You know, I finally watched the much-maligned Hell Night Blu last night, beginning to end. It really isn't as bad as people are saying, even if it's far from the best transfer I've seen on the Blu Ray format. The SD inserts, with the wonky frame rate were barely noticeable. And I was ok with the green lines and minor print damage. Not because of a "grindhouse" feel, but really ANY 30+ year old print is gonna have at least some damage. If a local theater was gonna show this print, or any 35mm print of Hell Night, I'd be there in a heartbeat (in fact, I specifically look at the New Beverly schedule the first of every month, hoping they'll show Quentin Tarantino's personal print of the film) and I wouldn't be expecting a pristine presentation. It's an improvement over the DVD. Not a light-year improvement, but an improvement nonetheless. If a better copy comes out in a few years, I'll be on that. But if not, I'm ok with this version.
I have to say...I saw Hell Night ONCE in 1981 - and, even then, the film didn't look as good as (to my eyes then) Happy Birthday to Me or Final Exam (my few reverence points at the time, lol). It looked to me like a late night movie on Creature Features...sorta old and dusty. BUT (and it's a big but) I was only 11 at the time but all these years later, watching the films again on Blu and DVD I was pretty aware at the time. That said - I'm sure the Blu could look better if they used the negatives.
Rockula extras: http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=22744 "BRAND NEW MASTER NEW Audio Commentary With Director Luca Bercovici, Actress Tawny Fere And Composer Hilary Bercovici NEW Interview With Director Luca Bercovici NEW Interview With Actor Dean Cameron Theatrical Trailer Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature"
i am a huge Luca fan as well as a huge Dean Cameron fan, so this is def a day 1 purchase. i hope we get a special edition of my best friend is a vampire sometime soon, i always watch rockula with it for some reason.
Dread Central reviews Hell Night: www.dreadcentral.com/reviews/265183/hell-night-blu-ray-review-mischief-mayhem-mongoloid-manor/
https://www.facebook.com/ShoutSelec...41828.105455976518013/472682193128721/?type=3 For comparison purposes, the Arrow Video release: https://arrowfilms.com/product-detail/the--burbs-blu-ray/FCD931 Credit: Geoff D, http://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=14640107&postcount=120
I really enjoyed The Burbs. Glad to have the Arrow edition. I didn't even know about the film till a couple of years ago so it was a real pleasant surprise.
https://www.facebook.com/ScreamFact...4939.103961936407493/1141757732627903/?type=3 It's not yet clear if this was licensed through Warner Brothers or if they're rights have expired recently and reverted to someone else who in turn has licensed this to Shout! Factory. I suspect the latter.
They would have to be sublicensed from Warner though. The DVDs are still in print and they even mention Warner on the Amazon Instant listings. Shame they can't tell us now, because if the 2 studios did expand their deal, I have a list. A LIST!
Super excited about It's Alive! The first sequel I remember as merely okay, and I haven't seen the third one, but the first one is a dark, down-beat classic slice of low-budget 70's horror. Seriously, this is one of the biggest announcements from Scream Factory in a long time.
The first two are great, though there's some scenes with boom mics, etc. The third one feels like it came from an entirely different universe.
I have the DVD set with all three, and as much as I love the first one, I never felt the inclination to watch the third one. That will probably change with the Blu-ray set, but my expectations are tempered...
I'm having a little buyer's remorse though. Only saw it once and remember it being an incredibly mean-spirited downer.
Got mine today also. I really only grabbed it since I needed something else to add to go over the free shipping threshold on the last SF sale.
It's more the ending that's a downer. The rest of the movie is mainly goofy and stupid. I always found the curse to be an over the top reaction by the gypsy. If she can curse someone like that then surely she can conjure up enough money to keep her house lol. Not a fan of this. I expected more from Rami here. This should have been a fun film but the tone is so mixed it just doesn't work for me. Plus I hate the cast as well.
It's not just the ending, it's the entire movie from frame one. To be fair, I was working in customer service at the time the movie was released, which undoubtedly shaped my opinion. I remember walking away from the movie depressed and angry, thinking it was a real nasty piece of work and being baffled by the horror fans claiming how fun it was and a return to Evil Dead Raimi. Having long distanced myself from that job, hopefully I'll find it easier to stomach this time around.
