Tenebrae (1982) / Phenomena (1985)

[Mahadeva]

Originally Posted by Christian Muth

but it pops up in other places too (for example, after

[Show spoiler]the arm amputation, as Jane is backing up into the little cubby area and turns around facing the killer, her nostrils keep disappearing during the shot! Go through it frame-by-frame you'll see what I mean

).
Chris

I have the Arrow disc, the new one and your described issue with disappearing nostrils is not there.

[Brian81]

Originally Posted by Christian Muth

I agree that the Wild Side master of TENEBRAE mostly looks great. The major issue is some aggressive automated dirt/scratch removal artifacts. The worst of these is when Peter Neil is ripping open the second letter from the killer, but it pops up in other places too (for example, after

[Show spoiler]the arm amputation, as Jane is backing up into the little cubby area and turns around facing the killer, her nostrils keep disappearing during the shot! Go through it frame-by-frame you'll see what I mean

). Synapse is trying to correct these as best they can, and is also trying to get the English-language insert shots.

Chris

That's great news, I was wondering about these artifacts and whether they'd be corrected. Does anyone know if the new Arrow released fixed these? I'm sure they were aware of them, as Lyris's brother brought the issue to everyone's attention on the Land of Whimsy website after the French disc was released.

[Brian81]

Originally Posted by RiFiFi1955

The Anchor Bay DVD looks terrible on any screen.

Not a 20" CRT.

It looked good back when it was first released. But that was 13 years ago.

[RiFiFi1955]

Originally Posted by Brian81

Not a 20" CRT.

It looked good back when it was first released. But that was 13 years ago.

Yeah that is the nature of the beast. 13 years ago I was quite content with that quality on a medium sized CRT but man have things changed. I used to never even question how the PQ looked, just watched the film...the only time I noticed was when it was exceptionally bad.

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by Brian81

Too bad that the Anchor Bay DVD looks terrible on a large screen.

Yeah, the detail sucks, but the blu-rays are just hideous. The DNR is insane and the colors were changed horrendously. I'd take the low detail over what they did with those.

Here are some good articles about Suspiria from a big fan, tons of screencaps and comparisons:

http://whiggles.landofwhimsy.com/arc...mpression.html

http://whiggles.landofwhimsy.com/arc...vandalism.html

http://whiggles.landofwhimsy.com/arc...pressions.html

http://whiggles.landofwhimsy.com/arc...e_colours.html

Great to hear Synapse is doing a new scan, sounds like someone will finally do this movie justice!

[RiFiFi1955]

I think Brian81 was referring to Anchor Bay's release of Tenebrae. Suspiria has solid DVD releases thankfully.

[skyofcrack]

Originally Posted by Christian Muth

If Synapse corrects the DNR artifacts as they plan to, it should be the best version of TENEBRAE in the world when it's released. Hopefully they can track down a high-quality source for an HD transfer of the English-language inserts, as well.

I'd like to see a menu option where you can choose to watch the film either with English or Italian inserts.

[kidglov3s]

Originally Posted by skyofcrack

I'd like to see a menu option where you can choose to watch the film either with English or Italian inserts.

If it's gonna be $50+ it'd be nice to have an option for all the different cuts of each film, including Unsane/Creepers too.

[Lyle_JP]

Originally Posted by kidglov3s

If it's gonna be $50+ it'd be nice to have an option for all the different cuts of each film, including Unsane/Creepers too.

Ordinarily, I'm all for alternate cuts being available. But I don't want the abomination known as "Creepers" adding one dollar to the price of this blu. It's absolutely NOT worth it.

[Brian81]

Originally Posted by RiFiFi1955

I think Brian81 was referring to Anchor Bay's release of Tenebrae. Suspiria has solid DVD releases thankfully.

No, I was actually speaking about Suspiria. I tried watching it recently on a front projection setup and it looked pretty ugly. Didn't look that way on an old CRT. It's just given it's 2.35:1 and a DVD.

I have Tenebre (Anchor Bay) also....that one was non-anamorphic - I don't even want to try it!

[dickdarlington]

Originally Posted by Lyle_JP

Ordinarily, I'm all for alternate cuts being available. But I don't want the abomination known as "Creepers" adding one dollar to the price of this blu. It's absolutely NOT worth it.

I am not going to lie, I would love to see Synapse put all three variations of the film on the set:

1. The original Italian cut.
2. The "extended" cut found on past DVD and Blu-ray releases (and can easily be done with seamless branching between the Italian cut).
3. The US cut.

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by Brian81

That's great news, I was wondering about these artifacts and whether they'd be corrected. Does anyone know if the new Arrow released fixed these? I'm sure they were aware of them, as Lyris's brother brought the issue to everyone's attention on the Land of Whimsy website after the French disc was released.

I don't know about the disappearing nostrils (!) but the glitch when Peter's opening up the letter is still there.

[Christian Muth]

Originally Posted by Mahadeva

I have the Arrow disc, the new one and your described issue with disappearing nostrils is not there.

It's on the French Blu-ray and the original HDCAM-SR master, so maybe Arrow corrected it like Synapse is doing.

Chris

[Mahadeva]

Originally Posted by Christian Muth

It's on the French Blu-ray and the original HDCAM-SR master, so maybe Arrow corrected it like Synapse is doing.

Chris

I must apologise, the nostril issue is indeed on the Arrow release. But again it took me 4 or 5 viewings to notice it. It's not visisble if you don't know about it and only the right nostril of the actress vanishes. If that and the letter scene problem are the issues that Synapse are going to correct and release Tenebrae as a steelbook asking $45 like Demons BDs I'll pass because the Arrow release is a solid one.

[Kriztoffer Swank]

caps-a-holic added Arrow's steelbook to their list of comparisons.

http://caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleich...hd_multiID=185

Direct comparison with French (Wild Side) disc.

[Christian Muth]

So it looks like the Arrow is darker and flesh tones are shifted towards the red.

Chris

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by Christian Muth

So it looks like the Arrow is darker and flesh tones are shifted towards the red.

Chris

Yup, the Arrow steelbook obviously uses the same transfer as the French blu-ray, but Arrow darkened it for some bizarre reason. The French release looked just fine. I don't know why Arrow tends to darken their transfers. Compare Arrow's release of Phantom of the Paradise to the French release. There's a major difference in color as well (Arrow looks awful in that regard), but Arrow also went way too dark with their transfer. The French release is bright and colorful, yet has excellent black levels when needed. I hate when a transfer ends up too dark. Roger Ebert wrote an article long ago about theatres dimming their projector bulbs to try and extend the life of the bulbs, and how it's resulting in dim, under-brightened presentations. It's the same result when these transfers end up darker than they should be. I shouldn't have to bump up my backlight and throw things off just to compensate for a dark print. Shame Arrow didn't just do a straight transfer of the French release instead of tweaking it. I'm not saying Arrow always does this. But this time they felt the need to tweak it for some reason.

I'm not noticing the red shift though. The colors do look slightly deeper but that may be because the image is a tad bit darker.

[Philly Q]

Maybe Arrow's dark new transfer was a reaction to the excessive brightness of some of their own older transfers?

Oh well, we'll have the Synapse version eventually. I've already got 7 or 8 versions of the film on DVD and Blu-ray, I'll keep on buying 'em....

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by Philly Q

Maybe Arrow's dark new transfer was a reaction to the excessive brightness of some of their own older transfers?

Oh well, we'll have the Synapse version eventually. I've already got 7 or 8 versions of the film on DVD and Blu-ray, I'll keep on buying 'em....

That's not a bad theory. Some of their previous releases were indeed too bright. In this case, they should have seen that the French release is perfect as it was in terms of brightness.

[Brian81]

Originally Posted by mar3o

Yup, the Arrow steelbook obviously uses the same transfer as the French blu-ray, but Arrow darkened it for some bizarre reason. The French release looked just fine. I don't know why Arrow tends to darken their transfers. Compare Arrow's release of Phantom of the Paradise to the French release. There's a major difference in color as well (Arrow looks awful in that regard), but Arrow also went way too dark with their transfer. The French release is bright and colorful, yet has excellent black levels when needed. I hate when a transfer ends up too dark. Roger Ebert wrote an article long ago about theatres dimming their projector bulbs to try and extend the life of the bulbs, and how it's resulting in dim, under-brightened presentations. It's the same result when these transfers end up darker than they should be. I shouldn't have to bump up my backlight and throw things off just to compensate for a dark print. Shame Arrow didn't just do a straight transfer of the French release instead of tweaking it. I'm not saying Arrow always does this. But this time they felt the need to tweak it for some reason.

I'm not noticing the red shift though. The colors do look slightly deeper but that may be because the image is a tad bit darker.

I wouldn't say Arrow darkens their transfers. Their release of Dressed to Kill and several others are a tad brighter than the US releases. Body Snatchers, that was the other one. No biggie.