Home Theater Forum - Request to Release Hondo and Friday the 13th III in 3D

[bavanut]

Bigfoot8, I know enough information to give you a broad explanation.

As far as I know, the original film elements for Friday the 13th Part III (camera negative and other early elements) are in fine shape and are reasonably well cared for, along with all of Paramount's other films from that time.

Friday the 13th Part III was filmed using the Marks 3-Depix system, so the left and right images are on one band of film. Neither eye is lost, obviously, and if ever a stereo scan is needed, both eyes are readily available. One could conceivably scan both eyes in one pass, if economy is an issue.

Presumably, when it came time to release the anaglyph version, Paramount either made fresh scans of each eye, or used existing scans for one eye or both. (Others will surely know more than I on this point.) Paramount then converted these discrete, full-color images, originally meant for Polaroid projection, into red-and-cyan anaglyph format. This is not a terrific solution.

Given that the opening credits in F13 III present vibrant red text against billowing blue and gray backgrounds, the opening credits sequence—hands down the most memorable credits sequence in any 3-D film I've ever seen—had to be shown in 2-D in this ersatz anaglyph version.

Why hasn't a full-on, discrete left and right 3-D Blu-Ray of Friday the 13th Part III appeared on the market? Studio indifference, most likely. Maybe the bean counters feel this particular title sells plenty enough copies in 2-D, or in substandard anaglyph. Excessive parsimony may also be involved. But in all fairness, I do not know what budget is allocated for preserving and restoring Paramount's wide library of important titles, both 3-D and 2-D, so I cannot glibly condemn those in charge for making hard choices, if indeed that be the case.

For Jaws 3-D, Universal appears to have made a fresh scan of one eye and married it to an existing scan of the other eye. Copious digital processing was applied to one image—the right eye, if I'm not mistaken—to try to make it match the other for illumination and detail. This has resulted in objectionable amounts of digital noise or artifacting in that right eye.

In the case of Amityville 3-D and Metalstorm, it appears that someone made new scans of both eyes but made very little attempt at cleanup or image refinement of any kind. While very entertaining and occasionally remarkable to watch, both films still have severe issues in 3-D on Blu-Ray. Even so, I recommend them to those casual 3-D fans who may be "listening in" on this conversation.

As for Comin' At Ya!, it appears that actor and filmmaker Tony Anthony retains some ownership or control over the film. Clean scans appear to have been made of each eye and considerable effort has been expended to alter the color palette here and there throughout the film for "artistic" reasons. There is one particular off-the-screen gimmick shot where a Herculean effort has been made to eliminate vertical parallax, a sad hallmark of Optimax III, the system used to shoot Comin' At Ya!

But there are still many problems in Comin' At Ya! on Blu-Ray, among them dust and/or water spots in one or both eyes, considerable uncorrected vertical parallax*, focus asymmetry, and myriad instances of excessive negative parallax. But what can I say? I'm the one man who will cheerfully admit to enjoying Comin' At Ya!, which, by the way, is much more comfortable to view in a head mounted display than on a 3-D TV or projector. (I also recommend this title to any casual 3-D fans "listening in.")

*- Remember that vertical parallax is not exactly the same thing as vertical misalignment. Simple vertical misalignment, when it occurs, involves the same amount of disparity in all image points across the screen. With vertical parallax, the disparity becomes more severe as objects come closer to the camera.