Videoscope Magazine

02/10/2024

We'll be at MONSTER-MANIA 60 at the Baltimore Harbor Hilton in Maryland this weekend (Oct 4th-6th). Swing on by the booth and pick up some discs.

02/10/2024

ONLY ONE MORE MONTH TO ORDER DVD-Rs AND DOWNLOADS!

OCTOBER 31, 2024 is the LAST DAY you can order Downloads and DVD-Rs from the SWV website! So Order them now while you still can!

Many of you already know this, but let me start by saying that Something Weird Video is NOT going out of business. Just downsizing and making things more manageable for myself, Lisa Petrucci. SWV has been around since 1990. I'm the only employee at SWV now, so I do everything and, frankly, I want to be able to focus on film preservation, Blu-ray releases, and starting Something Weird Press. I decided back in January that 2024 would be the last year for DVD-Rs and Downloads. It's just time. These videos have been available for decades now on VHS, DVD-R, DVD and Download formats. During the past few years, the DVD-R duplicators have been breaking down (and there's no where to have them affordably repaired or replaced) and even getting DVD-R manufacturing supplies has become a challenge. Also the DVD-R masters are wearing out. Very few video companies even offer the DVD format or Downloads anymore, most are just releasing Blu-rays and streaming. So I don't understand why customers would expect SWV to keep the DVD-Rs and Downloads going indefinitely. Also it costs me quite a lot money to have all those Downloads housed on the SWV website server. Prior to making the announcement, Download and DVD-R sales were way down and becoming not worth the time and effort anymore. I'm just adapting with the times and moving forward on new releases and projects with my video label partners like AGFA (American Genre Film Archive), Severin, Kino Lorber, Distribpix, Alternative Cinema / Pop Cinema, Vinegar Syndrome, Cultpix, Film Masters and Modern Harmonic. SWV will still be a force to be reckoned with.

SWV will still have our website as a point of purchase, but it will just be whatever Blu-rays, DVDs and Record Albums are on the shelf and don't have to be made in-house. I'll constantly be adding new releases to the website and pointing customers to SWV-related products on my partners' websites. So folks will have the option of still buying some physical media from Something Weird, the partner label, or a third party seller like Amazon.

SWV founder, the late great Mike Vraney, never intended for SWV to continue as a mail order company after his death in 2014. He wasn't very concerned about what was going to happen after he was gone. I kept things going because I wanted to preserve and honor his legacy, and I did that for the past 10 years. It hasn't been easy. I don't get days off because of having to deal with 24 hour customer service of having a website and the daily drudgery of running a mail order company that doesn't bring in enough money for me to even pay myself. Not to mention the annoying commerce problems that arise from having adult content on the website. I've done all this as a labor of love, but it's time to do something different now. I am passing the baton to my highly capable video label partners who will help me continue to preserve SWV's legacy. It's a lot to expect one company to keep things going the way they always have for over 30 years, most other video companies allow titles to go in and out of print and don't get hassled about it. But for some reason folks have expected SWV to keep the whole catalog available, and that's just not feasible anymore.

I'll be working as a consultant and project manager on new film restorations, Blu-ray releases and projects with my partner labels. It's been a joy doing research and writing about these movies that I love and will continue doing this as long as I can. I'll be setting up a new Something Weird website in 2025 as well as starting Something Weird Press, a publishing company that will produce beautiful illustrated books related to exploitation film history. SWV has an enormous archival paper collection that needs to be seen to be believed. Something Weird will also be launching a streaming channel in 2025 and I've been adding free video content to our YouTube Channel. So when people ask me what's going to happen to the catalog, it's complicated, but rest assured most of our best material will still be available somewhere. Something Weird will keep on keeping on...

02/10/2024

We're all set up at the DAVIS THEATER in Chicago, IL for a 14 hour horror movie marathon marathon including our restoration of CEMETERY MAN. Swing on by the booth and pick up some discs.

02/08/2024

VideoScope #126 Summer Back to the Drive-In Edition available now at Barnes & Noble! Remembering Roger Corman! Exclusive interviews: Douglas (C.H.U.D.) Cheek and Steve (The Stunt Man) Railsback! Bizzaro Cult Faves! Ninja Menace! Pick up your copy today! Subscribe: www.videoscopemag.com

28/06/2024

In the current issue of Videoscope Magazine #124.

An interview with cult icon Mink (Nancy Paine Stoll) Stole who first appeared in friend John Waters’ first film Roman Candles (1966) and, as one of his Dreamland Players, has since appeared in all of his films.

TD What about Edith Massey? Did you know her well off-camera?
MS I knew her as well as anybody. She had a shop right down the street from where I lived in Baltimore back in the 1970s. She wasn’t a very…she had a certain street savvy but she wasn’t an intellectual by any means. You know? She didn’t read. So it was difficult to really have conversations with her.

12/05/2024

12/05/2024

VideoScope notes with sadness the passing of luminary Roger Corman. He gave us a lot of joy, great memories and movies that will last till the end of time.

23/04/2024

VideoScope #125 Spring Cult Edition! Available end of April at Barnes & Noble! Inside the Mind of Coffin Joe! Mink Stole! Buddy Cooper on the Making of Mutilator 2! Spider Baby Remake! 80+ New Genre Reviews! Subscribe!

13/04/2024

On The Scope Bookshelf in the current issue of Videoscope Magazine.
NIGHTMARE ON ONE SHEET: THE HORROR ART OF
GRAHAM HUMPHREYS
By Graham Humphreys. Korero Press. Hardcover. 174 pages.
In a career spanning 40 years, British illustrator/designer Humphreys is best known for producing publicity materials and posters within the horror genre.

13/04/2024

In the current issue of Videoscope Magazine #124.
BLACK SABBATH/I TRE VOLTI DELLA PAURA (1963) D: Mario Bava. Boris Karloff, Mark Damon, Jacqueline Pierrreux, Michele Mercier, Lidia Alfonsi. 96 mins.
Directed by the great Mario Bava who weaves his dark magic and delivers three sinister fairy tales filled with his lush camera trickery and magnificent lighting. This is the AIP version released stateside with the English soundtrack.
Subscribe: www.videoscopemag.com

04/04/2024

In the current issue of Videoscope Magazine #124. An in-depth interview with one of the greatest, unappreciated actors of all time. Paul La Mat.

22/01/2024

VideoScope #124 WINTER 2024 Winter Chills Edition! Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble near you! Hot Rod Ace Paul Le Mat! Munster Man Daniel Roebuck! Wild Women! Nutzoid Horrors! Subscribe: www.videoscopemag.com

31/10/2023

Conrad Brooks, pal Bela, and the VideoScope team wish you a ghoulie Halloween!

21/10/2023

Coming soon to Barnes & Noble! VideoScope #123 FALL '24 FALL HORROR HARVEST EDITION! Horror Host Joe Bob Briggs! Action Ace Sheldon Lettich! From the Boneyard! Robot Monster's 70th Anniversary! 80+ New Genre Reviews and more! Subscribe! www.videoscopemag.com

26/09/2023

In the current issue of VIDEOSCOPE #122, we talk with Serling’s youngest daughter, Anne.

"My father really respected William Golding, the author of Lord of the Flies. And certainly Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont. Also Poe and Lovecraft."

21/09/2023

In the current issue of VIDEOSCOPE #122, we eyeball the time travel movie LOLA (2022).
It’s early 1941 and World War II is still gearing up. Two brilliant sisters living alone in their ancestral mansion invent a TV-like machine that enables them to pick up broadcasts from the future.

06/07/2023

On sale July 17 at a Barnes & Noble store near you! VideoScope #122 SUM '23! Special Asian Palooza edition! All-Night Action-O-Rama! The Rochon Report! Exclusive Interviews: Martial artist Taimak (The Last Dragon)! Jeff (Silverado) Fahey!
Can't wait...Subscribe now! www.videoscopemag.com

24/05/2023

The current issue of Videoscope has an interview with the charming Joy Harmon. Joy is best known for two iconic roles: the teen-turned-giant in Village of the Giants and the car-washing “Girl” in Cool Hand Luke. While working in movies in Hollywood in the 60s, her favorite thing after work was to go by herself down to the Whiskey a Go-Go or The Peppermint Twist and dance all night.

27/04/2023

THE WILD ANGELS (1966) D: Roger Corman. Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern, Diane Ladd, Buck Taylor, Michael J. Pollard, Frank Maxwell. 93 mins.

While 1953’s The Wild One provided the prototype, the biker movie didn’t flourish until Roger Corman’s The Wild Angels motored into theaters in 1966. A massive box-office hit, The Wild Angels truly established the genre, with dozens of cinematic salutes to the outlaw lifestyle following in its wake. Full review and many more in the Spring '23 BIKE-A-THON and EUROCRIME issue of Videoscope. On Sale Now! www.videoscopemag.com

06/04/2023

VideoScope #121 Spring '23 BIKE-A-THON and EUROCRIME edition available in stores April 17! Why wait? Subscribe! videoscopemag.com