A smorgasbord of extras announcements today! Starting with Body Parts and The Slumber Party Massacre (some new details for the latter have been revealed): https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=26147 Body Parts: "Special Features and Technical Specs: NEW Audio Commentary With Director Eric Red NEW I Dare You To Read The Script – An Interview With Director Eric Red NEW Something Unstoppable – An Interview With Actor Paul Ben-Victor NEW Molded For Cinema – An Interview With Actor Peter Murnik NEW That One Hurt – An Interview With Editor Anthony Redman Deleted Gore Footage With Optional Commentary With Director Eric Red Theatrical Trailer TV Spots Still Gallery Optional English subtitles for the main feature" Slumber Party Massacre Steelbook: "BRAND NEW 4K REMASTER FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE "Sleepless Nights: The Making Of The Slumber Party Massacre" Audio Commentary With Director Amy Holden Jones, Actors Michael Villella And Debra De Liso Interview With Actor Rigg Kennedy Theatrical Trailers (U.S. And U.K.) Theatrical Trailers For Slumber Party Massacre II and III Alternate Title Sequence Still Gallery Optional English subtitles for the main feature" Extras for: Let's Scare Jessica to Death: https://www.shoutfactory.com/product/let-s-scare-jessica-to-death?product_id=7274 "NEW Audio Commentary With Director John Hancock And Producer Bill Badalato NEW Art Saved My Life – An Interview With Composer Orville Stoeber NEW Scare Tactics: Reflections On A Seventies Horror Classic – An Interview With Author/Film Historian Kim Newman NEW She Walks These Hills – The Film’s Locations Then And Now Theatrical Trailer TV Spot Radio Spot Still Gallery" The Final Programme: https://www.shoutfactory.com/product/the-final-programme?product_id=7268 "Audio Commentary With Director Robert Fuest And Actress Jenny Runacre, Moderated By Author/Film Historian Jonathan Sothcott U.S. Theatrical Trailer U.S. TV Spot" Very Bad Things: https://www.shoutfactory.com/product/very-bad-things?product_id=7275 "NEW Audio Commentary With Film Critics Witney Seibold And William Bibbiani, Hosts Of The Podcast Critically Acclaimed NEW Interview With Actor Jeremy Piven NEW Interview With Actor Daniel Stern Theatrical Trailer Still Gallery" Demons of The Mind: https://www.shoutfactory.com/product/demons-of-the-mind?product_id=7277 "NEW Audio Commentary By Author/Film Historian Steve Haberman NEW Interview With Camera Operator Neil Binney Blood Will Have Blood: The Making of Demons Of The Mind Audio Commentary With Director Peter Sykes, Writer Christopher Wicking, And Actress Virginia Wetherell, Moderated By Author/Film Historian Jonathan Sothcott Theatrical Trailer" and The Mummy's Shroud: https://www.shoutfactory.com/product/the-mummy-s-shroud?product_id=7271 "NEW Audio Commentary By Author/Film Historian Bruce G. Hallenbeck The Beat Goes On: The Making Of The Mummy’s Shroud Remembering David Buck World Of Hammer – Mummies, Werewolves, And The Living Dead Theatrical Trailer Still Gallery"
Rock Shock Pop reviews Big Trouble in Little China: http://www.rockshockpop.com/forums/...-Little-China-(Shout!-Factory)-Blu-ray-Review DVD Beaver reviews To the Devil a Daughter: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-ray_reviews56/to_the_devil_a_daughter_blu-ray.htm DVD Beaver reviews Universal Horror Collection Volume 3: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-ray_reviews_82/universal_horror_collection_3_blu-ray.htm
Here's a word of warning to those considering Badham's Dracula. The blu-ray.com forums are right about a couple of the reels. I don't agree that's it's an upscale or resolution error, but there's definitely a problem. To me it looks like a scanner focus error. From roughly the 15-to-35-minute mark, the image is slightly out of focus. It's very noticeable on my 55-inch screen.
It’s not too bad. It’s one reel that’s slightly out of focus but the rest of the transfer is actually gorgeous. Man, Badham really fucked this movie up by draining the colour out of it. It looks off because it was clearly shot to be in colour so the shadow detail on the desaturated version looks sorta wonky and it has this flatness to it. There’s some really lush hues in the theatrical cut, I’m really happy they released this. When they said “best available source” I was expecting it to be like Hell Night or The Final Terror, but it’s a pretty great transfer all on its own. Finally this movie is watchable again. ~Matt
If it was a problem with the scan it would be on both transfers wouldn't it? Since Badham's color corrections are a modern digital change it's probably from the same scan; not from separate elements. In any event it's a bummer to have issues on the theatrical color version as that's been absent from home video for so long now.
DVD Beaver reviews Murders in the Rue Morgue: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-ray_reviews_78/murders_in_the_rue_morgue_blu-ray.htm
The answer is definitely "I don't know." It doesn't look like an encoding error. It very much looks like the focus is off. The press release is very unclear about which scan(s) are derived from the new scan. I haven't done an A-B comparison, but I'd say the odds favor the two transfers being from different scans. The supplemental materials suggest that the desaturated version is NOT a pure desaturation of the entire film frames. It was an attempt to desaturate the backgrounds while leaving more color in the foreground. That sounds complicated--which means the desaturated version is probably the same one that's been in circulation. Then you have "from the best available film elements" to decipher. Was a reel or two of the original negative unusable? Possibly. But the difference between the good section of the transfer and the lesser section is more substantial than scan from OCN versus scan from interpositive. Has Shout done anything to clarify the possible cause of the issue?
Yes, and I see now it was first done in 1991. Digital manipulation was in its infancy so there's a good chance it was done photo-chemically. Although analog manipulation was not out of the question. It's routine now to digitally color correct transfers now even from the best elements so I would think it'd be cheaper to do two different color correction workflows on the best elements than scan two separate elements and do restoration work twice over and still pay for two color corrections. Interestingly Robert Harris did not seem to notice an issue (and also believes both transfers to have been derived from the same interpositive): https://www.hometheaterforum.com/a-few-words-about-dracula-1979-in-blu-ray/ I always take what he has to say with a grain of salt; he's always putting a positive spin on even his less-than-glowing reviews (hard to recall him every making a scathing review).
Extras revealed for The Wizard (including a new 4K transfer!): https://www.shoutfactory.com/product/the-wizard-collector-s-edition?product_id=7300 Bonus Features DISC ONE: NEW 4K Transfer NEW Audio Commentary with Director Todd Holland NEW Never-Before-Released Deleted Scenes Trailers DISC TWO: NEW “The Road to Cali-forn-ia” – A Look Back At The Wizard Including Brand-New Interviews With Todd Holland, Stars Fred Savage And Luke Edwards, Writer/Producer David Chisholm; Producer Ken Topolsky; And More! NEW “How Can I Help You? Confessions of a Game Play Counselor” NEW “A Clinical Analysis of The Wizard” Post Screening Q&A From Let’s Play Gaming Expo 2019 With Luke Edwards, David Chisholm, And Ken Topolsky Photo Gallery Also Before The Devil Knows You're Dead has been delayed to April 21st.
I saw The Beyond on tv like a week or two ago and was like woah, didn't expect that..I was going to sleep though so I only saw the 'spiders' scene.
Caps-A-Holic comparisons for Silver Bullet: https://caps-a-holic.com/c_list.php?c=5342 Judging from the captures the Shout Factory is actually the same transfer as both the AU and DE Blu-rays, Shout just applied DNR to get rid of the awful scanner noise from the original film transfer. Take a look at the bird's wings above the bike here for proof: https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=1&x=477&y=341&d1=13668&d2=13669&s1=138067&s2=138074&l=0&i=10&go=1
Just a head's up, My Bloody Valentine has been delayed by 1 week (2/11). But hey, timing couldn't be better.
Let's Scare Jessica to Death review with screenshots: http://mcbastardsmausoleum.blogspot.com/2020/01/lets-scare-jessica-to-death-1971-scream.html
