Troma Goes Blu!

[Wez4555]

Well i have to yet get the dvd so i guess now would be the time to bite.

[X-human]

I just watched the SD of this, and it may very well be the best in house movie they've ever done. The songs and the beginning are labored (not the graveyard opening, that's good), but everything in the restaurant is pretty much pure gold.

I'm kinda surprised how much film damage there was, and it has a solid level of grain throughout. Very rare to see a gritty movie like that today. Kinda puts to shame the obviousness of Grindhouse.

If I had it to do over, I'd buy the Blu first, but as it stands I think I'll be satisfied with the SD until a large sale comes about.

[spawningblue]

Originally Posted by ctyner

I haven't grabbed any new Troma DVDs in a few years, I have to admit, but I'd picked a couple dozen of 'em up till then...and I've been devouring their movies for right at 20 years now. That Blu-ray disc of Poultrygeist is definitely the best I've ever seen a Troma flick look, and it generally falls anywhere from passably-okay-to-pretty great...it just never looks like high definition.

Obviously a movie like this isn't going to sparkle like some kind of quarter-billion dollar blockbuster or anything, but even the lowest of the low-budget movies I've watched on Blu-ray -- like Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter -- were still clearly high-def at a glance. The muddy grain structure, lack of detail, soft edges, etc. here, on the other hand, all look like I'm watching a DVD. Out of boredom, I took one of the screenshots from my review, resized it down to 1000 pixels, and then resized it back to 1920 pixels, and there was zero difference. That doesn't necessarily prove the Blu-ray disc is an upconvert, but it would seem to point that there's not all that much detail to lose.

I don't have this particular DVD to do a direct comparison, although a couple of people I'd asked have told me the screenshots I posted looked pretty much the same to them. I can definitely believe that the BD looks a little better than the DVD, but I bet they're both still from the same standard-def master. It might look better by comparison, but that says more about the DVD than the Blu-ray disc. To be fair, no one else I've seen is saying what I am, so maybe I'm the odd guy out here, but I really don't think I'm wrong here. (All the early reviews of the HD DVD of The Perfect Storm were exceptionally glowing too except for mine, and that shook out my way pretty quickly. Maybe I'll be proven right in the end here too... )

I'll tell you what, though: if some of you guys could post some screenshots from the DVD and give me the timecodes, I'll post the same shots from the BD.

Thanks for the info, and that's awesome that you write reviews for DVD Talk!

[ctyner]

Poultrygeist still doesn't really have an HD look to my eyes, but Troma did pass along a picture showing the master tape to show that this isn't an upconvert:

[Grim]

This is definitely the best looking Troma film out there and surprisingly one of their most well produced in my opinion. Though the film does lack detail in many scenes, I definitely think it's an HD transfer and not an upconvert as the colors are fantastic and there is overall more detail than what one would see in standard def.

[Katatonia]

It looks like the Class of Nuke 'Em High Blu-ray is nowing coming out on May 25th, along with Surf Nazis Must Die and Pep Squad on the same day.

I pre-ordered all three for $13.99 at Amazon, so hopefully I won't be disappointed in the quality. I' mmost interested in seeing Pep Squad in HD, as the old letterbox DVD shows it's age. I still don't know why Troma are re-releasing it, as it had absolutely nothing to do with them originally.

[Grim]

Amazon just e-mailed me to let me know that Tromeo & Juliet was pushed back till the 29th of April. Yeeeesh. Hopefully it's to make improvements.

[Dobby]

Originally Posted by Katatonia

It looks like the Class of Nuke 'Em High Blu-ray is nowing coming out on May 25th, along with Surf Nazis Must Die and Pep Squad on the same day.

I pre-ordered all three for $13.99 at Amazon, so hopefully I won't be disappointed in the quality. I' mmost interested in seeing Pep Squad in HD, as the old letterbox DVD shows it's age. I still don't know why Troma are re-releasing it, as it had absolutely nothing to do with them originally.

Surf Nazis Must Die is a must buy, YES!

[Katatonia]

Damn, it looks like Pep Squad got cancelled on Blu-ray. Or, at least, Amazon cancelled my order and now shows it as cancelled.

I guess I'll have to stick with the old DVD still. I wish someone else would re-release it, since it wasn't even a Troma film in any way to begin with.

[Grim]

The delivery estimate for my Tromeo & Juliet blu is May 27th. I question whether it will ever come out.

[adric]

im sorta bummed because i just got class and surf nazis on dvd. ill still probably get them regardless.

[Katatonia]

The Surf Nazis Must Die Blu-ray has been pushed back to... December 28th? according to Amazon now.

[Dobby]

Originally Posted by Katatonia

The Surf Nazis Must Die Blu-ray has been pushed back to... December 28th? according to Amazon now.

What the hell ugg now I'm really &%#F*&#@09!!!!

[rabidgoatboy]

I love Troma, but I don't have much faith in their blu-rays. The Poultrygeist blu has basically the same transfer as the DVD. It seems that they just used the extra space on the blu-ray to fit all out the special features that used to require 3 discs onto 1 blu-ray.

[CPT HOOK]

My Nuke 'Em High blu-ray shipped today!