Mutant (Night Shadows) (1984) - Code Red

[rdodolak]

Spine # 79

Available at Code Red (Big Cartel)
13 September 2016

MUTANT (1984) (Limited Edition of 2,000)

A hideous town secret is waiting for two vacationing brothers (Wings Hauser, Vice Squad, Deadly Force, Tough Guys Don’t Dance, and Lee Montgomery, Ben, Girls Just Want To Have Fun, Burnt Offerings) who team up with a local sheriff (Bo Hopkins, The Fifth Floor, Tentacles, Sweet Sixteen) to uncover the grisly threat to the entire population. A nearby chemical plant has been dumping toxic water just outside of town, turning townspeople into contaminated, mutant zombies. Now, there’s nowhere to run as the growing army of bloodthirsty ghouls takes over the town and slaughters the remaining humans, one by one! This sci-fi chiller also stars Jennifer Warren (Night Moves) and was directed by John Bud Cardos (The Dark, Kingdom Of The Spiders), featuring a classic score by Richard Band (Re-Animator, Puppet Master). Now see this drive-in horror favorite in HD for the first time!


Special Features:

• Brand new 4K scan of the original camera negative
• Audio commentary with Lee H. Montgomery, Igo Kantor and John "Bud" Cardos
• Interview with Bo Hopkins
• Interview with Lee H. Montgomery
• Original trailer

'Mutant' aka 'Night Shadows' - Trailer (1984) - YouTube

[rdodolak]

Screenshots from the Code Red Blu-ray release.

[Dickieduvet]

Wow, looks amazing.

Waiting for Diabolik.....

[KillaCam]

As usual when I am interested in ordering a CR title. I click the link and get greeted by a maintenance message.

[Nailwraps]

Was this Code Red's first 4K transfer? If so, well done!

[Se.Vero]

Originally Posted by rdodolak

Screenshots from the Code Red Blu-ray release.

[Show spoiler]

Originally Posted by Dickieduvet

Wow, looks amazing.

Waiting for Diabolik.....

Originally Posted by Nailwraps

Was this Code Red's first 4K transfer? If so, well done!

am i the only one who sees lots of DNR and no grain??

[Nailwraps]

Originally Posted by Se.Vero

am i the only one who sees lots of DNR and no grain??

Upon second look, yeah I saw it.

[Flack999]

Originally Posted by Se.Vero

am i the only one who sees lots of DNR and no grain??

That was the first thing I thought when I looked at those screens... and I usually never see any DNR or stuff that most people here complain about, but these screens do look suspiciously smooth, grainfree and waxy

[Katatonia]

Originally Posted by Flack999

That was the first thing I thought when I looked at those screens... and I usually never see any DNR or stuff that most people here complain about, but these screens do look suspiciously smooth, grainfree and waxy

I got the disc yesterday, and yes there is a lot of DNR. It's very noticeable in motion. There is increased detail over the old DVD transfers, and I don't doubt this is actually a 4K transfer, but everything looks very waxy. Faces and skin look smooth, etc. There is really no film grain to be found.

I don't think Code Red handled this transfer, it arrived this way from the licensor.

It's definitely an upgrade over the old DVD editions, it just would have been much better without a heavy dose of DNR added.

[dubious]

Originally Posted by Se.Vero

am i the only one who sees lots of DNR and no grain??

Those were my thoughts as well seeing the screens. A 4k scan should have produced a nice tight grain structure, and from the level of detail remaining I can only imagine how much better it could have looked with the dnr dialed back. DNR could aid compression, so if he was trying to squeeze it to bd-25 over bd-50 again, but there is no reason to skimp on a 4k mastered release? Is the disc bd 25 or bd 50?

[rdodolak]

I just noticed the opening film credits aren't centered and favor the right side of the image. The closing credits are better but they still slightly favor the right side. It would appear, at least during the credits, the area reserved for the soundtrack is shown.

Originally Posted by dubious

Those were my thoughts as well seeing the screens. A 4k scan should have produced a nice tight grain structure, and from the level of detail remaining I can only imagine how much better it could have looked with the dnr dialed back. DNR could aid compression, so if he was trying to squeeze it to bd-25 over bd-50 again, but there is no reason to skimp on a 4k mastered release? Is the disc bd 25 or bd 50?

BD-25

[Mr. Thomsen]

That's sad news.

Sounds like the rights-holder messed up (as Code Red usually don't use DNR in their transfers). I have a really low tolerance for DNR, so I'll stick to the old DVD.

[NoirFan]

That looks awful! Unfortunately I can't cancel my Diabolik bundle pre-order, but this one will be going right up on Ebay sealed.

[mca213]

Well that's very disappointing

[Member-222782]

So Bill didn't restore this one himself? Who did, Universal? lol. Let the madness begin. Sort of glad I grabbed a copy before it's pulled and artificially OOPed but I'm still putting my old DVD back on the shelf. Jeez.

[slasherdisc]

I'm still looking forward to my copy with the bundle despite the DNR!

[CODE RED DVD]

Originally Posted by visualsynth

I'm still looking forward to my copy with the bundle despite the DNR!

despite what other label claim, they all use DNR. i didnt use to many earlier release and people said my release looks like beatup print.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by CODE RED DVD

despite what other label claim, they all use DNR. i didnt use to many earlier release and people said my release looks like beatup print.

Despite the lack of any visible grain, it still looks quite clear. When did Multicom complete the 4K transfer?

[CODE RED DVD]

Originally Posted by rdodolak

Despite the lack of any visible grain, it still looks quite clear. When did Multicom complete the 4K transfer?

early 2016. for tv showing? when did your favorite label didnt use DNR?

[Mr. Thomsen]

Originally Posted by CODE RED DVD

despite what other label claim, they all use DNR. i didnt use to many earlier release and people said my release looks like beatup print.

Who? Those morons over at horrordvds.com, you keep referring to?

I would think that most of us here know that the titles you release are so rare that sometimes it can be hard even finding a complete surviving theatrical print, and that finding a negative or an IP will be close to a miracle. So we take what we can get - warts and all.

But that does not make excessive DNR acceptable.

As for your "other labels always get praise" comment, take Severin Films for example. They definitely caught some flack for their release of AXE. And rightfully so, because the excessive use of DNR had scrubbed almost all the natural film grain away.

Look, we all know that most labels use DNR in some way or other. But it's the level of DNR used that makes all the difference.

When you turn the button up to '11' and remove not only noise, specks, and dust but ALSO all grain, the movie starts to look unnatural, like something shot on video instead of film, and the textures look waxy.

In short: a little DNR can be okay, but too much DNR is always bad!