RAMBLINGS.....

This is a time of year I look forward to as it signals that summer is just around the corner, and that is my favorite time of year.

Also around this time of year for the last 3 decades has been the arrival of the new Sinister Cinema catalog. They have always had the best products and as everyone here knows I am an ardent fan.

When I received their new catalog in the mail this week I was shocked to see that this may be the last one. Sinister has been around since 1984 and I have been with them ever since. In fact, the first film I ever bought from them was "Fangs Of The Living Dead" on VHS.

I have watched them grow and have bought many, many obscure films thru them. Now on to why this is happening and my take on it. Some of this may offend certain people, but I care not, this is my blog and I say what I want.

Over the years things have changed, of course. The usual changes in the world always go on, but they have indeed affected the home entertainment market. There is more competition than ever on the DVD field and it helps not that some movies are offered for free on services like You Tube.

I am totally against free anything. I figure if you want to see something you pay for it or you just don't see it, but alas, the internet has changed all that. Now the freeloaders can run wild and steal things from everyone.

I'm not ever going to change my mind about this way of thinking. It astonishes me about how many movies are available for free. This kind of crap has really cut into the business for Sinister.

The other thing that has changed is people. Now, I don't expect anyone under 40 to really understand or agree with me, but it's very true. I see it every day in my line of work.

Allow me to digress for a moment. It must be stated that a lot of the customer base for classic films has disappeared, sadly, due to death and that is, of course, a natural thing.

The people change is the one that to me, has the most impact on classic film viewing and purchasing. Young people today are snowflakes and spoiled rotten. They only want to watch the garbage "blockbusters" that Hollyweird churns out or they cry and whine if they have to pay for anything.

Hence we have a new society that cannot accept anything and have been raised with a very, very narrow view of everything in life. I am not saying everyone should have the same taste, but it's a shame young people want everything for free, hate everything in Black and White and are so spoiled by technology.

I have seen "fanboys" on some horror movie boards whine and bitch about EVERYTHING not being perfect when it comes to some DVD and Blu-ray releases. I mention this because Sinister is not into Blu-ray and some of their prints are taken from the best 16mm film sources around, and I am sure the "fanboys" don't like it because they are not in 4K super duper print and sound quality.

People my age this doesn't bother because we were not brought up with all this technology and liberal mind set. We made do with what we had and made the best of it. The movies I saw were on a small black and white 13 inch TV. If these "fanboys" had to do that today they would need a "safe space" just like when Trump rightly won the election.

Almost everytime there is a new release you see all these complaints about this and that. THIS, in my opinion is what is hurting businesses like Sinister. The younger crowd demands too much and yet don't want to pay for it.

Well I hope Greg can keep Sinister around a bit longer, but if not it has been a great run and I am proud to have been with them each and every one of their 33 years.