Halloween ('78) dvd question
 

Yeah yeah, before the search police comes and rains on my parade, I already did a search and didn't find a topic asking/addressing the question I have.

I notice that Anchor Bay re-released a 1-disc version of this movie about four months ago, and my question is about the image quality and the coloring of the transfer on that disc versus the image quality/coloring of the transfer on the 25th Aniversary DVD, which is a 4-5 year old release.

I don't really care about the special features, I just want the movie to look its best. Which version is for me?
Thanks.

Reply about Halloween 78
 

Well, the DiviMax has the clearest with barley to no film spots, grain, and sharp. But, it is waaaay too bright, takes alot of the blue out, and gives it a happy autumn feel. the re-released disc is THX certified, which means it is what the original film editor intended to be released, with the blues and darkness intact. no, it has some haloing, and film spots and some grain, but overall, best bet for buying

The Blu Ray disc reportedly has the same color timing issue. The DVDTalk review says it is not as bad. Anybody with both the BR and Divimax release that can comment?

Ah, I did not know that's what THX meant.
I googled "Halloween 1978 THX" and found a review that supported what you said, leading me to believe this fairly cheap one-discer will be a good addition to my collection. :up:

The most recent release of Halloween (1978) is the transfer used for the 1999 release, with the generally-agreed correct colors. This release is not the later Divimax 2003 release that has a sharper picture but the colors are apparently off a bit.



(P.S. I own both of these releases. I already had the Divimax for a few years and then bought this most recent release for $10 when it had free movie cash to see the Rob Zombie remake. And thanks to a projection screw-up that delayed the start of the movie for about 5 minutes, I received a coupon from the theater to see another movie for free which I later used to see another remake, 3:10 to Yuma. So I got a DVD + 2 movie tickets for $10 + tax - so that deal worked out pretty good for me.)

Do you have any insight as to which transfer you personally prefer?

I've got both the 25th Anniversary, and the 1999 Limited Edition (which is the regular one disc edition with the THX transfer, along with the extended edition).

As others have said, the Divimax transfer on the 25th Anniversary is a much cleaner picture. It's one flaw is that the coloring is off; they removed the blueish tint the film had. It movie looks how it did when it was shot (the blue tint was added in post), which makes it more apparent in scenes that it was shot in summer in California, rather than in fall in Illinois.

The THX transfer has the correct color timing, but the picture isn't quite as clean as the Divimax transfer. With that said, though, it's still a very good transfer, not as bad as the FIRST Halloween DVD release (bleh!). I'd say that it's worth getting just for the correct coloring especially if you're wanting a cheap version of it (the 25th Anniversary's MSRP, IIRC, is double the THX version).

Hopefully, when Starz/Anchor Bay release their Ultimate Edition of Halloween (and I'm sure they will; this year's the 30th Anniversary, and they've given both Dawn Of The Dead and The Evil Dead the Ultimate treatment), they'll redo the Divimax transfer, and color it properly, so that there's no debate on which one is the best transfer.

I prefer the '99 LE since it stays faithful to Dean Cundey's phenomenal cinematography. His composition is compromised on the 2003 release and it loses the classic look the film has had for the past 30 years.

The color on the Divimax version didn't bother me at all until I got the THX-certifed version. Now the colors in the Divimax version do bug me a bit once I compared versions, so I definitely prefer the THX-certified version (but a keypoint is that I would've been completely happy with the Divimax if I never saw the other version).