The Blu-ray/4K (and Physical Media) Thread!

Let's talk about home video!  And if anyone wants to share any other cool bits of physical media, let's do that here, too.

To kick this off, Synapse has announced Dario Argento's TENEBRAE for 4K!


Press release:

Quote :

Dario Argento’s Tenebrae will be presented in a three-disc 4K UHD/Blu-ray 6000 piece Limited Edition boxed set nationally distributed by MVD Entertainment Group along with an additional strictly limited 2000 piece “variant” cover ONLY available from the Synapse Films website and our friends at DiabolikDVD.com.

LIMITED DUAL FORMAT EDITION CONTENTS:
- New 4K restoration from the original camera negative
- Limited edition packaging with newly commissioned artwork by Wes Benscoter (6000 unit version) and original Italian art (2000 unit “variant” cover)
- Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring writing on the film by filmmaker Peter Strickland and Argento biographer Alan Jones, an interview with cinematographer Luciano Tovoli and a new, in-depth analysis of the film by critic Ashley Lane
- Fold-out double-sided poster featuring original Italian and Japanese poster art
- Six double-sided, postcard-sized lobby card reproduction artcards

DISC 1 (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY) – ORIGINAL VERSION
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio
- Original Italian and English front and end titles and insert shots
- Restored original DTS-HD MA lossless Italian and English 2.0 mono soundtracks
- English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
- Audio commentary by authors and critics Alan Jones and Kim Newman
- Audio commentary by Argento expert Thomas Rostock
- Audio commentary by Maitland McDonagh, author of Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento
- Yellow Fever: The Rise and Fall of the Giallo, a feature-length documentary charting the genre from its beginnings to its influence on the modern slasher film, featuring interviews with Dario Argento, Umberto Lenzi, Luigi Cozzi and more
- Being the Villain, a newly edited archival interview with actor John Steiner
- Out of the Shadows, an archival interview with Maitland McDonagh
- Voices of the Unsane, an archival featurette containing interviews with writer/director Dario Argento, actresses Daria Nicolodi and Eva Robins, cinematographer Luciano Tovoli, composer Claudio Simonetti and assistant director Lamberto Bava
- Screaming Queen, an archival interview with Daria Nicolodi
- The Unsane World of Tenebrae, an archival interview with Dario Argento
- A Composition for Carnage, an archival interview with Claudio Simonetti
- Archival introduction by Daria Nicolodi
- International theatrical trailer
- Japanese “Shadow” theatrical trailer
- Alternate opening credits sequence
- “Unsane” end credits sequence
- Image galleries

DISC 2 (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY) – “UNSANE” VERSION – LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio
- The re-edited 90-minute U.S. version, specially recreated for this release from the new 4K restoration of the full-length 101-minute version, exclusive to UHD
- Two audio options: a recreation of the original theatrical experience, complete with jump cuts and sudden audio shifts, and a new, more seamless edit created for this release, both in restored DTS-HD MA lossless English 2.0 mono
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Original “Take Me Tonight” stereo EP recording, performed by Kim Wilde

DISC 3 (BLU-RAY) – ORIGINAL VERSION
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio
- All the same content as Disc 1

SPECIAL VARIANT SLIPCOVER VERSION - LIMITED TO 2000 PIECES
Synapse Films will be making a special limited edition “variant” slipcover version, limited to only 2000 pieces, featuring the classic image from the original Italian Renato Casaro one sheet poster art on the slipcase and an alternate booklet cover image.  This edition will be available exclusively from the Synapse Films website (www.synapsefilms.com) and from Diabolik DVD (www.diabolikdvd.com). Retail price and contents remain the same as the nationally distributed version.

Synapse Films will be releasing this set throughout North America on July 26, 2022.  Suggested Retail Price (SRP) for the Synapse Films set is $64.95 USD.

While we are sharing assets and working in conjunction with Arrow Films on the product, we have specific requirements for street dates and announcement info with MVD, our U.S. distributor. For now, we’re setting the proposed street date as July 26, 2022. This could change slightly, but we will strive for this date as best we can.
TENEBRAE (3-DISC LE 4K UHD (2 4K UHDs/1 Blu-ray))  
ITEM#: SFD0209  
UPC CODE: 654930323298  
SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE $64.95  
PRELIMINARY STREET DATE: JULY 26, 2022

Best Buy putting out a 4K steelbook for UNIVERSAL SOLDIER on June 21st:

https://action-flix.com/2022/04/28/universal-soldier-best-buy-readies-a-4k-limited-steelbook-must-have-release-of-the-90s-action-classic-for-june/

That's a helluva a set for Tenebrae. I'm not an Argento fan but that set makes me wish I was.

What can I say? I'm not a hardcore horror fan, and my tastes are, for the most part, hopelessly mainstream.

Fair, Argento is not exactly mainstream.

Too stylish to dismiss, though!

(pre-1990s Argento, anyway)

Just in general, these boutique labels are doing insanely good work in terms of technical restoration and supplements. I just grabbed the Arrow 4K of Robocop and the term "embarrassment of riches" comes to mind. I'm not sure why I'd want to watch the TV edit, but I have that option.

This reminds me that I still need to pre-order Synapse's steelbook Blu-ray release of their new Tombs of the Blind Dead restoration.

Went back to Amoeba Hollywood for the first time in three years. It was such an endorphin rush to be in a big media store again.

Hoping to be back in the US next year (assuming we ever get out of fucking lockdown) and while being jobless will probably slow me down initially, a bit terrified of what eventually purchasing a home is going to do to my old collecting habits. Being overseas I've gone pretty much all digital, but there's already a 4K Six-String Samurai B-Day gift sitting on my folk's shelves, and I can't leave it all alone can I?

Somewhat related...

Full Moon was having a special deal a couple weeks back. Sign up for a year of their streaming service for $60 and get a bunch of free Blu-rays. So me being me, I went for it. The service itself has a solid selection and will allow me to see stuff I don't quite want to blind buy, but the Blus themselves were a steal. Everyone who signed up gets a free Evil Bong box set of 10 films. Not exactly high on that (har har), although I've never seen any of them, so maybe some will be fun?

But on top of that, you had the option of either getting an 11-film Puppet Master box set OR selecting 10 films on your own. Since I already have the first three Puppet Master films on Blu, I opted for the latter. So whether or not the Evil Bong saga is worth my time, I'd say I still made out like a bandit on the deal. Especially since all 10 were films I would have bought at some point.

It's a deal they do a couple times a year, so keep an eye out if that sounds appealing to you.

The new WICKER MAN box set from Imprint arrived today, and it's a beauty:

Dang. That's a nice set.

I've only ever seen the American theatrical version, so I'm excited to take a look at the other two cuts.

Oh man, the extended cut is superb.

Judas Booth wrote:

Oh man, the extended cut is superb.

Would that technically be the Director's Cut? Because that's the one that has the longest running time of the three.

Wondering: Does the Godzilla (2014) 4K fix the image darkness problem that hampers the blu? A friend said the digital 4K version does, but wasn't sure about the actual disc.

Sounds like the 4K is an improvement:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Godzilla-4K-Blu-ray/164388/

Belloq87 wrote:

Judas Booth wrote:

Oh man, the extended cut is superb.

Would that technically be the Director's Cut?  Because that's the one that has the longest running time of the three.

Not sure. I have the old wooden boxed set that had the theatrical and 'extended' version that ran 99 minutes. The extended version made an already good film GREAT, in my opinion. The stuff that was cut added a lot to the movie.

Some research shows that the 'Final Cut' is 93 minutes, so I guess I have the so called 'Director's Cut'.

Near as I can tell, the 'Final Cut' restores about 5 minutes only of the DC material and upgrades the quality of said footage to be more in line with the TC. It does maintain the re-ordering of scenes that was done in the DC, for the most part.

I'm trying to set aside some time this weekend for one of those other two cuts.

Not sure which yet, but leaning towards "The Final Cut."

FRIDAY THE 13TH comes to 4K in September...

Good news from Kino this weekend. They’ve struck a deal with Paramount for 65 new titles, which will include first-time-on-Blu premieres, as well as 4K editions of previously-released titles (and in their words, some “major” 4K upgrades).

First announcement is for a TROPIC THUNDER 4K coming in late summer.

I’m hoping the likes of DRAGONSLAYER, THE SHOOTIST, A SIMPLE PLAN, YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES, TARGETS, and SUMMER RENTAL (among others) might finally be in the offing!

It's wonderful to see the Paramount physical media floodgates finally open again. Their titles largely just collected dust during that period in which they had Warner Bros. handling their home video releases for them. Now, between Shout, Criterion, Kino, and their own releases, we seem poised to get just about everything eventually. Obviously it's a by-product of everything getting new scans for eventual placement on Paramount+, but it's still great to see.

Surprise announcement from Scream Factory!


- NEW 2K Scan Of The Negative
- Audio Commentary By Writer/Director William Peter Blatty
- The Writer/Producer/Director – Interview With William Peter Blatty
- Confessions Of Kane – Interview With Actor Stacy Keach
- The Debrief Of Sgt. Christian – Interview With Actor Stephen Powers
- Designing The Configuration – Interview With Production Designer William Malley And Art Director J. Dennis Washington
- Killer On My Mind – Interview With Composer Barry De Vorzon
- The Party Behind The Curtain – Interviews With Actors Tom Atkins, Jason Miller, And Richard Lynch And William Peter Blatty
- Featurette With Film Critic Mark Kermode
- Deleted Scenes And Outtakes

In stock right now on Scream's website. Limited to 1,500 copies. https://www.shoutfactory.com/product/the-ninth-configuration


I love this movie, so this is an instant buy.