from http://www.Thedigitalbits.com :

This is great, Great, GREAT News! :D

Wow! Fantastic news. I have been waiting for these to come out for what seems like forever. I can't count the number of times I have almost bought the Rarovision discs. Also, I'd not normally care too much about soundtrack cds but the Holy Mountain soundtrack is ace. And $50 for the box seems super cheap. I hope the crazy Pound to Dollar exchange rate hold out until May.

i just saw the new print of el topo in boston this past friday night and it was a revelation! i've been watching my 4th generation vhs bootleg for like 15 years or so, and purposefuly avoided any other bootlegs so that the day i saw it in a theater it would blow me away...and it did...

a friend of mine saw the holy mountain and said pretty much the same thing...the film looked great...

glad anchor bay is releasing this with the soundtracks too...great touch...

I think I have them booked at my local arthouse theater in March. Can't wait!!!!



marc

Why no SANTA SANGRE? Are there rights issues with that one?

I personally found FANDO Y LIS completely unwatchable a few years ago when Fantoma released it on DVD. I have never seen HOLY MOUNTAIN or EL TOPO but I began to question whether Jodorowsky was really my cup of tea at that point. I did love SANTA SANGRE but I'm wondering if that is his most coherent film.

Well, SANTA SANGRE has been available for a while on a very nice 2-disc R2 set released by Anchor Bay UK (not 100% sure if this is still in print, but it seems to be readily available). Small comfort to those in R1 who don't have multiregion players, I know, but it *is* available, unlike EL TOPO and THE HOLY MOUNTAIN, the only options for which have previously been crappy bootlegs, screamingly expensive and fairly scarce Japanese discs, or the Italian Raro set, and I believe the latter was a relatively recent development. SANTA SANGRE was also previously released in the US on both VHS and laserdisc.

Also, I may be mistaken, but I don't think Allen Klein owned the rights to SANTA SANGRE, so yeah, there may still be some underlying rights problems preventing a US DVD release.

Dave

As a guess, you might find EL TOPO to be at least worth a single viewing, but HOLY MOUNTAIN would likely get the same reaction as FYL. I'm not an EL TOPO cultist but have seen it several times. I couldn't make it through a second viewing of HOLY MOUNTAIN and I think I gave up on FYL about half way through on first viewing.

Great news, I can finally replace my vhs bootleg of El Topo, and finally get a chance to see Fando y Lis and Holy Mountain (I've only seen El Topo, Santa Sangre and the Rainbow Thief). My Jodorowsky experience can be near complete at last.

In other words, yeah, I'm there.

Lisa, you might also try out Rainbow Thief, which has the feel of Jodorowsky, but also has a more mainstream appeal and coherency (and stars Omar Sharif and Peter O'Toole with Christopher Lee making an appearance).

. . . it might just be another sad example of my vanishing memory, or wishful thinking, but I recall Fernando Arrabal's VIVA LA MUERTE (1970) works as a sort of prequel to FANDO Y LIS (1968) in that I remember it ending just about where the Jodorowski film begins . . . both movies can certainly be difficult (and I understand giving up on either or both, life being as short as it is), but I found them fascinating . . .

I recalled SS being released years ago by Republic Home Video, which I understand was most recently absorbed by Paramount. If they truly hold the rights, I doubt they even know what this film is or what to do with it. At least they've warmed up to releasing unrated/NC17 films to DVD, but they aren't so hot when it comes to catalog product and niche films.

I acutally didn't realize there was a decent R2 version, so that gives me something for my wishlist.

SANTA SANGRE was released in the U.S. by Expanded Entertainment, the company best known for the International Tournees of Animation. They were abosorbed by Samuel Goldwyn who in turn were absorbed by MGM; the few theatrical bookings that SANGRE gets here nowadays are through them.

I don't know if those rights include DVD as well. Since MGM is announcing May titles, if they do own it, I would not rule out them slipping it in soon to tie in with the May AB box. If not, I suspect that the movie reverted back to Claudio Argento and it is being shopped around again.

I do in fact have the R2 Anchor Bay SANTA SANGRE with the lurid cover art, I was just wondering about its scarcity in R1. Speaking of that cover art, does anyone know if it was done by the same artist who did the EVIL DEAD 2 LE tin for Anchor Bay? They have a similar style.

The same artist, indeed. The R2 Anchor Bay SANTA SANGRE artwork reproduces the UK VHS cover art from Palace Video, and was created by Graham Humphreys, who did a lot of similar covers for Palace.

Humphreys also did the artwork for Palace's VHS of the first EVIL DEAD film, and it is even more similar to the SANTA SANGRE art. This is the closest image I could find online to the original cover:



According to IMDb, Humphreys also did UK film and video posters for Basket Case, The Kindred, Deep Space, Creepers, Death Warmed Up, A Nightmare On Elm Street (parts 1, 2, 4 and 5), Return Of The Living Dead, Night Of The Demons, Crawlspace, Spookies, Brother From Another Planet, Funhouse and many more. I remember his distinctive artwork playing a big role in my formative years as a young horror buff back in 80s Britain.

At the risk of derailing this thread even more....

There's an article / interview with Humphreys in issue 160 of FANGORIA.

He's an enormously talented fellow, with a very distinctive style. Apparently worked with Richard Stanley on HARDWARE and THE ISLAND OF DR MOREAU.

It seems very odd that he doesn't appear to have a website, or much web presence at all. He seems very young, judging by the photo with the (1997) article.

Here's his UK video box art for Argento's CREEPERS...

Are we getting this on region 1 as well, or is it exclusively Anchor Bay UK?
I just placed my order for the region 2 set, but will cancel if we're getting it over here.

I's love to see someone put out a book of his cover art.

Great stuff!

I am disturbed, though, at early reports that EL TOPO will be fullscreen 1.33, when it should really be 1.66, as it is being projected in theatres. EL TOPO in its various fullscreen bootlegs has always looked cramped, and I would hope that in this day and age, AB and ABKCO are not going to be so lazy as to not do a proper 1.66 ratio transfer just because the letterboxing would be so minimal.

Are you referring to the EL TOPO/HOLY MOUNTAIN/FANDO Y LIS set, or the 2-disc Anchor Bay UK SANTA SANGRE set? The former set will be available stateside in R1, while as of now, the SANTA SANGRE set is only available in R2.

I meant the EL TOPO/HOLY MOUNTAIN box Aleck. So both the UK, and North America will be getting the exact same set? I guess I should cancel my order for the UK edition then?

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

Aren't Tartan distributing HOLY MOUNTAIN and EL TOPO in the UK...?

Yes, I think you're right Steve. I did find that abit weird when I went to place my pre-order. The label listed was indeed Tartan.