Second Sight Films (UK)

[therewillbeblus]

With the current exchange rate, the price on third party sellers like Rarewaves plus their flat shipping fee is about equivalent to SS' price with free shipping. While many sites do benefit from group buys, I guess I just don't see the draw in paying around the same (or a little extra, if accounting for person-to-person shipping once within the states) for a less convenient or direct purchase, but maybe I'm missing something Finch is aware of since I know he's propositioned group buys from SS direct in the past

[swo17]

To clarify, SS has nothing close to free shipping. Here are rates for multiple copies of Tangerine:

1 £15.08
2 £18.58
3-5 £24.00
6-11 £29.00
12-15 £39.00
16+ not allowed

If you had 15 participants each buying one copy, they'd each pay a £2.60 share of shipping (plus like $4 for shipping within the U.S.). Each participant would save about $11 that way as opposed to buying directly. So one copy might cost something like $32 < Rarewaves' pre-shipping cost of $36 < $43 to buy one copy directly from SS. But it's not quite as good of a deal if you don't hit 15 exactly

[therewillbeblus]

Yeah sorry, I know they don't do free shipping, I was only using that as a hypothetical to say that it wouldn't make much of a difference regardless, and even if you saved something it would be a couple bucks at the expense of a decent amount of effort and delay

[Finch]

I may actually go with rarewaves (or even grindhouse if they are planning on getting copies) then. I can't take advantage of the pre-order on Second Sight's page this month anyway and rarewaves typically take up to a week before they list their allocated copies for sale. I guess it's just fear of missing out on the LE including the book that made me throw out the idea for a group buy for US residents.

[Finch]

TCM pre-order on Second Sight's website

I'm not a fan of the artwork personally but the 190 (!) page book is tempting.

Special Features

3 disc edition - 1 UHD and 2 Blu-rays with bonus features on both formats
A new presentation featuring additional restoration work
UHD presented in Dolby Vision HDR produced by Second Sight Films
Audio tracks include new Dolby Atmos, stereo and restored original mono mix produced by Second Sight Films
New Audio commentary by Amanda Reyes and Bill Ackerman
Audio commentary with Writer-Producer-Director Tobe Hooper
Audio commentary with Cinematographer Daniel Pearl, Editor J. Larry Carroll, Sound Recordist Ted Nicolaou
Audio commentary with Writer-Producer-Director Tobe Hooper, Cinematographer Daniel Pearl, Actor Gunnar Hansen
Audio commentary with Actors Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger and Paul A. Partain, and Art Director Robert A. Burns
The Legacy of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre - a new feature length documentary produced by Second Sight Films
Behind The Mask: Alexandra Heller-Nicholas on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The Shocking Truth documentary, plus outtakes
Cutting Chain Saw with Editor J. Larry Carroll
Granpaw's Tales with Actor John Dugan
Horror's Hallowed Grounds
Flesh Wounds: Seven Stories of The Saw
Off The Hook with Actor Teri McMinn
The Business of Chain Saw with Production Manager Ron Bozman
House Tour with Actor Gunnar Hansen
Tobe Hooper interview
Kim Henkel interview
Deleted Scenes
Outtakes
Trailers
TV and Radio Spots
Stills Gallery

Limited Edition Contents

Rigid slipcase with original classic UK VHS artwork
190 page hardback book with new essays by ​​Heather Buckley, Tim Coleman, Martyn Conterio, Miranda Corcoran, Heather Drain, Lee Gambin, Caden Mark Gardner, Lindsay Hallam, Cerise Howard, Kimberly Lindbergs, Annie Rose Malamet, Maitland McDonagh, Neil Mitchell and Robert Skvarla, illustrated by Adam Stothard
6 collectors' art cards
3 collectors' art cards exclusive to our store while stocks last!

Catalogue number: 2NDBR4180

Certificate: 18

Region: UHD Region Free / Blu-ray Region B

[yoloswegmaster]

Just like with the Drive release, I think that TCM is fantastic but does it really need 15 different essays? The on-disc extras already look quite extensive with its coverage on the production and release history, alongside the scholarly content, so I wonder what information is going to be provided in all those essays that will somehow differ from one another without it being repetitive. Thankfully I'm provided with the options to either buy the standard version or the Dark Sky release.

[therewillbeblus]

I'd be interested to hear if anyone who has picked up LEs from SS can speak to the quality of the essays/booklets they produce (maybe here?) but I always go with the standard copies of their releases for a) the reasons you state - I can't imagine that a slew of love letters are going to be that divergent or stimulating, and I wish 200 pages would incorporate an eclectic mix of written supplements like interviews etc., and b) I haven't heard anybody gush about the books in SS' LEs enough to motivate a purchase

[Finch]

I do like the essays in the Witch booklet a lot and they touched on different aspects of the production but it was not a 190 page book so I think yoloswegmaster makes a good point about how much repetition there might be (I don't like Drive so can't comment on that). I appreciate that the art for the outer box is a straight reproduction of the UK VHS cover and it probably also reflects an intentional move by Second Sight to stand out more from the US and German releases (someone on the BR forum said the same art was also used for the Scandinavian release) but that doesn't make me like it any better and the all-red comic style art on the foldout keepcase is horrid. So, aesthetically, to me, SS have dropped the ball on this release, and unlike with Martin, I'm more likely to do the same as TWWB and go for the standard edition instead. Diabolik have their pre-orders up already; Grindhouse hopefully follow soon (had a very good experience with their delivery of Big Time Gambling Boss and they had the most competitive US price for Martin).

[dustybooks]

The essays in the Dawn of the Dead and Babadook booklets are phenomenal but I would say it largely depends on how enamored you are of the respective films. I personally could talk about Dawn of the Dead all day if that were a socially acceptable or even tolerable thing to do so I have no issue reading a bazillion essays about it but YMMV.

[Calvin]

I thought that the book for The Witch was brillantly curated with impressively little in the way of repetition. I love pieces like The Witch's Hauntingly Accurate Portrayal of Early New England by Emerson W Baker, Professor of History at Salem State University which give a totally different perspective on the work.

[Finch]

Re TCM: it's missing the Friedkin/Hooper conversation from the Dark Sky release; has anyone seen their talk previously? Friedkin is absolutely atrocious on his own talking about his or other people's movies (his commentaries are among the most useless and boring I've heard) so I wonder if the interview with Hooper is actually any good or if Second Sight were wise to omit it (assuming it was not a licensing issue but an editorial decision)?

[Finch]

A printing issue is pushing the release date for Martin back to March 27th. Pre-orders for Picnic at Hanging Rock UHD going live later this week, as per SS's Facebook announcements.

[ryannichols7]

A printing issue is pushing the release date for Martin back to March 27th. Pre-orders for Picnic at Hanging Rock UHD going live later this week, as per SS's Facebook announcements.

it's also going to be 4 discs, can't wait!!

*PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK UPDATE*
Happy Valentine’s Day! Pre-orders and full details for our new restoration of Peter Weir’s seminal slice of Australian cinema coming later this week, including our 4 disc 4K / Blu-ray Limited Edition and standard editions.

[therewillbeblus]

It was gonna be five discs but they dropped the last one to keep the mystery

[dwk]

I assume it is a 4 disc set because it will be dual-format and include both cuts on their own disc?

[ryannichols7]

I assume it is a 4 disc set because it will be dual-format and include both cuts on their own disc?

that's right, Second Sight are dual format on their LEs. I haven't gotten one yet, been waiting for this title specifically to dip in. wonder if they'll include the book like CC did originally?

[Drucker]

A printing issue is pushing the release date for Martin back to March 27th. Pre-orders for Picnic at Hanging Rock UHD going live later this week, as per SS's Facebook announcements.

it's also going to be 4 discs, can't wait!!

*PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK UPDATE*
Happy Valentine’s Day! Pre-orders and full details for our new restoration of Peter Weir’s seminal slice of Australian cinema coming later this week, including our 4 disc 4K / Blu-ray Limited Edition and standard editions.

I spoke to someone over a year ago about the Picnic 4K, while researching my Mubi piece on color and film restoration. They relayed to me feedback that Weir was not happy with the current look of the home video transfers, and that the color should be hotter to reflect the power of the sun. So I would expect a more sun-drenched/yellow/hot transfer this time around.

[What A Disgrace]

Hopefully it'll include the novel, so I don't have to have two oversized copies of this on my shelves. If it doesn't, well, then I'll just have two oversized copies of this film on my shelves.

[dwk]

I spoke to someone over a year ago about the Picnic 4K, while researching my Mubi piece on color and film restoration. They relayed to me feedback that Weir was not happy with the current look of the home video transfers, and that the color should be hotter to reflect the power of the sun. So I would expect a more sun-drenched/yellow/hot transfer this time around.

Didn't he supervise the previous master? Quote from Criterion's booklet

Supervised by director Peter Weir, this new digitally remastered high-definition transfer was created on a Spirit DataCine from a 35mm interpositive at Deluxe Melbourne, where the film was also restored. Additional restoration work was done by Criterion to address jitter, flicker, and chroma breathing. The 5.1 surround mix was created from the original 35mm magnetic tracks by Phil Heywood at Atlab in Sydney, under the supervision of Weir. Additional restoration work was done by Criterion using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX 3.

Transfer supervisors: Chris Dea, Sarah Robinson, Peter Weir.
Colorist: Deidre McLelland/Deluxe Melbourne.

[ryannichols7]

Weir's comments do make sense given the contents of the film (but also that dreamlike haze fits so well) but I'm curious to see what he means by this given him supervising and approving the CC edition. if this presentation is vastly different, 2023 is going to be quite the year for differing transfers and debates

[bad future]

I think I posted this somewhere a while back, but here is a very interesting presentation on the new Picnic at Hanging Rock restoration, which gets into the rationale and methodology for the changes in the color grade, which do seem quite substantial from the demonstrations. (edit- the demo starts at 6:20 for anyone wanting to skip to it, and they start addressing the differences immediately upon its conclusion.)

[Drucker]

Thank you for sharing! Certainly validates what I was told a while back.

[ryannichols7]

can't wait for the 15+ page thread on the other forum still complaining about the presentation being "wrong", with constant deviations into talking about Terminator or some other movies, as we got with Three Colors. either way, this is awesome, informative, and I'm glad we have it on hand before the SS edition even has preorders go up

[Finch]

I'm just glad Weir allowed for the inclusion of both cuts since the Picnic DC is the most useless edit outside of the Alien DC (which only served to show how perfectly paced the 79 original was). On paper, the request Weir made for the color grade sounds very sensible.

[yoloswegmaster]

Looks like Second Sight will be releasing 2 New French Extremity films, as they have submitted Frontier(s) and Switchblade Romance to the BBFC.