This oddly named but inestimable DVD outfit deserves a shout-out for its industrious and often wondrous efforts as a quality clearinghouse for niche titles that might otherwise fall through the cracks, from music docs (The Great Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle) to classic television (Freaks and Geeks, SCTV, priceless Dick Cavett collections devoted to film, rock music, and comedy), and definitive comedy compilations (Steve Martin, Mel Brooks, Richard Pryor). Its licensing suggests a curatorial ethos—consider the varied likes of The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, Jackie Chan’s Police Story, and Johnny Got His Gun. More recently its horror label, Scream Factory, released remasters of the likes of Carpenter, Craven, Dante, and Cohen, as well as a wide range of Eighties exploitation fare and sundry titles from Hammer (The Vampire Lovers), New World (Barbara Peeters’ rapist sea-mutant shocker Humanoids From the Deep), and AIP. New Blu-ray reissue I’m most excited about? Tobe Hooper’s 1985 magnum opus, Lifeforce.
