What's new

Robert Harris

Archivist
Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 8, 1999
Messages
18,423
Real Name
Robert Harris
Paramount is releasing five of their Stephen King adaptations, and after checking into the availability of the titles, it's beginning to remind me of one of those stories we see on the news every so often. The back of an armored car opens, and cash flows freely along a highway. A few people pull over to the side, and help to make certain that it doesn't blow away.

What we have on Blu-ray, are the two editions of Pet Sematary (1989 and 2019), The Stand, an ABC multi-part TV series, Silver Bullet and The Dead Zone.

All of these titles are available somewhere, but not for about $5 each, and that's for a pre-order, so one would expect the price to go down a bit.

You can currently purchase The Stand, which is properly 1.33 and runs 359 minutes for $10.

Pet Sematary (1989) and (2019) are available for $18.50 and $10 respectively.

The Dead Zone is Region B, and will run you $20.

Silver Bullet is only available from Shout, with additional extras $29, and also as an import, at $28.

So it comes down to this. If you're a Stephen King fan, and want that copy of Silver Bullet on Blu, you're going to pay $3 more for that single title than you will for the five film set. Virtually the same for The Dead Zone.

Quality for the five films varies, but they're generally fine, with The Dead Zone the only title that dips a bit in image quality. I gave it a 3.25.

The Stand, which had me concerned. How do you fit 359 minutes onto a single Blu-ray disc? Apparently, if you're running partial screen, it will work. There's nary a problem in sight.

I also did a comparison of the two Pet Sematary films vs the new 4k discs, and the result was interesting.

The 1989 was shot on fillum, the 2019 as data, and finished as a 2k DI.

The original film looks improved in 4k, but with its inherent grain structure, the added resolution isn't earth-shaking. It is there, however.

The 2019 is a bit less of an improvement, but still adds a bit of added information.

Both of these were screened via projection from a 4k player, uprezzing the imagery, so without the player doing it's thing, the difference will be greater.

If one doesn't have the five films, or has been waiting for the two import titles to arrive domestically, this is a great deal.

If you're a King collector, and already have the three in release domestically, it's still a great deal.

And if you've already picked up the two 4k titles, you can give the Blu-rays to friends.

Each disc comes along with some extra features.


Image

Pet Sematary (1989) - 4.5

Pet Sematary (2019) - 5

The Stand - 4.5

The Dead Zone - 3.25

Silver Bullet - 4

Audio – 5 (most are 2-track, while the two Pet Sematarys are 5.1)

Pass / Fail - Pass

Upgrade from DVD - Yes

Recommended

RAH
 
Last edited:

Robert Harris

Archivist
Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 8, 1999
Messages
18,423
Real Name
Robert Harris
Aware that several of the King tomes have made it to fillum, I did a quick check.

The numbers speak volumes - no pun intended.

Motion Pictures

49, 11 in some phase of pre-prod, prod or post

TV

31, 9 in some phases of pre-prod, prod or post.
 

Colin Jacobson

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2000
Messages
13,328
"Silver Bullet" is available as a US release from Shout! - it came out less than a year ago.

"Dead Zone" is the only one never released in the US...
 

Jeff F.

Second Unit
Joined
Mar 31, 1999
Messages
289
"The Stand" was actually an ABC miniseries, not CBS. CBS All Access is going to air the all-new limited series of "The Stand" (with Whoopi Goldberg) in December.
 

Robert Harris

Archivist
Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 8, 1999
Messages
18,423
Real Name
Robert Harris
"The Stand" was actually an ABC miniseries, not CBS. CBS All Access is going to air the all-new limited series of "The Stand" (with Whoopi Goldberg) in December.

Correct. Rights somehow ended up with CBS.
 

Citizen87645

Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 9, 2002
Messages
13,058
Real Name
Cameron Yee
Is there a standard practice for posting an ordering link in RAH's posts? I think the last couple times I've had to go look for that on my own, and it would seem to make sense to at least include a link as the first comment. Unless there's a conflict of interest concern about doing so.
 

Citizen87645

Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 9, 2002
Messages
13,058
Real Name
Cameron Yee
I was picturing something more consistent with the HTF disc reviews and the press release posts, in part to be consistent, but also for convenience of having it in the same thread.
 

Worth

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Messages
5,257
Real Name
Nick Dobbs
Hopefully, Paramount will get around to releasing a better version of Dead Zone one day. Maybe Shout or even Criterion could pick it up, as they have a number of Cronenberg films in their collection.
 

usrunnr

Writer
Joined
Mar 28, 2012
Messages
1,004
Real Name
usrunnr
I wish I knew where a pet seminary actually was. One of my dogs has turned into a major heathen. Possibly dementia.
 

Derrick King

Screenwriter
Joined
Aug 15, 2003
Messages
1,046
Hopefully, Paramount will get around to releasing a better version of Dead Zone one day. Maybe Shout or even Criterion could pick it up, as they have a number of Cronenberg films in their collection.
There is a rumor that Shout is going to release a special edition. So it might not be a bad idea to wait, unless you need the movie right now.
 

Stephen_J_H

All Things Film Junkie
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2003
Messages
7,896
Location
North of the 49th
Real Name
Stephen J. Hill
"The Stand" was actually an ABC miniseries, not CBS. CBS All Access is going to air the all-new limited series of "The Stand" (with Whoopi Goldberg) in December.
Correct. Rights somehow ended up with CBS.
Video rights wound up with Republic Pictures when the miniseries was released on 4(!) VHS tapes back in 1994, as Republic at the time was Spelling Entertainment's video arm and Laurel Entertainment [not to be confused with George A. Romero's Laurel Productions], the primary producer of the miniseries, was also a division of Spelling. When Viacom bought Blockbuster Video in 1994, they also gained Spelling Entertainment, and therefore the rights to The Stand miniseries. Viacom, of course, owned Paramount by this time, but the rights went with CBS when the Viacom/CBS demerger happened in 2005/6. The rights are now with the recently remerged ViacomCBS. Confused yet?
 

Worth

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Messages
5,257
Real Name
Nick Dobbs
There is a rumor that Shout is going to release a special edition. So it might not be a bad idea to wait, unless you need the movie right now.
No point in buying a mediocre version. If I want to watch it sometime soon, I can just rent it on iTunes.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Sign up for our newsletter

and receive essential news, curated deals, and much more







You will only receive emails from us. We will never sell or distribute your email address to third party companies at any time.

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
357,052
Messages
5,129,678
Members
144,281
Latest member
blitz
Recent bookmarks
0
Top