Rocky Horror comes to Blu-ray in 2010

Excellent - the original 2-disc DVD was a terrific upgrade of the 20th Anniversary LD set, and gave us the original mono mix, a new, corrected stereo music mix (not flying in the alternate, 'soundtrack' album mixes) plus both US and UK versions.

To make this 100% in my books, fix one thing: The Audience Partici-pation track.  It needs to be mixed putting the audience in the rear exclusively, and the soundtrack up front for end-user balance adjusting, and the 'Time Warp' ending (which they are clapping and singing along to) to be 100% correct!  Come on Fox!

I watched the dvd again last night. It still holds up, almost ten years later! There are some issues with black levels fluctuating, but all in all still a winner...can't wait for the Blu-Ray!

Same here- it's one of my favorites. I hope all the deleted scenes from the SE DVD are included. 

After having bought the almost $200 LD Box Set with original gold CD of the sound track along with the huge book on everything you ever wanted to know about the movie....and owning the OOP 2 disc DVD, I think I've spent enough money on the title. 

I'd rather listen to the music than actually watch the movie. 

I was quite surprised today to find out that the CTV network will air RHPS in HD this weekend.  It marks the first time ever that RHPS has aired on a national network in Canada, although it has aired previously many times for Halloween on MuchMusic. (owned by CTV since 2007)

It doesn't say which version(s) of the film will be included.  Will it just be the US release or will the UK version be on the disc too?

I hope it is both cuts and that they fix the music cue from the US cut towards the end when the cut takes place for Superheroes. But it might be hard to do if the two versions were presented seamless.

My review should be up tonight.

Matt,

 

I shiver with antici... pation

 

My copy is ordered.  Should be here today.

 

I am very curious to see how well they remastered

this title for Blu-ray.  By all accounts, it could be a

remarkable visual and sonic experience.

 

David,

 

Very good review.  I can't quite figure out from it

if Fox did a brand-new video audience participation

PIP track for this release.  I was never happy with

the one that appeared on the DVD.

I read on rockyhorror.com that they used the wrong take for Janet during "Over at the Frankenstein Place." This only occurs on the stereo track. Also, all blue and red tints are gone from Brad and Janet scenes and the Time Warp flashbacks.

 

 

EDIT....I just picked this up. The red tints were there. The scene in Brad's bedroom has some blue on the left and right sides but it has be de-tinted in the center where the action is...you can plainly see Tim Curry now.

Edited by eric scott richard - 10/19/10 at 10:45am

As someone who used to own a bootleg VHS with Japanese subs, bought the original U.S. VHS release ($100!), the LD box ($120!), and the 2-disc DVD (Cheap! Teehee), I'm delighted to finally own RHPS on Blu-Ray.  Though certainly not worth the premium we had to pay back in the day, I will always miss the extra little things that came in some LD box sets.  RHPS had a book, Creatures of the Night 2, and a 24k gold CD of the soundtrack.  IIRC, the soundtrack was different than any other release.  I don't recall if the actual sound mix on the songs was any different.  Probably not.  However, it had snippets of dialogue between each of the songs.  Ah, laserdiscs.  I miss your "special-ness" if not your sticker shock.

 

I picked up the BD at lunch.  Can't wait to go home and pop it in the player!

     Just picked this up.  DavidS mentioned them in his review but I must not have not noticed.   The menus are really such a nice touch and a pleasant surprise!

I guess they changed the Time Warp reprise on the mono track during the end credits. Why?

Wasn't there an extra on the DVD in which Richard O'Brien goes back to the old house at Bray which was the location for much of the film?  If that's on the blu-ray I can't find it.

For no sane or logical reason the opening credit sequence appears to be windowboxed for the first time.  Whenever the ruby lips open extra wide you can see where they are cut off by flat borders at the top and bottom.  On the standard DVD release ( non-windowboxed ), you can see the lips extend entirely to the top and bottom of the screen but because they are reaching the edges of the monitor the effect isn't jarring.

So,

 

1. The opening credits are now windowboxed

2. The 7.1 track of Over at the Frankenstein Place is an alternate and out of sync take, as is part of the Floor Show

3. The Time Warp Reprise during the end credits is incorrect on the mono track.

4. The blue tint during Brad's seduction is gone.

 

 

The film looks really good, but man.

 It's my understanding that is one of the dvd extras that didn't make it to the blu-ray.  I liked that extra.

Jeez, glad I haven't considered getting rid of my DVD... I wonder how the vocal got swapped on "Frankenstein Place" if it was right on the DVD 5.1. It otherwise seemed like the vocal and music mix elements were the same on the Blu and DVD, right down to that new Time Warp ending. I can't imagine someone went back to the multi-track tapes and completely edited the music from scratch after all that detailed work on the last 5.1 mix. That last mix entailed painstaking comparison of the vocal takes on the session tapes versus the mono dialogue stem, mixing them together within songs when needed.

 

I could see using stems or digital audio sessions with multiple tracks... hmmm... maybe if they did work from an existing digital multitrack project, there could have been two vocals in there and the 7.1 team just picked the wrong one?

 

Here's another interesting thing to note about the music - if you pick the karaoke option and play songs individually, you can turn the vocals off. If you do this, what you hear is the music and effects stems of the mono mix. You'd think it would be easy to output a separate pass of each song in 7.1 and just eliminate the main vocals, so it's interesting that this was the route they chose.

 

EDIT: Now having gone to David Shetterly's review and discovering some links to a bit of "behind-the-scenes" info, we can get a better insight into the audio process on the "Rocky Horror" Blu-ray:

http://www.rockyhorror.com/participation/behindtheblu_audio.php

 

Might I suggest as a companion my own interview with James Young at Chace who supervised the 5.1 mix for the DVD release?

http://minerwerks.com/rockyremastered.html

Edited by Derek Miner - 10/21/10 at 11:27pm

I enjoyed reading your interview for the 25th Anniversary remastering, Derek. So, I guess the Time Warp Reprise on the blu end credits really are incorrect according to your interview.

Gotta say I'm underwhelmed with the 7.1 mix, although the music sounds great.  I found the dialogue mixed WAY too low compared to the music.  I was constantly adjusting the volume back forth, up for the dialogue and down for the music.  Actually liked the alternate take on "Over at the Frankenstein Place..." and didn't find it that much out of synch. 

Anyone else think the Blu-Ray looks a little dark compared to the previous DVD version?