R3 Army of Darkness excels any Anchor Bay release.
02-18-03, 10:02 PM
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R3 Army of Darkness beats the crap out of any Anchor Bay release.
Ok, I really HAD to start a new thread about this. Every AOD fan should read what I just read over at the deadites.net forum.
As you may or may not know MGM currently own the rights to Army Of Darkness in most foreign territories. They have been restoring the director's cut using original film elements, unlike Anchor Bay which used video footage for some of the scenes.
This restored version is now available on Hong Kong Region 3 NTSC DVD, available from www.yesasia.com who ship worldwide.
I recently received a copy of this version, and I'm pleased to say it's outstanding.
The anomorphic picture is superb throughout unlike the Anchor Bay version which got murky and VHS-like at times. It has all the scenes included on the Anchor Bay Director's Cut disc. Not only that, but it contains a short scene of Evil Ash ripping off Sheila's clothing, which was cut from the Anchor Bay version. It has a 5.1 soundtrack and all the extras from the Anchor Bay disc (commentary, deleted scenes, the s-mart ending & the trailer).
Even though the packaging quotes the time as 93mins, it actually runs well over 96mins, and is slightly longer than the Anchor Bay version. This is most complete version I have ever seen, and are likely to see.
It's a pity Anchor Bay couldn't get the extra footage in decent quality first time round, but if you want yet another cut of AOD, here it is:
Army of Darkness DVD
This restored version is now available on Hong Kong Region 3 NTSC DVD, available from www.yesasia.com who ship worldwide.
I recently received a copy of this version, and I'm pleased to say it's outstanding.
The anomorphic picture is superb throughout unlike the Anchor Bay version which got murky and VHS-like at times. It has all the scenes included on the Anchor Bay Director's Cut disc. Not only that, but it contains a short scene of Evil Ash ripping off Sheila's clothing, which was cut from the Anchor Bay version. It has a 5.1 soundtrack and all the extras from the Anchor Bay disc (commentary, deleted scenes, the s-mart ending & the trailer).
Even though the packaging quotes the time as 93mins, it actually runs well over 96mins, and is slightly longer than the Anchor Bay version. This is most complete version I have ever seen, and are likely to see.
It's a pity Anchor Bay couldn't get the extra footage in decent quality first time round, but if you want yet another cut of AOD, here it is:
Army of Darkness DVD
02-19-03, 08:39 AM
#4
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finally!
I thought I was the only one who was extremely dissapointed in Anchor's famous AOD tin set. I only got it to see the director's cut and I have seen Madacy discs that look better than that. Despite the numerious re-issues from AB on AOD, the DC is always the same.
This is good news indeed - I may actually end up selling my AB limited edition set if this is as good as I think it is..(or at least the AB DC).
This is good news indeed - I may actually end up selling my AB limited edition set if this is as good as I think it is..(or at least the AB DC).
02-19-03, 10:52 AM
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The problem with the Director's Cut, for me, will always be the exclusion of the line : "Good... Bad... I'm the guy with the gun."
Sure it's cool to have the excessive blood/violence put back into the pit battle scene and the extended spookiness in the windmill, but everthing else I can do without, including the Rip Van Winkle ending. The S-Mart ending of the theatrical cut is just too funny.
"Lady... I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave the store."
"Who the hell are you?"
"Name's Ash.... Housewares."
Sure it's cool to have the excessive blood/violence put back into the pit battle scene and the extended spookiness in the windmill, but everthing else I can do without, including the Rip Van Winkle ending. The S-Mart ending of the theatrical cut is just too funny.
"Lady... I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave the store."
"Who the hell are you?"
"Name's Ash.... Housewares."
03-06-03, 11:02 AM
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Received my R3 NTSC Army of Darkness from yesasia yesterday. It was shipped to me out of San Francisco. I love it. It is everything I wished the often-repackaged Anchor Bay editions had been. No sudden inserts of grainy video footage. Very nice. Has all the extras, commentary I ever cared to have, put on one convenient disc. I knew that eventually I'd be glad I bought a high-quality region free player. Let the suckers have their inferior Boomstick edition! Thanks to everyone on this forum who made me aware of this edition.
03-07-03, 05:17 AM
#9
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Yeah kunert - my sentiments exactly - I didn't know this version was the shizzle till I read this thread. I just noticed it being sold at HK retailers and was like "meh, I already have 2 dvds of this"... after hearing about it here and seeing the screenshots, I had to pick this up. I ordered it from DVDShelf yesterday. 
03-11-03, 12:15 AM
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Just to confirm, this is only the director's cut, right? If I want the theatrical cut, then I have to go with Anchor Bay, yes? The video quality on those discs are not inferior as well, are they?
03-11-03, 01:27 AM
#14
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Originally posted by minguy
Just to confirm, this is only the director's cut, right? If I want the theatrical cut, then I have to go with Anchor Bay, yes? The video quality on those discs are not inferior as well, are they?
Just to confirm, this is only the director's cut, right? If I want the theatrical cut, then I have to go with Anchor Bay, yes? The video quality on those discs are not inferior as well, are they?
03-11-03, 05:53 AM
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Originally posted by CheapBastid
You and me both!
=)
You and me both!
=)
Me too. Ordered from dvdshelf on 3/7, and since the shipping was cheap for up to about 5 discs I thought I would try 2 other dvds I knew little about, but they looked interesting and both were region free.
Well wouldnt ya know, the 2 discs I could care less about are both in stock and in a waiting status, and AOD is OOS on backorder or something like that.
I hope they come thru with this. I wouldnt mind ordering from them again.
03-11-03, 11:45 PM
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I ended up ordering from DVDShelf.com, for all the good it did me since they seem to be out of stock on the item. Also I signed up for the YesAsia.com notification when in stock email and I haven't heard from them. So I guess this DVD must be red hot over in Hong Kong or something...
03-12-03, 07:59 AM
#19
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My order at dvdshelf is still "Waiting", meaning out of stock, and of course they already charged my credit card. I signed up for the notification for YesAsia also....