Upgrading John Carpenter Collection

[tut1971]

As the title states I'm looking to do a full upgrade of my Carpenter collection and have been doing some research to try and determine the best release for each film. Obviously some are Region B (I'm from the US). I'd appreciate if anyone with the knowledge can take a look at what I've compiled and weigh in. Thank you.



The Ward (Arc Entertainment)
Ghosts of Mars (Mill Creek)
Vampires (Powerhouse Films-Indicator Series)
Escape from L.A. (Paramount/Warner Bros.)
Village of the Damned (Shout Factory)
In the Mouth of Madness (Shout Factory)
Memoirs of an Invisible Man (Shout Factory)
They Live (StudioCanal) - UK
Prince of Darkness (StudioCanal) - UK
Big Trouble in Little China (Shout Factory) ?
Starman (Shout Factory)
Christine (Twilight Time)
The Thing (Arrow Video) - UK
Escape from New York (StudioCanal) - UK
The Fog (StudioCanal) - UK
Elvis (Shout Factory)
Halloween (Starz/Anchor Bay) - 35th Anniversary
Assault on Precinct 13 (Image Entertainment)
Dark Star (Fabulous Films) - UK

[Trekkie313]

The Thing steelbook from Shout is the same transfer as Arrow.

Shout has the best release of The Fog.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Yeah I would stay away from the UK release for The Fog. It seems to be a nightmare of a release sadly. The Shout release is solid.

[lilboyblu]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

Yeah I would stay away from the UK release for The Fog. It seems to be a nightmare of a release sadly. The Shout release is solid.

If you are 4K + Dolby Vision capable, Studio Canal’s The Fog is a strong upgrade over the Shout. Otherwise, yeah, it’s worse than the Shout version if you don’t meet those criteria.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by lilboyblu

If you are 4K + Dolby Vision capable, Studio Canal’s The Fog is a strong upgrade over the Shout. Otherwise, yeah, it’s worse than the Shout version if you don’t meet those criteria.

I've heard from numerous folks that both the UHD and remastered blu ray are loaded with technical errors/glitches by Studio Canal. Most people noticing them more than others apparently.

[slimdude]

Escape From New York and Prince of Darkness is released in 4K in the UK. As you may know, all 4K UHD discs are region free. If you're interested you can go to Amazon UK, and check them out.

[Matt89]

Shout does not have the best release of The Fog. The SC version is actually fantastic. Destroys the SF release. Yes, there’s issues with the HDR10 layer on the UHD, but the issues are resolved when watching in Dolby Vision. These issues aren’t present on the blu. The restoration also came from the OCN, whereas the SF was an IP.

EFNY, Prince of Darkness, They Live and The Fog - SC
Christine - Sony UHD (otherwise, the Indicator/Powerhouse release)
Halloween - Lionsgate UHD (if you want the original mono you’re gonna have to track down the SF box set)
Vampires - SF or Indicator/Powerhouse (they prob have a better encode tbh)
Ghosts of Mars - Indicator/Powerhouse

The rest I’d say you’re good. Maybe wait to see how the SF Big Trouble turns out, but the Arrow release is stacked and has a good encode.

~Matt

[GeoffOliver]

I would definitely get Shout's edition for Assault on Precinct 13. It has the same transfer as Image, but several more bonus features.

[kamkam]

the fog 4k has issues on hdr and dolby vision. Fluctuating black levels. same goes for halloween 4k and one scene for prince of darkness.

[Matt89]

I never experienced fluctuating black levels on mine. At least not in DV. There’s awful jumps in brightness during the climax on the HDR10 layer but that problem doesn’t exist in DV.

Also never got fluctuating black levels on Halloween...

~Matt

[Cortiz]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

I've heard from numerous folks that both the UHD and remastered blu ray are loaded with technical errors/glitches by Studio Canal. Most people noticing them more than others apparently.

The DV version corrects most of the issues and trumps the SF version easily.

[tut1971]

Thank you to everyone. This is proving to be quite helpful in fine tuning my list. Much appreciated.

[dr. wai]

Dark Star (VCI) (don't know about the Fabulous Filsm release)

Assault on Precinct 13 (Scream Factory, Second Soght UK)

Halloween (Starz)

Someone's Watching Me (Scream Factory)

Elvis (Shout Factory)

The Fog (Scream Factory, Studiocanal) Both releases have Exclusive extras)

Escape from New York (Scream Factory, Studiocanal) Both releases have exclusive extras, but Studiocanal has the best picture quality)

The Thing (Scream Factory, Arrow Video) Both releases have exclusive extras but Arrow has the best picture quality)

Christine (Sony, Powerhouse) Powerhouse has exclusive extras.

Starman (Scream Factory)

Big Trouble in Little China (Scream Factory, Arrow Video) We don't know the SF release yet but the Arrow release is fantastic.

Prince of Darkness (Scream Factory, Studiocanal) Each have Exclusive extras but Studiocanal has the best picture quality)

They Live (Scream Factory, Studiocanal) Both have Exclusive extras but Studiocanal has the best picture.

Memoirs of an Invisible Man (Scream Factory)

Body Bags (Scream Factory)

In the Mouth of Madness (Scream Factory)

Village of the Damned (Scream Factory)

Escape from L.A. (Paramount) Sadly, no special edition.

Vampires (Scream Factory, Powerhouse) Both have same picture quality and Exclusive extras)

Ghosts of Mars (Mill Creek, Powehouse) Powrhouse has Exclusive extras.)

Two episodes of Masters of Horror (I think they are OOP)

The Ward (Arc)

I think that is all of them (that i know of)

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

I've heard from numerous folks that both the UHD and remastered blu ray are loaded with technical errors/glitches by Studio Canal. Most people noticing them more than others apparently.

Issues aside, the StudioCanal of The Fog is still 10x better than the awful transfer of the Shout.

[MTRodaba2468]

Originally Posted by tut1971

Escape from L.A. (Paramount/Warner Bros.)

Originally Posted by dr. wai

Escape from L.A. (Paramount) Sadly, no special edition.

Mind you, this is purely speculation, but with with Shout and Paramount having a deal, I fully expect Escape From L.A. to get a Collector's Edition under the Scream Factory line, if only so they can continue their mission to put out as much of Carpenter's filmography as humanly possible.

[profholt82]

The Powerhouse/Indicator release of Ghosts of Mars is superior to the Mill Creek which is just a repackaging of the early Sony release so far as I could tell. And it is region free just like Vampires.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

Issues aside, the StudioCanal of The Fog is still 10x better than the awful transfer of the Shout.

I'm sure the actual transfer is an improvement over the Shout but with all those issues I'll take a lesser transfer. The Shout is FAR from awful.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

I'm sure the actual transfer is an improvement over the Shout but with all those issues I'll take a lesser transfer. The Shout is FAR from awful.

It's fuzzy DVD-quality compared to the Studiocanal, not to mention the bad contrast and shaky color timing. And there aren't "all those issues." I own it and it's very watchable. Helps to have actually seen it before making statements about which one is "better" to others who are asking.

Therefore, the UK StudioCanal is the best of the releases.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

It's fuzzy DVD-quality compared to the Studiocanal, not to mention the bad contrast and shaky color timing. And there aren't "all those issues." I own it and it's very watchable. Helps to have actually seen it before making statements about which one is "better" to others who are asking.

Therefore, the UK StudioCanal is the best of the releases.

All he has to do is read through the pages and pages and pages of complaints about it on The Fog UHD thread anyway. He'll hear it from everyone who've actually seen the disc then and decide for himself.

[Matt89]

Yeah agreed, I’ve owned both editions of The Fog and the SF transfer f*cking BLOWS in comparison to the SC.

The SF disc does, however, have a cool extra with JLC where she talks about her career in horror.

~Matt