Tenebrae (1982) / Phenomena (1985)

[dsman71]

Demons 1& 2 and Tenebre (Tenebrae ?) for me...
I wonder if Don has Opera or Suspiria ?

[zbinks]

Originally Posted by AKORIS

oops--- I meant HANDS OF THE RIPPER!!!


I know TWINS OF EVIL was great-- I own it!!

...and Countess Dracula.

[Kriztoffer Swank]

URRRGGHHHH, I just bought the French BD for Tenebrae not long ago. Wasn't impressed with the Arrow release so was willing to put up with forced subtitles to have better picture quality.

I do have Arrow's Phenomena and it's pretty good but could definitely be improved upon.

Picking up both for sure day one. The Demons flicks I'll probably grab too.


Edit: Maybe someone more knowledgeable on the subject could correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Argento shoot footage of the "Tenebrae" (the book in the film) pages in both English and Italian? (Or maybe that was Inferno or some other film.) I hope the Synapse disc will use seamless branching to show the appropriate footage depending on which language track you select, that is of course if both can be acquired in HD.

[stylesclash516]

This is awesome news! I am always a big supporter of more Argento movies being released on Blu-ray. Although, I thought Blue Underground was all over the Argento movies. Has Blue Underground just given up recently?

[Kriztoffer Swank]

Considering BU's releases weren't always optimal (great encoding but not always sourced from great masters), I'm happy to see Synapse stepping up to the plate.

[benricci]

Originally Posted by stylesclash516

This is awesome news! I am always a big supporter of more Argento movies being released on Blu-ray. Although, I thought Blue Underground was all over the Argento movies. Has Blue Underground just given up recently?

Blue Undergound has never had the rights to these two Argento films, they've been with Anchor Bay for the past 15 years. Although both companies (AB and BU) have seemingly given up at this point. To be fair, though, AB gave up when it came to horror catalog at least 6 or 7 years ago...

[stylesclash516]

Originally Posted by benricci

Blue Undergound has never had the rights to these two Argento films, they've been with Anchor Bay for the past 15 years. Although both companies (AB and BU) have seemingly given up at this point. To be fair, though, AB gave up when it came to horror catalog at least 6 or 7 years ago...

I know BU didn't have the rights I was just saying I'm surprised they didn't buy the rights already. It seemed like BU was on a roll releasing Blu-ray's left and right then it all of a sudden stopped. Either way I'm glad Synapse is still going strong.

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by Kriztoffer Swank

URRRGGHHHH, I just bought the French BD for Tenebrae not long ago. Wasn't impressed with the Arrow release so was willing to put up with forced subtitles to have better picture quality.

I do have Arrow's Phenomena and it's pretty good but could definitely be improved upon.

Picking up both for sure day one. The Demons flicks I'll probably grab too.


Edit: Maybe someone more knowledgeable on the subject could correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Argento shoot footage of the "Tenebrae" (the book in the film) pages in both English and Italian? (Or maybe that was Inferno or some other film.) I hope the Synapse disc will use seamless branching to show the appropriate footage depending on which language track you select, that is of course if both can be acquired in HD.

and I just recently bought the Arrow releases of Tenebrae and Phenomena - bad timing...

[Kentai]

Originally Posted by Monroville

IWhat is weird is that the Arrow release of PHENOMENA looks fantastic, but their TENEBRAE looks like crap (especially compared to Wild Side's release).

Phenomena looks... okay. A hell of a lot better than the usual LVR scanner-noise assault, to be sure, but there's notable DVNR based smearing, and I never thought the resolution on the Arrow release was all that hot. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad, just not stellar either, and I have little doubt that an unmolested scan would yield a sharper, more pleasant image.

I'm lind of more concerned with the sound on PHENOMENA, to be honest; the music is in slightly different spots between the shorter English "Export" and longer Italian-dubbed "Integral" versions, so the only way to create a complete, seamless cut in English (as was done for DEEP RED) would be to go back to both the English and Italian three-track masters, creating a new mix from the ground up that, essentially, places the English dialog tracks on top of the Italian music and effects tracks. This would be difficult work, but if Synapse can pull it off, I think we'll finally have the definitive version of a film that's had a ridiculously complicated track record on DVD.


As for TENEBRE, there are indeed both English and Italian close-ups of the novel, depending on which language the original credits are in. I'd love to see both seamlessly branched ala Arrow Video's release of ZOMBIE FLESH-EATERS, but even getting one set as a bonus feature would be a nice touch.

I honestly have no complaints on either the audio or video front with the French Wild Side release (forced subs aside!), so I'm not certain what Synapse hopes to improve upon there.

[Kriztoffer Swank]

Originally Posted by benricci

To be fair, though, AB gave up when it came to horror catalog at least 6 or 7 years ago...

AB pop up every now and again. They released Troma's Mother's Day just a few months ago, and the Redline anime a while before that.

But yeah, I haven't heard of anything steady coming from them, and I think I heard they weren't interested in selling catalog titles.

Oddly enough, Blu-ray.com says they're handling Django Unchained? Somehow seems like a strange choice for distributor, but I suppose they have a lot of money.

[bgart13]

I'm curious who is going to be scanning these in Italy - I can't imagine the materials were shipped to the US for Don to oversee himself.

[Kentai]

Originally Posted by bgart13

I'm curious who is going to be scanning these in Italy - I can't imagine the materials were shipped to the US for Don to oversee himself.

If he was willing to pay to have new IPs made from the negatives, they'd have no problem shipping those overseas. Arrow Video also got Variety Film to send the ZOMBI 2 negative to Technicolor in London, so shipping an OCN outside the country isn't always out of the question.

My guess is Synapse will be working from HDCAM, not 35mm, but we'll just have to wait and see.

[Oscar Rothman]

Originally Posted by The Mhael

I will gladly take all four

Now I need a good version of suspiria...

+1. Suspiria is, in my view anyway, one of the greatest horror films ever made.

[Member-222782]

I would be great if Synapse also had OPERA, THE CHURCH or STAGEFRIGHT. I've bought Phenomena and Tenebrae so many times I'm having a hard time jumping for joy. Probably just get Phenomena IF it's a major improvement over Arrow's release.

[Philly Q]

Looking forward to these, the Arrow Phenomena is OK but Tenebrae was very disappointing, and I can't bear the forced subs on the French Blu-ray.

I've always been pleased with Synapse's DVDs and Blu-rays in the past, so fingers crossed they'll do a good job here.

[nagysaudio]

Synapse, you guys MUST release both cuts of Phenomena (Creepers).

[BluLamp]

Originally Posted by Kentai

I'm lind of more concerned with the sound on PHENOMENA, to be honest; the music is in slightly different spots between the shorter English "Export" and longer Italian-dubbed "Integral" versions, so the only way to create a complete, seamless cut in English (as was done for DEEP RED) would be to go back to both the English and Italian three-track masters, creating a new mix from the ground up that, essentially, places the English dialog tracks on top of the Italian music and effects tracks. This would be difficult work, but if Synapse can pull it off, I think we'll finally have the definitive version of a film that's had a ridiculously complicated track record on DVD.

I'm dying to finally see the extended cuts of both TENEBRAE and PHENOMENA. Let's hope they go above and beyond like they did with DEATH DORM. That title was certainly in a sorry state before they got hold of it and they did a phenomenal job with the materials at their disposal (especially on the audio front). Hopefully they'd work just as hard on the Argento titles, which would make sense as they have more of a built in fan base.

[BluPat]

I love Dario Argento's films. I have the Arrow releases of 'Tenebre' and 'Phenomena' and they are Region 0. They have wonderful packaging. And for about $20 US, you can't complain. But, with that being said, I want these Synapse releases as well.

Too bad Synapse couldn't get 'Suspiria'. Who owns that anyway, Weinstein Company? Hopefully it will be coming soon since the remake is going ahead.

[Undeadcow]

I don't have anything to add to the conversation other than to frantically express my enthusiasm that Synapse Films snagged the rights to these classics (). I already own the Arrow editions of Tenebre and Phenomena but don't care... Synapse Films does great work and I can't wait for these to come out. Same with Demons 1/2. These guys are on a roll. I can't wait to see what they'll output next ().

...Hands of the Ripper and Countess Dracula can wait; but I'd like those too ().

Originally Posted by BluLamp

Let's hope they go above and beyond like they did with DEATH DORM.

I have no doubt they will go above and beyond. These are the people who remastered Texas Chainsaw Massacre, created a new stereo track for Red Scorpion, have brough many genre favorites to media (Wild Zero!), and have chanced quality releases of even less popular titles (The Image).

[UniSol GR77]

I'm Italian, and I can sure you the ORIGINAL cut of PHENOMENA is the real deal. Very frightening movie, and sure as hell the powers of the lead character were original and innovative and made the movie ahead of its time.