Evil Dead II - Book of the Dead COMPARISON SHOTS (1 Viewer)

[BrettGallman]

Yeah, add me to the list of people who think it looks less sharp. I'll be holding onto my THX version, but I really want to get the Book of the Dead case. I wish they'd just release that for a small fee.

 

[Greg Black]

I'm glad other people feel the same way, because I think the new edition looks less sharp than the previous one. And the increased brightness... Yuck! Also, the frame has been moved down in the matting, exposing more of the top of the frame, and cutting off some of the bottom. It's like that on all the comparison shots.

And I agree with Mark, this just smacks of the new Ghostbusters release.

 

[Eric DiPiazza]

Glad I kept my LE tin. For most of the shots, I like the original release better.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Greg, I saw that too. The framing of the new release compared to the old one looks off, too much visual info is visible at the top and some of the bottom is now matted over.

I got traumatic flashbacks of the mis-framed Back to the Future releases. Now the question becomes, which one is accurate to the theatrical presentation?

 

[Kevin M]

I'm telling you guys, break out your THX copy and compare it to the "THX" screencaps on that swedish site, they don't look the same, in fact if anything I would say that the swedish "Before" shots look more like the first Dead By Dawn AB release...very high grain and dirt.

BTW, are they including the open matte version on this release? I assume not as that has been out of practice at AB for some time. Just curious.

 

[Rich Romero]

The new version is the way the film is supposed to look. Of all the VHS versions I've watched the film on over the years, they always looked MUCH more like the new transfer in terms of the colors and brightness. The old DVD transfer is noticeably much too dark and pale looking (as is the AB BOTD transfer of the original).

 

[Kevin M]

I've seen this film in a theater at least eight or nine times over the years, starting with it's first release in 87, and it has always had a dark tone about it, the THX disc was the first time I personally recall it looking to my eyes like the theatrical experience. Plus using a VHS as a comparison is not the best comparative test IMO, go with the theatrical or Elite LD presentation if anything.

 

[TonyD]

rich, you basing what the film should look like going by the previous versions on vhs?

i need better evidence.

 

[Rich Romero]

It's not good evidence I admit, but I'm just used to the visual look presented by the new one.

 

[Cory H.]

I preordered the Two Book LE set due in November. Could have made better examples for the comparison, but I'm sold regardless.

 

[Brett C]

Going from those screenshots if accurate, its not the color that puts me off in the new transfer its the level of DVNR thats been applied. It looks stripped of detail compared to the previous transfer.

 

[JustinCleveland]

Proof?

While the film looks brighter, I don't think it's a negative. I'm picking up the set because I love the film and think the packaging is a neat little item, same as I love the Freaks and Geeks yearbook set.

 

[Jussi Tarvainen]

I'm also worried about the apparent loss of detail...

 

[Greg Black]

I just did some screen captures of the same frames (or as close to as possible) as the ones that Swedish site did, and they look pretty much exactly the same as their "A" shots. Actually maybe darker even. I used PowerDVD 6, with the "original" color profile (so it was true to what's on the disc) and captured to BMP files.

Maybe you had some filters enabled in your DVD player software that would change the look of the video?

Here are some links to the JPG versions:

http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/4338/edii0006aw.jpg
http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/6187/edii0014pq.jpg
http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/7144/edii0020jq.jpg
http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/5384/edii0033jb.jpg

 

[Kevin M]

I have no filter engaged on my dvd player, the sun picture in particular is the one I am referring to, I can't host them but I did a screen cap of that particular shot and compared it to the swedish cap and found it to be very different in texture and color.....but maybe jpeg artifacting is having an effect nonetheless because it even looks different than yours, deeper color, much smoother (i.e. less grain), better detail.




It soaks into a paper towel better than a bowling ball does.

 

[Greg Black]

Kevin, if you want, you can upload the screen cap(s) here:

http://imageshack.us

Totally free image hosting.

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

By the by, when talking about colors, it's "palette", not "pallet", which is a portable platform for handling, storing, or moving materials and packages. This is not a slam, just a friendly helping hand from an obsessive spelling nerd.

 

[Mark Lucas]

Pallets are fun to stack.

 

[Sebastien S]

Ok, so my question at this point is...

Now that they have released the first two movies in this series in this "book" format, will they ever rerelease the third movie (Army of Darkness) in a similar format as well?

 

[GuruAskew]

Anchor Bay doesn't have the rights to "Army of Darkness" anymore. I guess it's not altogether impossible that the current rightsholder (it's either Universal or MGM in this case) might do one, though, although Tom Sullivan wasn't involved with "Army of Darkness".