A Few Words About A few words about...™ Death Becomes Her -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

Death Becomes Her, a 1992 offering from filmmaker Robert Zemeckis, is a fun film, and while never a great one, it has it's charms.

Generally, when you see a film that's licensed by Universal, it's not going to be a new 4k scan, and that's the case here, in Scream Factory's new Blu-ray.

What we're given, however, isn't at all problematic. It appears to be an older transfer from an IP. Color, densities are fine, and grain is still in evidence. Although never a problems, and while almost transparent, it does seem to have the essence of the tiniest bit of sharpening.

Audio, which is DTS-HD MA, is full and rich.

No reason not to add this one to one's collection, as the effects are a main draw.

Image - 4

Audio - 5

4k Up-rez - 4.25

Pass / Fail - Pass

Recommended


RAH

 

[Powell&Pressburger]

I used to wear this film out on VHS. I had always dreamed of having a TRUE special edition of this film to see the original preview cut with Tracey Ullman and the alternate ending. Some believe this cut no longer exists possibly due to Universal fires. Whatever the reason we still lack the chance to see that cut of the film.

I agree the film isn't great and it has its faults but beyond all that... I still say this is the greatest Midnite Movie ever made in the 90's. Watching it you just want more and more scenes of Goldie and Meryl just having fun with juicy dialogue. The opening musical sequence I think is just brilliant cheese, because it was taking place in 1978 and the way they wove disco into that song is exactly how it was done during that period! I always wanted to see the full out musical scene with no edits esp to the audience with Goldie and Bruce, just because I wanted to see what action was going on on stage! I just love the look of the IN MOVIE featuring Streep and the great Michael Caine! Loved it so much.

anyhow thankfully we have options for DTS HD 5.1 and HD 2.0 audio options. Hoping the 2.0 is NOT a downmix, but I want to experience the film in 5.1 more than anything. Great score from Alan Silvestri.

I will say it is a shame it wasn't given a new 4K remaster or scan from Universal and many will be angry I know I have been and I can't blame Shout because I think they did ask Universal for deleted scenes etc. I just wish Zemekis cared more for the film to preserve it in 4K and with better image quality and after all these years hardcore fans deserved to see the alternate cut. as it stands this is probably as good as Death Becomes Her will ever get. It truly deserved he Ultimate Edition.

 

[MatthewA]

The Universal fire of 2008 didn't prevent them from doing a HD version of the 1941 Director's Cut, which had up to that point I believe only existed as a SD composite video master.

I've never seen Zemeckis go back and recut anything. Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Forrest Gump won Film Editing Oscars, but they were not made by Universal. Rabbit had a couple of scenes put back for its CBS-TV debut, which he had nothing to do with and was done because of the "96 minute rule" and Gump is already 2 1/2 hours, so I'm under the impression in those cases the theatrical cuts are the director's cut.* With Death Becomes Her, I'm not clear on whether that's the case.

*In this case, they proved they had learned the most important lesson from the post-production battles on Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Pete's Dragon, et al: let the people who actually made the films edit them!

 

[Powell&Pressburger]

to be Clear I didn't want anyone to think I meant Director Cut for Death Becomes her in my post, I just meant fans have always heard about the preview cut that contained the alternate ending. When I mentioned Zemeckis I mentioned him in regards preserving any of the film even the theatrical cut in better image quality then given.

 

[Robert Harris]

I used to wear this film out on VHS. I had always dreamed of having a TRUE special edition of this film to see the original preview cut with Tracey Ullman and the alternate ending. Some believe this cut no longer exists possibly due to Universal fires. Whatever the reason we still lack the chance to see that cut of the film.

I agree the film isn't great and it has its faults but beyond all that... I still say this is the greatest Midnite Movie ever made in the 90's. Watching it you just want more and more scenes of Goldie and Meryl just having fun with juicy dialogue. The opening musical sequence I think is just brilliant cheese, because it was taking place in 1978 and the way they wove disco into that song is exactly how it was done during that period! I always wanted to see the full out musical scene with no edits esp to the audience with Goldie and Bruce, just because I wanted to see what action was going on on stage! I just love the look of the IN MOVIE featuring Streep and the great Michael Caine! Loved it so much.

anyhow thankfully we have options for DTS HD 5.1 and HD 2.0 audio options. Hoping the 2.0 is NOT a downmix, but I want to experience the film in 5.1 more than anything. Great score from Alan Silvestri.

I will say it is a shame it wasn't given a new 4K remaster or scan from Universal and many will be angry I know I have been and I can't blame Shout because I think they did ask Universal for deleted scenes etc. I just wish Zemekis cared more for the film to preserve it in 4K and with better image quality and after all these years hardcore fans deserved to see the alternate cut. as it stands this is probably as good as Death Becomes Her will ever get. It truly deserved he Ultimate Edition.

I've got to go with Universal on their decision to not invest in the film at this time.

There's really no reason.

The original elements aren't in jeopardy.

A 4k scan and prep would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

To what end.

Imho, they're doing superb job of putting their funds where they're needed most.

RAH

 

[Mikey1969]

Indeed, like when they released their Hitchcock blu-ray set earlier this year at a lower price point with updated (i.e. fixed) transfers of Family Plot, Marnie, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Vertigo.

Oh, right ... must have been a dream.

Sarcastic smile.

I've got to go with Universal on their decision to not invest in the film at this time.

There's really no reason.

The original elements aren't in jeopardy.

A 4k scan and prep would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

To what end.

Imho, they're doing superb job of putting their funds where they're needed most.

RAH

 

[Robert Harris]

Indeed, like when they released their Hitchcock blu-ray set earlier this year at a lower price point with updated (i.e. fixed) transfers of Family Plot, Marnie, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Vertigo.

Oh, right ... must have been a dream.

Sarcastic smile.

The Universal that released the Hitchcock set no longer exists.

Totally different mindset, and heavily upgraded on the lot capabilities.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

The Universal that released the Hitchcock set no longer exists

Unfortunately, that set still does.

(It's really not all bad. It's mostly good enough but these films are worth more than good enough.)

 

[Robert Harris]

Unfortunately, that set still does.

(It's really not all bad. It's mostly good enough but these films are worth more than good enough.)

Unfortunately, that set reminds me that someone once said that you don't want to see most people naked.

Same thing with that set. Once you see some of those discs, in a state in which the films were never meant to be seen, it's difficult to forget.

It's the stuff that [bad] dreams are made of...

 

[TravisR]

I watched this disc today and having not seen the movie since it was on cable in 1993 or so, I was pleasantly surprised by it. It's like a really wacky episode of Tales From The Crypt (the theme song from that show even plays in the trailer).

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Unfortunately, that set reminds me that someone once said that you don't want to see most people naked.

Same thing with that set. Once you see some of those discs, in a state in which the films were never meant to be seen, it's difficult to forget.

It's the stuff that [bad] dreams are made of...

I know this is gonna sound crazy, but I think it's the stuff like "Vertigo" being almost perfect but missing the mark on some obvious, easily fixable things that drives me crazier than the flat-out ugly looking "Man Who Knew Too Much".

 

[Nick*Z]

Agreed. It's when a disc comes so close to perfection, but then fumbles on some minor glitch that I start to fume. Don't get me wrong. I was none too pleased with The Man Who Knew Too Much or Marnie - both still awaiting 'the new Universal' to fix and re-issue properly. I remember a spokesman at Lowry Digital once saying studios usually come to them with the edict "just fix the big stuff", the trouble being, once the big stuff gets fixed the little stuff looks big and therefore becomes equally as distracting, even to the layman's eye. I have to say, I was NOT at all impressed with 'the new' Universal's release of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas or Xanadu on Blu-ray and Death Becomes Her - at least for me - falls into that gray area of looking better than expected but not looking good enough to live up to the current mastering standards. Granted, Universal did not think enough of this catalog title to release it themselves.

And yes, I'll champion the joy of seeing it again after far too long an absence. But I will continue to decry the cost-cutting mantra that would rather look the other way on the small stuff than go the extra mile and make just a little bit of effort to improve upon what is already a quite solid and appealing transfer. By fixing, I don't mean a ground-up remastering effort. But there were brief scenes in Death that suffered from a residual softness and others that seemed off in color balancing. That doesn't mean the whole movie needed an upgrade. But a little tweaking here and there would have made the overall presentation that much better. Ditto for the annoying gate weave in the aforementioned 'Whorehouse' during the 'Governor of Texas' sequence, and the egregiously thick and uneven grain structure looking more digitized than natural in Xanadu.

In a perfect world the executive edict from on high would be - hey, let's do a catalog release every other month but do it well and give it all the attention it deserves to ensure it can and will look as good as it can in hi-def. The Warner Archive seems to have gleaned this philosophy and lived up to it without fail, and, made a profit and success of it besides - enough for an ever increasing stream of deep catalog titles to flow steadily and with a consistently high level of quality that really gets us excited for these releases. Conversely, when I hear Universal is getting ready to put out another catalog title on Blu-ray, my first thought is, "golly gee, I certainly hope they don't @)#$@ it up!" I don't really understand what's stopping other studios from picking up on the WAC lead and doing exactly the same for their own deep catalog. Clearly, from a business standpoint, this model works - in the case of the Warner Archive - splendidly. In the case of the Fox Cinema Archive...not so much. Okay, not at all! But I digress.

Death Becomes Her isn't a disaster, nor is it perfection itself. So, I have to classify it as a middling effort with a few bright spots factored in. It could have been better. Lord knows, Universal had the time, budget and technical wherewithal to do as much. All that was required was a leap of faith. Oh yes...and money - a commodity studios increasingly seem reluctant to spend on any movie older than one made last year. For shame. How sad. and yes, how prudent of them too. But in the long run, it really is killing off the excitement to own, buy and revisit these movies - either from a point of nostalgia (for those of us fortunate enough to have seen these flicks during their theatrical run) or from the interest of research, study and archival preservation, for which someday, original elements in an optimal condition will, quite tragically, no longer exist! Chagrined. For shame. Too bad. Still, ever the optimist, my opinion of the 'new, improved' Universal is 'wait and see'. I expect great things. Only time will tell if my level of expectation has been met or seriously mislaid. We'll see.

 

[Mikey1969]

Vertigo is such a compelling film for me, and the plusses of the presentation so far outweigh the negatives that I can let that one go.
(I am miffed though that the excellent commentary track was replaced with a far inferior one by William Friedkin.)

Marnie and Family Plot are such horrendous presentations that I frankly can't watch them in their present state, looking as they do like bad VHS or Youtube dubs. And I actually like those films very much.

I know this is gonna sound crazy, but I think it's the stuff like "Vertigo" being almost perfect but missing the mark on some obvious, easily fixable things that drives me crazier than the flat-out ugly looking "Man Who Knew Too Much".

 

[Ethan Riley]

Quick note about the packaging; it is shrinkwrapped over the cardboard sleeve, rather than leaving the sleeve bare and shrinkwrapping the plastic blu-ray case inside. I've honestly never seen them do that with a single-film release; only tv show sets and multiple film packages and such. So what this means is you can cut the bottom off to pull out the case and leave the shrinkwrap on to protect the sleeve.

 

[TravisR]

Quick note about the packaging; it is shrinkwrapped over the cardboard sleeve...

I've only seen Shout do it too but they've been shrinkwrapping the slipcases for their Scream Factory titles for probably almost 2 years now.

 

[rsmithjr]

I liked the presentation of Death Becomes Her. [Love the film.]

It certainly is less offensive than many of the Hitchcock films, such as those mentioned here. The flaws in Vertigo are very jarring for example (although much of it is fine). I remember The Man Who Knew Too Much from original release, the Technicolor prints were beautiful. Try as I may I cannot get the color balance even close to reasonable. I saw Marnie in 35mm last week, so much better than the Blu-ray.

I expect to see Vertigo fixed but the rest of the films we have discussed here are perhaps as good as they will ever be. Very sad.

 

[KMR]

Marnie and Family Plot are such horrendous presentations that I frankly can't watch them in their present state, looking as they do like bad VHS or Youtube dubs. And I actually like those films very much.

While the Blu-ray versions of those films certainly do leave a lot to be desired, I must disagree with statements like "bad VHS or Youtube dubs". As soon as I got the Hitchcock Blu-ray set, I compared each of the discs against the DVD versions. All titles show noticeable improvement in the Blu-ray version, although admittedly the improvement is minimal in some cases. But improvement nonetheless. I put off buying this set for too long time because of the negative reviews, and once I received it I was sorry I waited so long. Will I buy upgraded versions whenever they become available? Definitely. But I'm glad I have the current ones to replace my DVDs. Some of the criticism of the Blu-rays borders on being libelous.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

A comment on bad transfers that I've picked up from my son, which he uses to describe poor quality internet videos is "shot by potato"; while the current Marnie and Family Plot presentations leave much to be desired, they are nowhere near "shot by potato". That standard would apply to Koch's Gulliver's Travels disc, for example.

 

[Mikey1969]

An exaggeration, perhaps, but not by a huge degree, and a measure of my disappointment knowing how these films could and should look had Universal spent the money and took the care several years ago.

Paramount remastered To Catch A Thief and released it on DVD THREE times, before they finally got it "right". Their later blu-ray is gorgeous.

It's really in issue of inconsistency with films like The Man Who Knew too Much and Marnie. Some shots look pretty good, and then... the colours go severely off (Man), or the image is suddenly obscured by a wall of lumpy grain (Marnie). It also depends on the size of your TV.

Family Plot gains some image quality over the DVD release obviously, but the source image is such a mess that I don't know if increased clarity is a plus of minus.

A comment on bad transfers that I've picked up from my son, which he uses to describe poor quality internet videos is "shot by potato"; while the current Marnie and Family Plot presentations leave much to be desired, they are nowhere near "shot by potato". That standard would apply to Koch's Gulliver's Travels disc, for example.