I have a lot of friends that question why I buy so many Blu-rays and DVDs. They all think physical media is dead, a thing of the past. They all think streaming is the way to go. I’m of the opinion that not only is physical media alive and well, but it’s as strong as it’s been in years. Going through all the Blu-ray releases for this past year and I think physical media is doing much better than even I have thought. The quality and quantity of releases we received in 2015 is mind blowing. And that’s with me only focusing on genre related releases. If I open it up to include everything it gets even better.
In 2015 a lot of great things happened in the world of Blu-rays. Arrow made their trek across the pond and began releasing Blu-rays in the US. Other small distribution companies like The Film Detective and Artsploitation entered the Blu-ray game. Scream Factory went nuts releasing a ton of older films as well as some newer stuff. Slasher // Video teamed up with Olive Films to start releasing their unique library of titles on the superior format. Our cult leaders in Vinegar Syndrome and Severin Films gave us a number of great titles. Kino Lorber went absolutely bonkers releasing more titles than I can dare hope to remember. Synapse Films released Manos: The Hands of Fate on Blu-ray. That’s right we now have a freakin’ Blu-ray release for Manos: The Hands of Fate! And that’s just part of what happened this year. I haven’t even gotten into all the great companies releasing stuff overseas!
Because of all the goodies we were fortunate enough to receive this year I’ve struggled putting together a list of just 10. How can I narrow down 100’s of titles to a measly top ten? Simply put, it cannot be done. Instead I’m going to do multiple lists and today I’ll get that started with The Collections Edition.
To fall under the category of Collections I’m only choosing releases that have 3 or more movies. There were a ton of great double packs released this year and I’m leaving those for a separate category. That’s basically the criteria. If a set of 3 or more films was released this year, it was fair game. Now, let’s start counting down!