An American Werewolf in London

It's a poor restoration, upgrade or no upgrade. There's certainly hints of a good scan (allegedly a 6K scan of the OCN) in those screencaps, but it's mostly buried by Universal's "restoration."

Hopefully, this is one of those cases where Universal put their edition of a film out (Halloween II, The Shadow) while simultaneously licensing rights to Scream Factory or Arrow for a more complete release.

 

No way is that a 6k scan, unless they did the transfer via dvdr!!!

 

Yeah, I call bullshit too. It might possibly be a newer scan, but I doubt it was any higher than 2K. Whatever they did, they screwed it up!

This is kinda funny:



"Newly Restored for Improved HD Picture"

 

looks like this is in bestbuy stores for 10 bucks I will probably get it since I don't have it on blu

 

"Newly restored" takes on some totally new connotations when it comes out of Universal's mouth.

 

The problem with the older release, is that they have used some contrast and EE to sharpen the picture, which in itself, also have crushed some fine details.
I would like to have a transfer, that is in the middle of these two. No sharpening and no DNR.
Maybe a future Ultra Blu-Ray release will get it right...

 

So I decided fuck it and bought this today. After people on blu-ray.com claimed that t looks better in motion I wanted to see if they were right.

Honestly I'm not so sure this release is even bad. I do think SOME DNR has been applied (I think?) but it looks about 10x better in motion than it does in the caps posted online. It doesn't look waxy and smeary and there's actually tons of detail. Dare I say there's even some beautifully resolved grain (particularly in the scene in the porn theater at the end) and in some other parts of the film.

I don't know if it was the way this movie was filmed but the older release looks artificially sharpened in comparison. It's absolutely a new scan this time around. I think maybe the grain has always just been "soft"? But there's definitely grain visible. If they did apply DNR, they definitely didn't scrub away the grain. It has a high bitrate and the film itself is about 30 GB. So it doesn't seem to be a compression issue either.

In short, it's definitely a new restoration and I actually think it looks quite good. Better than the old release that's for sure. There's definitely added clarity, the colors really pop and there is film grain, it just appears rather soft at times. I can't quite tell if it's DNR to be honest. Maybe this is how it's supposed to look. I was pleasantly surprised.

~Matt

 

Well hells bells!! If I can get it for $10, I just might pick it up. I still haven't watched the first blu release so maybe I will watch them back to back.

 

I'm late to the party, but for those of you complaining about the "top werewolf", I don't see it. All I see is a hook-nosed witch giving a thumbs up.

 

I tried squinting and everything and I still can't see what you're seeing

 

Maybe try squinting with just your left eye while standing on one leg.

 

Anyone have the HD-DVD and can compare that to the new BD? I have the HD-DVD but never did get the first BD.

 

this new transfer is getting slayed everywhere for being scrubbed clean

 

I might just hang onto my old bluray copy...

 

I also tried with my right eye and opposite leg but still no luck. Just a werewolf every time

 

Here's the witch

 

Hahahahahahaha, that's great. Thanks for that!

 

Yeah, that's hilarious, Steel76!

When I first saw the artwork, it was a small, clickable image on a Blu-ray.com add banner. The silhouette was obvious, but the texture and detail weren't, so I really thought it was a witch until I clicked it and saw that it was actually new artwork for An American Werewolf in London. Now, every time I see the artwork, I have to train my eyes to see a werewolf instead of a witch.

In any event, the witch is perhaps a little too enthusiastic in her endorsement of this release. I haven't seen any early reviews giving the transfer the thumbs up.

 

Looking at the screen caps between releases I highly doubt this new release is a new scan. I'm willing to bet that's a complete lie because the images look exactly the same, just the newer one has been scrubbed clean. Pretty dodgy really.

 

Glad you enjoyed it
Took me a while to see the witch, but now it can never be unseen.

The witch is just trying to trick you into buying it