Second Sight Films (UK)

[j99]

Re: Possession Box Set

Interesting and disappointing. Hopefully they might be tempted with another print run. Thanks for your reply, Mark L.

[rapta]

I considered pre-ordering it, but quickly realised for the price of one film I could buy a decent box set and still have change, so didn't. Of course, I still wanted it, especially when I saw photos/videos of the set in-hand, and now it may be OOP. I just didn't want to spend £50-60+ for it, was only considering it at £40-45 maximum (it was around that on pre-order from Rarewaves).

Ironically, some of their editions I did jump on were still in print for months later, even now (Mean Streets, The Hitcher, The Nice Guys), and I only have one that went OOP quickly (The Blair Witch Project). I regret not getting The Witch, and might feel the same about Possession at some point, but at the same time I can't regularly justify paying £40+ for a single film.

PS: I did briefly own The Babadook set, but sold it as I decided I didn't need it. I just got the standard edition Blu-ray instead, as their discs are generally the best thing about their releases.

[Mark L.]

I considered pre-ordering it, but quickly realised for the price of one film I could buy a decent box set and still have change, so didn't. Of course, I still wanted it, especially when I saw photos/videos of the set in-hand, and now it may be OOP. I just didn't want to spend £50-60+ for it, was only considering it at £40-45 maximum (it was around that on pre-order from Rarewaves).

Ironically, some of their editions I did jump on were still in print for months later, even now (Mean Streets, The Hitcher, The Nice Guys), and I only have one that went OOP quickly (The Blair Witch Project). I regret not getting The Witch, and might feel the same about Possession at some point, but at the same time I can't regularly justify paying £40+ for a single film.

PS: I did briefly own The Babadook set, but sold it as I decided I didn't need it. I just got the standard edition Blu-ray instead, as their discs are generally the best thing about their releases.

I can’t stand how much stuff gets sold out in pre-order lately. I know it’s always been a problem, but it feels like it’s half the big releases these days. I want to see reviews before I drop what’s becoming serious money! I’m not suggesting something needs to be around for a whole year either, but I think expecting three months is pretty fair.

Have to give a little bit of credit to Arrow for fixing whatever was going on with their releases selling out so fast. I don’t particularly care about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or The Mask, but people thought those were going to evaporate and they’re still available for whoever wants them.

[MichaelB]

Indicator has never let a release sell out at the preorder stage, to the extent of increasing the limited edition print runs of Night of the Demon, Scum, and Guest House Paradiso when that threatened to happen. They’re not scared of reviews and completely appreciate that people may want to wait until they appear.

[Mark L.]

Indicator has never let a release sell out at the preorder stage, to the extent of increasing the limited edition print runs of Night of the Demon, Scum, and Guest House Paradiso when that threatened to happen. They’re not scared of reviews and completely appreciate that people may want to wait until they appear.

Have always appreciated Indicator for that. Also grateful for how communicative they are around limited releases being close to selling out. In the time I’ve followed this stuff, there’s only one limited release I was interested in that I’ve missed out on: Dragonwyck. Even then I feel like it may have been a surprise for Indicator how suddenly that one sold out!

[perkizitore]

I considered pre-ordering it, but quickly realised for the price of one film I could buy a decent box set and still have change, so didn't. Of course, I still wanted it, especially when I saw photos/videos of the set in-hand, and now it may be OOP. I just didn't want to spend £50-60+ for it, was only considering it at £40-45 maximum (it was around that on pre-order from Rarewaves).

Ironically, some of their editions I did jump on were still in print for months later, even now (Mean Streets, The Hitcher, The Nice Guys), and I only have one that went OOP quickly (The Blair Witch Project). I regret not getting The Witch, and might feel the same about Possession at some point, but at the same time I can't regularly justify paying £40+ for a single film.

PS: I did briefly own The Babadook set, but sold it as I decided I didn't need it. I just got the standard edition Blu-ray instead, as their discs are generally the best thing about their releases.

I can’t stand how much stuff gets sold out in pre-order lately. I know it’s always been a problem, but it feels like it’s half the big releases these days. I want to see reviews before I drop what’s becoming serious money! I’m not suggesting something needs to be around for a whole year either, but I think expecting three months is pretty fair.

Have to give a little bit of credit to Arrow for fixing whatever was going on with their releases selling out so fast. I don’t particularly care about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or The Mask, but people thought those were going to evaporate and they’re still available for whoever wants them.

What is particularly annoying about Arrow, is that sometines they don't specify if a specific cut of a film is only part of the limited edition, the most notable example being Dark City.

[ryannichols7]

Indicator has never let a release sell out at the preorder stage, to the extent of increasing the limited edition print runs of Night of the Demon, Scum, and Guest House Paradiso when that threatened to happen. They’re not scared of reviews and completely appreciate that people may want to wait until they appear.

similarly I believe Fran said he would never let a Radiance title have this happen too, I think it's absolutely silly that labels like Second Sight and Arrow* allow this to happen, personally. creates scarcity, scalpers, and really what's the issue? if it's cost, you're clearly going to sell out of it so why not up it? I assure that aside from select weirdos who would get mad that their "limited edition" isn't as "limited", people get more access to a better product, and that should be appreciated by all, particularly those who contribute essays to Second Sight's lovely booklets that will now have more of an audience reading them

(*-obviously the kingpin of this is Vinegar Syndrome, but I'm not gonna pile on them for the millionth time...they would never fix this, but I genuinely think SS and Arrow could and should benefit from upping print runs for high demand titles. and obviously, Possession was clearly going to be one!)

[dwk]

Arrow doesn't even let you know how many copies of a limited edition that they are releasing, so they easily could up the number and no one would know.

[ryannichols7]

Arrow doesn't even let you know how many copies of a limited edition that they are releasing, so they easily could up the number and no one would know.

if they ever have, they've done a horrible job of it, given the amount of titles from them that sell out on presale

[Matt]

Indicator is also pretty good at getting a standard edition out expeditiously (when rights allow) after a limited edition sells out.

[rrenault]

Eureka even decided to do an extra pressing of their LE UHD of Cure when sales exceeded expectations.

[MichaelB]

Have always appreciated Indicator for that. Also grateful for how communicative they are around limited releases being close to selling out. In the time I’ve followed this stuff, there’s only one limited release I was interested in that I’ve missed out on: Dragonwyck. Even then I feel like it may have been a surprise for Indicator how suddenly that one sold out!

To be fair, the limited edition of Dragonwyck was on the market for nearly a year (April 2019 to March 2020), so it wasn't that sudden!

And it was followed by a standard edition, although sadly that had to go OOP when it proved impossible to renew the rights, as it was a Fox title that's now sealed off in the Disney vaults. The only one of their six Fox titles that didn't make it to a standard edition was The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, because that hadn't sold out in the limited edition when the rights expired.

[rapta]

I can’t stand how much stuff gets sold out in pre-order lately. I know it’s always been a problem, but it feels like it’s half the big releases these days. I want to see reviews before I drop what’s becoming serious money! I’m not suggesting something needs to be around for a whole year either, but I think expecting three months is pretty fair.

Have to give a little bit of credit to Arrow for fixing whatever was going on with their releases selling out so fast. I don’t particularly care about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or The Mask, but people thought those were going to evaporate and they’re still available for whoever wants them.

It is definitely starting to get frustrating. I have been collecting Masters of Cinema titles for well over a decade and the past year or so, suddenly titles I expected to at least be around for 6 months after release are going OOP way faster than that. Several titles released in 2025 went OOP in a matter of months, which says to me their recent policy of limiting runs to 2000 is way too low, and should at least be 3000 (the standard for Indicator or Radiance).

As for Second Sight, you can probably tell I've largely given up trying to collect their limited editions from my above comments, but to echo what people have since posted, they're neglecting the chance to up print-runs if a title is selling strongly on pre-order. Of course it may be complicated when it comes to costly things like books/booklets but if you know the rate at which a title is selling before the release date, you can predict its trajectory and adjust the number of copies accordingly. It helps if you're a label like Second Sight, Arrow or BFI who no longer mention how big a print-run is, as you can adjust at your own discretion.

You're right that Arrow have got much better at this, and at the time of typing you can still get City on Fire for example, which I figured might start disappearing like last year's Leone releases did. I'm grateful as there are titles such as the ones you mentioned which I may still want to buy before they go OOP, and might even end up in a sale. I've missed out on a few titles that went OOP a few years ago, but since then have managed to get most things I had my eye on. It doesn't feel like a chore trying to collect what I want from them, where it did at one point and forced me to panic-buy what I really wanted and have to gamble on titles I hadn't prioritised.

[Peacock]

I’m playing Devil’s Advocate here, but maybe it’s not easy for labels to order another bunch of limited edition sets. Like if they manufacture 3000 and then they start selling quickly they may not be able to manufacture another 1000 for the same bulk cost so it might have to be another 3000. And then they end up gambling all that money for double the quantity when they may not sell it all. And so then they are left with 2000 leftover boxsets they have paid for and have to pay to store.

I loved it in the past how most labels limited editions stayed in print for ages, it meant there was no rush to buy.

Everyone is saying the same above, but that’s not beneficial for a label: they want people to purchase quickly. That’s always been the way according to MichaelB etc; that preorders and early sales are what determines the success of a release. Rather than when they have been discounted a year later.

While it’s unpleasant to all of us with FOMO to now have to preorder more or buy more things at full price for risk of missing out, this is something that benefits the labels. I doubt many labels want to sit on limited edition product like the Indicator Ford boxset for years.

And yeah, again, if there’s no rush for it to sell out then we can wait a year for it to be added to a sale. But that’s not necessarily the best business model for labels; releasing products they know won’t heavily sell until they’ve stored them for a year.

[domino harvey]

I can only speak to CD digipak/custom packaging printing from decades ago, but I imagine the same procedures apply here: you have to pay an initial set up fee and then a fee for custom settings before every print run, so it’s not cost effective to do custom packaging beyond an initial run because you aren’t getting a price break for future runs like you would with standard packaging

[dwk]

I understand the packaging costs, and I'm not sure what kind of time there is between ordering the packaging and announcing the release/putting it up for pre-order. Maybe a better way of doing it would be if they announced a release and told people if they wanted to ensure that they get the limited edition with custom packaging they need to pre-order by X date. Which could help limit peoples complaints about limited editions selling out in pre-order. They'd have a hard date that they would know about.

The thing about Arrow's limited editions is that they mostly are regular packaging with a regular cardboard slip and booklet, with an occasional release in a chipboard box and/or bonus discs with alternate cuts or extra films or extra extras. I understand the dropping of the printed material from the standard versions (though it'd be nice if they dropped the MSRP $5), but there really is almost no excuse for dropping the bonus discs (as they recently did with the standard edition of the Friday the 13th remake, which loses, I think, the unrated cut, or Dark City, which lost the theatrical cut.)

[Thornycroft]

There's also the potential issue of licensing around written material. I would expect the licensing for something like the Possession script to specify the size of the print run, making it tricky to increase at the last minute.

[MichaelB]

I can certainly confirm that the book in Arrow’s original Walerian Borowczyk box was non-negotiably restricted to 1,000 copies thanks to the inclusion of the rare Borowczyk short stories. With those, we weren’t even allowed to send out PDF review copies.

[tenia]

Arrow doesn't even let you know how many copies of a limited edition that they are releasing, so they easily could up the number and no one would know.

They used to, though, but have stopped quite some time ago.

[mfunk9786]

Reaching out to Second Sight to see if they replace packaging.

They do not. Shaky experience with this release to say the least: Can't find it, do find it, didn't quite find it, can't replace it

[TMDaines]

It is definitely starting to get frustrating. I have been collecting Masters of Cinema titles for well over a decade and the past year or so, suddenly titles I expected to at least be around for 6 months after release are going OOP way faster than that. Several titles released in 2025 went OOP in a matter of months, which says to me their recent policy of limiting runs to 2000 is way too low, and should at least be 3000 (the standard for Indicator or Radiance).

Yeah, I don't really embrace Eureka at this point. Looks like I am without La notte Limited Edition as multiple have got lost in transit from Rarewaves. It's the same principle as when Arrow dicked around with the booklets: buying premium releases should not feel as if it is a negative experience, because at some point your customer will just say "fuck it" and spend their money on other things. Masters of Cinema without a booklet is not Masters of Cinema.

[mfunk9786]

Got an email from Second Sight - tomorrow at noon UK time, they'll be restocking Possession and Re-animator LEs, but go out of their way to mention that they won't be replacing or exchanging them for damage occurring in transit, which is kind of wild to me. Anyway,

We have a very limited number of both Possession and Re-Animator Limited Editions which will be on sale tomorrow, Thursday 22nd January, at 12.00 midday UK time.
We have been inundated with requests for both titles, and so have limited purchases to one copy per order.

In making sure that we can make the most amount of copies available to our customers, we are also limited in any replacements we can make for any boxes that are damaged in transit. We do our best with packing, but sometimes issues do occur, but in this instance, we are not able to provide replacements or exchanges. We will of course accept returns if the item is damaged or faulty. Please see our returns instructions below.

[rapta]

I can certainly confirm that the book in Arrow’s original Walerian Borowczyk box was non-negotiably restricted to 1,000 copies thanks to the inclusion of the rare Borowczyk short stories. With those, we weren’t even allowed to send out PDF review copies.

I was grateful to grab a copy of the set for a reasonable price eventually, largely so I could get my hands on that book! Regretted not contributing to the Kickstarter, but was a bit more of a casual collector at the time to be honest.

Anyway, if there's a retrospective box set released now (or near enough), I don't wait around for it to disappear and prioritise getting it over a handful of single titles. MoC's Feuillade set was a bit pricy to be getting towards the end of the year it came out, but I had to bite the bullet or lose out entirely.

Yeah, I don't really embrace Eureka at this point. Looks like I am without La notte Limited Edition as multiple have got lost in transit from Rarewaves. It's the same principle as when Arrow dicked around with the booklets: buying premium releases should not feel as if it is a negative experience, because at some point your customer will just say "fuck it" and spend their money on other things. Masters of Cinema without a booklet is not Masters of Cinema.

It's an interesting change of tack to drop from 3000 copies to 2000 as bluntly as they have, meaning half of their limited editions go OOP unreasonably quickly. Talk about trying to force people to pre-order, but it's hard to commit when there's so much competition out there, especially now. I do still grab stuff I can't ignore, which is still a good chunk of the MoC output, but I've missed out on a handful of things I definitely would've picked up by now had they done a slightly bigger print-run. Now I'll just pick them up for cheap when they go on sale - it has made their catalogue feel a little less enjoyable to collect.

Like you say, at a certain point I did say "fuck it" and have switched my focus to Radiance instead, who are way more reasonable when it comes to signalling when things are going OOP. They are also pretty reasonable with pricing and don't hike prices up when titles are nearing OOP status, as far as I'm aware, whilst some MoC titles that are going OOP tend to be drifting over the £20 price-point for some reason. Anyway, at least I know I can get editions with booklets when I buy Radiance or Indicator due to them respecting collectors' concerns and where possible, responding by printing more copies, not limiting them further.

[rapta]

Despite what I said, particularly my frustrations with regards to pricing, I did just manage to get a copy of Possession from Second Sight just now as I didn't want to miss out. They were surprisingly in stock for at least half an hour (I bought mine at 12:01pm)!

There are still copies of Re-Animator as I'm typing this, but I doubt they'll be around for much longer by the sounds of things.

[Finch]

May titles announced:

Insomnia (1997) 4K + BD

New 4K restoration presented with Second Sight Films Director Approved HDR grade with Dolby Vision

Dual format edition including both UHD and Blu-ray with main feature and bonus features on both discs

New audio commentary with Director Erik Skjoldbjærg and Co-writer Nikolaj Frobenius

Running on Instinct: a new interview with Director Erik Skjoldbjærg

Falling Into It: a new interview with Producer Petter J. Borgli

Private Prisons: Alexandra Heller-Nicholas on Insomnia

Erik Skjoldbjærg's Short Films: Spor, Close to Home and Near Winter

The Devil's Candy 4K + BD

New 4K Producer restoration

Dual format edition including both UHD and Blu-ray with main feature and bonus features on both discs

UHD presented in HDR with Dolby Vision

Audio commentary with Director Sean Byrne

Into the Fire: a new interview with Director Sean Byrne

Those Fragile Things: a new interview with Actor Ethan Embry

Devil in the Details: a new interview with Director of Photography Simon Chapman

The Cutting Room: a new interview with Editor Andy Canny

A Big Step Forward: a new interview with Production Designer Tom Hammock

Behind the Scenes: VFX

Sean Byrne’s Short films: Advantage Satan and Work?

Dead Man's Shoes going to be a Blu-Ray after all, no UHD: