Evil Dead: Book Of The Dead Shipped (1 Viewer)

[JustinW]

Did I miss something, I thought it was only the 19th of February (AUS) yet I just got an e-mail saying that my order including Evil Dead - Book Of The Dead has been shipped. Their site still says the release date is the 5th of March and yet I see this in my account section:

Shipped on February 18, 2002: 2 items - delivery estimate: February 26 - March 4

1 of: The Evil Dead (Book Of The Dead Limited Edition) [DVD] $37.48

Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining I was just wondering if anyone else has had theirs shipped yet and if this sort of thing is normal.

Edit: Thanks Rob

 

[luke cav]

Has made it to the UK already, along with Don't Say a Word(2 weeks ago), The Musketeer, Soul Surviors & Jay and Silent Bob strike back.

P.S-Jay and Silent bob has about 5 hours of extras and the deleted scenes run for 90mins.

P.P.S-The packaging is realy cool for the book of the dead. was tempted to pick this it up. But the uk edition ships next month and only costs £19.99 not the £35-50 the R1 edition will cost. Did seen Avalon on R3, The Others R3 & The One R3 each for £23-25 in china town.

 

[Rob Lutter]

sweet... maybe that means mine will ship soon! Thanks.
(by the way, you may want to take out the name of the store... I think the moderators frown on giving out the names of stores that break street date)

 

[Matt_Marlow]

Mine shipped last Friday from a certain retailer that offers free shipping. I was pleasantly surprised. Also, my copy of Zombie arrived on Saturday (release date is the 19th) from that same retailer. I wouldn't be surprised if catalog titles like these are much more likely to ship longer before their release date than newer titles that have never been available on home video before (like A.I. for example). Who is going to complain if someone ships a title early like Zombie, which is simply a reissue, or Evil Dead, which is already available in other versions?

 

[Matthew Chmiel]

My copy shipped Thursday from a place that offers priority shipping at $3.95.
Damn national holiday, I could've had my copy today... but at least there was no school today.

 

[Rob Lutter]

gee... I just switched my order to another site and my order has already shipped
wow... even the shipping was deeply discounted at $3.95 for Priority Should get here by the end of the week

 

[GuruAskew]

My copy supposedly shipped Thursday from the free-shipping retailer, although I never got an e-mail confirmation. I didn't know it had shipped until I checked the order status on their site. I've never ordered from them before, but I did in this case because of the big price discount, and I'm not familiar with their shipping policies. Is it usual to not get a confirmation e-mail from this particular e-tailer?

 

[Matthew Chmiel]

Is it usual to not get a confirmation e-mail from this particular e-tailer?

I used to get e-mail confirmations from them months ago, but during the past few months (ever since November) I haven't.

 

[ChristianW]

Woohoo!!
Mine shipped today as well. Same e-tailer as JustinW, same ship date. Certainly not going to complain though, and definately a nice surprise.
How does this happen? Do the DVD manufacturers simply set the date later than they really want because they know the stores will break it anyway? Or are the stores trying to break dates earlier and earlier just to make more future business with customers who want their stuff early? Do the studios mind that this happens? I would have thought they set their dates for some reason and not just pick a random day especially when it's obvious the DVDs are ready well in advance.
Still not complaining though, despite what it looks like.

 

[Jeremy Little]

That's cool that it is shipping early. I am going to wait and pay $27.99 at Best Buy on the release day. I have the Elite version to tide me over 'til then

 

[Adam_WM]

WEll, now let me get this straight, a online DVD retailer, that often deeply discounts things is already shipping Evil Dead: BOTD?

 

[John K Carter]

YO! Rob, Matt. What's up with the hats?

 

[Adam_WM]

WEll this sucks. A certain free-shipping website that was implied above is now out of stock of their early stock. Not shipping anymore. Guess we'll just have to wait.

 

[Sam Graves]

I received my deeply-discounted Book of the Dead today. My hands still smell like latex (Don't get any ideas).

 

[Matthew Chmiel]

My friends, the packaging for this DVD set is very nice. You get around twenty-two pages in the book itself, most of it art work by Tom Sullivan (the other stuff is a note from Tom, chapter selections, and so on). Also included is a 19 page booklet entitled Bring the Dead Home for Dinner: A History of The Evil Dead In Your Hone by Micheal Felsher from Anchor Bay, a piece of paper if you want to get Rue Morgue Magazine, and of course, the disc itself. In a few minutes I will be popping this disc in and expect a review from me later tonight.

 

[Matthew Chmiel]

Technical Features:
- 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen Format
- English DTS-ES 6.1 Surround Sound
- English Dolby Digital 5.1 EX Surround Sound
- English Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Sound
- French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
- French Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Sound
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert*
- Audio Commentary with Bruce Campbell*
- Behind The Scenes Footage (1.33:1, 18 minutes)*
- Fanalysis Documentary (1.33:1, 26 minutes)
- Discovering Evil Dead Production Featurette (16x9 enhanced, 13 minutes)
- Theatrical Trailer (16x9 enhanced, 2 minutes)*
- Four TV Spots (1.33:1, 2 minutes)
- Talent Bios for Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi, and Rob Tapert
- Poster and Still Gallery*
- Easter Egg: Make-up Test (1.33:1, 1 minute)
- Easter Egg: Interview with Rob Tapert, Betsy Baker, and Theresa Tilly (1.33:1, 7 minutes)
* = Was on the previous Elite DVD.
Video Quality: The film has been matted to 1.78:1 (16x9 enhanced) for this DVD release (the OAR was 1.66:1). Now with all those people who hated the video quality of the release, they don't know what they're talking about. The DVD includes the best looking transfer yet. The only problems I noticed with the transfer that delt with the print itself (as the print is very grainy). I have no problem with the print being grainy as the film was shot over twenty years ago on 16mm.
*** out of ****
Audio Quality: I listened to the film in English DTS-ES and I was quite suprised how good the track sounded (haven't listened to the DD 5.1 EX track yet). The dialog is a bit muffled every now and then, but the soundtrack and sound effects are LOUD. For the first time in my home theater, I jumped at two scenes as I wasn't expecting for some of the sound effects to be as loud as they were.
**** out of ****
Later I'll post my thought on the extras the disc includes. Overall Anchor Bay did quite a nice job on this release. The DVD is still jampacked, even with Within The Woods not being included.
Screenshots at: http://members.aol.com/mrmatthew/botd/

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I don't often see street date violations (though I don't often shop for DVDs, which may be part of it). Anyway, I did happen to notice "BotD" on the shelves at a particular mall computer software retailer. Dunno if this'll happen elsewhere; I got the feeling it was just a slip-up by the staff. But I rarely see early releases, so I had to comment!

 

[Artur Meinild]

Thanx for the review Matt! Really looking forward to this disc now.
Is the BotD only 1 disc? Besides, I think you mean Bruce Campbell commentary (2nd). ok, I'm done.

 

[Matt_Marlow]

Mine arrived today and I just got through watching it. As far as the transfer is concerned, I have to side with the reviewer at Dvdfile.com. This isn't necessarily a bad transfer, especially considering its age, but both previous releases, especially the full-frame Anchor Bay version, look considerably better. Not only less grainy--the grain doesn't bother me at all--but more detail is clearly visible overall. Of course, there are exceptions with certain scenes, but I'm just giving my overall impressions. Also, the colors are far less muted on the original AB release. I watched both version on a 65" HDTV with a progressive scan DVD player. On a smaller display, I'm betting that any deficiencies in the transfer are less bothersome, but I really beg to differ that The Book of the Dead version is the best transfer yet. I still think it's worth buying for the sound and the packaging...and it is nice to have a (matted) widescreen version of the film if you own a 16:9 TV, so I'm glad to have it.

 

[cafink]

Can anyone give me a definitive word on the aspect ratio? I understand it was shot at 1.375:1 and composed for projection at 1.66:1, correct?

Is AB's new DVD the first time "Evil Dead" has been available in widescreen on home video? In what aspect ratios has it been previously available?

And what about the new DVD? Is it 1.85:1 or 1.78:1? And why didn't AB simply make it 1.66:1? Is it simply matted more than it should be, or is there any vertical "pan and scanning" going on? How is the composition on this new version?