Highway to Hell (Wicked Vision Collector's Edition #??) (Blu-ray/DVD Mediabook) [Germany]

[pygospa]

Release: ?

Link (Wicked Shop): ?

Price: ?

Limited: ?

 

 

First information and sneak peak on the covers for Wicked Visions coming release: Ate de Jongs 1992s movie "Highway to Hell", staring Chad Lowe (Life Goes On, ER, Melrose Place), Kristy Swanson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer [1992], The Phantom) and Patrick Bergin (Sleeping with the Enemy). As a Neatherlandian director, Ate de Jongs is probably not that well known, he mainly did single TV series episodes, a lot of Netherlands or German productions, but also a few Hollywood ones; Highway to Hell is one of these Hollywood productions, a B movie of the horror comedy genre, that is probably most notable for its long list of cameos, including Ben Stiller, Amy Stiller, Jerry Stiller (RIP!) and Anne Maera Stiller. In the movie, a demon is kidnapping a girl for Satan to take on as a bride; her boyfriend Charlie is trying to rescue her.

 

There is not much information about this release yet, it's supposed to be released this summer, a while ago they revealed that they where already working on the Disc menus, there will be an audio commentary with the director, and interview with the effects guy (Steve Johnson) and an exclusive newly produced interview with C. J. Graham. Regarding the covers, cover A is an old VHS cover artwork from Germany (and apparently also France?), covers B and C are newly commissioned artworks, and at least for cover C the artist is known as well: German artist Timo Würz, who does incredible paintings (with specialization on wildlife), comic drawings, book illustrations and music cover and booklet artworks; and now, for the first time, also movie artworks!

 

I will add ordering links, limitation information, dates and prices, as soon as they get available, but I didn't want to withhold the information that's already available.
 

 

[pygospa]

For me this one is a really though cover choise. I don't know the movie yet so I don't want to double dip. But both, cover B and C look stunning. I tend a bit towards cover B, but given that cover C comes from one of the few artists, I really adore (I have a few books with artworks from him at home, as well as some comic books and a lot of music albums that feature his artwork), I would also not want to miss out on the rare opportunity to have an Würz artwork on one of my movies. Though choice. How would you choose? What's your favourite artwork?

Probably @Veum and @Grendel will be the ones most interested in this, so what would be your pick if you'd get one?

[Grendel]

Hi there @pygospa, 🙂

Thanks very much for another lovely and informative post.

Oh wow, an old classic from I think, 1991?

Been a VERY long time since I've seen it, I think I have a vhs in my collection, heh.

( just checking.... yep, I do!)

I'll assuredly grab a copy as the humour in this was pretty good (very sarcastic).

Great SFX from a real powerhouse female team ( I recall it mentioned) including Florence Kemper, Katherine James and Molly Allen.

I'll probably go for "Cover C" as I find it relays the intent of the film the best. 🤩

Thanks again !

 

edit: I know there are many folk that get wrapped around the axle if a cover is not in English but honestly I have never considered that an issue.

I have so many covers with foreign language titles it's all just part of the mix. As long as I can comprehend the film, the artwork means a lot more to me than the silly title. 🙂

There's a few exceptions of course. Some titles deserve to stand, as produced. This ain't one of 'em...🤡

Edited May 30, 2020 by Grendel

[Cinephile]

Trailer spoils a lot I guess but it's very funny! Curious about it

[Veum]

Spoiler

9 hours ago, pygospa said:

For me this one is a really though cover choise. I don't know the movie yet so I don't want to double dip. But both, cover B and C look stunning. I tend a bit towards cover B, but given that cover C comes from one of the few artists, I really adore (I have a few books with artworks from him at home, as well as some comic books and a lot of music albums that feature his artwork), I would also not want to miss out on the rare opportunity to have an Würz artwork on one of my movies. Though choice. How would you choose? What's your favourite artwork?

Probably @Veum and @Grendel will be the ones most interested in this, so what would be your pick if you'd get one?

 

 

🥤morning here @pygospa

 

I would choose cover ”C” if I was wanting this title, although it does  not appear to be my ‘cup of tea’ 🍵 

Edited May 30, 2020 by Veum

[Grendel]

Hi @Cinephile !

Welcome aboard friend. 🙂

If obscure horror titles are something that interests you, I'd advise "following" @pygospa as he has posted a number of releases from "Wicked Vision" and we have provided some good discussion points to each.

Following pygospa and then searching through his Posts would be a lot quicker than for me to try linking them all. 🙂

Any questions, give us a shout!

[pygospa]

Hey @Grendel, and @Veum thank you for your feedback and your cover choice. And especially thanks for the advertisement you are doing for my threads :D It's not only Wicked Vision, I also like to present Anolis, Turbine, Capelight, Birnenblatt, and others. But, apparently you all like the Wicked releases so much that I'm writing most about them, nowadays :D

 

5 hours ago, Grendel said:

Oh wow, an old classic from I think, 1991?

Been a VERY long time since I've seen it, I think I have a vhs in my collection, heh.

( just checking.... yep, I do!)

 

Pretty cool. I haven't seen the movie yet, so I also never owned the VHS (I was too young to own these kind of movies, back then. I had a large Disney collection, and other kids movies, such as Flubber, Casper, Beethoven, Dennis the Menace and the likes. If it doesn't bother you too much I'd love to see a picture of the VHS - I love seeing the old covers they used.

 

5 hours ago, Grendel said:

I'll assuredly grab a copy as the humour in this was pretty good (very sarcastic).

Great SFX from a real powerhouse female team ( I recall it mentioned) including Florence Kemper, Katherine James and Molly Allen.

I'll probably go for "Cover C" as I find it relays the intent of the film the best. 🤩

 

Thanks for your input. Sounds really interesting. I did not see it, as I already mentioned, but I looked at the trailer and thought that it could be really an interesting movie, that I could really like (however, it could also be quite crappy - it's always a gamble with these movies :D )

And yeah, I'll guess I'll go for Cover C as well. However, I do like that cover B is a bit less overloaded. And I love the drawing of the car.

 

18 hours ago, Grendel said:

edit: I know there are many folk that get wrapped around the axle if a cover is not in English but honestly I have never considered that an issue.

I have so many covers with foreign language titles it's all just part of the mix. As long as I can comprehend the film, the artwork means a lot more to me than the silly title. 🙂

There's a few exceptions of course. Some titles deserve to stand, as produced. This ain't one of 'em...🤡

Funny that you mention this; I have to say, I am a bit like that. But that's due to Germany really strange politic of translating titles. Here are a few ones, where it doesn't make any sense. Either we have titles that have nothing to do with the movie itself:

• La maschera del demonio (The Mask of the demon) = Die Stunde wenn Dracula kommt (The Hour that Dracula arrives)
  In a movie about witches, where Dracula doesn't even play any role. Why did the do it? Because the Dracula movies where successful and German movie distributors thought it would be a good idea to use the hype and trick the cinema goers into this movie.
• Operazione paura (Operation Fear) = Die Toten Augen des Dr. Dracula (The dead eyes of doctor Dracula)
  Same thing - this time it's a ghost story. And this title makes absolutely no sense at all...

Small changes, that don't have any reasoning what so ever:

• Thor: The Dark World = Thor: The Dark Kingdom
  Why? How is Kingdom more German than using World?
• Tomorrowland = A World Beyond
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier = The Return of the First Avenger

Titles that are just outrageously stupid:

• Stripes = Ich glaub', mich knutscht ein Elch! (I think, a Moose is kissing me)
• Tremors = Im Land der Raketen-Würmer (In the land of the Rocket-Worms)
• Before I Fall = Wenn du stirbst, zieht dein ganzes Leben an dir vorbei, sagen sie (If you die, you'll see your whole life pass you by, they say)
  This is especially stupid, as the German title spoils the twist at the end.

I don't have a problem having a German, English, French, Spanish, etc. title on the cover, that makes sense, because it's a translation of the original title. Also, if it doesn't I wouldn't even realize. But having these German titles, and knowing the original titles, sometimes they are just plain stupid. Getting back to the topic: For "Highway to Hell" = "Highway zur Hölle", that's not the case. I'd still prefer the original title, but it's not too important.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Grendel]

Thanks for your reply @pygospa  🙂

Regarding titles on covers, you've voiced my sentiments exactly.

Germany isn't alone in providing bizarre and unrelated 'changes' to film titles (France can go a bit nuts as well, heh) but for a while, they certainly came up with some weird ones!

 

Unfortunately, my vhs copy of Highway To Hell, like 95% of my vhs tapes, are in storage boxes.

I was able to confirm I had it simply by pulling up my Excel film spreadsheet database.

My apologies but I'm not pulling out those boxes for a quick pic my friend!  😉

 

As for your Posts, sure I've been reading your Wicked Vision Posts buddy but I'll be damn sure to read any on Turbine, Capelight etc releases as well!

I have a fair amount of Turbine releases and about a dozen(?) Capelight, so always interested in their new releases and re-releases of treasured fliks. 🤗

 

Cheers my friend!

Edited May 30, 2020 by Grendel

[pygospa]

Finally some news - preorder has started yesterday at 15:00 at the Wicked-Vision shop - other shops are sure to follow, so check your favourite Mediabook dealer (be aware though, Amazon will definitely be third party, so no guarantee and is usually a bit more expensive). Maybe some admin/mod can add this to the initial post (because I cannot )

 

Release: 31.07.2020

Link (Wicked Shop): Cover A, Cover B, Cover C

Price: 29,99€

Limited: 444 Cover A, 444 Cover B, 333 Cover C

They also provided a new banner, that I'll add, and on Facebook they added this little announcement text (in English):
 

Quote

Dear visioneers,

how long did you have to wait for a legal european release, especially in Germany? It felt like an eternity, right?

But buckle up, because the wait is over. On July 31, 2020 we will release the cult horror movie HIGHWAY TO HELL as a European HD premiere in three strictly limited Mediabooks.

Especially for this release we have produced new bonus material and had two new artworks drawn! You heard right, Wicked Vision brought the Hellcop himself in front of the camera for a special interview.

Safe your copy now and get an limited collector's card!

This collector's card they talk about is limited to the 200 first preorders.

 

 

I'll tag @Grendel and @Cinephile, because you mentioned interest in this title, and I don't know if you follow this thread and get notified otherwise.

 

Edited June 27, 2020 by pygospa

[pygospa]

Small heads up on shipping: In Germany, if you order over 50€ there's free shipping - you could do so, by getting this one as well, it's same pre-order/delivery date (Wicked often releases in sets of two, for their own releases so you can save some money). For USA (not Canada though) I unfortunately learned, that there is no shipping permitted until further notice. If you want to be save, you can preorder, and he'll put them aside for you, but he cannot tell when it's possible to send those parcels for the US out again. Stupid Corona

 

 

[pygospa]

Once more a couple of wickedly pictures for friends of the wickedly movies. As with Destoryers the cover card is glued on the cover, and for this release I made a detail picture, on how this effects the cover (unfortunately). There's a little bubble where the cover card glue point used to be It's really small and hardly visible, but something that could be avoided by just not using them. Really unfortunate. On choosing the cover this one was on the one hand really easy, on the other really hard. The easy bit first: I chose the artwork by Timo Wuerz, because, well, it's Timo stop using inappropriate languageing Wuerz, one of the greatest artworkers, that I have met personally and had a little chat with after a concert in Hamburg, which he visited because he drew the artwork for the album releases of the band. He didn't even go in VIP or anything, he was there with the crowd, and on the way out I recognized him (we've been friends on Facebook for a long time) due to his pretty unique tatoos. He's a pretty cool guy, really friendly, yet also really passionate about his pet projects (on of them being the preservation of wild life in Africa), and he is an incredible artist, who's done great work for comics, album and record artworks, book covers, book illustrations, car paintings, paintings and art books - I have quite a bit of his work at home. So, how could I not pick the cover C by Timo Wuerz? Well, on the other hand, cover B was also really nice! But in the end, I am happy with my choice - this time people ordering the cover A got the "normal" limited edition card if they where amongst the first orders. People ordering cover B or cover C actually got a artwork card signed by the artist of the artwork. Unbelievable, but I was the first one to order the Wuerz artwork! In at least 20 years of collecting stuff that was limited and numbered, I have never gotten the no. 1 in anything. So having this by an artwork from an artist I really adore: This is really great, and I am pretty happy about it! (once more: luuuuuckey!). Additionally given that it is 1/111 makes it so much cooler And what I also like is that cover B artwork is featured on the inside of the booklet, so in the end, I got all the artworks (I keep wondering, if this last side is different, depending on the cover you choose? If anybody here got the cover B, I'd like to see a picture of that last artwork page opposite to the "Credits" page, I'd highly appreciate a picture if you got one!).  On the backside of the cover card we find an advertisement - not for another movie release but for a book that Wicked Vision did in cooperation with Creepy Images (a German shop that sells movie memorabilia, such as lobby cards, original posters, etc.). I don't think it's worth doing a thread for this book as it will be in German, but if anyone's interested, its a 178 pages book on Cirio H. Santiago, "unknown master of b-movies" (subtitle), and contains 43 reviews of the "western" (he himself is from the Philipines) directed movies, a complete filmography as well as exclusive interviews with Roger Corman, Richard Norton and Jerry Trimble, "and a lot more". You can order it via Wicked shop and Creepy Images, and if you do so till August 31st, you'll get a copy that was signed by the author David Renske. Infos and a glance incide can be found here. For a Wicked release the booklet is surprisingly one-sided on the images which mostly consist of movie scenes, but as was the case with Destroyer this probably doesn't come with much else, given that is a direct to video B-movie and not some horror classic that hit cinemas around the globe. Wait. What are you saying? I should stop rambeling, and finally show you the images? Okey, guys, here you are! Enjoy:

[Grendel]

Gorgeous photos and a wonderful write-up, again! Thanks so much @pygospa  🤩

 

I commented on my appreciation for Senor Santiago in your earlier post made today but just to reiterate, I'm a big fan as I know of his very close relationship with one of my idols, Roger Corman (legend).

As I also mentioned , I think I'll need to pick this and "Destroyers" up, ya know...just because...🙂

 

Oh, and speaking of Wicked Vision, my pics are up for the huge box I received today from Daniel! 🥰

[pygospa]

30 minutes ago, Grendel said:

Gorgeous photos and a wonderful write-up, again! Thanks so much @pygospa  🤩

(...)

Oh, and speaking of Wicked Vision, my pics are up for the huge box I received today from Daniel! 🥰

 

You're welcome And regarding your pics, I've already commented on thing you got all of them at once; sound's like Christmas, to be getting so many things

[pygospa]

Wicked Vision has a new product line, that is related to movies, but not a Bluray release; instead they have printed a selection of their Mediabook covers on large canvases. What you get is a matt 40x60cm art-print for 40€. They are pre-orderable and will be released on Halloween. One of the first five selected artworks is artwork B of this mediabook release. If I would get any one of these, this one would be the candidate, especially as I loved both artworks but chose cover C.

 

 

 

Anyone interested in these canvas prints? Here's the purchase link.

As I did not present any of the other releases, I'll just post the other links in here as well:

• The Monster Squad (Artwork used for cover E of the Mediabook)
• Necronomicon (Artwork used for cover B of the Mediabook release - this is also available in a bundle with their "store edition", i.e. the scanavo keepcase (aka criterion case) release, that selected titles get, once the Mediabook is sold out - this bundle saves you 10€).
• Hammer House of Horror (only Artwork - this is also available in a bundle with their "store edition" - this bundle saves you 7€).
• The Funnyman (Artwork used for cover Cof the Mediabook)

Is this at all interesting to you? For some of their artworks I would definately be interested - my hottest candidate to buy would be "Highway to Hell" - but to be honest, I don't have the space for these, so probably I'll never get any of these, because keeping them in the cellar would be too pitty for these beauties. What's your opinion on these?

Edited September 19, 2020 by pygospa

[Basil]

@pygospa you mean

could not resist  

 

 

 

 

basil