haineshisway
Senior HTF Member
Well, I got the new Blu-ray and watched the film for the first time in thirty-nine years. Just to get the easy part out of the way - I still find it a vile film, in subject matter. Sorry. I know horror aficionados love it dearly but vile it remains - for me.
Of course, the obvious thing is that watching it forty years ago is not the same as watching it today - at all. But today it's much easier to appreciate what the filmmakers achieved on their very low budget (which seems to change with whoever is talking on the featurettes). The direction, which I absolutely could or did not want to appreciate back then, is very well done. You must understand, however, the film was shot in 16mm and blown up to 35mm and those release prints looked very bad - that probably either added to the sleazy atmosphere, but it did no one any favors. That's the revelation of this Blu-ray, the photography looks really good here, despite the limitations they faced - because having gone back to the 16mm negative has yielded really good results.
I also have to say, as the film unfolded, I remembered every single minute of it - no surprises - amazing how vivid its been in my memory all these years. And I remember feeling even back then that the film veered into very strange comedy territory with the dinner scene and the "arm"chair did make me giggle, just as it did almost forty years ago. So, not a film I need to really see again, but I'm glad I watched it, which is solely due to this thread and the two or three reasonable people who suggested I do so.
BUT - if you really want to talk VILE - watch the Seven Stories of the Saw new featurette - THERE is a director out of control and thinking his little featurette is somehow a "FILM" - you know what, talking heads are talking heads and no amount of sauce on it is going to change the fact. This guy changes aspect ratios, goes from black-and-white to color for no reason, blows up the image, adds fake grain - buddy, it's not about YOU, you big wazoo. It's a new nadir in bonus feature "filmmaking". My favorite was when one of the interviewees (actually it happens twice) says, "The phone rang." The "director" then inserts the sound of a phone ringing and puts a phone filter on the interviewees voice. BRILLIANT! NOT!
Of course, the obvious thing is that watching it forty years ago is not the same as watching it today - at all. But today it's much easier to appreciate what the filmmakers achieved on their very low budget (which seems to change with whoever is talking on the featurettes). The direction, which I absolutely could or did not want to appreciate back then, is very well done. You must understand, however, the film was shot in 16mm and blown up to 35mm and those release prints looked very bad - that probably either added to the sleazy atmosphere, but it did no one any favors. That's the revelation of this Blu-ray, the photography looks really good here, despite the limitations they faced - because having gone back to the 16mm negative has yielded really good results.
I also have to say, as the film unfolded, I remembered every single minute of it - no surprises - amazing how vivid its been in my memory all these years. And I remember feeling even back then that the film veered into very strange comedy territory with the dinner scene and the "arm"chair did make me giggle, just as it did almost forty years ago. So, not a film I need to really see again, but I'm glad I watched it, which is solely due to this thread and the two or three reasonable people who suggested I do so.
BUT - if you really want to talk VILE - watch the Seven Stories of the Saw new featurette - THERE is a director out of control and thinking his little featurette is somehow a "FILM" - you know what, talking heads are talking heads and no amount of sauce on it is going to change the fact. This guy changes aspect ratios, goes from black-and-white to color for no reason, blows up the image, adds fake grain - buddy, it's not about YOU, you big wazoo. It's a new nadir in bonus feature "filmmaking". My favorite was when one of the interviewees (actually it happens twice) says, "The phone rang." The "director" then inserts the sound of a phone ringing and puts a phone filter on the interviewees voice. BRILLIANT! NOT!
