Scream Factory Blu-ray Discussion Thread

[xXx$uicide_Ma$terxXx]

Originally Posted by Jibbons

Any must have's here? I just started buying some older horror blu rays and don't really have any scream factory stuff on this list. So far I'm snagging Night of the Demons and The Burning for sure.

You should get the Night of the Demons steelbook. The original release looks pretty bad. And I'm sure shout is gonna do a new remaster of The Burning like they do with everything else.

[Jibbons]

Originally Posted by xXx$uicide_Ma$terxXx

You should get the Night of the Demons steelbook. The original release looks pretty bad. And I'm sure shout is gonna do a new remaster of The Burning like they do with everything else.

I'm not a huge fan of steelbooks but thanks for the heads up! I'm adding in Slumber Party Massacre, The Howling, and Black Christmas since they're so cheap (the last two are blind buys).

[oilers73]

Originally Posted by TripleHBK

My order of Superstition, The Manitou, and Hangman came in from Hamilton Books earlier this week and I decided to give both Superstition and The Manitou a go last night. All were blind buys but Superstition was the one I was most looking forward to based on the comments and trailers I had seen/read. Both were enjoyable, but by far and away I found The Manitou to be the more enjoyable viewing experience. Superstition has an enjoyable premise but is a bit all over the place in it's execution and so while I enjoyed it I found myself often distracted by what I felt were problems with the story/production.

The Manitou on the other hand is bat shit crazy in a way that only 1970's films could be and I loved every minute of it. It's such a weird balance of scary and ludicrous that it's impossible to turn away. One part The Brood, One Part Poltergeist, with a dash of The Exorcist and a healthy dose of 1970's fashion/design/set dressing and you have one awesome relic of film history.

I was surprised by how poor shape the transfer was on Superstition. Scratches, flickering, spots, wobble, everything makes an appearance on this release. There were times where I openly questioned whether this was an actual improvement over past DVD releases. It's rare for me to say this, but this is one transfer that did in fact dampen my viewing experience as quite frankly I expected better.

The Manitou on the other hand starts with a disclaimer claiming that the only surviving elements (the interpostive) were used on this release as if to help temper expectations for what lay ahead. Surprisingly though I found the transfer to be very strong and filmic and exactly what I expected a production of this caliber from this time to look like. I can't recall any sort of blemishes as the picture looked remarkably clean, the contrast and color were strong, some wobble popped up now and then but nothing too distracting, and overall I was just really impressed with the transfer. It's not a show stopping presentation but is a very faithful one to how the film would have originally looked I do believe.

I have to disagree with how the site has the 2 films rated... Supersition received a 4 for picture quality while The Manitou has a 3.5. At best I feel like Supersition was a 3 and even that feels generous over what I saw last night while The Manitou deserved a 4 in my eyes. Sound on both was adequate for what it is though neither is anything special. Both are well worth a purchase as far as I am concerned though make no mistake these are definitely 2nd or 3rd tier releases in Scream Factory's catalog. Entertaining? Absolutely, but flawed beyond even the standard level of goofiness we know and love from most films from the 70's and 80's.

Good times were definitely had and both will be revisited again in the future.

The craziest thing about The Manitou? It WASN'T directed by Larry Cohen. How is that possible?

Glad you dug it. It's a (bong) blast, for sure.

[Hedji]

Originally Posted by TripleHBK

[Show spoiler]My order of Superstition, The Manitou, and Hangman came in from Hamilton Books earlier this week and I decided to give both Superstition and The Manitou a go last night. All were blind buys but Superstition was the one I was most looking forward to based on the comments and trailers I had seen/read. Both were enjoyable, but by far and away I found The Manitou to be the more enjoyable viewing experience. Superstition has an enjoyable premise but is a bit all over the place in it's execution and so while I enjoyed it I found myself often distracted by what I felt were problems with the story/production.

The Manitou on the other hand is bat shit crazy in a way that only 1970's films could be and I loved every minute of it. It's such a weird balance of scary and ludicrous that it's impossible to turn away. One part The Brood, One Part Poltergeist, with a dash of The Exorcist and a healthy dose of 1970's fashion/design/set dressing and you have one awesome relic of film history.

I was surprised by how poor shape the transfer was on Superstition. Scratches, flickering, spots, wobble, everything makes an appearance on this release. There were times where I openly questioned whether this was an actual improvement over past DVD releases. It's rare for me to say this, but this is one transfer that did in fact dampen my viewing experience as quite frankly I expected better.

The Manitou on the other hand starts with a disclaimer claiming that the only surviving elements (the interpostive) were used on this release as if to help temper expectations for what lay ahead. Surprisingly though I found the transfer to be very strong and filmic and exactly what I expected a production of this caliber from this time to look like. I can't recall any sort of blemishes as the picture looked remarkably clean, the contrast and color were strong, some wobble popped up now and then but nothing too distracting, and overall I was just really impressed with the transfer. It's not a show stopping presentation but is a very faithful one to how the film would have originally looked I do believe.

I have to disagree with how the site has the 2 films rated... Supersition received a 4 for picture quality while The Manitou has a 3.5. At best I feel like Supersition was a 3 and even that feels generous over what I saw last night while The Manitou deserved a 4 in my eyes. Sound on both was adequate for what it is though neither is anything special. Both are well worth a purchase as far as I am concerned though make no mistake these are definitely 2nd or 3rd tier releases in Scream Factory's catalog. Entertaining? Absolutely, but flawed beyond even the standard level of goofiness we know and love from most films from the 70's and 80's.

Good times were definitely had and both will be revisited again in the future.

Thanks for the review! I have Superstition and enjoy it, but have been putting off the Manitou. Sounds like I need to put that one in the cart.

[TripleHBK]

As an update to my earlier comments... agenda just posted the link to the screen shot comparisons in the Superstition thread and wow... the Blu Ray is quite the significant improvement. Having never seen any version of the film before I was disappointed in the Blu ray presentation but wasn't sure how bad the dvd was. After seeing the pics the Blu Ray is an outstanding step up in quality, so don't let me earlier comments fool you into thinking otherwise. I may have been disappointed but you may or may not be.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by Jibbons

Any must have's here? I just started buying some older horror blu rays and don't really have any scream factory stuff on this list. So far I'm snagging Night of the Demons and The Burning for sure.

These are the titles that I own and am a fan of:

Army of Darkness
Assault on Precinct 13
Black Christmas
The Burning
Child's Play
Day of the Dead
Escape from New York
The Fog
The Howling
Jack's Back
Land of the Dead
Misery
Nightbreed
Poltergeist 3
Pumpkinhead
Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight
Tales from the Hood
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
They Live

It's hard to say which ones I would recommend over the others especially not really knowing what you are/would be into personally but these are the ones I would consider safe bets out of the ones I own for blind buys.

Child's Play
Black Christmas
The Fog
The Burning
Misery
Assault on Precinct 13
The Howling
Escape from New York
Pumpkinhead

If you are a fan of horror anthologies I would say Tales from the Hood is a safe bet as well.

[Jibbons]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

These are the titles that I own and am a fan of:

It's hard to say which ones I would recommend over the others especially not really knowing what you are/would be into personally but these are the ones I would consider safe bets out of the ones I own for blind buys.

Child's Play
Black Christmas
The Fog
The Burning
Misery
Assault on Precinct 13
The Howling
Escape from New York
Pumpkinhead

If you are a fan of horror anthologies I would say Tales from the Hood is a safe bet as well.

Thanks! I'm adding the below to the list:

Black Christmas
The Fog
The Burning
The Howling
Escape from New York
Pumpkinhead

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by Jibbons

Thanks! I'm adding the below to the list:

Black Christmas
The Fog
The Burning
The Howling
Escape from New York
Pumpkinhead

No prob. Just to be clear those are the SF titles I own strictly from the list of the sale options. There's plenty others I would recommend as well that aren't on their sale list.

[ponytail]

Originally Posted by DenOfEarth

Anyone thinks Dr Giggles CE and The Keep CE might be announced at the comic con?

don’t get my hopes up! lol

[ponytail]

Originally Posted by Jibbons

Thanks! I'm adding the below to the list:

Black Christmas
The Fog
The Burning
The Howling
Escape from New York
Pumpkinhead

Have you seen They Live? That one is a blast.

[mca213]

The Keep is never going to see the light of day. Mann will see to that.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

I've never seen The Keep and something is telling me to keep it that way to avoid major disappointment in case I end up loving it.

[The Geek]

LOVE both Superstition and The Manitou. Both movies are a blast to watch. Solid review TripleHBK.

[deltatauhobbit]

Originally Posted by mca213

The Keep is never going to see the light of day. Mann will see to that.

And yet he allows us to watch Blackhat...

[oilers73]

Let's be honest: the reason everybody wants The Keep is because they can't have it. If this had been readily available on DVD/Blu-ray for years, it would be thought of (at best) as an interesting misfire, and it would rarely be discussed. Some films truly deserve to be lost. I don't blame Michael Mann one bit for locking up The Keep.

[The Geek]

Yeah...no. People want it on DVD/Blu so they can have a decent looking copy of the movie because they enjoy. It's an interesting, fun little flick that deserves better treatment.

But look who I'm talking to...MR. HALLOWEEN IS NOT A SLASHER.

[trentdiesel]

Originally Posted by The Geek

Yeah...no. People want it on DVD/Blu so they can have a decent looking copy of the movie because they enjoy. It's an interesting, fun little flick that deserves better treatment.

But look who I'm talking to...MR. HALLOWEEN IS NOT A SLASHER.

"MRS. HALLOWEEN IS NOT A SLASHER". If you continue to talk to her get used to being told what everyone's opinion should or shouldn't be.

[The Geek]

Originally Posted by trentdiesel

"MRS. HALLOWEEN IS NOT A SLASHER". If you continue to talk to her get used to being told what everyone's opinion should or shouldn't be.

Thank you sir.

[K_aiprince]

I see that Scream Factory has a LOT of MGM movies in their collection. Maybe future releases will be films distributed by MGM???

[moviegeek1992]

Originally Posted by oilers73

Let's be honest: the reason everybody wants The Keep is because they can't have it. If this had been readily available on DVD/Blu-ray for years, it would be thought of (at best) as an interesting misfire, and it would rarely be discussed. Some films truly deserve to be lost. I don't blame Michael Mann one bit for locking up The Keep.

No films deserve to be lost, no matter how bad.