Stephen King Collection - Riding the Bullet, Bag of Bones etc- 18/10/23 - Via Vision

[drush9999]

Got and watched the standard editions of Bag of Bones and Riding the Bullet recently. Both looked good, and having never seen them before, thought they were decent entertainment too.

[Raggady_jack]

I've only watched two from the set so far. I thought The Mist was great, but Riding The Bullet is easily the worst film I've seen this year (so far).

[The Mole]

Originally Posted by Raggady_jack

I've only watched two from the set so far. I thought The Mist was great, but Riding The Bullet is easily the worst film I've seen this year (so far).

As Mick Garris tells in the audio commentary/bonus interviews contained on the German DVD (not sure if they are the same on the Australian BD) one of the main financers backed out of the project and the German financer cut the remaining budget in half only days before production began. So considering the circumstances, Garris made the best of what was left of the money available to him.

[Alister_M]

Originally Posted by Anamnesis

oh dear, I was hoping to pick this up when the individual release comes out. I wonder where they got their master from.

It's the exact same master as the old Roadshow disc for the DC, I just did a comparison and they both have the same issues with pixelated credits, they both look 100% identical. The Theatrical is a port of the old German master, evidenced by the burnt-in "Zimmer 1408" title at the beginning. Still an upgrade considering the lack of a previous local TC release and the old Roadshow DC disc being faulty in the last 20 minutes while this one plays through without issue.

[the13thman]

Originally Posted by Filmmaker

It will be interesting to see if Via Vision uses the more natural, untouched print of the TV cut found on the German Blu-ray or the ugly degrained and sharpened “uprezz” version Kino just crapped out.

Which was it in the end?

[LMFAObros]

Originally Posted by Alister_M

It's the exact same master as the old Roadshow disc for the DC, I just did a comparison and they both have the same issues with pixelated credits, they both look 100% identical. The Theatrical is a port of the old German master, evidenced by the burnt-in "Zimmer 1408" title at the beginning. Still an upgrade considering the lack of a previous local TC release and the old Roadshow DC disc being faulty in the last 20 minutes while this one plays through without issue.

What exactly is wrong with the roadshow disc, what do you mean the last 20 mins plays up

[Alister_M]

Originally Posted by LMFAObros

What exactly is wrong with the roadshow disc, what do you mean the last 20 mins plays up

My copy just won't read past a certain point, on any player. Seems to be caused by a faulty batch of discs since others have apparently experienced the same fault. The first 95-odd minutes plays just fine, then it just freezes up and nothing past that point will play.

[LMFAObros]

Originally Posted by Alister_M

My copy just won't read past a certain point, on any player. Seems to be caused by a faulty batch of discs since others have apparently experienced the same fault. The first 95-odd minutes plays just fine, then it just freezes up and nothing past that point will play.

I will check my copy soon and see if this occurs

[Filmmaker]

Originally Posted by the13thman

Which was it in the end?

No idea. I won’t be buying it because there’s no way in hell it’ll be an improvement over the German and the best that can be hoped for is it’s equal to it (unlikely because spotty compression remains Via Vision’s Achilles heel). I’m just curious on behalf of those who can acquire the Via Vision more easily than the German edition.

[spawningblue]

Anyone know if these discs are region free? Mainly interested in Riding the Bullet, Bag of Bones, and 1408.