'Bram Stoker's Dracula' - High-Def Digest review

[jed]

Peter's review of 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' is up. He says this Blu-ray release is a mixed bag, with a very strong supplements package but a transfer and soundtrack that fail to live up to the best high-def catalog releases.

Full review here:
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/252/...rsdracula.html

[tsb]

supremely disappointed

they should have let Sony do the transfer, they've been awesome as of late

[runchuckrun]

What a shame! I have the DVD and it looks terrible upconverted. I was hoping to replace it, but I guess I'll give it a pass.

[Nicodimus22]

Damn. Now I'm really torn. I have this pre-ordered on amazon, and I definitely
like the movie, but if it's going to be another "Sleepy Hollow" situation where
the Blu-Ray looks worse than the upscaled DVD, I'd be better off cancelling it.

I could care less about the plethora of supplements. All I care about is good
PQ/AQ, and it sounds like this is dreadful in those departments. Argh.

Edit: I cancelled my order, and I feel better. I just wonder why supplements
EVER take priority over a quality transfer of the main attraction. The negative
can't be in that poor shape, it isn't THAT old. Heck, Terminator looks decent
and it was made in what, 1983?

[tsb]

already cancelled my pre-order

I can wait for the DD

[ragebot]

Originally Posted by Nicodimus22

I like the movie, but if it's going to be another "Sleepy Hollow" situation where the Blu-Ray looks worse than the upscaled DVD, I'd be better off cancelling it.

I can certainly understand why someone would not want to purchase a mediocre release, but please don't exaggerate, Peter said nothing about this film looking worse than the DVD.

And since when has Sleepy Hollow been considered a bad transfer?

[Nicodimus22]

Originally Posted by ragebot

And since when has Sleepy Hollow been considered a bad transfer?

Since I purchased the Blu-Ray, played it, put in my DVD version, played that,
flipped back and forth between several scenes, compared and found the
upscaled DVD version to look consistently better, and sold the Blu-Ray.

It's the only Blu-Ray I've ever seen that actually looks worse than the DVD.
Even Talladega Nights, generally regarded as one of the worst Blu-Rays in
existence, looks equal to its DVD counterpart.

[taygan315]

OUCH!! This was not the review I was hoping to see for this flick. Was on my want list but now...I dont know. I love this movie but I cant justify a hi def purchase if the pq and aq are not up to par.

[Spideybat]

What a major disappointment. My Superbit was very grainy, so I sold it in anticipation of this release.

[Devil N]

Has nobody here noticed yet that the reviewer got the names of Winona Ryder's roles backward? Dracula's former wife was called Elisabeta, while the 'modern'-day reincarnation is Mina Murray/Harker. The reviewer got those two consistently the other way round. Almost makes you wonder if he's actually seen the movie...

[Dave Mack]

True. He doesn't just get the names backwards, he calls "Elisabeta", "Elisabeth". hmmmm.....
Well in his original reviews of the BD and HDdvd of "World Trade center" he DID keep calling the Port Authority police officers featured as the main characters in the film, "firefighters", over and over again. Anyone watching 5 minutes of the film would know they weren't firefighters. As a matter of fact there are hardly any firefighters as characters in the film at all.
I PM'd him and he edited his reviews accordingly so it is possible that he just skips around quickly to gauge PQ.


But maybe he is right, the transfer is botched and I need to drive up to NAPA to kick Coppolla in the nads for letting Zoetrope do the transfer in house. Or I will just wait for a few more reviews....

[Ashamed Pegasus]

Was really looking foreward to buying this one, but it will end up being a rental...

[Dave Mack]

It's ONE review, people!

[ZebraMajor]

Originally Posted by Devil N

Has nobody here noticed yet that the reviewer got the names of Winona Ryder's roles backward? Dracula's former wife was called Elisabeta, while the 'modern'-day reincarnation is Mina Murray/Harker. The reviewer got those two consistently the other way round. Almost makes you wonder if he's actually seen the movie...

Getting basic facts wrong in a movie review irritates me to no end. It calls the entire review into question. Doesn't anyone proofread these things prior to posting? Please fix it.

IMDb can be your friend Peter.

[sahoward]

Good Lord, are you people REALLY basing your decisions on ONE review??