Synapse Films

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dwk
Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm

Re: Synapse Films

#101 Post by dwk » Wed Jan 16, 2013 5:35 pm

Don posted the following about Fairy In A Cage getting a Blu-ray release on his facebook page
"We had to squeeeeeeeeeeze this one out of Nikkatsu for HD, which is why we decided to release it on Blu. The only one, so far, we were able to get an HD transfer for. It's pretty controversial, like MALFORMED MEN, which is why it hasn't made an appearance on DVD before. They finally let us have it."

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dwk
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Re: Synapse Films

#102 Post by dwk » Mon Jan 28, 2013 5:17 pm

Looks like I was right, Synapse has the rights to Tenebrae and Phenomena
Synapse Films’ Don May Jr. gave Fango the scoop that the company just acquired Lamberto Bava’s DEMONS and DEMONS 2 and Dario Argento’s TENEBRAE and PHENOMENA. “We’ll be releasing Blu-rays and DVDs of all four in 2013,” he tells us. “We’re getting better hi-def masters of TENEBRAE and PHENOMENA, and we’re fixing the timing and color errors that were in the previous Blu-rays of the DEMONS films

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tenia
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Re: Synapse Films

#103 Post by tenia » Mon Jan 28, 2013 6:06 pm

“we’re fixing the timing and color errors that were in the previous Blu-rays of the DEMONS films
What color errors ? Black levels ?

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dwk
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Re: Synapse Films

#104 Post by dwk » Mon Jan 28, 2013 6:14 pm

from earlier in this thread
We will also be correcting the incorrect black levels and the botched day-for-night shots that have plagued other versions.

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manicsounds
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
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Re: Synapse Films

#105 Post by manicsounds » Mon Jan 28, 2013 8:04 pm

"Fairy In A Cage" is out on DVD in Japan (but no BD). Was May only talking about the US?

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dwk
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Re: Synapse Films

#106 Post by dwk » Tue Feb 05, 2013 12:28 am

Kentai's Films says that Don told him that for Demons and Demons 2 they are using the scans done for Arrow's Blus, but they are fixing the black levels, day-for-night and other color timing errors. For Tenebrae and Phenomena they will use the masters that Wild Side used. Argento and Albani were involved in the creation of the Phenomena master, but it is the 110 minute version, because that is Argento's preferred version (Synapse will also have access to Arrow's 116 minute master as well, but there are audio issues and they haven't decided what they are going to do.)

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Finch
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Re: Synapse Films

#107 Post by Finch » Tue Feb 05, 2013 1:51 pm

Glad to hear they're using the same masters for Tenebrae as the French - bring it on Snapse!

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dwk
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Re: Synapse Films

#108 Post by dwk » Thu Mar 28, 2013 1:03 am


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dwk
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Re: Synapse Films

#109 Post by dwk » Mon May 06, 2013 1:58 pm


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Minkin
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Re: Synapse Films

#110 Post by Minkin » Mon May 06, 2013 4:47 pm

Last week, I emailed the restoration artist a message that said we were going to have to revert back to the original scan that was originally approved and supervised by producer/writer Roy Frumkes and just go with it, instead of the work he’d performed. I received one final message from him saying that my decision was for the best and that (paraphrasing here) “like so many other vendors, I do not meet your quality standards.” Hmm… well, I’m not entirely sure this was some sort of final zinger/insult thrown at me or not, but I actually consider words like this a compliment to my dedication to creating the best product I can possibly do, within my means. I wouldn’t have it any other way and I’m sure the fans of Synapse Films appreciate that, too.

Fixing splice bumps at the beginning and end and doing some manual dirt cleanup, turned into noise-reduction, grain reduction, deflicker and artifacting that was so unexpected, that I’ve been dealing with fixing the issues now for well over a month.
Wow, that was a superb writeup. My respect and admiration for Synapse has grown exponentially. If only more companies would be so open about their issues and have such fastidiousness toward the end product. Seems most labels would only be too happy to release what Synapse received from the "restoration artist" (especially for a cult horror title).

I wasn't even really interested in Street Trash, but now I think I'll buy it - just to support their work and decision in this matter.

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domino harvey
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Synapse Films

#111 Post by domino harvey » Mon May 06, 2013 5:28 pm

They care because the internet raked them over the coals twice over the Deadly Spawn

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Synapse Films

#112 Post by colinr0380 » Mon May 06, 2013 5:35 pm

What happened with The Deadly Spawn domino?

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domino harvey
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Re: Synapse Films

#113 Post by domino harvey » Mon May 06, 2013 5:44 pm

The first edition of the Blu had so much DNR that the label actually recalled it. The "fixed" version was subsequently alleged to be nothing more than an up-rezed version of the DVD transfer

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Minkin
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: Synapse Films

#114 Post by Minkin » Mon May 06, 2013 5:59 pm

domino harvey wrote:The first edition of the Blu had so much DNR that the label actually recalled it. The "fixed" version was subsequently alleged to be nothing more than an up-rezed version of the DVD transfer
Well, so much for my new love affair. Still, the post above gives hope that they've repented and are moving in a much better direction. We'll see what comes forth.

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salad
Joined: Mon Jul 17, 2006 9:20 pm

Re: Synapse Films

#115 Post by salad » Mon May 06, 2013 6:05 pm

Synapse never released 'Deadly Spawn' on blu-ray

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domino harvey
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Re: Synapse Films

#116 Post by domino harvey » Mon May 06, 2013 6:08 pm

What do you know, you're right: They only released the DVD, it was Elite Entertainment who put out the Blu. Resume praise of Synapse

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Minkin
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: Synapse Films

#117 Post by Minkin » Mon May 06, 2013 6:12 pm

salad wrote:Synapse never released 'Deadly Spawn' on blu-ray
domino harvey wrote:What do you know, you're right: They only released the DVD, it was Elite Entertainment who put out the Blu. Resume praise of Synapse
Huzzah! Love affair resumes

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Cash Flagg
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:15 pm

Re: Synapse Films

#118 Post by Cash Flagg » Tue May 07, 2013 9:44 am

domino harvey wrote:What do you know, you're right: They only released the DVD, it was Elite Entertainment who put out the Blu.
The Synapse DVD looks superb, and in fact is vastly superior to the BD, which is easily the worst I've ever seen. You'd honestly do better to watch it on YouTube. Don reached out to Ted Bohus (the Deadly Spawn producer) about handling Spawn, but Bohus decided it was better to basically self-release an almost unwatchable travesty. Bohus later attempted to see the recalled first printing discs at a major markup as 'rare collector's items'. He's a real scumbag.

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dwk
Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm

Re: Synapse Films

#119 Post by dwk » Wed May 29, 2013 4:39 pm

Details on their upcoming Demons and Demons 2 Blu-rays
Basically, these are limited edition (3000 copies) steelbooks that will cost $45.95 each after shipping and they have no plans to issue these in regular packaging. Pre-orders will go up within the next week and they are expecting to ship around November.
Last edited by dwk on Wed May 29, 2013 4:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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perkizitore
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Re: Synapse Films

#120 Post by perkizitore » Wed May 29, 2013 4:46 pm

Bah, you can get the Arrow steelbook for less than $20! :-#

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dwk
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Re: Synapse Films

#121 Post by dwk » Wed May 29, 2013 7:03 pm

Pre-orders for the Demons and Demons 2 Blu-rays are up:
Demons
Demons 2

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EddieLarkin
Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:25 am

Re: Synapse Films

#122 Post by EddieLarkin » Thu May 30, 2013 9:28 am

How prevalent are the supposed incorrect black levels and botched day for night shots on the Arrow Blu? I've also heard a lot of negative talk around the English language track, but I figure I'd want to watch this in Italian anyway. Is the Italian track ok on the Arrow release?

richast2
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Re: Synapse Films

#123 Post by richast2 » Thu May 30, 2013 9:59 am

dwk wrote:Details on their upcoming Demons and Demons 2 Blu-rays
Basically, these are limited edition (3000 copies) steelbooks that will cost $45.95 each after shipping and they have no plans to issue these in regular packaging. Pre-orders will go up within the next week and they are expecting to ship around November.
Man, as much as I love Demons, I definitely don't need to spend $50 on the blu ray. Guess I'll hold on to my $9 DVD.

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dwk
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Re: Synapse Films

#124 Post by dwk » Thu May 30, 2013 1:25 pm

EddieLarkin wrote:How prevalent are the supposed incorrect black levels and botched day for night shots on the Arrow Blu? I've also heard a lot of negative talk around the English language track, but I figure I'd want to watch this in Italian anyway. Is the Italian track ok on the Arrow release?
I believe that there is only one botched day-for-night shot. As for the problems with Arrow's video and audio. This review from Kentai sums it up nicely:
Demons (Part 1) is notably the better looking of the two, sporting strong detail in virtually every shot, and - just occasionally - a scene that includes well resolved 35mm grain, just as nature intended. Sadly, the completely jacked black levels and boosted gamma have left what should have been a moody experience of ghouls popping out of total darkness have been rendered somewhat flat and lifeless, with the "shadows" of the darkened movie theater being the same uniform, off-gray color...

...and as you can see in the DVD Beaver comparisons, there's virtually nothing in the way of additional shadow detail on the Arrow Video disc compared to the previous, rock-solid DVD transfers! If the Arrow Blu-rays were brighter and had previously hidden shadow detail I'd give this whole thing the benefit of the doubt, but it honestly looks more like someone mastered it properly, was getting complaints that it looked "too dark" from someone in control of the project, and then bumped up the gamma up to compensate, probably muttering and shaking their head the whole time.


Perhaps even more controversial than its middling transfer is actually the monophonic English audio on the first film. The US prints and initial VHS/Laserdisc versions used a fairly crumby mono mix, while several European markets got a Dolby Stereo track, and it was - after much confusion - revealed that Arrow would be including the "US Mono" version for the film's Blu-ray debut. The voices are exactly the same, but some of the music cues and sound effects were changed for whatever reason. Offering a vanilla mono track as an option to theaters not yet equipped with Dolby equipment wasn't uncommon through the 1980s, particularly on a global scale, but by the early 1990s when competition between DTS and SDDS brought booming surround tracks to the public consciousness in a way that didn't require 70mm blow-ups, they more or less stopped doing that entirely. The English mono track sounds pretty dull and muted, but - as AV Maniacs forum member Svante Skoog was the first to point out - there's a number of scenes that do include the Dolby Stereo materials! On a pair of moderately priced headphones the difference between the scene where the survivors storm the projection room, followed by the scene with the punks snorting coke in their car is like night and day. The mono track isn't terrible by the standards I'd typically shrug and say, "It's fine I guess, it's a shitty vintage mono track" - but one needs only to switch between the Italian Dolby Stereo mix and the wimpy English mono track to see that Arrow clearly dropped the ball right into their open mouthes.

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EddieLarkin
Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:25 am

Re: Synapse Films

#125 Post by EddieLarkin » Thu May 30, 2013 2:01 pm

Looks like Synapse have made the decision for me anyway since they won't ship outside the U.S.

Ah well, I take their "we have no plans to release these two films in standard non-limited versions" line with a big pinch of salt anyway.

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