Wow - both of those movies are TERROR-IFIC! Do I have to go Zone Free now? If so, so be it! Creepy movies! The opening of "...Calls Back" is really stressful and unnerving! Cutie Jill Schoelen is terrific. I wonder if they'll ever release the original short "The Sitter" also by Fred Walton? I saw that on, of all things, HBO short breaks in the mid-80's (long AFTER the first film) once...and only once.
Second Sight knock it out of the park again, First Xtro and The Changeling now this. I need to get my pre-order in on this very soon.
Updated specs on this. Release date is December 17th. It will now be 1 blu-ray disc instead of 2 blu-ray discs. Biggest news of all, this release will be region free. Meaning it's now friendly to us North American customers. SPECIAL FEATURES AND TECHNICAL SPECS: BRAND NEW REMASTER OF THE FILM When a Stranger Calls Back - the sequel to the classic film presented in high-definition The Sitter - short film directed by Fred Walton NEW interview with director Fred Walton NEW interview with actor Carol Kane NEW interview with actor Rutanya Alda NEW interview with composer Dana Kaproff Reversible sleeve with new artwork by Obviously Creative and original poster artwork Optional English SDH subtitles for the main features EXCLUSIVE LIMITED EDITION CONTENT: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack placed on a CD 40-page perfect bound booklet with new essay by Kevin Lyons Reversible poster with new and original artwork Rigid slipcase packaging
Assuming they don't mess up the transfers, this is going to be a fantastic release. My Amazon UK pre-order has been in for quite a while now, and I can't wait to get this. Way to go, Second Sight.
For those who are more interested in the sequel, I'm sorry to report it's been encoded with an extremely subpar bitrate. The original looks great with plenty of grain and a bitrate that averages more than 35 mbps, but the sequel averages something around 15 mbps. It definitely looks better than the old DVD, but it's soft with no HD pop and a dull, lower-generation look that suggests a video master. It could definitely look a lot more robust. This is a reasonably priced release, so it's understandable that they treated the sequel more like an extra. But I'm disappointed nonetheless. The extras definitely compensate somewhat, with The Sitter being particularly interesting. The feature version not only uses the same script, it's almost a shot-for-shot remake. Needless to say, the short is less polished but still extremely effective. As expected, the killer's voice is different, but possibly even more eerie. I'm really grateful that we got the chance to see it.
this went from a 2 BluRay release to 1 BluRay so the question remains : what available elements did they have for it as the original intent surely must have been to give the same treatment to the second film (with both films having 1 BluRay or all the extra's on a separate one)?
I watched my set a few days ago, and thought the sequel looked fine. It does have a lower bit-rate than the original film, but I didn't notice any real compression artifacting or lack of visible detail. 15 mbps is still higher than most HD streaming services, and at least they didn't use some ancient Universal HD master with DNR/EE applied.
I don't disagree with any of this. I only wanted to point out that this would be a Mill Creek-level release if the sequel had gone out the door solo. Recent Mill Creek releases even have lossless audio like this one. I have a strong suspicion that Second Sight shoehorned both movies onto the same disc because they correctly realized that the available elements for When A Stranger Calls Back were inferior to the point that the benefits of an ideal bitrate weren't sufficient enough to justify the added cost of a two-disc release.
