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Check out the article at DVD Drivein:

http://www.dvddrive-in.com/

Among this lot are some of the best horror movies to come from Hammer
Studios at their peak in the early 60's including "Brides of Dracula,"
"Curse of the Werewolf" and "Kiss of the Vampire."

This is great news but I am a little disturbed that it appears they'll cram
4 films (8 movies on 2 dvds?!?) on what will probably be 1 dual side single
layer dvd or on a single side dual layer dvd. Even though the films will no
doubt have a single mono or stereo soundtrack, the bitrate will still be
fairly poor and the quality may not be great.

I'd be very surprised if they go with dual sided, dual layer discs.

T.B.

Somehow I don't think you'll want a high quality release for these
flicks. Remember on the original Star Trek discs how you could see that
the "monitors" on the bridge were just back-lit plastic stickers,
complete with air bubbles?

A high quality release could only hurt the Hammer flicks.

- Jordan

"Jordan" wrote:

> Somehow I don't think you'll want a high quality release for these
> flicks. Remember on the original Star Trek discs how you could see that
> the "monitors" on the bridge were just back-lit plastic stickers,
> complete with air bubbles?
>
> A high quality release could only hurt the Hammer flicks.

No offense, but that's an incredibly ignorant statement.

I'll assume you mean because most Hammer films were very low budget affairs
and you're thinking perhaps a truly nice transfer would "reveal" many small
details that would "ruin the illusion" decades of crummy vhs and bootleg
transfers have hidden.

First off, the 90's laserdiscs sported extremely nice transfers that didn't
enhance the low budget productions. And obviously, greater detail never hurt
the viewing experience for people who originally saw any of the better
Hammer films in theaters on the big screen (as apposed to always being
limited to seeing the Star Trek tv series on well,, tvs).

See, the beauty of the best Hammer films, which include several noted on
this upcoming collection, featured superb direction, lighting, set design
and of course, casts that never betrayed their low budgets.

I really want the best possible transfer for a movie like "Brides of
Dracula." The range of deep, sumptuous color alone on that movie is simply
gorgeous.

T.B.

"TB" screwed up and said:

(snip)
>
> First off, the 90's laserdiscs sported extremely nice transfers that
> didn't enhance the low budget productions.

That didn't really make much sense.

What I should have said was:

"First off, the 90's laserdiscs sported extremely nice transfers that didn't
betray the low budget production."

T.B.

Jordan wrote:

> Somehow I don't think you'll want a high quality release for these
> flicks. Remember on the original Star Trek discs how you could see that
> the "monitors" on the bridge were just back-lit plastic stickers,
> complete with air bubbles?
>
> A high quality release could only hurt the Hammer flicks.

I dunno, it'd be nice to see them in *real* shades of color, for a change.

Derek Janssen

"TB" <> wrote:

> This is great news but I am a little disturbed that it appears they'll cram
> 4 films (8 movies on 2 dvds?!?) on what will probably be 1 dual side single
> layer dvd or on a single side dual layer dvd. Even though the films will no
> doubt have a single mono or stereo soundtrack, the bitrate will still be
> fairly poor and the quality may not be great.
>
> I'd be very surprised if they go with dual sided, dual layer discs.

Why would you be surprised? Universal has been using DVD-18s a lot lately,
probably more than any other studio nowadays.
..
Most of their TV season sets are now on 18s, and their Franchise Collection
sets (like the Abbott & Costello collections) are on 18s, too.

-- jayembee