DVD Rental May Be Delayed to Up Revenue

From The LA Times:

In an effort to push consumers toward buying more movies, some major film studios are considering a new policy that would block DVDs from being offered for rental until several weeks after going on sale.

Under the plan, new DVD releases would be available on a purchase-only basis for a few weeks, after which time companies such as Blockbuster Inc. and Netflix Inc. would be allowed to rent the DVDs to their customers. The move comes as the studios are grappling with sharply declining DVD revenue, which has long propped up the movie business.

I'm just shooting from the hip here, but this seems like a very bad, ill-advised, and quite bewildering turn of events. This new policy - I'll call it DVD Blue Balls - may work for the first few DVD releases, but one people (smart enough to use Netflix instead of Blockbuster) will just mentally change the release date to "seven weeks later" and just wait for the movie, rather than rush out to buy it.

There are movies that I will buy. I'll go to a local (chain) establishment and pluck the DVD from the rack and pay for it, regardless if I COULD rent it or not. If the movie is worth buying, I'll get it the same day.

If not, though, I usually won't buy it at all, and I usually don't have a burning desire to see the movies I didn't buy, so I could totally wait the seven weeks to see it. I'm not everybody, I know, but I still probably buy more movies than most people, and I think this is a demonstrably silly proposal, so I can't wait to snicker at its imminent failure. I do hate that the movie industry is losing money, but initiating such backwards policies makes them a necessary and deserved target.

Fearnet DVD Bodybags

Over at Best Buy, the Fearnet "body bag" versions of popular horror movies are on sale. You can buy one for $8.99 or two for $15. It's totally worth it if you don't have movies like: House of 1000 Corpses, Fido, The Devil's Rejects, High Tension (which I might actually have to pick up), Beyond Re-Animator, or Ju-On 2 (well, they're not all winners).

Drag Me to Hell - DVD/Blu-Ray

'Drag Me to Hell' comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray tomorrow, and seeing it reminds me just how much I loved that movie the first time through. It's definitely not what you would expect, judging by the underwhelming trailer, but the movie itself delivers in a big way. It's not trendy in the way that most lobotomized remakes and horror porn duds are these days, so don't go in expecting that. It does have Sam Raimi's odd sense of humor/horror - amongst other things - going for it.

I highly recommend 'DMtH'. The casting is wonderful (Alison Lohman is just crazy hot), there is more blood than the PG-13 rating implies, and the star of the film are the sound effects. If you get 'DMtH' (Blu-Ray on Amazon), make sure you turn the volume up WAY loud to watch it. It'll be worth it.

Streamin Soon - Seeing Into the Future of Netflix's Instant Watch

I am a Netflix junkie. I've been a member of their service since 2003, and I was ecstatic when they added the 'Instant Watch' function on the site. Keeps me from having to wait on movies to arrive "on my doorstep". It also probably helps to keep Netflix's costs down, if there is no physical copy of the DVD that could potentially get lost. But I digress.

One downside is that I never know what may be coming to the streaming section of the site, and I miss movies for this reason or that one. It's a bummer, but I just thought that was one of the tricks; you have to go to the site to see what's available.

Not anymore. With Streaming Soon, you can check out which movies will be added to the site in the coming weeks and plan to watch accordingly. It's definitely a big help if some of those movies are near the top of your queue. You can simply move them down on your list and watch them at home, saving that necessary space for movies that aren't streaming online. Just thought I'd bring it to your attention.