HI fellow movie lovers. Just a note that i was watching the 2 disc 1999 special edition of halloween last night , this is the one with the hologram cover. This version , thank god i still have it, to me is the best version as far as cinematography goes and the overall look of halloween. The daytime scenes are nice and gloomy and never looked scarier and oh those nightime scenes with the blue color timing just makes this film the ultimate horror move. I personally do not like the recent blu ray version at all and this is my all time favorite movie. If you put the 99 version on first and then watch the blu ray it is like night and day. sure the blu ray as far as sharpness goes is better , but the daylight scenes are far to bright and their is no blue color timing at all in the night scenes and i found it at times very grainy in certain nightime scenes. the 99 version is not as grainy as the blu ray version in some nightime scenes.I wonder if they will ever get this movie right again. I would love to see them re-release this again on blu ray , but done right next time.Just want to know your thoughts on this as well.
On one hand, this is old news and has been discussed to death. On the other hand, I wholeheartedly agree with you and look forward to a future Blu-Ray release w/Dean Cundey's preferred color timing, as well as the inclusion of the extended TV cut.
As the owner of I think every known home video version of Halloween in existence, I agree with you...if you have a modestly sized screen. On my 92 in FP set-up the '99 THX is unwatchable.
The good news is that the Blu-ray corrects a lot of the daylight greens (which I found most distracting) back toward a warmer autumn yellow, but you're right: some of the heavy blue fills at night are still MIA on the Blu-ray.
That being said, I recently spun the Blu-ray for, yes, Halloween, and it rocked the house.
While there is no question that the color-timing of the Cundey-approved transfer is better, I disagree that the DVD release is 'better'. At best it is a draw in my opinion, as the DVD is rather unwatchable to me given all the artifacts, compression, and overall lack of detail.
I would gladly welcome a Cundey-approve BD transfer, but in the meantime the BD will do for me. It's not perfect, but it is infinitely better than Evil Dead II BD at least.
Except I seem to remember reading that Anchor Bay loses the rights to the film (maybe 4 & 5, too?) this year. That's why they released that uber set with the Myers mask this fall, as a "last hurrah". Is that right?
One bad thing is the sound effects on the 5.1 track, especially during the rain in the beginning, could have been done better IMHO...
"The new Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack was created by Chace Productions in association with Alan Howarth using the original 16-track music studio master and the recently discovered original 35mm magnetic dialogue & effects tracks"
I think the mono track is on every release (except maybe the very first DVD from 1998). I rarely listen to/care about the 5.1 mix but the mixes have all sounded the same to my ears with the Blu-ray being the best.
Anchor Bay has certainly fallen apart since they big period many years ago. It would probably be a good thing if they lost the rights to certain titles (especially the Argento stuff).