Army of Darkness - High-Def Digest

[MrChaos]

Peter Bracke on Army of Darkness:

'Army of Darkness' is arguably the lesser of the three Evil Dead films, and it's certainly the most jokey. But if you're a fan -- and you know who you are -- you gotta have the whole trilogy. Unfortunately, this HD DVD release didn't thrill me much. The transfer looks a bit chintzy to me, and there are no extras to speak of. Given the lack of any appreciable upgrade, you'd be better off sticking to your current DVD, at least until Universal remasters this one and adds some real supplements.

http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/armyofdarkness.html

[Len]

I thought the transfer was quite good. I don't think it is the transfer but the source where there are problems. Having said that, there are gorgeous day scenes with well saturated color. And I think the night scenes are actually quite good as shadow delineation is better than average.

[boden11]

I completely disagree with this reviewer's score of PQ and the 'worst of 2006' award. I have seen >100 movies in HD, own an HD-A1 and rented this because I had concerns re: PQ after reading this review. In reality this movie has some STUNNING scenes--like looking through a window! The film was done on a low budget and I doubt there's much left to squeeze out of the master. Giving this film 2 1/2 stars is ridiculous (it deserves at least 3 1/2 out of 5) but to call it the worst of 2006 is INSULTING!!

[Blurry]

I just watched this movie and for the most part it had excellent PQ, there were some scenes which were more grainy than others but, taken as a whole, I was really surprised how good it looked (heck, some of the scenes were right up there with the best).

The movie was a lot of fun, I had seen this when it came out years ago and did not remember it being so fun, but I had a really good time watching it this time and the experience as a whole benefitted from the great PQ.

[John32]

Originally Posted by MrChaos

Peter Bracke on Army of Darkness:

'Army of Darkness' is arguably the lesser of the three Evil Dead films, and it's certainly the most jokey. But if you're a fan -- and you know who you are -- you gotta have the whole trilogy. Unfortunately, this HD DVD release didn't thrill me much. The transfer looks a bit chintzy to me, and there are no extras to speak of. Given the lack of any appreciable upgrade, you'd be better off sticking to your current DVD, at least until Universal remasters this one and adds some real supplements.

http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/armyofdarkness.html

Well, here's the thing Anchor Bay has the rights to this movie (apparently as does Universal) and this is always one of the titles that they release on a new format...it was one of the first DVD's and looked pretty bad there. Then, thankfully, Anchor Bay got the rights and produced a lavish "Director's Cut" and "2 Disc Boomstick Edition." with many, many extras, commentary, etc. It was released something like 3 times on DVD. So, I'll be waiting til Universal or Anchor Bay release this in HD and it'll be a while....

[NeilB]

Ive just bought this film, and thought the PQ was fine - more impressed with this than Miami Vice.

[Blurry]

Originally Posted by NeilB

Ive just bought this film, and thought the PQ was fine - more impressed with this than Miami Vice.

Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I was expecting it to be very grainy but was pleased by the overall high quality of the PQ despite a few scenes with grain.

[Kotatsu Neko]

I also agree the picture quality of this isn't bad at all, and it certainly doesn't deserve the reviews it got. It's an old movie and a low budget one, but looks vastly better than my old DVD version, a huge step up. The lack of extras though was pretty poor and frankly inexcusable.

[eastx]

It got those low reviews because there are multiple good versions of the movie available on DVD - you know, the extended cut, special features, all those nice things. For the HD DVD, rather than being as good as existing versions, we get a bare bones, 1997 poop version. That'll getcha some bad reviews. I'm holding out for a proper HD DVD, myself.

[elkharteric]

Originally Posted by John32

Well, here's the thing Anchor Bay has the rights to this movie (apparently as does Universal) and this is always one of the titles that they release on a new format...it was one of the first DVD's and looked pretty bad there. Then, thankfully, Anchor Bay got the rights and produced a lavish "Director's Cut" and "2 Disc Boomstick Edition." with many, many extras, commentary, etc. It was released something like 3 times on DVD. So, I'll be waiting til Universal or Anchor Bay release this in HD and it'll be a while....

Anchor Bay/Starz Home Entertainment lost the rights to Army of Darkness a few months ago. This was confirmed by Achor Bay reps at the Flashback Horror Convention in Chicago in July was asked about it and their future Blu Ray plans. Universal owns the exclusive rights now domestically.

[sehnzeleid]

Originally Posted by John32

Well, here's the thing Anchor Bay has the rights to this movie (apparently as does Universal) and this is always one of the titles that they release on a new format...it was one of the first DVD's and looked pretty bad there. Then, thankfully, Anchor Bay got the rights and produced a lavish "Director's Cut" and "2 Disc Boomstick Edition." with many, many extras, commentary, etc. It was released something like 3 times on DVD. So, I'll be waiting til Universal or Anchor Bay release this in HD and it'll be a while....

I own quite a few DVD editions of the film and the new Universal HD DVD and DVD side of their Combo both look substantially better than any of Anchor Bay's DVD editions.

Also the transfer of Anchor Bay's release(s) of the director's cut is completely unwatchable, go seek out MGM's DVD from Hong Kong, make you wanna throw away Anchor Bay's DVD.

[cooltobeyou]

This is one of the very few reviews that I actually disagree with on this site. I try not to be biased, because I am a fan of this film, but the PQ is far from being as poor as this review claims.

I would probably describe this films transfer as "good, but inconsistent." There are moments where the movie looks absolutely stunning, but there are a few scenes with excessive grain. However, this inconsistency is nowhere near as bad as the transfers for movies like "Payback" and "Night at the Museum" IMO.

[Kez]

Cant wait till mine gets here i was a little worried about the review but you know if its a good movie and you like it who cares.

[theHDphantom]

I bought Army of Darkness (combo version) at Future Shop last week for $32.99 (Yep $32.99, welcome to Canada). I was always a bit sketchy on getting this, but when I saw it again, I thought what the heck.
I thought both the audio and video were quite good on this HD DVD release. I was very impressed with it. I even viewed the DVD side of it, and wow even in standard def it looks really good too; quite surprising.
Movie: 3.5 outta 5
Video: 4 outta 5
Audio: 4 outta 5
Extras: who cares

[AOD]

Originally Posted by theHDphantom

....Movie: 3.5 outta 5......

What? It was perfect.