Vincent_P

Re: What's the word on Lost Highway?

Lynch LOVES darkness, and the screencaps for the Universal DVD reflect that. Also, hasn't it been established that he supervised the High-Definition transfer for Universal some years back? I think that should put the lid on which "look" of the film is correct. I hope this comes out on Blu-ray.

Vincent

TravisR

Re: What's the word on Lost Highway?

Another thing that makes me think it's correct is that the Mystery Man looks pale or pasty (rather than the fleshtone that he had on the laserdisc or some of the foreign DVD releases).

Me too but, unfortunately, I think it's going to be a long wait and the SD disc is only about $15 so I'm getting the DVD.

Will_B

Re: What's the word on Lost Highway?

The film is so murky that it is a difficult film to watch. Maybe poor transfers from the original negative doomed all versions to look like crap. I was going to upgrade from the PAL, but given the lack of extras and the image still looking terrible, I'll pass.

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Adam Santangelo

Re: What's the word on Lost Highway?

Yes, this is also my understanding. Lynch confirmed years ago that he'd approved a new picture transfer for Lost Highway, and that's why it seemed so ridiculous that it took years to finally be released.

If there's some argument as to why the old picture transfers are correct, I'm curious to hear it. Either way, I'm a R1 guy and looking forward to having a decent Lost Highway DVD that runs 135 min.

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Russ Felton

Re: What's the word on Lost Highway?

I agree with you about the new US version looking like the theater version. I seem to remember it looking very dark, most notibly, the way some characters slowly appear from the inky blackness of this film. The other versions look way to bright I think.

John Sullmeyer

Re: What's the word on Lost Highway?

I can't believe this got released bare bones. What a shame. I think I'll stick with my R2 copy from MK2. The sound and picture on it blow me away are near reference quality.

-John



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Michael Reuben

Re: What's the word on Lost Highway?

The Focus/Universal looks like anything but "crap". Of course, it depends on one's expectations and understanding of how the film should look.

I've never seen any of the PAL discs, but I've looked at the screen caps at DVD Beaver. Now those do look awful -- nothing like the film I remember in theaters (and this is one you remember).

M.

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Ash Atchison

Re: What's the word on Lost Highway?

Good lord, I can't believe it took nearly 8 years from the time I made this thread to finally get an R1 DVD of this flick. That's pretty sobering.

Anywho, I've got it in my hands and the picture looks very accurate to me. I'm pretty pleased with it, except of course, for the absence of the aforementioned extras. Here's an extra screenshot I made comparing the MK2 disc to the new one.

Old DVD:



New DVD:


I saw this puppy in the theater, and a sure as hell don't remember the fire being white. That second screenshot is right. The MK2 and all the euro transfers are just way bright and blown out in general. Hell, Lynch loves his darkness, and this film may be his darkest. The old DVDs have a tinge of grey in the dark scenes, even on well calibrated sets, and most of the film just looks too washed out. This new one, in my opinion, gets it right in just about every way.

I also doubt this is the transfer struck by USA Films some ten years ago. I see no artifacting or noise reduction that plagued many releases in those days. The actual grain of the film is in plain view and the whole thing looks clean and untampered with outside of the 'new' color palette, which is to say, the 'right' color palette. Not to mention, the Focus Features logo is integrated into the main film file itself, which leads me to believe that this is a more recent print, or the 'supervised' print that Lynch has talked about in interviews, which he makes out to be struck only a few years ago.

Either way, it's here now, and I'm happy with it. Who knows, maybe in twenty more years we might see a Blu-Ray...




..right.

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David Egan

Re: What's the word on Lost Highway?

I just watched this and the picture is perfect. The DVDBeaver caps had me worried but are inaccurate. It's dark but never murky. The colors, when they appear, really stand out. When David wants to make a statement with the extreme brights it is made and I am confident that the transfer is 100% David approved. A BR would be a slight improvement in spots but any fan of the director or this great movie would be crazier than Robert Blake to pass up on this disc.

There are no extras. Good. Lynch's position that commentaries ruin movies is extreme but not in this case. Like it or not, get it or don't, the movie is all you need. Five stars out of four.

Lord Dalek

Re: What's the word on Lost Highway?

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Sullmeyer near reference quality.

Except the contrast is boosted to high heaven.

TravisR

Re: What's the word on Lost Highway?

I agree completely. If you're a fan of this movie, it's easily worth the $15 even if there's no special features. The special features would have just been boring "It's great working with a real artist like David" EPK interviews anyway.