Trick or Treat 4K Blu-ray: A Limited Edition to Die For

Hello fellow readers, Greg here from the YouTube channel FanZcene Vids. I'm writing this article on behalf of something I felt was very important that happened in the world of physical media. With this being the week of Halloween, the boutique Blu-ray label Synapse Films, recently announced that they would be releasing the 1986 cult horror classic, Trick Or Treat, which features a killer rock star, appearances by Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne, on a limited edition 4K set

This is a movie so many fans and physical media lovers have been wanting for a very long time. It was announced that it would be coming to 4K a few years ago. Synapse put of pre-orders for the limited collectors edition of only 6,666 to be shipped out the week of October 27th, 2024. The set comes with the 4K, Blu-ray, a CD soundtrack, brand new special features, a poster, cards, three different covers to choose from, and so much more!

Once this was announced, people flooded their way to the Synapse website, and it immediately crashed. To me I saw this as an important moment for physical media, that showed a lot of people still truly want there favorite movies on a physical format

Synapse released an update. They apologized for the site's crash and pleged to move up the release of the Standard Edition in order to satisfy thousands of fans who didn't get their hands on the Limited Edition

Synapse's full statement is available at the end of this article

Not long after this update was issued, the site was restored and people could go and order a copy of Trick Or Treat. The statement they made about moving up the Standard Edition really showed me they care about collectors, and I think big studios and boutique labels alike need to pay attention to the engaged way Synapse responded

Physical media has been the subject of a lot of discussion - many are saying it's dead or dying. An episode like this demonstrates the opposite. Copies sold out instantly and buyers crashed a website. Personally I think the biggest problem is that we have lost physical locations. The places we actually used to go and buy physical media. So we go online and crash websites in hopes of getting something we really want

The fact that Synapse felt pressured to move up the Standard Edition is an incredible testament to the power of physical media and how many of us actually ask for it and show up for it

Yes there are problems with physical media: a release can be expensive, availability is limited, and it is becoming harder and harder to buy at local stores. Maybe after everything that happened here we can make a change. A better infrastructure for both the collector and the average movie fan who wants to own a copy of Trick Or Treat needs to be in place. Can we make that change?

Physical media is still very powerful and in demand. If you give collectors what they want they just showed they will buy it. They literally just crashed a website to buy it. At the end of the day I think this is a good problem for physical media to have

And me? I managed to get my pre-order in and I sit patiently waiting for my 4K copy of Trick or Treat to arrive. And when it does arrive, I will have it to watch wherever and however I want. Forever

To me that's what makes physical media the superior format

As many of you know this has been an unexpectedly crazy day for Synapse. We knew that there would be a big demand for TRICK OR TREAT but the response has truly been overwhelming. We've never experienced as many orders in a single day than we have for TRICK OR TREAT and we wish to express our gratitude to everyone who place and order.

Of course, the events of the day took and unexpected turn when our site host, DreamHost, experienced server failures across multiple sites today, causing outages to the Synapse site (among others) and seriously affecting many customers' ability to place an order. The DreamHost team has been working to movie the servers for each of the affected sites (including Synapse) to new locations and we're informed this will be resolved shortly so the Synapse site will be back at 100% to sell the rest of our TRICK OR TREAT stock to those who have been patiently watiting.

Unfortunately, this matter has been completely beyond our control, understandably causing a great deal of frustration with many of you who are trying to place and order for this highly anticipated title. We apologize for the inconvenience and frustration this has caused many of you. While we will not be making any additional copies of Limited Edition available due to the expense and time that goes into producing it, we will plan to movie up production of the Standard Edition and hope to announce something soon.

We appreciate your patience and understanding in this matter. These issues have made this release more trick than treat for many of you and that was by no means our intention. We will make sure this does not happen again in the future.