House on the Edge of the Park - 2021 Severin BD

[WJB]

Hi all,

I couldn't find reference to this in the Severin thread, so thought I'd start a new one.

I received Severin's wonderful new release of House on the Edge of the Park today. Great packaging design, and altogether a gorgeous 3-disc set.

There's one oddity in the film transfer though... The black levels appear to be very, very high. The small black bars on top and bottom of the 1.85:1 frame are pitch black, but anything dark in the frame itself is a milky shade of grey.

I sort-of fixed this by bringing down my TV's brightness by about 20%, so it's less of an issue - just wondering if anyone else can shed some light (no pun intended) on this...? After all, if I’m having to bring down brightness levels, then I’m probably missing some of the details that were originally intended…

[jzbadblood]

Pretty much the consensus is that they screwed up the transfer

[Member-222782]

Gonna be tough to pass on this but I really don't want to own a botched disc. Huge bummer.

[Mushi Minion]

Originally Posted by jzbadblood

Pretty much the consensus is that they screwed up the transfer

That’s our Severin!

[WJB]

Originally Posted by jzbadblood

Pretty much the consensus is that they screwed up the transfer

Such a shame. Although after adjusting TV brightness it’s still better than the Code Red disc with its scanner noise and bad CG titles.

EDIT:
I've now discovered the screenshot comparisons from Mondo Digital. Oh dear - so much detail is lost in the Severin. Damn. I'd been really looking forward to this disc.

Is this enough of a error to cause a replacement...?!

[Mr. Thomsen]

Originally Posted by WJB

Is this enough of a error to cause a replacement...?!

It ought to be. But Severin tend to be like Kino and ignore mistakes like that.

I held off buying it at BF for the same reason. I hope eventually someone else will release it, because I can't see Severin ever owning up to their mistake and fixing it.

(If Severin do end up fixing it, I'll be happy to admit I am wrong and order it straight from them.)

[Dellamorte13]

The Code Red has the David Hess interview in full, and the Severin has added titles/music, but they've also cut out some portions of the interview that dealt with a little more sensitive material.

[Mahadeva]

[Plain Jane]

All of the reviews I have read for Severin’s Blu-ray are glowing reviews that don’t mention the milky black levels or compression-related issues. It is interesting that all the "reviewers" missed these issues.

[nekromantik]

damn bad news
i suspect the Arrow disc will be the same then

[Hubunkey]

This movie has 3 releases from 3 companies here in the states. I have the Dark Force version and I am happy with it

[JCARL1]

Just purchased the Dark Force drive-in version. For what the film is, its perfect.

[leoganzi]

To be fair, the CR/DF is not great, either. The transfer suffers from tremendous scanner noise and dreadful compression.

[Member-222782]

Originally Posted by Plain Jane

All of the reviews I have read for Severin’s Blu-ray are glowing reviews that don’t mention the milky black levels or compression-related issues. It is interesting that all the "reviewers" missed these issues.

People who get freebies won't say anything negative about them - why look a gift horse in the mouth? I trust the consensus of forum members here more than any Youtube "reviewer". I'm waiting for a competent label to do it right. No way this remaster will be exclusive to Severin. It's a good thing it's been 'Out of Stock' for a month cause I probably would've folded and bought a copy. Saved meself forty buckaroos.

[mikey horror]

Originally Posted by nekromantik

damn bad news
i suspect the Arrow disc will be the same then

You’re thinking of Don’t Go in the House which Arrow is also releasing. Far as I know, no UK label has a release lined up for this one.

[rillog]

It will be released somewhere else. Who replaces a mediocre transfer with a mediocre transfer for 38$? They also did not port over all the previous extras from the Code Red Blu Ray and even edited the Hess interview. This movie is famous enough and therefore will definitely even get a 4K disc down the line.

[Sleazeaddict]

Originally Posted by mikey horror

You’re thinking of Don’t Go in the House which Arrow is also releasing. Far as I know, no UK label has a release lined up for this one.

88 films

[Kriztoffer Swank]

Botched disc after botched disc, and it seems every label is putting out new releases with errors. I was really looking forward to a remastered, filmic transfer of this movie. Huge bummer it has glaring problems. Guess I'll stick with the Code Red Blu-ray as it's a waste to spend further money on another poor transfer; I'll just stick with the scanner noise transfer that I already have.

[vortexx]

Just curious if Severin did the scan or did the distributor provide a new RAW scan? It almost sounds like the raw scan is flawed. The blacks being milky could be that the black levels on the Raw scan were too high, and they tried compensating so less detail is lost in the black by lightening it. This is just a guess based on what people are saying. I don't have the disk to see for myself and I don't want to ask the guys I know at Severin.

[ste71]

Originally Posted by Sleazeaddict

88 films

If its for the UK market then there's a big chance it will still be cut by the BBFC (4 mins last time round, which is better than the whopping 10 minutes of cuts it had in 2001).