What DVDs had the most interesting packaging?

[Pissmaster]

DVDs are borderline dead. That's a damn shame, too - there are tons and tons of movies with extra features exclusive to their DVDs that got culled in later releases, as the fanfare of DVD releases waned, and Blu-ray & streaming took over. Now that we live in a dystopia where even renting a streaming copy of The Super Mario Bros. Movie runs you $25, it's probably safe to say that the era of cool movie packaging is over. So here are a few:

Total Recall 1990 came in a Mars-shaped round tin that perfectly fits the DVD, as well as a booklet and an orange piece of foam:




Northern Exposure came in a plush coat, each season a different color, that you fit the DVD case into:


But the funniest story I know about a set of DVDs and their packaging comes from The Simpsons:

There's a pretty good mini-documentary on it on YouTube, but the tl;dw is: after five seasons released in standard box sets, season 6 was released as that molded Homer head, which looks terrible on a shelf, and the case itself is very flimsy. There were a few other ones released like that for later seasons, but they also released standard boxed copies alongside the molded ones from season 7 onward. Within season 6, they also included a slip of paper with information on how to order a standard box, but the phone number printed was wrong, lol.

So if you know of any others (or music, or games, whatever), post 'em

 

[Kerr Avon]

The director's cut editions of the Star Trek films. The uniformity of those silver gray boxes was very pleasing.

 

[RollerGator]

In Germany they have something called hardbox DVDs which come in a giant box similar to the old clamshell VHS cases with majestic cover arts. They often include a bonus movie half the time.

 

[Fungible penis]

My Stargate SG-1 complete box set has an actual plastic Stargate on the front.

 

[Vampirella]

The region 2 release of Phantasm came in a Phantasm Sphere.

 

[Dixieland Buckaroo]

The Evil Dead one that looked like the Necronomicon or book of the dead or whatever... klaatu....

 

[BrunoMattei]

The Evil Dead one that looked like the Necronomicon or book of the dead or whatever... klaatu....

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Bruce Campbell held one of these things at a convention and said "This thing smells like shit!"

All of the following are German Blu-Ray releases:




You get the movie, a shirt, and a custom model of the infamous alien that became a meme because assholes thought it was a real skinwalker.

Fulci's horror masterpiece The Beyond had two really cool releases:



If I ever see this in person I'd probably succumb to my inner consoomer and grab it.



This is worth about $500-1000 easy. I kind of wish the model had a more detailed paint job but it's still pretty fucking cool.



Pic is not mine. This is DVD and not Blu but this is considered one of the holy grails of collecting and only 100-500 were made. The impaled woman model (it comes in two pieces) is about a foot tall. This thing is easily worth 5-10 grand. It's a miracle if you ever see this on Ebay.

Severin is the only other company still doing big releases like this such as their release of the legendary Bigfoot gore film Night of the Demon (1980):



Imagine paying over $100 for this and then Jewing out by going Media Mail. They also released a limited edition replica mask of the Bigfoot.

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

I have a press preview special thing of the start of Shakeycam Galactica that's pretty swank. just a nice case to slip the discs out of, not full on dank, but still def swank, like that Dawn Of The Dead (at least three versions) R1 set

 

[White Devil]

The Evil Dead one that looked like the Necronomicon or book of the dead or whatever... klaatu....

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They're called the Book of the Dead edition. The one for Evil Dead 2 had a concealed button you can press and the book screams. I bought these in 2006 and let me tell you, the foam material they're made of does not hold up at all.

 

[feral cat #6385]

They're called the Book of the Dead edition. The one for Evil Dead 2 had a concealed button you can press and the book screams. I bought these in 2006 and let me tell you, the foam material they're made of does not hold up at all.

Got that right. Both of mine rotted. Bummer.

 

[Sundae]

I like that the DVD cases for Scooby Doo, Where Are You and the classic TMNT series are shaped like the Mystery Machine and Turtle Van, respectively.

 

[DankSmoker]

They had the normal sleeves but I always got a kick out of the orange colored Nickelodeon vhs tapes as a kid.

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

I like that the DVD cases for Scooby Doo, Where Are You and the classic TMNT series are shaped like the Mystery Machine and Turtle Van, respectively.
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iirc there was a similar giant thing for Power Rangers that was a life-size Red Ranger head

 

[Vampirella]

I got the steel book for My bloody Valentine collector's edition for Scream factory. And it came with the little figure of the killer, and a nice poster.

 

[BrunoMattei]

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I got the steel book for My bloody Valentine collector's edition for Scream factory. And it came with the little figure of the killer, and a nice poster.

I didn't buy that but I do have the toy.

 

[White Devil]

I didn't buy that but I do have the toy.

I have the steel lunchbox set for Friday the 13th but kinda wish I had picked up the one that came with the mask.

 

[BrunoMattei]

I have the steel lunchbox set for Friday the 13th but kinda wish I had picked up the one that came with the mask.

They re-released the toy. It's one of those toys you can't stand up without one of those figure stands but the attention to detail is great.

It's funny, ever since My Bloody Valentine has been released (mostly) uncut it's been hailed as one of the legendary 80's slashers and the proof is in the merch. Harry Warden merch is everywhere at horror conventions.

 

[White Devil]

Though I think the price is insane and the Hobbit movies are fucking garbage, the LOTR/Hobbit Collectors box set was pretty cool and came with that book shelf stand.

You can buy this set on Amazon for no lie, $1000. It's like 30 fucking discs.

 

[GenociderSyo]

HellRaiser Box Set

 

[Dixieland Buckaroo]

Though I think the price is insane and the Hobbit movies are fucking garbage, the LOTR/Hobbit Collectors box set was pretty cool and came with that book shelf stand.

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You can buy this set on Amazon for no lie, $1000. It's like 30 fucking discs.

The original Extended Edition DVD releases of Lord of the Rings were pretty great:

One could get just the discs (there were 4 or 5 per movie), or you could get the movie with some tchotchke:

Similarly, the later released Harry Potter Ultimate Edition Line:

These really felt like they were works of love, even without some of the physical extras. Well-curated copies of the films, with extra bits, lots of extras that were well-produced, just great.