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"We had to squeeeeeeeeeeze this one out of Nikkatsu for HD, which is why we decided to release it on Blu. The only one, so far, we were able to get an HD transfer for. It's pretty controversial, like MALFORMED MEN, which is why it hasn't made an appearance on DVD before. They finally let us have it."

Synapse Films’ Don May Jr. gave Fango the scoop that the company just acquired Lamberto Bava’s DEMONS and DEMONS 2 and Dario Argento’s TENEBRAE and PHENOMENA. “We’ll be releasing Blu-rays and DVDs of all four in 2013,” he tells us. “We’re getting better hi-def masters of TENEBRAE and PHENOMENA, and we’re fixing the timing and color errors that were in the previous Blu-rays of the DEMONS films

“we’re fixing the timing and color errors that were in the previous Blu-rays of the DEMONS films

We will also be correcting the incorrect black levels and the botched day-for-night shots that have plagued other versions.

dwk wrote:Street Trash Blu is being delayed

Last week, I emailed the restoration artist a message that said we were going to have to revert back to the original scan that was originally approved and supervised by producer/writer Roy Frumkes and just go with it, instead of the work he’d performed. I received one final message from him saying that my decision was for the best and that (paraphrasing here) “like so many other vendors, I do not meet your quality standards.” Hmm… well, I’m not entirely sure this was some sort of final zinger/insult thrown at me or not, but I actually consider words like this a compliment to my dedication to creating the best product I can possibly do, within my means. I wouldn’t have it any other way and I’m sure the fans of Synapse Films appreciate that, too.

Fixing splice bumps at the beginning and end and doing some manual dirt cleanup, turned into noise-reduction, grain reduction, deflicker and artifacting that was so unexpected, that I’ve been dealing with fixing the issues now for well over a month.

domino harvey wrote:The first edition of the Blu had so much DNR that the label actually recalled it. The "fixed" version was subsequently alleged to be nothing more than an up-rezed version of the DVD transfer

salad wrote:Synapse never released 'Deadly Spawn' on blu-ray

domino harvey wrote:What do you know, you're right: They only released the DVD, it was Elite Entertainment who put out the Blu. Resume praise of Synapse

domino harvey wrote:What do you know, you're right: They only released the DVD, it was Elite Entertainment who put out the Blu.

dwk wrote:Details on their upcoming Demons and Demons 2 Blu-rays
Basically, these are limited edition (3000 copies) steelbooks that will cost $45.95 each after shipping and they have no plans to issue these in regular packaging. Pre-orders will go up within the next week and they are expecting to ship around November.

EddieLarkin wrote:How prevalent are the supposed incorrect black levels and botched day for night shots on the Arrow Blu? I've also heard a lot of negative talk around the English language track, but I figure I'd want to watch this in Italian anyway. Is the Italian track ok on the Arrow release?

Demons (Part 1) is notably the better looking of the two, sporting strong detail in virtually every shot, and - just occasionally - a scene that includes well resolved 35mm grain, just as nature intended. Sadly, the completely jacked black levels and boosted gamma have left what should have been a moody experience of ghouls popping out of total darkness have been rendered somewhat flat and lifeless, with the "shadows" of the darkened movie theater being the same uniform, off-gray color...

...and as you can see in the DVD Beaver comparisons, there's virtually nothing in the way of additional shadow detail on the Arrow Video disc compared to the previous, rock-solid DVD transfers! If the Arrow Blu-rays were brighter and had previously hidden shadow detail I'd give this whole thing the benefit of the doubt, but it honestly looks more like someone mastered it properly, was getting complaints that it looked "too dark" from someone in control of the project, and then bumped up the gamma up to compensate, probably muttering and shaking their head the whole time.


Perhaps even more controversial than its middling transfer is actually the monophonic English audio on the first film. The US prints and initial VHS/Laserdisc versions used a fairly crumby mono mix, while several European markets got a Dolby Stereo track, and it was - after much confusion - revealed that Arrow would be including the "US Mono" version for the film's Blu-ray debut. The voices are exactly the same, but some of the music cues and sound effects were changed for whatever reason. Offering a vanilla mono track as an option to theaters not yet equipped with Dolby equipment wasn't uncommon through the 1980s, particularly on a global scale, but by the early 1990s when competition between DTS and SDDS brought booming surround tracks to the public consciousness in a way that didn't require 70mm blow-ups, they more or less stopped doing that entirely. The English mono track sounds pretty dull and muted, but - as AV Maniacs forum member Svante Skoog was the first to point out - there's a number of scenes that do include the Dolby Stereo materials! On a pair of moderately priced headphones the difference between the scene where the survivors storm the projection room, followed by the scene with the punks snorting coke in their car is like night and day. The mono track isn't terrible by the standards I'd typically shrug and say, "It's fine I guess, it's a shitty vintage mono track" - but one needs only to switch between the Italian Dolby Stereo mix and the wimpy English mono track to see that Arrow clearly dropped the ball right into their open mouthes.