Halloween 4K UHD (1978)

[bobbyh64]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Weenyhollow or something

If it’s true you haven’t seen many of the sequels, here’s an example of what you’re missing (the good stuff starts at 1:00).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=61&v...ature=youtu.be

[SpazeBlue]

Originally Posted by bobbyh64

If it’s true you haven’t seen many of the sequels, here’s an example of what you’re missing (the good stuff starts at 1:00).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=61&v...ature=youtu.be

That was beautiful.

[KubrickKurasawa]

Never ruin the "whole effect"

[Markgway]

There shouldn't be any rights issues with the LD mono.

The rights to original materials lie with the film's copyright owner.

Only if Criterion did something specific to make the track their own (like an exclusive remix with new effects) would there be a potential problem.

I don't believe that's the case here.

I think Shout just weren't paying attention.

[bobbyh64]

Why is this filtered mono track only now being talked about? The first time I heard of it was about two years ago. Was there anyone clamoring for the unfiltered mono to be re-released in the last twenty years?

[DR Herbert West]

In the end... we don't decide these things, you know... the planets do. They're in alignment, and it's time again.

[JCRW82]

Originally Posted by bobbyh64

Why is this filtered mono track only now being talked about? The first time I heard of it was about two years ago. Was there anyone clamoring for the unfiltered mono to be re-released in the last twenty years?

This post was from 2016 discussing the quality of the filtered mono track.
https://blah-ray.blogspot.com/search...n%20%281978%29

The quality of the mono track has been discussed, but not as heavily as H4 for a number of reasons. The first one being that not many people (other than hardcore collectors) would own a Laserdisc copy of each respective film, so many would have been unaware of this audio source until we got sound comparisons made. The second being that H4 did have it's original stereo mix included in a 90's DVD release which made the Laserdisc irrelevant (at least until Shout Factory went back to the Laserdisc to use the stereo track as the main audio source for the upcoming 4K release).

We ended up with a number of subsequent releases for Halloween that did not include a mono track at all, replaced with subpar 5.1 remixes and the like. So for a decade fans complained more about the LACK of a mono soundtrack, and eventually we got one in the 2007 Anchor Bay Blu Ray. Then it disappeared again and after complaints were made we got it back in the 2014 Boxset release. So in the eyes of the distributor they did the fans right by providing them what they asked for.

This new 4K release would have been the perfect time for SF to go back to the original elements to provide us the best release they could for each film. They confirmed that they did so for H4 & H5 by not only providing fresh 4K scans of the OCN for the best possible picture quality, but also going back to the best possible audio sources (Laserdisc for H4, Original Magnetic Master Tape for H5). I would have expected them to do the same for the most important film in the franchise along with H2 & H3, but now we are left questioning what has happened to the original magnetic master tape for H1 and whether it still exists now that we know about the Crest/Anchor Bay mess.

I honestly doubt that SF providing us the filtered mono track is out of sheer laziness, I'm thinking it was the best possible audio source they had both permission and access to use. If they confirm that to be the case then it would be end of discussion. If the master tapes are still available and in good condition, I question why they did not go back to use them like they did for H5. Either way, it is probably too late for them to fix this so we will have to wait for the next one (45th Anniversary is not too far away).

[James_Younger_Gang]

This page should not be titled Blu-ray.com. It should be called Randommoviediscussionsandquotes.com. whenever I enter to find new information about upcoming 4k releases, all I see are a few lazy guys putting up random memes and quotes and trying to analyze the movies instead of offering the information we all want.

[Geoff D]

Get too technical, people complain. Get too flippant, people complain. Oh the huge manatee!

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by James_Younger_Gang

This page should not be titled Blu-ray.com. It should be called Randommoviediscussionsandquotes.com. whenever I enter to find new information about upcoming 4k releases, all I see are a few lazy guys putting up random memes and quotes and trying to analyze the movies instead of offering the information we all want.

Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning.

[Conan The Barbarian]

Originally Posted by JCRW82

This post was from 2016 discussing the quality of the filtered mono track.
https://blah-ray.blogspot.com/search...n%20%281978%29

The quality of the mono track has been discussed, but not as heavily as H4 for a number of reasons. The first one being that not many people (other than hardcore collectors) would own a Laserdisc copy of each respective film, so many would have been unaware of this audio source until we got sound comparisons made. The second being that H4 did have it's original stereo mix included in a 90's DVD release which made the Laserdisc irrelevant (at least until Shout Factory went back to the Laserdisc to use the stereo track as the main audio source for the upcoming 4K release).

We ended up with a number of subsequent releases for Halloween that did not include a mono track at all, replaced with subpar 5.1 remixes and the like. So for a decade fans complained more about the LACK of a mono soundtrack, and eventually we got one in the 2007 Anchor Bay Blu Ray. Then it disappeared again and after complaints were made we got it back in the 2014 Boxset release. So in the eyes of the distributor they did the fans right by providing them what they asked for.

This new 4K release would have been the perfect time for SF to go back to the original elements to provide us the best release they could for each film. They confirmed that they did so for H4 & H5 by not only providing fresh 4K scans of the OCN for the best possible picture quality, but also going back to the best possible audio sources (Laserdisc for H4, Original Magnetic Master Tape for H5). I would have expected them to do the same for the most important film in the franchise along with H2 & H3, but now we are left questioning what has happened to the original magnetic master tape for H1 and whether it still exists now that we know about the Crest/Anchor Bay mess.

I honestly doubt that SF providing us the filtered mono track is out of sheer laziness, I'm thinking it was the best possible audio source they had both permission and access to use. If they confirm that to be the case then it would be end of discussion. If the master tapes are still available and in good condition, I question why they did not go back to use them like they did for H5. Either way, it is probably too late for them to fix this so we will have to wait for the next one (45th Anniversary is not too far away).

Care to explain the anchor bay mess you are referring to?

[CreasyBear]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Get too technical, people complain. Get too flippant, people complain. Oh the huge manatee!

You're only allowed to be precisely what people want you to be.

NO ECCENTRICITIES!

[DR Herbert West]

Originally Posted by James_Younger_Gang

This page should not be titled Blu-ray.com. It should be called Randommoviediscussionsandquotes.com. whenever I enter to find new information about upcoming 4k releases, all I see are a few lazy guys putting up random memes and quotes and trying to analyze the movies instead of offering the information we all want.

Totally.

[DR Herbert West]

Originally Posted by Conan The Barbarian

Care to explain the anchor bay mess you are referring to?

Originally Posted by cmac

over the years, it's become apparent that some elements never went back to their licensors from the days when Anchor Bay used Crest for their film elements. I think when Crest closed, the elements were trashed if not picked up.
Many negatives are missing - HELL NIGHT, SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT etc.

.

[JCRW82]

Originally Posted by Conan The Barbarian

Care to explain the anchor bay mess you are referring to?

Apologies for how long this is going to be, it is compiled from the Halloween 4 thread starting around page 12 and all the info is provided by Cliff at Shout Factory.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JangleRockSTP
It is perplexing as to why the 4K UHD's of Halloween 4 and 5 will not include the original audio mixes.

Assuming that Scream Factory used the original Ultra Stereo audio stems to create the Dolby Atmos mixes, how costly would it have been to encode and include them on the releases?

Side note: anyone have any idea if the filmmakers created a discreet 4.1, 5.1, etc. mix for it back in 1988?

We are doing our best but a lot of the stems are missing, so it's making our job very difficult.

over the years, it's become apparent that some elements never went back to their licensors from the days when Anchor Bay used Crest for their film elements. I think when Crest closed, the elements were trashed if not picked up.
Many negatives are missing - HELL NIGHT, SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT etc.

=====================
Quote:
Originally Posted by mar3o
After reading this, I'm actually considering cancelling part IV if they don't include the stereo mix, or at least fix these issues in their new surround mix. What's the point of buying these releases when the audio tracks are borked from the beginning? I'm still mad about the original audio track for Black Christmas falling out of sync for the last 1/3 of the film.

When a licensor has poor elements, you do the best you can. We can only deal with the items they still have in their possession.

We are still working on the disc and we are working to fix everything we can. You can of course cancel if you want, but we are working to making these releases the best they can be.

=====================
Quote:
Originally Posted by BNex99
Figured you were looking into it. Thanks for the info, and for all the hard work!

I've wondered for years what in the world happened to the audio for this particular movie. Anchor Bay had perfectly good 5.1 and 2.0 tracks on that first DVD, neither of which had these issues. (And for all I know, some of the apparent mixing differences may be down to how each track was compressed for its various releases, but of course that doesn't explain the SFX that are just gone).

But for whatever reason, it's the botched track that's been grandfathered down to pretty much all subsequent releases. Until this one, we hope.

I think these errors happened during a Chace remix. We are looking to fix them.

========================
Quote:
Originally Posted by dylrichard02
Thank you guys for your work on these, regardless of what limitations may come. I am excited to get these releases, especially because I didn't think 4 or 5 would get remasters from Lionsgate, but you guys doing it is even better.

Was Crest a production company? Did they hold negatives to the Trancas catalog or are they just for reference?

Crest was a lab that Anchor Bay used. At some point, they went out of biz and it appears that a lot of the elements never went back to Anchor Bay or the licensors.

I will tell you that so far the masters look amazing. I was looking at H5 with Dolby Vision and the kids costumes have such detail and color. We have spent a lot of time on these. All five were scanned from the original negatives and we have spent a lot of time cleaning the films

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crest_Digital

Originally Posted by cmac
Laserdisc for 4
Mag track for 5
The mag is missing for 4

[dallywhitty]

It's a genuine tragedy that the negative for Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 is missing.

[Zapp Brannigan]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

It's a genuine tragedy that the negative for Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 is missing.

Imagine this in glorious 4K!

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by Zapp Brannigan

Imagine this in glorious 4K!

[Show spoiler]

I don't know if the universe is ready for Eric Freeman in 4K. I think it would open up a black hole.

[Zapp Brannigan]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

I don't know if the universe is ready for Eric Freeman in 4K. I think it would open up a black hole.

Most likely. That's why it's gone "missing". My first suspect would be Neil deGrasse Tyson

[questrider]

I don't want to be purposely contrarian, but how do we know that the Criterion LaserDisc mono track wasn't EQed for the small tinny TV speakers of the day when it was released in 1994 (not unlike the modern "Mastered for iTunes" means "Mastered for Earbud Headphones")? For all we know, it may not be an exact duplicate of the original mag track either. For the record, I admit it does sound more full with deeper bass tones, but we don't know if that's how it sounds on the original mag track any more than we know where the 2007/2014 lossless Shout Factory mono is from either. I don't have a horse in this race, regardless, just playing devil's advocate.