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Female Prisoner Scorpion Box set from Arrow in July
The Jailhouse 41 transfer was the old Image one; in other words the worst available. The other two I believe were more or less the same as the Media Blasters discs.
I would recommend the Media Blasters discs for films 1, 3 and 4. For Jailhouse 41 my recommendation is the Discotek dvd which uses the Toei transfer. Unfortunately it won't be easy to find for a decent price. If you don't need subs, you could simply get the Japanese Toei disc.
Toei caps for Jailhouse 41. These should represent the Discotek disc as well.
There are some comments from people who have the box set in the UK section on blu-ray.com that say the films look better in motion than they do in the screen caps... I wonder what would have happened if Arrow had announced in advance that the elements they have were not great?
I'll buy them if they get released separately or if I can get the box during a sale if I have the spare dough. I'm not super picky but with the color issues and the awful artwork (I'm guessing two-sided covers?), & all the other titles due to be released in the next couple of months, it's easy not to pick this sucker up.
Definitely erring towards greeny blacks on Jailhouse 41 even if tweaked. I played with it a bit and extracted a reasonable look, but fighting the source, unfortunately.
Definitely erring towards greeny blacks on Jailhouse 41 even if tweaked. I played with it a bit and extracted a reasonable look, but fighting the source, unfortunately.
Had pretty much the same experience last night attempting to get a decent look by changing the settings....without much success sadly! The skin tones are way off.
Amazed to see this get 'Very Strongly Recommended' from dvdbeaver...oh boy! Didn't he see the blown out whites [the character Yuki in 'Beast Stable' has now changed ethnicity and is now white!], blown out colours ['Jailhouse 41' and 'Beast Stable'], blue tint on daylight scenes [Truffauts new film 'Night For Day'] and the weird stuff going on with the grain. I'd like to give my own recommendation, boycott this release, visit a certain Asian torrent site, download their dvds and get the added bonus of the two 'New Female Prisoner Scorpion' that aren't included in the set. I'm sure a custom blu will appear 6 months down the line when TOEI release their's in Japan....which will no doubt be from the negative or the HD source used on Amazon JP.
If Toei does it it wont look as good detail-wise, even if (if) it has the DVD colour scheme.
the Arrow box with the exception of the tint looks great. there is some harsh grain at (very few) times but that might be down to cheap film used. I don't know why but the rest of it doesn't look the same it must be inherent in the source.
Lots of films are not perfect but aren't given as much scrutiny by punishing fan boys.
also I would add that the lighting in these films is very theatrical at times and so who can say the blue tint is not as the director intended?
I was watching the Nikkatsu Angel Guts films over the weekend and those films have scenes tinted all kinds of colours, so it seems theatrical lighting and tinting of scenes was not un common in Japanese films from this time period. which is in contrast to what Takuma suggested earlier. although I wont presume to have seen as many Japanese films as Takuma nor to even come close to his level of knowledge but still im allowed a say!
If Toei does it it wont look as good detail-wise, even if (if) it has the DVD colour scheme.
the Arrow box with the exception of the tint looks great. there is some harsh grain at (very few) times but that might be down to cheap film used. I don't know why but the rest of it doesn't look the same it must be inherent in the source. Lots of films are not perfect but aren't given as much scrutiny by punishing fan boys.
Ouch! I give you credit for sticking to your guns from the beginning.
Thanks to a buddy, I was able to check out the extras on the boxset separately. Really enjoyed the extras and all were informative and worthwhile with the exception of that French-Canadian lady. I'm glad Arrow added a couple of women's POV in the supplements but she was a real waste of space. I'm sure she's a competent film author as I've seen her work listed on Fab Press but as soon as she started to say "you know" as a verbal filler every other word - I knew I had to fast forward her chapter.
I didn't get an opportunity to check out the movies themselves but man, every time they showed clips from the Sasori movie in question during the extras, it felt like the contrast setting on my TV was boosted a couple of notches and then it returned to "normal" when they went back to showing the interviewee. Definitely not a good sign.
also I would add that the lighting in these films is very theatrical at times and so who can say the blue tint is not as the director intended?
I was watching the Nikkatsu Angel Guts films over the weekend and those films have scenes tinted all kinds of colours, so it seems theatrical lighting and tinting of scenes was not un common in Japanese films from this time period. which is in contrast to what Takuma suggested earlier. although I wont presume to have seen as many Japanese films as Takuma nor to even come close to his level of knowledge but still im allowed a say!
I guess I'm repeating myself, but please bear with me
1. All prior releases, based on various different prints and masters from around the world, had normal colours
2. The original trailers (which are also on the Arrow BD), have normal colours.
3. Adrian, who saw these on 35mm, says they had normal colours.
4. The Angel Guts example doesn't hold water. Those films, like many others, have individual stylised scenes with intentional odd colours. Here we have blue tint from start to finish for 4 films.
5. It wouldn't make any sense to use various different colours and colour lightning throughout the movie during filming, as you can see on prior dvd releases, then suck out almost all of that colour by turning everything blue in the post production.
6. The colour is not the only problem. A times, the insanely blown out contrast is an even bigger problem. Notice that you can see a lot more detail on the DVDs in dark and bright scenes.
"cakefactory" has been doing great comparisons between the Media Blasters DVDs and Arrow BD's at Blu Ray.com. Let me borrow a few of his screencaps:
Media Blasters
Arrow
Arrow is so boosted that the people disappeared from the background
Media Blasters
Arrow
Notice how Arrow has lost tons of detail in dark areas.
Media Blasters
Arrow
Again Arrow has lost tons of detail in dark areas. You can't even see her shirt.
Media Blasters
Arrow
What planet is she from on the Arrow BD? Her face is blue and green.
Media Blasters
Arrow
Notice how she looks like she has Fukushima Daiichi under her shirt on Arrow. Massive loss of detail. Plus she looks like an alien again.
I guess if you don't see anything wrong with the screencap, then you're truly blessed. But in that case I don't think you'd notice the difference even if Arrow had released the movies in black and white
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