UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ - Event Horizon -- in 4k UHD (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

Paul Anderson's 1997 Event Horizon is being released in 4k by Paramount.

It's an interesting film, that starts out showing it's large budget, and then seems to lose a bit of steam, yet ends up being a quite enjoyable horror sci-fi film.

The film has a large fan base, and that presumably why it's being given a 4k skew, and collectible packaging, which should send fans and collectors aflutter, especially those who invest toward eBay futures.

Let me show you what you get.

(Holds up packaging)

This is a Limited-Edition steelbook release, that is not a Best Buy exclusive. One can find it everywhere. But that doesn't mean that collectors should be lax in swooping in and grabbing multiple copies.

There's an outer wrapper of heavy plastic, sealed at all sides - far heavier than one usually gets on a home video product.

Once one gets through the outer wrapper, the true wonders wait inside.

This is not just a stereotypical steelbook.

It has an outer shell of a heavy acrylic material, emblazoned with very spooky hands in threatening positions. Inside (removes outer shell) is the aforementioned steelbook, with a giant eye at the center, leading inward to a head with hands over its eyes, all surrounded by a design of metal screws.

The outer shell includes the names of the film's two leads, Laurence Fishburne, and Sam Neill, as well as the logotype of the title, centered, and forming a dark circle hiding the image of the head within.

The sides of the acrylic shell are clear, but the reverse has an image of a huge spacecraft.

The spine of the steelbook is of normal, yet high quality construction replicating the eye seen on the obverse, with the center blacked out.

A tiny Paramount logo is at the lower left of the steelbook.

Inside are additional images.

The new 4k, derived from a scan of the OCN is delightful, and a nice upgrade to last year's Scream Factory Blu-ray release. It's interesting that the studio licensed it Scream, and then came out with their own 4k.

The companion Blu-ray (and I'm not an expert on this film) appears not to be derived from the same 4k scan as main disc, but I'm not certain.

All in all, an interesting film, a quality 4k, and packaging that probably adds six or seven dollars to the cost, making the $28 pre-order price a bargain for packaging collectors.

Image – 5 (HDR10)

Audio – 5 (Dolby TrueHD 5.1)

Pass / Fail – Pass

Plays nicely with projectors - Yes

Makes use of and works well in 4k - 4

Upgrade from Blu-ray -Yes

Recommended

RAH

 

[Colin Jacobson]

The Blu-ray that comes with this is the same crappy version from 2008.

 

[dpippel]

The Blu-ray that comes with this is the same crappy version from 2008.

I really wish this practice would end.

 

[Alan Tully]

I quite like this & would buy the 4K, but I'm not paying the big bucks for the lovely packaging (which I couldn't care less about). I'll see what the price is like in a years time.

 

[Josh Dial]

I'm a huge fan of Event Horizon. I would have bought this anyway. But I'm not ashamed to say I bought it even faster because I'm a sucker for a nice steelbook.

 

[Robert Harris]

The Blu-ray that comes with this is the same crappy version from 2008.

Appreciate the confirmation. Last thing I would ever wish to do is misdirect a purchasing decision. Which I presume means that those seeking to upgrade, but not to 4k, go to Scream Factory.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

The Blu-ray that comes with this is the same crappy version from 2008.

Makes sense - Shout has licensed the rights to put out the newer 4K master on BD only, if Paramount included it with their package that would undercut the license they gave to Shout. The inclusion of the BD is probably more about putting the bonus features that Paramount wholly owns in the package rather than being motivated to release a true new dual format edition.

I’m not a big fan of the approach, but I get it. I prefer releases with both because im at a point where I don’t want to keep upgrading Blu-rays I already have when 4K is available, but I’m not 4K equipped yet with no immediate or obvious path to do so. A release with both I can feel good about buying because it solves both an immediate and future need. A release with only one or the other is one I need to think long and hard about whether it’s worth committing to.

 

[Richard Kaufman]

Nice parody of an unboxing, RH. I have no patience for anything but the disc and all that nonsense packaging goes in the attic.
For horror and sci-fi aficionados this film holds its own unique place--an unusual successful mixing of the genres. A healthy budget with excellent actors (nice parts for both Kathleen Quinlan and Joley Richardson), and an original story. All well done and better than most films in either genre.
I liked it upon first viewing in the theater and still watch it again from time to time. For all the lamentation about the lost "director's cut," most of that material can be seen in brief cuts as part of a long "flash" and, frankly, that's all I need to see of that kind of torture. It makes the point without dragging it out.
The director is a hack, but he made one good film--his first--before his ideas ran out; likely a happy accident!

 

[Lord Dalek]

The second factor is also significant and is in regards to the 2160P 4K UHD transfer. Event Horizon was shot with the Panavision Panaflex Platinum... in 35mm. Where is the grain? It appears to have been removed and the resulting image is waxy morass, losing definition to the stretched BD.

Any comment on that there RAH?

 

[dpippel]

I'd be interested in your take on Tooze's comments as well, @Robert Harris.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I haven’t seen the 4K remaster yet but that description sounds like the same basic issue that’s been plaguing other new Paramount masters, sometimes causing controversy and other times going unnoticed. They seem to be starting their mastering process by trying to divorce the image from the grain and film textures that captured and created that image.

But on the other hand, a 35mm production from the late 90s, with the faster film stocks and sharper lenses available at that time, shouldn’t be overwhelmingly grainy either. The previous BD had a lot of digital noise and it’s possible that some people may be perceiving the lack of that digital noise for a lack of grain.

 

[Konstantinos]

I wonder if there's gonna be a regular release. The steelbook seems OOP already!

 

[dpippel]

I wonder if there's gonna be a regular release. The steelbook seems OOP already!

Yep, it appears to be sold out everywhere, and the scalpers are already out in force on eBay.

 

[Richard Kaufman]

Watched it last night. I did not see an image wiped of grain. It looked very sharp, not oversharp, and much better than any of the blu-rays.

 

[sbjork]

DiabolikDVD still has the UK steelbook with extra swag for $54.99. I grabbed one and used the 10% offer that came up, since I haven't ordered anything with them in awhile.

 

[sbjork]

Watched it last night. I did not see an image wiped of grain. It looked very sharp, not oversharp, and much better than any of the blu-rays.

I'm going to hate myself for saying this, but I looked at the screenshots that Gary posted, and they certainly appear to have fine grain in them -- whether it's real or not is another question, of course. But he says it's not there at all, so that's odd.

 

[madfloyd]

I checked out my disc yesterday. I found the image rather soft and not overly filmlike. The grain that I can see does look fine (not coarse), but it's very subtle and the lack of details is distracting in many scenes. It does not look waxy in the way that heavily DNR'd films look but it often looks like the beginning of films (e.g. credit scenes) where the image can look soft (due to opticals). I'm watching on a large screen and this may not be as evident on smaller ones.

 

[Michael Osadciw]

I quite like this & would buy the 4K, but I'm not paying the big bucks for the lovely packaging (which I couldn't care less about). I'll see what the price is like in a years time.

That's why I've gone Kaleidescape now. The the 4K image quality of all times are appreciatable to markedly better than the 4K Blu-rays. The file sizes are much larger and not restricted to the 66/100GB discs. That's worth ever dollar for the system and the purchase price for anyone who values image quality over packaging. Except for the titles listed here from the smaller unique studios, everything else I buy is on Kaleidescape.

Yes, Event Horizon in HDR is listed. I'll be buying it!

 

[madfloyd]

That's why I've gone Kaleidescape now. The the 4K image quality of all times are appreciatable to markedly better than the 4K Blu-rays. The file sizes are much larger and not restricted to the 66/100GB discs. That's worth ever dollar for the system and the purchase price for anyone who values image quality over packaging. Except for the titles listed here from the smaller unique studios, everything else I buy is on Kaleidescape.

Yes, Event Horizon in HDR is listed. I'll be buying it!

Interesting that they use a different encoded version. It's also interesting if you compare 4k streaming versions (often around 18G) with the physical media versions. They are often not as far apart as you would think. My hunch is that the K versions aren't going to be noticeably different but it's still great that they are willing to provide a larger (less compressed) version, assuming the encoding is the same quality.

I personally would never invest in the K system (I prefer to have full control over my ripped files) but totally get why people like it. Let us know what you think of Event Horizon!

 

[Michael Osadciw]

There are some luminance differences with streams vs. disc as well as banding/resolution/noise etc. It depends on the title and the streaming service. Physical media always edges out. Open it up to an 8 foot screen and it's easy to see if we want to make it obvious. But Kaleidescape is a different animal... the files seem to be legitimately different with different MaxFALL and MaxCLL points. Just compare Black Panther or Casino Royal... not even the same image. I'll definitely let you know how Event Horizon looks as soon as I get a chance to watch it.