Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Cinespectral Films, We Hardly Knew Ye. [UPDATED]



This past March, we here at the News Vault posted about an upcoming Blu-ray release of ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK (which has since been taken down). This limited edition Blu-ray was being spearheaded by a fledgling company called Cinspectral Films. After pre-ordering my copy (as well as a copy of their also-promised HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN Mediabook release), I sat and waited along with hundreds of others as the first release date came and went.

Some folks were understandably perturbed, and those that were angry received refunds with little to no trouble. But many of us hung in there. And then the second release date was missed and rescheduled. And then the third. Each time, the poor manufacturing on the Mediabooks  was cited as the reason for the delay. On top of that, their online store was typically down, supposedly due to frequent DDoS attacks. It was worrisome, but still, hundreds(?) of us hung in there...

Then earlier this evening, I saw someone on Facebook had posted a translated forum post from CineFacts, that was written by someone from Cinepspectral. It was not good news....
Re: Elvira - Mistress of the Dark Limited Mediabook Edition (3x1000)

We would like to announce that ELVIRA, MISTRESS OF THE DARK on Blu-ray is canceled until further notice. All customers will receive their money back during the week.

Cinespectral Films will cease operations after completion of the repurchases. When and how it goes on with Elvira on Blu-ray you will soon find elsewhere. Our other 3 titles will also find a good home, so you will not have to do without the films. This will also go out to all customers via e-mail, please be patient. We say goodbye.
Rumor has it that a FOURTH delay was imminent, leading to someone in charge quitting out of frustration. Whether that's true or not, it's obvious that Cinespectral is shuttering its doors, even thought they hadn't officially released anything yet. This is a total shame because their Limited Edition Blu-ray of ELVIRA was boasting new cover art, tons of new and vintage extras, and a 4K transfer of the film. Better yet, this release was Region Free so it would've been playable worldwide. 

For those of you who pre-ordered, I wouldn't rely 100% on the promises of a refund from this now defunct company, so consider filing a PayPal claim ASAP! (Disputes can only be filed within 180 days of payment!) If that option isn't working, you can try to contact someone at Cinespectral via e-mail (support@movie2shop.com) or on Facebook!

Here's hoping that ELVIRA, HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN, FUNNY MAN, and any other titles that Cinespectral owned, get released by another distributor. (i.e. Arrow Video or Scream/Shout! Factory)

UPDATE: ON AUGUST 1ST, CINESPECTRAL FILMS POSTED THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE ON THEIR FACEBOOK PAGE.
Dear Customers,
We have to apologize for the recent silence. Unfortunately we have to confirm that the release of ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK and HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN on Blu-ray for now is being put on hold. We were forced to face another delay which would have put the release into mid-September, which obviously would have been outside of the purchase protection period for all customers of the first two weeks of pre-order.

The general management decided that ALL customers will get their money refunded within the next 7 business days. Once that will be completed we will cease all activities. However, rumors that the company went into administration are entirely made up. Please note that we will work down the list of transactions in sequence of orders (starting with orders from 7th of March). PayPal complaints will be handled besides that, so delays on such refunds might appear.

A few customers sent us "payment-requests" for the total amount of their orders. We will decline such requests. We are working down all refunds / complaints like written above. Every transaction has to be handled manually to be refunded. We apologize, but this might take some time. We are aware of technical PayPal issues which are connected with come 11th of August date, however that is in no connection to our account.

Complaints/Refunds are already handled right now. For the customers who asked if the contents of our set might resurface on another release, there is a good chance right now that another German company will release the set in the way it was planned.

Sincerely,
Cinespectral Films
So there you have it Vault Dwellers, the Cinespectral saga has ended and it looks like some other company is going to buy the distribution rights and release ELVIRA and FROGTOWN instead. Kind of a bummer, but at least we'll all finally have closure (and refunds)!


1 comment:

  1. Hi
    I'm the Owner of Fokus Media and we will Releas the HELL COME TO FROGTOWN. We have a Deal with the Owner of the Movie this is brand new. We will make a 4k release in Germany.
    You can follow us on https://www.facebook.com/multimediaulrich/

    ReplyDelete