The Brood (1979) (Wicked-Vision Media) - Summer 2015

[Leslie Dame]

There have been a few releases already, and of course there will be the Criterion release. Now we can add Germany to the list. Indie label Wicked-Vision Media announced a Blu-ray release this summer. The film will contain the uncensored version, and Wicked-Vision will produce their own extras. Exact street date TBA.

[Daniel Peree]

So I checked around the rules to see if it would be OK to give information about the german release of THE BROOD. I hope it is ok and desirable, because i am an employee of Wicked-Vision Media, but couldn’t find anything that spoke against.

Today we want to give you a little insight into the production of our release of David Cronenberg's The Brood. At the moment we produce bonus material and discuss about the proper packaging for our 3-disc collector's edition. Video and audio have already been completed and have been approved by us today. Based on the following 10 screenshots we want to give you a sneak peek at the German HD premiere of this classic movie.

Technical specifications:

Running time: 92:11 min. (Unrated-Version)
Rating: not rated
Aspect ratio: 1,78:1 (MPEG-4 AVC, 1080p)
Language: German, English
Sound: DTS-HD Master 2.0 Stereo
Subtitles: German, English
Disc: BD-50
Packing: TBA
Street-Date: TBA
Special features: TBA

[Daniel Peree]

[Bates_Motel]

Looks fantastic, thanks for posting!

[Saccharin]

I got the Brood UK version from Second Sight and it is Awesome.

[Monroville]

It will be interesting to do some comparisons to see how the color timing and detail are between them.

Even so, there is this:

German release:

[Show spoiler]

UK release:

[Show spoiler]

US dvd release:

[Show spoiler]

German release:

[Show spoiler]

UK release:

[Show spoiler]

To Wicked Vision:

Thanks again for the screen captures. I would like to ask: is there any way to capture a bit of the details lost in the more contrast blown out areas as seen on the (Arrow) Second Sight UK blu-ray (such as the curtains in the windows above, or some of the outdoors shots seen on the US dvd on Caps-a-holic)?

[Rockercub]

Originally Posted by Monroville

Thanks again for the screen captures. I would like to ask: is there any way to capture a bit of the details lost in the more contrast blown out areas as seen on the Arrow UK blu-ray (such as the curtains in the windows above, or some of the outdoors shots seen on the US dvd on Caps-a-holic)?

I think you meant Second Sight. I have the Second Sight disc and thought it looked great, but now I totally see what you're saying about the blown out areas. I think I may have to upgrade.

And vielen dank to Wicked Vision! Normally, I'd go with Criterion, but given their performance on Scanners, I think it's very possible I'll be picking up your release instead.

[KowalskiVideo]

I think you meant Subkultur The upcoming "Scanners" release from Wicked Media is not yet (officially) announced. According to what a spokesman said (Cinefacts), if i understood correctly, they are planning a release of the whole trilogy but prefer the Criterion master and want to utilize it for their release.

Regarding The Brood, i'm with Monroville and hope that the contrast and color issues could probably be fixed to a certain degree.

[Daniel Peree]

There are no concrete plans regarding the SCANNERS-Trilogy, but i think we make a trilogy box with exclusive bonus material for all 3 movies. But now we work intensively on THE BROOD.

We have the image not subsequently brightened, but exactly left as it was scanned. We are also working with an extremely high encoding.

Excuse my bad English. I hope my sentences make sense yet.

[Daniel Peree]

@Monroville




This is another screenshot from our finished Encode. You can see very clearly, that was lightened the UK disc. This action destroys many details in the image. The old DVD is much too dark. Recordings by day look like at dusk.

Our final Video-Bitrate is: 39,27 MBit/sek




In a few days comes a comparison between various releases of The Brood in our magazine.

[swifty7]

so what's the difference between the censored and the uncensored versions?

I remember this movie giving me many sleepless nights when I was a kid in Rome, Italy. It still holds up pretty well.

[Rockercub]

Originally Posted by KowalskiVideo

I think you meant Subkultur The upcoming "Scanners" release from Wicked Media is not yet (officially) announced. According to what a spokesman said (Cinefacts), if i understood correctly, they are planning a release of the whole trilogy but prefer the Criterion master and want to utilize it for their release.

I guess I didn't make myself clear -- I was talking about The Brood. When Criterion blew the Scanners release (in my opinion), I picked up the Subkultur release, as I felt it improved on the Second Sight release that I already had. Similarly, if Criterion blows it with The Brood, I'll likely be picking up Wicked Vision's release, as it looks to be an improvement over Second Sight.

[Leslie Dame]

Originally Posted by swifty7

so what's the difference between the censored and the uncensored versions?

The uncensored version is 54 seconds longer, including 36 seconds of footage that had to be edited in order to receive an R-Rating.

[swifty7]

what was excised to get a R rating?

[ionsi]

Originally Posted by swifty7

what was excised to get a R rating?

http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=145406

[KowalskiVideo]

I don't see any point including the censored version? Its obvious that these cuts were just rating-related. If there had been alternate takes or more substantial alterations i'd say go for it but i don't see any benefit here.
Is there any chance Wicked Media could include the MGM master (like Arrow did with Thief)? I think it should be available in 1080 and I would to love to see it in the set, I think it would be a much more substantial addition then the R-Rated version.

PS: Please use spoiler-tags when posting full-size images directly, its very difficult to read the thread otherwise.

[OceanBlue]

Had been thinking about getting Second Sight's Blu-ray release of The Brood for a while, but then lost interest in getting the Blu-ray. This planned German Blu-ray release sounds good.

[Daniel Peree]

We have talked with Mark Irwin for our THE BROOD release and asked him about the Transfer. Here’s what he had to say:

"I look on this print of THE BROOD as a piece of my cinematic history. This print reflects how I was lighting (and learning) 37 years ago. We could retime it and recolor it but, for me, this is an accurate record of how it looked, looks and should look. Thanks for the opportunity"

So our transfer of THE BROOD is "Mark Irwin Approved"

Bye the way: Next week we have news about the special features on the disc.

[Monroville]

Originally Posted by Daniel Peree

We have talked with Mark Irwin for our THE BROOD release and asked him about the Transfer. Here’s what he had to say:

So our transfer of THE BROOD is "Mark Irwin Approved"

Bye the way: Next week we have news about the special features on the disc.

Well no one is saying to do the whole "teal and orange" BS (ugh, hate that crap).. just maybe work on the blown out parts of the image to slightly darken them so things like the branches and the clouds stand out better.

It's just that this looks pretty much identical to the Japanese release, so short of the extras there is no real improvement over what I've had for a year or two.

PS: nothing against Mark Irwin or anything, but after the "Tom Savini approved" transfer of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1990) and the "David Cronenberg approved" transfer of SCANNERS and the multiple screwin' around that Michael Mann has been doing with his rereleases, I do not dig these "approved" transfers, as it really doesn't amount to anything other than a transfer that is possibly worse than if you just color timed it yourself.

and not like the "James Cameron approved" recolor timing of THE TERMINATOR with the "teal/ orange" crud.

[nitin]

Originally Posted by Monroville

Well no one is saying to do the whole "teal and orange" BS (ugh, hate that crap).. just maybe work on the blown out parts of the image to slightly darken them so things like the branches and the clouds stand out better.

It's just that this looks pretty much identical to the Japanese release, so short of the extras there is no real improvement over what I've had for a year or two.

PS: nothing against Mark Irwin or anything, but after the "Tom Savini approved" transfer of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1990) and the "David Cronenberg approved" transfer of SCANNERS and the multiple screwin' around that Michael Mann has been doing with his rereleases, I do not dig these "approved" transfers, as it really doesn't amount to anything other than a transfer that is possibly worse than if you just color timed it yourself.

and not like the "James Cameron approved" recolor timing of THE TERMINATOR with the "teal/ orange" crud.

but Mark Irwin directly implies in his comments that this one isnt retimed or re-coloured?