The 88 Films Thread

[Justin101]

A lot of people are watching films on uncalibrated screens and possibly with lamps or lights on in the room so colour correction issues might not be (as) noticeable for the masses, most of the time people will only notice when compared with other versions via screenshots. Therefore, I can understand when people are coming and telling you they hadn't noticed.

However, simple things like white balance and saturation etc should be done as standard and seeing yellow/green tints and washed out colours time and time again is a bit rubbish when you know there are people out there doing it on all of their releases.

But then on the other hand, the general consensus is that 88's Italian Collection is a budget collection and therefore can get away with more. More work = higher RRP.

I'm on the fence about the whole thing, I know there are better versions out there, but sometimes the films are bloody rubbish to begin with

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Justin101

But then on the other hand, the general consensus is that 88's Italian Collection is a budget collection and therefore can get away with more. More work = higher RRP.

I'm on the fence about the whole thing, I know there are better versions out there, but sometimes the films are bloody rubbish to begin with

Totally agree. I'd never have bought things like Hands of Steel or Flesh Eating Mothers if they cost over a tenner.

As it is they were a fiver each on 88's website.

[Steel76]

I'm watching on a calibrated OLED TV, which can be very unforgiving when it comes to this problem.

Though check out the screens in this review:
Doctor Butcher, M.D. / Zombie Holocaust

About the 88 transfer:
"The end result turned out to be something of a mixed bag, offering a notable increase in detail but featuring color timing that veers on the extremely yellow side for most of the running time; that means the skin tones have a heavy gold cast, and the color blue is almost entirely wiped out in outdoor scenes (with the day-for-night tinting in the climax also tossed aside).


About the Severin transfer:
"but the big news here is the transfer itself, the healthiest the film has ever looked on home video. All the original film grain is kept intact (which isn't necessarily a pretty thing during that harsh, nasty-looking New York footage), and the color timing is far more natural and impressive with normal skin tones, blue skies, and blood that's now the correct shade of red."


I'm going to buy the new Anthro disc, since they actually seems to have done some proper work on it.
But when it comes to the rest of the future Italian releases, I will wait for the reviews. If it's another green/yellow tinted transfer, I will wait and see what the other labels might do with it first.

End of rant!

[Steel76]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Hands of Steel

It might be shitty, but I have strong nostalgia connected to this one, since I used to rent that one, and Atlantis Interceptors, all the time, when I was a kid

Too bad I missed that sale...

[Susan Foreman]

I must be strange

I have got a television that has a 'screen' in front, which is used for showing images. At the side of this 'screen' are 'speakers', which sound comes out of. Sometimes I use a handset to make this sound either louder or quieter

What I tend to do is put a disc into a 'DVD machine', press 'play' on the remote control thing, and settle back to watch a film

As long as I can see what is happening, and I can hear enough to follow the plot, I'm really not bothered about how much colour is on the picture and whether the zombie has a blue or green hue to its face

[Justin101]

Some people do care about that sort of thing though and that doesn't make either you or them wrong and/or weird. As pointed out earlier, in some films the colour scheme is just as important to the directors vision as the plot and the acting.

[platostotal]

Viewing habits have changed so much in just a decade or so, huge flatscreens in 1080p, BD and 4K that show up every tiny fault, but with these low budget Italian schlock-fests they really don't justify 88 spending extra dosh on essentially sell-thru priced releases (if 88 jump to £19.99 or so then yeah... I will join in the kicking) I didn't see a real problem with ZH but I presume others may be unsatisfied and maybe e-mails to 88 might have impact.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Justin101

Some people do care about that sort of thing though and that doesn't make either you or them wrong and/or weird. As pointed out earlier, in some films the colour scheme is just as important to the directors vision as the plot and the acting.

For me, it depends entirely on the film. That's why I have the Filmmakers Signature Series release of The French Connection where the colouring is correct and looks much better than the Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment BD set, but don't know too much about what the director and/or DoP thought about how The Suckling or Iron Master should look.

[Justin101]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

For me, it depends entirely on the film. That's why I have the Filmmakers Signature Series release of The French Connection where the colouring is correct and looks much better than the Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment BD set, but don't know too much about what the director and/or DoP thought about how The Suckling or Iron Master should look.

I wasn't really referring to any 88 Films releases but was thinking of maybe Mullholland Drive or Blue Velvet which have a very particular colour palette or Kill Baby Kill and Suspiria etc.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Justin101

I wasn't really referring to any 88 Films releases but was thinking of maybe Mullholland Drive or Blue Velvet which have a very particular colour palette or Kill Baby Kill and Suspiria etc.

Oh, that makes sense. I agree that many films have a look of some sort, whether it's the 'gold' in The Godfather or the cold blue of The Revenant. There are probably loads which don't because they were made by inexperienced crew using whatever film stock was available and were happy to shoot the entire script without running out of money!