Worst DVD covers... ever! (Part Deux)

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patrick · #26 Post by **patrick** » Thu May 17, 2007 6:43 pm

That Summer School cover reminds me of this travesty:

...although I have to admit that "Panty Raid Edition" is a stroke of genius.

The Invunche · #27 Post by **The Invunche** » Thu May 17, 2007 8:26 pm

skuhn8 wrote:
The Invunche wrote:
dx23 wrote:The sad thing is that Paramount wastes their time releasing this but there still no 1492 in the horizon.
Summer School is the better movie.
Actually I think it really is.

I'm dead serious.

Greathinker · #28 Post by **Greathinker** » Fri May 18, 2007 1:04 am

skuhn8 · #29 Post by **skuhn8** » Fri May 18, 2007 9:19 am

And those dog tags hanging over the lame swoosh don't look digitally manipulated at all. Somebody must've really patted themselves on the back for that clever touch (if slightly stolen from Catch-22).

godardslave · #30 Post by **godardslave** » Sat May 19, 2007 6:48 pm

the ashes of time redux news reminds me of the truly horrific cover for the original.

Truly a travesty and denial of anything good in terms of graphic design.
Special flaws which leave a lasting imprint on anyone with any amount of good taste include:

[1]a classic example of the floating heads (seven here!) syndrome
[2]the horrendous psychedelic coloring scheme including the multi colored font(s).

Covers like this reaffirm my conviction that some dvd cover design departments gets paid on a "how many colors can you use on 1 dvd cover" basis.

If ever there was film that deserved a criterion edition, this might be it, bearing in the mind the terrible dvd currently available.

lord_clyde · #31 Post by **lord_clyde** » Sun May 20, 2007 8:35 pm

It is precisely because of that cover that I am the only person I know who has seen Ashes of Time. My friends won't take my word that it is a great film, even after I declared it the best film of the 1990s. Redux is like telling me Santa Claus is real. . . and not evil!

skuhn8 · #32 Post by **skuhn8** » Sun May 20, 2007 9:14 pm

I love how the awards are listed in bullet points. This thing must've been slapped together by a 12 year old in about an hour using Microsoft Word and Paint.

PhilipS · #33 Post by **PhilipS** » Mon May 21, 2007 8:41 am

godardslave wrote:Covers like this reaffirm my conviction that some dvd cover design departments gets paid on a "how many colors can you use on 1 dvd cover" basis.

Not even a 101-year old film is immune from this treatment.

patrick · #34 Post by **patrick** » Tue May 22, 2007 4:41 pm

I'm really getting sick of Blu-Ray releases having those stupid metal "swoosh" things on them.

PhilipS · #35 Post by **PhilipS** » Tue May 22, 2007 10:07 pm

davidhare wrote:I gather the completed restoration for Kelly Gang runs around 12 minutes. Ca c'est vrai? What a deal for 28 bucks (or whatever the fuck it is.) Couldnt they have bundled this in with a two hour compilation of Australian avant garde?

It runs just under 16 minutes and I think the price is more like $40. It has two musical soundtracks, two commentary tracks, a restoration comparison, a "study" version running about 30 minutes with gaps filled with stills and artwork and reconstructed titles and optional commentary, and a thick book with new essays and old archival material about the film.

dx23 · #36 Post by **dx23** » Wed May 23, 2007 1:17 am

patrick wrote:That Summer School cover reminds me of this travesty:

...although I have to admit that "Panty Raid Edition" is a stroke of genius.

The Nerds cover originally had "We've Got Bush" as the gimmick name.

PhilipS · #37 Post by **PhilipS** » Wed May 23, 2007 4:16 am

davidhare wrote:Sorry Phil but

Like I care! My interest in Oz cinema is about as strong as my affection for Australian politics. Both subjects to me totally delusions of mediocrity.

You made a sideswipe at the DVD which was misleading, so for the record i.e. the benefit of others I added some extra information about what's contained on it. If people want to make up their mind about something it helps them if they are better informed. Generalisations don't achieve much.

PhilipS · #38 Post by **PhilipS** » Wed May 23, 2007 10:23 pm

davidhare wrote:No offence to you but I think 40 bucks for 16 minutes is all time grand larceny.

Menawhile the happy chiefs of Madman pocket 30 mill to onsell after 4 years (and still give us fucked up transfers, yellow subs, etc.)

No offence taken. As a comparison the top tier of Criterions have an RRP which is about AUD$48. For that you usually get a commentary, a thick booklet and a few other extras. Basically the same sort of package as the Kelly Gang set, the only substantive difference being the running time. I guess the point is more what you get out of it, not so much what it costs.

teddyleevin · #39 Post by **teddyleevin** » Mon May 28, 2007 2:37 am

patrick · #40 Post by **patrick** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 5:23 pm

dx23 wrote:The Nerds cover originally had "We've Got Bush" as the gimmick name.

The "We've Got Bush" edition is a pure stroke of genius for sure, but who actually thought that could make it to market?

After seeing this cover today, I'm starting to wonder if there wasn't some industry summit called to address how all comedies from the late 70's and early 80's need to be given terrible covers. I'm also wondering if the studios think that putting illustrated poster art on the cover of DVDs makes people not buy them - Meatballs, Animal House, and other films that originally had MAD Magazine-style posters now all have generic thrown-together-on-Photoshop covers on DVD.

The Invunche · #41 Post by **The Invunche** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 7:20 pm

Who's the guy right under the Bill Murray name?

Kinsayder · #42 Post by **Kinsayder** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 12:57 pm

The spirt of exile? Odd, too, that the recommendations on the cover are from people who appear in the movie.

MichaelB · #43 Post by **MichaelB** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 2:05 pm

skuhn8 wrote:I love how the awards are listed in bullet points. This thing must've been slapped together by a 12 year old in about an hour using Microsoft Word and Paint.

I reckon they did the DVD menu in the same hour. And the subtitles. And the transfer.

This is still the single worst DVD in my entire collection - and believe me, I've seen some horrors.

(Fortunately, I've seen Ashes of Time in 35mm, so my memory of it hasn't been tainted forever)

lord_clyde · #44 Post by **lord_clyde** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 1:43 am

MichaelB wrote:
skuhn8 wrote:I love how the awards are listed in bullet points. This thing must've been slapped together by a 12 year old in about an hour using Microsoft Word and Paint.
I reckon they did the DVD menu in the same hour. And the subtitles. And the transfer.

This is still the single worst DVD in my entire collection - and believe me, I've seen some horrors.

(Fortunately, I've seen Ashes of Time in 35mm, so my memory of it hasn't been tainted forever)

I haven't been so lucky, but since the movie made such an impact on me in such a terrible form, I look forward to the Criterion release as a religious experience.

tryavna · #45 Post by **tryavna** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 3:31 pm

From another thread, but it deserves to be here, too:

The "surprise" is that Lamb Chop is gonna be the paschal lamb.

Schkura · #46 Post by **Schkura** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 5:33 pm

Kinsayder wrote:

The spirt of exile? Odd, too, that the recommendations on the cover are from people who appear in the movie.

Hilarious.

dx23 · #47 Post by **dx23** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:07 am

cshe · #48 Post by **cshe** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 9:08 pm

I'm particularly fond of that text at the bottom of the cover, under the sourceless "evaluation" score, which needlessly summarizes the movie-- including the ending:

"The story is told in flashbacks as Jourdan reads a letter from Fontaine just before she..."

Cinesimilitude · #49 Post by **Cinesimilitude** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 1:49 pm

Total 300 ripoff. hilarious.

Kinsayder · #50 Post by **Kinsayder** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 10:11 am

There are several contenders for worst D.O.A. cover.

If you squint at this one it looks like he's kissing a horse.

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Worst DVD covers... ever! (Part Deux)