Severin releasing Four Flies on Grey Velvet on UHD

[fatboyslim142]

Hopefully the German release is English-friendly. I’m sure it’ll be cheaper than the Severin release would be by now.

I reckon the film will be the ONLY thing that is entirely English friendly. Not sure if the interviews on the Severin release, that also appear on the German release, are in English or not as I've not watched my copy yet. Also the doc on the German release might be partly in English but most likely in Italian for most of it & there are ONLY German subs on the disc.

[Darcy Parker]

Hopefully the German release is English-friendly. I’m sure it’ll be cheaper than the Severin release would be by now.

[Ian Jane]

Coming 6/1/23 from Plaion Pictures.

https://shop.plaionpictures.com/vier...-cd-exkl.-shop

High-quality packaging as a hardcover box
New 4K transfer from L'Immagine Ritrovata with extensive color correction
German, Italian and English cinema trailer
Teaser
Documentary "The Case of the Four Flies" with Bud Spencer, Dario Argento and Luigi Cozzi (approx. 92 minutes)
Featurette "Autopsy of a Fly" with film critic Antonio Tentori (approx. 28 minutes)
Featurette "Please Mr. Postman" with actor Gildo Di Marco (approx. 16 minutes)
Featurette „Death in Slo-Mo” with Camera-Assistant Roberto Forges Davanzati (ca. 7 Minuten)
Featurette „Time Flies“ mit Production Manager Angelo Iacono (ca. 14 Minuten)
Photo gallery with rare advertising material
28-page booklet by Paul Poet
CD with the soundtrack by Ennio Morricone
Art cards and posters

[Ian Jane]

Here's a look at both sides of the Carlotta steelbook release.

[agent999]

Tasteful.

[Ian Jane]

Carlotta Films is releasing a UHD steelbook edition.

[Oily Maniac]

Severin confirmed they are now shipping international orders FedEx now.

Received Four Flies, which was shipped the lowest tier international USPS offers. The packaging was packing peanuts. The limited "slipcase" was not shrink wrapped or wrapped in any kind of protective plastic or bubble wrap.

[Derrick King]

A French release is supposedly happening in the first quarter of 2023. I assume it will not have English subs for the Italian track nor for the portions of the track that weren't dubbed into English.

[fatboyslim142]

Mine finaly entered the US postal system yesterday.

[BW Haggar]

Yep, likewise - mine has now shipped, and the use of Fed Ex is reassuring. Perhaps not quite so much so as to justify the initial postage charge, but I think we've been over that, and thankfully I don't feel an overwhelming need to watch 'Blood For Dracula' during the xmas holidays, so we're all good.

[agent999]

Well at the moment, they certainly seem to be discouraging overseas orders by not getting 'round to posting them a month after I laid down my $45 postage, mumble grumble.

Seriously though, I suspect you're right and I likewise don't blame them; international shipping is such a never-ending nightmare for retailers, I suspect I'd be taking the "take it or leave it" approach in their position too.

Vinegar Syndrome's fast & affordable shipping increasingly seems more like some weird miracle we foreigners should take advantage of whilst we can, than anything that could be considered the norm.... although having said that, Mondo Macabro's shipping also remains reasonably priced, reliable and bullshit-free, so it's clearly still possible to keep it together, even at a smaller scale.

Until recently, I'd have put Severin in the same category, meaning I could still rely on ordering direct from the three US companies I regularly buy stuff from... but after my current order with them is done with, I might move from a "wait until stuff is on sale and buy in bulk" model to a "buy must-have releases at full price from UK re-sellers and ignore the rest" one; we'll see.

My Black Friday order has been shipped (or they created a label at least) and it's via FedEx. Estimated for Thursday 29th so they've changed shippers to the same as Vinegar Syndrome, albeit they're charging more than them.

Yeah, I caved in.

[Oily Maniac]

A "Large Envelope/Flat" to Chigasaki is $21.25 so they're using First Class International - bottom of the barrel. I saw the pics of the package they used to ship that to you and they should have at the very least gone with the "Package/Thick Envelope" option under First Class and added more support. However, if the resulting package is too thick it would necessitate Priority which would be $55.91. They went the wing & a prayer route.

Error 4444 went the "wing & didn't even care" route. But I'll stay on topic

If they're charging $88 that appears to me then that they're using Priority Express and I'd wager the reasoning behind that is the less time a package is in transit the less time it has to get lost or damaged. Most likely Severin's logic is that if they offered non-Priority options, they'd be stuck having to replace items that the post office destroys. Along with that, and I don't blame them at all, they are probably secretly trying to discourage overseas orders.

To be clear, Four Flies was $88 shipped, so approximately $35 for postage. Part of me sympathizes with Severin and crowd funded funny book artistes discouraging overseas orders, but shipping them out first would be an appreciated concession. Vinegar Syndrome uses Fedex and likely has a business account with discounted pricing. Packages lost and mangled by USPS, and foreign equivalents, are unfortunately the cost of doing business with them. They're the villains here, this situation sucks.

It's a white knuckle ride tracking a package until it lands in the hands of the hyper competent Japan Post. The last USPS update for Four Flies was 3 days ago in LA. As someone who lusted after Japanese Argento laserdiscs back in the day, now that I live in Japan having to order Four Flies from the States is cruel but humorous.

[Darcy Parker]

Well at the moment, they certainly seem to be discouraging overseas orders by not getting 'round to posting them a month after I laid down my $45 postage, mumble grumble.

Seriously though, I suspect you're right and I likewise don't blame them; international shipping is such a never-ending nightmare for retailers, I suspect I'd be taking the "take it or leave it" approach in their position too.

Vinegar Syndrome's fast & affordable shipping increasingly seems more like some weird miracle we foreigners should take advantage of whilst we can, than anything that could be considered the norm.... although having said that, Mondo Macabro's shipping also remains reasonably priced, reliable and bullshit-free, so it's clearly still possible to keep it together, even at a smaller scale.

Until recently, I'd have put Severin in the same category, meaning I could still rely on ordering direct from the three US companies I regularly buy stuff from... but after my current order with them is done with, I might move from a "wait until stuff is on sale and buy in bulk" model to a "buy must-have releases at full price from UK re-sellers and ignore the rest" one; we'll see.

It might be worth it to use a remailing company for Severin orders if things are getting that bad.

[BW Haggar]

Along with that, and I don't blame them at all, they are probably secretly trying to discourage overseas orders.

Well at the moment, they certainly seem to be discouraging overseas orders by not getting 'round to posting them a month after I laid down my $45 postage, mumble grumble.

Seriously though, I suspect you're right and I likewise don't blame them; international shipping is such a never-ending nightmare for retailers, I suspect I'd be taking the "take it or leave it" approach in their position too.

Vinegar Syndrome's fast & affordable shipping increasingly seems more like some weird miracle we foreigners should take advantage of whilst we can, than anything that could be considered the norm.... although having said that, Mondo Macabro's shipping also remains reasonably priced, reliable and bullshit-free, so it's clearly still possible to keep it together, even at a smaller scale.

Until recently, I'd have put Severin in the same category, meaning I could still rely on ordering direct from the three US companies I regularly buy stuff from... but after my current order with them is done with, I might move from a "wait until stuff is on sale and buy in bulk" model to a "buy must-have releases at full price from UK re-sellers and ignore the rest" one; we'll see.

[Toyboy]

Error 4444 ships USPS and charged roughly $22 for a single disc, postcards, etc. plus a folded poster.

A "Large Envelope/Flat" to Chigasaki is $21.25 so they're using First Class International - bottom of the barrel. I saw the pics of the package they used to ship that to you and they should have at the very least gone with the "Package/Thick Envelope" option under First Class and added more support. However, if the resulting package is too thick it would necessitate Priority which would be $55.91. They went the wing & a prayer route.

Severin has been doing this a lot longer than Error 4444 so my guess is that they don't even bother offering First Class since chances are the package will be mangled along the way and customers will demand a replacement, and/or it will take a very long time to get to customers and result in constant "Hey, where's my order?" emails. I can tell by the tone of Severin's social media posts regarding shipping that they're at the "Take it or Leave it" phase when it comes to international.

If they're charging $88 that appears to me then that they're using Priority Express and I'd wager the reasoning behind that is the less time a package is in transit the less time it has to get lost or damaged. Most likely Severin's logic is that if they offered non-Priority options, they'd be stuck having to replace items that the post office destroys. Along with that, and I don't blame them at all, they are probably secretly trying to discourage overseas orders.