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Shitty prints you still love

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  • Shitty prints you still love

    What "inferior" prints do you prefer over the digitally remastered 1080P DTS 7.1 Surround Sound 4K transfer supervised by the cinematographer's brother editions of your favorite flicks?

    For me: Fulci's Zombie. I still prefer the old shitty Anchor Bay DVD. It could be improved and it has, but it has just the right look for my money. The makeup looks amazing and that grainy look just adds to the atmosphere. In every new edition since, the brightness is so high it makes the makeup look terrible.

    I know Chas Balun was very passionate about how the Texas Chainsaw Massacre should look when it was released on DVD.

    And doesn't the original release of Evil Dead have a strangely surreal blueish tone throughout the picture that's not in any other DVD release?
    "Ah! By god's balls what licentiousness!"

    Marquis de Sade, The 120 Days of Sodom.

  • #2
    TCM is one of the movies that, while it looks really nice now, loses its impact for me without it looking grimy and beat up. I'll always want to see that movie the way I grew up seeing it (VHS) over the clean-up versions.

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    • #3
      CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS will never look good. I have a dvd-r of my old full screen vhs that suits me just fine.
      "The popcorn you're eating has been pissed in. Film at 11".

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Gary Banks View Post
        CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS will never look good. I have a dvd-r of my old full screen vhs that suits me just fine.
        True that, add in that VCI botched the first dvd...

        When I saw TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE in the mid-80s during a re-release run, the print was scratchy and worn. It absolutely added to the "grindhouse" experience (that and having drank a few mixed beverages that could have walked they were so strong). I've never liked the look of the dvd in any form. Like Todd says, it loses a ton of impact when it's all spiffy and clear.
        I don't go to church. Kneeling bags my nylons.

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        • #5
          I agree on the TCM and THE EVIL DEAD. And the latter is supposed to be in fullscreen! 16mm = fullscreen. Not this fake lbx where peoples heads are cut off. And with both films give me a gritty old print. The new restored versions are too nice. It certainly doesn't make EVIL DEAD a better film that you can see all detail, on the contrary.

          My own addition to the list is MAD FOXES. My old Danish lbx VHS is taken from an old beat up print. I have a copy off the DVD but it's too nice looking. This is one movie that's not supposed to be seen on a clean, clear, perfect print. ^_^
          2019: The only blog to survive the nuclear holocaust

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          • #6
            Love the old Gorgon VHS of SLAUGHTER HOTEL, as it has that great nostalgia vibe for me ( initially a $1 blind rental ), plus a couple alternate nude takes of Rosalba Neri that has yet to make the jump to digital.
            https://rosalbaneri.blogspot.com/

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            • #7
              Originally posted by John Bernhard View Post
              Love the old Gorgon VHS of SLAUGHTER HOTEL
              Good call! I totally agree. That's one of only two VHS tapes I have and I'd much rather watch that version than the DVD but for reasons of comedy more than anything else. The full screen ratio makes conversations funny, like Klaus talking to the policeman...you can barely see who's talking to who when they stand face to face.

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              • #8
                I keep a public domain copy of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD on the shelf (next to the restored / authorized editions) to remind myself of all the screenings I went to in the 1970s when every print projected looked scrappy. The film just kept playing and playing, always popping up at one theater or another. Whenever there was downtime, you'd have another chance to see NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. They kept running the same dupes until there was practically no emulsion left. The public domain DVDs are taken from these old dupes. Love the restoration but the film never looked that clean and sharp in the theaters. The dupes were probably cheap best-light transfers to begin with.
                "I've been to college, but I can still speak English when business demands it."
                - Raymond Chandler, 1939.

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                • #9
                  Another one for me is the VHS of Dawn of the Dead. I'd rather watch it that way.

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                  • #10
                    PETS. There were all kinds of whiners when the code red dvd came out, because the print's got some damage. BOOOO fuckin' HOOOO. It's a grindhouse movie, and it looks absolutely wonderful, warts and all. In fact, it looks more wonderful with those warts.
                    www.cinemasewer.com

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Robin Bougie View Post
                      PETS. There were all kinds of whiners when the code red dvd came out, because the print's got some damage. BOOOO fuckin' HOOOO. It's a grindhouse movie, and it looks absolutely wonderful, warts and all. In fact, it looks more wonderful with those warts.
                      I probably ragged on it when it first came out, but I'm happy to have it and now the print damage doesn't bother me.

                      I'll actually go against the grain here and say that I like TCM all cleaned up on Blu-ray. I notice a lot more detail in the backgrounds throughout the house that I never really picked up on in the murkier presentations and seeing how dirty and fucked up looking everything in the house was made it a creepier movie for me.

                      I guess it works both ways.
                      Rock! Shock! Pop!

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                      • #12
                        Can't say I prefer a beat-up print to a good quality print, but I'd rather see a film in a slightly beat-up or even shitty print rather than not at all. SWV films like Aroused and Satan's Children come to mind as films with less than great prints that I really love. And pretty much all the 1970s Turkish films look like shit but are awesome.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Ian Jane View Post
                          I probably ragged on it when it first came out, but I'm happy to have it and now the print damage doesn't bother me.

                          I'll actually go against the grain here and say that I like TCM all cleaned up on Blu-ray. I notice a lot more detail in the backgrounds throughout the house that I never really picked up on in the murkier presentations and seeing how dirty and fucked up looking everything in the house was made it a creepier movie for me.

                          I guess it works both ways.
                          A lot of it has to deal with nostalgia I think. I like the Blu of TCM too (one of the few Blu's I really like) but I can see someone preferring to watch the original print.

                          I personally don't get how a lot of the cleaned up transfers for Fulci films and Day of the Dead and the like get a free pass when they've been brightened up to the point of absurdity.
                          "Ah! By god's balls what licentiousness!"

                          Marquis de Sade, The 120 Days of Sodom.

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                          • #14
                            I used to prefer the unrestored open matte laserdisc of Texas Chainsaw to the restored matted one. I would even plug the audio from my laserdisc player into the ungrounded phono jacks on my amp to give it a bit of a buzz. It's probably because the first time I saw the film was a scratchy 16mm print and the grittiness really works for that film. But I now prefer the blu-ray because it brings out the textures of the film grain. The increased detail in some blu-rays brings out fakeness in effects (like seeing the edge of a prosthetic that should blend into skin.) Like Ian said, however, in this case it just shows you how dirty and convincing everything is.

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                            • #15
                              New EVIL DEAD blu has the open matte transfer as well. I liked it, I thought that they preserved the rough look of the film by not scrubbing it, and it was almost like seeing a new film with it not being matted.

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