Crate Digging Finds

06/21/2026

This weekend, while out at yard sales, I picked up Caddyshack II (1988) starring Chevy Chase. I also found a couple of Anchor Bay Entertainment Canada 's. Tender Mercies (1983), a touching drama about a down-on-his-luck alcoholic who befriends a young widow and her son. Another great find was a later series-numbered copy of Six Pack (1982), starring the iconic Kenny Rogers as a stock car driver.
I also picked up the science fiction/action trilogy box set containing RoboCop (1987), RoboCop 2 (1990), and RoboCop 3 (1993). Even though I own upgraded editions of the first two films, I grabbed the set because I didn't have Part 3. Truthfully, even if I had it already, I probably still would have bought the set—I'm a sucker for great packaging.
Other science fiction titles I bought, which I can't believe were missing from my collection, were the post-apocalyptic Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), starring pop megastar Tina Turner, and the highly entertaining guilty pleasure Spawn (1997), based on the Todd McFarlane comic book character. A new reboot, tentatively titled King Spawn, remains in development as of this writing.
Cool guy Chuck Norris (Missing in Action (1984), Invasion U.S.A. (1985), The Delta Force (1986)) and super-cool guy Charles Bronson (Death Wish (1974), 10 to Midnight (1983)) are represented in the Hollywood/Action section this weekend with A Force of One (1979) and Assassination (1987). In A Force of One, Norris plays a martial arts expert who trains police officers in self-defense after narcotics agents are murdered by a martial arts assassin. In Assassination (Kino Lorber Classics), Bronson stars as a presidential bodyguard assigned to protect the First Lady.
One film that had completely slipped under my radar was Valhalla Rising (2009). I initially thought it would be another addition to my Sword and Sandal section alongside films such as Red Sonja (1985) and Conan the Barbarian (1982). However, the internet insists that it's more of a slow-burn arthouse film, comparable to Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal (1957) or Werner Herzog's Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972). Films that are notoriously difficult to fit into a single genre always trigger my OCD and pique my curiosity, earning a place in my must-watch pile.
I also upgraded my copy of the horror/creature feature Lake Placid (1999) to the Scream Factory edition. Betty White's line, "...If I had a dick, this is where I would tell you to suck it..." still makes me laugh every time I watch it. I also picked up Lake Placid: The Final Chapter (2012), a title that feels a bit misleading considering it was followed by Lake Placid vs. Anaconda (2015) and Lake Placid: Legacy (2018).
Last but not least, I found At War with the Army (1950), also on the Kino Lorber Classics label. It was one of the earliest films to star the legendary comedy duo of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Following this comedy-musical, the pair would go on to make thirteen more films together.

06/14/2026

Great weekend for movie deals. I picked up Lars von Trier's arthouse film Melancholia (2011), Joe Dante's Piranha (1978) on the Shout! Factory label, as well as a steelbook edition of the Piranha 3D (2010) remake. Also directed by Joe Dante and released by Shout! Factory, I found a boutique Blu-ray of The 'Burbs.
I also added some comedies that were missing from my collection: Deuce Bigalow: Male Gi**lo (1999), Little Nicky (2000), Mel Brooks' Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995), and the remake of Brooks' The Producers (2005), starring Matthew Broderick and Uma Thurman.
A couple of guilty pleasures were the Don Knotts classics The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975) and The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979), both on the Disney label.
The title I'm most looking forward to revisiting is The Illustrated Man (1969), based on the writings of Ray Bradbury. An English teacher played it for our class back in public school, and I always remembered it being fascinating. I'm looking forward to watching it again.
While out hunting for sales, I stopped at a Talize thrift store to grab some work shirts and was surprised to find another Midnite Movies release—Chosen Survivors (1974) / The Earth Dies Screaming (1964)—in the media section. I also picked up the Hammer film One Million Years B.C. (1966), featuring the beautiful Raquel Welch and special effects by Ray Harryhausen. Terry Gilliam's Tideland (2005) was another nice find in the stacks.
As I was leaving one yard sale, the homeowner saw me looking through discs and offered me the entire box for $5. Even though I ended up with a few doubles, I couldn't resist.
Late Saturday, the family and I were in Campbellford for lunch, and I stopped by The Doom Den, a heavy-music-focused guitar and music shop located in the Meyersburg Flea Market. Along with metal-related T-shirts and patches, they also carry a selection of DVDs. I didn't have much time to check titles against my collection, but I did grab Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines (2012), Severed: Forest of the Dead (2005), and a later Anchor Bay release, Dinoshark (2010).

06/07/2026

It's been a couple of slow yard sale weekends, especially with the south end hosting a 50+ house event.
I still managed to pick up a couple of snap cases: Heat (1995) and Pacific Heights (1990). I also found some comedies, including Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a P***o (2008) and Black Sheep (1996).
A former co-worker from Lloyds gave me a Pennywise costume for our Halloween House, along with a few horror discs he was getting rid of: Jeepers Creepers (2001), Stephen King's The Stand (1994) television miniseries, and Soulkeeper (2001).
I also picked up the buddy-cop films Bad Boys (1995) and Bad Boys II (2003) on a split disc, plus a couple of Jackie Chan movies: Shanghai Knights (2003) and The Accidental Spy (2001).
One title I'm really looking forward to revisiting is 2 Days in the Valley (1996). It featured a strong cast that included Jeff Daniels, James Spader, Eric Stoltz, and Charlize Theron. I remember it being a good movie back in the day.
Another fun find was Super High Me (2007), Doug Benson's cannabis-themed spoof of the documentary Super Size Me (2004). I also grabbed Denis Leary's stand-up specials No Cure for Cancer (1992) and Lock 'n Load (1997) on a single disc.
Other pickups included the alien invasion film Skyline (2010). I also couldn't resist grabbing another copy of The Evil Dead (1981), especially since it was still sealed.
One of the more unusual finds was an interesting book featuring Heavy Metal album covers.

06/01/2026

40 years ago tonight, this cult classic time capsule was filmed.

Heavy Metal Parking Lot (1986/05/31)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBryTebK2Og

05/24/2026

2026/05/24 - Crate Digging Finds

I sold my wooden box Anchor Bay copy of The Wicker Man (1973) years ago and always regretted that decision. Nice to finally find one out in the wild again today. Also picked up two more rarely seen early releases from the same label: The Wild McCullochs (1975), directed by Max Baer Jr. — better known as Jethro Bodine from The Beverly Hillbillies television series — and Tim Hunter’s Tex (1982), written by S. E. Hinton, who also wrote The Outsiders (1983) and Rumble Fish (1983).
Found a couple of great Vinegar Syndrome releases as well: Cirio H. Santiago’s The Muthers (1976) and Javier Aguirre’s Count Dracula’s Great Love (1973) — aka Cemetery Girls — starring Paul Naschy. Along similar lines, I also grabbed The House That Dripped Blood (1971) featuring horror legends Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.
From stuntman-turned-director Hal Needham — the man behind classics like Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and The Cannonball Run (1981) — I picked up the wonderfully awful Megaforce (1982), which somehow managed to earn three Golden Raspberry Award nominations, including Worst Picture. It’s the kind of gloriously over-the-top ‘80s sci-fi/action cheese that has become more entertaining with age.
Also added Takashi Miike’s Full Metal Yakuza (1997) to the collection. Miike’s late-’90s direct-to-video work has such a wild, unfiltered energy before he became an internationally recognized auteur.
The big score of the day, though, was Jan Švankmajer’s Alice (1988) on First Run Features. A very loose adaptation of the Lewis Carroll classic, and one of the most unsettling and imaginative stop-motion films ever made by one of the greatest animators of all time. Švankmajer’s blend of surrealism, decaying textures, and dreamlike nightmare imagery still feels completely unique decades later.

05/24/2026

Yes...

SAVE THE DATE! Sunday, September 27, Fear Mall returns to Bowmanville for the 6th annual horror vendor market.

This year we will have 50 vendors selling some killer items, and as always we’ve got some fun surprises in store.

The first surprise is… FREE ADMISSION TO ALL! That’s right, we’re doing away with our admission fee and allowing everyone to enter at no charge. We will still have our VIP option and an all access pass, more details on those later.

Let’s kick off the spooky season in style at Fear Mall!

05/16/2026

Another yard sale adventure day. I grabbed some comedies, including the Scary Movie 1–4 set (2000–2006), Meet the Spartans (2008) — a Zucker Brothers-style “worst movie ever made” parody — and a couple of Blu-rays I didn’t already own: Edgar Wright’s The World’s End (2013) and the kaiju eiga adventure Kong: Skull Island (2017).

I also stopped by the sale of Crate Digging Finds follower David Sengupta Good ( ). From him, I picked up the 7-movie Tremors set. This franchise has a special place in my heart because it was the first “scary” movie I showed my daughter. She was so afraid afterward that I had to show her behind-the-scenes videos explaining how they made it. I remember her being fascinated that the creatures were just puppets and camera tricks.

It was a pretty slow day until I stopped by a sale on downtown Stuart Street. A former store owner had many, many crates to dig through. Unfortunately, a lot of the discs were missing, scratched, or had sun-bleached covers, and it would have taken a long time to search everything in depth. I left a business card and quickly grabbed some straight-to-disc Maple Pictures releases: Twisted Sisters (2006) and The Dark Hours (2005).

Other pickups included Hellraiser 6 (2002), Never Lake (2013), Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994), House of Mirrors (2014), Su***de Killers (2006), David DeCoteau’s Speed Demon (2003), and Paranormal Activity 3 (2011). I also found the Damon Wayans comedy Major Payne (1995), Father’s Day (1997) starring Robin Williams and Billy Crystal, and rounded out the pile with the sci-fi films John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars (2001) and Doom: Annihilation (2019), based on the early first-person shooter video game series.

05/09/2026

After getting access last weekend to some of the rarest films in Ontario, it was tough heading out today to hunt through local yard sales. Still, with more than 90 homes participating, the Peterborough East City sale was hard to pass up.

I picked up both seasons of Outsiders (2016–2017), which I recently watched. It’s a gritty, Sons of Anarchy (2008- 2014)-style story set in the hills of Appalachia, and if you haven’t seen it, it’s definitely worth checking out.

I also grabbed the DC Universe series Swamp Thing (2019). Unfortunately, the show was cancelled after just ten episodes. Even though I already own the Vinegar Syndrome 4K release of Dead Heat (1988), I couldn’t leave this zombie-cop classic sitting in the box.

Other finds included Disney titles like Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977) and Halloweentown (1998), along with a gimmicky “sock edition” collection featuring American Pie (1999), American Pie 2 (2001), and American Wedding (2003). I also picked up K-PAX (2001), which I remember being an interesting sci-fi film that I might revisit tonight.

05/05/2026

Sunday at Shock Stock. Loaded the car, I guess Blood Opera Inc. parked beside us - Cool car. Grabbed some 'Camp Blood' coffee at Coffin Creek Coffee Co. beside the wonderful Demons (1985) mask. Then finally got a chance to chat with fellow lover of sick and twisted movies - Ettinger from Ultra Violent magazine. Bringing with him from the states a bunch of Unearthed Films releases like the nasty A Serbian Film (2010). Figured I would take this opportunity to upgrade my DVD copies of the August Underground (2001); August Underground's Mordum (2003) and August Underground's Penance (2007) that i bought from Fred Vogel years back. If you don't know the series, beware they make the Terrifier (2016) franchise feel like a children's movie. Stopped by the Synapse Films booth and picked up a copy of Radley Metzger's The Image (1975). "...Hailed by critics as one of the best erotic films ever made..." So many crates not enough time or money. Quickly stopped by the Horror Talks To Me booth. I've been recently listening to and enjoying their podcasts at work, and grabbed some independent movies from director Stephen Perion Glory Hole Death Trap (2020); Toronto High Park Dracula (2021); The Man Wolf (2023) and Killer Burger (2025). Looking forward to checking them out. One last stop at the Gibraltar Market before heading out got me a Super Fly (1972) snap-case.

05/05/2026

First time I ever saw B.a. Johnston open for NoMeansNo. He chased me around the room trying to hump me. That was probably almost twenty years ago now. Another time Tammy and I took the kids with us to watch him play at the Hootenanny on Hunter Street and he tried to steal their snacks. They fought him off with sword balloons that some clown had given them. It's mind blowing every time Zander comes to watch B.A. with me. Although I did notice he was hanging on to his beer extra tight at this Shock Stock gig.