Blu-ray - Germany - Silent Night, Bloody Night AKA Death Hou

[Christian_Bütikofer]

Title: Silent Night, Bloody Night AKA Death House AKA Night of the Dark Full Moon
Country: Germany
Region: ALL
Releasing Studio: WMM
Case Type: Mediabook
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Codec: AVC MPEG-4
Picture: 1080p
Soundtracks: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono, German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (Theatrical Pitch), German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (Video Pitch)
Subtitles: -
Cuts: No cuts (85:03)
Commentaries: -
Extras:
Original Trailer (1:13) (720p)
Notes: Mistakenly labeled Region B only on cover and disc. 16-page booklet (non-removable) featuring writing by Thorsten Hanisch. Limited to 111 copies. Part #99 of the series "Super Spooky Stories". The picture is sharp, but with a lot of scratches throughout the transfer - it seems that no correction work was done. German title: "Blutnacht". There is a "Bonus" DVD included (I don't know if it's always the same or if this changes. In my case, the movie below was there. And since this release is from Intergroove which is a very shady German label, I feel some kind reluctant... It maybe that even the release from Silent Night has a dubious copyright history. But I honestly don't know... List it with caution. Maybe Brent Reid knows something. WMM (the company that released this movie after Schröder Media in a Mediabook) isn't on my "dubios" radar... but I don't know who owns WMM.
Easter Eggs: -
Amazon ASIN: B08VBS3WXY
Source: Own it.

Bonus DVD:

Title: A Cadaver Christmas
Country: Germany
Region: R1-6, ALL
Releasing Studio: Savoy Film / Intergroove
Case Type: Mediabook
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Anamorphic?: Yes
PAL or NTSC?: PAL
Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, German Dolby Digital 5.1, German Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Subtitles: -
Cuts: No cuts (82:18)
Commentaries: -
Extras: (English, no subtitles, exception noted)
Trailer (2:17)
Bonus Trailers
- Remains (0:31)
- Die-ner (Get It?) (1:17)
- Zombie 108 (Z-108 qi cheng) (English text, Chinese audio (don't know which Chinese dialect)) (1:46)
- Bordello Death Tales (1:35)
- Humans vs Zombies (1:39)
- Lost Lake (1:34)
- The Dead (2010) (2:28)
- Maskerade AKA Mask Maker (1:14)
Notes: -
Easter Eggs: -
Amazon ASIN:
Source: Own it.

[Brent_Reid]

Hi Christian, I'm weighing in here as per your PM request. Won't any of the points on my article's bootleg checklist help you here? To whit:

Completely region free - possible red flag. Do other, proven legit releases of this title have region coding? Does the label have any region-locked releases?

Are there copyright holder logos on the discs and packaging?

Are there copyright holder logos and/or idents at the beginning/end of the film?

Digging deeper, are the discs dual-layer with maxed-out bitrates, or are they cost-saving, over-compressed single-layer discs?

Has anyone raised concerns about previous releases from the label?

Are there competing, more or less simultaneous releases in the same territory, especially with the the same language's subtitles (German)?

And so on...

[Christian_Bütikofer]

Thanks Brent,

There is no other release worldwide to my knowledge. My gut feeling tells me, it's a bootleg (was since Schröder Media released it in a keep case some years ago, and Schröder has its share of "shady" releases too). And since I am a journalist, I'm always very suspicious about a lot of things... But I have no proof. Maybe it's best I retract this listing. Because this "bonus DVD" from Intergroove... defenitely red flag. I will check out the movie for copyright signs again. Until then, whoever from the Admins has it under the "release watch", hold it . On the mediabook, WMM is the "release" company. And since there is a booklet from a renowned German movie journalist... BUT: This booklet is used in a lot of those WMM releases for their "Super Spooky Stories" range (the exact same article - not movie specific). So it could very well be that all those "extras" (Mediabook packaging, booklet) are just something to prop a bootleg up. And since the movie is presented in a very bad way, I also suspect that it's just another attempt to sell something without a proper license.

Just two examples for "propped up" bootlegs in Germany: The Undertaker, first released as a Blu-ray by Vinegar Syndrome, is released in Germany in luxurious Mediabook editions. But as far as I know, these are all bootlegs (it's not WMM, another label called "Inked Pictures"). Another one is "Alien Prey": Released by "White Pearl / daredo Soulfood" (I suspect this is another outfit from Intergroove). They use Vinegar Syndrom's extra content, but according to VS (officially stated by one of the VS owners on blu-ray.com), they never paid a penny for that. Also released as a "luxurious" Mediabook with lots of "booklet content" on top... https://www.amazon.de/Alien-Prey-Mediab ... B07KLCRTWN. It's crazy!

[Brent_Reid]

Schröder are definitely bootleggers. Are you saying the same Intergroove bonus DVD appeared in a previous release? If they are linked with Schröder, it would make sense for them to be recycling their own old stock.
I've got Intergroove on my unpublished 'bootleggers reserve list', as though I know they're thieves I had them leaning to the 'supposedly public domain label' end of the spectrum. Though in truth, it's high time we did away with such distinctions as a bootlegger is a bootlegger.

What does WMM stand for?

I've already covered Inked Pictures in an upcoming article but added them to my main bootleggers list a few weeks ago. They're in the habit of extravagantly repackaging boots from Great Movies (who have many sub-labels); could they also be one and the same? In the five or six years since I first wrote about this subject, fancily-packaged boots, often with new or unique extras, have become increasingly common. Especially so with Mediabook and steelbook releases of highly collectible, more recent films.

EDIT: I was just clearing out my full inbox and came across our exchange from a couple of years ago about Intergroove, which I'd forgotten about! You pointed out they also operate as "The Archive" (and Screen Gems), and are into porn and possible blackmail. Is it possible to tie all these guys in together? If so, I'll happily update my articles accordingly.

[Christian_Bütikofer]

Hi Brent,

yes, we had a talk about Intergroove some years ago - they dabbled in the fake "porn invoices" scam which was prevalent in Germany at the time... One of their lawyers recevied a jail sentence because of this . -> if you want to know more about that, let me know , Intergroove is totally discredited since (but I guess just for ppl who care, they still release and sell on amazon.de).

To the release of "Silent Night Bloody Night" from Schröder Media: I don't own the barebones release (which was sold very fast, I think it was limited to 1000 copies). But a user on OFDB made an entry with some remarkable comments (you can translate it easly with google translate into English): https://ssl.ofdb.de/view.php?page=fassu ... vid=415756. Main remark is this: "Das Bild ist scharf, jedoch extrem verschmutzt und zerkratzt. Einer Blu-ray äußerst unwürdig." which means in English: "The picture is sharp, but extremely dirty and scratched. Not worthy of a Blu-ray at all." What he/she describes about the picture is 1:1 what is now in the "Mediabook" release from WMM and what I experienced. So I think it's the same disc, now in the mediabook.

That WMM is putting in a "bonus" DVD from Intergroove (it says so on the start of the "bonus" DVD: Savoy Film/Intergroove) tells me two things: WMM has business relations with Intergroove and it is a movie that no one buys (those "Bonus" Dvds put in in Mediabook releases are - I guess - a way to get rid of huge stock of movies no one wants).

To WMM: They are known in Germany for releasing a lot of Hong Kong Martial Arts movies, they specialise in Martial Arts (most are very obscure, most of those movies were only available in Germany in the VHS days, a lot of them were from "Godfrey Ho" https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0061792). I am no expert but I read that a lot of obscure martial arts movies from Hong Kong are very hard to release because of copyright questions (sometimes it's very hard to even know who owns it now). To WMM: I don't know what WMM stands for nor do I know how is behind it.

To the Admins: I suggest to move this discussion in the "Is this a Bootleg" thread (I would do it myself, but I don't have the rights I guess). I don't feel comfortable to list it.

[Brent_Reid]

I've updated my list, adding in all the labels mentioned above. Going by these links, Intergroove appear to be down but not out:

https://ra.co/news/25611
https://www.linkedin.com/search/results ... ebs%20GmbH
https://www.facebook.com/intergrooveofficial/
https://www.facebook.com/intergroovebrazil/
https://www.facebook.com/InterGroove-E- ... 295919147/
https://twitter.com/intergroovebr

Mods: I've requested this before but what I'd really like s for you to amalgamate a whole load of dormant or archived bootleg-related threads like this one. Then ideally, it would be pinned to the top of the comparison page so folk could discuss releases before they're added.

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

so is this a bootleg? Confirmed?

[Christian_Bütikofer]

I took another look at it. It seems to be a movie that is in the public domain. It's also available on the Internet Archive (Archive.org) which I guess would not make it public if it wasn't in the Public Domain: https://archive.org/details/SilentNight ... ghtUPGRADE.

So I guess it's a "legit" release and therefore could be listed.

[Eric_Cotenas]

MGM had it as late as 1996 - it’s a convoluted story - and then as of 2005 a number of gray market and bootleg parties registered copyrights including Alpha and AIM. Since both Code Red and Film Chest put out hd-mastered transfers from the same print material-one of which was scanned by Vinegar Syndrome who offered it up for streaming early on - I would assume it is in the public domain (MGM still has some other Cannon films from the pre-Golan-Globus era but not all).

[Christian_Bütikofer]

Any update for this release? It seems we are in agreement that this is a legit release after all. . I guess you Eric have a lot more knowledge about it than I have and you seem to agree, it's in the public domain.