Movie fans on the internet lament that a number of classic titles are nowhere to be found on any streaming platform in the U.S. be it for purchase, rent, or part of a subscription service.
That’s not to say they’re all completely lost to time, and many can indeed still be purchased or rented on physical media (even Netflix still has a mail-in DVD and Blu-Ray rental service). But practically speaking, many movies can be expensive to buy on physical media, rare, damaged, or in this modern age, many folks may simply not have a DVD or Blu-Ray player. What’s more, even discs can succumb to physical deterioration over time, especially when they’re not stored properly.
A Reddit post on the r/movies subreddit mourned the fact that the original 1978 George A. Romero zombie classic Dawn of the Dead is missing from streaming services, and its physical releases demand high prices. After that, another user took it upon themselves to generate a running list of movies that are nowhere on streaming. The Romero film is a particularly egregious case since physical Blu Rays for the film are surprisingly rare and expensive, listed north of $100 or more, according to u/damienkarras1973’s account.
Another Reddit user, u/GiuseppeZangara, taking inspiration from the Romero post, decided to make a comprehensive list of movies they can’t find on streaming, which they are maintaining on a Letterboxd page, which you can view right here.
Some of the titles on that list may surprise you, too, such as Peter Jackson’s 1992 horror classic Braindead, the surreal 2006 David Lynch film Inland Empire, the 2001 horror film The Others, starring Nicole Kidman, and the 1995 drama starring Leonardo DiCaprio, The Basketball Diaries. Even the blockbuster crowd-pleaser, 1994’s True Lies, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and directed by James Cameron, is on the list. Kevin Smith’s 1999 comedy Dogma, starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, is also unavailable to stream, despite being a fan favorite within the View Askewniverse.
Check out the list for yourself.
