Any good films that have gone direct to dvd?

April 12, 2006 3:02 PM

I was visiting Blockbuster this morning whilst I was waiting for the bus and noticed a vast number of direct-to-dvd titles which I'd never heard of before but didn't seem half bad (based on packaging, cast, director, story). I'm signed up to ScreenSelect/LoveFilm (the UK's Netflix) and there isn't really a way to check for these things. Would anyone like to suggest some great films which went D2DVD? I don't mind anything and would include films which only received a London or Film Festival release. Region 2 only then please.
posted by feelinglistless to society & culture (3 comments total)

i'm a big lover of B movies, as a result i end up seeing a lot of straight to video.

My general criteria: Bruce Campbell (natch), Dolph Lundgren, Lance Henriksen, Natasha Henstridge, and until she became a regular on the OC, Melinda Clarke.

As a result i've seen some tragically bad films, but also some really good ones as well. The trick of it is that you'll see a more than a few straight to video movies and eventually you will find a couple of actors/ directors that you like who tend to be ok with working cheap. Then you just troll IMDB and see when they have new film coming out. One nice thing about straight to video, is that many actors and directors will do more than one movie a year.

Also, this is a great resource for release dates., it focuses on Region 1, but you may find some use to it.
posted by quin at 3:29 PM on April 12, 2006

As an anime buff, I watch direct-to-dvd titles all the time. Far too many of them are half (or more) bad, but some are really good. Here are some things on ScreenSelect's list that are good, and probably had little or no big screen presence in the UK:
Grave of the Fireflies
Castle in the Sky
Valley of the Wind
posted by CrunchyFrog at 3:34 PM on April 12, 2006

If we're going to mention Studio Ghibli's work, I also suggest these other works:

Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
Howl's Moving Castle
Porco Rosso

Just a note, all of these films, as well as those listed above, are not B films. The reason for their limited or non-release in the UK (as well USA) is for the fact that they're feature length anime movies. In Japan, for example, many of these were among the highest grossing films of all time. Studio Ghibli is easily compared as the Disney of Japan.
posted by Atreides at 5:59 AM on April 13, 2006