UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Halloween 4k Collection (1995 - 2002) -- in 4k UHD Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

One can set their Apple Watch to it.

Like the spring peepers returning to Capistrano, and the salmon swimming upstream to spawn, and monarch butterflies returning home, there will be new annual releases of Halloween, Scream and Friday the 13th.

I've attempted to track the Halloween series for 4k releases, and have come away with the following:

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that of the 13 films in the series - the latest to be released next month - the first five have been released by Scream Factory, with the first initially coming from Lionsgate in September of 2018.

The David Gordon Green films have been released in 4k in 2019 and January of 2022.

Which left the two Rob Zombie films - we'll call them Halloween 9 and 10 in Blu-ray.

Scream Factory has again come to fans with a gift of Halloween 6, 7 and 8 - The Curse of Michael Myers, H2O, and Resurrection being released on October 4th.

And for fans, this is a big deal.

Not just to have them in 4k, but because of the overriding quality of the set, which is replete with extras, new interviews and commentaries.

All three have been scanned in 4k from the OCNs, and IMHO they look beautiful.

Full disclosure: I'm not an expert on the series, although I've viewed the original on every format going back to the Edison cylinders, which means I'm unable to speak to the propriety of special colors, densities, etc, but can only relay what I'm seeing in a general sense.

And that general sense has come away extremely pleased.

There's a natural looking sheen of moving grain on all three films. Beautiful black levels, great color, and what appears to be nice shadow detail.

Halloween 6 comes in two flavors, the theatrical and "Producer's Cut," while 7 and 8 give us the Theatricals.

6 isn't branched, but rather is on two separate discs, making 6 a four disc set.

Packaging has spared no expense, except to the planet.

Each variant is in it own black plastic shell, with each of those shells found inside its own heavy paper case.

Each of the three cases is, in turn, akin to a Russian doll, further entombed in their own very sturdy outer box.

On a basic tech level, all four films are from 4k OCN scans, all are in Dolby Vision, and all in DTS-HD MA 5.1, as well as stereo.

Methinks Halloween fans will be happy campers.


Image – 5 (Dolby Vision)

Audio – 5 (DTS-HD MA 5.1 & Stereo)

Pass / Fail – Pass

Plays nicely with projectors - Yes

Upgrade from Blu-ray - Yes

Makes use of and works well in 4k - 4

Recommended

RAH

 

[Lord Dalek]

Except most Halloween fans hate these movies.

 

[Robert Harris]

Except most Halloween fans hate these movies.

Not my problem, thank God. I'm only a general.

 

[Malcolm R]

I'd probably pick this up at some point in the future with a price drop. Even with standard retail release discounting, this is going for over $100 most places. Seems pretty steep for what basically boils down to a 3 movie set of, as noted, the "lesser" films in the franchise.

But I'm glad they look good.

 

[Kent K H]

I took a gamble on the Wal-Mart pricing snafu of $24, but got a cancellation notice yesterday. Not sure if I like these movies enough to pay more than that, even with my undying Paul Rudd fandom. Maybe if they put out a 1-8 set. I can skip the Zombie-helmers.

Still, I love how Scream has been taking these releases seriously. The kind of horror fans that would buy these flicks in 4K will flip for all the special features.

 

[TravisR]

Except most Halloween fans hate these movies.

Yep and here I am buying them again for at least the fourth time.

 

[sbjork]

It's impressive how every UHD in the series that Shout/Scream has released has been a complete home run. The movies may vary in quality, but the discs and transfers don't. They're all winners. I wasn't planning on picking up this collection since I'm not a fan of any of the titles, but it's still tempting just because the discs have been so good.

 

[Tober27]

It's impressive how every UHD in the series that Shout/Scream has released has been a complete home run. The movies may vary in quality, but the discs and transfers don't. They're all winners

A brief moment from Halloween II would disagree.

 

[SFMike]

So many great films waiting to get Blu-ray releases, but these second-rate slasher films get 4K. It makes me very sad.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

The profits generated by perennials like this allow these companies to stay in business so that other titles may one day get an upgrade.

 

[sbjork]

A brief moment from Halloween II would disagree.

I forgot about that, but to be fair, it doesn't seem to affect every player out there. And it's mercifully brief even if it does affect a particular model. Point taken, but I don't think that it significantly detracts from the quality of the disc as a whole.

 

[Tober27]

I forgot about that, but to be fair, it doesn't seem to affect every player out there. And it's mercifully brief even if it does affect a particular model. Point taken, but I don't think that it significantly detracts from the quality of the disc as a whole.

I agree. It doesn't occur in DolbyVision. It's a brief unfortunate flaw, but doesn't affect my viewing.

 

[B-ROLL]

Except most Halloween fans hate these movies.

Especially since trick-or-treaters might be disappointed

Last year was the last one ...

 

[WillG]

A brief moment from Halloween II would disagree.

what was the issue?

 

[sbjork]

what was the issue?

There's some severe glitching that happens during an inopportune moment in the hot tub rendezvous scene. Modesty precludes posting pictures. Again, though, it doesn't seem to affect all players to the same degree.

 

[crowe-t]

Has anyone noticed the audio being out of sync in chapter 11 of the H20 4K disc?

I read on another forum it was out of sync.

 

[Kent K H]

Has anyone noticed the audio being out of sync in chapter 11 of the H20 4K disc?

I read on another forum it was out of sync.

I've had some issues with 4K sound sync in general, the worst offender being Final Countdown from Blue Underground, and as best as I can figure from my research, I'm supposed to blame my TCL TV. (Yeah, I know, kick me out of the club at your earliest convenience.) So I'm having a hard time figuring out if I have badly authored discs or not.

 

[Malcolm R]

I wouldn't think the TV is to blame unless you are using your TV speakers to play the audio and there's possibly some kind of processing turned on? If so, are there options in the TV's audio menu for Bitstream vs. PCM vs. Dolby or some other choice that you could try?

Minimally related, but I know on my Tivo box I can choose from Dolby sound or PCM sound (which goes to my AVR). I often get dropouts when using Dolby, but PCM doesn't seem to have this issue.

 

[crowe-t]

Has anyone noticed H20's audio in chapter 11 being out of sync?

 

[Kent K H]

I wouldn't think the TV is to blame unless you are using your TV speakers to play the audio and there's possibly some kind of processing turned on? If so, are there options in the TV's audio menu for Bitstream vs. PCM vs. Dolby or some other choice that you could try?

Minimally related, but I know on my Tivo box I can choose from Dolby sound or PCM sound (which goes to my AVR). I often get dropouts when using Dolby, but PCM doesn't seem to have this issue.

Soundbar coming through the TV.