islandclaws

WOW, is that ever a hideous cover.

TheDuke

I'm super in to it. Reminds me of those creepy watercolors in the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books. Pretty minimal, too. Not sure why you guys aren't liking it.

Edison

Yikes. Not to keen on the cover or digibook status, but since I haven't bought a blu-ray version yet I guess it will do. It may look odd against the rest of my Halloween collection.





So the one on the left is the 'preferred' version right?

Mike86

I just don't find it appealing and the original poster is so classic and has been used on so many releases of the film forever. I just don't see a reason to change it.

Maxflier

I like the coverart well enough, the fact that it is a digibook not so much...

PhantomStranger

Terrible artwork but it is nice the BD will come in a digibook.

rbrown498

Not so fast there, zyzzle--there's really no reason for the TV version to adversely affect the bitrate of the feature. The ideal solution would be to have the TV version in SD, since that's the way it was originally broadcast (4x3 pan and scan). That wouldn't take up nearly as much space on the disc, which would leave ample room for the feature and a large number of other supplements. I mean, Halloween's only 91 minutes long--the Criterion Blu-ray of De Palma's Blow Out contained the 108 minute film, over an hour of interviews, AND Murder a la Mod, an early De Palma feature from 1967 that runs 80 minutes, all on a single 50 GB disc. There's room.

Matthew Chmiel

Yes and no.

As an owner of both DVD sets (the LE was one of the first DVDs I ever purchased), the initial two-disc set had the "correct" color timing whereas the Divimax set had a better transfer, but with the "wrong" color timing.

The original disc looked great for 1999, but looks like shit now as it sits on a disc with the pan-and-scan version and an additional 45 minutes of bonus material. Unlike the Divimax disc where it got to breath on a dual-layer disc with most of the bonus features on a separate disc.

Josh Z

I never owned Halloween on DVD, but based on Anchor Bay's other releases at the time, I came to the conclusion that "Divimax" stood for "Crank up the edge enhancement all the way to maximum."

Julie Walker

It says 'not final art' in the sales ad. So I hope a different and more attractive cover is done for the film, since that artwork is not appealing at all in my opinion.

riotinmyskull

wahlers

Well, if the "on location" featurette is the same as the one on the 25th Anniversary dvd then that set is now obsolete.

The original blu-ray carried over the commentary, the "A Cut Above the Rest" documentary, and all trailers and tv spots from the 25th anniversary set.

However, the "Halloween Unmasked 2000" documentary from the 1999 limited edition set has never been carried over to any of the later dvds or blu-rays nor has the re-release trailer and :30 tv spot #2 from that same set.

Both the limited edition and 25th anniversary editions included still galleries and talent bios that have not carried over to blu-ray. I have not personally compared the still galleries but am pretty sure they are not identical.

The limited edition also had a few text screens of trivia that were pretty much made obsolete with the trivia track on the original blu-ray. Neither though are listed as being on the new blu-ray.

The screenplay from the dvd-rom section on the 25th anniversary edition dvd is not on blu-ray, but could easily be saved on computer and the disc sold.

Keep in mind that the isolated effects/music track and Siskel & Ebert segment from LaserDisc have still never been on dvd or blu-ray.

So unless something changes, just of the Anchor Bay releases, to have all extras, we will still need both discs of the 1999 limited edition, the 2007 blu-ray, and the new 2013 blu-ray.

It's really lame of them but not unexpected at this point. If the digibook is limited edition it could have at least also included a limited 2nd disc with the tv cut in hd and the other missing video extras. There's also no excuse to not include at least the previous trivia track and commentary from the original blu-ray. It's just lazy and greedy, and to use the word definitive in the press release is unethical IMHO.

Julie Walker

For those complaining about 'missing' extras(mainly on another forum that remains nameless). This portion of the press release seems to go over everyone's head. "...as well as selected legacy bonus features from previous ABE releases."So maybe not everything from past releases will be included, but some of them well, which is fine with me.

Matthew Chmiel

Based upon Anchor Bay's comments at the time regarding all Divimax re-releases, all of them came from newly created 2K masters whereas the prior releases were mastered specifically for standard definition.

If Anchor Bay still cared about catalog releases, I would be excited. However, I'm praying for the best and expecting the worst.

wahlers

I'm assuming that "selected legacy bonus features" means the trailers, tv spots, and "on location" featurette which are all recycled features.

However, if they do include more than what's listed I'll be super happy.

But, given their track record I'm not going to be selling the previous editions until I have the new blu-ray in my hands.

Gizmo

So not TV Cut?

Ugh. I'd like to own this, but at the high price for essentially a new transfer and a book...I don't think so.

big e

I wanted to buy this too, but if they're just including the scenes from the TV cut and not the cut itself, then I'll pass. Really wish Shout! would've gotten a hold of this.

Josh-da-man

I would think the television cut could be easily included via seamless branching. Works great on things like Blade Runner and CE3K.

PatD

I'd like to point out the irony that Halloween II has gotten a better shake in the realm of Blu ray than the original classic film. How messed up is that?

PatD

I like Shout!, they go the full nines for everything, including new cover artwork, new documentaries, new audio commentaries, and classic special features from previous releases, but DAMMIT, they just can't afford to put in chapter menus.

Are chapter menus on Blu rays REALLY that expensive to put in? It would really break their production budget?

kidglov3s

I think it's pretty funny that one of my favorite Blu-Rays is the 'bad' version of Halloween II.

GoldenJCJ

The last version of Halloween I bought was the Divimax 25th anniversary DVD with the screwy color timing so I guess I'll end up upgrading with this release when it comes out.

I would prefer this release to be filled to the gills with special features but this movie has been released at least a half a dozen times and we still haven't gotten a definitive edition. I'm not holding my breath that the release after this or the one after that are going to be definitive either. Plus I'm a sucker for digibooks so what the hell...

Gizmo

You are probably one of the few people that really need chapter menus.

If I like a scene, I'd just bookmark it (is that possible with all BDs now? I remember it being so with HD DVD). But I usually watch a whole movie...not just certain scenes

LosingMyMind

If this is anything like the BD releases for 4 and 5, Anchor Bay will drop all of the new extras before release

TheDuke

While I can't tell you how expensive it would be to put in chapter menus, I will tell you that I could probably teach a ten year old how to do it in under 5 minutes