Ronald Epstein's review of Evil Dead BOTD (hometheatreforum owner)
 

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...threadid=44968

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DVDfile's review is better and I am glad I kept my Elite edition. I won't be purchasing this one.....

"The last time I saw this film was on a crappy VHS copy."

Bye-bye, credibility.

How does that destroy his credibility. Ronald has more than enough credibility to review this disc, and he did it very well. He's right, the VHS version was crap. Couldn't be because he's the owner of hometheaterforum.com that you say this, could it?

He doesn't compare the current versions on DVD to the new one, so his claim that the picture is fantastic or whatever word he used to describe it is not really valid because he has not viewed the other versions. So people that don't know about the other versions will assume from his review that by buying the new version they will have the best one out. Which according to DVDfile in not true. He could have helped his case if he would have viewed the other DVD's also.

"destroying his credibility" may be too strong, but I didn't find that review very useful.

Yes, the VHS version was crap, but... who cares? What people care about is a comparison between this edition and the previous DVD edition, not some old VHS tape from the 1980s.

I think that's what Bonkie was referring to... that when Ronald is talking about the picture quality, it's hard to put his comments in any sort of context. If he says that "the print is in outstanding condition, with little blemish or film scar, the picture quality can only be described as good" the question you have to ask is -- compared to what? A 20-year-old VHS tape? If so, that statement can be applied to just about any DVD release... and is of limited help.

DVDFile's review is better because it actually compares the two DVD releases:

http://www.dvdfile.com/software/revi...ofthedead.html


Someone comes away from the hometheater review thinking that this new release should be pretty awesome. Reading the DVDFile review, you learn that the transfer is actually a step down from the previous version, so people who own the Elite discs would be paying $50 for a couple of documentaries and a rubber movie prop replica.

Guess I'll be sticking with my Elite DVD.

The "Book of the Dead" packaging looks neat-o and all, and I'd really like to have it, but it just isn't worth it to me. That the transfer is lacking pretty much seals the deal for me.

BTW, Elite has dropped the price of their Evil Dead SE DVD to a MSRP of $14.95. If anyone doesn't already have it, I'd suggest saving some $$$ and picking it up instead of either Anchor Bay version.

DVD File's review of the video quality is consistent with most of the reviews of Anchor Bay's previous R2 release, which from what I understand uses the same transfer.

I don't think that Ron was in the wrong by not doing a comparison of previous releases, but I do think that information makes the DVD File review a little more useful.

Exactly, not "wrong" but not very helpful either. When reviewing a DVD re-release, a review should always (whenever possible) do a direct comparison to the previous version. After all, a review is supposed to tell people if the disc is worth getting or not -- for a re-release, that means you need to answer the main question on people's minds (namely, does this new edition improve upon the existing one).

At least Ron states up front that he isn't a huge fan of the film, and has only seen it years ago on VHS. At least that lets us know where he's coming from with his comments.

Comparing a DVD to a VHS or Laserdisc transfer is certainly valid for a first release, but for a title that has been re-released a few times (like Evil Dead), I don't think that comparisons to an old VHS transfer are particularly useful.


Anyway, comments about the various reviews aside, this is pretty disappointing news. If I can find one more R1 review to confirm DVDFile's opinion, I may just cancel my Book of the Dead preorder and stick with the Elite disc. As fun as that rubber toy cover looks, it's the movie that counts with me....

The others have addressed this well enough. He should be comparing it to existing DVDs, not a VHS.

I don't understand this. Am I supposed to be anti-HTF or something?

Ron Epstein?-rolleyes- I never really cared for his biased reviews.:down::down:

It's already been noted that the new transfer is not as good as the Elite version. This is why I'm not buying the new one....