Halloween 4K UHD (1978)

[bradnoyes]

Just a quick note: dropping the brightness on my set to 49 completely eliminated all flickering, so that might be worth trying out if you're one of the folks who have been experiencing that issue and found it bothersome.

[Rich Pure Doom]

Originally Posted by bradnoyes

Just a quick note: dropping the brightness on my set to 49 completely eliminated all flickering, so that might be worth trying out if you're one of the folks who have been experiencing that issue and found it bothersome.

I have a B7 and 49 works better for me on all DV titles. The black levels appear elevated at 50 and are extremely distracting.

[Agent Kay]

I love how threads now are just how to fix your TV for each movie

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by bradnoyes

Just a quick note: dropping the brightness on my set to 49 completely eliminated all flickering, so that might be worth trying out if you're one of the folks who have been experiencing that issue and found it bothersome.

This movie has a lot of dim content that lives next to black, almost like black mixed in with lighter grain if that makes sense, so I can see how that could trip up certain displays. By clipping black like that, even slightly, you've removed the troublesome element.

Originally Posted by Agent Kay

I love how threads now are just how to fix your TV for each movie

Th-th-th-th-that's HDR, folks!

[bradnoyes]

Yup. I thought I had already dropped to 49 since I've always preferred a slightly darker image with a bit more depth and pop, but when I was adjusting settings during Solo I realized it was bumped back 50 (

[Show spoiler]must have bumped it up while watching a DV in forced Dolby Vision

). Dropping to 49 provided a nice visual boost for both films.

[brian9229]

I watched this again last night, and from the start, all the way through, blacks were inky inky inky. Even with backlight set @18, out of 20, and contrast up a couple notches on my Oppo. It just looks fantastic. And I watch in absolute darkness.(my theater room is permanently dark.)

[Geoff D]

And that was in HDR and not converted SDR? The latter will instantly crush down black on the OPPO so that it looks inky inky inky when it's not supposed to.

[jonam]

Can someone tell me which is the best version to pick up for the original untouched mono,regardless it's DVD or Blu ray. I'm not interested in the 4k because I cannot stand gimmicky audio.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by jonam

Can someone tell me which is the best version to pick up for the original untouched mono,regardless it's DVD or Blu ray. I'm not interested in the 4k because I cannot stand gimmicky audio.

The release in the Anchor Bay/Shout box set uses the 35th Anniversary (aka 2013 release) master with the original mono in lossless. The original Anchor Bay release has the original mono but in lossy and the PQ is pretty shite.

[jonam]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

The release in the Anchor Bay/Shout box set uses the 35th Anniversary (aka 2013 release) master with the original mono in lossless. The original Anchor Bay release has the original mono but in lossy and the PQ is pretty shite.

Thanks so I need to get a full box set to obtain the original audio track!

Why can't these studios do straight forward things. Who are they trying to please?

Perhaps that's why it's down to $14.99. What a waste of a production.

I still wouldn't buy it.

[SonSon III]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Watched this last night, starting off at about midnight right after I'd gone from one American Psycho to another.

Greatly appreciate the detailed write up, Geoff!

[brian9229]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

And that was in HDR and not converted SDR? The latter will instantly crush down black on the OPPO so that it looks inky inky inky when it's not supposed to.

Nope, hdr for this title, always. I never bothered to check the disc out in sdr, seeing the hdr grade for the first time looked so good, I don't wanna see it any other way

[SonSon III]

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by brian9229

Nope, hdr for this title, always. I never bothered to check the disc out in sdr, seeing the hdr grade for the first time looked so good, I don't wanna see it any other way

Glad to hear it

[Nothing371]

Originally Posted by Dexter1998

I'm 20.

we know.

[Bourne1886]

Originally Posted by MikeRoda

Sorry but this is one of my favorite movies of all time, Ive bought it so many times, and this is, by far, the worst it ever looked. I'll never slip this UHD disc into my player again. Total waste of money!! Will rewatch the original blu. (I have a 65" Sony OLED TV)

From watching the comparison on YouTube I’d say it looks better. I wasn't going to buy it after reading the sites review but after watching that video I definitely saw improvements to the detail. Colours looked warmer (Reds in particular) especially in the second part of the film. Geoff’s first screen shots pointing out the pumpkin did look crap though!

[SonSon III]

Originally Posted by Nothing371

we know.

Ha! I almost choked on my drink.

[brian9229]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

[Show spoiler]Watched this last night, starting off at about midnight right after I'd gone from one American Psycho to another. First off, yes, the pumpkin at the start does look a LOT less orange than the 35th anniversary transfer but something else I noticed is that the geometry of the title sequence was also quite different, the 4K's credits looking fatter and wider which I'll post a photo of at the end.

I've got to say that I spotted no overt flickering whatsoever, maybe just a hint of density flutter in the darkest moments but whatever it is that's making it blatantly flicker on other people's TVs isn't doing it on mine. Goes without saying that I have no contrast enhancers or motion interpolators turned on, but I'll say it anyway. The black levels themselves are indeed quite thin and grey but this is entirely by design as the 35th transfer is very much the same, it's a look unto itself and I'm already used to it from the 35th so no complaints here.

The colour loses the slightly warmer tint of the 35th and looks more muted, not "monochromatic" by any stretch but definitely with a slightly more desaturated vibe. It doesn't always track from shot to shot and things like skin tones can actually look a touch fuller while the surroundings are less vibrant, sometimes it's the opposite. Reds look excellent on the 4K though, looking truly red while the 35th veers towards more of an orangey cast owing to that warmer hue. Even something like the tail lights of the car that Michael drives away in are nicely improved, not so much the main shot with the nurse but that final shot of the car zooming into the night, the lights are almost completely faded in the 35th but still have a deep red on the 4K.

HDR usage is excellent, not in a "I can see it from space" kinda way but in the way that the flat, bright lighting in the daylight exteriors of the 35th is pulled down into something a bit moodier, revealing a nice little extension to highlight detail in the process. And Nick Castle can rest easy, the reveal of The Shape in the closet still looks wonderful as his ghostly visage is slowly brought up from the darkness.

Grain is more abundant than the 35th, mostly due to the grain being clipped out of the brighter spots on that previous SDR transfer, and although the improvement in detail doesn't immediately leap off the screen (if you're familiar with the 35th, anyways) it's dredging up every last bit of acuity that this 35mm anamorphic source can muster. When I was checking the "speed kills!" scene the horizontal lines on PJ Soles' T-shirt are much more finely resolved, for example. Small gains for sure then, ones that some people will have rolled their eyes at when they just read that, but it's not about lines on a T-shirt but more the cumulative effect that this has, the 4K just looks 'tighter' than the 35th.

While things like the infamous Halloween hair have indeed been painted out for the 4K it actually has more overt dirt & damage in other areas vs the 35th, with more white specks and marks showing up. Even on the white-on-black location titles there are little white dots baked in to the optical visible against the black background that aren't there on the 35th, which looks clean as a whistle in those shots. New transfer = new clean-up pass with different priorities so I'm not knocking it, just pointing it out is all.

Something to add re: the Dolby Vision grey bar problem on Sony sets, I watched this in DV even though all that darkness would inevitably lead to the black bars looking quite grey. Sure enough, in the title sequence the whole image looks raised whereas the 35th Blu-ray titles are deep and dark, letterbox dark, so that glowing pumpkin looks amazing, like it's floating in mid-air in front of me, whereas the pumpkin in DV looked a lot flatter because of the raised blacks. However, when I played the 4K in HDR10 I actually got the exact same thing happen on the title sequence as on the DV, the whole screen still looked sightly raised from black and when I spot-checked several scenes - admittedly having to switch the disc from one player to another - nothing stood out in terms of the black bars being truly blacker or not, and some scenes still had a nice amount of density whenever they had a more contrasty light source in the shot (which is kinda how contrast works).

Overall then I'm not as bowled over by this as some people because the 35th anniversary BD was already clearly sourced from camera negative and was already supervised by Dean Cundey and it already looked great (for what it is), but the 4K adds a pleasant HDR pass and refines the colours further, along with whatever spatial detail it can find. The lack of the original mono track may well be a deal-breaker for some but I've had a few years to get used to the 5.1 remix (expanded into 7.1 a few years back) and so it's not as heinous an outcome for me as on other remixes of this ilk, and it doesn't completely throw out the original effects and foley in the process.

Couple of pics then, not to compare HDR, sharpness or whatever but just to show the difference in the geometry of the opening titles, the 4K is deffo fatter. If not the exact same frame (difficult on titles) then only a frame or so out. Open them in a new window and tab between them, the difference in size should become obvious.

[Show spoiler]
BD



UHD

Hair today, gone tomorrow (look at the bottom of the image, exact same frame on both):

[Show spoiler]
BD



UHD

As always, very helpful. Say, how about your take on BS's Dracula? I'd be very interested in your thoughts on it. Well, we all know it looks great, but I love your DETAILS!

[p w]

i'd buy Halloween 4K in a new york minute, if they had just included a digital copy in the release.

[ROSS.T.G.]

Originally Posted by horroru

Thanks for taking the time to post another excellent review Geoff.
I mentioned earlier in this thread I experienced the exact same thing with the pumpkin in the opening credits.
ROSS.T.G. posted back he thought it looked better - that's the one thing I've found in making the jump to 4K, as you stated "everyone's rocking different settings" and of course different TVs. I'll read a review (like the IT review on this site) and they'll say it's not much of an improvement and on my TV it looks like a definite improvement.
ROSS.T.G. I would guess your TV is professionally calibrated, mine is not (only done to the best of my enthusiast abilities). Wondering if I would get a huge bang for my buck by getting a professional in here to do it correctly, would it be worth the money....

Not yet, I’m still undecided on what meter I want and still need to upgrade CalMAN for HDR. My B7 is fairly accurate so I’m not in a huge rush, first time in about 7 displays that I’m watching uncalibrated and couldn’t be happier.