Witchfinder General and Blood on Satan's Claw 4K UHD (1 Viewer)

[titch]

Together with The Wicker Man, these are among the most influential folk-horror movies from the 1970's. Both have now been announced for release March 25th 2024, on 4K UHD and blu-ray, with restored transfers, in the UK. Blood on Satan's Claw has already been released on 4K UHD in Germany, but that release has the worst DNR and macro blocking I've seen on a 4K disc (including T2 and American Graffiti). The long-out-of-print Severin blu-ray looks way better. So it will be interesting to see if they are as good as the recent The Wicker Man. 88 Films has a good track record of quality releases of cult films, so I'm optimistic!

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[aPhil]

Do you know if the Blu-ray will be Region Locked ?

 

[titch]

Do you know if the Blu-ray will be Region Locked ?

Won't be possible to say, until the titles are listed on 88 Films' website. Some of their combo UHD+blu-ray titles have region A+B, or all-region blu-rays, while some - such as Cannibal Holocaust - have region 'B'-locked blu-rays.

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[Robin9]

I've no real wish to see The Blood On Satan's Claw again but I would be interested in a first class transfer of Witchfinder General. I'll wait for an informed review but if "the word" is positive, I'll buy the disc.

 

[Radioman970]

Two most favorites. Can't wait to see how they measure up.

 

[titch]

I sampled both Blood on Satan's Claw and The Witchfinder General - and can confirm that they are superbly scanned and mastered 4K UHDs, not surprising, with 88 Films' track record. Beautifully rendered film grain and colours. The difference between the UK and German 4K UHD will be my demonstration discs, of how badly blanket DNR, performed by a monkey, can ruin a picture. Even the most clueless film-watchers will notice the difference! The blu-ray discs on both titles are region "B"-locked.

The improvements to The Witchfinder General are also very noticeable. The blu-ray from 2011 has a very low bitrate, the print used for mastering had speckles and scratches and the colours don't look natural, compared to the 4K UHD.There is much more detail visible in the low-lit scenes on the 4K UHD.

As these two films are major entries in the folk-horror genre, they might get a 4K UHD release Stateside, like The Wicker Man did. But if you don't want to wait and see, these are reference quality releases, probably looking far better now at home, than they ever did in the local flea-pit, in 1971!

 

[Robin9]

I sampled both Blood on Satan's Claw and The Witchfinder General - and can confirm that they are superbly scanned and mastered 4K UHDs, not surprising, with 88 Films' track record. Beautifully rendered film grain and colours. The difference between the UK and German 4K UHD will be my demonstration discs, of how badly blanket DNR, performed by a monkey, can ruin a picture. Even the most clueless film-watchers will notice the difference! The blu-ray discs on both titles are region "B"-locked.

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The improvements to The Witchfinder General are also very noticeable. The blu-ray from 2011 has a very low bitrate, the print used for mastering had speckles and scratches and the colours don't look natural, compared to the 4K UHD.There is much more detail visible in the low-lit scenes on the 4K UHD.

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As these two films are major entries in the folk-horror genre, they might get a 4K UHD release Stateside, like The Wicker Man did. But if you don't want to wait and see, these are reference quality releases, probably looking far better now at home, than they ever did in the local flea-pit, in 1971!

Thank you for that. I'll now buy the disc.

 

[Will*B]

I watched 88's Witchfinder General UHD last night. What a beautiful presentation of a truly wonderful film.

I've previously owned the original UK BD and the Shout Vincent Price Collection version. This blows them both out of the water. Highly recommended.