A Few Words About A few words about...™ Tales from the Crypt / Vault of Horror -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Robert Harris · Dec 11, 2014

A double feature from Scream Factory, Tales of the Crypt (1972), and Vault of Horror (1973) are a bit of a mixed bag.

Delivered on two Blu-ray discs, seems to give us not two, but three variants of Vault of Horror. The generic theatrical cut in 1.85, and then the "uncut" version, whatever that happens to be.

The "uncut" of Vault also shares the disc with Tales, giving us three "versions." I cannot understand why anyone would use disc space for the open matte, as it appears ungainly unmatted.

I have no prior knowledge of this film, so details will have to be found in reviews elsewhere.

From a tech perspective, Tales is the superior, with color looking a bit better than Vault, which seems thin, and not terribly well timed.

Image - Tales from the Crypt - 3.5

Vault of Horror - 3

Audio - Tales from the Crypt - 4

Vault of Horror - 5

An offering for those who must own every UK-produced horror film of the 1970s.

RAH

JoeDoakes · Dec 11, 2014

Robert Harris said:
An offering for those who must own every UK-produced horror film of the 1970s.

RAH

So I guess you're saying buy this right after you acquire Tower of Evil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Evil) for your collection.

Eastmancolor · Dec 11, 2014

I think overall the color is very nice with both of these titles. The blood in the films looks a bit odd though. The color of the blood is a little pinkish. Also has the consistency of paint (which it may have been). Perhaps this was intentional. Either that or the red is fading in whatever dupe they used for the transfer.

Still, the films look great, much better than everything that's come out before. And they're a lot of fun too!

Powell&Pressburger · Dec 11, 2014

Yeah these films feature paint as blood for sure just how it was created.

I do prefer the full frame version of Vault however. I have compared many different shots of both versions and I just love it more full frame. I prefer WS most evertime but I am glad to have this edition.

Oblivion138 · Dec 11, 2014

I agree that the censored version of Vault doesn't look quite as good as Tales, but I actually prefer the look of the uncut Vault over the Tales transfer. Both Tales and the censored Vault are from Fox masters...the uncut (both matted and open-matte) Vault are from a BFI restoration.

bigshot · Dec 11, 2014

Tales from the Crypt is a very important film. It was a revival of the old Dead of Night format, and it did it stylishly and with great direction, photography and acting.

bgart13 · Dec 12, 2014

It wasn't the first Amicus film in this format, though -- they did a number before TALES.

Oblivion138 · Dec 12, 2014

Indeed. Tales and Vault were actually among the LAST of the Amicus anthologies.

Brian Kidd · Dec 12, 2014

Amicus did a bang-up job with Horror anthologies. They were gruesome while not being gratuitous. I agree that the transfers on this set are nothing to write home about but they're better than what we've seen before on these films. Let's face it, they aren't going to get the deluxe treatment from anyone. I wish that there were some supplements about the history of Amicus or EC Comics instead of three versions of the same film, but things are what they are and I'm glad to own these fun films in HD.

Dick · Dec 12, 2014

Now, somebody bring on DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS (aborted by Olive) and THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD (aborted by Severin).

JoeDoakes · Dec 12, 2014

Dick said:
Now, somebody bring on DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS (aborted by Olive) and THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD (aborted by Severin).

Was that confirmed regarding Dr.. Terror.

lark144 · Dec 12, 2014

Let's not forget TORTURE GARDEN (also directed by Freddie Francis), especially the concluding episode "The Man Who Collected Poe" with Jack Palance.

bgart13 · Dec 13, 2014

Odeon is prepping a bd of DR. TERROR for release in 2015, and Hens Tooth has HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD now but last I was told by someone there is they aren't interested in a bd release.

Oblivion138 · Dec 13, 2014

Brian Kidd said:
Amicus did a bang-up job with Horror anthologies. They were gruesome while not being gratuitous. I agree that the transfers on this set are nothing to write home about but they're better than what we've seen before on these films. Let's face it, they aren't going to get the deluxe treatment from anyone. I wish that there were some supplements about the history of Amicus or EC Comics instead of three versions of the same film, but things are what they are and I'm glad to own these fun films in HD.

It's worth noting that Shout went above and beyond to present Vault uncut. The master they got from Fox was the censored version, and they actually delayed the release so they could look high and low for an uncut HD master. At one point, they were afraid that the only way they were going to be able to present Vault in its original form would be to splice in the extra footage in standard definition. Thankfully, they were able to find an uncut HD master that the British Film Institute had prepared, and thus were able to present Vault uncut, in its original aspect ratio, I believe for the first time in the film's home video history. As far as I know, previous DVD editions were all either the censored version in 1.85:1, or the uncut version in open-matte 1.33:1.

So while the transfers may not be tip-top, Shout deserves a lot of credit for going the extra mile on this release.

Mark Edward Heuck · Dec 14, 2014

The story I heard on HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD was that the licensor's elements were not in good enough condition for a BluRay or HD transfer, which is why Severin relinquished the rights. Hen's Tooth has been more willing to handle less-than-stellar source material in the past - they released a nonanamorphic transfer of the Sondheim musical A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC after other labels passed on it - so they picked up HOUSE for release as well as a DVD-only title.

bgart13 · Dec 15, 2014

George's review of it at Dvd Drive-In notes that Hens Tooth's dvd looks much better than the LionsGate dvd. Severin doesn't usually shy away from poorer elements for their releases. I wonder if something better popped up after their rights expired.

http://www.dvddrive-in.com/reviews/e-h/housethatdrippedblood71.htm

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