UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ Halloween (1978 - Scream Factory) -- in 4k UHD (3 Viewers)

[Tommy R]

I’m from Oregon, where it generally looks green 12 months a year. In the fall there are certain trees that turn color and leaves fall on the ground, so the look of the film Halloween is actually pretty spot on to me. Though I have NO idea what Illinois usually looks like, lol!

 

[Robert Crawford]

I’m from Oregon, where it generally looks green 12 months a year. In the fall there are certain trees that turn color and leaves fall on the ground, so the look of the film Halloween is actually pretty spot on to me. Though I have NO idea what Illinois usually looks like, lol!

As someone that lived in Illinois for a number of years, the trees in "Halloween" don't look nothing like that on Halloween.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

There has to be a date where a company knows how many copies they will have in stock to ship out and still make the release date. For catalog titles, if they know they won't meet their pre-orders for that date, they should push the release date to a date that they can meet. That'll probably result in a last second date change but I'd rather that than a lucky few getting their copies, everyone else getting shut out, and the retailers and company simply shrugging their shoulders about when I may finally get my copies.

Ideally that would be the way to go about it.

I think one of the obstacles that might prevent implementing such a system is that the distribution chain for physical media has really consolidated, and as far as I know, most of the time, discs aren’t coming from the factory to the label and then to the distributors. If you’re pressing in the larger plant in Mexico, Technicolor (which operates the plant) is shipping the completed stock directly to distributors and large retailers. If you’re pressing domestically at the smaller Allied Vaughn plant, they’re delivering the stock directly to retailers and customers.

I honestly think, based on prior experience, that the labels are getting pretty much the same short notice that the rest of us are. They’re getting told whenever they place or check on an order that it’s going to be on time, and then are finding out about the failure to meet those dates along with the rest of us.

It sucks. I know Halloween is for you what Star Trek is for me, and I hated having to wait extra weeks for the new Trek discs when the release had been intentionally scheduled to come out on a specific anniversary date. If you’re anything like me (and if you are, I’m sorry - lol!), you wait weeks or months looking forward to the day and then when it arrives, nothing. And logically I know it ain’t cancer or any truly devastating news, but when the year has already been a shitshow and you’re just looking for a little silver lining, something to look forward to, an island in an ocean of shit, it doesn’t come and life starts feeling like you’re Charlie Brown with Lucy and the football.

Hopefully your copies will arrive while it’s still October and they’ll look so damn good that five minutes in you’ll forget about the wait. Sincerely hoping that’s the case.

 

[darkrock17]

I’m from Oregon, where it generally looks green 12 months a year. In the fall there are certain trees that turn color and leaves fall on the ground, so the look of the film Halloween is actually pretty spot on to me. Though I have NO idea what Illinois usually looks like, lol!

Haddonfield is said to be located in Livingston County, IL. Haddonfield's name is taken from a real town in New Jersey where Debra Hill was from.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Haddonfield is said to be located in Livingston County, IL. Haddonfield's name is taken from a real town in New Jersey where Debra Hill was from.

There is only one county between Livingston county and the county I lived in back around the time when the first two "Halloween" movies were released.

 

[Dave H]

Halloween never really looked like it was fall, they had to spray paint leaves fall colors and then have a crew member who would use a leaf blower to blow the leaves into a shot and then when the scene was done wrangle all the leaves up again to reuse them throughout the entire shoot.

To me it doesn't matter that it doesn't look like fall, because you're too invested in the story to really notice about the weather and those pesky palm trees that pop here and there.

Completely agree. I never noticed it until there was a big hoopla about it on the forums years back. I only shrugged.

 

[darkrock17]

Completely agree. I never noticed it until there was a big hoopla about it on the forums years back. I only shrugged.

A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise is set in Springwood Ohio, yet nothing of those films look anything remotely like the Midwest at all. With Halloween's franchise they've at least tired to make it look it's late October as each new film has come out.

 

[TravisR]

Completely agree. I never noticed it until there was a big hoopla about it on the forums years back. I only shrugged.

By no means am I an authority but I think you never noticed it before because until that 2003 DVD, the movie had always kept the colors relatively muted and the 2003 disc was the one that pumped up the colors so what was green was really green. I don't think any of the Blu-Rays did that (some had issues with the mono audio track though) and based on the screenshots, it doesn't look like this UHD is doing it either.

Whenever Amazon sends me a copy, if I see colors that look like the screencaps and video I've seen, I will be happy with that.

 

[Tommy R]

As someone that lived in Illinois for a number of years, the trees in "Halloween" don't look nothing like that.

I bet. It’s not quite the same thing, but The Goonies is the movie that drives me nuts. One second theres a police chase in the middle of Astoria, then out of nowhere they’re on a beach that’s 40 miles south of Astoria! Makes me pull my hair out every time!

 

[darkrock17]

I bet. It’s not quite the same thing, but The Goonies is the movie that drives me nuts. On second theres a police chase in the middle of Astoria, then out of nowhere they’re on a beach that’s 40 miles south of Astoria! Makes me pull my hair out every time!

Goon Docks doesn't exist though.

 

[titch]

There is only one county between Livingston county and the county I lived in back around the time when the first two "Halloween" movies were released.

It's the case in just about every single film made with location shooting. In the latest James Bond film, there are scenes filmed in Norway, where people drive from one location to the next in about five minutes - although in reality, the locations are about 300 miles apart. The only people who'll notice are Norwegians!

 

[Lord Dalek]

I bet. It’s not quite the same thing, but The Goonies is the movie that drives me nuts. One second theres a police chase in the middle of Astoria, then out of nowhere they’re on a beach that’s 40 miles south of Astoria! Makes me pull my hair out every time!

Nevermind the fact it takes the Goonies less than 2 hours to get from the east basin to Ecola Park on friggen BICYLCLES!

#ThingsYouHaveToBeFromOregonToNotice

 

[Kyle_D]

I received my preorder early from Best Buy and watched it last night. A few thoughts:

1. This is--by far--the most highly resolved version of the film I have ever seen, and I've seen most of the previous video releases. In previous versions, Michael's mask was an indistinct white blob in many of the daytime long shots where he is stalking Laurie. In this version, you can discern all the features of the mask. I could also read the titles on the spines of Laurie's books, and make out all the numbers and lettering on the Strode Realty signs.

2. The leaves are green. No way around it. I don't think the colors are boosted, but the vibrancy of the leaves stand out because the extra detail allows you to discern of the midribs and veins. In other words, the leaves look very much alive, they're not dying, and it doesn't look like fall. This isn't a huge deal to me because it simply reflects the production circumstances, but your mileage may vary.

3. The Atmos soundtrack is fantastic and the score has never sounded better.

4. I will be retiring the Lions Gate UHD. This will be my new go-to version of the film.

 

[Tino]

I would seriously doubt that if Amazon doesn’t have stock you’re going to find these at B&Ms either (especially the sequels)

I’m actually picking up both 1&2 at my local Best Buy.

 

[Bryan^H]

I would too but they are readily available on the east side of Michigan. None in stock where I am.

 

[dpippel]

I’m actually picking up both 1&2 at my local Best Buy.

Unfortunately, they weren't allowing customers to pre-order online for store pickup prior to release day. Shipping only. Now that it's release day, you can only purchase it online for store pickup. No shipping. What a PITA.

 

[mark brown]

Thanks for the heads up! Canceled at Amazon and picking up at BB!

 

[Tommy R]

I ended up looking on BestBuy.com yesterday and pre-ordered all 5, and luckily ALL but Halloween 2 have already been shipped to me. For Halloween 2 it said that generic “we’ll let you know when it ends up shipping” that Amazon loves to say.

But I went on their site again this morning and Halloween 2 was available for store-pickup, so I cancelled my first order for Halloween 2 and reordered for store-pickup. Hopefully they actually have it set aside for me when I run down there on my lunch break later. Its saying on the site that they only have 1 available copy left after I placed my order, and only 2 copies left of the original film. I’ll feel much better when I have it in my hands. Also said 3, 4 and 5 are not available for for pick up OR shipping.

 

[TravisR]

2. The leaves are green. No way around it. I don't think the colors are boosted, but the vibrancy of the leaves stand out because the extra detail allows you to discern of the midribs and veins. In other words, the leaves look very much alive, they're not dying, and it doesn't look like fall. This isn't a huge deal to me because it simply reflects the production circumstances, but your mileage may vary.

Yeah, that seems like the way the movie has always looked and given the time of year that it was shot, there's no avoiding it.

 

[Robert Saccone]

Having just got the new 4K version, any suggestions on which of my older versions are worth keeping at this point? I have a Compass 35th anniversary blu-ray, Anchor Bay Blu-Ray, Anchor Bay THX DVD, and finally the Lionsgate 4K UHD.