What's the word on Lost Highway? (1 Viewer)

[Steve Y]

I own the PAL WS edition [2-disc], and although I only watched the extras once, if memory serves the multi-angle interview with David Lynch was included there. Unfortunately, the cast interviews don't seem to be included on this new edition (the interview with Robert Loggia was particularly good). I hope I'm wrong. The Lynch interview is somewhat illuminating, but the multi-angle thing is more of a gimmick.
There was also a "behind the scenes" featurette on the PAL edition containing on-set footage of Lynch and the actors at work.
Nice to see see a "real" version finally hitting R1.

 

[Adam_Duncan]

I may get this. It sounds like a really good film.

 

[Deepak Shenoy]

Any early reviews ? This DVD better be worth the wait !

-D

 

[Jim Peavy]

Lost Highway - Patricia Arquette
Looks quite a bit different than the earlier releases.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Talk about bare bones. What happened to this 10-Part interview thingy?

 

[Kenneth English]

Looks quite a bit different than the earlier releases.

The screencaps for the new R1 release look (to me, at least) a WHOLE lot closer to the way the movie looked in the theater. The others look like they've had the brightness boosted waaaaaaayyyy too much!
Can't wait to pick this up, even if it is bare-bones.

 

[TravisR]

The screencaps for the new R1 release look (to me, at least) a WHOLE lot closer to the way the movie looked in the theater. The others look like they've had the brightness boosted waaaaaaayyyy too much!

I never like going off of memory but I agree completely (and I saw it in theaters in 1997 and a couple years ago in an art theater).

 

[Lord Dalek]

Well it wouldn't be the first time Gary's been wrong *COUGH*LIFEOFBRIAN*COUGH*

 

[Bradley Newton]

Yep, Region 1 looks to me the way I remember seeing the film during it's theatrical release. It was very dark and very, very creepy. I will definitely pick this up on Tuesday. I've been a huge Lynch fan for a long time. My first video tape purchase ever was around 1984 (this was before sell-through pricing, mind you) and I was in high school and worked as a bag boy at a local grocery store so I could order Eraserhead on VHS for $59.99. Anyhoo, having loved his work for many years, I have to say that Lost Highway is easily one of his very best films.

 

[Vincent_P]

Lynch LOVES darkness, and the screencaps for the Universal DVD reflect that. Also, hasn't it been established that he supervised the High-Definition transfer for Universal some years back? I think that should put the lid on which "look" of the film is correct. I hope this comes out on Blu-ray.

Vincent

 

[TravisR]

I hope this comes out on Blu-ray.

Me too but, unfortunately, I think it's going to be a long wait and the SD disc is only about $15 so I'm getting the DVD.

 

[Will_B]

The film is so murky that it is a difficult film to watch. Maybe poor transfers from the original negative doomed all versions to look like crap. I was going to upgrade from the PAL, but given the lack of extras and the image still looking terrible, I'll pass.

 

[Adam Santangelo]

Lynch LOVES darkness, and the screencaps for the Universal DVD reflect that. Also, hasn't it been established that he supervised the High-Definition transfer for Universal some years back? I think that should put the lid on which "look" of the film is correct. I hope this comes out on Blu-ray.
Vincent

Yes, this is also my understanding. Lynch confirmed years ago that he'd approved a new picture transfer for Lost Highway, and that's why it seemed so ridiculous that it took years to finally be released.
If there's some argument as to why the old picture transfers are correct, I'm curious to hear it. Either way, I'm a R1 guy and looking forward to having a decent Lost Highway DVD that runs 135 min.

 

[Russ Felton]

The screencaps for the new R1 release look (to me, at least) a WHOLE lot closer to the way the movie looked in the theater. The others look like they've had the brightness boosted waaaaaaayyyy too much!
Can't wait to pick this up, even if it is bare-bones.

I agree with you about the new US version looking like the theater version. I seem to remember it looking very dark, most notibly, the way some characters slowly appear from the inky blackness of this film. The other versions look way to bright I think.

 

[John Sullmeyer]

I can't believe this got released bare bones. What a shame. I think I'll stick with my R2 copy from MK2. The sound and picture on it blow me away are near reference quality.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Maybe poor transfers from the original negative doomed all versions to look like crap. I was going to upgrade from the PAL, but given the lack of extras and the image still looking terrible, I'll pass.

The Focus/Universal looks like anything but "crap". Of course, it depends on one's expectations and understanding of how the film should look.
I've never seen any of the PAL discs, but I've looked at the screen caps at DVD Beaver. Now those do look awful -- nothing like the film I remember in theaters (and this is one you remember).
M.

 

[Ash Atchison]

Good lord, I can't believe it took nearly 8 years from the time I made this thread to finally get an R1 DVD of this flick. That's pretty sobering.
Anywho, I've got it in my hands and the picture looks very accurate to me. I'm pretty pleased with it, except of course, for the absence of the aforementioned extras. Here's an extra screenshot I made comparing the MK2 disc to the new one.
Old DVD:
http://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=highwayoldsmhs2.jpg
New DVD:
http://img214.imageshack.us/my.php?image=highwaynewsmwq4.jpg
I saw this puppy in the theater, and a sure as hell don't remember the fire being white. That second screenshot is right. The MK2 and all the euro transfers are just way bright and blown out in general. Hell, Lynch loves his darkness, and this film may be his darkest. The old DVDs have a tinge of grey in the dark scenes, even on well calibrated sets, and most of the film just looks too washed out. This new one, in my opinion, gets it right in just about every way.
I also doubt this is the transfer struck by USA Films some ten years ago. I see no artifacting or noise reduction that plagued many releases in those days. The actual grain of the film is in plain view and the whole thing looks clean and untampered with outside of the 'new' color palette, which is to say, the 'right' color palette. Not to mention, the Focus Features logo is integrated into the main film file itself, which leads me to believe that this is a more recent print, or the 'supervised' print that Lynch has talked about in interviews, which he makes out to be struck only a few years ago.
Either way, it's here now, and I'm happy with it. Who knows, maybe in twenty more years we might see a Blu-Ray...
..right.

 

[David Egan]

I just watched this and the picture is perfect. The DVDBeaver caps had me worried but are inaccurate. It's dark but never murky. The colors, when they appear, really stand out. When David wants to make a statement with the extreme brights it is made and I am confident that the transfer is 100% David approved. A BR would be a slight improvement in spots but any fan of the director or this great movie would be crazier than Robert Blake to pass up on this disc.

There are no extras. Good. Lynch's position that commentaries ruin movies is extreme but not in this case. Like it or not, get it or don't, the movie is all you need. Five stars out of four.

 

[Lord Dalek]

near reference quality.

Except the contrast is boosted to high heaven.

 

[TravisR]

...I've got it in my hands and the picture looks very accurate to me...
I saw this puppy in the theater, and a sure as hell don't remember the fire being white...
This new one, in my opinion, gets it right in just about every way.

I agree completely. If you're a fan of this movie, it's easily worth the $15 even if there's no special features. The special features would have just been boring "It's great working with a real artist like David" EPK interviews anyway.