The 88 Films Thread

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by JAMIOUSE

So Zombi Holocaust, it's one hell of a goofy movie and always will be. The transfer is ok, not great but ok. Some scenes fair better than others which could well be because of the film stock used and conditions. It's certainly grainy occasionally very grainy, could this be the one transfer where DNR could have helped?

Only if the grain was overly heavy and unnatural, obscuring detail. As it is though, I thought it was natural film grain and the film looked superb, but I would have to compare it to the Shrek Show/Media Blasters Blu-ray, probably watching them back-to-back to see which is the better of the two.

Originally Posted by JAMIOUSE

All in all 88 have done the best job possible, Holocaust is never going to look amazing it's an old Italian, cheaply made horror film. As I type this I'm watching the Eaten Alive documentary, the Holocaust scenes used as inserts look pretty good, where they taken from an SD master or somewhere else?

I'm certain the Eaten Alive documentary was made before Zombi Holocaust was fully remastered, so the inserts were probably taken from a DVD.

[Justin101]

I tried watching Anthro last night I was probably in the wrong frame of mind but I turned it off before they even got off the cable car at the start! The script of the English dub was awful, I felt embarrassed watching it, but I flipped to Italian and it seemed worse because the mouths didn't match what they were saying - some god awful dubbing all around!

[Rik]

For me, that's the charm with these shitty Italian films, they're nothing more than popcorn movies, best enjoyed with a few beers. I'd rather watch certified crap like Anthro than the majority of the rubbish churned out by Hollywood these days

I hope 88 Films (or another UK company) put out the superior sequel

[JAMIOUSE]

As I am on holiday today I decided to pull an all-nighter and watch Anthro too. Holocaust may have it's grain but Anthro is a different beast altogether. Some detail is there, some colours are there however the outdoor scenes do fluctuate in colour from natural to magenta to green in places. About a third into the film there's two blury magenta bands across the screen which never seem to go. Is that 'scanner noise' or a different problem?

The audio is fine, if anything it highlights the serious problems of post synching as all dialogue sounds like it was recorded in a shed. The dubbing is of course terrible but that isn't ever going to change, the mouths and dialogue haven't matched for 30 years so it won't now. It's a shame 88 couldn't have subtitled the German couple at the start, they might be saying bugger all but it would be nice to know.

Is this the best Anthro could look? I don't know, the transfer is problematic to start with maybe it really would have better saying as a Standard Def DVD?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by JAMIOUSE

Is this the best Anthro could look? I don't know, the transfer is problematic to start with maybe it really would have better saying as a Standard Def DVD?

I genuinely think a lot of these Italian films should stay dvd only seeing as the HD masters are always problematic.

Over the last two nights i've watched upscaled dvd's of Eaten Alive! and After Death (Zombi 4). Both look fine upscaled to 1080I and both had a fare amount of film grain as well.

[Rik]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

I genuinely think a lot of these Italian films should stay dvd only seeing as the HD masters are always problematic.

Over the last two nights i've watched upscaled dvd's of Eaten Alive! and After Death (Zombi 4). Both look fine upscaled to 1080I and both had a fare amount of film grain as well.

Yeah, gotta agree with Dem here, sometimes watching an upscaled DVD on a Blu Ray player, through a decent TV is better than watching a poor transfer on a Blu Ray.
The picture quality of Anthro isn't great, but I think it's the best it'll ever look, so I'm not complaining. I haven't got ZH yet, so I can't comment on that one just yet, I'm hoping to pick it up from HMV in Bradford on Monday, if Amazon haven't shipped my copy by then.

[Antropophagus]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

I genuinely think a lot of these Italian films should stay dvd only seeing as the HD masters are always problematic.

Let me disagree with you. Look at Contamination, Blood and Black Lace, Zombie Flesh Eaters, all the Camera Obscura blu-ray releases. I am sure those Arrow and Camera Obscura would have done far on Anthro. And before someone says 88 Films is a tiny company, so is Camera Obscura but they keep releasing amazing quality discs.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Antropophagus

Let me disagree with you. Look at Contamination, Blood and Black Lace, Zombie Flesh Eaters, all the Camera Obscura blu-ray releases. I am sure those Arrow and Camera Obscura would have done far on Anthro. And before someone says 88 Films is a tiny company, so is Camera Obscura but they keep releasing amazing quality discs.

Perhaps i would have been better suggesting the ones not done in house by the releasing companies.

But i did say a lot, not all the films.

[fuzzymctiger]

I think what Dem meant was that the vast amount of bad HD masters for Italian films should stay on DVD.

But yes, these films certainly have the potential to look amazing, which is why I don't ever buy it when people say "can't look much better than this, as good as it'll ever look".

In Anthro's case, I definitely think this could do better, look at Zombi Holocaust. However, 88 Films just takes masters they're given (Except the aformentioned in house restoration, which judging by the trouble it's caused them along with Burial Grounds, won't happen again)

I always feel bad saying or thinking this, because 88 do the best they can as 2 guys with what they can get, but every time they announce a title like say Zombi 3 or Anthropophagus, I get sad because it's one more title Arrow won't deliver justice to. It's even harder now, because it's clear Arrow are keen to get back into the Slasher and Italian market.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by fuzzymctiger

I always feel bad saying or thinking this, because 88 do the best they can as 2 guys with what they can get, but every time they announce a title like say Zombi 3 or Anthropophagus, I get sad because it's one more title Arrow won't deliver justice to. It's even harder now, because it's clear Arrow are keen to get back into the Slasher and Italian market.

The sceptic in me thinks Arrow are only 'keen to get back into the Slasher and Italian market' because the 88 Films releases have sold so well rather than out of genuine love for the films. However, if it means more of them end up available to buy with better encodings, audio tracks and new extra features, motivation is largely irrelevant.