Saturday, June 28, 2008

Big Lots - Your Source for cheap ass DVDs

I find you don't often hear a lot of kind words about Big Lots (your friendly neighborhood closeout retailer). Probably due to their notoriety of seemingly only being located in terrifying neighborhoods in less than reputable parts of town. That and the fact that the employees look more zombie-like and miserable than even those at Wal-Mart. I mean no disrespect to employees of either store - I work at a store myself - just saying, they seem to hate being there more than people employed at most stores.

That being said, fellow DVD collectors who have overlooked the store should probably visit their nearest location at their earliest convenience. For the past year or two they've been stocking tons of DVDs for the sum of $3 a piece. And these aren't just crappy public domain titles, these are real sealed DVDs from companies like Sony, MGM and HBO and there are some spectacular deals to be had for people who still collect regular old SD DVDs.


Above is a picture of my recent Big Lots purchases over the last few months. Mostly the past couple of weeks though, as the MGM and HBO stock is pretty recent. As you can see, a few poor choices are to be found - I still can't explain why I handed over currency in exchange for the Super Dave movie - but there are some very good titles in there as well. Some of the stuff I picked up, like the Batman serials, the Deluxe Guys and Dolls and Arli$$ still sell for $25-$40 on Amazon. Big Lots, somehow, is letting them go for three American dollars. So it's well worth a visit if you, like me, can't resist a good bargain.

I was originally going to post the complete list of titles available here, but it's literally several hundred titles long. So I'll just list some of the notable titles.

Columbia TriStar/Sony Titles
3-Iron
An Evening With Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder
Anatomy 2
Auto Focus
Bad Education (Original Uncut NC-17 Edition)
Batman: The Complete 1943 Movie Serial Collection
Christine
Crimson Rivers (Jean Reno)
Crimson Rivers 2: Angels Of The Apocalypse (Jean Reno, Christopher Lee)
The Dark (2005 Maria Bello, Sean Bean)
The Dark Crystal Collector's Edition
The Devil Commands (1941 Boris Karloff)
The Fog (1979) - Special Edition WS
The Fog (2005 remake - Tom Welling, Maggie Grace, Selma Blair)
Groundhog Day Special Edition
Joe Dirt
Labyrinth Collector's Edition
Like Father, Like Son
Little Women (Boxed set with DVD and book)
Memento (2-disc Limited Edition)
Monster 2-disc SE
Monty Python's And Now for Something Completely Different
Mr. Sardonicus (1961)
The Omen 2-disc CE
Panic Room SE (3-disc)
Private Resort (Johnny Depp)
Sheena WS/FS Flipper (Tanya Roberts)
Spun
Stand By Me Deluxe Edition (with CD, Anamorphic)
Steamboy DC
Talk To Her (dir. Pedro Almodovar - OOP)
Torture Garden - 1967 Amicus horror anthology
Walk the Talk
Warriors Of Heaven And Earth
What To Do In Case Of Fire


HBO Video Titles
American Splendor (Paul Giamatti)
Angel Rodriguez: A Life In A Day
Angels In America
The Comeback: The Complete Only Season (Lisa Kudrow - 2 discs)
Cracker: Series One
David Spade: Take The Hit
The Hitcher (Rutger Hauer)
The Hitchhiker (1980s TV Series 2-disc)
The Hitchhiker Vol. 2 (1980s TV Series 2-disc)
The Hitchhiker Vol. 3 (1980s TV Series 2-disc)
Jerry Seinfeld: "Live on Broadway"
Lewis Black: Black On Broadway
Lewis Black: Red, White And Screwed
Louis CK: One Night Stand
Lucky Louie: The Complete First Season (2005 - 2 discs)
Maria Full Of Grace
The Mind Of The Married Man (Complete First Season - 2 discs
Mom And Dad Save The World


MGM Titles
8 Heads In A Duffel Bag
21 Hours At Munich
The Adventures Of Mark Twain (1985)
Alien From L.A.
The Amityville Horror (1979 James Brolin, Margot Kidder)
The Amityville Horror (2005 remake - Ryan Reynolds, Melissa George)Amityville II: The Possession
Amityville 3-D
Bowling For Columbine
The Brood
Bubba Ho-Tep CE
A Bucket of Blood
Burnt Offerings
Candyman
Candyman 2
Candyman3
Confessions Of An American Girl (Jena Malone, Brad Renfro)
CQ (SE)
Die Monster Die! (Midnite Movies - Boris Karloff, Nick Adams)
Dillinger
The Dunwich Horror (Midnite Movies)
Fatal Instinct
F.I.S.T.
The Flamingo Kid
For a Few Dollars More
Foxy Brown
The French Lieutenant's Woman
Frogs
Gates Of Heaven
The Ghoul (1933 Boris Karloff)
Guys And Dolls (Deluxe Edition, with book)
Heavy Traffic (1973 Ralph Bakshi animation feature, FS)
Hot Dog: The Movie
Hotel (2001 John Malkovich, Burt Reynolds, Saffron Burrows)
The Howling SE
The Howling II: Your Sister Is A Werewolf
Johnny Be Good
Killer Klowns From Outer Space (Midnite Movies)
Konga
La Cage Aux Folles II (World Films)
The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane
National Lampoon's Movie Madness
Once Bitten
Phantom Of The Opera (1989)
Pieces Of April
The Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection, Volume 3: Frolics In The Pink
The Pink Panther Strikes Again (older version with old artwork -UPC#027616750327)
The Pit And The Pendulum (Midnite Movies)
The Rachel Papers
The Rage: Carrie 2
Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders
Revenge Of The Pink Panther
Roadie (1980)
Robocop 2 (1990)
Robocop 3 (1993)
Rollerball (1975 James Caan)
Rollerball SE (2002)
Romantic Comedy
S.F.W.
The Saddest Music In The World
Scanners
Semi-Tough
Sex And The Teenage Mind
Shadows and Fog
A Shot In The Dark
Shredder
Slaughter's Big Rip-off (1973 Jim Brown)
Son Of The Pink Panther
Spaceballs CE (2-disc)
Special Effects
Species (1995)
Species III UE (2004)
State Of Grace
The Sure Thing
Swamp Thing
They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (sequel to "In The Heat Of The Night")
Thrashin'
Thunderbird 6 (1968)
Thunderbirds Are Go
To Live And Die In LA
Vernon, Florida
X:The Man With The X-Ray Eyes (Midnite Movies) (1963 Ray Milland)
Y Tu Mama Tambien (R rated)
The Yes Men
Young Doctors In Love

Thanks to the fine people on the DVDTalk forum for compiling the list which I then compiled this much shorter list from.

15 comments:

Glass Devaney said...

damned straight! thanks for posting this so people can see what theyre missing out on. id say about ten percent of my dvd collection is from big lots! my girlfriend loves shopping there, and i used to hate it, until i found their dvd section. now i look forward to it!

Adam Gott said...

The secret is getting out! They seem to be getting MORE and MORE dvd's (instead of LESS and LESS). With deals like this it will probably be a long time before I upgrade to blu-ray (I bought HD-DVD when the player was $100 at Wal-Mart).

They are also good for food closeouts for different flavors of established brands that were attempted to be introduced to the marketplace but failed.

http://cool-mo-dee.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

I have found some ODD old titles, mostly Canadian TV Movies that have Hollywood stars. These movies were very good.
Not all big loots have the same stuff. You hit a treasure trove.
Also www. deepdiscout com has very low prices
also overstock com and cd universe com.
Vince

Anonymous said...

the big lots here in Michigan aren't getting those great titles - you struck a gold vein in the retail retail foodchain

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing. I've driven past my local Big Lots and never considered going in. Now I will.

Digital Mom said...

many thanks for this tip; you just made me spend over $60!

here a few other titles that I found at the Big Lots nearest me (approx 20 miles south):

Hi Mom (early DePalma w/Robert DeNiro)

Salvador (Special Edition)

Autumn in New York (look, it was the first movie my wife & I went to see together)

Dangerous Game (Abel Ferrara flick)

This So Called Disaster (Sam Shepard flick w/Sean Penn & Nick Nolte)

Sinbad of The Seven Seas (Lou Ferrigno; directed by Enzo G Castellari)

Shadows & Fpg (Woody Allen)

Swamp Thing (Wes Craven)

Hound fo the Baskervilles (Dudley Moore / Peter Cook version; directed by Paul Morrisey).

I may need to go to the nearest one to the north of me.

maney7 said...

Here in N.C. they (Big Lots)are full of good titles,I've got 4 stores right around where I live.

Erick said...

Thanks for posting this. My wife and I went to two different Big Lots and bought a total of 18 DVD's. I noticed seven of the ones I bought are also in your stack.

Anonymous said...

Awesome, thanks for tipping me off to this. Finally picked up Scanners, Swamp Thing, The Brood, Blue Thunder, Real Men, Breakout and Making Mr. Right. Score!

B-MAN said...

Thanks for posting the information! I'm not a big shopper at Big Lots, but I went 3 days ago with my wife and was excited to find the massive display of $3 DVDs. My location in Carbondale, IL has mostly MGM titles, but a lot of great movies and even some special editions at that. I want to remind you that these same versions are being sold online in most cases for $10 at least! I can't stress how good the price is. A DVD sold online for $1 would still be more than this with shipping. To rent a DVD at Blockbuster? $3.98! I rest my case. I'll definitely be returning soon to see if they get new stock. These titles seem to be getting picked over quickly. Here's what I picked up so far:

Amityville Horror 1-3
The Brood
Burnt Offerings
Real Men
The Magic Sword
The Deep
State of Grace
Falcon and the Snowman
Sinbad and the 7 Seas
Beat Street
Fugitive Kind
Hell in the Pacific
Paths of Glory
Jack the Giant Killer
Fuzz
Semi-Tough
Heavy Traffic
X the Man with the X Ray Eyes
A Prayer for the Dying
The Fog
Slaughter's Big Rip Off
Konga
Too Late the Hero
Mulholland Falls
Salvador
Boxcar Bertha

Anonymous said...

Hi, great blog! I see you are talking about Big Lots here. On this great site www.pissedconsumer.com I found out that the company specializes in overstock and closeout merchandise retail. Big Lots operates hundreds of department stores in almost every U.S. state. Big Lots Furniture stores are free standing stores that sell a complete line of furniture for living room, dining room, bedroom, home office and kitchen; mattresses, toys, watches and accessories.

stereo3d said...

Is that the recalled version of Swamp Thing?

phelpster said...

stereo3d - No, it's the one they released after the R-Rated one got recalled. Still cool for $3 though.

Anonymous said...

Dollar stores can be great for DVDs. Not only have I bought many public domain features and TV series episodes, but also the occasional remaindered semi-recent titles. October is when I hit the stores for their Halloween titles. Not a bad assortment here in MI, but I've found many other titles in KY (like obscure Chaney Sr. stuff). In my comfortable northern suburb, I can find some pretty good stuff, but if I am in one of the decaying outer-ring communities, I can often find much more, as long as I don't get a fraudulent traffic ticket from the cops in those bankrupting old towns.

David Mosher said...

I've collected numerous Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror DVDs from Big Lots, their DVD offerings are getting better and better!

Great Blog!

http://propsculptor-halfcastsculptingform.blogspot.com/

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