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DVD Maniacs.net

I am here for Networking

About Me

DVD Maniacs is a review website that was created by Edwin Samuelson in March 2000. It was born of necessity – the era of its creation was the boom time for cult movie DVD releases, with obscure genre favorites being issued in jam-packed special editions every week. Unfortunately, such left-of-center films rarely got their due from the online DVD review sites at that time. DVD Maniacs was designed to fill that void: a place built by the fans, for the fans.
Starting with writers like Charles Avinger and Vince Bonavoglia, DVD Maniacs established a style of cult DVD criticism that is film-savvy without being elitist. Soon, writers from elsewhere threw their hats in the ring – people like veteran film journalist Chris Poggiali, filmmaker Scooter McCrae, Bava biographer Troy Howarth and online reviewers like Nathaniel Thompson and Don Guarisco. Ian Jane joined up in early 2002 and became the site’s main writer as well as the chief moderator of its heavily-trafficked message board. Edwin Samuelson continues to oversee the the site. His main job is editing and formating reviews, and supervising the over quality of the site. Today, Edwin Samuelson devotes a lot of his free time to his weekly TV series, The Cinefiles (Be sure to check out their My Space page at www.myspace.com/cinefiles).
Today, DVD Maniacs continues to focus on fringe fare but has broadened its horizons to include art films, concert discs and the occasional Hollywood effort. It also covers releases from around the world and has had many “first-look” reviews in recent years. The buzz created by this work has led to our writers penning liner notes for DVD’s like THE HILLS HAVE EYES, CHALLENGE OF THE TIGER/FOR YOUR HEIGHT ONLY and ROCK & ROLL NIGHTMARE. As a result, the site has been mentioned in publications like Fangoria and Rue Morgue (some attentive readers might have noticed DVD Maniacs reviews making ‘uncredited’ appearances in Dark Side magazine).
As its legend has grown, DVD Maniacs has built relationships with the professional film community. Genre personalities interviewed for the site include William Lustig, Just Jaeckin, Sam Firstenberg and Bill Margold. DVD Maniacs also prides itself on having a strong, direct relationship with its audience via the site’s popular message board. It’s worth noting that fans aren’t the only ones who post there: leading figures in the cult DVD-releasing community like Synapse's Don May, Jr. Grindhouse Releasing's Sage Stallone, BCI's Cliff MacMillian and Subversive's Norm Hill have been known to pop up there and even cult auteurs like Warren Evans have joined on.
As the face of home entertainment changes, so will DVD Maniacs: Upcoming plans for the site include coverage of Hi-Definition releases and the introduction of multimedia features to the site. However, the mandate won’t change – DVD Maniacs takes pride in covering the extremes of the genre DVD world from a non-biased fan perspective and will continue to do so. Come visit us and see what the hubbub’s all about…

My Blog

The DVD Maniacs Forum is Back Online!

Sorry, it took a while, but I can assure you the wait was worth it - the DVD Maniacs' Forum (under our new banner of AVManiacs) is up and running with a ton of new features.  Please spread the wo...
Posted by DVD Maniacs.net on Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:58:00 PST

DVD Maniacs is Transforming

  Some of you may have heard the rumblings... change is afoot and in a big way too. DVD Maniacs.net isn't going away, but it is definitely changing. AVManiacs.com will soon be the new home ...
Posted by DVD Maniacs.net on Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:38:00 PST

The DVD Maniacs Fundraiser!

Alright, we've been talking about this for a couple of months now but it's time to actually make it happen. As has been mentioned, we're working on a site upgrade. A professional site upgrade. Meaning...
Posted by DVD Maniacs.net on Sat, 21 Apr 2007 03:48:00 PST

Vote for DVD Maniacs as Best Website!

Be sure to cast your vote DVD Maniacs as the best website and Shock Cinema as  best mag.  ...
Posted by DVD Maniacs.net on Sat, 03 Mar 2007 06:02:00 PST

First Look: Street Trash

Synapse has allowed DVD Maniacs to get a first look at the upcoming two-disc version of Street Trash. Needless, to say the wait was well worth it. For more info: check out the main page: www.dvdmaniac...
Posted by DVD Maniacs.net on Wed, 13 Sep 2006 01:10:00 PST

About My FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE review...

Theres been some misinformation going around about my review of FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE since it was posted.  Id like to address those issues here.    First off, I did not review an unau...
Posted by DVD Maniacs.net on Mon, 28 Aug 2006 08:00:00 PST

Ian Meets Thor!

  Read more about his adventure here: http://www.dvdmaniacs.net/forums/showthread.php?t=23447...
Posted by DVD Maniacs.net on Mon, 21 Aug 2006 10:56:00 PST

Greetings From DG...

Dear DVD Maniacs, My name is Don Guarisco and I'm one of the writing staff at the site.  I just wanted to write in and say hello to all the kind folks joining this MySpace page.  Everyo...
Posted by DVD Maniacs.net on Tue, 25 Jul 2006 01:04:00 PST

Welcome to the DVD Maniacs.net My Space Page!

Welcome all readers of www.dvdmaniacs.net. We hope you'll enjoy our new venture here at My Space. We hope to post some blog entries and bring DVD Maniacs to the attention of many more people...
Posted by DVD Maniacs.net on Tue, 25 Jul 2006 04:11:00 PST