The Bottom Shelf
Where does the time go?
One day, you’re just a young lad picking up your first kitchen knife, learning to sew gloves with blades on them or masks made out of human flesh, maybe drowning in your favorite camp’s lake. The next thing you know, years have gone past. You’ve stabbed, chopped and otherwise mutilated so many horny teenagers that the act itself has lost all meaning. You almost start to look forward to being doused with gasoline and set ablaze, just to break the monotony. [Read on here...]
On January 2, 2014, Mike Vraney died of lung cancer at the obscenely young age of 56. Mike’s name may not ring a bell but if you’re a fan of cult movies, exploitation flicks and bizarre ephemera like stag films and burlesque shows, you owe Mike a huge debt of thanks. In 1990, Mike founded Something Weird Video, one of the first and best labels dedicated to rescuing forgotten films from the dustbin of obscurity. Something Weird was a trailblazer in the industry. I’d argue that Mike’s passion for these movies and the success of Something Weird helped pave the way for all the cult boutique labels to follow, including Mondo Macabro, Synapse, Blue Underground and so many others. [Read on here…]
About a month ago, I received an anonymous package. Well, anonymous except for The Digital Bits logo in the return address and a single word scrawled across the side: “GLUTTONY”.
“What’s in the box?” I yelled out loud to nobody in particular. I opened it and was horrified by its contents. It was full of DVDs and Blu-rays, all horror movies. Oh, and Gwyneth Paltrow’s severed head, which I thought was kind of odd. [...]
As The Bits’ resident champion for the release of obscure and forgotten films on DVD, I naturally pay a lot of attention to smaller, independent labels like Shout! Factory, Olive Films, Kino, Synapse and, of course, Criterion. These companies and many others like them are doing important work, taking on projects that the major studios are no longer interested in producing. I support these companies both by writing about their work on this site and, more importantly, by purchasing their products as often as I can. [...]
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