The Evil Dead - October 11th, 2010

[Phil92]

Boy, I'm gonna need money this Halloween.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment have revealed some early details on a forthcoming UK DVD and Blu-ray Disc release of Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead. Previously released in the UK numerous times on DVD by Anchor Bay, Sony have picked up the rights and are tentatively set to release the film on 4th October 2010. Early specs follow…

* 1080P 1.85:1 Widescreen
* English 5.1, Spanish (Castilian) 5.1, Italian 5.1
* English, Danish, Finnish, Hindi, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Spanish (Castilian) and Swedish subtitles
* All New Commentary with Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell
* Picture-in-Picture: Join us! The Undying Legacy of The Evil Dead
* One By One We Will Take You The Untold Saga of the Evil Dead"
* Treasures from the Cutting Room Floor
* At the Drive-In
* Discovering Evil Dead
* Ellen and Drama Teacher
* On-Stage Interview
* Make-Up Test

The Evil Dead Blu-ray

[Foggy]

OOOooo, by Sony, lets hope it's a good disc, Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness has been screwed around in the UK!

[Phil92]

Too true on that one, Foggy! I believe the US edition is getting extras on a DVD disc, though, so we're already off to a good start.

Up for pre-order on Play for £13.99.

[dallywhitty]

Advantages of this UK release:
- extras not on a limited edition DVD bonus disc
- it's being released by Sony, which means it won't be DNR'd to death

Disadvantages of this UK release:
- no mention of a full-screen version!

[blu_sharpy]

Originally Posted by Foggy

OOOooo, by Sony, lets hope it's a good disc, Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness has been screwed around in the UK!

Army Of Darkness looks DAMN GOOD! I can understand where you're coming from with Evil Dead 2, but Optimum did a fantastic job on Army Of Darkness. I dont think Sony or anyone else could've done a better job.

[SymbioticFunction]

I'm waiting for an Army Of Darkness bd that features the director's cut with decent PQ throughout. They need to find the print that MGM used for their R3 dvd.

[nekromantik]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

Advantages of this UK release:
- extras not on a limited edition DVD bonus disc
- it's being released by Sony, which means it won't be DNR'd to death

Disadvantages of this UK release:
- no mention of a full-screen version!

why would you want full screen?

[Nielsb90]

Originally Posted by blu_sharpy

Army Of Darkness looks DAMN GOOD! I can understand where you're coming from with Evil Dead 2, but Optimum did a fantastic job on Army Of Darkness. I dont think Sony or anyone else could've done a better job.

+1 its great!

[OrlandoEastwood]

Originally Posted by nekromantik

why would you want full screen?

The full screen version is open matted. Kind of like Kubrick's The Shining.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by blu_sharpy

Army Of Darkness looks DAMN GOOD! I can understand where you're coming from with Evil Dead 2, but Optimum did a fantastic job on Army Of Darkness. I dont think Sony or anyone else could've done a better job.

Originally Posted by Nielsb90

+1 its great!

They most certainly did not. Universal (and possibly Studio Canal) did a great job with Army of Darkness. Optimum, as always, simply ported their work for the UK edition. They only release titles, they do not do any restorative work at all.

[Phil92]

I have faith in Sony on this release. They usually give us good transfers.

On the subject, I've never seen the open-matted version of The Evil Dead.

[blu_sharpy]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

They most certainly did not. Universal (and possibly Studio Canal) did a great job with Army of Darkness. Optimum, as always, simply ported their work for the UK edition. They only release titles, they do not do any restorative work at all.

Errm no, Optimum did a good job. Army Of Darkness was released in the UK LONG before the US Release and is released solely through Optimum with credits going to MGM. Optimum created the transfer for the UK Disc. StudioCanal werent involved nor were any other company.

[OrlandoEastwood]

Originally Posted by Phil92

I have faith in Sony on this release. They usually give us good transfers.

On the subject, I've never seen the open-matted version of The Evil Dead.

Pretty much every U.S. release on VHS was open matted to 1.33. I believe Evil Dead 2 was as well.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by blu_sharpy

Errm no, Optimum did a good job. Army Of Darkness was released in the UK LONG before the US Release and is released solely through Optimum with credits going to MGM. Optimum created the transfer for the UK Disc. StudioCanal werent involved nor were any other company.

If that is the disc they are referring to, then in must have been due to restoration MGM did, or, more likely, the state of the MGM print in the first place. Even if the restoration was at their request, Optimum would not have been involved with it directly.

Every other decent-to-outstanding Optimum release has been because another company went and did proper restoration/transfer and/or extras, and Optimum has ported all or some of that content over to their disc. When this does not happen, their releases are wild cards, depending solely on the condition of the elements they license. That's why many Optimum discs are less than £10 on Amazon, they value quantity of titles over quality editions.

This is not to say that Optimum is alone in their ways, Alliance in Canada produces Blu-rays the same way, with even less attention, often using broadcast masters in 1080i and 1.78:1, and often without extras, but every once in a while they get a great transfer to put on their disc, and then people congratulate them for their "great job", when really all these companies should be thanked for is releasing the disc in their region in first place.

[Mobe1969]

Originally Posted by Phil92

I have faith in Sony on this release. They usually give us good transfers.

On the subject, I've never seen the open-matted version of The Evil Dead.

Yeah, I'd agree with that. Moreso than Ranchor Bay. You must remember too, who actually created that matted abomination - AB. The Elite version was the best. I'll be cancelling my US preorder and getting the UK one.

[SymbioticFunction]

Originally Posted by Mobe1969

You must remember too, who actually created that matted abomination - AB.

At Sam Raimi's request. I have no problem with the widescreen version.

[The Driver]

Bizarre pick up this for Sony. I assume Starz or whatever they call themselves now needed the money. If it was that reason expect porting of much of the extras.

A definite buy for me (don't like the other films in the series) of course although I'll always hold on to my Book of The Dead (mine has real skin as I found a dead cow on the highway and used it. Could never get the eyes right though so went with our dog's when she died).

Go Sony! Lock this baby to Region B!

[Sig-gotyouth]

Prefer the US cover right now but I'm confident Sony will give the film a good service

[Alkaline]

Alright so I just commented on the Anchor Bay U.S. release blurb on the main page how I dig that cover art, but I'm definitely digging this more.

Oh, and pretty sure McCrutchy is right on the Army of Darkness business. Optimum for the most part just ports existing 5-star (and not so hot) transfers.

[Mobe1969]

Damn it I jumped the gun. US has the 1.33:1 and 1.85:1. UK only 1.85:1

http://homecinema.thedigitalfix.co.u...n-october.html

Originally Posted by SymbioticFunction

At Sam Raimi's request. I have no problem with the widescreen version.

Yeah, but it was never intended (just like Lucas _never_ originally intended Greedo to shoot first), has important data lost, and falls into a half baked revisionism scheme. When a director dicks about with their film after 20 or so years, it generally doesn't bode well. Only director I can think of that has done it well is Ridley Scott.