It Came From Outer Space: THE HTF 3D ADDICT REVIEW (1 Viewer)

[Tony Bensley]

My order FINALLY shipped!

Ironically, this occurred at 3:23 this afternoon BEFORE I contacted Amazon Canada. It would have saved a lot of frustration had this information been accessible at that time!

To be fair, I should also state the communication issue was due, in part, to the fact my shipment is coming from a new Fulfillment Centre, located in Brampton, which is a bit west of the one in Mississauga - a longer distance from where I live, but not by much. This might also explain some of the Canadian orders being somewhat discombobulated while the kinks are being worked out.

Hopefully, I'll get this before the long weekend?

CHEERS!

 

[Tony Bensley]

I was at Best Buy browsing the UHD titles, and an employee came up to me and asked if I needed help finding anything. I told him no thanks, and thought that would have been the end of it. He said ok, then said if you want to see something cool check this out.
He walked me over to 'It Came From Outer Space' and told me it is 3D and 2D, and is a great deal.
It certainly was. Considering I was going to pick it up anyway, I had completely forgotten it was a BB exclusive. Just thought it weird that a 20 something employee had me pegged(correctly) as a 3D film fan.
I thanked him and he disappeared.

That is a really cool story, Bryan!

In an odd, but welcoming way, this hit me in just the right place! Thanks for sharing!

CHEERS!

 

[TJPC]

I think Best Buy is actively trying to discourage phone orders. Knowing that we would be in the Buffalo area today, I decided to order ICFO and pick it up at the Walden Galleria store. Normally I would place the order on line, but I needed it the next day.

This process took over an hour. (I pat myself on the back for stamina and perseverance.)

First of all, although I tried at least 4 times, I kept getting "The number you have reached is not in service" when I tried to call the store directly.

Next I found the main number for the chain and called it. A person with an extremely thick Indian accent, who dubiously informed me her name was "Elizabeth" was worse than no help at all. She basically repeated my questions over and over like a robot, and when I asked to speak to someone else she said there was no one, even though I could hear evidence of a large call centre around her. After trying to get her to understand that the store is in Cheektowaga NY and I live near Toronto, and quickly realizing she had no knowledge of North American geography, or basically anything else, I gave up.

I made one last attempt by calling the main mall number and a nice woman connected me directly to customer service at the store. After being put on hold for about 10 minutes and being forced to listen to ad after ad and terrible music that was worse and more distorted than any Edison tinfoil phonograph (this is an ELECTRONICS store?) I finally got through to customer service and placed and paid for my order.

I picked it up today but we are doing an overnighter and it will have to wait until tomorrow at the earliest to watch it. I am really looking forward to it.

 

[Charles Smith]

Bryan^H:

Where in the hell was THAT Best Buy??

 

[TJPC]

Cheektowaga NY -- Just outside Buffalo NY.

 

[Jimbo64]

Just finished watching it, beautiful job with the picture and sound restoration!

 

[B-ROLL]

The Best Buy I went to did not have any copies of ICFOS just a hole in the rack under sign where it would have been (under NEW Releases) They HAD two copies of The Ghost & Mr. Chicken & October Sky for $7.99 each (the Sale price for ICFOS) ... There was only one TG&MC left as the other was in my basket ...

 

[ChristopherG]

My wife, 22 year-old daughter and I screened this last night. Nothing short of fantastic! Even my 22 yr old was amazed and loved the film as well as appreciating the 3D release. The sound was fantastic and the picture was simply brilliant.

Thanks to Mr. Furmanek!

 

[BobO'Link]

I stopped in yesterday to pick up my copy. For a change it was a pleasant experience!

I parked in one of the spaces reserved for store pickup (they're usually full but no one is doing a pickup), went inside to find no one was in line at the store pickup register (not unusual) *and* someone was actually at the register! I've *never* had that happen before. I step up to the register and the pleasant young lady asks if I'm there to do a store pickup. I say yes, proffer my ID, CC, and print out of the "pickup ready" email. She looks it over, asks what I'm picking up, I reply "A Blu-ray of It Came From Outer Space," she chuckles (in a good-natured way) saying "OooK," and turns to the pickup compartment. She finds my order and in a surprised voice says "It *is* It Came From Outer Space!" turning back with a nice smile. I guess she thought I was pulling her chain. Fast service *and* a pleasant CS rep. Wow! Who'd have thought it!

It took me longer to type this than to go in, pick up the order, and get back to the car!

I didn't get a chance to watch it last night but am going to try tonight.

 

[Doug Otte]

I think Best Buy is actively trying to discourage phone orders. Knowing that we would be in the Buffalo area today, I decided to order ICFO and pick it up at the Walden Galleria store. Normally I would place the order on line, but I needed it the next day.

This process took over an hour. (I pat myself on the back for stamina and perseverance.)

First of all, although I tried at least 4 times, I kept getting "The number you have reached is not in service" when I tried to call the store directly.

Next I found the main number for the chain and called it. A person with an extremely thick Indian accent, who dubiously informed me her name was "Elizabeth" was worse than no help at all. She basically repeated my questions over and over like a robot, and when I asked to speak to someone else she said there was no one, even though I could hear evidence of a large call centre around her. After trying to get her to understand that the store is in Cheektowaga NY and I live near Toronto, and quickly realizing she had no knowledge of North American geography, or basically anything else, I gave up.

I made one last attempt by calling the main mall number and a nice woman connected me directly to customer service at the store. After being put on hold for about 10 minutes and being forced to listen to ad after ad and terrible music that was worse and more distorted than any Edison tinfoil phonograph (this is an ELECTRONICS store?) I finally got through to customer service and placed and paid for my order.

I picked it up today but we are doing an overnighter and it will have to wait until tomorrow at the earliest to watch it. I am really looking forward to it.

Ordering online to pick up in store is fairly painless at BB, and certainly faster than your phone experience.

 

[TonyD]

Yeh why would you do that?

Even if you didn't have a computer you can use your phone and order for next day pickup

 

[Matt Hough]

I watched my copy tonight (I couldn't wait for the weekend). Simply marvelous in every way. Really loved that telescope pushing out toward us on a couple of occasions, and one of those rocks from the avalanche looked like it was coming right at me and made me flinch!

Congratulations, 3-D Archive, for another superlative job!

 

[TJPC]

Yeh why would you do that?

Even if you didn't have a computer you can use your phone and order for next day pickup

Don't forget, I was ordering from Canada to a US store and needed to pick it up the next day.

 

[BobO'Link]

So... Last night I rip open my copy but there are no 3D glasses!?!?! No matter... I grab a pair from my Three Stooges Volume 7 set, put the disc in the player, put on the glasses for a 3D experience. Hmmm.... it's kind of flat looking. Not much 3D... Oh well, it *looks* good anyway...


JUST KIDDING!!!

I *did* watch the 2D version as I'm not set up for 3D and as I tend to have issues with the process (eye problem) am not likely to install the equipment in the future. But that 2D image is spectacular! I pulled out my old Universal DVD to compare... just because. While the DVD looks very good it *does* have quite a bit of film anomalies present. Sparkles, occasional fine lines, "smears" from being cleaned, etc. Honestly most are "unnoticeable" to people who watch lots of film as that stuff simply disappears to your eye unless someone mentions it (like someone telling you *Don't think about elephants* so you do) or there's a large amount, and there just isn't on the old DVD. BUT I saw *none* of that on the new Blu-ray edition! It looks like it could have been shot yesterday!

This next part is hard..

I didn't like the newly remastered audio track. Hear me out before you scream "Heathen!"... I've *never* been a fan of huge swings in dynamic range in films or TV programs and very much dislike "surround" sound for them as well. It's one of the things that keeps me out of theaters. This one has some of the largest differences from soft to loud that I believe I've ever heard. When I turned up my set enough to hear dialog well, the louder music, explosions, zings, and other sfx would often be so loud you could hear them *clearly* 3-4 rooms away! When the volume was set so those loud sections wouldn't "blow your hair back," I had to watch with subtitles enabled to know what was being said. I have no sound system connected (for the same reason cited above), which *might* have been able to help if those loud sounds come from any but the front channels (which I now know they do not as it's a stereo mix so this would be of no help). Other than that quibble the audio is quite good. It's clean with no noise of any kind that doesn't belong.

In contrast the DVD is "plain old" stereo sound but has a superb mix - at least for me. Dialog is up front, easy to hear, and music/sfx don't blow you out of the room. I much prefer that track. Why, oh why, couldn't it, too, have been included in remastered/cleaned up form on the new 3D edition? But as a *option* and *not* as a replacement of the remastered original track so you could select the one you prefer. To have a superbly remastered visual and a soundtrack I can listen to would be a wondrous thing! Sadly, I don't see myself watching this version much, all due to the soundtrack, and that's a shame.

**Edited to clarify I'd like to have had *both* audio tracks on this release.

 

[BobO'Link]

Don't forget, I was ordering from Canada to a US store and needed to pick it up the next day.

That's exactly what I did, well the order one day and pick up the next part. Once you're notified it's ready, they'll hold a store pickup order for 8 days before cancelling it and refunding the purchase price.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

You're hearing the original stereophonic mix as heard theatrically in 1953. The previous DVD release was a heavily modified and compressed re-mix.

There's more information in this article by Greg Kintz: http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/it-s-in-the-mix

In addition, for the first time in 63 years, people are seeing IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE with the original intermission card. It's created some confusion as to why a short film would require a break so I've updated the 3-D Myths page with the answer. Please share! http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/home/top-10-3-d-myths

 

[Josh Steinberg]

In addition, for the first time in 63 years, people are seeing IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE with the original intermission card.

I was delighted to see it. It's one the later intermissions in a 3D movie, is it not? When the movie reached and passed its halfway mark without a break, I started assuming that this version would just skip the intermission, and so I was delighted when it appeared onscreen, just later than I had expected. I love having those parts of the original presentation preserved.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

They could be anywhere from 45 minutes to 55 within the film. Two exceptions: both Robot Monster and Cat-Women of the Moon had them at the 30 minute point!

 

[Tony Bensley]

My IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953) Blu-ray arrived in today's mail, just in time for the long weekend! I'm looking forward to giving this beautifully done restoration, courtesy of Bob Furmanek and Greg Kintz, a viewing!

For those who are still wondering, no there isn't a reversible cover art option, and that's just fine by me, as it's the disc content that counts, in my opinion!

CHEERS!

 

[BobO'Link]

My IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953) Blu-ray arrived in today's mail, just in time for the long weekend! I'm looking forward to giving this beautifully done restoration, courtesy of Bob Furmanek and Greg Kintz, a viewing!

For those who are still wondering, no there isn't a reversible cover art option, and that's just fine by me, as it's the disc content that counts, in my opinion!

CHEERS!

I was so excited to watch the film I never noticed the cover! Not that it matters as I typically look at them when I first get a title and pay them little attention after that. I'm more likely to remember what the spine looks like and roughly where a title lives on the shelf as that's what I'm looking for when pulling a title for a viewing.