A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Cat People (1982) -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Ethan Riley]

Do the people at Universal know how terrible their work is?

Now I'm cringing in anticipation of "Somewhere in Time."

 

[davidHartzog]

I enjoyed the BD of Cat People, although I prefer the original.

 

[Oblivion138]

I remember reading about Gladiator and the astonishment by Universal staff at Ridley Scott not wanting additional processing, this of course was the re-release after the very poor first botched one, a comment i read from Universal suggested that they thought DNR and EE was standard practice for catalog titles, it's the guy in charge of the video department, he has the power to stop it, you wouldn't find Grover Crisp ( Sony ) allowing this, i'll take an old master as it is, don't add any additional rubbish to it, of course these studio's were so short sighted about the future that they often baked issues right into the master they made.

Go right back to Universal's first blu ray releases, The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, the HD-DVD editions had film grain, they looked okay, not perfect but good and filmic, but for the blu ray release they decided to add in some DNR to the mix and make it all smoother, i have ended up purchasing some older HD-DVD editions of Universal films just to get more film texture, i don't know why they felt blu ray needed the smoothavision treatment, it almost makes me wonder if they hated the fact blu ray won the format war and decided to put out inferior catalog releases on purpose.

I really wanted Cat People, i like this film a lot, i can't purchase this rubbish though.

Yeah, almost anything Universal released on HD-DVD looked better than the eventual "upgrade" to BD. The Thing is another example. And The Big Lebowski, as well. I hate to think how Midnight Run might look if they ever release it on BD.

Scream is a division of Shout.

Right. It's just a Shout Factory brand that they use when releasing horror titles.

 

[schan1269]

I'm trying to figure out if I want this one...or the German release...if at all.

Watched this DVD, again, via an Elite DV49 to a Hitachi P50X901.

The screen shots make it look like shot on a Red.

Yeah, yeah...know it isn't fair to compare upscaled 1080 ALiS to other displays...(i and P is irrelevant to ALiS)

 

[Matt Hough]

Yeah, almost anything Universal released on HD-DVD looked better than the eventual "upgrade" to BD. The Thing is another example. And The Big Lebowski, as well. I hate to think how Midnight Run might look if they ever release it on BD.

Precisely the reason I have the HD-DVDs of The Sting and The Thing and no Blu-ray equivalents. I learned my lesson with Apollo 13. I do think Pride and Prejudice (2005) looks just as good on Blu as it did on HD-DVD.

 

[Vincent_P]

There was a short period of time in the mid-2000s when Universal was making very nice HD masters of catalog titles (DUNE, THE THING and THE DEER HUNTER come to mind). I wonder what the hell happened?

Vincent

 

[bruceames]

There was a short period of time in the mid-2000s when Universal was making very nice HD masters of catalog titles (DUNE, THE THING and THE DEER HUNTER come to mind). I wonder what the hell happened?

Vincent

The "grain is bad" mentality set in with Universal, that's what happened. They are trying to appeal to the average Joe (who hates grain) at the expense of the HT enthusiasts.

 

[JoshZ]

it almost makes me wonder if they hated the fact blu ray won the format war and decided to put out inferior catalog releases on purpose.

No need for conspiracy theories. Universal's catalog titles on HD DVD were no great shakes either. The studio is cheap and lazy, simple as that.

Who was it here who claimed that Universal actually isn't recycling old masters, and that all of these catalog titles are new 2k masters? Sorry, but I can't believe that from the results.

 

[FoxyMulder]

No need for conspiracy theories. Universal's catalog titles on HD DVD were no great shakes either. The studio is cheap and lazy, simple as that.

Who was it here who claimed that Universal actually isn't recycling old masters, and that all of these catalog titles are new 2k masters? Sorry, but I can't believe that from the results.

My screen name is FoxyMulder, i gotta come up with conspiracy theories. I agree with your post.

 

[Mark-W]

I watched a few scenes last week from this Blu-ray with lowered expectations thanks to RAH's review.

While not great, it is, to my eyes, a modest step up from the DVD.

I am keeping the DVD because, unfortunately, a bunch of extras were not ported over.

GRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRR!

It was nice to get new interviews with the cast on the new Blu-ray.
A few comments:

[*]Odd that Kinksi could not seem to sit up straight during her interview.
[*]Shrader was great, saying his only big regret is that he kept the title, since Universal was trying to do doe a series of remakes of their monster classics.
[*]Great to hear the cast and crew's interpretations of the end of the film; I always thought it was a fresh, non-cliche, finale.
[/list]

 

[TravisR]

My screen name is FoxyMulder, i gotta come up with conspiracy theories.

"Nobody down here but the FBI's most unwanted."

 

[warnerbro]

Their work on SPARTACUS is so smeary-looking that it resembles an old VHS. And they had to re-release OUT OF AFRICA because it also had that blurred, smeared look they think is an improvement. I was even unhappy with what they did with TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (one of my favorite films). They thought it looked better to smear the process shots where the camera moves in because they thought it had too much grain. They even admitted this in one of their behind the scenes films. I hate it!

 

[Matt Hough]

I was even unhappy with what they did with TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (one of my favorite films). They thought it looked better to smear the process shots where the camera moves in because they thought it had too much grain. They even admitted this in one of their behind the scenes films. I hate it!

Thank goodness there is someone else who dislikes their Blu-ray of one of my all-time favorites To Kill a Mockingbird. It's too processed, and those optical push-in close-ups look simply awful. I put the previous DVD release in my Blu-ray case, and that's the version I typically watch. I like the look of it very much.

 

[Oblivion138]

Thank goodness there is someone else who dislikes their Blu-ray of one of my all-time favorites To Kill a Mockingbird. It's too processed, and those optical push-in close-ups look simply awful. I put the previous DVD release in my Blu-ray case, and that's the version I typically watch. I like the look of it very much.

TKAM looks so inconsistent. Though when it was first released, you'd get your head bitten off if you criticized it. I think people so wanted to believe that Universal was turning over a completely new leaf that they were willing to overlook everything that was wrong with that transfer...and also to shout down anyone who didn't completely love it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

TKAM looks so inconsistent. Though when it was first released, you'd get your head bitten off if you criticized it. I think people so wanted to believe that Universal was turning over a completely new leaf that they were willing to overlook everything that was wrong with that transfer...and also to shout down anyone who didn't completely love it.

Really? I seriously doubt any shout downs took place here.

 

[Oblivion138]

Really? I seriously doubt any shout downs took place here.

I don't believe I was actively posting here at the time it was released. But elsewhere online, I was given a good thrashing, believe me.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I don't believe I was actively posting here at the time it was released. But elsewhere online, I was given a good thrashing, believe me.

Oh, I believe you, but we try to prevent such behavior here as we think everybody's opinion should be respected whether we agree with it or not.

 

[Oblivion138]

Oh, I believe you, but we try to prevent such behavior here as we think everybody's opinion should be respected whether we agree with it or not.

Which is why I'm much more inclined to speak my mind here than elsewhere these days.

 

[Sky Captain]

Thanks for the review RH. As you can tell from my avatar I'm a big fan of this film, and much prefer it to the Val Lewton classic, blasphemy I know.

I bought the Giorgio Moroder soundtrack LP as soon as it was released, and later the CD. Still listen to it.

What blasphemy? This version is better than the original by virtue of not having a crappy sequel follow from it (Curse Of The Cat People) and also getting rid of the whole King John of Serbia / 'Mameluks made us slaves, therefore we're cursed' nonsense plot by getting down to the real nitty gritty of what the cat people are; they're werecats because they're werecats. And they can only sleep with one of their own, or they turn into panthers and kill to become human again.

I too also love the soundtrack and the 'Cat People (Putting Out The Fire)'.

 

[FoxyMulder]

I too also love the soundtrack and the 'Cat People (Putting Out The Fire)'.

Quentin Tarantino loved it so much he used it to great effect in Inglourious Basterds.