A lot of the best horror releases come out in only one country. Some Arrow, 88 Films and Second Sight titles only have a UK edition, and many Vinegar Syndrome and Severin discs only have a US one. Whether an import plays on your player comes down to region coding, and the rules are different for Blu-ray and 4K UHD.
The regions
Blu-ray uses three regions:
- Region A: North and South America, Japan, Korea and most of Southeast Asia.
- Region B: the UK, Ireland, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.
- Region C: mainland China, Russia and the rest of Asia.
A disc marked region free (sometimes "Region ABC" or "all region") plays anywhere. A Region B disc won't play on a standard US player, and a Region A disc won't play on a standard UK one.
DVD uses a different system (the US is Region 1, the UK Region 2). It doesn't matter here unless your set includes a DVD.
4K UHD: no region worries
Region coding is optional on 4K UHD, and in practice the boutique labels don't use it. Every 4K listing we track from Second Sight (50), Indicator (20) and Severin UK (11) that states a region says region free, as do 35 of the 39 Severin US 4K listings. Diabolik describes the UK 4Ks it imports as "4K UHD All Region" or "UHD Region Free".
So a UK 4K plays on a US 4K player, and a US 4K plays on a UK one.
Combo packs are the exception. Many 4K releases include a Blu-ray of the same film, and that Blu-ray can be region locked. Second Sight's limited edition of The Devil's Candy, for example, lists its region as "Region Free / Region B": the 4K is free, the Blu-ray is B. Diabolik's listing for 88 Films' Swamp Thing limited edition says the same thing in different words: "4k UHD All Region / Blu-Ray Region B". If you only watch the 4K, ignore it.
Live prices from our checks, US shops in US$ first. Show UK prices. Amazon links are affiliate links.
Blu-ray, label by label
This is what each label's own product pages state for the horror Blu-ray listings we track.
| Label (store) | Region free | Region A | Region B | Not stated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vinegar Syndrome (US) | 314 | 193 | 0 | 3 |
| Severin (US store) | 141 | 31 | 0 | 0 |
| Severin (UK store) | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Indicator / Powerhouse (UK) | 51 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Second Sight (UK) | 8 | 0 | 67 | 10 |
| 88 Films (UK) | 0 | 0 | 102 | 25 |
Arrow's store pages don't expose region coding in a form we can read, so Arrow isn't in the table. Check the specs on each Arrow product page.
For importing, that works out like this.
- US collectors importing from the UK: Indicator is the safest bet, with most of its Blu-rays region free. Second Sight and 88 Films Blu-rays are mostly Region B, so you'll need a region-free player or the 4K version.
- UK collectors importing from the US: Vinegar Syndrome and Severin are mostly region free, but a large minority of VS Blu-rays are Region A (193 of the 507 that state a region). Check each page.
Same film, different editions
The US and UK often get different editions of the same film from different labels or different arms of the same label. Arrow runs separate US and UK stores, and of the Arrow horror titles we track, 26 appeared on both as the same edition, 59 only on the US store and 197 only on the UK store.
The Powerhouse store sells some US editions of Indicator titles, marked [US], alongside its UK editions. We count 24 of these listings in our horror data, among them The Shiver of the Vampires, The Demoniacs and Black Magic Rites. Diabolik sells both versions of some Indicator 4Ks: The Shiver of the Vampires was listed as a UK Indicator limited edition at $34.99 and as the US Indicator standard 4K at $27.99.
Severin marks a few releases as North America only, including The Manitou on 4K and Sangster Directs Hammer. Check that label before ordering from outside the US or Canada.
Live prices from our checks, US shops in US$ first. Show UK prices. Amazon links are affiliate links.
Where US buyers can get UK releases
You don't always need to order from the UK. Diabolik DVD, a US retailer, imports many UK boutique releases and prices them in dollars. On 20 October it listed Second Sight's standard 4Ks at $29.99 and limited editions from $46.99, and it marks the region on each listing, for example "(Second Sight UK) (Blu-Ray Region B)".
Live prices from our checks, US shops in US$ first. Show UK prices. Amazon links are affiliate links.
That list shows in-stock Second Sight releases at shops in your region, cheapest first, so US visitors will mostly see Diabolik prices.
Where UK buyers can get US releases
Vinegar Syndrome ships internationally from its own store, with free shipping on international orders over $150. Severin's UK store carries a small part of the US catalog (21 priced listings in our data), and Rarewaves stocks some Severin titles too (19 matched). For everything else, order from the US store and check the region line first.
A quick checklist before you import
- A 4K disc will play. Check whether you also need the bundled Blu-ray to work.
- For a Blu-ray, find the region line on the label's own product page, not a retailer's.
- If your player isn't region free, stick to region-free and same-region Blu-rays. Some players can be switched or modified.
- Shipping and import charges aren't in any price we show.