Shout! Factory / Scream Factory

[therewillbeblus]

I hope that, with I Love Maria, this indicates that we'll keep getting more David Chung - It's a Drink! It's a Bomb would be a dream

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

Really strange to live in a world where I Love Maria, a film no one cared about when I saw it at the New Beverly fifteen years ago, is getting a 4K release.

[dwk]

Really strange to live in a world where I Love Maria, a film no one cared about when I saw it at the New Beverly fifteen years ago, is getting a 4K release.

Shocked that it is, while Swordsman 2. Swordsman 3: East is Red, and the A Chinese Ghost Story trilogy didn't get UHDs.

[bad future]

Could it come down to availability of UHD-worthy masters? If an I Love Maria 4k restoration was offered to them and they said "sure why not" (as opposed to them proactively making it happen ahead of those more popular titles) I wonder if this has a similar origin as the recent revisionist Tsui restorations (CGI in Green Snake, redubbed Shanghai Blues.. have there been any other questionable changes?)

Only seen this once but I remember having fun, especially cracking up at the bit where Tsui and Shum are debating what to do about dinner....

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

I’ll clarify, my comment wasn’t a complaint! I love the film. It’s just the home video market and what gets remastered is bizarre.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

I was under the impression that Shout themselves were behind these restorations. In the case of the Chinese Ghost Story trilogy, my guess is that all three were scanned at 4K, but for whatever reason the second and third films were only finished at 2K—the French release from Metropolitan follows Shout by only including the first film on UHD and their specs specifically describe parts two and three as "Restaurations 2K." I'm assuming this is also what happened with the latter two Swordsman films. Why Shout would only do 2K restorations for these while giving the full 4K treatment to I Love Maria is perplexing.

I hope that, with I Love Maria, this indicates that we'll keep getting more David Chung - It's a Drink! It's a Bomb would be a dream

It's a Drink! It's a Bomb! is part of the Fortune Star catalog via D&B, as are most of his other films. Some of those have already been licensed and released by various labels so it's not outside the realm of possibility, but the only Chung films that Shout would've acquired with the Golden Princess library are I Love Maria and Deception.

[therewillbeblus]

Ah good to know. Unfortunately Web of Deception was the only film of his I didn't like at all

[flyonthewall2983]

Dawn of the Discs says What Dreams May Come in 4K UHD May 12th

[Finch]

Dawn of the Discs says What Dreams May Come in 4K UHD May 12th

See previous page, it was already mentioned.

[andyli]

I seem to remember The Haunting (1963) being announced for May a while ago but apparently not among the listed items.

[Finch]

MifuneFan found the slipcover for The Haunting so it still appears to be on track for May.

PS.: It comes with a Tracy Letts audio commentary!

[andyli]

It's already up for pre-order on GRUV a few hours ago among other May titles.

[qw0aszx]

I'm assuming this is also what happened with the latter two Swordsman films.

Not the same case, Shout used the same old and problematic HD sources for the two Swordsman films that Korean and HK blu-ray releases used.

[Finch]

New announcements:

Day of the Dead 1985 4K
Them! 4K
What Dreams May Come 4K
Bowfinger 4K
The Burbs 4K
Flintstones 4K (steelbook)
The Money Pit 4K

and the usual dumb steelbook reissues

[dwk]

Slither Steelbook is a UHD upgrade (I think)
The Grey UHD (previously only in a steelbook) is getting a standard case release
Deathstalker (remake already released on Blu-ray) is getting a UHD upgrade in a set with the already released Deathstalker 1 and 2 UHDs (steelbook)
A bunch of site exclusives are getting wide releases (Space Truckers, Communion, Dr. Strange, Meatcleaver Massacre)

[Lowry_Sam]

and the usual dumb steelbook reissues

Has Shout ever changed a disc when it re-issues? It would be nice if they added the original (lossless) audio to the new The Deer Hunter steelbook.

[hearthesilence]

New announcements:

Day of the Dead 1985 4K

This could be a big deal. There's definitely room for improvement over the current Blu-ray (moreso since they're doing a UHD with HDR), and IMHO this is not only every bit as great as the previous two, it's surprisingly the most affecting, enough that it may be the one I'm most likely to put on again.

[dwk]

and the usual dumb steelbook reissues

Has Shout ever changed a disc when it re-issues? It would be nice if they added the original (lossless) audio to the new The Deer Hunter steelbook.

Not so far, except it appears that the just announced Deathstalker set will have new commentaries on the original and Part II by the director of the remake.

[Finch]

New announcements:

Day of the Dead 1985 4K

IMHO this is not only every bit as great as the previous two, it's surprisingly the most affecting, enough that it may be the one I'm most likely to put on again.

It's my favorite of the three. I'll hold off for now since I can get the standard edition if Second Sight have it for the UK. Arrow would be fine too. Does Rubinstein own Day as well?

[jt938]

I'd pretty much given up all hope for Shout Factory so it's nice to see a good month from them. The 'Burbs was near the top of my 4k wishlist so I'm glad to finally get that one.

[Mr Sausage]

New announcements:

Day of the Dead 1985 4K

IMHO this is not only every bit as great as the previous two, it's surprisingly the most affecting, enough that it may be the one I'm most likely to put on again.

It's my favorite of the three. I'll hold off for now since I can get the standard edition if Second Sight have it for the UK. Arrow would be fine too. Does Rubinstein own Day as well?

I used to really like Day of the Dead when I was in my late teens, but I recently revisited it on the big screen and had less enthusiasm. It's so dour and shouty, with everyone constantly hollering and fighting in scene after scene. It's a good idea in theory, with everyone on a knife edge, but Romero doesn't modulate it. The screaming and fighting continues on at the same pitch for so long it gets wearisome. A strong conception and set of themes, with just amazing gore work, but a more trying film.

[Finch]

That's how I felt about it the very first time I saw it but it's bothered me a lot less on subsequent viewings. I always felt the first film drags a little in the middle and I never clicked with Dawn of the Dead no matter how often I tried. I'm not denying Day can feel abrasive but out of the three it hits the sweet spot for me. That and Martin are all the Romero films I need.

[Mr Sausage]

That's how I felt about it the very first time I saw it but it's bothered me a lot less on subsequent viewings. I always felt the first film drags a little in the middle and I never clicked with Dawn of the Dead no matter how often I tried. I'm not denying Day can feel abrasive but out of the three it hits the sweet spot for me. That and Martin are all the Romero films I need.

Weird how we have the opposite trajectories! I never used to mind the shouting and endless aggression, but now it wears on me.

I saw Night in theatres earlier this month and I still don't think the middle part drags. In fact it's the most important part, the most relevant one, where we see ego, power, the inability to communicate, and fundamental differences in perceived reality, divide and ruin a small group with the same aim. The Dead movies were never really about the zombies--that's just the pressure cooker situation to reveal all the tribalist bullshit that hurries our destruction. Night does the best job of that because it's a divide within a relatively homogeneous group that's small enough where you’d think division oughtn't to be a problem. Dawn has the divide come from without, ie. an invading biker gang. Dawn does a better macro critique (it's brilliant for how it anticipates the way pandemics exacerbate class divides), but isn't as strong at the intra-group politics. Day returns to the small group, but has a built in tribalist divide--soldiers vs scientists--that's kinda programmatic. Night's group of everyday folk who can't help manifesting all of humanity's worst traits, including the nominal hero, is the most compelling version for me.

[dwk]

[/b] time=1774908916 user_id=15746]

It's my favorite of the three. I'll hold off for now since I can get the standard edition if Second Sight have it for the UK. Arrow would be fine too. Does Rubinstein own Day as well?

No he doesn't own the rights. The only Romero films he has outright ownership of are Dawn of the Dead and Martin. But it has pretty much been confirmed that Second Sight will be releasing Day of the Dead in the UK.

[Finch]

Thanks dwk!