Army of Darkness transfer

Has anyone else noticed that, especially during the end battle, the Army of Darkness transfer SUCKS!!!

I realize that there's a lot of new footage, etc., but come on! All of the old stuff in the battle actually looks better on the old disc! The blacks are pumped up way too much, and turns everything else to mud.

Now, don't get me wrong, all told it was worth my $$$- the extras are tremendous, and it's wonderful that we have a director's cut. But shouldn't Anchor Bay have done a better job with a the transfer, like 'Halloween'?

[Lo Pan]

I agree. I don't want to bash it too much, coz it's great to finally have the director's cut, I was bitterly disappointed with many moments in the transfer. And what's that gunk that seems to be stuck to the lens just after Ash has fallen to Earth and is confronted by Arthur and his men? And one other thing...in the VHS releases I have, (Australian and English) Evil Ash rips Sheila's dress off before kissing her. Why was this not in the director's cut? Without this shot, her dress just magically drops to her waist.

[Rejemy]

I didn't want to believe you. I said "No, it can't possibly be true. Nooooo!!!" But I got home today, popped the disc in, and lo and behold, the Director's Cut disc is terrible! It's dark, blury, out of focus, with muddy colors, poor contrast, and scratched to hell! The copy I recorded of the SciFi channel on EP mode looks a lot better! I'm glad to have the director's cut, especially for the commentary, but wow, I don't think this disc will ever be more than a curiosity for me.

Thank goodness, the theatrical cut disc looks great and has a killer 5.1 soundtrack as well. So it's still worth it, for the true Raimi fan.

[Sid]

I don't care how bad the transfer is I'm gonna get it. I heard at DVD Review that it is a little better than the previously released DVD. I doubt that this film will ever look all that good, I think its supposed to look kinda bad, you know like most horror films do.

[Lo Pan]

Sorry, Sid, but no...it's not supposed to look this bad. The footage aint so bad...unless you compare it to the rest of the movie's transfer. Then you realise that the quality varies greatly throughout the film. But I won't try to stop you from buying it. All fans of AoD should buy this one, despite it's shortcomings.

Understand something- I didn't start this thread to deter ANYONE from buying it... quite the opposite! This is as classic as camp gets, and dispite the transfer's shortcomings, I think this is a disc that people should run out and buy (as opposed to having to turn to ebay in a year or two and spend god-only-knows how much). It's worth it for the sheer amount of features on it- commentary, the considerably longer director's cut, the storyboard option (I haven't seen the details published, so for all who want to know- you can run the storyboards as a subtitle option in the lower right hand corner of the scene... you can actually watch the shot-specific storyboards as you go!). The movie itself may be ugly, but WHO CARES? Anyone who's hell-bent on picking this one up has seen it 30 times anyway...

I picked it up for $30, and frankly, I'll take that over the Disney releases any day!

Transfer aside, I have no complaints whatsoever & I hope it disappears quickly from the shelves. In the short time we have before rental pricing, I'd like the studios to realize that, if they release a feature laden product, people will be willing to spend the extra ten or fifteen dollars for a 2 disc set.

Now, if ONLY I could get a From Dusk Till Dawn SE...

[mahavishnu]

"in the VHS releases I have, (Australian and English) Evil Ash rips Sheila's dress off before kissing her. Why was this not in the director's cut? "

Well you know how "family values" old Sam has been getting of late, what with Kevin Costner films and all. Probably an example of self-censorship.