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One of my favorite movies of all time, and I don't own it on DVD.

Why? I can't figure out which version to buy. The re-released to death phenomenon is certainly not unique to music.

The "extended edition" DVD:



The new 25th anniversary edition:



The THX mastered edition:



Which I guess is the same as this:



Is this the same thing?



How about this?



From:

http://www.filmthreat.com/Reviews.asp?Id=4859

What “Halloween” fans are left with is the prospect of having to buy several DVDs to get the version that Anchor Bay should’ve delivered on this DVD. You want to see a great “Halloween” DVD? You’ll need to buy four different ones - the 1997 DVD, the 1999 restored limited edition, the 2001 television version and this one - which is terrible since Anchor Bay should’ve gotten it right the first time (the 1997 Anchor Bay VHS copy might have the best color transfer of any of them). How many DVDs does Anchor Bay expect “Halloween” fans to buy?

What a pain in the ass.

Same with any of the entries in the Evil Dead series (also Anchor Bay, AFAIK). I haven't bought any of 'em, simply because I don't get which are supposed to be good and which are supposed to be bad.

Almost anything Anchor Bay is like that. Drives me nuts. The big fancy rubber "Book of the Dead" Evil Dead is cool (and on sale for $19 this week at Best Buy), but it's cropped to 1.85:1. The other versions are at a better aspect ratio, but look worse and have crummier features.

I've got the 2-disc Army of Darkness Limited Edition thing that was a hot item on eBay for a while, and it's fine for the theatrical version, but the "director's cut" looks like it sat out in the sun on the dashboard of Sam Raimi's Oldsmobile. Apparently there's a new version of that out that looks better, but cripes, I can't be bothered. I have a hard enough time chasing down my 28th version of Quadrophenia.

I like Anchor Bay because they put out some cool stuff (their Repo Man disc is nifty), but they flog their marquee horror titles to death, and it seems like there's something wrong with every edition.

Ryan

I have the cheapo Anchor Bay "Dawn of the Dead" (another one of my favorites) DVD that was selling for ridiculous money on ebay. It's slated to be re-released next year in a big expanded edition, too.

FWIW, I gather that the '99 limited edition 2 DVD "Halloween" is the best one to own.

Ryan, if you have any cool David Cronenberg DVDs, let me borrow 'em! I have been wanting to see "Shivers" for years. And I'll tell you my Ken Foree sob story.

Alas, no Cronenberg, sorry. I'm not really an enormous horror geek, but I do like Bruce Campbell.

Speaking of which, here's a story I never tire of telling. Stop me if you've heard it before. I went to Bruce's book signing at Joseph-Beth a couple of years ago, and during the Q&A was the following exchange:

FAN: How many times is Anchor Bay going to reissue Army of Darkness?

BC: How much money have you got?

FAN: I'm tapped out.

BC: Then we're done.

Ryan