DVD Delirium: The International Guide to Weird and Wonderful Films on DVD, Vol. 3 [Paperback]

Nathaniel Thompson (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 2007

DVD Delirium is the world’s only A-to-Z DVD guide specially designed for collectors of cult, horror, exploitation, arthouse, erotic, foreign language, thriller, action, and just plain weird movies! This all new DVD Delirium Volume 3 perfectly compliments the previous two volumes, covering a brand-new selection of the world's greatest cult movies on DVD. If readers want to know whether they should buy a particular film, this 640 page book is their first point of reference: • Picture and Audio quality of discs discussed in depth • Special Features listed and examined • Language and Subtitle options highlighted • Full synopsis and review of each film • DVD case size - designed to be stocked in DVD departments • Features a comprehensive index covering volumes 1, 2 and 3

Product Details

• Paperback: 640 pages
• Publisher: Fab Pr (March 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 190325440X
• ISBN-13: 978-1903254400
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 6.6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #886,288 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deliriously happy with this one., May 19, 2007

By 

Laura Ann Scaife "Laura Ann Scaife" (Vancouver, B.C. Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: DVD Delirium: The International Guide to Weird and Wonderful Films on DVD, Vol. 3 (Paperback)

I purchased the first two volumes of this series at a local store here in Vancouver for $45.00 each and thought I had a bargain with the quality I found in them. But when I found that there was a third volume available from Amazon for one third of the local price, I jumped at the chance to buy. The first volume has been revised (and if you have the unrevised first edition, the second edition contains `120 pages of new material), but if you are into the type of films covered in these books, they are worth their weight in gold. Each film begins with a look at the disc's technical specs: color, year, running time, director, stars and finally dvd manufacturer and region availability. Then follows a synopsis of the plot, followed by a discussion of each disc's technical merits. These include aspect ratios, color, sound and what king of extras can be found on each disc. For example, I wanted to buy the film "Cube", but I couldn't find a copy in Vancouver, so I drove to Seattle and found a copy there. Having looked the film up in these books, I'm glad I had to drive south. It seems the Canadian disc is a bare bones affair: no extras except the trailer. The American disc on the other hand has tons of extras. This kind of information is hard to find anywhere else. These books will also stand up to constant use as they are very well bound. The only drawback that I have found is that they list films that I very much want, but aren't available in my region. Oh well, at least I know they're out there somewhere. These are excellent guides and at the price Amazon is asking, worth every penny.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but maybe not truly weird enough, January 9, 2010

By 

orvuus (Birmingham, AL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: DVD Delirium: The International Guide to Weird and Wonderful Films on DVD, Vol. 3 (Paperback)

I have to agree with other reviewers who say this is a valuable film resource. The book details available copies of movies with their aspect ratios and a brief description of their virtues or failings, and has an index to titles. It loses points with me, though, on both selection of material and the index. I believe all resource guides to film should have more than one listing in their index, at least by director and maybe cast or even alternative titles. In addition while the selection here highlights somewhat off-beat material, I looked in vain for several well-known international movies in the comprehensive index for volumes 1-3. So we have Eyes Without A Face (1959) and Black Belly Of The Tarantula (1971), but no Tampopo, Uzumaki, or Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter. In fact, a lot of these titles are better indexed and reviewed in other publications: do we really need another rundown of titles like Basic Instinct and Jurassic Park 3?

For the quality of the reviews and DVD details, as well as the slight reach this book makes to some more obscure titles, I give it a "good" rating of four stars, but would have liked to see a better index, less coverage of average or blockbuster titles, and more coverage of the truly obscure or "hidden gems."

One series that offers more comprehensive international coverage of specific genres is the Overlook Film Encyclopedia series:

The Overlook Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction (The Overlook Film Encyclopedia Series)

One standard work that has superior indexing and covers all well-known titles and some obscure ones:

Videohound's Golden Movie Retriever 2010 (Videohound's Golden Movie Retriever)

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Film Resource, December 21, 2007

By 

Rodney Meek (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: DVD Delirium: The International Guide to Weird and Wonderful Films on DVD, Vol. 3 (Paperback)

This series is up to four volumes, each of which is packed with details of hundreds of movies. For each flick, there's a listing of major cast and crew members, a plot summary and review, and loads of information about various DVD releases. The contributors will tell you all about the assorted aspect ratios, soundtrack options, subtitles, commentaries, extras, Easter eggs, and picture quality, and they'll advise you which DVD version is the most awesome. They often comment on how the DVDs stack up to the original prints--whether the color has remained true, how grainy the picture is, what kind of damage has crept into the transfer, what scenes were deleted or added, and so forth. Sometimes the amount of data they provide is daunting, especially when they begin to hold forth on the virtues of obscure Burmese DVD releases of Euro art films from the Soviet bloc in the Sixties and such-like.

Be advised that virtually none of the films covered are mainstream films, at least by American tastes. It's a lot of genre stuff (science fiction, fantasy, horror, grindhouse/exploitation, and so forth), plus oodles of foreign material, mostly Italian, French, and Japanese. It seems as if virtually every giallo and Italo-Spanish zombie movie ever created is listed in one of these volumes, along with the more surrealistic stuff from Japan. The editors also have an amazing obsession with Chabrol and basically go through everything he's ever done, although it's not quite clear why.

These books are one of the best film resources I've encountered and you can spend days going through them. Very much worth the price and highly recommended.