Scream Factory Blu-ray Discussion Thread

[Hellraiserfan]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

They said no on the Thing already (though they also said no to Howling 2 and Demon Knight, so who knows). The only thing really missing on the US BD is the documentary from the DVD, which is on the UK BD if you are region free. I would guess Universal will eventually double-dip themselves for The Thing, it's a good seller.

Yeah, after Howling 2 and Demon Knight I'm sure they lie at times for the sake of giving people surprise announcements. Sometimes I'm sure they're telling the truth and down the road they happen to get the ok to bring this or that film out on Blu they previously didn't have. When asked about a movie they want to surprise people with they have their backs against the wall and I don't judge when people tell white lies like that in that situation.

Similar to when an idiot for some website or another interviewing a celebrity and asks them a major spoiler type of question. An example was morons asking Marion Cottilard if she was playing Talia in The Dark Knight Rises.

[Mahadeva]

Can anyone give me an honest advice on the blu-ray of Sleepaway Camp? Is it good? I don't care about the slip and the cover, interested in the A/V quality.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by Mahadeva

Can anyone give me an honest advice on the blu-ray of Sleepaway Camp? Is it good? I don't care about the slip and the cover, interested in the A/V quality.

Aside from a few instances of compression artifacts, it's one of their best, IMO. The sequels are a bit dodgier.

[Stefan1]

Originally Posted by Mahadeva

Can anyone give me an honest advice on the blu-ray of Sleepaway Camp? Is it good? I don't care about the slip and the cover, interested in the A/V quality.

Its great, the film has never looked better. SF gave it a new 2k scan from the original elements, the review on this site and HDD give it strong marks, especially for being so old and cult. The extras are also great. Im not even a huge fan of the movie but display it proudly on the shelf. A/V got a 4.1 on bluray.com and 4.5/4 on HDD. GET IT.

[Mahadeva]

Thanks, I'm waiting for the early reviews of The Sentinel. I have the German blu but it isn't very good. Don't have high hopes for the Scream release though. Was thinking of ordering Sleepaway Camp with The Sentinel if it's good.

[redrunner97]

Originally Posted by Mahadeva

Thanks, I'm waiting for the early reviews of The Sentinel. I have the German blu but it isn't very good. Don't have high hopes for the Scream release though. Was thinking of ordering Sleepaway Camp with The Sentinel if it's good.

The transfers on most shout discs usually are perfectly fine, but compression is a big issue with their releases that I wish they'd just fix already.

[Rottweiler30]

How does poor compression manifest itself?

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by Rottweiler30

How does poor compression manifest itself?

Instead of seeing tiny pieces of grain everywhere on the image throughout a movie, it's ALMOST everywhere.

Seriously, read through some of the comments and look at some of the evidence people have presented, and more often than not it's limited to some small section of the film where grain clumps or disappears for a few seconds/minutes in some isolated section of the screen. It's the epitome of "if you aren't actively looking for the problem you won't see it." Members with LCD televisions, particularly cheap ones, are affected far more often than others. I've run tests myself between my cheap as hell LCD desktop monitor and my much nicer (and vastly larger) Plasma and while problems with compression are very much apparent on my smaller display, they rarely if ever show up on the more expensive Plasma. I create my own encodes for my own digital library so I've down the comparison nearly 1000 times across films from every genre and the result is always the same.

[Seymour]

I thought compression artifacts were more noticeable on larger displays, not smaller ones?

[StingingVelvet]

I think he's saying less noticeable on a plasma, which would likely just be because plasmas tend to be darker. I don't think there is any technical reason why compression artifacts would be visible on one and not the other.

I don't have Sleepaway Camp but I would guess the answer to his question would depend on how picky he is about such things. If you have any other Scream releases known for compression issues (Life Force, Motel Hell, etc) then you know if it bothers you or not. Otherwise just think for a minute about whether you tend to notice stuff like that and go with your gut.

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by Seymour

I thought compression artifacts were more noticeable on larger displays, not smaller ones?

You'd think so... My comment refers more to the fact that the way different technologies produce their images has a direct effect on how good or bad some discs appear to people. Some folks would have you believe that Screams releases are poorly presented flawed discs... Others continuously state they don't notice said problems. The answer is somewhere in between. Yes their may well be occassional problems, however they are no where near as prevalent or intrusive as some members claim. If they were then everyone would be able to see them all of the time, however since its always limited to the same couple of people that point these problems out and a vast majority struggle to see what the issue is, it's apparent that while yes, SOMETHING may be off, it's not so easiy to pinpoint again as some claim. The settings on your display play a part in this and it's something most people don't acknowledge.

My Plasma may not have retina scorching brightness, but in a dark room that isn't needed, especially if it causes flaws to show up in the image. An overly bright image is no better then an overly sharpened one.

[demonknight]

Watching Phantom of the Paradise again. God, I love this damn movie. Really need to get off my ass and buy the BD.

[noirjunkie]

Originally Posted by Mahadeva

Can anyone give me an honest advice on the blu-ray of Sleepaway Camp? Is it good? I don't care about the slip and the cover, interested in the A/V quality.

I thought the A/V quality was generally quite good. As far as the film itself is concerned, it's my favorite SF release, in part due to one of the most insane and disturbing endings I've ever seen.

[demonknight]

Originally Posted by noirjunkie

I thought the A/V quality was generally quite good. As far as the film itself is concerned, it's my favorite SF release, in part due to one of the most insane and disturbing endings I've ever seen.

[Show spoiler]

[Mahadeva]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

I don't have Sleepaway Camp but I would guess the answer to his question would depend on how picky he is about such things. If you have any other Scream releases known for compression issues (Life Force, Motel Hell, etc) then you know if it bothers you or not. Otherwise just think for a minute about whether you tend to notice stuff like that and go with your gut.

I have the Arrow blus of Lifeforce and Motel Hell. It's myunderstanding they are much better than the Scream discs.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by Mahadeva

I have the Arrow blus of Lifeforce and Motel Hell. It's myunderstanding they are much better than the Scream discs.

"Much better" will depend on how much you notice subtle compression issues on Lifeforce. I dunno about Motel Hell. Either way, everyone sees things differently is the point. Some think anything less than a perfectly compressed 4k remaster is "DVD quality" and some think any old crap looks fine. Everyone's different.

[BarnDoor]

If, as some people strongly suspect, Cry of the Banshee is with Scream, then it seems The Dunwich Horror and Murders in the Rue Morgue must be also, since MisterLime has said over at HTF that they're with the same label that has Banshee. Perhaps another double feature candidate?

[RandyK]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

If, as some people strongly suspect, Cry of the Banshee is with Scream, then it seems The Dunwich Horror and Murders in the Rue Morgue must be also, since MisterLime has said over at HTF that they're with the same label that has Banshee. Perhaps another double feature candidate?

Maybe they can do a third Vincent Price Collection and then to pad it out if they can't do any of the Sony titles, include those two as bonus films. They can call it "The Vincent Price Collection Vol. III" and then put a sticker on it saying "featuring Two Bonus Literary Chiller Classics!"

They'll probably do a double feature though.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by Mahadeva

I have the Arrow blus of Lifeforce and Motel Hell. It's myunderstanding they are much better than the Scream discs.

I have the Arrow release of Motel Bell and it blows the Scream disc out of the water, which is one of their worst in terms of compression. It looks quite bad in motion, chunky grain and lots of artifacts. None of that is present on the Arrow disc. There's something weird looking about the Scream disc, it doesn't look filmic to me.

I don't have the Lifeforce disc from Arrow, though, so I can't say anything about that one.

[Stefan1]

Originally Posted by dissention

I have the Arrow release of Motel Bell and it blows the Scream disc out of the water, which is one of their worst in terms of compression. It looks quite bad in motion, chunky grain and lots of artifacts. None of that is present on the Arrow disc. There's something weird looking about the Scream disc, it doesn't look filmic to me.

I don't have the Lifeforce disc from Arrow, though, so I can't say anything about that one.

thats weird :/ I just checked Capsaholic and it looks 99.9% identical, must be an in-motion thing. damn.