MGM/Warner October Horror; Midnite Movies, Val Lewton, Demon Seed and more (1 Viewer)

[Jaime_Weinman]

Fangoria has a very positive review of the Lewton set:

 

[Dave Mack]

Thanks Jaime! I am SO psyched for this!

d

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

This is shaping up to be an amazing set, perhaps the "classic movie boxed set" of the year. I paid $51.95 Canadian ($43.33 U.S. / £24.00 British) at DVD Import. 9 films, Lewton documentary, commenties, trailers and sparkling transfer of landmark classic horror? Heaven!

All other studios should take heed.

 

[Roger Rollins]

There's a spectacular full-page rave review on the Lewton collection in the new Entertainment Weekly.

Wonderful to see the legendary producer of such amazing films getting such attention.

I can't wait for the Herb Kane HTF review.

If anyone is on the fence about this set, they should check out the Fangoria review as well as EW.

Hope mine arrives from DDD on Tuesday

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I bought the long-awaited VAL LEWTON collection today. My favroite of all the films is THE BODY SNATCHER, so I put it on first and discovered that the print is awful dark. Even during the opening credits you can't see the detail of the illustrated background. I was immediately aware of this because the copies I've previously owned on VHS, DVD-R and from the laserdisc were much brighter and offered contrast. Here, the images are often lost in darkness. I did a side-by-side comparison and previous copies look better. This was a real disappointment.

 

[John Hodson]

Indeed; my order is with the same etailer, though it might not have been had I realised that Canadian sets don't ship until October 18...

 

[BrianRi]

I was pleasantly surprised to find this set on sale at my local Tower Records for only $39.99. After tax, that's only about $2 more than Amazon. Get 'em while you can!

 

[Dave Mack]

Gotta say unfortunately that I popped 2 of these in tonite and was dissapointed. I LOVED "Zombie" when I saw a print of it in a NYC revival house a few years back and couldn't WAIT for this set to see it again. Well right off the bat, it's obvious that the print used is NOT in very good shape. There is a dinner scene early on and there were light flashes periodically that looked REAL bad plus many, many other print anomalies. But the worst thing to me is the VERY crushed blacks. The transfer is VERY high contrast and there is very little shadow detail. Since I saw a print of this, I was REALLY looking forward to certain scenes that I was wowed at photography-wise and it just doesn't happen here. It seems like the blacks are pumped and there is very little in the grays. There is a VERY spooky scene wherethe 2 women walking in the field run into a zombie.
This scene is ALL light, dark, shadow, texture, depth and it's just gone. So much of the "atmosphere" is in the play between light and dark with things IN the shadows and now, you can't really see much, like the first time the nurse meets her patient in the dark tower. You can BARELY see her now! In the print I saw at the Film Forum it was MUCH more effective!
And there was some very harsh, bordering on distorted sounding audio during the dance around the campfire with drums scene. Guys, learn to pull back the faders! Digital distortion is NASTY sounding!
And overall the level of detail was less than I was hoping for. Perhaps they just DNR'd the print and crushed the blacks so the pic. would "appear" more dramatic and less uneven since the print was not the best, I don't know but I think it could have and should have looked much better.
And then I watched a few scenes from "The Body Snatcher" and I was surprised that the picture looked dramtically WORSE. A bad looking transfer! Way too dark, no shadow detail whatsoever and VERY soft. It honsetly looks like a VHS copy. Honestly. Gotta agree with Joe on this.

I haven't checked the others out yet but I'm hoping they look better. "Zombie" looks OK. Nothing more. "Body Snatcher" looks bad. Very bad IMHO.

Now I know we are getting these fab films at a GREAT price but I would easily have paid double if these films had had some more effort put into them. Since many consider them classics, some restoration would have been nice. Maybe it is the best they could do, I dunno. But if Joe is saying that even his VHS of one of these looks better, that's telling you alot about these transfers!

I hope I don't sound too whiny, I'm just real dissapointed.
I was SO looking forward to seeing "Zombie" again and this transfer really doesn't do it justice.


But what do I know....


d

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

I haven't seen the films yet, but I'm sorry to hear that the transfers (of those two films at least) are disappointing. I felt the same way about the transfer of "Ninotchka," which didn't look anywhere near as good as the 35 mm prints I've seen.

WB has done many fine things, and released many fine films, but I think there's a tendency to assume that all their DVDs are first-rate-looking when I think their batting average re transfers of classic films is not as high as, say, Fox or even Paramount. This might have something to do with the quality of the materials available, but when better prints exist, it's disappointing to see transfers made from prints that aren't (apparently) as good, or pumped up with too much noise reduction, etc.

 

[Thomas T]

I got my Val Lewton set yesterday and though I haven't watched them yet, I did scan all of them. Glad to have them but I must admit some disappointment that most of the films are in rough shape. Eminently watchable, of course, but obvious that nothing was done to spiff them up. Anyone expecting pristine transfers is bound to be disappointed.

 

[Bob McLaughlin]

I watched the first 10 minutes of 'Cat People' last night just to check for PQ, I found it to be between "Good" and "Very Good", but not quite "Excellent". Still, better than I was expecting! I will have to give the others a spin this week.

 

[Dave Mack]

Cool, Bob. Here's hoping that "Cat People" looks better. Since it is the most famous title, they might have done a bit better job.

d

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I thought I heard that RKO's original materials were not in the best shape, but all the same this new WB copy of THE BODY SNATCHER is much darker than any other print I've seen for this particular film, ever. Really a shame.

 

[Mario Gauci]

I guess "The Val Lewton Collection" won't be the DVD release of the year, then:frowning:?

While I should be getting it next week, along with a myriad of other horror-related discs, most probably I won't have time to check them out for myself since I'll be leaving for a prolonged stay in L.A. at the start of November. Unless, of course, Universal's Bela Lugosi and Hammer sets start freezing up on me thus making time for me to delve into the Lewtons...:frowning:!

Seriously, though: while I desire a perfect (in all aspects) product every time - especially where my all-time favorites are concerned - I have learned to take everything in my stride where DVDs are concerned. It's just no use busting a blood vessel moaning and swearing because video/audio/extra qualities come up short every once in a while; I used to, sure, but not anymore.

For example, just a few days ago I watched the Warners DVD of a favorite of mine, BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (1955) and, although I had an inkling of it from the reviews I had read back when it was released, I was disappointed by the video quality which was also darker (not to mention the washed out colors) than I recalled it from previous TV/VHS viewings. Then there's that (by all accounts) essential John Sturges Audio Commentary from the Criterion LD which didn't make it onto the DVD...:frowning:

 

[Randy Korstick]

Ut Oh! The quality of this release does not bode well for Warners eventual release of The Bowery Boys films since they are in worse shape. Is it time for a "I will buy no more DVD's from Warners" thread.

 

[Eric Peterson]

No Randy! These discs still play, there is a small difference there.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Love to Argue don't we Eric

 

[Eric Peterson]

You are the one who tried to compare a known dysfunctional product to a product which is fully functional, but leaves something to be desired.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

If I may...

I'm still very much awaiting the complete Bowery Boys set. I don't expect those to look like high art, and pretty much any release that Warner can grace us with regarding them will be fine by me.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Eric
It is yet to be determined if the DVD18 problem is
Hardware Related or Software Related and if it is the fault of those pressing the discs or DVD Player Manufacturers not testing their DVD Players well enough with DVD18's and just how widespread it is.