UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading [Archive]

[jsteffe]

Cauldron are off to a flying start with their 4k entry, Fulci's City of the Living Dead, with a David M encode and here is one of some early very positive reactions.

EDIT: 3/27/12: second review

Finch, thanks for flagging this release! The reviews look promising. I just ordered a copy of the 3-disc edition on Diabolik.

[Finch]

No problem, jsteffe!

[Finch]

Geoff confirmed that the Rocky set is a mess in terms of how the films have been encoded.

For compression it goes a little something like this:

Rocky: not amazing, but decent enough

Rocky II: breaks down badly in various spots

Rocky III: wunderbar

Rocky IV theatrical: disaster zone

[Finch]

Boyhood (Arrow) (FiM encode)

screengrabs for The Man Who Fell To Earth

EDIT: German language review of 4k & BD

The reviewer thinks the 4k is much better encoded than the BD.

[M Sanderson]

Geoff confirmed that the Rocky set is a mess in terms of how the films have been encoded.

For compression it goes a little something like this:

Rocky: not amazing, but decent enough

Rocky II: breaks down badly in various spots

Rocky III: wunderbar

Rocky IV theatrical: disaster zone

thanks for the update. I'm going to stick with just the first film. It does look good enough (it's never even had a good Blu-ray) and with me not being a sound expert, and not using speakers (don't want to bother the neighbours) the audio issues might never affect me.

although I was curious to revisit the second one, for me a genuine Rocky film.

[Finch]

88 are looking into the issues with the Hell of the Living Dead 4k as well as House on the Edge of the Park.

[Finch]

First reaction to the 4k presentation of Exorcist III theatrical is promising, with a big thumbs up for the cleaned up audio.

[Finch]

No surprise there: Martin (Second Sight) with FiM encode and Geoff D QC'ing.

first feedback

[M Sanderson]

Any reliable confirmation whether Blue Underground's 4ks of Jess Franco's EUGENIE and JUSTINE are good upgrades or reference discs? (apologies if I missed any earlier posts).

[Aspect]

I bought Eugenie (one of my absolute fav Francos) and, while I’m admittedly not a video expert, thought it looked incredible. I watched the extras on the blu ray and then sampled the movie on that disc, which looks better than ever. Then, out of curiosity, I put in the 4K and was so gobsmacked by the color and clarity (barring the baked-in out-of-focus shots) that I ended up watched the whole movie despite the late hour. Fortunately it’s short!

I’d buy it without hesitation if it’s your bag. I’d bet good money Justine looks great too, but I don’t love that one like I love Eugenie, which simply oozes cool IMO.

[M Sanderson]

Thanks for confirming. I love EUGENIE, an absolute first rate Franco. Perverse, dark and also a lovely production. Those out of focus shots will become of interest, as some commentators have remarked that his Dracula uses this potentially as a distancing device. And his last complete film, AL PEREIRA VS ALLIGATOR LADIES, blurs the line between rehearsal, preparation & actual scene - you kind of don't know where one ends, and the other begins, including such things as wavering focus. He playfully obliterates the difference in his film-as-essay. But you wonder if at the time of EUGENIE, whether it was likely done due to rushing.

[Aspect]

For sure. Regardless, the blurry shots add to the dreamlike atmosphere and somehow become a feature rather than a bug, especially near the beginning when Maria Rohm is reading De Sade and imagining herself participating in the story, foreshadowing her part in the climax but not able to see the twist!

[FrauBlucher]

The Maltese Falcon UHD review

[Finch]

User feedback trickling in for The Maltese Falcon and concurring with Randy Miller's site review that FB linked to above, added to OP.

Cholly also likes the UHD of Cool Hand Luke a lot. Be forewarned that WB did not upgrade the BD that comes with the 4k.

[ryannichols7]

Be forewarned that WB did not upgrade the BD that comes with the 4k.

has there been a title yet where they have? the Kubricks?

excited to see the Rebel Without a Cause and Rio Bravo reviews too

[Finch]

Going by the comments on BR it seems arbitrary as to which WB titles get an upgraded BD too or not. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a knockout presentation of Rio Bravo and Rebel myself.

[FrauBlucher]

Ryan, Unforgivin was one that they also upgraded the bluray. But that was a while ago. I think they stopped doing that

[Finch]

Eugenie is a reference disc if compared to the 2015 BD, solid upgrade if compared to the new 2023 BD (which is enclosed anyway).

Same applies to Justine.

[captveg]

Ryan, Unforgivin was one that they also upgraded the bluray. But that was a while ago. I think they stopped doing that

They recently did it for A Christmas Story, so it still happens.

[Finch]

Cool Hand Luke review

[Finch]

Kyle15 on Second Sight's Texas Chainsaw Massacre 4k

[therewillbeblus]

Kyle15 on Second Sight's Texas Chainsaw Massacre 4k

Was there any word about the quality of the MPI 4K recently released in the U.S.? I know many of us have been holding out assuming SS' would be superior, but curious if there's much of a difference for the import

[Finch]

I think Randy Miller said in his review of the US 4k that it was better encoded than their older Blu-ray. Most of the talk in the US 4k thread is about the Second Sight 4k instead and the Dark Sky has already seen price drops. I have no idea if the Friedkin/Hooper conversation is any good.

[Finch]

FFC's Bill Chambers reviews the Dark Sky 4k.

I know that some collectors will be holding out for the upcoming Limited Edition from UK label Second Sight, but if you can live without its hardbound book of critical essays, this is a comparatively affordable alternative that doesn't feel like a compromise.

As suspected, the Friedkin-led piece isn't sounding good.

Also new to this edition is "The Cinefamily Presents FRIEDKIN/HOOPER: A Conversation About The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (onscreen title: "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: 40th anniversary Q&A"), a 54-minute dialogue between Hooper and The Exorcist director Friedkin conducted after a screening and handprint ceremony at the Vista Theater in Los Feliz on July 21, 2014. Calling The Texas Chain Saw Massacre the scariest movie he's ever seen, Friedkin spends the hour drifting off into Trump-esque interzones of passive-aggressive hyperbole while a visibly fatigued Hooper, reaching the end of a publicity tour for the film's 2014 restoration, gives sprawling, discursive answers vaguely in sync with Friedkin's train of thought. It seems important to Hooper to get across the movie's European-ness, specifically with regards to how it drops you in the middle of a story already in progress ("It's a bad day for everybody," he says, "it's a bad day for Leatherface, believe me"), but the conversation truly is all over the place with chaos demon Friedkin in charge of it. Interestingly, Hooper confesses to seeing Frankenstein's Monster in person at a revival of James Whale's Frankenstein when he was a kid and running in terror from it. An interviewer more intimately familiar with Hooper's work would have drawn a line from this incident to his 1981 film The Funhouse, but Friedkin immediately switches gears and asks Hooper if he could still make The Texas Chain Saw Massacre "now." Which isn't a bad question in and of itself, though it backs Hooper into a corner.

[jsteffe]

Cauldron are off to a flying start with their 4k entry, Fulci's City of the Living Dead, with a David M encode and here is one of some early very positive reactions.

EDIT: 3/27/12: second review

I received my copy of Cauldron's 4K of Fulci's City of the Living Dead, and it was worth the effort to track down! My guess is that it is a new Dolby Vision grade of the existing 4K restoration. It will never have the visual polish of an Argento film, but the HDR grade brings out the film's grim atmosphere and makes it compelling to watch in a way that I haven't felt before. Its nightmare logic really sucked me in this time. In other words, it had the same impact on me as the Blu-ray.com forum members. The re-issue will be a must-buy for horror fans.