This is part four 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.
***
Travel and work left me with little time for DVD thrifting in July. But I managed to use up my budget on 12 DVDs with one thrift store purchase and three eBay orders, ending the month with my most disappointing haul of the experiment. In addition to being the fewest finds in a month, it was also bereft of Blu-ray or note-worthy rarities. The scorching July heat meant no garage sale expeditions and the thrift stores were barebones. Nevertheless, I’m happy with the final haul and eager to review my finds.
eBay: “Jungle Emperor Leo” – $7.87 (shipped)
Through the start of 2024, my partner and I had been revisiting some of our favorite movies from our childhoods. Some of my favorites, “The Iron Giant,” “Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown,” “Chicken Little,” and “Kiki’s Delivery Service” proved still as enjoyable as ever. Since the start of this experiment, I’ve also re-acquired and re-watched “Holes,” “Shrek,” and “The Land Before Time,” also classics.
One movie that I haven’t revisited since I was a child is “The Lion King,” which I owned on VHS. Since “The Lion King” is the best-selling home movie of all time (selling 48 million copies across VHS, DVD and Blu-ray), I’m not keen on allocating much of my monthly budget towards ultra-common movies. This is particularly true of Disney movies, which make up the majority of the most common DVDs and Blu-ray. In reminiscing, I recalled a movie that I had never watched, “Jungle Emperor Leo,” an adaptation of the manga series, Kimba the White Lion. In making “The Lion King,” Disney stole heavily from Kimba, including character elements and plotlines. Since I’ve been on a kick re-watching childhood favorites, I figured this could provide an opportunity to watch something I’d overlooked, while also not supporting a corporation with such a historic track record of plagiarism.
eBay: “Queens of Scream Collection,” “Shanghai Noon/Shanghai Knights,” and “The Blair Thumb” – $10.58 (shipped)
This little haul had no theme whatsoever; I utilized the buy-two-get-one-free sale from this eBay seller. The “Queens of Scream Collection” contains five slasher films from the 1980s: “Prom Night,” “Prom Night II: Hello Mary Lou,” “The Sorority,” “Sorority Sister Slaughter,” and “Vehemence.” I bought this collection primarily for the original “Prom Night,” which stars Jamie Lee Curtis and was released in 1980, two years after “Halloween.” The “Shanghai Noon / Shanghai Knights” double pack purchase was the result of an urge to revisit the east-meets-west buddy comedy I enjoyed as a kid. With some of the action spectacle throughout each entry, I wanted to find this duo on Blu-ray. Unfortunately, it’s out of print and expensive. Releasing as a Blu-ray double pack in 2013 for $19.99, it’s now valued over double. The DVD copy will hold me over until I find the Blu-ray pack for a decent price or they’re re-released (possibly in a trilogy set if the third entry is ever completed).
I knew I had to have “The Blair Thumb” as soon as I spotted it. “The Blair Thumb” is an entry in the Thumbs! series of of short films by Steve Oedekerk. These were mildly popular in the early aughts. The series started with “Thumb Wars,” a parody of “Star Wars,” before moving on to parodies of other blockbusters such as “The Godfather,” “Batman,” and “Titanic.” “The Blair Thumb” clocks in at 28 minutes. My partner and I are Blair Witch mega-fans, so even bizarre spin-offs and spoofs strike my interest. While I already had the original “Blair Witch Project” and “Blair Witch” (2016 reboot/sequel), I am actively looking for the OG sequel “Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2” and “The Blair Witch Experience” (a box set that includes the first two films and a PC game that expands on the mythology), as well as various parodies and rip-offs.
Local Thrift Store: “The Help,” “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” “Black Sheep,” “Walk The Line,” and “The Bridge” (FYC) – $1
I felt weird checking out with this batch of DVDs, handing over a $1 bill at my favorite thrift store for a stack of my most random additions so far. When movies are priced at 20 cents each, my discernment fades, and my standards lower considerably. “The Help,” “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” and “Walk The Line” are three I haven’t seen nor do I have much interest in watching in the near future. But they’re decent enough to pick up for pocket change, as I consider establishing a “for trade” DVD pile. “Walk The Line” is the first entry in my James Mangold collection.
“Black Sheep” was a pleasant find. Chris Farley has been on my mind lately as I’ve been pondering about the long-term impact of self-deprecating humor. I’m curious to rewatch some of Farley’s feature flicks to see if my opinion on the film has evolved. I remember liking “Tommy Boy” a lot as a kid and finding Farley’s follow-ups, mainly “Black Sheep” and “Beverly Hills Ninja,” to be disappointing in comparison. The For Your Consideration (FYC) copy of “The Bridge” marks my sole FYC addition for the month, an FX crime drama that won a Peabody. I was drawn to this DVD, because (unlike most FYC television discs) this one includes the entire series rather than just a few key episodes.
eBay: “Dogville,” “Monster,” and “Hard Candy” – $10.35 (shipped)
I was definitely in some sort of melancholy mood the final week of July, with ten bucks left in my budget and little luck at the thrift stores. I circled back to the eBay seller from earlier this month and ordered three more flicks– this time with a theme. All three are very bleak, female-led movies that I’ve always wanted to watch but have never gotten around to. My partner is a fan of “Monster” and “Hard Candy” and has been trying to get me to check them out for years. We recently re-watched “Juno” and had been thinking about revisiting some of Elliot Pages’ other roles. “Dogville” has been at the top of my list of films by Lars von Trier to watch that I’ve never seen. I tend to appreciate Trier’s outlook on America, and I’m particularly keen to explore his deconstruction on the myth of the mythology we build around the American small-town. “Dogville” also kickstarts my von Trier collection, which I hope to complete. After “Dogville,” I’m also looking for von Trier’s “Manderlay,” the less-acclaimed, less-successful follow-up which features Bryce Dallas Howard picking up the role formerly played by Nicole Kidman.
***
Developments in Streaming and Physical Media
In the four month since the start of this experiment, some recent news and personal experiences have provided new incentive to turn away from streaming towards physical media:
- Through much of April, I experienced internet outages in my neighborhood that prevented me from being able to stream media for days.
- The release of last year’s “Challengers” in July riled up cinephiles when it released on Blu-ray without any major features such as director or actor commentary or BTS footage.
- Disney is increasing prices for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ streaming packages.
- In June, HBO Max increased the price of all of its ad-free plans.
- Next month in August, Paramount+ will increase monthly prices.
- Peacock is also increasing prices on its plans between July and August.
- In April, Target confirmed that it will be ditching nearly all DVDs from its physical stores. Customers have already spotted employees clearing movie shelves.
- Redbox, the red DVD-dispensing kiosks, are officially shutting down after 22 years, marking the end of thousands of physical media rental stands across the U.S.
- College campuses are penning op-eds, often with strikingly similar tone and angle, encouraging students to ditch streaming in favor of physical media:
- The Scribe (UCCS) penned an op-ed entitled “We need to ditch streaming services for physical media“
- The Poly Post (Cal Poly Pomona) published a piece entitled “Saving physical media: Why streaming is killing media preservation“
- The USD Guardian (USD) published a piece called “Physical media is important; here’s why“
***
With these first four months complete, my current collection is composed of these mini collections:
- General DVDs
- General Blu-ray
- Family/Children
- Horror
- Criterion
- Documentary
- Director filmographies
- Noah Baumbach
- Cameron Crowe
- David Fincher
- John Hughes
- Ang Lee
- Richard Linklater
- James Mangold
- Alexander Payne
- Martin Scorsese
- Ridley Scott
- M. Night Shyamalan
- Quentin Tarantino
- Lars von Trier
- Superbit DVDs
- Slumber Party Multi-Film Collection
- For Your Consideration (Special Collection)
With the most underwhelming month of DVD thrifting behind me, I’m looking forward to starting with a fresh budget in August. Moving into the new month, I’d like to focus on expanding my collection of movies that I loved from my childhood. Come September, I’ll likely narrow my search down to horror movies in prep for spooky season.
***
This is part four 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.