Halloween 4K UHD (1978)

[Jay H.]

Starring John Carpenter as Paul (voice - uncredited)

[Matt89]

The Criterion LD mono definitely sounds better but I'm also not too miffed about it not being included on the new UHD, and it's certainly not a deal-breaker for me. The mono on the 2007 disc/2014 set has never bothered me, what bothered me was that no mono track was included at all on the previous 4K. That and the switching aspect ratio. I can only assume that's been fixed this time around lol.

Originally Posted by jstxanothrxstory

I don’t think they’d be ashamed of saying so if they were to use the laserdisc for the original mono. They were open about doing so for Return, and have been open about disclosing when they didn’t have original elements to work with (such as the Black Christmas replacement disc).

Yeah, it's a shame that they were only able to use an optical track and not the mag track for the original sound mix. At least SF (largely) corrected the terrible sibilance issues from the first pressing and it's actually lossless DTS-HD MA dual mono. There's still a bit of hiss, but I'm just happy it was included and is actually listenable.

Black Christmas is a movie I absolutely have to watch with the original mono mix (along with Jaws and Psycho). The remixed 5.1 track is a complete abomination.

~Matt

[Nailwraps]

Originally Posted by Jay H.

Starring John Carpenter as Paul (voice - uncredited)

and Weena McCrator as The Hopping Woman

[KubrickKurasawa]

Flea has the right idea on what to do when your bass is off. Just toss it away to strangers! Same with these Halloween discs we keep getting. Weeee!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uklp...ature=youtu.be

[JCRW82]

Originally Posted by vailsy

.. not sure about putting a mix designed for theatres directly onto a vhs tape but I'll take your word for it, maybe that did happen for Halloween who knows. certainly I'd expect that it was remastered.. dynamic range reduction etc, meaning the vhs would have sounded different to how it sounded originally in theatres which for me is what a mix is in practical terms.. the mix of frequencies that you hear after it has been mastered for a particular media format

(in the case of this 'filtered mono' [er what's that?] offered up here by Shout, which sounds like a coffee, that media format would probably be dvd)

yes from an aesthetics point of view i personally have no problem with the sound of vhs. this original 1979 vhs sounds fecking great to my ears, I guess the tape warble comes in handy for Halloween: Halloween Original Media VHS opening - YouTube

I doubt that most people would want that sound, but the media home entertainment video in that link is pretty cool and the analogue tape certainly makes Carpenters music sound incredible even after youtube compression.. gave me the chills and it's like hearing it for the first time in many ways, esp from around 1.45. Maybe they should start including the original vhs master on 4k's. Now I would be in for that!

A company like Shout Factory does not need to pull an audio source from Laserdisc or VHS if they have access to the master tape itself. Running a fresh, lossless A/D transfer from the magnetic master tape could end up sounding better than any of those two sources if proper care is taken in the process. They would only need to think about using an alternate source if the master tape was lost or damaged. If someone at SF replied that this was the case with the H1 master tape, then I would think the next best audio source would be an unprocessed, lossless digital backup. This does not seem to be available considering they are using an old transfer going back to 2007 (possibly earlier). Then you go to the Criterion Laserdisc to pull the audio (if there are no legal issues preventing that from happening).

[bobbyh64]

The LD mono sounds better than the filtered BD mono, but I think the BD mono sounds good enough. That’s what I’ve listened to for years on DVD and never had a problem with it. But why filter it? Did whoever create it think it sounded better than the LD mono? Just trying to understand the thinking that lead to its creation and why it would be approved for release.

[JCRW82]

Originally Posted by bobbyh64

The LD mono sounds better than the filtered BD mono, but I think the BD mono sounds good enough. That’s what I’ve listened to for years on DVD and never had a problem with it. But why filter it? Did whoever create it think it sounded better than the LD mono? Just trying to understand the thinking that lead to its creation and why it would be approved for release.

It's too difficult to determine why the BD mono mix sounds the way it does, there are just too many variables involved that could cause the resulting thin, muffled sound that we hear in comparison to what was presented on the Criterion Laserdisc. The only thing we know for sure is that when Criterion worked on Halloween, they went back to the Original 35mm Magnetic Master Soundtrack for the Mono Mix. That is a game changer because they bypassed lower generation sources and went direct to the top.

It's all speculation on the provenance of the audio source that SF has been using. Since there is already heavy processing done to the source, I would have to put that as 3rd Generation source or possibly even lower as it is at best a production master. I highly doubt whoever was responsible for creating this production master was concerned with using the Criterion LD source as a point of reference. They took what they had and added a bunch of processing because they thought it needed it.

It was a big trend at one point to use Noise Reduction to eliminate hiss from an analog tape source, thankfully many have learned how damaging this practice can be. Overuse of compression/limiting is still common practice to this day so reduced dynamics is not an entirely shocking result. The EQ is the weird one, there is no proper balance and fullness in the 2014 mono source which could also point to an even lower generation source being used before adding processing.

[Markgway]

The new release will be that same as the filtered track from 2014.

I hope that helps! Please reach out to us if you have any further questions on the upcoming 4k release.

Thank you from,
Shout!

Jesus, they almost sound proud of it!

The question is why would they use such a poor quality track? Don't they have sound engineers working for them who know about these things or at least one fan who could say "hey, hang on guys! This sounds a bit shit compared to the 27 year old LD!".

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Markgway

Jesus, they almost sound proud of it!

The question is why would they use such a poor quality track? Don't they have sound engineers working for them who know about these things or at least one fan who could say "hey, hang on guys! This sounds a bit shit compared to the 27 year old LD!".

I'd imagine that the other fellas be like "what's a LaserDisc?" (Yes, I know they've got the LD audio for one of the later movies, but still )

[JCRW82]

Originally Posted by Markgway

Jesus, they almost sound proud of it!

The question is why would they use such a poor quality track? Don't they have sound engineers working for them who know about these things or at least one fan who could say "hey, hang on guys! This sounds a bit shit compared to the 27 year old LD!".

It may be the only audio source of the mono mix that SF have access to and/or permission to use. If they confirmed this to be the case (like they did for H4) then I would accept it and move on.

[BobSimms]

Originally Posted by Markgway

Jesus, they almost sound proud of it!

The question is why would they use such a poor quality track? Don't they have sound engineers working for them who know about these things or at least one fan who could say "hey, hang on guys! This sounds a bit shit compared to the 27 year old LD!".

Once again, this is the same group of people who got the new cover art design series and said “Yes, that’s perfect!” So really, no other horrors, aural or visual, should be a surprise.

Who knows, maybe that French UHD that’s coming will offer something better? Other than the menace that is SF, what other label might release a slightly more definitive UHD of this film somewhere down the line? There’s got to be someone. Maybe Criterion, since they’re doing UHD now and could actually use their own LD audio?

[BluProofie]

Originally Posted by Markgway

Jesus, they almost sound proud of it!

It’s just a customer service rep who probably doesn’t know all that much about it, or what “filtered” even means. Don’t read too much into it.

It’s possible that they had issues tracking down the original material because of Anchor Bay. Maybe if people were more vocal about this issue when Cliff was on here discussing the lost material for H4 and 5, they would’ve used the LD audio? Like I said before, I’ve never even seen this mentioned here before. This particular thread was mostly quotes from the movie and memes until a few days ago.

[JCRW82]

Originally Posted by BobSimms

Once again, this is the same group of people who got the new cover art design series and said “Yes, that’s perfect!” So really, no other horrors, aural or visual, should be a surprise.

Who knows, maybe that French UHD that’s coming will offer something better? Other than the menace that is SF, what other label might release a slightly more definitive UHD of this film somewhere down the line? There’s got to be someone. Maybe Criterion, since they’re doing UHD now and could actually use their own LD audio?

Very doubtful that Criterion would get the licensing rights and permission to work on Halloween again. If they did, I would imagine that the film would have been issued as a Criterion DVD and/or BluRay release already. Halloween is a cash cow that keeps on giving for whoever owns it at the time.

[BluProofie]

Originally Posted by BobSimms

Once again, this is the same group of people who got the new cover art design series and said “Yes, that’s perfect!” So really, no other horrors, aural or visual, should be a surprise.

Who knows, maybe that French UHD that’s coming will offer something better? Other than the menace that is SF, what other label might release a slightly more definitive UHD of this film somewhere down the line? There’s got to be someone. Maybe Criterion, since they’re doing UHD now and could actually use their own LD audio?

The “same people” who approved the cover art didn’t work on the transfer, that doesn’t make any sense. And why is that such a big deal when they always include the original poster art on the reverse? Criterion can’t release a UHD of something someone else has the rights to.

[JCRW82]

Originally Posted by BluProofie

It’s just a customer service rep who probably doesn’t know all that much about it, or what “filtered” even means. Don’t read too much into it.

It’s possible that they had issues tracking down the original material because of Anchor Bay. Maybe if people were more vocal about this issue when Cliff was on here discussing the lost material for H4 and 5, they would’ve used the LD audio? Like I said before, I’ve never even seen this mentioned here before. This particular thread was mostly quotes from the movie and memes until a few days ago.

The mono mix audio quality has been pointed out as early as July 1st before the UHD releases were officially announced by SF. I know a few have addressed the issue on various platforms (social media, email, web forums, etc.) and have notified SF directly but it has been met with silence. There was definitely more visible complaints with H4 & H5 mainly due to the fact that the initial release did not list the original stereo mixes.

Originally Posted by Krynoid-Man

I hope the mono track will be better quality than Shout's previous Blu-Ray release:
https://blah-ray.blogspot.com/search...n%20%281978%29

[Donl1282]

I wonder if it’s the rights issue or that SF doesn’t want to be overwhelmed being the actual reason 6-8 are not released with 1-5. Cliff suggested it’s the latter.

[BobSimms]

Originally Posted by BluProofie

The “same people” who approved the cover art didn’t work on the transfer, that doesn’t make any sense. And why is that such a big deal when they always include the original poster art on the reverse? Criterion can’t release a UHD of something someone else has the rights to.

It’s all the same small label, regardless of who works on what aspect of the project. The buck stops somewhere. As for Criterion never releasing it on UHD—why is it a given that they never will? They’re releasing Citizen Kane, which hasn’t been part of their library since their Laserdisc release. Are we assuming Shout Factory will be licensing Halloween on UHD in perpetuity?

[Kyle15]

Criterion would have done a filtering pass of their own unless they were told not to do so.

This is what happens when you have industry people focused on getting rid of that awful analogue ambience because it's not fresh and actually old.

[Jay Mammoth]

Originally Posted by BluProofie

The “same people” who approved the cover art didn’t work on the transfer, that doesn’t make any sense. And why is that such a big deal when they always include the original poster art on the reverse? Criterion can’t release a UHD of something someone else has the rights to.

Some people love whining.

[BluProofie]

Originally Posted by BobSimms

It’s all the same small label, regardless of who works on what aspect of the project. The buck stops somewhere. As for Criterion never releasing it on UHD—why is it a given that they never will? They’re releasing Citizen Kane, which hasn’t been part of their library since their Laserdisc release. Are we assuming Shout Factory will be licensing Halloween on UHD in perpetuity?

You do realize that most of Criterion’s releases allegedly have excessive filtering, right? If the mono track is your biggest issue with this release, than it would still be problematic for you if it was a different label.

And FWIW, their recent artwork choices have been just as controversial as these SF releases.