ASIAN/WORLD CULT CINEMA SLASHING PRICES

One of my favorite places to shop for Asian and European cult, horror, and other exotic cinema has been Thomas Weisser's ASIAN CULT CINEMA and WORLD CULT CINEMA websites. You may remember Weisser as the publisher of ASIAN CULT CINEMA, that digest-sized mini-tome that was the Asian film genre's answer to VIDEO WATCHDOG.

Thomas sent out a newsletter just a couple of days ago to his customers explaining that the crunch in the economy is affecting sales. With Amazon, Best Buy and other discount giants grabbing up the online DVD market like King Kong taking a swipe at a New York passenger train, Weisser has to make a move to keep his company alive.

As a result, he has announced that he will be reducing prices on his new titles, effective immediately. He also mentioned that he will be redoubling his efforts to seek out and offer obscure and harder-to-find titles that nobody else is selling.  Here is the message from the newsletter:

"You've probably noticed it's been a tough year for movie retailers. Lots of DVD stores - mailorder and otherwise - have closed their doors, a decision based on both a sluggish economy (there's not a lot of recreational money floating around these days) and changes within the industry itself (ranging from format to venue options).

In order for Asian Cult Cinema / World Cult Cinema to continue moving forward in these trying times, I've made a few major changes. The first, and probably the most obvious decision, has to do with pricing. We've taken all new releases [both Asian and World Cult product] and slashed the price, not just a few cents but dollars. Right now, all new arrivals are now available at 20% to 30% discounts. With your help, we hope to continue this policy into the future.

Secondly, I'd like to talk about the product itself. The domestic industry is floundering. There are decidedly fewer and fewer interesting titles being released today and much of the older product is being dropped from catalogs. This is probably caused by the flux, the uncertainty, in the U.S. market. But - whatever the reason - we've found that we can no longer depend on standard domestic distribution for product. I've given our store manager, Archie Cole, full reign to beat the (International) bushes and come up with stuff you're not going to find anywhere else, titles you certainly can't get at Best Buy or Netflix."

If you are even mildly interested in Asian and other international genre films, I urge you to check out Tom Weisser's site. Archie Cole manages the business and does a damn fine job of it. He ships out product lightning fast, answers emails quickly, and makes the order right if it's not. I have been a customer for a few years now and have never been disappointed. After all, where else can you find flicks like PSYCHO SHARK, BIG TITS ZOMBIES, and SEX AND ZEN, alongside A SERBIAN FILM, TROLL HUNTER and TORSO?

To visit the websites, go to the sidebar on the right of this blog roll and find the hyperlinked images to ASIAN CULT CINEMA and WORLD CULT CINEMA. Tell Archie that MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD sent you!