Even the Wind Is Afraid (1968)

[Cujo]

The incomparable Carlos Enrique Taboada will finally see his long overdue Blu-ray debut. Unfortunately, VCI is one of the last companies I'd want to release one of his classics, but here we are. I didn't even know about the release until recently, as I don't follow them, but Taboada always deserves his own thread. I'll get this, as I don't expect anything better to come down the pipeline anytime soon. Fingers crossed that a better company will get a hold of Blacker than the Night, Book of Stone and Poison for the Fairies.

[MifuneFan]

As a cross-reference, I am collecting all of VCI's Classsic Mexican line in this thread

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...hlight=mexican

There is some concern that these may not have English subs, so I'm hoping a review can clarify this.

[babybreese]

For what it's worth
VCI's sale page sez English Subs

88 mins. | Color | 1968 |Horror/Fantasy | Language: Spanish | Subtitles: English | Country: Mexico
IMDB: tt0061752

https://www.vcientertainment.com/has...ind-is-afraid/

[MifuneFan]

That's a promising sign. When the titles first appeared on Amazon, they weren't on VCI's site yet. I tried contacting them to find out, but got no reply.

[The Great Owl]

I received Even the Wind is Afraid in the mail today, and it appears to be a BD-R.

Boo, VCI.

I'm still looking forward to watching the movie, but I don't actively shop for BD-Rs, and I would not have gone in for this had I known beforehand.

[theosh]

Oh no! That’s devastating. This film deserves so much better. It’s a classic of gothic horror!!!

[Blu2u]

I believe Diabolik has these all listed as BD-R's which kills the line for me. Thanks for the confirmation, Owl.

[theosh]

While I am immensely disappointed in the reveal that this title is actually a BD-R, I must admit I am still interested in the quality of both the video and audio of this release, and if it’s a marked improvement on what is already available, my arm could still be twisted to purchase it.

[Cujo]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I received Even the Wind is Afraid in the mail today, and it appears to be a BD-R.

Boo, VCI.

I'm still looking forward to watching the movie, but I don't actively shop for BD-Rs, and I would not have gone in for this had I known beforehand.

Wow, a slap in the face. I've wanted proper releases of Taboada's films for so long, and this is what we're saddled with. Just when you think VCI can't sink any lower. Thanks for the warning. I cancelled my preorder and truly hope they don't have any of his other films.

[Katatonia]

I received Even the Wind is Afraid today, and as feared it's a BD-R. At least it was only $13

VCI packaged it in a standard "Blu-ray Disc" (logo) case though, so they are definitely not supposed to be doing that with a BD-R in retail.

[theosh]

Although it’s very disappointing this classic film is on BD-R, can someone who currently owns the disc please comment on the quality of the video and audio. Thanks in advance.

[Katatonia]

Originally Posted by theosh

Although it’s very disappointing this classic film is on BD-R, can someone who currently owns the disc please comment on the quality of the video and audio. Thanks in advance.

I watched it earlier, and it's underwhelming. There's been obvious DNR added and also a lot of macroblocking and poor compression artifacts throughout. It is surprisingly an AVC encode, but you'd never know it by viewing it... it looks more like an antiquated MPEG-2 encode.

It's not a complete disaster and at least has strong colors, but practically any other studio than VCI could have done a better job with the transfer and encode.

The Spanish audio track is 24-bit uncompressed PCM, and fares much better.

[theosh]

Damn. That doesn’t sound great, although I’m happy to hear about it’s strong colours, as every version of the film I’ve seen before has seemed quite faded in regards to its colours.

You are right though about how any other company would’ve done better for this film. After initial excitement at this title being released, I was immediately saddened when I saw who was releasing it. Then further disappointment with the BD-R reveal.

Thanks for your thoughts on the disc. Despite the fact that it could obviously look much, much better, would you say this is the best you’ve seen this film look?

[Katatonia]

Originally Posted by theosh

Thanks for your thoughts on the disc. Despite the fact that it could obviously look much, much better, would you say this is the best you’ve seen this film look?

Oh yeah, it's definitely the best it's ever looked and sounded on any home video format. It's just that it could have obviously looked so much better in the proper hands.

[theosh]

Hearing that, it may still convince me to pick this up until hopefully a better version arrives.

Thanks again.

[Katatonia]

Originally Posted by theosh

Hearing that, it may still convince me to pick this up until hopefully a better version arrives.

Thanks again.

No problem. There's probably one other thing that should be mentioned. Around 24+ minutes into the film the English subtitles start to "disappear" for some lines of dialogue here and there.

You can still follow the film if you don't understand Spanish, but it is annoying at times. The subtitles also have a lot of typos in them throughout... it doesn't seem like there was much (if any) quality control with those.

[rafaelsalguero]

can you post pics of the BluRay disc?

I hope Vinegar Syndrome gets the rights to released this classic in a proper way !

[Jajuka89]

Was interested in getting this, but hearing it's BD-R changed my mind.