The SGM Awards 2006

Who would have believed it, this is the 7th year running you folk have been voting en masse for your favourite genre DVDs, companies, books, magazines and suppliers. Each year the votes pile in and each year the team at SGM literally lose days counting and recounting your votes and so at last it's time to unveil who you voted for in the SGM Awards for 2006 (and at the bottom of the page check out what the SGM staffers thoughts on 2006 are)…cue the fan fare…


The Top DVD Suppliers of 2006

If there's something you can be assured of from SGM readers it's that we're a fickle bunch when it comes to handing over our hard earned cash to any of the multitude of DVD suppliers out there. Competitive pricing and good customer service are always to the fore with readers but when both are delivered suppliers can generally be assured that customer loyalty is reciprocal. But who did you decide you're favourite suppliers where in 2006?


Best Asian DVD Supplier:

Top Asian Supplier Making its debut in the SGM Awards this year is the rising star of Thailand DVD suppliers EthaiCD who offer great value low price Anglo friendly DVDs hence earning themselves a welcome 3rd position from readers. There was a surprise in store when the votes where being counted in this category as the still very much respected DDD House have for the first time in years been ousted from the top position into 2nd place as CD Japan proudly jump from last years second spot into the top spot as this years Best Asian DVD Supplier.


Best Euro DVD Supplier:

Although the European genre DVD market seems to have been slow of late it perhaps should come as no surprise that with the voting for Best European DVD Supplier the market would be dominated by three main candidates; what may surprise some though are the results order…with no change (but respectably so) in 3rd place is Austrian supplier/producer Sazuma Trading but surprisingly (though only marginally so in votes) after five years running Absurd Online have slipped into 2nd place as after a patient wait Chainsaw Video take 1st place and have a go at the crown that is Top European DVD Supplier for 2006!


Best UK DVD Supplier:

Top UK Supplier As the online UK DVD market continues to trade steadily (much to the cost of retail shops like Music Zone) it seems that the UK online consumer is very much loyal as evident in the voting for Best UK DVD Supplier with (welcomingly) the sole independent supplier making the voting grade being genre specialist DVD Horror sitting pretty in 3rd place and in 2nd place is ever popular SGM affiliate Amazon UK who with their extensive catalogue and market place trading keep folk coming back but for a stunning 6th year running Play.com firmly hold onto the 1st place as Top UK DVD Supplier for genre fans who acclaim their sale pricing and customer support.


Best US DVD Supplier:

Top USA SupplierVery much like the votes being cast for the Top UK Supplier, there's an air of assuredness in reliability in service when it comes to your custom with the USA based suppliers. That said, there's a slight change in positions as Xploited Cinema slip into the 3rd place having been shuffled out the way by the ever popular Diabolik who step into the 2nd place position. But perhaps not surprisingly at all for many readers is the rightful dominance by DVD Pacific who yet again not only get your landslide vote as Top USA DVD Supplier but also all round No1 Top DVD Supplier for 2006 - congratulations to all!


The Top Books & Magazines of 2006

Best Genre Magazine:

Best Genre Magazine It's a very healthy time for fans of genre magazines with many exciting publications on the market vying for your attention and whilst they are all very much worth your hard earned there's only three top positions up for grabs. Making its very welcome debut in 3rd place is Mark Murray's labour of love Film FanAddict and in 2nd place is without doubt your favourite UK genre magazine the 'fan'tastic Is It…Uncut? But for the first time since its debut the award for Best Genre Magazine goes with pride to the bloody but gorgeous Rue Morgue which with its wide coverage of the genre scene has earned respect from horror fans across the globe.


Best Genre Book:

Best Genre Book As evident from the enthusiasm for the genre magazine scene it goes hand in hand that there's nothing we love better than kicking back with a good genre book. For some time now Harvey Fenton's FAB Press has been the dominant factor on the publishing scene (and rightly so) but this year the 3rd place position has been snapped up by Titan's UK imprint of Peter Bracke's weighty bible on all things Friday the 13th Crystal Lake Memories. But FAB Press can rest easy as the top spots remain firmly in their grip as in 2nd place genre fans were thrilled by Rebecca and Sam Umland's provocative biography Donald Cammell: A Life on the Wild Side but you were unanimous in your support for your favourite genre book of 2006 with the third volume of the FAB Press collection DVD Delirium Volume Three edited by Nathaniel Thompson.


The Top DVD Producers of 2006

Top European Producer:

Top European Producer Mainland Europe has since the inception of DVD been a great source of obscure genre film with many companies taking great care restoring and offering some seriously obscure genre cinema onto DVD. In 3rd place this year is the welcome debut of Greek genre specialist Onar Films who single-handedly have been celebrating the wondrous world of Greek exploitation film. We head to Italy next for the 2nd place selection as Raro Video continue to garner support with their steadily growing collection of classic polizieschi DVDs but stepping up to 1st place as proud winner of Top European DVD Producer is Encore Filmed Entertainment for their stunningly lavish Jean Rollin box set packages.


Top UK Producer:

Top UK Producer 2006The UK genre DVD market is these days very much dominated by two key players (as evident each year with the voting for Top UK Producer) but the 3rd place position is always a hotly contested one and this year we're very pleased to announce that newcomers Nucleus Films has garnered enough of your support to step up to the plate as a company to keep a keen eye on. The remaining voting results should though be of no surprise to UK DVD fans as Tartan hold firmly onto 2nd place with not only an ever popular release schedule of Asian Extreme releases but also now their Grindhouse line but with the lions share of the readers votes Anchor Bay UK continue to dominate the loyalty and popularity of genre fans (and interestingly have now overshadowed the success of their parent USA company in the eyes of most genre fans).


Top US Producer:

Top US Producer As evident in our review coverage in recent years and reflected in your voting the US genre DVD market continues to grow rapidly with many new independent DVD producers garnering both your attention and hard earned cash. So it made for interesting (and lengthy) work as we worked our way through the stacks of votes received for several worthwhile US DVD producers. But it's the results of the top three folk will be interested in and surprisingly neither Blue Underground or Anchor Bay USA make the top three as in 3rd place everyones favourite cult cinema connoisseurs Pete Tombs and Andy Starke continue to fly the flag for the UK Stateside with their wild Mondo Macabro line. Stepping up to 2nd position is the excellent No Shame DVD who have a growing army of fans with their mouth watering Italian genre releases in stunning special editions but making their debut in the awards and snaring the 1st place position as Top US DVD Producer is BCI Eclipse who in the past year have gone from strength to strength with their popular Mexican and Asian horror double bills and restorations of vintage video nasties such as Don't Answer the Phone.


The Top DVD Releases of 2006

Best European DVD Release:

Best European DVD Release Reader nominations for the most popular European DVD release were very much across the board for numerous releases, with countless titles from 2006 coming under scrutiny in the popularity stakes. And interestingly, out of the top three spots only one of those rated actually came from one of the top three voted European producers! In 3rd place (and highlighting what a morbid bunch we are) is Jörg Buttgereit's indie German special edition release of 'Der Todesking' which comes packaged with reams of extras (including some sweet dog tags) with multiple subtitle options. In 2nd place, your obsession with all things tasteless showed no bounds as you voted for Dragon's Corpse Edition release of Nacho Cerda's sick classic 'Aftermath' (yet another packed special edition release which comes packaged in a metal case complete with 16 page booklet and little toy autopsy corpse for the kiddies to play with!) But thankfully, you showed that it's not just an unhealthy obsession with all things death you have as you voted Encore Entertainment's lavish special edition release of Jean Rollin's Le Frisson des Vampires (Shiver of the Vampires) as the 1st place European DVD release of 2006!


Best UK DVD Release:

Best UK DVD Release Unlike the erratic voting for the European release schedules readers very much stayed true to their allegiances when it came to the very exciting UK genre market. So very much mirroring the award selection for the Top UK Producers it should perhaps not be so much of a surprise for some to see that it's the fine folk at Nucleus Films who proudly snare the 3rd place award for their faultless release of Just Jaeckin's Gwendoline . It's over to the gang at Tartan next who confidently step into 2nd place this year with their luxurious premium box set of The Vengeance Trilogy which had fans weeping welcomingly into their wallets. But the recipient of the top position for the Best UK DVD Release of 2006 should come as no surprise whatsoever as each year they've taken the votes with landslide assuredness and so this year Anchor Bay UK grab the 1st place position with their stunning Masters of Horror (Volume 1) Box Set - an essential purchase of a fantastic genre series, buy it now!


Best US DVD Release:

Best US DVD Release The readers selections for the Best US DVD Release of 2006 were initially looking to follow suit from the UK voting patterns (in that allegiances with voting between producer and product would be mirrored) but that was until a dark horse special edition release strode head and shoulders above all others to confidently grab hold of the top position. But before we see what that release was, let's take a look at the other rightful award winners…in 3rd place those fine purveyors of all things Italian earned your deserved respect with their gorgeous special edition release of Mariano Baino's Dark Waters (complete with stacks of great extras and a stunning stone replica amulet from the movie). The 2nd place results though showed that we all still have a soft spot in our hearts for old fashioned traditional video nasty exploitation as BCI's respectful uncut special edition release of Don't Answer The Phone had us panting in depraved pleasure. But it is the folk at Subversive Cinema who can rise and take a bow as the votes for the top spot went resoundly for their multi-disc special edition extravaganza release of Richard Stanley's Dust Devil which (as well as containing just about everything but Stanley's kitchen sink) confidently takes 1st place in your hearts as the Best US DVD Release of 2006 - congratulations to all!


The Top Horror Cinema of 2006

Although this may be the 7th year that the SGM Awards have run (damn how time flies!) it's also the first year we've opened up the award nominations to the wonderful world of genre cinema (thanks to the recent welcome resurgence of genre movies actually getting into the theatres again where they belong!)


Best Horror Director of 2006:

Best Horror Director of 2006 Whilst we miss the likes of genre greats such as Alfred Hitchcock, Mario Bava and Lucio Fulci we still keep a keen eye out for the next great genre director; and whilst we may not have found anyone quite up to the dizzying standards as the aforementioned film greats there's still some impressive work being done by some rising talents. Your votes for the Best Horror Director for 2006 reflect this as in 3rd place it's the very talented James Gunn who thrilled us all with his horror comedy romp Slither, the 2nd place though goes to France's top fearmaker Alexandre Aja for his work on reviving the horror classic the Hills Have Eyes (definitely a man to keep a keen eye on) but the award for Best Horror Director of 2006 was landslide vote by you all as the supreme talent that is Guillermo del Toro thrilled us all with his stunning work on the luscious Pan's Labyrinth.


Best Horror Movie of 2006:

Best Horror Movie of 2006 Although we expected when counting the votes for the Best Horror Movie of 2006 we pretty much expected the results to mirror folks selections for the top genre director and whilst we weren't far off the mark you still managed to surprise us! In 3rd place director James Gunn is back with the riotous retro horror romp Slither (if you haven't seen this then you really should do so) but the 2nd place spot went to the grizzly shocker prequel Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (showing that Leatherface still has a loyal following) but not surprisingly (and deservedly so) the award for Best Horror Movie of 2006 goes to the very talented Guillermo del Toro and his team for their work on the stunning Pan's Labyrinth - essential viewing!


SGM Team Final Thoughts for 2006:

So that just about wraps things up for another year with the SGM Awards for 2006. but before we go we asked the SGM Staff to give us their own thoughts on their own 'highs and lows of 2006' so click here to read what Stu Willis favourite DVDs were of the year, then click here to read Pryce's musings of the adult scene then finally see just why Al Sex Gore was down about it all by clicking here.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to submit your choices for your favourites - we know for a fact that all the recipients of the awards are grateful indeed to each and everyone one of you for your support. Here's to another exciting year of genre goodness and lots of horror fun!


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