HTF BluRay Review: The Thing - Page 2

I picked up the Blu-ray available in England, and it appears to me to have the same picture and sound as the US Blu.  It also has the same Carpenter/Russell commentary and the same PIP functionality.  But it also has all the other extras from the SD release, including "Terror Takes Shape" in its original form, and the other materials. 

The one thing I discovered late in the game was missing from all DVDs after the initial release in 98 was the isolated score track that went with "Terror Takes Shape."  It was a nice hidden gem, and I believe they took that functionality off when they did the revised DVD with the anamorphic transfer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin EK 

I picked up the Blu-ray available in England... it also has all the other extras from the SD release, including "Terror Takes Shape" in its original form, and the other materials.

That's why I bought the UK version, to get "Terror Takes Shape" as a separate doc.

Is the PIP nothing more than the TTS doc chopped up into segments?
 

Yup.

Ah yes.  Nothing like adding value is there?  And chopping up a good doc and putting it into PIP is nothing like value.  BTW, I've yet to run across a PIP that didn't require that I go into my player audio setup to make a change before I could watch it.

Edit: Except for Pixar movies, but they don't do the PIP the same way as others.

Terror Takes Shape is indeed an excellent doc but the way they filmed it, with talking heads against a black background and featuring very little behind-the-scenes just made it a bit dull and tedious to sit through. The DVD was an otherwise perfect package. A good example of a definitive AND entertaining doc was The Exorcist's Fear of God. I guess having a "host" narrating makes a big difference.

I liked "Terror Takes Shape" for all the production stories - especially Charles Hallahan and Rob Bottin talking about the HOURS he had to spend on the table for his big scene.

The other part of it that was interesting was the way the complete score to the film was used in the background.  On the original DVD, there was an option to just listen to that track, thus giving you the full soundtrack.

Ya' gotta think with the prequel coming out soon that this will be getting another blu-ray release, like Predator.  Let's hope the results are better than that fiasco!

The one thing that could be done with a revised Blu-ray release of this movie would be to break out the previously-available special features again.  But I don't know that this would be enough to really justify people double-dipping.

The prior DVD release was really thorough with the special features - I was well satisfied with the commentary, the documentary, the stills and clips and the whole package.  I don't know of any missing first reels like Escape from New York, or other perspectives we haven't been given yet.  I could be wrong, but this is a title that I feel has been given as good a series of releases as we could want.