Suspiria (Dario Argento)

[Akijama]

Apparently, '84 Entertainment will be releasing a new restoration of Suspiria. Torsten Kaiser and TLEFilms are behind the restoration. No word on release date as yet.

Here's the article http://www.dvd-forum.at/news-details...d-restaurieren

[Prim]

Originally Posted by Akijama

Apparently, '84 Entertainment will be releasing a new restoration of Suspiria. Torsten Kaiser and TLEFilms are behind the restoration. No word on release date as yet.

Here's the article http://www.dvd-forum.at/news-details...d-restaurieren

I'm all over this.

[Mr. Thomsen]

Interesting! So now we have two competing upcoming restorations - a German from Torsten Kaiser and TLEFilms and an American as announced by Don May Jr. from Synapse.

[deepbreathsanddeath]

Synapse's may not be getting released until 2015 (although 2014 does seem more likely...). I think I may need to consider getting this German release if its an affordable wide release.

[Christian Muth]

From an English-translation of that link: "Suspiria" has not yet been published in an optimal form. '84 Now has Torsten Kaiser of TLEFilms commissioned to create a new version based on the Italian HD version because the original wheels* are now under lock and may no longer be edited."

Torsten does great work but unfortunately this still seems to be based off the same existing HD master from 2007. A lot of the problems are "baked into" that master, it will be interesting to see exactly what they can do with it.

Chris

* I'm assuming "wheels" is just a wonky internet translation for the original film elements.

[Mansinthe]

Originally Posted by Christian Muth

* I'm assuming "wheels" is just a wonky internet translation for the original film elements.

Originalrollen

yep you are right with that.

[UFOX]

Suspiria is the best Italian horrormovie of its time,
A classic with a great soundtrack!!

[BAKA]

Originally Posted by Christian Muth

Torsten does great work but unfortunately this still seems to be based off the same existing HD master from 2007. A lot of the problems are "baked into" that master, it will be interesting to see exactly what they can do with it.

Torsten doesn't seem to believe to problems were 'baked into' the master. He states that the existing HD Master isn't the problem, and that a lot of the damage was done at various levels during post processing. He also mentions some interesting things regarding the OCN and 35mm film elements too, which has me curious about Synapse's release (Which we know is getting a new scan from the original negative. I wonder what changed the licensors minds?). The full translation of his post is over at Cult Labs courtesy of zane, for anyone interested in reading.

[Mr. Thomsen]

Very interesting! Thanks for the links, BAKA!

[bgart13]

Originally Posted by BAKA

Torsten doesn't seem to believe to problems were 'baked into' the master. He states that the existing HD Master isn't the problem, and that a lot of the damage was done at various levels during post processing. He also mentions some interesting things regarding the OCN and 35mm film elements too, which has me curious about Synapse's release (Which we know is getting a new scan from the original negative. I wonder what changed the licensors minds?). The full translation of his post is over at Cult Labs courtesy of zane, for anyone interested in reading.

I was wondering if Synapse would really need to do a whole new scan, or if the original one would be suitable to work on. Interesting, indeed. Thanks!

[Christian Muth]

Originally Posted by BAKA

Torsten doesn't seem to believe to problems were 'baked into' the master. He states that the existing HD Master isn't the problem, and that a lot of the damage was done at various levels during post processing. He also mentions some interesting things regarding the OCN and 35mm film elements too, which has me curious about Synapse's release (Which we know is getting a new scan from the original negative. I wonder what changed the licensors minds?). The full translation of his post is over at Cult Labs courtesy of zane, for anyone interested in reading.

Actually if you read everything Torsten says in that thread, he never mentions "the master", he keeps saying the original scan wasn't the problem. And he's right. The raw 2K scan from 2007 would be a terrific element to work with- the problem is, the raw data no longer exists. ONLY the color-timed HDCAM-SR with all of the baked-in problems exists. Torsten admits this in one of the later posts in the thread where he speculates that maybe Synapse could be getting the 2K data but dismisses that as being highly unlikely.

I actually e-mailed Don May to ask him about what Torsten posted, and Don wrote back saying that 84 Entertainment had actually e-mailed him shortly after the Synapse release was announced! They asked him about possibly participating in their version and were very interested about Synapse making a new scan of the film, as they only have the problematic HDCAM-SR and weren't allowed access to the film elements. Don said the guy from 84 Entertainment told they even inquired about getting access to the raw scans, but were told they hadn't been saved (Don May was told the same thing by the licensors). But, Don says the plan is to utilize the original negative for a new scan either late this year or early next year, when they budget whether they're doing 2K or, hopefully, 4K.

Chris

[Mr. Thomsen]

Thanks for posting, Christian Muth. Great info in this thread!

So it would seem Synapse have after all managed to get access to the 35mm elements. That's pretty impressive. Might have to do with them already working on TENEBRE and PHENOMENA and the work they have done on the DEMONS movies.

[Christian Muth]

I'm also guessing Synapse paid far more for the U.S. rights compared to what the German rights sold for, which would put them into a much better bargaining position re: accessing the original film elements for a new scan.

Chris

[hansolo]

Originally Posted by Christian Muth

The raw 2K scan from 2007 would be a terrific element to work with- the problem is, the raw data no longer exists.

Unless, the supposedly no longer existing raw 2k scan was one of those funky looking CRT scanner outputs so common on Italian genre movies (Fulci, Argento etc.)

[Christian Muth]

Originally Posted by hansolo

Unless, the supposedly no longer existing raw 2k scan was one of those funky looking CRT scanner outputs so common on Italian genre movies (Fulci, Argento etc.)

It wasn't. As Torsten says, it was scanned on a Spirit 2K, which is not a CRT scanner, and scanner noise is not a problem on any of the existing SUSPIRIA Blu-rays based off that scan. The problem is blown-out contrast and overly exaggerated, electronic-looking colors in many scenes.

Chris

[Christian Muth]

Synapse Films posted this on their Facebook page:

Synapse Films: Just to clarify, someone from the German company (a very nice, non confrontational fellow) wrote us about the possibility of working together and said in his email they had no access to the original 2K scan files because they don't exist anymore (as we were also told). He also said they were working with the existing Italian HDCAM SR master transfer and trying to correct the problems on it the best they could.
All the releases... The Italian Videa release, the UK, the French and the Japanese Blu are all derived from this same master with various changes (with the UK release being the least successful presentation of the bunch). Our goal is to not repeat the past, but to do something different. When we have more news, we will post it.

Chris

[deepbreathsanddeath]

I believe Synapse will do a great job. They only ever do the best they can, and the results are usually great to phenomenal. Street Trash looks unbelievable. I knew from the beginning "shit, this is going to look good." And it did. Then the neon colours happened and I was in awe. It was like melting out of the screen with such vibrancy and beauty without looking artificial.

[Bad Sandwich]

Originally Posted by Christian Muth

Synapse Films posted this on their Facebook page:

Synapse Films: Just to clarify, someone from the German company (a very nice, non confrontational fellow) wrote us about the possibility of working together and said in his email they had no access to the original 2K scan files because they don't exist anymore (as we were also told). He also said they were working with the existing Italian HDCAM SR master transfer and trying to correct the problems on it the best they could.
All the releases... The Italian Videa release, the UK, the French and the Japanese Blu are all derived from this same master with various changes (with the UK release being the least successful presentation of the bunch). Our goal is to not repeat the past, but to do something different. When we have more news, we will post it.

Chris

Ruh-roh! You forgot the equally crummy Australian release, Don!

[Bad Sandwich]

Oh nooo! Frequent lurker/sporadic participant (because what a ****ing headache) Bad Sandwich! Run awaaaaaAaaay~!

[SymbioticFunction]

SUSPIRIA Vergleichstrailer Preview - YouTube

Preview of the TLE colour corrected blu-ray (with Dario Argento voiceover).