Never judge a DVD by its cover pt.1

Spurred on by some recent chats with Sporgey, I have been thinking about DVD presentation and how a cover draws me in. I have watched some awful films with amazing covers, but more often, amazing films with horrible covers. And almost each and every subpar graphic rendering belongs to the North American (region 1) release. Why do we always get the shitty version? Do DVD publishers think the viewer/collector doesn't care about what's on the outside of the package? More likely, the NA publishers themselves don't care. They are just widgets after all....

The biggest offenders seem to be the major studios, who think that just any old picture will do. Props must be given to the small labels who often take great care in preserving the original VHS artwork, or even that of the theatrical poster. And it begs a bigger question - does good DVD artwork equal greater sales/rentals, or do people already know what they want and are going to buy/rent regardless? Perhaps I'm in the minority, but a good DVD cover draws me in every time. Let's have a look see at a couple examples, so you can judge for yourself...

We'll begin with the film I was going to show in the "hidden gem" contest, though Scott informed me he's already seen it (though I think he's just saying that because he's scared of it), Valerie and Her Week of Wonders:
NA DVD:
EU DVD:
Johnnie To's latest, Mad Detective:
NA DVD:
EU DVD:

Witness the wackness of North American design.

I think I'll make this an ongoing series - I'll post a couple covers up every week so we can collectively wallow in the shit-pit of NA DVD art and tear up thinking what could have been - like that time when you realized that, hey, 28 isn't so young anymore, and you got really desperate for a life partner and "forgot" to pull out, only to find out the next day that ALL Thai hookers are on the pill anyway. HEY-O!!!

See-luh-kanth (not Ko-luh-kanth) out.