DVDizzy Forum

Review is in and the pics look great!:

http://www.doblu.com/2010/08/20/the-evil-dead-review/

Yeah they do. Too bad I was reading some of their other reviews (of 70's and 80's horror movies) and I'm not further convinced that Blu-Ray is actually good enough quality-wise to be worth the overhyped upgrade.

Lazario wrote:Yeah they do. Too bad I was reading some of their other reviews (of 70's and 80's horror movies) and I'm not further convinced that Blu-Ray is actually good enough quality-wise to be worth the overhyped upgrade.

I think those screenshots look amazing, especially when you consider that it's a very low budget movie, shot on 16mm film. It looks the way it looks, and the format isn't going to do anything about that. It will still look way better than DVD, though.

No doubt about that.

But again, my research showed me: Child's Play was poorly handled, American Psycho's Blu-Ray is abysmal, Joe Dante always said Piranha was a fullscreen movie and Shout-Factory forced it to widescreen, Cronenberg's The Fly doesn't look great, Friday the 13th Part II has color bleeding, Gremlins' night scenes look bad (they mentioned blue light problems).

So far, by DoBlu's reviews, I would buy Evil Dead and Hellraiser. A Blu-Ray collection of 2 (plus, what, 3 classic Disney films)? Is that really worth the hundreds of dollars in getting a new TV and DVD player? (I had this anti-vs-pro Blu-Ray talk with someone else last week and they told me it's worth it if you want your TV in HD... but I don't watch much TV, most of it still sucks)

Lazario wrote:No doubt about that.

But again, my research showed me: Child's Play was poorly handled, American Psycho's Blu-Ray is abysmal, Joe Dante always said Piranha was a fullscreen movie and Shout-Factory forced it to widescreen, Cronenberg's The Fly doesn't look great, Friday the 13th Part II has color bleeding, Gremlins' night scenes look bad (they mentioned blue light problems).

So far, by DoBlu's reviews, I would buy Evil Dead and Hellraiser. A Blu-Ray collection of 2 (plus, what, 3 classic Disney films)? Is that really worth the hundreds of dollars in getting a new TV and DVD player? (I had this anti-vs-pro Blu-Ray talk with someone else last week and they told me it's worth it if you want your TV in HD... but I don't watch much TV, most of it still sucks)

You only like those 8 horror movies, the Disney Classics and nothing else?

I did some research of my own, and Child's Play looks the way it always had, The Fly looks the way it's supposed to, Friday the 13th Part II also has nothing wrong, and Gremlins doesn't either (approved by Dante himself. Piranha was intended to be in widescreen. Dante said to the producers of the Piranha BD that the information that he preferred it in fullscreen was a mistake. American Psycho is the only one that's actually DNR'ed of all of those titles you mention. Don't blame the format for that, crappy DVDs get released all the time too. And I don't mind that you don't want to get into Blu-ray, because of the cost. But don't act like it's overhyped, or not worth it, because that's not the case.
Also, I don't know whose reviews you check, but maybe you need to find some different sites. HomeTheaterForum, Blu-ray.com and DVDBeaver are great sites.

KubrickFan wrote:You only like those 8 horror movies, the Disney Classics and nothing else?

No- those were just 8 examples. DoBlu doesn't have very many horror reviews- I read the Video & Audio sections on every one they had... well, except for all the stupid ones; remakes made after 1986, torture films, boring survival crap: cannibalistic raping mutant mountain men in the wilderness tying people up in basements, etc.; the type.

KubrickFan wrote:I did some research of my own, and Child's Play looks the way it always had, The Fly looks the way it's supposed to, Friday the 13th Part II also has nothing wrong, and Gremlins doesn't either (approved by Dante himself. Piranha was intended to be in widescreen. Dante said to the producers of the Piranha BD that the information that he preferred it in fullscreen was a mistake. American Psycho is the only one that's actually DNR'ed of all of those titles you mention. Don't blame the format for that, crappy DVDs get released all the time too. And I don't mind that you don't want to get into Blu-ray, because of the cost. But don't act like it's overhyped, or not worth it, because that's not the case.

I already told you why I'm being this way. Because people are trying to talk us all into upgrading to Blu and the advantages are: crap (sports, and... what- Glee and Lost and Desperate Housewives and 24? yawn!) and crap movies. And the occasional oldie.

We both know I'm not the spokesperson for the marketplace or the common buyer. So it doesn't change anything for you if I gripe. Let me gripe.

KubrickFan wrote:Also, I don't know whose reviews you check, but maybe you need to find some different sites. HomeTheaterForum, Blu-ray.com and DVDBeaver are great sites.

Well, I have friends who actually buy Blu-Ray and own a good number of the 70s-80s classics: Dawn of the Dead, Child's Play, Gremlins, and what other few get Region-1 releases. And GoBlu. And my other source of info is the Parade of Grain-Lovers. I've already found a glowing review of one of Troma's first Blu-Rays, Class of Nuke 'Em High. And plenty of people in love with Blue Underground's Blu-Ray's (it's like, for the last 7-8 years, they knew this format was coming and would be called what it's called). But, they probably DNR'd to get City of the Living Dead to look presentable: http://horrordvds.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=838 . Because that place is run by huge film fans, including director William Lustig (Maniac).

Laz, you can gripe as much as you like! But I think you're being a little unfair.

A list of the most recent reviews on Blu-ray.Com reads thus:

* Moonwalker (1988) UK Release
* Rick Steves: Italy through the Back Door (2002-2010)
* Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition & Borodin: Symphony No. 2 (2007)
* NCIS: Los Angeles The First Season (2009)
* The Burmese Harp (1956) UK Release
* City Island (2009)
* The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008)
* Machine Gun McCain (1969)
* Victor/Victoria: The Broadway Musical (1995)
* The Evil Dead (1981)
* Smallville: The Complete Ninth Season (2009-2010)
* MacGruber (2010)
* Early Summer (1951) UK Review
* 9th Company (2005)
* Survival of the Dead (2009)
* Glacier National Park (2010)
* The Square (2008)
* A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973)
* The Lives of Others (2006) UK Review
* Furry Vengence (2010)
* Lost: The Complete Collection (2004-2010)
* The Office: Season 6 (2010)
* Mother (2009) UK Review
* Crazy (2008)
* Dorian Grey (2009)
* Time Bandits (1981)
* Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Part 2 (2009)
* Black Label Society: Doom Troopin’ Live, The European Invasion (2010)
* Mona Lisa (1986)
* Highlander: Season 2 (1994)
* Jane's Addiction: Live Voodoo (2009)

I think you'll agree, there's a wide range of titles - old, new, drama, comedy, music, animation, fiction, fact... It's not correct to say Blu-ray is just modern movies. Yes, they get all the attention and yes, they get most of the shelf space. Perhaps it's all but impossible to get some of the above titles from a brick and mortar store and realistically you can only purchase a "lesser" title over the Internet. But there is a wide range of titles, and as with DVD the range of titles just gets wider and wider with time.

As for older films; it's important older films are released right. And doing Blu-ray right often requires expensive restoration or mastering in order to live up to the presentation blu-ray customers demand. Should the studios release a glut of substandard older movies on the format, you can bet your life the outcry would be enormous. Look at the outcry over Paramount/Universal's Gladiator release for example.

A quick scan of Amazon.Com's Blu-rays under Horror shows the following available for release or available soon:

Inhumanoids of the Deep, Psycho, Forbidden World, Piranha, The Evil Dead, Death Race 2000, Galaxy of Terror, The Lost Boys, The Thing, The Shining, Interview with The Vampire, The Twilight Zone Season 1, King Kong, Return of the Living Dead, Tremors, Escape from LA, The Evil Dead II, Halloween, Army of Darkness, Hellraiser, The Fly, A Nightmare on Elm Street (the original), Friday The 13th, Part 3 3D, Starcrash...

and that's just on the first five pages of Amazon's Blu-ray horror listings.

2099net wrote:Laz, you can gripe as much as you like! But I think you're being a little unfair.

Yeah, but I announced that from the getgo.

I just got the bluray Evil Dead. Why are the extras on a DVD instead of a Bluray disc? I just read they did that with the Resident Evil films too. Why release extras like that? I don't understand that.

Maerj wrote:I just got the bluray Evil Dead. Why are the extras on a DVD instead of a Bluray disc? I just read they did that with the Resident Evil films too. Why release extras like that? I don't understand that.

They do it so tehy won't have to pay for producing a second Blu-ray, especially when most supplements probably aren't even in HD.

Maybe the 2nd disc is the exact same one from the 2007 3-disc "Utimate Edition"... Anyone have both that and the Blu-Ray?? (I just have the Ultimate Edition, and there it's Disc 3)

I have to say that the Evil Dead never looked this good and most likely will never look better. The first time I saw the movie was on a grainy VHS tape with static filling up the lower half of the screen. Yeah for bluray!

Maerj wrote:I just got the bluray Evil Dead. Why are the extras on a DVD instead of a Bluray disc? I just read they did that with the Resident Evil films too. Why release extras like that? I don't understand that.

Apparently they are no longer manufacturing the US release with the DVD extras disc anymore, and all of the "limited edition" copies have been sold to retail and are rapidly selling out. So that explains that - its was a limited offer type thing.

They're all on the UK Blu-ray disc though (I think - I was hoping to get mine today but it won't come until Monday now). But the UK Blu-ray only has the 1.85 matted version of the film on the disc.

2099net wrote:They're all on the UK Blu-ray disc though (I think - I was hoping to get mine today but it won't come until Monday now). But the UK Blu-ray only has the 1.85 matted version of the film on the disc.

I saw a YouTube video once where a guy complained that the reason widescreen does Evil Dead is a diservice is that it cuts off Bruce Campbell's "legendary chin." But some latest word from Raimi & co said the film was always meant to be seen in 1.85:1.

Either way, though the choice on the Anchor Bay Ultimate Edition is nice, I'm not sure they are really different transfers. For example, the colors look a lot more like the 2002 THX disc than Elite's 1999 special edition. So... it's not exactly a win for people who want to be able to see the original VHS version on DVD.