This is part eight of a 12-part series on my experience re-building my physical film collection in response to streaming fatigue. I’m giving myself a $30/month budget for curating a new personal movie collection from thrift stores. Read the introductory post and follow along here on Retro Chronicle.
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November marks the smallest haul of the experiment so far, with five movies added to the collection. As much as I’d prefer to deny it, luck plays a major role in thrifting. And this month was rather unlucky in the thrift aisles. I made four different visits to various thrift stores in my area throughout the month and came home empty-handed each time. I ended the month with three separate eBay purchases, marking the first month of online-only purchases.
eBay: Triple Feature: “Ernest Goes to Camp,” “Ernest Scared Stupid,” and “Ernest Goes to Jail” – $9.63 (shipped)
I mentioned in September that these three “Ernest” movies were priorities for the final stretch of the DVD-collecting experiment. Between 1985 and 1998, the Ernest P. Worrell character (played by Jim Varney) appeared in ten comedy movies . Originally, I’d hoped for the out-of-print Blu-ray releases of these, but they have sadly drifted out of my price range. However, given the limited graphical fidelity (and subjectively low quality of the series overall), I’m more than happy to settle for this DVD set.
The “Ernest” series has a fascinating origin story, as the character was originally conceived in the early 1980s by an advertising agency in Tennessee. Ernest had a signature Southern accent, denim vest, and baseball cap, and signature closer: “KnowwhutImean?” The promos were shot with a handheld camera and became a huge hit, eventually leading to a Saturday morning sketch comedy series, “Hey Vern, It’s Ernest!” Most fans of the series were introduced to the character through the five feature films that released in theaters between 1987-1993. None were well-received by critics but their low budgets made them financial successes.
Recently, “Ernest Goes to Camp” has sparked discourse among physical media preservationists, as the film has been removed from Disney Plus, due to the film’s insensitive depictions of Native Americans. The film prominently features the character Chief St. Cloud played by “Iron Eyes Cody,” an Italian actor who made a career from lying about being Native American. After his death, the actor’s family confirmed his settler heritage and much of his work was scrubbed from streaming. With a 62% consensus on Rotten Tomatoes, “Ernest Goes to Camp” is also the highest rated of the series, although my favorite was always “Ernest Scared Stupid,” which I am also keen on adding into the Halloween season rotation.
Aside from these three, the only other movie from the series that I’m interested in is “Ernest Saves Christmas,” but I’ll happily add the other six (which are mostly direct-to-video) if I find them for the right price. KnowwhutImean?
eBay: “Morvern Callar” – $7.18 (shipped)
Towards the end of the month, it became clear that I’d unlikely find much luck at the thrift stores. After the “Ernest” triple feature, I wasn’t seeking out any films on my wanted list to watch in the near future. So I considered some of the films on my partner’s wanted list. As a huge fan of “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” she’d recently mentioned her desire to dive deeper into the filmography of Scottish filmmaker Lynn Ramsay. I researched her past films and was immediately drawn to “Morvern Callar,” which has been described as portrait of subversive grief and dissociation.
This was my first experience purchasing a “Fun City Edition” release. This label focused on reissues of what it calls “maverick repertory cinema” and released a few dozen films on Blu-ray since 2020. Most recently, they released a reissue of 1984’s “Heavenly Bodies.” I really love exploring new boutique physical media distributors and intend to grow a number of such collections outside of my Criterion stack. I intend to use the final four months of this experiment to kickstart several new boutique label collections from the distributors whose catalogs align with the film collection that I’m currently building, including: Arrow Films, Vinegar Syndrome, Shout! Factory, Kino Lorber, and Severin Films.
“Morvern Callar” kickstarts my Lynn Ramsay collection, which I intend to complete. The Criterion edition of Ramsay’s feature debut “Ratcatcher” and the out-of-print Blu-ray copy of the neo noir “You Were Never Really Here” are at the top of my list, although it’s unlikely that I’ll find those two for the right price before the 12-month experiment’s end. I’m also extremely excited for Lynn Ramsay’s upcoming film, “Die, My Love,” which just wrapped and will star Jennifer Lawrence as a new mother whose marriage with Robert Pattinson dissolves due to postpartum-induced psychosis.
eBay: “Force Majeure“ – $10.45 (shipped)
After picking up “Morvern Callar,” I decided to keep the bad vibes going and copped this copy of “Force Majeure” to end the month a little under budget. Ruben Östlund’s “Triangle of Sadness” was one of my favorite films of 2022. And I’ve heard from friends that “Triangle” was one of Östlund’s lesser works. So I was excited to pick up “Force Majeure,” due to its irresistible premise. The film follows a vacationing family who witnesses an avalanche during their ski trip— prompting the mother to shield their children, as the father flees to save himself. But when the powder settles and they realize they overreacted to a controlled avalanched, the family attempts to move forward with the newfound awareness of the father’s cowardice.
My partner and I watched this one immediately after it arrived and loved it. Interestingly, the film reminded us of a horror film that we’d streamed a few days prior, “Speak No Evil.” Both films explore families whose ties are tested when their gutless patriarchs fail to protect them in the face of grave danger. “Speak No Evil” is an American remake of a 2022 film of the same name, which, like “Force Majeure,” was also made in the Netherlands.
Speaking of remakes— In 2020, an American remake of “Force Majeure,” titled: “Downhill,” was released to negative reviews. The remake starred Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell and did not contain much of the darker elements of the original, instead opting for a more American comedy style. I’m frequently surprised at Hollywood’s attempts at remaking critically acclaimed foreign films without bringing over what made those films effective. Likewise, the “Speak No Evil” remake was criticized for also watering down some of the original’s darker moments, mainly the ending, although critics still enjoyed the American updates to the story.
One thing that struck me as odd about this find was the stickers on the back. The orange tag shows the stocking date as February of 2015. But the price tag shows $49.99, a wildly high price for a film that retailed for less than $20 and contains minimal extra features.
“Force Majeure” kickstarts my Ruben Östlund filmography. The Criterion copy of “Triangle of Sadness” as well as a Blu-ray copy of “The Square” are top priories after this purchase. Like with my Ramsay collection, I intend to acquire and screen every film Östlund releases. His next film, “The Entertainment System Is Down,” will star Kirsten Dunst and Keanu Reeves and will take place during a long flight wherein the entertainment systems go down and the passengers are forced to confront their boredom.
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After months of bringing home no fewer than a dozen flicks, this haul felt disappointing in comparison. But that’s definitely coming from a warped sense of expectations and appraisal. Having penned this post with newly gleamed foresight in mind, I’m very happy with this month’s finds— despite them all being sourced through the world wide web. If one of my primary goals with this experiment was to curate a film collection that reflects my tastes and curiosities, this was one of the more successful months. As I approach the final four months of this experiment, I’m hoping to (like this month) seek out additions that you couldn’t find in a typical personal movie collections. Additionally, I have some concerns with having enough space for my growing collection in my small Los Angeles apartment. Thus, my criteria for new acquisitions will evolve further.
With these first eight months complete, my current collection is composed of these mini collections:
- General DVDs
- General Blu-ray
- Family/Children
- Marvel
- Horror
- Boutique labels
- Criterion
- Documentary
- Stand-up Comedy
- Music/Concert
- Director filmographies
- Wes Anderson
- Noah Baumbach
- Cameron Crowe
- David Fincher
- Michel Gondry
- John Hughes
- Spike Jonze
- Ang Lee
- Richard Linklater
- James Mangold
- Christopher Nolan
- Ruben Östlund (new)
- Alexander Payne
- Lynne Ramsay (new)
- Martin Scorsese
- Ridley Scott
- M. Night Shyamalan
- Steven Spielberg
- Quentin Tarantino
- Lars von Trier
- Gus Van Sant
- Superbit DVDs
- Slumber Party Multi-Film Collection
- Television
- Children/Family Television
- For Your Consideration (Special Collection)
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This is part eight of a 12-part series on my experience re-building my physical film collection in response to streaming fatigue. I’m giving myself a $30/month budget for curating a new personal movie collection from thrift stores. Read the introductory post and follow along here.