The Evil Dead Trilogy worth it on BD?

[Patsfan123]

Originally Posted by OrlandoEastwood

Which Army of Darkness Blu-ray is worth getting, the US or UK? Region doesn't matter.

They have the same old muddy transfer yet the US version has an additional smathering of EE on top. US is Region ABC and UK is Region B.

[mzupeman]

Originally Posted by buck135

Agreed. It's going to have to wait until next year. Way to many blu's coming out in the next few months.

Oh don't bother. You KNOW they'll release this one again, probably by Halloween of 2013.

[DuncanChrist]

Definitely worth it. Just make sure you get the 25th anniversary of Evil Dead 2 and not the earlier, inferior release

[Rich1983]

I own the first two.

My Evil Dead Blu-ray has both the new widescreen crop plus the original full frame (which is how it was actually filmed, so this is the better version) version in HD. Then you get a DVD with all kinds of extra features. The movie looks to amazing on Blu-ray that it is very hard to say that it is not worth having.

The Evil Dead 2 25th Anniversary Edition also looks amazing, and has a lot of new extras. It can be found cheap at Walmarts so it is very worth having.

The only Evil Dead film I have not purchased on Blu yet is Army of Darkness, and that is because I own the DVD that has both the Theatrical and "Official Bootleg Cut" of the film. Until a Blu-ray offers both cuts of the film in HD, I will not buy it.

[madlost1]

Originally Posted by Rich1983

I own the first two.

My Evil Dead Blu-ray has both the new widescreen crop plus the original full frame (which is how it was actually filmed, so this is the better version) version in HD. Then you get a DVD with all kinds of extra features. The movie looks to amazing on Blu-ray that it is very hard to say that it is not worth having.

The Evil Dead 2 25th Anniversary Edition also looks amazing, and has a lot of new extras. It can be found cheap at Walmarts so it is very worth having.

The only Evil Dead film I have not purchased on Blu yet is Army of Darkness, and that is because I own the DVD that has both the Theatrical and "Official Bootleg Cut" of the film. Until a Blu-ray offers both cuts of the film in HD, I will not buy it.

Just remember when buying that the Bonus DVD was only for the Limited Edition version of Evil Dead which is now virtually impossible to find.

[Rich1983]

If that is the case then you can still get the disc, since it has both prints of the film in HD as long as you find it for a reasonable price. The film is definitely worth having in HD.

[MykeHavoc]

But you can buy the 3-disc DVD set which has all the same features (and more) for extremely cheap.

[ozzsoad]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

I refuse to buy Army of Darkness until the vastly superior Director's Cut with the proper ending is released in 1080p.

Never seen the Director's Cut, but I don't know how you could prefer the "over sleeping" ending. I love the theatrical ending, it's perfect. "Hail to the King, baby."

[Ill_Be_Back]

The Evil Dead Anchor Bay, Evil Dead II 25th Anniversary and Army of Darkness UK = Great PQ

[Malice]

i'm surprised no one mentioned "The Future Dead" you know the Evil Dead sequal that never seen the light of day... i mean if your going to talk about the director's cut and why its better why not mention it to back your argument on why the original ending is better.

[Sky_Captain]

Originally Posted by ozzsoad

Never seen the Director's Cut, but I don't know how you could prefer the "over sleeping" ending. I love the theatrical ending, it's perfect. "Hail to the King, baby."

Because Ash is a f*** up and should never be allowed to have a happy ending.

Ever.

[MykeHavoc]

The director's cut ending would have been a great lead in to another sequel. But since we never got one, I much prefer the closed ending of the theatrical cut. Why shouldn't Ash get his happy ending? It's a fairytale. It ends with the hero swooning the lady after defeating evil and living happily ever after. I think it's the perfect ending, especially to such a fantasy based film as AOD.

[Kriztoffer Swank]

Originally Posted by svenge

As heretical as it may be to say here at Blu-ray.com, I still maintain that watching the MGM R3 Director's Cut DVD is a more enjoyable experience than the Universal BD.

This is how I feel. Regardless of which cut one prefers, the MGM DVD just looks so much better and more filmic than any of the Blu-rays. It helps that I prefer the director's cut and that the MGM disc has a few seconds of footage not on Anchor Bay's DC DVD.

That said, despite how nasty-assed ugly the AOD BD is, it's a bit of an improvement over the Anchor Bay DVD for the theatrical cut. Hopefully before long there'll be a BD for the film—both cuts—that'll look optimal. I've seen two different 35mm prints of the film and the BD looks nothing like them; again, the MGM DVD is the much more filmic and pleasing video presentation.

I've owned all these movies several times over and the absolute best copies and the ones I now go to when I wanna watch 'em are:

The Evil Dead: Anchor Bay BD
Evil Dead II: Lionsgate BD
Army of Darkness: MGM DVD

Here are a few more comparisons to let the original poster see the differences, including a comparison between the two US BDs for Evil Dead II:

http://caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleich..._button=Search

[motorheadache95]

Originally Posted by Sky_Captain

Because Ash is a f*** up and should never be allowed to have a happy ending.

Ever.

I agree with this. The theatrical ending is too happy-- I don't like that it is a clear-cut finale of Ash's troubles coming to an end.

This is all a matter of opinion, and I can see why some people prefer the theatrical ending, but definitely not me. Even if they don't ever make a follow-up, I prefer knowing Ash is still out there dealing with some horrible situation or another. I'm sadistic like that

[Kriztoffer Swank]

I love the theatrical ending, but every time I see it, it definitely feels somewhat tacked on—that is, it doesn't really look or feel much like the rest of the movie. It's close, but there's something about it that just doesn't gel well for me.

As for the mention earlier of the DC being cut oddly, I find certain edits in the theatrical version being really odd whenever I see it. The TC was the first version I ever saw of the movie, but I grew to love the DC much more. Whenever I see the TC now, it just feels weird; the hauntingly beautiful windmill sunset scene is gone, the goofy mini-Ashes scene feels heavily truncated, it doesn't look right when Ash doesn't shake his head around those few extra times when his face becomes distorted, the cool stop-motion effects when Ash is fighting his growing-out-of-the-side double is so cool to watch that the scene feels naked without it, etc.

The TC just often feels like unnecessary edits were made and it actually worsens the experience. I've even come to like the "I'm not that good" line over the other.

[phillychronicle1981]

Yes they are worth upgrading, they look great on blu i have evil dead 2 and army of darkness. I wanna get the first one but i heard that the limited edition is out of print, I don't know if thats true or not ?

[Inspector Toschi]

Anchor Bays Evil Dead 1 BD has one of the best 16mm transfers out there. You really won't see it looking any better anytime soon. IMO it's a perfect presentation of the film. It's one of my favorite transfers. I was as hesitant as anyone before seeing the Blu-ray, as I already owned 3 DVD editions of the film. But the transfer went above and beyond every expectation. Regarding the limited edition with the bonus DVD: the DVD has nothing exclusive on it. As others have pointed out, it's essentially a "best of" of the bonus features from the 3 disc DVD set. And that set is not hard to find nor expensive. Worth getting if you're into bonus features.

LionsGates re-release of Evil Dead 2 is also well worth it. Very film like and natural looking. Definitely a step up from previous DVD/BDs in terms of quality. Easily a purchase if you're a fan.

I haven't bought Army Of Darkness because the disc just doesn't look very good. While certainly a step up from the DVD, it can clearly look better. And lack of both cuts isn't very pleasing.

Don't hesitate in buying ED 1 & 2. They're well worth it.

[MykeHavoc]

Originally Posted by phillychronicle1981

Yes they are worth upgrading, they look great on blu i have evil dead 2 and army of darkness. I wanna get the first one but i heard that the limited edition is out of print, I don't know if thats true or not ?

The limited edition is. But you can still get the 1 disc BD and the 3 disc DVD for all the features (very cheap, too).

[Xyberfaust]

Didn't Sam and Bruce record a new audio commentary specially for the BluRay special features disc release? So it wouldn't be on the 3 Disc DVD would it?

[Rocky01542]

I have both the UK and US releases of the Evil Dead Trilogy on Blu-ray, and have watched and compared them all.

For the first movie, I advise getting the Limited Edition release by Anchor Bay or even the regular version I have if you don't care for the special features. If you don't want the full frame version of The Evil Dead, then I advise getting the Sony release from the UK as it has all the bonus features from the US release on the same disc as the movie, although only has the widescreen version of the film. I believe that some of the features on the disc are in HD too.

For the second film I recommend getting the 25th Anniversary Release from Lionsgate as it has a new transfer that looks great, unlike the shoddy releases that came out before it.

I compared both the Optimum (UK) and Universal (US) transfers of Army of Darkness, and the Optimum release has a slight edge over the Universal one. The Optimum release also has the Director's Cut on the disc as a bonus feature, unfortunately it is in SD. Overall the Optimum release has more bonus features than its Universal counterpart, as it also has an audio commentary with Sam, Ivan and Bruce (which isn't listed as being in the Universal release) and a few deleted scenes with commentary too. The Universal release only has the alternate ending present on the Optimum disc) and a HD feature called Creating the Deadites which isn't on the Optimum disc.

I'm sure that Army of Darkness will be re-released though, possibly by Scream Factory with the Director's Cut in HD along with a few other special features. It's just a shame that the International Cut will never be given the Blu-ray treatment as it's my preferred cut of the film.