Blu-ray Review HTF Blu-ray Review: Halloween (1978) (1 Viewer)

[Vincent_P]

I never suggested folks who enjoy the 5.1 remix not enjoy it, Jari- it was the Home Theater Forum reviewer Michael Osadciw who started this thread who told me to go back to pan-and-scan mono VHS because I dared bring up and call attention to his casual dismissal of the original mono soundtrack of HALLOWEEN in his BD review. I was responding to his dismissal of my concerns re: his flippant attitude towards the way the classic film HALLOWEEN was original released. In no way, shape, or form was I attacking folks who might prefer the 5.1 remix. Michael Osadciw attacked me, not the other way around, no matter how he may wish to spin it.

Vincent

 

[Vincent_P]

But it DOES, Michael- it has to do with how you approached the film compared to the standpoint of a purist, and instead of addressing that issue, you chose to ATTACK ME PERSONALLY while camouflaging your post to make it seem as if you were somehow addressing an "attack" I had made against you, when that was not what I was doing at all.

Again Michael, my comment was- "Your dismissive comments re: the original mono sound mix in your review speak volumes for where you're coming from."

And you know what? They DO speak volumes of where you're coming from as a reviewer, as you freely admit in saying that you prefer the "cleaner" 5.1 soundtrack regardless of how correct it may be...

So how did you chose to respond to me? This is how:

"Why are you even here in this forum that embraces new technologies if you are just going to crap on the thread, and on me for that matter? Go and watch an old mono pan & scan VHS tape of the film and you'll be much happier."

Yeah, right...

That's EXACTLY what I was getting at when I pointed out your dismissive comments re: HALLOWEEN's classic mono soundtrack that enthralled so many viewers back in 1978 and for so many years thereafter*...

Michael, I have no problem with you extending the olive branch and calling a truce re: this issue, but don't ignore what YOU said and try and continually make me out to be the bad guy here. Just admit you were wrong and say you're sorry and then we can move on, O.K.?.

Vincent

* This being sarcasm should anybody take it seriously and try and use it against me on these or other forums in the future.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Michael and Vincent,
It appears to me that both of you think you've been attacked by the other in this thread, however, the rest of us just want to discuss this BR release without any personal swipes being exchanged here. So I suggest you take your personal beef offline while this thread tries to remain on topic. Furthermore, this is third warning issued in this thread regarding this issue, there won't be another one.




Crawdaddy

 

[Don May Jr]

Right now, Synapse's plans to do HD DVD and/or BLU-RAY have been squashed only because the prices for authoring and compression are so expensive. When the major studios are selling 10,000 pieces (or, sometimes a lot less) of major studios films, it's hard for a company like us to justify spending tens of thousands on HD/BD authoring and compression for our niche product.

But like even DVD technology, the authoring and compression costs will start to come down in price over time and, at that point, we'll re-evaluate.

As far as mixes in lossless, well, sure. We'd definitely pursue the possibility and, since many of our films ARE in mono already, having an uncompressed mono track is probably more of a possibility. Probably wouldn't take up that much space, ya know?

 

[Cees Alons]

Don,

Or else a lossless compressed track? Would take even less space.

(Preferably one we have decoders for on our players, i.e. TrueHD.)


Cees

 

[Nick Graham]

Felix, any updates?

Even if all Cundey says is that he did not supervise the transfer, that will go a long way toward dispelling disinformation on this issue.

 

[Jack Johnson]

Posted this on the other Halloween BD thread:


Not sure how this weighs into the discussion about the color timing, but I did a side-by-side comparison of an ancient VHS transfer of Halloween from Media Entertainment from around 1985 (still in mint condition) with the '99 Dean Cundey approved dvd transfer. Both the dvd and VHS were viewed via component connection through a Panasonic DMR-ES35V dvd recorder, keeping my calibrated television's tint locked off and centered. Occasionally, I amped up the color saturation to check for the presence of blue in certain scenes.

On the VHS, the greens of the outdoor scenes featured in Dave's caps look to be a little cooler, greener than the Cundey transfer...but bluer than the vivid green hues seen in the Divimax dvd. The overall hue of neutral whites and earth tones seems to have been nudged up a bit in warmth on the approved dvd (to the red end of the spectrum). It's sublte, but Cundey's is definitely warmer. Again, this applies to the many outdoor scenes in daylight.

As for the infamous lack of blue in the night shots in Dave's caps, I would say that while blue tones are more present on VHS than in the Divimax dvd, the '99 Cundey transfer also sports a bit of a bluish sepia that is absent on the tape. With color adjusted to what appeared adequate but not over-saturated, the exterior of the house looked more primary white than blue, and the scene featuring The Shape breaking through the door offers just a hint of the blue tones seen on the '99 dvd. That said, the tape does not appear completely washed out or devoid of color as do the caps from the Divimax dvd.

In the end, the tape transfer--which looks to have been mastered from a pretty beat-up, unrestored print--is, perhaps, closer to the Divimax dvd than the '99 disc for the daylight exteriors, and somewhere between the Divimax and the Cundey transfer with regard to the blue, night hues.





--Jack

 

[Dave Mack]

I'm sure that Cundey jacked the blues WAY up in certain scenes where they just didn't register as blue.
I doubt when they made the original hd transfer for the divimax disc someone consciously took the blues out of just certain shots. nakes no sense and why would they bother...?

There are many scenes in the divmax dvd with PLENTY of blue. When The shape watched Annie through the kitchen, it looks pretty much the exact same on all 3 transfers.

For the new BD, Starz, hearing the complaints probably just did something to the day scenes that people complained about, (fall looking like spring) got to some night scenes, saw blue in many places and just let it run....

 

[Jack Johnson]

Yeah, Halloween may have gotten a bit of a Cundey tweak for dvd to bring it more in line with original intent. A lot of directors seem to be doing this these days, as with Ridley Scott on ALIEN when he pumped up the gold and yellow hues in the "treasure room" of the Nostromo.

By the way, I'm going to add a correction to my earlier post; the VHS daylight scenes are pretty close to Divimax, but it's the 99' Cundey approved dvd that's actually much warmer.


--Jack

 

[Dave Mack]

Agreed. I bet the divimax looks pretty close to what an actual print looked like.

 

[Felix Martinez]

Now word yet from Cundey or his agent. I'll post back as soon as I hear something.

 

[ShadowForce]

Did you ever hear back from Cundey?

 

This thread really puts me of two minds about getting this; I just saw it for the first time in years, on SD-DVD, and I can feel how nice it would be to see it in HD, but its such a shame a key feature of the film hasn't been preserved, because the blue night really was a key feature that Carpenter and Cundey talked about in the SD special features! And these caps here, and discussion elsewhere, do suggest its absent.

DVDBeaver review, not Gary Tooze, but DVDSensei highly recommended it, but I think with reservations about the colour timing as well.

Ben

 

[Brian Borst]

I would wait. Anchor Bay is known for milking the Halloween and also Evil Dead titles they own, so there's always a future release not too far away.

 

Too late.

I found there was still some blue in a few night shots, but definitely not an ideal representation of the original blu; it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the movie, because i'd never seen it in a good quality release before.

 

I was taking a look at this again and it looks like the scenes with problematic blues are too bright. Look at the scene of Laurie running into the kitchen. There are no shadows. They have been brightened. When I darkened my display a bit, the blue started returning to the frame. So I think that some of the problem stems with the brightness being overly used. I think if the frame were darker, some of the issues with the blues would have been fixed.