Fast-Forward Price
Despite occasional low-priced blockbusters such as The Little
Mermaid ($26.99), industry insiders expect list prices on most big
titles to jump from $89.95 to nearly $100 by the end of the year,
due to rising wholesale prices. ''It's hard to imagine retailers not
raising rental fees (as a result),'' says Video Business editor Bruce
Apar. However, studios are lowering prices on many B-movies. Gee,
thanks.
Bum Rap
After all, what's a pause button for? The Bare Facts Video Guide
1990 ($10; 408-249-2021), by Craig Hosoda, tells you ''where to find
your favorite stars nude on video tape.'' Of the nearly 1,000 raw
talents in the book, Richard Gere and Rob Lowe are the actors most
likely to take it all off (actress Monique Gabrielle takes topless
honors). Here's Hosoda, who gives each entry a star rating,
delivering the visibility report for Jack Nicholson's big scene in
Chinatown: ''Brief buns, putting pants on getting out of bed after
making love with Faye Dunaway: *.''
Home at the Drive-in
To make it into the 22-tape series The Sleaziest Movies in the
History of the World, the grade-Z classics had to have ''some
historical importance,'' says drive-in movie critic Joe Bob Briggs,
who compiled the series for Strand/ VCI ($19.95 each). The first four
titles, due June 7, include the pseudo- documentary Let Me Die a
Woman, which proved too sleazy even for Joe Bob (he deleted a
sex-toy scene), as well as Blood Feast, Suburban Roulette (about wife
swapping), and his favorite, Nude on the Moon, featuring a colony of
''moon dolls.'' ''You know they're from the moon because they have pipe
cleaners sticking out of their bouffants,'' says Joe Bob.
The Mayor & Me
Some Flint, Mich., citizens didn't like the way last year's
controversial Roger & Me portrayed their town. But that hasn't
stopped Flint video stores from ordering extra copies (June 20,
Warner, $89.95). Jim Jacob, owner of Flint's East Village Video, says
a lot of people want to see it, although half the town thinks the
movie is ''a total misrepresentation. I hope they won't hold it
against me for stocking it. The mayor comes into my store.''
Close Encounters of Your Own Kind
Wanna-be film editors can show Steven Spielberg a thing or two
when two versions of Close Encounters of the Third Kind come out
together on an interactive laserdisc from Voyager this summer (no
price yet). Viewers can choose to watch the original 1977 version or
the 1980 rerelease, in which the middle is shortened and the big
finale goes on forever. Thanks to the magic of laserdisc
programming, viewers can restore missing scenes to either version to
create their own deluxe edition. The disc will also include
interviews with director Spielberg and composer John Williams.
Paper View
Junk mail is about to get more interesting. Next month Philmax,
Inc., will introduce a disposable, ''90 percent recyclable'' paper
videocassette. The hour- long, low-cost tapes, which are good for
only five plays, will probably be used for direct-mail advertising
and giveaays. Philmax says they ''can be bent and twisted and will
still play.''
