Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)

[Lukesablade]

Originally Posted by deckard82

yup, I'm very pleased with Capelight's German release as well. It looks great, sounds great and the mediabook looks really sweet too. And it's region free!

I have the u.s version but i always look for a region b/free friendly version of films that i love that are reagion a locked.

I love the way the mediabook looks but is the overall package worth the upgrade,picture,audio,extra's?

[deckard82]

Originally Posted by Lukesablade

I have the u.s version but i always look for a region b/free friendly version of films that i love that are reagion a locked.

I love the way the mediabook looks but is the overall package worth the upgrade,picture,audio,extra's?

http://caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleich...D=1078#auswahl

and on this page you'll find all the information you need regarding extras. It's a German site but you'll get the picture...

http://www.ofdb.de/view.php?page=fas...544&vid=340410

[Lukesablade]

Originally Posted by deckard82

http://caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleich...D=1078#auswahl

and on this page you'll find all the information you need regarding extras. It's a German site but you'll get the picture...

http://www.ofdb.de/view.php?page=fas...544&vid=340410

Cheers for that,it looks slightly better.

I will stick a order in with virus and contraband steelbook.

[Torsten Kaiser TLE]

Originally Posted by HDvision

Yes, the french disc is basically the US disc with a better encode, and all bonus features with french subtitles.

The german is entirely restored to the correct metrocolor timing (thus, superior picture even if it comes from the same original transfert), and offers the original german dub with about 25 mn of additional music incorporated into the movie, and enhancing it.

I'm not sure, but it might be that Carpenter was dissatisfied with the original music tracks on Assault, (there's about 22 minutes of music in the picture, different from every other Carpenter movie were music is about two third of the films), so he might have finished the job for the Music and Effects tracks sent to the german in 1979, since by then he was successfull with Halloween.

Then he might have forgotten about it when he went into his career.

My feeling is, this different soundtrack with 25mn of more music should be available / restored on all versions of the film as an optional track, including english language and french language and others. Also the correct color timing should be restored on all versions (US discs, french discs etc.)

I'm watching it right now, and it's awesome.

To clear something up: I do not know where the notion "Carpenter authorized music changes in the legacy German mono track" made back in 1979 comes from, but that account is everything but accurate. The changes were made only on the German mono track and solely on behalf of the German distributor alone, none of the other dubs made over the later years in any languange have it. Also, Carpenter made no such authorization, and was quite happy with the score setting and mix. He also would have had the opportunity later on several times to change things - he did not do so.

When we restored the legacy German mono track (there was another dub produced in 2004 that does NOT contain the "extra" music, which on the legacy mono track is simply a repetition of the main theme) we were (aside from the massive audio distortions and countless edits we had to make to synchrionize the track properly to the original length of the picture) faced with a choice re: the "extra" music: some of the adds were "standalone" and could be edited out - yet some others were mixed "shut" with dialogue on the married monoral track with no acceptable way to remove it possible. We therefore decided to leave the track in its mix as it was done back in 1979 by someone in the distribution chain in Germany, who evidently liked the music (a bit too much). Carpenter by that time had certainly no hand in it, and CKK (worldwide rightsholder) would not have minded, AoPr13 being a "tiny picture" to begin with, and they were eager to sell, with changes or not. It is, as I wrote in the booklet of the CAPELIGHT Collector's Book Edition, a testament of time. Unfortunate, but from the perpective of restoration and preservation, the right choise compared to cutting rather a few segments of the "extra" music out of the "frame".
By the way, to all who are, indeed, interested - the Collector's Book is limited, so it may not be around for a long(er) time.

[Daredevil666]

Thanks Torsten. Several germans fans have certainly spoken about it for years, and here is the first time we can sample on disc how this legendary dub was. I love this "alternate" version and it's great it's finally available on disc, as you say a testament of time.

It's worth noting that Escape from New York also had a silent scene "augmented" on the 5.1 remix on DVD in 2003 and in unprofessional way (you can hear the loops) whereas here, the mix is perfect. It's certainly a great anomaly worth owning to all Carpenter fans (plus the package is great).

[tenia]

So all in all, it is just a completely unofficial soundtrack, which comes nowhere from Carpenter himself, right ?

[Torrente]

And allow me to add that the transfer is not as good as mentioned in previous posts...
The colour timing is just boosted to the extreme (I don't like it but if you say it's been remastered and not just fiddled with... then I guess I will have to believe you) and it looks to me that someone messed up with the grain structure of the original master.
I just found some screen captures that would tend to prove that there are some issues with the grain or the compression of the disc (it certainly ain't pretty) here for example...

[Daredevil666]

Currently trying to get back to the source of the "Carpenter authorised / made changes on the soundtrack", which probably stems from early reviews of the german release of the film. I'm awaiting from a couple of German fans response on this.

It's the official german original dub, and all additions are from the main soundtrack, using Carpenter music.

One other notion could be that the german were sent an alternate M&E track by accident, so instead of an "after the fact" retool, it could be an earlier mix of the film.

Worth investigating into, since this is part of the movie history.

[Inspector Toschi]

Watched Capelight's disc over the weekend. And I just can't find a single instance where I prefer my Image copy. So far the only true negative I've read (Meaning I certainly didn't notice it) is some minor compression issues, which had to be still framed and zoomed in to proven via caps-a-holic. Apparently that single frame trumps an overall sharper image, more detail, better color, richer shadows, etc. Every cap shows the same improvement.

Look, I'm the last person who wants to double dip and spend more money to import a disc, but Capelight got it right. It is simply a beautiful image to watch. Flipping back & fourth between my two discs, there was no contemplating. No more weak shadows/color and no more blurred out details. I will happily be trading in my Image disc this week.

[Torrente]

Always nice to have the feelings of an owner
Always easy to spot compression issues in a single frame when pausing the movie than watching it "normally"... so I agree it probably is nothing closed to what you actually see in front of your TV.

But I just would like to correct you on something here, it's not a "zoom in" it's just a detail of an image, an excerpt. No zoom at all, the pic is the same size as the one you see in full resolution on your screen

[Mr.Dig]

The Capelight blu-ray is fantastic! Amazing PQ and AQ!
One of the best blu-rays in my collection. This is a big upgrade from the Image disc and comes highly recommended by me!

[L'armée des ombres]

Originally Posted by Inspector Toschi

Watched Capelight's disc over the weekend. And I just can't find a single instance where I prefer my Image copy. So far the only true negative I've read (Meaning I certainly didn't notice it) is some minor compression issues, which had to be still framed and zoomed in to proven via caps-a-holic. Apparently that single frame trumps an overall sharper image, more detail, better color, richer shadows, etc. Every cap shows the same improvement.

Look, I'm the last person who wants to double dip and spend more money to import a disc, but Capelight got it right. It is simply a beautiful image to watch. Flipping back & fourth between my two discs, there was no contemplating. No more weak shadows/color and no more blurred out details. I will happily be trading in my Image disc this week.

Could not agree more, well said Inspector
This is also one of the coolest package i've seen in a long time.

[Vakulinchuk]

blind-bought this while on a trip to Germany. So glad to hear it's well spent money!

[NoirFan]

Who knew John Carpenter was also a creator of hot azz old-skool hip-hop beatz:

Bomb The Bass - Megablast [HD] - YouTube

[Geoff D]

Ah, Bomb The Bass. When I first saw Precinct 13 I wondered why the music was so familiar...

[Logic 7]

Can anyone post or send me a scan of the cover? I would even love a custom cover

[The Great Owl]

I bought this recently when Barnes & Noble had a big sale.

I saw Assault on Precinct 13 on some cable channel when I was 11 years old, and that movie scared the daylights out of me at the time. For a year or so, I freaked out at the mere mention of street gangs, and I imagined that street gangs were running around outside whenever I heard tree noises, etc. Scares aside, though, I could not wait to watch that movie again, and I saw it every time it aired on some TV channel.

It's just a great flick, through and through. The music is great, Napoleon is an awesomely cool character, and it's always fun to see the most annoying cute little girl in the world get her comeuppance.

The Blu-ray has the same extras as the DVD edition from a few years back, but it's still a worthwhile purchase in every way.

[deepbreathsanddeath]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I bought this recently when Barnes & Noble had a big sale.

I saw Assault on Precinct 13 on some cable channel when I was 11 years old, and that movie scared the daylights out of me at the time. For a year or so, I freaked out at the mere mention of street gangs, and I imagined that street gangs were running around outside whenever I heard tree noises, etc. Scares aside, though, I could not wait to watch that movie again, and I saw it every time it aired on some TV channel.

It's just a great flick, through and through. The music is great, Napoleon is an awesomely cool character, and it's always fun to see the most annoying cute little girl in the world get her comeuppance.

The Blu-ray has the same extras as the DVD edition from a few years back, but it's still a worthwhile purchase in every way.

Right there with you man. Assault on Precinct 13 scared the crap out of me too and still does make me feel a bit uneasy to this day. Really effective and suspenseful movie. True, but just look at escape from new york. Didn't get any of it's excellent special features ported over so at least that's something, right?

I ordered the German release just now.

[Logic 7]

Still looking for a cover scan for this movie.

[Millibar]

What chance for a UK release?

If not it looks like the German issue. I don't speak German so the question to others who bought this is how does this impact on the booklet?

Is the text German only?