ROADGAMES
(Richard Franklin, 1981)
Release date: 14 December 2020
Limited Edition Blu-ray (UK Blu-ray premiere)
Stacy Keach (Fat City) and Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween) star in Richard Franklin’s 1981 Australian slasher classic, inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. Keach plays Quid, an American trucker who, with the help of Curtis’s hitchhiker, tracks down a serial killer active on the long, empty roads of southern Australia. This deluxe, extras-laden edition boasts an all-new 2020 restoration from a 4K scan of the duplicate negative, produced exclusively for this release.
INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES
• New 2020 restoration from a 4K scan of the duplicate negative, produced exclusively for this release
• Original mono audio
• Audio commentary with director Richard Franklin (2003)
• Audio commentary with cinematographer Vincent Monton, costume designer Aphrodite Kondos, production secretary Helen Watts, and film historian Mark Hartley (2019)
• Audio commentary with writers and programmers Anna Bogutskaya and Olivia Howe (2020)
• Kangaroo Hitchcock (2003): archival documentary on the making of Roadgames featuring interviews with Franklin and actor Stacy Keach
• Australian Long Haul (2019): actor Stacy Keach discusses the role of Pat Quid and working in Australia
• Audio interview with Stacy Keach (2016): further thoughts on the film by the actor
• Audio interview with Richard Franklin (2001): the director recalls his early career as a filmmaker and the production of Roadgames
• Archival Interview with Richard Franklin (1981): documentary profile of the director
• Audio interview with Grant Page (2016): an in-depth discussion with the actor and stunt co-ordinator
• ‘Not Quite Hollywood’ Interview Excerpts (2008): over an hour of outtakes from Hartley’s acclaimed documentary on Australian cinema, featuring Franklin, Page, actors Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis, screenwriter Everett De Roche, and assistant director Tom Burstall
• Roadgames: A Lecture (1980): archival recording of Franklin, co-producer Barbi Taylor and composer Brian May discussing the making of the film
• Neil Sinyard on ‘Roadgames’ (2020): newly filmed appreciation by the British film historian
• …And His Ghost May Be Heard (1973): rare short film by Franklin, marking his first collaboration with Roadgames cinematographer Monton
• Script Read (1980): audio recording of a pre-production read-through, featuring Franklin and actors Keach and Marion Edward
• Music demos: excerpts from the Brian May score in demo form
• Original theatrical trailer
• Image gallery: promotional and publicity materials
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Limited edition exclusive 80-page book with a new essay by Lee Gambin, extensive archival interviews with Richard Franklin, Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis, Franklin’s 1980 Alfred Hitchcock obituary, an overview of contemporary critical responses, Mark Hartley on …And His Ghost May Be Heard, and film credits
Limited edition exclusive double-sided poster
• UK premiere on Blu-ray
• Limited edition of 3,000 copies
#PHILTD198
BBFC cert: 15
REGION B
EAN: 5060697920635
198 Roadgames
Moderator: MichaelB
- MichaelB
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198 Roadgames
- tenia
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Re: 198 Roadgames
It will be interesting to compare the new restoration with the Australian, especially in terms of grading.
- GaryC
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Re: 198 Roadgames
The Umbrella Blu-ray was a 4K restoration but from a theatrical print rather than a dupe negative. So I this will almost certainly look a lot better, but I will certainly be comparing them when the Indicator disc arrives here.
The two have some of the same extras in common, though many of those were originally produced by Anchor Bay and given that Richard Franklin and Brian May are now both dead, there's no reason not to include them again. Plenty of new extras though, including that early Franklin/Monton short, which I haven't seen before.
NIce to see another Australian film on an Indicator Blu-ray, though some would argue that Age of Consent isn't actually Australian but an overseas production shot there.
The two have some of the same extras in common, though many of those were originally produced by Anchor Bay and given that Richard Franklin and Brian May are now both dead, there's no reason not to include them again. Plenty of new extras though, including that early Franklin/Monton short, which I haven't seen before.
NIce to see another Australian film on an Indicator Blu-ray, though some would argue that Age of Consent isn't actually Australian but an overseas production shot there.
- tenia
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Re: 198 Roadgames
Thanks for the precision, I completely forgot it was from a print.
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Re: 198 Roadgames
That's a truly astonishing amount of extras. I hope you can eventually do Franklin's brilliant Psycho II one day.
- MichaelB
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Re: 198 Roadgames
I don't recall anything being wrong with Arrow's version (it's hard to imagine how many more extras you could conceivably add to their line-up), and in any case they'll still have the UK rights for several more years.
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Re: 198 Roadgames
You're right. Well, then maybe Cloak and Dagger? (which I don't believe has ever even been released in its correct aspect ratio, and
it would be nice to see some Dabney Coleman representation in the Indicator catalog)
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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Re: 198 Roadgames
Cloak and Dagger is fun (And Universal, so in play theoretically), but if we get another, I hope it’s Link so they can fix the audio from KL’s blunder
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Re: 198 Roadgames
Hotel Sorrento is fantastic, but probably too obscure outside of Australia.
- PfR73
- Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2005 6:07 pm
Re: 198 Roadgames
The US DVD release was anamorphic 1.85:1. I'd love a Blu-ray, though.
- Finch
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Re: 198 Roadgames
I've not seen Roadgames but did enjoy Psycho II a lot. But how can one not blind buy this with Stacey Keach and Jamie Lee Curits?
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Re: 198 Roadgames
Really excited for Roadgames done properly. Cover looks stunning and I have high hopes for the transfer.
This actually gives me an appetite for more Oz horror. There’s a good transfer of Razorback out there, isn’t there? Heard it was compressed a bit brutally by, I think, Umbrella. But that the source itself is terrific.
This actually gives me an appetite for more Oz horror. There’s a good transfer of Razorback out there, isn’t there? Heard it was compressed a bit brutally by, I think, Umbrella. But that the source itself is terrific.
- Forrest Taft
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Re: 198 Roadgames
Haven’t seen anything Franklin has done afte FX2, so it’s nice to see recommendations for his later features. Visitors, because of the De Roche script, is the one I’m most curious about.
- MichaelB
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Re: 198 Roadgames
If you liked Psycho II, it's almost impossible to imagine you not liking Roadgames - they're cut from a very similar cloth, and indeed it's very easy to see why Richard Franklin was considered a safe pair of hands to helm a bona fide Hitchcock sequel on the strength of this. And Keach is an absolute delight as the poetry-spouting trucker Pat Quid - which just as well, as he must be in at least 95% of the shots, often on his own (or talking to his pet dingo Boswell, who rarely has much to say for himself).
- MichaelB
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Re: 198 Roadgames
Final specs:
- Finch
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Re: 198 Roadgames
I managed to see the film about a week ago, and was very impressed. I don't know that I would call it a slasher in that even the original Halloween which is restrained compared to its sequels has more kills and this film cuts away from the one murder that does take place. This is not a criticism, just an observation. Keach is excellent and the film is nail bitingly tense. I am excited to see the new restoration in December.
- MichaelB
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Re: 198 Roadgames
Mondo Digital - including comparative screencaps.
- Finch
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- Location: Edinburgh, UK
Re: 198 Roadgames
Looks lovely. Wouldn't be surprised if this sells out quickly.
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- Joined: Sat Oct 22, 2016 3:43 am
Re: 198 Roadgames
Yes there clearly is a difference between the Indicator and the Shout & Umbrella going by the caps Yet Dr Svet says there’s a negligible difference and that it appears they came from the same scan but with likely better post scan work by Indicator.
Regardless I’m ordering this, expecting it to be the best release of a Franklin film, and hope for more Franklin & more Oz horror/thrillers.
Last edited by M Sanderson on Fri Dec 11, 2020 9:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
- MichaelB
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Re: 198 Roadgames
In all fairness, he doesn't actually say that.M Sanderson wrote: ↑Fri Dec 11, 2020 3:50 amYes there clearly is a difference between the Indicator and the Shout & Umbrella going by the APS. Yet Dr Svet says there’s a negligible difference and that it appears they came from the same scan but with likely better post scan work by Indicator.
- MichaelB
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- Finch
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Re: 198 Roadgames
I love, love the colors on the Indicator.
- tenia
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Re: 198 Roadgames
Having now watched both the UK and the French release (which is also based on the release print restoration used by Shout and Umbrella), I have no idea what the hell Svet talks about when writing "after viewing the presentation last night I think that the end result isn't any different than what you would typically get from 'digital remastering', which involves a lot of cosmetic work".M Sanderson wrote: ↑Fri Dec 11, 2020 3:50 amYes there clearly is a difference between the Indicator and the Shout & Umbrella going by the caps Yet Dr Svet says there’s a negligible difference
I understand what he's saying afterwards, because the IN doesn't show a massive improvement in densities and details and the grading seems to still be limited by using the IN and not the OCN, but not only it remains a visible improvement in overall aspect (the older restoration almost looks slightly blurry in comparison), but the grading is massively better on the new restoration, but none of this explains the idea that this is what we "would typically get from 'digital remastering', which involves a lot of cosmetic work". What is a typical "digital remastering" when it's not even a different scan of a different element, ie something different physically ? And what is this cosmetic work he's talking about ?
- Finch
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Re: 198 Roadgames
Wouldn't we better off just completely ignoring Svet altogether (unless he perpetuates blatant falsehoods like he did with Thieves Highway)? I haven't visited Blu-Ray.com for donkey's years. What good is that forum for, other than Geoff D's UHD captures?