UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ - The Exorcist -- in 4k UHD (2 Viewers)

[Stephen_J_H]

As a former projectionist I always have a chuckle when people complain about framing issues on Bluray/4K releases. I just think of all the times I adjusted the framing knob and thought, "yeah, that looks about right."

Same here. "No visible boom mikes? Good enough."

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Undoubtedly true. This was still during the early days of the DVD boom, when "director's cuts" were a big selling point. It was not long after this that Fox pressured Ridley Scott into making a director's cut of Alien that he didn't want to do.



I might say that Friedkin may have actually started to prefer the extended cut, because he saw it making good money.

"I don't want to do another cut. The original cut is perfect! It doesn't need to be changed!... Oh, the extended cut is successful? People like it and it's making money? Well then, of course that's all my doing and I deserve the credit! It's my director's cut, after all! I couldn't be prouder of these changes that I personally made."

We are joined in our cynicism!

I felt the same about FFC's sudden "revelation" when it came to "Apocalypse Now" and his decision to create "Redux".

No doubt in my mind that was about $$$, not fulfilling his dreams.

Whatever I think of the "Star Wars" special editions, I do believe Lucas made those changes to get the movies closer to his ideal versions.

Granted, I also think he thought they'd help the bottom line, but we all know GL has been obsessed with "perfecting" those movies.

As far as I recall, he didn't change any of the "Star Wars" movies in ways that openly contradicted his prior views.

Whereas Friedkin and FFC changed their movies in ways they'd openly opposed in the past.

And as I noted, WF had argued against the "Blatty ending" very shortly before he used it!

 

[SD_Brian]

Whatever I think of the "Star Wars" special editions, I do believe Lucas made those changes to get the movies closer to his ideal versions.

At the risk of sending us off on a Star Wars tangent, I think part of GL's tinkering, at least in the '97 version, was to test out some of the then-new CGI technology he was planning to use for the prequels.

We now return to our discussion of The Exorcist, already in progress.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

At the risk of sending us off on a Star Wars tangent, I think part of GL's tinkering, at least in the '97 version, was to test out some of the then-new CGI technology he was planning to use for the prequels.

I think you're right, but GL coulda done that without the more controversial changes he made.

Though the 1997 "ESB" came close to just being an "effects update" since it left the rest of the movie largely alone.

Anyway, if all he wanted to do was play with CG, then he wouldn't have made the big alterations we got.

 

[Lord Dalek]

I'll also throw out the Amadeus "Director's Cut" which Milos Forman actively dislikes on its own commentary track.

 

[Lord Dalek]

I think you're right, but GL coulda done that without the more controversial changes he made.

Though the 1997 "ESB" came close to just being an "effects update" since it left the rest of the movie largely alone.

Anyway, if all he wanted to do was play with CG, then he wouldn't have made the big alterations we got.

GL officially lost me when he said the dvds were the final definitive versions only to turn around 7 years later and spend 1M on new cgi to make the Ewoks blink.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Please, enough with the George Lucas and Star Wars talk.

 

[SD_Brian]

Though the 1997 "ESB" came close to just being an "effects update" since it left the rest of the movie largely alone.

ESB features the two changes I despise the most out of the entire revised saga: The replacement of Luke's funny line, "You're lucky you don't taste very good!" with the not-funny line "You were lucky to get out of there!" and the replacement of Vader's perfectly-delivered line, "Bring my shuttle" with the stilted "Alert my star destroyer to prepare for my arrival," and the entire superfluous new sequence, of Vader returning to his ship, that followed.

But back to The Exorcist!

 

[Dave H]

Yeah guys, pleeeaasee....don't let this thread degenerate into a Star Wars thread.

 

[Tino]

“Your Jedi Shucks Ewoks That Fell!”

 

[dpippel]

 

[Stephen_J_H]

https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/8967322-the-dyslexorcist

 

[Robert Harris]

As a former projectionist I always have a chuckle when people complain about framing issues on Bluray/4K releases. I just think of all the times I adjusted the framing knob and thought, "yeah, that looks about right." View attachment 199171

I’d always make certain my framing knob was centered before I’d lace up, and unless I mistakenly threaded incorrectly, seldom had the need to use it, except to touch-up slightly.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

I’d always make certain my framing knob was centered before I’d lace up, and unless I mistakenly threaded incorrectly, seldom had the need to use it, except to touch-up slightly.

I had a habit of threading up and then, with the dowser closed, looking through the front of the lens and manually rolling through a few frames of the leader to check the lineup. Very rarely had to adjust framing if you start out centered, except for some scope films with very visible negative splices.

 

[stevenalejandro]

I’d always make certain my framing knob was centered before I’d lace up, and unless I mistakenly threaded incorrectly, seldom had the need to use it, except to touch-up slightly.

There always seemed to be a day when I would remember, "Oh shit theater 4 starts in one minute!" and I would have to speed thread the projector and adjust framing after. And always after a film tear/break.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

There always seemed to be a day when I would remember, "Oh shit theater 4 starts in one minute!" and I would have to speed thread the projector and adjust framing after. And always after a break.

Same. Especially fun when you're running 14 screens. Talk about a workout.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Keep in mind that Exorcist had a bona fide 70mm mix.

Wasn’t that a 1979 re-release and not original? That’s akin to saying Vertigo had a bona fide Dolby release.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Unfortunately nowadays it take only one click of a computer button to turn any visual into a ‘40 technicolor look, sepia look or whatever and seems like that’s what’s done here. Sad. Missed opportunity.
Waiting for mine with the classic cover art to arrive from UK. Then I will watch it in its entirety. But those Iraq scenes look nothing like the original. Nor do the room exorcism scenes. And my memory is very good.
Criterion should have released this. Maybe one day they will. An extremely important film in film history. And that Nightmare on Elm Street cover shows exactly what WB thinks of it. Pathetic.

 

[owen35]

FWIW, I grabbed screenshots of one shot in the exorcism scene from the previous blu-ray and recent 4K release. ( These are screen captures of the m2ts files via the VLC player.) You can see in the 4K that they improved the blue of her nightgown and increased the green in the pillow case. Her face seems to have the most tweaking done: wounds are darkened and reddened. Personally, I'm not a fan of it as it looks "plastic" to me.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

FWIW, I grabbed screenshots of one shot in the exorcism scene from the previous blu-ray and recent 4K release. ( These are screen captures of the m2ts files via the VLC player.) You can see in the 4K that they improved the blue of her nightgown and increased the green in the pillow case. Her face seems to have the most tweaking done: wounds are darkened and reddened. Personally, I'm not a fan of it as it looks "plastic" to me.
View attachment 199429 View attachment 199430

Looks like a combination of colour grading and the HDR pass to me, as shadows appear deeper and highlights on her face are whiter.