Arrow Fanboys Are Having A Laugh

Hello again,

You have to love the hypocrisy that drips from the fingers and mouth of Arrow's fans. It's unintentionally hilarious at times.

As readers of my blog will probably know, Arrow released David Cronenberg's SHIVERS on UK Blu-Ray last year, and after announcing it was going to be a new, HD presentation of the uncut version, what was released was in fact anything but uncut.

When fans of the film took to the Web, to complain and understandably vent their spleen, Arrow passed the blame onto TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) who were the organisation behind the HD print. They blamed Cronenberg, and he stated that he had not seen the film in years, and that the new HD restoration looked amazing. What he didn't notice, was that the film was cut, in many scenes, to remove violence and gore.

As has happened before, Arrow said they would "investigate" the matter. This was back in October 2014. It's now March 2015, and Arrow have just made an "announcement" on their Facebook page. It reads...

We’ve receive a fair few queries about the progress of this. First up, we can only apologise that it is taking far longer than we originally anticipated. We were very much hoping the situation would be resolved by the New Year but sadly this was not the case. So, the good news is we will be running a replacement programme for this one so if you have purchased a copy of our release do keep hold of those proof of purchases! The bad news is, we don’t have an exact timeline for this and at present it does look like this will be a bit of a way off. Unfortunately we're in the hands of TIFF who have their own schedule and Shivers isn't a priority for them at present. We are doing all we can to apply pressure and try and speed things up but sadly there isn't too much we can do. We believe that they are scanning another element of equal quality to the restoration they initially performed so this is what we are waiting for. We could have cut in the SD elements we have - we have tested that and it looks fine - but knowing that higher quality work is underway, has made it very difficult to simply settle for SD inserts. If we'd know we'd all be waiting 5 months maybe we would have stuck with the SD option however we really want our Shivers release to be the best release possible and not simply a quick fix. As mentioned we are working hard to keep things moving and we really appreciate all of your patience and support whilst we try and reach a suitable solution. As soon as we have a concrete update on the situation we will widely publish this so do keep checking back!

This all sounds fairly decent, but as has been amply demonstrated by me, and others, they're still trying to pass the buck onto TIFF, and implying that it was their fault, rather than Arrow's.

Now, there are many comments added onto this Facebook post, but one that made me laugh out loud, was this one. I've removed their names, for privacy purposes. The censored swearing and spelling and grammar errors, are exactly how they appeared on Facebook...

ARROW FANBOY 1: Now this is customer service! Unlike 88 cut classics!

ARROW FANBOY 2: You mean 88 cu@t classics lol 88 cu@ts logic is "oh we screwed up a release" "Oh well let's just lie about it as we don't give a crap" great business there guys.

ARROW FANBOY 1: You put it better (name removed) haha!

I'm sorry, but if you're going to take the piss out of another label - 88 Films - who are a newcomer to the UK, and are doing some pretty good work, with some excellent and definitive Blu-Ray releases, then you might want to get your own house in order first. And, if you're going to take the piss, because 88 Films released a messed-up version of Full Moon Pictures TOURIST TRAP (which was the same faulty version that the USA got, from Full Moon Pictures, for their Blu-Ray), then do you really want me to repeat the list of all the films that Arrow have fucked-up over the years, and are a label who still continue to fuck things up, as the SHIVERS debacle continues to unfold?!

Pot. Kettle. Black. Anyone?!

Seriously, guys. If you want me to stop taking Arrow to task, for all of their gargantuan fuck-ups over the years, and in the same breath, you berate me for daring to keeping bringing these mistakes up, then you really ought to keep your own traps shut. Don't belittle another label, and then simultaneously try to claim another label that you support, is a paragon of fucking virtue. Otherwise people like me, will be on-hand to give you a gentle reminder, that things aren't as squeaky clean as you are claiming.

Yes, 88 Films have released the problematic TOURIST TRAP, and if you want to split-hairs, then this year's release of THE TOXIC AVENGER 3 - which was the cut, R-Rated version (as approved by director Lloyd Kaufman, rather than an inherent fault on the part of 88 Films) - could also be included as a mistake that should have been caught too. But, ultimately, that's two films, in less than two years of existance.

Arrow released triple that number of "mistakes" in their first couple of years, so be really careful about all the finger-pointing, or it might come back to bite you in the ass!