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This box set looks amazing. I really need to pick this up. I have not seen these since the VHS days! This will be a nostalgia trip indeed!

Dungeonmaster, Dolls, and Cellar Dweller were random Saturday afternoon pleasures thanks to Thriller Double Feature broadcasting out of Detroit. Hope to get that set in a month.

Awesome review, Heath! It was so cool to sit down with Jeffrey Byron, Peter Manoogian, and Mike Deak to record three commentaries, and it was just as cool to ask our pal Dave DeCoteau if he'd tape a track for Dolls. Really thrilled that you like this set, and thanks for reviewing it with so much knowledgeable detail! Great work sir! - Matty & Dave

Agreed. Was stoked for it, blown away with the whole packaging and material. A++ job by Arrow.

I dove through all these films first thing upon arrival. It's an excellent set. I will say that if the boxset is watched in order, from Dungeonmaster at the beginning and Robot Jox at the end, it tells this excellent story about Empire. Dungeonmaster has 7 directors, who many will be involved in the rest of the set, and Robot Jox is the infamous movie that was a gamble for Empire that did not pay off, leading Charles Band to form Full Moon, Great Set!

Thanks for the video, the packaging looks great. I’ve only seen seen Robot Jox, but that was back in the early 90’s.

@popretro1

Жыл бұрын

Robot Jox at the time made me say, "THIS is how you can do a live action Transformers movie!"

@WilkysMoviesandMusic

Жыл бұрын

@@popretro1 absolutely

@CerealAtMidnight

Жыл бұрын

Absolutely! A Transformers movie done in the Robot Jox style would have been incredible for us back then. A Transformers movie done with practical effects would have been a dream come true.

Pre ordered mine a few months ago. Can't wait for it . Should be arriving pretty soon 👍😎

I have to be honest I haven't seen any of these films but I saw the box set on Amazon back in march and I knew I had to buy it, but I have to wait until the 26th of June before I get it.

Just picked it up today for the incredible price of only £28 and I’d of paid double for just two of them those being Arena and Robot Jox and the remaining three are just an added bonus

Thanks, Heath! God bless and stay safe!

I'm ordering this.

Robot Jox was so cool. They even wear N95 masks because the air in the future is bad in the story. Way ahead of it’s time. Stuart Gordon was such a bold filmmaker.

This looks amazing, I gotta try to get my filthy mitts on this set. Thaks for such a great, detailed overview.

A must have for me. Every empire movie was an absolute hit at our movie nights 20 years ago. I was lucky enough to snag one of the empire boxsets when the fullmoon website sold that repack from scream factory and I got mine with a 100 dollar gift cert to buy more movies! In that set Arena is just a dvd that was best elements at the time.

I've owned Robot Jox on VHS, DVD and soon on Blu-Ray! Arrow Video never disappoints their RoboCop 4k release is home video perfected.

@MaryBrownIsTheBlairWitch

Жыл бұрын

Arrow should do a RoboCop 2 release - decent sequel.

Aw, man ... I was on the fence on this one, but now I HAVE to have this set. Even not having seen half of the movies. The extras alone are sometime enough, but when the extras include another edition of the movie ... just take my money!!!! (But use it wisely.) Can't wait for the doc on Empire Pictures; I will watch it in tandem with NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD and MACHETE MAIDENS UNLEASHED.

this looks fantastic! glad i pre-ordered it :) cant wait to have it in my hands to watch them!

These movies are so much fun!

Im going to preorder, but this is 100% a blind buy. Never heard of any of these movies but they sound up my alley. This is a blind buy x 5! Lets see how it goes! Also, I had no idea that Adam Savage was quoting a movie in the mythbusters intro. All these years I thought he made it up!

@CerealAtMidnight

Жыл бұрын

I hope you enjoy the movies, they're VHS classics! Adam Savage is a HUGE movie nerd.

@joefawley9264

Жыл бұрын

​@@CerealAtMidnight Very excited to get it. The $70 sale made it an easy impulse buy. I hope it does well so we get more cool collections like these. Arrow usually knocks it out of the park! And I love the myth busters crew. I still follow Adam Savage because he makes cool movie props while answering user questions.

@Necrobutcher777

Жыл бұрын

@cerealatmidnight Seeing as how we currently live at the zenith of postmodernity, the phrase from Ragewar is more fitting now than it ever was. Both Trumpist and liberals, and everyone else besides one single nonexistent group (hint kuneko fumiko and not her @ affiliations) are guilty of this life/planet/reality-destroying nonsense.

Dang got me. I think this is a must have for any vhs Era fan!

Ghoulies 1 and 2 are with MVD. From Beyond and Mutant Hunt are with Vinegar Syndrome. Trancers is with Full Moon. Rawhead Rex and Transmutations are with Kino Lorber. Troll is currently OOP in the US, but is still available in the UK. Some like Crawlspace, Catacombs, and Ghost Town had releases by Scream Factory, but are no longer in print.

Good luck actually even getting this set since everywhere was sold out before release and amazon and even Arrow's own site are canceling pre orders made over a week before release. What a massive debacle. Scalpers loving it though.

I watched Arena on VHS when I was a little boy. Nobody in my family, nor friends remember watching this movie in their lifetime. Having this on Blu-Ray is a blessing and many memories will come back to mind.

Christmas present from my wonderful wife!

Love this video! IT’s preordered! Thank u buddy

Robot Jox is great.

Incredible set! Great review!

I hope they release a Vol.2 or something cool next.

Heard there are like 500 left glad I jumped on it and preordered

Got that sweeeet box on preorder!

Can't wait to get this down-under!!

Robot JOX!!!

I have to wonder if they're planning a Vol. 2 with Troll, Zone Troopers, Breeders, Prison & Crawlspace.

@j-roc6989

2 ай бұрын

Would be nice but they don't have the rights to any of those, at least not here in the UK

Arrow is doing great stuff…

Great review! I contributed the ROBOT JOX essay for the booklet included in this release, can't wait to get my copy to check it all out.

@CerealAtMidnight

Жыл бұрын

It's a great essay, John!

This looks like a great set! I have one on order now, though I have heard that it might already be close to selling out (Info from DiabolikDVD) I'm hoping they do more of these in the future!!

This box set looks awesome.

I got to see ROBOT JOX in the Theater in NorCal upon it's release - It was amazing on the big screen like 30 years before Pacific Rim!

nice, I loved the 88 comic book back cover comment, you're sooooo right too. The page before would've been a Hostess ad

In my top 3 box sets up there with the western blood and money volume 2 box set from arrow and the bruce lee one coming out

Pretty much rave reviews across the board for this set... yeah, I'm getting this!

Mine arrived yesterday ahead of it's official 27th release. Love it so far. Watched the rage version of Dungeon Master so far. Release of the year so far.

hoping my preorder on Amazon holds.

Yes!!!! I pre-order my from deep discount $58.00.....

You sold me once I saw arena! Was only on a multi dvd that was such crappy quality.

The box set is really nice.

I do think they’ll do another Enter the Video Store set but with a different company like Cannon

I just watched Trancers for the umpteenth time a few days ago. 😁

Just chiming in to say this set is now on sale for $40 at Arrow for a limited time. Get on it, y'all!

@CerealAtMidnight

9 ай бұрын

I wonder if they pressed more! It was sold out everywhere.

@ColombianThunder

9 ай бұрын

​@@CerealAtMidnightit's a standard version without the booklet or art cards/posters. Hard to tell from the picture but it seems like it doesn't have the full artwork around the box, just the cover, could be wrong, but for the image they have that's at an angle, the side is just a blank purple.

I bet these low budget movies do feel and look like low budget movies. Regardless, I just got mine in the post and I absolutely love the packaging, just gotta check the films now. The only one I’ve seen before is dolls, so here’s hoping I’ll like at least two of the others.

I've recently streamed the movies in this set, and at least for myself "Dolls" and "Cellar Dweller" are the only movies that I could see myself ever wanting to revisit. At least for me, this isn't really worth the price tag and the shelf space it would occupy for just two movies. I'll wait for the individual releases of those two movies.

I kinda wish the art felt more reflective of a video show and those wonderful, over the top VHS case covers. I know Arena and Robot Jox we rented just because they caught our eye... This cover felts a bit one step removed... more commenting on the idea of a video shop than embracing it

Heath: what is Empire Pictures like ?? While I remember the vhs rental store days , I wasn’t necessarily watching out for all the specific companies - what are their films like or comparable to ? Your review has definitely gotten my interest in checking this out . I should say I’ve picked up a few Vinegar Syndrome releases from the 70’s and 80’s : Flesh eating Mothers , Spookies, House on Tombstone Hill ….. I probably watched as much of this stuff on USA on Saturday nights (are you old enough to remember their Saturday Nightmares and Up All Night shows that had 1 known horror picture and 1 b flick from the 80’s ?) Btw - if you had to pick favorites from Full Moon , what were your top 3-5 ? Thanks , Chris

@CerealAtMidnight

Жыл бұрын

These movies are more ambitious than Full Moon movies, but they're mostly low budget. Cellar Dwellar and Dungeonmaster both cost less than $1 million to make. Robot Jox allegedly cost around $10 million and was the movie that killed the studio. I think I say in the video that these movies are like Cannon's little brother: they're exploitation movies done with lots of love but not always with much money. I LOVE them for that, but they can't outrun how cheaply they were made. I say watch some trailers for the movies here on KZread and see if they are interesting to you. When it comes to Full moon, I love the first few Puppet Master movies, Trancers (the first Trancers is an Empire Pictures release), Dr. Mordrid and Robot Wars, to name a few. My soft spot is 1993 or earlier.

Was really excited for this. Wasn't gonna preorder. Now, ahead of its late June release date, it's now sold out everywhere. What gives?

@CerealAtMidnight

Жыл бұрын

It’s not sold out, it hasn’t come out yet. If you’re in the USA, I’ve got an Amazon link pinned to the top of these comments.

@kleetusvandam

Жыл бұрын

@@CerealAtMidnight Thanks Heath!

@Necrobutcher777

Жыл бұрын

Orbit posted that there were only 500 left

A shame they couldn't get Terrorvision or Troll. I know Troll is definitely owned by MGM, but not sure about Terrorvision.

Awesome video dude. Will robot jox be released individually by arrow? Thanks, Ben, Wales, UK

@CerealAtMidnight

Жыл бұрын

I haven't heard anything about single releases for these and they all say "not for individual sale" where a UPC would normally be. Beyond that, I'm not sure!

@BlurayBen

Жыл бұрын

@@CerealAtMidnight OK cool cheers

ALL SOLD OUT!!!! NOOOO!!!!!!

i had arena and cellar dweller in my childhood . i love cover oc c.dweller but movie is very average, while arena maybe gives more entertainment value because its fight between human and aliens

Why does it have a hole in the boxset at the top right, seen other videos of this with people and it has the same, is that damage or for something else?

@CerealAtMidnight

Жыл бұрын

It means we received the copy for review purposes and it is not to be resold.

@StephenGrala

Жыл бұрын

@@CerealAtMidnight ah that’s good news, was worried there may be a damaged batch! Looking forward to this set

Not herd of it sounds like

This box set looks amazing but someone please tell me if these movies are any good. This is a high price to pay for a box set and i dont want to make the mistake i made with the TCM 2 release (incredible release but I did not enjoy the movie very much). No hate i just want to hear how likely i am to enjoy at least some of these films

@CerealAtMidnight

Жыл бұрын

These movies are very low budget VHS classics from the 1980s. Your enjoyment of them is going to depend on how much you dig ambitious genre movies made on shoestring budgets (several of these were made for under $1 million). If you're concerned about a blind buy, I'd recommend watching the trailers on KZread first.

@Tyler7P7

Жыл бұрын

@Cereal At Midnight Thanks for the reply. I'll do some more research before pulling the trigger.

fancy packaging - not something I would snag tho

I have watched three of the films in this box. However, for me, even with the excellent transfers, these films look "low budget" to me. That's not a knock, as these films are a lot of fun and were very creative. Shari Shattuck should have been a bigger star. She is great in the incredible THE NAKED CAGE, an 80's classic!

Not 4K???wtf! Missed opportunity

I really want to buy these movies, but I think the box set is so ugly!!!!

@CerealAtMidnight

Жыл бұрын

Buy the movies and trash the packaging. I wouldn't let a box keep me from enjoying what's inside.