Grindhouse's Cannibal Holocaust - When? (1 Viewer)

[eric holm]

I've been hearing Grindhouse is going to release Cannibal Holocaust but have not been able to find out anything about their timeframe.

I've been holding out to pick this up but now I see some of the online sellers are touting an anamorphic version that I could order today.

Should I continue waiting or just buy this one?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Greg_Y]

I can see no reason to hold off. The current anamorphic disc is quite good. The transfer is really nice for such a low-budget film.
Do a search here for the disc and you'll see some good reviews:
http://www.dvd-basen.dk/uk/home.php3

 

[Greg_Y]

I'm home and found the review that I was looking for before. From the SexGoreMutants website, here is a snippet of the review (full thing can be found at Link Removed):

Not having had the good fortune to ever catch EC's original DVD release of this film (it's STILL on back order [nearly seven months later] at Sazuma, believe it or not…with all correspondence to cancel it unanswered as of this writing! Now there's "service" for you!), I can only report on what I've seen with their new edition disc. Letterboxed at an aspect ratio of 1.85 and anamorphically enhanced, I can't imagine Deodato's film looking better than it does here without brand new negatives being struck! Per Umberto Lenzi's "Eaten Alive!" of the following year, Deodato shot on 16mm stock and the materials were then restruck in 35mm for theatrical engagements. Thus, there's going to be a bit of grain present, but it's not as distracting as you'd expect. In fact, unless you're watching the transfer instead of the film, you really won't notice it that much at all. Colours are exceptionally rich and vibrant, and detail levels are significantly high. Shadow detail and black levels are exactly what you'd expect for a $100,000 16mm feature, and there is some minor print damage present (the most obvious being some vertical lines that appear infrequently during the first reel). Overall though, unless Grindhouse go over the film with a fine-toothed comb and digitally correct the whole thing (as well as produce a 16x9 transfer), I'd have to say that this will remain my version of choice. I can't imagine it looking any better, short of a small miracle.
Audio is reproduced in two channel mono, rendering the proceedings and Riz Ortolani's fine score in a thoroughly exceptional fashion (I assume any future editions of this film on disc will undoubtedly be remastered in either Dolby 2.0 surround or Dolby 5.1…but honestly, to what ends?). English subtitles are also available, obviously as this is a Dutch release (and not EVERYONE in the world boasts English as their first language), but their presence assists greatly in opening scenes where characters converse in South American dialects. Extras consist of two informative interviews with Deodato: one hosted by his son Saverio, the other on stage with Martin Coxhead at the 1998 Eurofest. Both are shot on video, and their quality is passable at best (although the information provided is quite revealing). There are two theatrical trailers: English language (anamorphically enhanced), and German (sourced from video). Tying up the package is an Artwork & Stills gallery, as well as a nicely produced colour booklet insert that features a well written Deodato biography & filmography. The extras are exactly the same as EC's previous release, but this edition wins hands down with the hugely improved video quality of the main feature. Short of an audio commentary, or extra footage, I doubt that EC's disc will be topped for some time to come…if at all.

 

[eric holm]

Thanks for the info. Looks like I will give it a try. Only wish there was more info about the Grindhouse release.

Thanks.

 

[Joe:C]

Can it be true? It looks like Grindhouse may finally be releasing this. A lot of people have been getting emails from Grindhouse saying the 2-disc 25th Anniversary edition is coming out October 25th. Cannibal Holocaust.net has a big banner up that says

 

[Michael Elliott]

Well let's hope so. I broke this "news" of "coming soon" back in 1999.

 

[Joe:C]

It's supposedly going to be available for pre-order very soon. I've seen it posted at a few places. I'm going to drop them an e-mail to see if I get the same response.
EDIT: After I posted this message I found a post at dvdmaniacs.net from someone at Grindhouse.