2nd last line on inside right of insert - grammar error - "is on" should be "is an"

Really, nothing that's too big a deal-- just wanted you to be aware.