The Evil Dead: Anchorbay USA DVDs vs. Anchorbay UK DVDs

captainjoe · Post by **captainjoe** » 28 Apr 2007, 03:38

The Evil Dead

First: Original Anchorbay release (approved by Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, original 1.33:1)
Second: Anchorbay UK boxset bonus disc (original 1.33:1) inferior print
Third: Anchorbay UK boxset (widescreen version) Same as BOTD
Fourth: Anchorbay "Book of The Dead" (widescreen version) Same as UK boxset widescreen

Image Comparisons:

I prefer the original disc in comparison to the Book of the Dead. Although there is slight edge enhancement, I feel
that the colours, and brightness/darkness levels okay but the BoTD looks about right with balanced contrast and
darkness that feels right for the film. In my opinion, the matting
was a bad move and not including the original 1.33:1 version is incorrect. The second last cap shows how the widescreen
framing can become a hazard in regard to framing. It's pretty messy. Obviously this movie was framed for 1.33:1
as there really isn't any "dead space" or goofs left in the top and bottoms of the frame. Anchorbay should have still
offered the 1.33:1 version. Every single shot has the exact same matting with more removed from the bottom.
This shows that not every scene was properly framed. This is scene in the second last cap. The R2 BOTD wins over
the R1 for the additional PAL resolution.
Overall the best disc is the R1 original because of the correct framing even though the BOTD version is the best transfer.
The R2 original open matte is from a much worse print.

Special Thanks to EvaUnit02 for the UK captures

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 28 Apr 2007, 03:51

The bonus disc from the AB UK Trilogy boxset is THE best version. An open-matte version of the BOTD remaster with the added benefit of PAL's extra resolution.

captainjoe · Post by **captainjoe** » 28 Apr 2007, 03:57

Agreed. I'd love to get a copy of that but I still am not region free

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 28 Apr 2007, 06:57

captainjoe wrote:Agreed. I'd love to get a copy of that but I still am not region free

Killer Meteor · Post by **Killer Meteor** » 28 Apr 2007, 08:27

On my ABUK boxset, the open matte disc is an NTSC-PAL transfer, making the resolution benefits redundant.

Interestingly, there is documentation that reveals Rami intended for the film to be widescreen but not the 1.85:1 of the DVD but, according to Bill Warren's The Evil Dead Companion, 1.66:1, which is a more open ratio suitable for theatrically projecting 16mm material. Note the empty space at the top of the open matte caps. This is supposed to be viewed in widescreen - I know, no-one ever belives me!

Of course, quite a lot of theatres just plonk a 1.85:1 mask on it, and the early days of DVD saw a reluctance to do 1.66:1 anamorphic.

gojensen · Post by **gojensen** » 28 Apr 2007, 09:25

I don't think I've ever been impressed by AB discs... :-/

Killer Meteor · Post by **Killer Meteor** » 28 Apr 2007, 09:30

They can be good on the minor films, but they somehow keep screwing up big time with the classics - bad remix on Suspiria, censored dialogue on Day Of The Dead, incorrect colour timing on Halloween, problems on Deep Red and Tenebre etc.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 28 Apr 2007, 09:32

Didn't Raimi approve the Widescreen transfer? (That doesn't mean its what he intended, but still).
Which AB disc is 1.33/1? The AB disc I have looks more like the BOTD remaster.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 28 Apr 2007, 14:51

grim_tales wrote:Didn't Raimi approve the Widescreen transfer? (That doesn't mean its what he intended, but still).
Which AB disc is 1.33/1? The AB disc I have looks more like the BOTD remaster.

I don't think there is an open-matte AB R1, it's probably the old Elite disc.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 28 Apr 2007, 14:51

Its a shitty loking film, no dvd can really do much with it. But hell all the screen caps do make it look really awful looking

I own the Elite version and the Book of the Dead, but hate the cropped BOTD so will never watch that. The jaggies on that image where she is writing is awful, my TV does that with a few dvds latley and it does pop out at me, mainly on subtitles and menues of dvds, but it shoudlnt happen ever I say.

Raimi had nothing at all to do with the cropped Widescreen edition in any way.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 28 Apr 2007, 15:50

New one is too dark, colours too manipulated, it's heavily matted from 1.33 to 1.78 (strangely the zooming-in might have worked had it been handled better).

Original is sharper, has more natural appearence, but is interlaced. Regardless, I'd still take it over the newer release, which in all is pretty darn ugly.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 28 Apr 2007, 15:53

Obviously this movie was framed for 1.33:1 as there really isn't any "dead space"

There's a lot of dead space, they've just not framed the widescreen version properly. That's what I was getting at.

Killer Meteor · Post by **Killer Meteor** » 28 Apr 2007, 15:56

Markgway wrote:
Obviously this movie was framed for 1.33:1 as there really isn't any "dead space"
There's a lot of dead space, they've just not framed the widescreen version properly. That's what I was getting at.

As I said, it should be 1.66.1

From memory, Rami supervised the Elite DVD and the widescreen version from Anchor Bay was supervised by Bruce Campbell

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 28 Apr 2007, 16:02

Ivan Drago wrote: and the widescreen version from Anchor Bay was supervised by Bruce Campbell

WTF? I could've understood having the cinematographer supervising a transfer, but one of the fucking actors?

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 28 Apr 2007, 16:06

Here's what I mean:

Red lines represent what Anchor Bay cropped (top/bottom).

Blue line represents what I would've cropped (top only-all dead space).

**Ignore the white line that's a mistake.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 28 Apr 2007, 16:09

Well he did work side by side on a daily basis for years with him

the film didnt acctually have a regular cinematographer as far as I know, many people quit, got sacked or moved on as it took so many years to make. At least Bruce was there from start to finish.

Killer Meteor · Post by **Killer Meteor** » 28 Apr 2007, 16:09

I think Rami was busy on Spider-man so he left instructions with Campbell

Mind you, sometimes even the director supervising the transfer can be bad. The classic case is when John Badham removed the colour from the DVD of his version of Dracula

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 28 Apr 2007, 18:23

Dont mess with the way the film was if there was nothing wrong with it to start with I say. You get used to things one way and then they mess with it.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 28 Apr 2007, 19:00

I agree, I mean if it was supposed to be 1.66 then make it so. All I was trying to say is that with some finesse ABE could have made it 1.85. But their framing is atrocious, unwisely matted.

Killer Meteor · Post by **Killer Meteor** » 28 Apr 2007, 19:07

Another example of bad matting is Warner Brother's release of Horror Of Dracula, which shows too much of the bottom at the expense of the top, frequently decapitating Christopher Lee in the process

captainjoe · Post by **captainjoe** » 29 Apr 2007, 07:07

EvaUnit02 wrote:
captainjoe wrote:Agreed. I'd love to get a copy of that but I still am not region free
LOL, looks like the whole thing about the UK Trilogy boxset bonus disc having being an open-matte version of the BOTD remaster is bollocks. In fact to my eyes it looks worse than the old R1 AB disc, hang onto that and flog getting the UK boxset.

Man that looks bad. I'll add the caps in tomorrow.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 08 May 2007, 17:43

hey,

for those interested in obtaining the 1.33:1 version, there's an Italian 2 disc set that has the 16:9 + extras on one disc and the 1.33 framing on a second with additional extras, basically making it match up in that regard to the Book Of The Dead edition.

Got mine today.

http://www.dvd.it/page/dett/arti/208344 ... vd%29.html

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 08 May 2007, 18:03

Or you could just buy the old Elite disc which costs peanuts from Amazon Marketplace.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 08 May 2007, 18:06

hey,

oh well...

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 08 May 2007, 18:17

Knetan wrote:hey,

oh well...

LOL, the Italian title is The House.