Is anybody working on Polanski's FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS...? (1 Viewer)

[Dick]

Apparently the European release is godawful. But this (along with A KNIFE IN THE WATER, which will probably get an eventual Criterion release) are two elephant-in-the-room titles still absent on Blu-ray. Has anyone an insider's knowledge of any work being done to prepare it? I believe Warner Bros. owns the film in the U.S., and this would make a perfect Halloween Archives title.

 

[Vahan_Nisanain]

Extras like the American titles from the butchered Marty Ransohoff version (clip below), and the original British titles (last seen on British VHS in the early 80's) would be nice.

 

[JohnMor]

Would LOVE a good blu of this film. Sigh.

 

[haineshisway]

The European release is a joke - completely faded color, and just a travesty. This needs to be done with a new transfer off the camera negative or if not they have to have a colorist who can fix the brown color.

 

[Reed Grele]

The first movie that I ever saw at a drive-in theater (in PA, summer of '69).


This one really needs the Criterion treatment!

 

[Reed Grele]

Extras like the American titles from the butchered Marty Ransohoff version (clip below), and the original British titles (last seen on British VHS in the early 80's) would be nice.

I still have the laserdisc (2 disc gatefold, side 3 in CAV) that includes the USA alternate opening, trailer, and a Sharon Tate featurette.

 

[John Sparks]

I have the SD of this movie. It looks super upscaled onto a 110" 16x9 screen from a Epson 9500 UB onto a 110' JKP .009 Affinity Screen .


Maybe someone needs to tell folks that upscaling, not from your TV, but from a PJ, really makes a difference!!!

 

[John Sparks]

I still have the laserdisc (2 disc gatefold, side 3 in CAV) that includes the USA alternate opening, trailer, and a Sharon Tate featurette.

1.jpg

2.jpg

3.jpg

...and there are people that want to make a BD cover better than it is??? You only see the spine!!!


Now, if we still had LDs, and I have 2 of them framed (with signatures), why would you spend all that time making another cover...AGAIN...YOU ONLY SEE THE SPINE!!!


...can't wrap my head around that one!!!


FLAME SUIT ON!

 

[davidmatychuk]

I have the laserdisc and the DVD, which each have unique and worthwhile extras. When I was in Junior High School, the movie was playing at a Vancouver drive-in and a teacher arranged to borrow the film and a projector to show it at an afternoon assembly in the gym. The teacher had seen the movie and loved it, and as he told one of his classes, he wanted to show it to the school because he thought "it was just the kind of movie Dave Matychuk would like". You can imagine what that did for my popularity. So, yes, I'd like a Criterion "Fearless Vampire Killers", ideally including the shorter American version too, which I'm sure isn't as good as Polanski's cut, but it's a version I haven't seen anywhere outside of the William Beagle Junior High School gymnasium, and I would like to see it again.

 

[Vahan_Nisanain]

BTW, here's the British VHS I was talking about. Based on the UK quad.


http://pre-cert.co.uk/display.php?vId=UK05169

 

[Dick]

I have the laserdisc and the DVD, which each have unique and worthwhile extras. When I was in Junior High School, the movie was playing at a Vancouver drive-in and a teacher arranged to borrow the film and a projector to show it at an afternoon assembly in the gym. The teacher had seen the movie and loved it, and as he told one of his classes, he wanted to show it to the school because he thought "it was just the kind of movie Dave Matychuk would like". You can imagine what that did for my popularity. So, yes, I'd like a Criterion "Fearless Vampire Killers", ideally including the shorter American version too, which I'm sure isn't as good as Polanski's cut, but it's a version I haven't seen anywhere outside of the William Beagle Junior High School gymnasium, and I would like to see it again.

Wow! Your high school has 35mm projection equipment? I assume if your teacher "borrowed" a copy of this from the drive-in theater, it must have been 35mm. I can't think of any high school in my country that has anything better than 16mm.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I expect this film to get a good blu-ray release eventually as it is too good a film not to.

It may come from somebody like Arrow or somewhere in Europe long before it gets a stateside release. Polanski's last film Venus in Fur still has not even had a stateside blu-ray release.


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Edit:


Oh boy, maybe not it looks like Warner may release this stateside using the same transfer from the French blu-ray. I wonder if this would be an Archive release.

 

[whale2]

Wow! Your high school has 35mm projection equipment? I assume if your teacher "borrowed" a copy of this from the drive-in theater, it must have been 35mm. I can't think of any high school in my country that has anything better than 16mm.

I was thinking the same thing. Either the drive in was showing 16mm or High School had 35 mm projector. Either way it is so neat that you got to see this film in High School.

 

[bujaki]

I attended a boarding school in Puerto Rico where we had two 35mm projectors, one 16mm projector, and a wide screen. I also picked the movies to be shown. I remember getting clobbered by the other kids after showings of Dr. Strangelove, The King and I, and The Music Man. i guess they didn't take kindly to musicals or satire. I survived screenings of East of Eden, Fail Safe, The Password Is Courage, and many others. I would visit the film exchanges and pick my own selections. No holds barred. I felt like a kid in a candy store. It was, in essence, a film festival for me!

Back on track with Polanski's film, which I saw in Puerto Rico, where it was called The Dance of the Vampires. It was Polanski's uncut version. I had never seen the animated titles version until it was posted here.

 

[Charles Smith]

I was thinking the same thing. Either the drive in was showing 16mm or High School had 35 mm projector. Either way it is so neat that you got to see this film in High School.

He said the school borrowed the film AND a projector. Which still leaves it open to question...

 

[whale2]

I just purchased this on VUDU. It is a great movie. Has anyone else had trouble with VUDU lately. I know it is off topic but I played at HDX and it kept stopping and saying there was not enough bandwidth. I have a 35 Mbps connection.


Back on topic. If you like this movie, just stream it from Amazon or VUDU. You will not get the extras a Blu Ray might provide, but you will see the uncut movie.

 

[davidmatychuk]

I was thinking the same thing. Either the drive in was showing 16mm or High School had 35 mm projector. Either way it is so neat that you got to see this film in High School.

On Remembrance Day in 1968, we were shown "How I Won The War", on film, at an assembly. Our principal was a war veteran and a very progressive thinker.

 

[davidmatychuk]

He said the school borrowed the film AND a projector. Which still leaves it open to question...

Our school did have a lot of higher-end A/V stuff, though the projector they used for "The Fearless Vampire Killers" and "How I Won The War" seemed strange and big to me, and it wasn't something I ever saw wheeled into my classroom. I'm pretty sure that the movie was projected onto something big hung in front of the stage in the gym, with the sound pumped through the very decent P.A. system that we used for sock hops (which I used to do). I attended that school from 1967-1970, and it had opened only a few years earlier, so it was well-equipped. We had a large, separate band building as well, with a great stereo system with huge speakers. I used to bring records there to listen to them at lunch and after school. So question if you must, but if you can't believe the former President (1969-1970) and Vice-President (1968-1969) of William Beagle Junior High School students council, I guess you just don't trust politicians.

 

[Reed Grele]

I just purchased this on VUDU. It is a great movie. Has anyone else had trouble with VUDU lately. I know it is off topic but I played at HDX and it kept stopping and saying there was not enough bandwidth. I have a 35 Mbps connection.


Back on topic. If you like this movie, just stream it from Amazon or VUDU. You will not get the extras a Blu Ray might provide, but you will see the uncut movie.

I wonder if the VUDU or Amazon HD streaming is using a better source than the BD import?

 

[haineshisway]

I wonder if the VUDU or Amazon HD streaming is using a better source than the BD import?

Doubtful - it's probably the same. This needs a new scan and the color needs to be brought back - it's an amazing-looking film when done correctly.