excandide

I was lucky enough to get a copy Of Escape From New York Special Edition Early but I'm not so Sure I'm happy with the set.

It is indeed a 2 disc set with Digipak Packaging with a Cardboard Slipcase that Slides over the digipak. There is No insert, just a mini comic book which was pretty cool. The artwork on the digipak is very nice with stats and pics from the movie.

Here are the specs from Amazon...

Disc One:
Commentary by director John Carpenter and Kurt Russell

Commentary by producer Debra Hill and production designer Joe Alves

Brand-new high-definition film transfer
Widescreen anamorphic format
New 5.1 audio

Disc Two
Theatrical trailer
2 Teaser Trailers
Snake Bites Trailer Montage
Deleted opening sequence: the never-before-seen 10-minute bank robbery scene with commentary by John Carpenter and Kurt Russell
"Return to Escape from New York": all-new featurette
Making of John Carpenter's "Snake Plissken Chronicles" comic
Photo gallery


After viewing several of the special features, and the "Return To Escape From New York" (which is only around 15-20 Mins), I was expecting alot more. The transfer is VERY GOOD. Much better than the Old DVD. It really looked cleaned up. THe sound is great as well. The 5.1 Mix is a major improvement. But the Content on the second disc was dissapointing. I was expecting a minimum Hour Long Making Of With behind the scene's footage and such and there was hardly any. Just talking heads and footage from the movie. The Deleted Scene is interesting but wasn't needed in the movie. There were no other deleted scenes either. The Making of the Comic had nothing to do with the movie and the trailers were cool but grainy and dirty as hell. I guess I'm expecting too much from this old movie. Maybe I'm realizing that all special editions can't be as good as LOTR, ALIEN QUAD, SEVEN, STAR WARS, TRON... etc.

I'm still not happy overall with the set, I just think they could have done ALOT more with it since it was already released once.

That's my 2 Cents.

What do you all think?

clappj

The Carpenter and Russell commentary is supposedly excellent.
Try that out.

lcnickell

they could have just slapped commentary on, and the deleted scene and i'd been very happy...

those behind the scenes, reunions, making of featurettes, aren't really a selling point for me.. so i wouldn't be let down by any of their lengths

JM1

I would say that's pretty much in line with most of the extra's on the recent Carpenter re releases...

I am just happy that the movie itself looks and sounds a lot better than on other versions, so I will definitely be checking it out.

Geofferson

commentary and a solid transfer is all I'm after as well.

steebo777

I'm still all over this.

CrumpsBrother

Bingo! I am so psyched about FINALLY seeing that bank robbery scene! That, the commentary and a new transfer made DIRECTLY from the original negative (which for obvious reasons is almost never done)? Anything else is just gravy...

I am SO all over this set!

matome

I'm picking it up for the improved transfer and soundtrack. All I'm looking for.

Ginwen

Same here. Anything else is gravy.

darqleo

If it's got a better transfer than the last one and has roughly the same extras as the SE laserdisc, I'm all over this.

EPKJ

So, excandide, can we assume that you will be selling your copy immediately since you are so disappointed? From what you described, this sounds like a great release. I am still looking forward to it. I think that you have some strange expectations from a special edition.

gutwrencher

yup....a no brainer. some people are never happy with anything.

island007

It sound good to me. This baby will be mine.

EPKJ

I wonder if they are going to redo Escape From L.A.. I was considering picking that up soon.

RichDB10

Yep....count me amongst the many who are more than happy!

Kinyo

I've never heard of this is it any good

ckolchak

sounds like a winner to me.
looking forward to it.

tjn007

I think we tend to lose sight on the movie and focus on the extras. I purposely did not buy the original release when it was announced either shortly before or right after the 1st release that a special edition was coming later. Also the real nail in the coffin was the generally poor reviews on the transfer of the 1st release. So needless to say, I've been anxiously awaiting this new release and the review in DVDFile says it a winner:
Review
Also think about the special editons that have botched transfers such as BTTF and more recently Monty Python: TMOL. If I owned either one of those movies, I'd be pissed. I could care less about any extras if the studio can't get the movie tranferred right.
Don't get me wrong, I do like any extra material that is put on special editions, collector ediitons, Vista Editons, Ulitimate editions, etc. but not every movie can be LOTR extented edition or Alien Quadrilogy.
The only downside I see on the Escape From NY SE is the list price of 29.95. But I fully expect to pay less than $20 during release week. Most of us are going to go for it anyway so to me it's a no brainer.

jough

I've actually never seen this movie, so I'm looking forward to seeing it in a good transfer.

I guess better docs would be better than promotional stuff (hey, studios, we've already BOUGHT the disc, you don't need to sell us on it!) but all-in-all a good transfer is what matters, and a commentary is a pretty nice special feature.

mikewendt

I'd get this based on DISC 1 alone!!! Carpenter and Russell always do quality commentary. Throwing in the 2nd disc is a nice bonus... Now the two of them need to get cracking on getting the Elvis movie on SE DVD.

gutwrencher

amen, bro.

that would be sooo saweeeeet!!

excandide

I see... everyone's just so happy that the transfer and sound is good, but maybe I'm crazy... as I EXPECT that with ALL DVDs.

If the studio just releases a crappy transfer with mediocre sound that's just a shame, they don't even put any money into fixing up the transfer to sell on DVD. They don't even make an effort to put out something for all the money they are going to make.

And if you are going to release a movie once, then double dip with a SPECIAL EDITION with a retail of $29.99 and then really only include (besides a NEW TRANSFER and SOUND) 2 commentarys, 1 Deleted Scene, 1 20 Min Making Of (of which 10 mins is Movie Footage) and a photo gallery and still call it SPECIAL EDITION is to me a shame as well. I mean, even the THING had such an incredible 90 min making of that was worth the price of a DVD ALONE!

Maybe everyone has gotten so used to crap transfers that just the THOUGHT of having a good transfer of something warrants the price tag but I actually expect a bit more when it's a double dip and priced at $29.99 which alot of people will pay who don't live near a best buy.

It's not wrong to expect more from these studios who make SO MUCH MONEY off of us, especially when we see other movies get real deluxe treatment and are REAL special editions.

I just wonder will they Triple Dip this title and add a REAL MAKING OF and BEHIND THE SCENES, More Deleted Scenes, In-depth Interviews, bloopers, original script, cd soundtrack, an actual insert booklet about the movie, original posters and advertising gallery, tv spots, storyboards, talent files, Visual Effects Footage, Production Notes, etc...

Look at the features for Assault On Precinct 13.... an older Carpenter Movie...

Commentary by John Carpenter
Theatrical trailer(s)
New video Q&A with John Carpenter and star Austin Stoker at the American Cinematheque
Isolated music score;
Behind the scenes photo gallery;
Still and lobby card gallery;
Storyboards
Radio spots
Widescreen anamorphic format

or even Halloween 25th Digimax

Commentary by writer/Director John Carpenter, Actress Jamie Lee Curtis, and Producer Debra Hill
Theatrical trailer(s)
Halloween - A Cut Above The Rest: An all-new 87 minute documentary featuring interviews with the cast and crew.
On Location - 25 years Later: An all-new 10 minutes featurette with Actress P.J. Soles and Producer Debra Hill revisiting the original Michael Myers house
TV Spots
Radio Spots
Poster and Still Gallery
Talent Bios
Widescreen anamorphic format

Is it wrong to expect more from studios these days when they say SPECIAL EDITION? These other releases had more features and extras and I thought that with the HUGE cult following of Escape from New York it would have gotten better treatment.

I am going to be keeping my DVD Set and NEVER had intentions of selling it, but just wanted to make a point about all this.

Thanks for listening.

d2cheer

Same here!!! Personally the bank scene is what I really want!! I can't wait for it!! Hopefully DDD will ship it really early.

lcnickell

The extras are plentiful on this, i do not see what all the complaints are about. _you can't add , what is not out there.


As far as price, I know in the laserdiscs days, if i had wanted to buy this, you'd be looking at a $79.99 msrp minimum, so appreciate the small price you have to pay for this gem.

again, with $29.99 msrp, you'll likely pay no more than $23 anywhere, and should be able to find for under $20 the first week..

BlackBeauty92

the only main reason for me to get this new SE is:
better picture & sound quality + Russel & Carpenter commentary

it would be a great day in heaven if they included DTS track...
but they make it up with "newly added" extra

so, i'm pretty happy i guess....

now, where's my disc damn it?!