3D Blu-ray Review House of Wax: THE HTF 3D ADDICT REVIEW (1 Viewer)

[Jesse Skeen]

I thought "Hannah Lee" was OK- I have it on field-sequential VHS under its other title "Outlaw Territory". Still, there really weren't a lot of mega-budget blockbusters in 3D back then- maybe if Cleopatra had been in 3D...

 

[Jack Theakston]

I thought "Hannah Lee" was OK- I have it on field-sequential VHS under its other title "Outlaw Territory". Still, there really weren't a lot of mega-budget blockbusters in 3D back then- maybe if Cleopatra had been in 3D...

That's the thing I think a lot of cinephiles like. The 3D films of the '50s are a complete cross-section of filmmaking at that period—"A" blockbusters, "Z" programmers and everything in-between.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

So far as the 1953/54 output, the good FAR outweigh the bad.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Compare Avatar to any of those and there's really no comparison.

I'm not saying there aren't good, current 3D movies, but there's Avatar and then all the others. So i don't think it's accurate to hold up Avatar to demonstrate how much better the current movies are over the 3D movies from the 50's. Without Avatar, would we have had as many 3D movies in this current phase? I suspect not.

To be honest, I didn't have the opportunity to see many of the Golden Age 3D movies in 3D. I think the only one I had seen in 3D was CFTBL and that was a revival. I am really looking forward to seeing more the the classics in 3D.

 

[ahollis]

And it goes without saying that it's ridiculous how theaters have been charging EXTRA for 3D movies- they never charged extra for them in the 50s or 80s. I would have gone to EVERY 3D movie had they not been charging extra, although just regular theater prices are already much too high, but because of the extra charge I've only been to a few. Buying 3D Blu-Rays is a much better value.

Theatres have to pay the 3D technology provider either REALD or Dolby an amount per ticket sold. Some contracts I've seen have been around 50% of surcharge. Then what is left over the film company takes there % for film rental. While this does not explain the high surcharge, you have the provider, distributor and theatre owner wanting bigger pie. I personally think any surcharge should not be over $1.50 and kids should not be charged at all. But my thoughts fall on deaf ears.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

HUGO was much better than AVATAR.

 

[rsmithjr]

I thought "Hannah Lee" was OK- I have it on field-sequential VHS under its other title "Outlaw Territory". Still, there really weren't a lot of mega-budget blockbusters in 3D back then- maybe if Cleopatra had been in 3D...

Cleopatra was in Todd-AO (70mm), looked fantastic, and made money (eventually). I'm not sure how 3D would have helped.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I'll be watching this BD today on my Panny 3-D display. I'll report back if I have any issues with ghosting and such.

 

[Matt Hough]

HUGO was much better than AVATAR.

You beat me to it, Bob. I concur completely.

 

[FoxyMulder]

For me Journey To The Center Of The Earth paved the way for Avatar, it used the same cameras, not many people praise that movie but the 3D was inventive, great depth, great pop out, it made the movie more enjoyable than it should have been, it was very good 3D, i assume we are discussing live action 3D and not animation, i have said this before but i'll say it again, i think A Turtles Tale is the best animated 3D that i have seen to date, that's if we are just talking the use of the technology, after that i think Dreamworks has been the most consistent studio for great use of 3D tech.

People can try altering the perspective control on their televisions if they see ghosting, i personally don't see much at all on my Samsung E6500, i saw a tiny amount in the background in just a few scenes of Puss In Boots and that's about it, i guess i could be getting too wrapped up in the film to notice but if it's bad it would draw you out of the movie so i would say so far it's not been a huge distraction for me, hopefully that continues with House Of Wax.

 

[Matt Hough]

I agree about Journey to the Center of the Earth. The 3D lifted it a notch in my estimation and made it a lot more fun to watch in 3D than in 2D.

 

[RolandL]

I thought "Hannah Lee" was OK- I have it on field-sequential VHS under its other title "Outlaw Territory". Still, there really weren't a lot of mega-budget blockbusters in 3D back then- maybe if Cleopatra had been in 3D...

I have it also but its only 75 minutes. I thought the original was 90 minutes.

 

[Jon Lidolt]

It may be true that Warner Bros. made this the best 3-D disc possible, but then I have to ask: why does THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, another classic from that same era, look resplendent on my t.v., with almost no ghosting, but the Warner releases are riddled with it? Has this something to do with differences in the original camera and projection process? I'm lost here.

The shots with a noticeable ghost image are the ones with very high contrasts. You may have noticed this phenomenon in Dial M for Murder. There is street scene where the background is almost pitch black... the street lights are a bright white. The ghosting in these shots is very distracting. You'll notice that less contrasty scenes have very little or no noticeable ghosting at all. Could this sort of problem not be minimized during the transfer process? I can't remember any shot in Creature which had an extremely dark background with a glaringly bright object in the foreground. That's why there was almost no noticable ghosting in that movie.

 

[Reed Grele]

Just did a quick 10 chapter check on a 42" Panasonic plasma in a room lit with daylight. There is some ghosting noticeable on objects located far in the background, but objects in the forefront appears fine. This is not nearly as bad as it was on Dial 'M'. It does not appear that colors or brightness will be an issue either.

Will give it the acid test this evening on the 120" LCD Panny setup in the home theater.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I agree about Journey to the Center of the Earth. The 3D lifted it a notch in my estimation and made it a lot more fun to watch in 3D than in 2D.

I agree about Journey. While I like the 2D, the 3D really lifts the movie. From the very first moment with the trilobite antenna, you can tell the movie is going to have fun with the 3D.

I still stick to my guns with Avatar being king of the hill.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Watching it now...this is a fantastic transfer!

 

[Charles Smith]

Got mine about an hour ago, and just sampled a few scenes.

FANTASTIC! What a beautiful job!

I have one of the chief offenders for Dial M (Panny plasma), and House of Wax displays a zillion times better than that one.

Greg had already suggested to me that this should be more like Creature insofar as how well the plasma handles it. And it's fine indeed. I can see just a little faint ghosting here and there -- like others have said, more in the background. But it's totally watchable! And as entertaining as ever. I couldn't be more pleased.

Thank you, WB! More, please!

 

[Robert Crawford]

I just watched it on my Panny 65VT50 and it looked very good. There was some ghosting, but nothing that took me out of the film as I was constantly looking for it.

 

[Reed Grele]

Update:

Looks gorgeous projected (120")!

Wonderful documentary.

If WB can continue to make '50's 3D look this good on blu-ray, I'll keep buying.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I have just watched HoW and the movie is great and the 3D is better. I immediately noticed how deep the "D" was. This is extreme 3D and that is meant to be a complement. There is dimensionality is just about every single scene. When the opening credits were playing, I immediately noticed the the street really had depth.

On my Samsung 55" ES7100 I saw no ghosting. I suppose there could have been some but I became to immersed in the movie to notice any. Any ghosting would have been minor. BTW, my Samsung is still on its factory settings.

I enjoyed the obvious shots, the paddle-ball man, the can-can dancers. Otherwise the 3D was only noticeable because it was so good. I'm very happy with this release.

There was something I've never noticed before. When we see Vincent Price in the grotesque makeup, he has a stooped, somewhat crippled walk. When he gets up out of his wheel chair, looking quite handsome, he walks without a limp. In fact, I don't think he limped again in the movie. Was that an over site, that the disability wasn't continued, or a deliberate choice?

Women sure did faint easily in those days, didn't they?

I believe if modern 3D movies were as dimensional as HoW, they'd be more popular both in the theater and at home.

Now I'm going to have to watch CFTBL again and see how it compares to HoW. It's been a few months and I don't remember it being as good as HoW and I loved the 3D in Creature.

Great job WB!