Halloween 4K UHD (1978)

[Win Slow]

I checked out the first half last night and was pretty impressed. Alot of nice detail, the colors were quite vivid & the HDR really shined. Never saw the film look this good. I have seen the movie a million times & the audio issues other mention are noticeable but i did not feel they ruined the experience. Definitely worth the pick up

[KazzPetrelli]

Originally Posted by samlop10

Thanks! I appreciate that. Hope it helps some people decide whether to get it or not.

Never had in Blu-ray format, so already pre-ordered this, thanks man!

[gunnerg]

Found a slip cover at my Wal-Mart this morning, they had 6, with 5 copies severely scuffed on the black face boarder. 1 keeper, yay!! Can't wait until Friday to get a chance to see it!

[JPLeon]

Originally Posted by BluProofie

The THX DVD was revisionist. Literally no other version of the film including original prints I’ve seen has looked like that. It was done by a colorist and Cundey wasn’t involved, he just “approved” it. He was personally involved in the 35th Anniversary release.

I hope there is more people like you that knows and understands this.

[Member-167298]

A lot of people do not realize that Halloween has the distinct honor of being preserved by the US Library of Congress National Film Registry as an example of American culture and film history.

I teach a film course where I have created a curriculum directly based on films from the NFR. While preparing an upcoming lesson on Halloween, I came across this short essay from the National Film Registry website that I felt I would share.

https://www.loc.gov/programs/static/.../halloween.pdf

I want to emphasize that the mission of the NFR is to preserve the original physical theatrical film elements for future generations, which makes Lionsgate's decision to leave the original theatrical audio mix off of the new 4K UHD even more of an abhorrent oversight. Feel free to mention that to Lionsgate if you happen to contact them.

[bradnoyes]

I frickin' knew it. Even though my Best Buy order shipped last Monday I won't be getting mine until tomorrow. The irony is that I shipped the order in the hope that I might finally be one of the lucky ones who gets their copy early, and I'm going into BB today to pick up Solo, which I'm less excited to see. Oh well. It's too damn sunny here for Halloween anyways. Hopefully tomorrow will be appropriately cloudy and depressing for a Halloween viewing.

[skads_187]

Originally Posted by gates70

Ok thanks. Must be the handshaking with my projector or something. Played fine on my Sony and TV.

amazon.ca right? did you get a slipcover? mine is waiting for me at home, can only check tonight. I wish I received it by purolator. I have already tried blocking intelcom, but amazon keeps using them even after all my complaints. it is what it is I guess.

[lilboyblu]

Originally Posted by Brentmadison

Is it confirmed no amazon copies will have the slipcover ?

I don't believe anybody said that.

[Croweyes1121]

Originally Posted by BluProofie

The THX DVD was revisionist. Literally no other version of the film including original prints I’ve seen has looked like that. It was done by a colorist and Cundey wasn’t involved, he just “approved” it. He was personally involved in the 35th Anniversary release.

To be fair, no version ever looked quite like the 35th anniversary grade, either, until that was released. I don’t know many people these days who are still arguing that the 1999 color grade *isn’t* revisionist in nature...but, frankly, so is the 35th grade. I’ve owned Halloween on every format from VHS, to the Criterion CAV laser, the original, Divimax and limited DVD’s, and the previous blu-rays, and the film never looked like the 35th until the 35th disc.

I honestly wish people would stop trying to push one color grade over the other, or tell people they’re wrong for a preference. At this point, none of these color interpretations are exactly how the movie looked in 1978. And even if the UHD represented that 100%, I would STILL personally like the 1999 grade for the mood it creates when watching the film. That doesn’t make me wrong, or anyone else who prefers that version wrong. I prefer the original mono, and find the remixes incredibly distracting. But some people prefer the 7.1. And good on them. They’re not wrong, they just have a different preference.

[Martoto]

Originally Posted by Croweyes1121

To be fair, no version ever looked quite like the 35th anniversary grade, either, until that was released. I don’t know many people these days who are still arguing that the 1999 color grade *isn’t* revisionist in nature...but, frankly, so is the 35th grade. I’ve owned Halloween on every format from VHS, to the Criterion CAV laser, the original, Divimax and limited DVD’s, and the previous blu-rays, and the film never looked like the 35th until the 35th disc.

I honestly wish people would stop trying to push one color grade over the other, or tell people they’re wrong for a preference. At this point, none of these color interpretations are exactly how the movie looked in 1978. And even if the UHD reoresented that 100%, I would STILL personally like the 1999 grade for the mood it creates when watching the film. That doesn’t make me wrong, or anyone else who prefers that version wrong. I prefer the original mono, and find the remixes incredibly distracting. But some people prefer the 7.1. And good on them. They’re not wrong, they just have a different preference.

I haven't seen anybody claim their preferred version is correct where the THX is wrong. Occasionally you get people claiming this is what it looked like in 1978/79. But nobody is taking them seriously.

The THX, having been many people's preferred version for about ten years, is most often held up as the reference point for claims of "botched", "completely desaturated", "colourless", "revisionist".

It's remarkable that the UHD is essentially an intentional port of the 35th BD restoration onto UHD with HDR, and there is no apparent desire or attempt to revise the look from the previous release.

We're onto our third BD and first 4K BD and yet the twenty year old THX DVD keeps getting brought up as if it's unanimously considered the de facto benchmark. We get it. Some people really like it. But they ought to take the hint. Not that it shouldn't be their preference. But that its relevance in the HD conversation has long since been reduced while its prominence has remained unduly high.

[Croweyes1121]

Point taken, and agreed. I will say that the 1999 looks closer to me to how the film always looked PRIOR to 1999 than the 2013 version. That’s the main reason why I prefer it. Not because I think one is any more accurate than the other, but because one better represents how I recall seeing the film for years on home video. Admittedly, that’s a preference that has more to do with personal nostalgia than accurate film preservation, but it is what it is.

[brian9229]

Still going on about the color timing of a 20 year old DVD, good god, talk about beating a poor horse to death.

[Martoto]

That horse has been glue to me for years.

[bradnoyes]

The number of horses beaten to death in this thread vastly outnumbers the body count in the movie itself.

[SonSon III]

Originally Posted by Win Slow

I checked out the first half last night and was pretty impressed. Alot of nice detail, the colors were quite vivid & the HDR really shined. Never saw the film look this good. I have seen the movie a million times & the audio issues other mention are noticeable but i did not feel they ruined the experience. Definitely worth the pick up

The colors were quite vivid? Lol.

Someone go take a screen capture of an original 1986 LD, look at 35mm slides or prints that still have good color, images on the back of releases, color press photos, A THX DVD, A 2007 DVD....

35th Anniversary is drab, dreary & washed out compared to all at best. If the original intention was to leave the daytime colors as anemic and have an uncomfortably digitally sun-faded look, in 2013 the mission was accomplished and then some.

[grodd]

For those curious the Criterion Laserdisc is far closer to the current 35 anniversary transfer than the THX DVD.

Not sure if I am allowed to post to other forums or not but check out the original trilogy comparison thread under Halloween.

[Show spoiler]https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Halloween-spoRv-BD-25-RELEASED/id/16073/page/10

[YouGotMeFeelingBlu]

This in store anywhere?

[Martoto]

Originally Posted by SonSon III

The colors were quite vivid? Lol.

Someone go take a screen capture of an original 1986 LD, look at 35mm slides or prints that still have good color, images on the back of releases, color press photos, A THX DVD, A 2007 DVD....

And people have used "wrong", "colourless", "not autumnal" when comparing each of those to each other... It just proves that people tend to use those dialectics whatever the margins or provenance

[Ruined]

You know there is nothing wrong with owning multiple color grades of the same film. When there is a film when each grade has its benefits I often do this. Its often impossible to get down to what true intention is/was, especially as intention sometimes appears to change over time.

[SonSon III]

Originally Posted by grodd

For those curious the Criterion Laserdisc is far closer to the current 35 anniversary transfer than the THX DVD.

Not sure if I am allowed to post to other forums or not but check out the original trilogy comparison thread under Halloween.

[Show spoiler]https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Halloween-spoRv-BD-25-RELEASED/id/16073/page/10

We all knew that Cundy was going for something different with the THX. This time around I feel like Cundy was trying to do right but went a bit too far. The Criterion LD still has nice blue skies, lush greens etc. I’m also curious about an original 1985 MEDIA LD vs 1996 Criterion LD comparison.