While the frustration of waiting for a new Stanley project grows every year, it is exciting that his earlier films are getting super-deluxe DVD treatment. From Fangoria.com:

http://www.fangoria.com/home/news/16-dvd-a...tion-discs.html

Terrific news!

OH YEAH!

I hope a DUST DEVIL Blu-ray will follow soon.

"This is what you want. This is what you get.... This is what you want. This is what you get..."

:D

WOW, very cool. I've never seen this, and have been waiting for the uncut print to surface. This release will perfectly complement the late, lamented Subversive Cinema's absolutely astounding DVD set of Stanley's DUST DEVIL.

The UK Blu-ray (released recently) states that the "commentary with the director and producer" is a "UK exclusive".

The sleeve says the disc is region B encoded, but I cannot verify that.

More details via Twitch. Street date is Sept. 29th!

Anyone thinking about getting the UK disc might want to move it up their "to buy" list a bit!

Copies now being sent out by Optimum no longer come with the artcards, and the booklet reprinting the 2000AD story that - ahem - "inspired" the film.

Copies that do include these bonus materials have a sticker on the front identifying them as such.

This release has been pushed back to October 13th (no doubt to screw with Mark Tinta).

Severin...MYA....and now Criterion pushed WINGS OF DESIRE back two weeks!!!

THEY'RE DOIN' IT TO SCREW WITH ME!!!!!!

Actually, I'd already heard about the HARDWARE delay. It's not a big deal, partially because I already expected it. They're going pretty gung-ho on this. I don't think it'll be one of these perpetually delayed things. It'll be out on 10/13. And it's gonna rock!

New promo for the DVD featuring the return of Lemmy the Cab Driver:

http://www.fangoria.com/home/news/16-dvd-a...eads-lemmy.html

Uh yeah, well, looks like Severin has now bumped this to 10/20.

How about just ONE title gets released on its announced date? Just one!

HARDWARE is now listed as November 10th for Canada.

Well hey, at least Severin got SCREWBALLS out on schedule...

. . . gosh, this dating game is actually a lot of fun - according to today's email from dvdempire, my Blu-ray HARDWARE is in the mail and should be here by Wednesday, if the stars line up and this package holds to the usual schedule . . .

They made up for it by missing the Blu-ray release, though. :)

Interesting. I work at Barnes & Noble, and this changed from 10/13 to 10/20 in our database at some point this week. I'll keep my fingers crossed that it was just some kind of goof. REALLY looking forward to this DVD....

The UK commentary has Stanley with one of the producers. The Severin commentary is Stanley alone.

Mine is being shipped this week, so I'm assuming the date is 10/20.

I just received a shipping notice from an on-line retailer. They now show 10/20 as the release date, but it showed 10/13 when I pre-ordered. Apparently they got their stock in and are shipping early. This is for the SD version. Looking forward to this release.

Harry Knowles on HARDWARE:

Pretty much a ringing endorsement if you ask me.

. . . my Blu-ray copy arrived this week from DVD Empire and I watched it last night - I do not think fans will be disappointed with the presentation and extras - the only thing that might have been done better would be the inclusion of HD sound, but the 5.1 works pretty well . . . oh, too bad Harry didn't have a better time with this one, but then everythng can't measure up to his rather rigorous standards . . .

Seconded! I love HARDWARE and can't wait to get the Blu-ray.

Got my copy in the mail today and started going through the extras. Naturally, I began with the nearly 1-hour "making of" doc, which is great and interviews plenty of folks involved in the projects genesis. Only Stacy Travis appears from the actors. Ah, I take that back, Lemmy is in it for about 30 seconds. Just looking up credits now, I was completely shocked to see what first time producer JoAnne Sellar has moved onto (she has been behind P.T. Anderson since BOOGIE NIGHTS).

Also checked out the 8 minute interview with Stanley about HARDWARE 2, the German trailer and video press kit promos. Definitely will be doing the deleted scenes tonight as well, but will be saving Stanley's short films for another special night.

Anyway, just like the DUST DEVIL DVD, it is great to see this little gem get such deserving attention. Definitely my DVD release of the year so far (as if you couldn't guess).

I just watched this for the first time in probably 15 years (I'd seen it twice in the early '90s, both times on VHS, once as a new release and once again maybe three years later--point is, it's been a long time), and frankly, I'm shocked. I kinda maybe expected it to come off as silly and dated, but it's actually gotten better over the nearly 20 years since its release. A LOT better. From the look and feel of this film, to the can't-get-it-out-of-your-head Public Image Ltd tune "The Order of Death," to a should-be-legendary supporting turn by the late, great William Hootkins, there is not another film quite like HARDWARE. Richard Stanley should've gone on to be a legendary filmmaker, and yes, this and DUST DEVIL have devoted cults, as does Nacho Cerda's THE ABANDONED, which Stanley co-wrote, but he should've gone on to make more great films. He's kept busy with documentaries, but as far as genre films go, it's almost like he never recovered from getting booted off THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU. And that's a tragedy. He's a gifted, unique filmmaker.

Am I being hyperbolic when I say that HARDWARE is a visionary sci-fi masterpiece that deserves the same level of fandom and accolades that we've bestowed on a film like BLADE RUNNER, another film that took years to gain respect? Call me crazy, but I think HARDWARE is that good. I didn't think that 15 years ago.

Harry Knowles disagrees. :)

I have not watched the full feature yet, but I did throw it on to check out the quality and was also surprised at how well it has held up. Stanley's dystopia doesn't reek of a time period, outside of some musical cues. And the actors and their wardrobes are so out-of-time that they can't be placed to early 90s.

A quick aside, I saw HARDWARE in the theater...with my father! I was 15 at the time and couldn't drive to the local movie theater. So we went together and I decided on HARDWARE. After all, this is the man who viewed (and throughly enjoyed) ROBOCOP with me. About halfway through, he leans over and says, "This is weird." He had no idea as the next month my choice was...JACOB'S LADDER.

I actually saw this in the theater too, and I remember disliking it a lot. I had hopes for it. I liked the visuals of the future dystopia. But the amount of gore involved completely put me off. That was before I'd seen many other, gorier films. I'm kind of curious to revisit it.

I saw DUST DEVIL on cable years ago, and like HARDWARE, it felt like a film with loads of potential that was never fully realized. I know that this was one of Miramax's hatchet jobs, so I'm willing to give Stanley the benefit of the doubt here.

So my question: what are the definitive DVD editions of these two films? It sounds like the new region 1 HARDWARE is getting solid reviews here, but what about DUST DEVIL? Is the R1 as good as the R2?

I don't know about the R2 of DUST DEVIL, but Subversive Cinema's R1 is Stanley's director's cut. Well, it's "The Final Cut." It's as close to his original vision as he could get. It's about 19 or so minutes longer than the US Miramax re-edit.

FYI: The R1 DUST DEVIL is OOP so if anyone wants it, you'd better act fast. I found a new copy on amazon Canada through a 3rd party retailer. Couldn't find it cheaper than $44 new south of the border.

Here is a great interview with Stanley for anyone who is interested. He talks about all sorts of projects, past and future:

http://twitchfilm.net/interviews/2009/11/r...of-hardware.php

The Subversive disc is a beautiful new HD transfer and looks better than the UK disc (which has a different commentary).

Subversive (top) / Optimum (bottom)

Can any HARDWARE experts tell me exactly what bits in the new DVD version were missing from the original theatrical release and old video versions?

Pretty much every scene involving gore was cut down for the theatrical release. The bisecting of the security guard was almost completely removed.

And how precisely does one recover from that?

One sees one's vet.