Caligula: The Ultimate Cut 4K UHD (1979/2023) [Potemkine]

[dallywhitty]

Caligula 4K Blu-ray FuturePak

Caligula 4K Blu-ray CE

Potemkine Films are releasing Caligula: The Ultimate Cut on UHD in November, both in a 4-disc FuturePak and a collector's edition housing the FuturePak and a 132-page book inside a large wooden box. Both editions contain three cuts of the film: The Ultimate Cut (178 mins) on UHD, the uncut 1979 original (156 mins) on Blu-ray, and the rare 1984 Italian re-edit (125 mins) in standard definition.

Rome, 37 CE. After assassinating his adoptive grandfather, Emperor Tiberius, Caligula seizes power and begins to dismantle the Roman Empire from within. Forty years after its release, the cult film Caligula resurfaces with a new, never-before-seen cut exploring the decadence of power through corruption, madness and depravity.

Numbered Futurepak Collector's Box contains:

- 2023 Ultimate Cut on UHD and Blu-ray
- 1979 Uncut Theatrical Version on Blu-ray
- 1984 "Io, Caligola" Italian Cut on Blu-ray (Standard Definition)
- 132-page book
- Making-of documentary (1981, 57 mins)
- Unpublished interviews with Tinto Brass, Teresa Ann Savoy, and John Steiner
- "Istintobrass," rare documentary on the career of Tinto Brass by Massimiliano Zanin (2013, 94 mins)
- Archival interviews with Tinto Brass, John Steiner and Lori Wagner
- Sequence comparison by Olivier Rossignot and Julien Sévéon

Potemkine - Fnac - Amazon

[shy86]

I wonder if the UK will get this. If not, which edition should I import: the Australian or US?

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by shy86

I wonder if the UK will get this. If not, which edition should I import: the Australian or US?

I wouldn't hold out hope for a UK release. I'd get the Aussie set. Five cuts, loads of extras, plus the replacement disc for The Ultimate Cut UHD is encoded by FiM.

[Hedrox]

Nice AI image used as background.

[nicwood]

Potemkine are hit-or-miss with their releases, BD and 4K alike. They put out the infamous first 4K set of the Three Colors trilogy like this: https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?go=1&...07278&i=11&l=0

On the other hand, their Lost Highway 4K is great. Maybe they work with different authoring houses like Imprint.

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by nicwood

On the other hand, their Lost Highway 4K is great. Maybe they work with different authoring houses like Imprint.

Yeah, not sure who's authoring Caligula. I did recommend FiM to Potemkine when I last spoke to them, but they said he was out of their price range and that they'd already committed to working with this other company.

[nicwood]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

Yeah, not sure who's authoring Caligula. I did recommend FiM to Potemkine when I last spoke to them, but they said he was out of their price range and that they'd already committed to working with this other company.

Tbh, I find that hard to believe even though he’s in demand. David works for labels even smaller than Potemkine and they can afford him for 4Ks, such as Deaf Crocodile. I think they just don’t care about encoding all that much and prefer dealing with a local facility. But thanks for suggesting FiM at any rate.

Their BDs used to be quite good for a while and that’s why I went with them when they put out the then-new Abbas Kiarostami restorations and their Lars von Trier collection but some of the encodes in that set are grueling. I ordered it with them directly and they’ve got some of the worst packaging I got so far.

Who knows how Caligula turns out, maybe it’ll be excellent but I’d recommend ordering elsewhere.

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by nicwood

Who knows how Caligula turns out, maybe it’ll be excellent but I’d recommend ordering elsewhere.

Not gonna lie, I'm buying this for the packaging. I've got three other UHDs of Caligula, one of them encoded by FiM, so I'm good on that front.

[nicwood]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

Not gonna lie, I'm buying this for the packaging. I've got three other UHDs of Caligula, one of them encoded by FiM, so I'm good on that front.

Would’ve never assumed anything else.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by nicwood

On the other hand, their Lost Highway 4K is great. Maybe they work with different authoring houses like Imprint.

Lost Highway, along with most (if not all) subsequent UHDs was handled by the somewhat infamous authoring house Com'on Screen (a French equivalent to NexSpec/Pixelogic/Radius60 who I also believe does their BDs). Their HD Blu-rays are usually quite poor, however their UHDs are really nice with few if any issues. They've also encoded the UHDs for Spectrum Films (with the unusual exception of Millennium Mambo) and a few other domestic labels.

[Deadend45]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

Yeah, not sure who's authoring Caligula. I did recommend FiM to Potemkine when I last spoke to them, but they said he was out of their price range

What? FiM charges more then Mill Creek encoders?

[lolwut]

I just want the original version in 4K. I didn’t care for the ultimate cut.

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by lolwut

I just want the original version in 4K. I didn’t care for the ultimate cut.

Not likely to happen as decent elements have seemingly gone missing.

[mikesncc1701]

[jstxanothrxstory]

Originally Posted by lolwut

I just want the original version in 4K. I didn’t care for the ultimate cut.

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

Not likely to happen as decent elements have seemingly gone missing.

The Unobstructed View release is probably the closest, right? It's missing a few minutes but from what I gathered, it was based off the original version.

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by jstxanothrxstory

The Unobstructed View release is probably the closest, right? It's missing a few minutes but from what I gathered, it was based off the original version.

Yeah, it's a censored version of the original film. The film was cut by 10-15 minutes when it was first submitted to the BBFC. The reason there's not a bigger runtime discrepancy is because Penthouse smoothed over some of the cuts with alternate, softer footage.

I'm pretty sure Drafthouse didn't realise it was censored when they scanned it, lol. It's also a rough-looking theatrical print, despite Unobstructed View promoting it as having been fully restored.

[cooey]

How do I confess to Dally that I've never seen Caligula.....

Please..... forgive me?

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by cooey

How do I confess to Dally that I've never seen Caligula.....

Please..... forgive me?

Guards... arrest cooey.

[jordanjabroni]

Originally Posted by cooey

How do I confess to Dally that I've never seen Caligula.....

Please..... forgive me?

For what it's worth, I caught a screening of the full-bore porno version at Cultplex in Manchester (which almost turned into a meet up with ol' Dally but we couldn't make it work) and I had a wonderful time. What an insane movie.

What is the best Region B-friendly way of getting the uncut original on physical media? One of the older Arrow releases?

[Vanguard]

Originally Posted by jordanjabroni

What is the best Region B-friendly way of getting the uncut original on physical media? One of the older Arrow releases?

Probably this https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Calig...lu-ray/375416/ German 4K set from Tiberius that includes the Ultimate cut and the original uncut version. The original uncut version on this specific 4K set has the 5.1 audio fixed, according to the forum posts, as the previous 2018 Blu-ray had a messed up 5.1 track.
This messed up 5.1 track was carried over to the Australian Umbrella 4K set sadly.

I am curious to see comparisons of the German set to this upcoming French 4K release