Das Experiment - CDN vs US? (1 Viewer)

[Tom Tsai]

Hi, I just received The Experiment (2001) today and it appears that the Canadian release is being distributed by Lions Gate/Christal Films. The US version on the other hand is being released by Columbia Tristar. They have different cover arts and I'm wondering if anything else (especially the A/V transfer) is different.

The specs for both are:
Lions Gate
- German 5.1 DD
- English Subtitles
- 16x9
- Production Notes

Tristar
- German 5.1 DD
- English Subtitles
- 16x9
- Trailer

Lions Gate


Tristar

 

[Ali B]

I'm not quite sure why the Tristar version's cover art uses no imagery from the film, making it look instead like a 60s b-movie!

 

[Tom Tsai]

Separated at birth?



j/k. Another thing I noticed is that the Tristar version lists the running time as 120 min while the Lions Gate is 114 min. Why is this?

 

[Damin J Toell]

Another thing I noticed is that the Tristar version lists the running time as 120 min while the Lions Gate is 114 min. Why is this?

The difference in running time could be caused by the Lions Gate disc being sourced from a PAL transfer. This seems to be a sadly growing trend among Canadian releases lately.

DJ

 

[CraigF]

This seems to be a sadly growing trend among Canadian releases lately.

Just to modify that a bit, maybe we could say a Canadian trend for European films from Lions Gate. Anyway, my source lists the running time for the movie as 116 minutes, but I would also guess a PAL source.

 

[Tom Tsai]

how's the Canadian transfer compared to the US one.

 

[Tom Tsai]

So far, only Lions Gate have been doing it and only on a few titles. I also received the Canadian version of Intacto it has the same running time as the US release of 109 minutes.

 

[Marc Colella]

Does the Canadian release have a "Studio Canal" logo on the back?

This seems to be an indicator that it's been sourced from a PAL transfer.

 

[Tom Tsai]

^ no it doesn't.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Alls I know is I wanna see this movie already!

 

[MikeHughes]

Yes, this is one fine piece of a german movie. Sadly, there aren't that much german movies that play in the same ballpark. :frowning:

 

[Tom Tsai]

Anyone out there that can confirm the running time for the Canadian release?

 

[Louis-Philippe]

Wow, that is one ugly cover. BTW, his number was 77 not 82...

I just saw the film, and it's excellent! I viewed the Canadian version of the DVD. I'm also curious to see how is the transfer on the US version. I could feel a slight PAL to NTSC strobing in the some camera pans. I'm wondering if this would be present on the Tristar version.

Later.
lpr

 

[Tom Tsai]

^ do you mind telling me the running time for it (on your dvd player, not the dvd packaging)? thanks.

 

[Louis-Philippe]

Christal Films's DVD running time is 1h54min. (114 min.) in my player. That is with the english end credits. For the french end credits, it loads a new chapter and resets the counter. I didn't check the total end running time for this one.

Hope this helps.
lpr

 

[Tom Tsai]

ok, thanks.

 

[CraigF]

Hey Tom, where'd you get your disc? I haven't got it (or Below) yet because I haven't found them in any B&M, or online for less than $30...seems a little pricey to me. Thanks.

 

[Tom Tsai]

I ordered mine from dvdsoon.com. They have it for $22.98 CDN. (should warn you that the shipping might be a little slow these days since they're having some problems with their newly designed website, escpecially in account management).

The Experiment

I just watched this last night and thought the transfer was pretty good. Great movie...I was very interested since it's based on an infamous true psychology experiment that I've read about in class.

 

[CraigF]

Thanks, haven't been there for a while.

Edit:

(should warn you that the shipping might be a little slow these days since they're having some problems with their newly designed website, escpecially in account management)

You're not kidding, now I remember why I stopped going there: the website only marginally works, is really screwy, I got frustrated.

 

[Tom Tsai]

^ yeah, since last week's change over, the site's been having problems. They say they're hard at work on fixing it. Normally, I think they're great.

Just a note, although it doesn't say on the packaging, the Canadian version does have something over the US version. It has production notes + 1 Quebec trailer + 1 European trailer + 3 US trailers.