The Exorcist: The Complete Anthology (1973-2005)

[SymbioticFunction]

Originally Posted by ditcin

It would have mattered even it III had actually been released in stead of II after the original - it still wouldn't have been what the audience of the day wanted - more shocks and masturbation.

I don't think Heretic was badly received upon release due to a lack of "shocks and masturbation." The basic problem was that the audience simply found the film unintentionally funny with a large number of silly or cringeworthy sequences and some very poor choices of dialogue. And it's not just the 1977 audience that feels that way. I didn't see the film until it arrived on dvd, and had the same experience.

Yes, the film has technical merit...but damn it sure is ridiculous. It's a complete misfire from the director of highly rated films such as Point Blank, Deliverance and Excalibur. I'd be highly surprised if this website's eventual box-set review gave Boorman's movie a favourable film score. The film is widely considered to be one of the worst big-budget films ever made. You do the 1977 audience a huge disservice.

Edit: And I think Legion would have been more successful at the box office if the Exorcist brand name hadn't already been tarnished by the badly received second entry.

Blatty: “I begged them when they were considering titles not to name it Exorcist anything, because Exorcist II was a disaster beyond imagination. You can’t call it Exorcist III because people will shun the box office. But they went and named it Exorcist III, then they called me after the third week when we were beginning to fade at the box office and they said ‘We’ll tell you the reason, it’s gonna hurt, you’re not gonna like this – the reason is Exorcist II.’ I couldn’t believe it! They had total amnesia about my warnings!”

[Pieter V]

Exorcist III Review

[PowellPressburger]

Originally Posted by Pieter V

Exorcist III Review

Ouch! I didn't think the image quality would be awesome but I was expecting better than this. I think as I said before II will look better then III. Hopefully the review for II will be up today.

[slimdude]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

Ouch! I didn't think the image quality would be awesome but I was expecting better than this. I think as I said before II will look better then III. Hopefully the review for II will be up today.

I take all reviews with a grain of salt, and I certainly do not rely on reviews, and screenshots as my buying factor! All reviews, are based on personal opinion of the reviewer. I am my own best judge, and I want to see how the blu-ray movies look and sound on my home theater, not on everybody else's A/V equipment.

[SymbioticFunction]

Disappointing scores for Legion. Film deserves better.

[slimdude]

Originally Posted by SymbioticFunction

Disappointing scores for Legion. Film deserves better.

Before you, and everybody else jump to conclusions, why don't you wait, and see the blu-ray movie for yourself.

[PowellPressburger]

Originally Posted by slimdude

Before you, and everybody else jump to conclusions, why don't you wait, and see the blu-ray movie for yourself.

Don't worry I still watch the discs but I like to hear what others think also. It clearly isn't reference quality by any means. But I don't regret the purchase at all. I have E2+E3 coming tomorrow along with my Halloween box set.

[Marv Inc.]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

Ouch! I didn't think the image quality would be awesome but I was expecting better than this. I think as I said before II will look better then III. Hopefully the review for II will be up today.

II looks worse than III to me.

[PowellPressburger]

Originally Posted by Marv Inc.

II looks worse than III to me.

Oh nooooo. Thanks for the heads up. I just figured II would have a sharper image then III. Oh well will still be fun Saturday nite movie fun.

I actually may watch III before part II since they really have nothing in common. In fact you could watch 1 then 3 and part 2 as the "midnite movie"

[Dylan34]

It's bullshit that Warners puts all their catalog titles on BD-25s. I didn't expect 4k scans for the sequels like the orginal received but, I expected them to at least be put on BD-50s with a decent bitrate. It seems like blu-ray transfers get worse and worse!!

[HeavyHitter]

Agreed, it is very disappointing Warner is reducing the quality and using BD25s.

[bigshot]

I learned long ago not to judge quality by bitrate. I have good transfers with lower bitrates and bad ones with high.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by bigshot

I learned long ago not to judge quality by bitrate. I have good transfers with lower bitrates and bad ones with high.

The reviewer noted digital grain/artifacts which is an all too common effect of trying to constrain a video encode to tight levels.

[Marv Inc.]

Hopefully Warner will one day licence Exorcist II & III to another company.

[Luke B.]

I would like to see a picture from the back of the cover for the individual release of Exorcist II and from the Scene Selection menu too.
Can anyone tell me if Regan's Theme plays on the main menu? On the dvd it plays.
Are the trailer and teaser in HD?

[The Fallen Deity]

Originally Posted by Pieter V

Exorcist III Review

It looks like a nice upgrade over the DVD release.

Granted it's not jaw droppingly amazing looking but it doesn't look terrible either.

[The Fallen Deity]

Originally Posted by Dylan34

It's bullshit that Warners puts all their catalog titles on BD-25s. I didn't expect 4k scans for the sequels like the orginal received but, I expected them to at least be put on BD-50s with a decent bitrate. It seems like blu-ray transfers get worse and worse!!

In fairness though I'd be really concerned if there were loads of extras on the disc.

But considering that there's only the movie itself and a SD trailer, the compression shouldn't be that bad.

[Dylan34]

Originally Posted by The Fallen Deity

In fairness though I'd be really concerned if there were loads of extras on the disc.

But considering that there's only the movie itself and a SD trailer, the compression shouldn't be that bad.

I understand that. I'm just tired of the lackluster transfers and the care that goes into them. Warners always compresses the video with the lowest bitrate possible to avoid artifacts. According to the review, this time they didn't succeed with E3 having digital noise over top the image. It not just Warner Brothers putting out crappy transfers. Its almost every other studio as well besides Sony not giving a darn about their back catalog. Universal being the worst offenders of DNR/EE because of using old, dated, DVD Era masters.

[Bumblefeet]

Isn't it possible that these transfers are still leftovers from when Warner did their first high definition scan of their titles for laserdisc and later dvd releases? A lot of their titles that saw releases on dvd seemed to suffer from this (do correct me if I'm wrong here). Like Dylan said "DVD era masters". With the exception of Dominion and Exorcist Beginning which obviously had newer transfers (the italian blu-ray looked pretty good) and of course the cash cow Exorcist release which did get the care parts II & III should have as well.

[crutzulee]

Has anyone even received a shipping confirmation from amazon.ca? I've never actually preordered anything before and will be pissed off if I could have just walked into best buy or futureshop on release day and picked this up...