Halloween [Blu-ray] [2018]

It would only play in the U K. just want a refund already have one coming.

Never got around to seeing this film so when the 4k version was released I took the plunge.I was surprised by how good the film is. Considering the modern trend in horror this was far more chilling than newer films which seem to rely on gore and jump scares. This one is genuinely unsettling in places and was far more thoughtful than I expected. Yes...it's a slasher flick but it's also a good film.As for the film itself the packaging is nice. Standard stuff but good quality nonetheless. The Blu Ray is the 35th Anniversary Edition but that is interesting in itself for the differences in the way the film is presented.The 4K edition though is where this shines.I've a few older films released on 4K and to be honest the presentation is a bit of a mess. They often look worse than their Blu Ray counterparts with every problem with the original negative magnified by the greater resolution.This film is, I think, a showcase of how it should be done. Whoever prepared this film either loved the film or was given the time and resources to do a good job.It's not a perfect picture. It is after all 40 years old and not on the best quality film stock to begin with, so it has all the shortcomings that implies.It is however hard to imagine this film ever looking any better than this. With a fresh print and a really good cinema I don't think it could have looked as good at the time was released as it does now.Highly recommended. What a 4K release of an old film should be.

October 31st, 1963, in Haddonfield, Illinois, and six year old Michael Myers murders his half-naked sister with a kitchen knife. Fast forward 15 years and Dr Loomis [Donald Pleasance] is travelling to Smith's Grove insane asylum with the intention of keeping the now, 21 year old Myers behind bars. Arriving there with a nurse, the patients have escaped and while Loomis is out of the car, it is taken by one of the inmates who it later transpires is, Michael Myers. Meanwhile in Haddonfield, virginal schoolgirl, Laurie Strode [Jamie Lee Curtis] is getting ready for Halloween and a night of babysitting. Loomis suspects that Myers will make his way to suburban, Haddonfield and the scene of his crime, an abandoned, derelict house believed to be haunted. Laurie begins to see a strange figure which disconcerts her. Loomis meets up with the sceptical, town's sheriff [early, Carpenter, stock-company, actor, Charles Cyphers] warning him that Myers will return and kill again. As Laurie, Tommy [Brian Andrews], Annie [Nancy Loomis], Lynda [PJ Soles] prepare to babysit, Myers prepares to re-live his Halloween of 1963.Filmed during May 1978 [which explains the green trees], it was the third film directed by future, cult, horror, film-maker, John Carpenter. Carpenter would later become a genre fave but at this point he was still relatively inexperienced, a point which worried movie veteran, Pleasance. He needn't have been. At the time, Jamie Lee Curtis was a virtual unknown, TV actress, the offspring of two highly successful, film actors - Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis. It was filmed in the pleasant suburb of South Pasadena, California which accounts for the palm trees. The production used the existing neighbourhood, renovating the 'murder house' and then, making it look derelict. Made on a budget of $300,000, it made an estimate $70 million at the box office, the most successful independent film up to that point.I've not seen this for a while and it surprised me just how long it takes to set up. You're waiting nearly an hour for the second killing [if you discount the van driver] and it's a lot less gruesome than I can remember. Maybe, I'm mixing it up with all the others than followed. For a slasher, a total of five dead bodies is pretty pathetic although the death of Lynda is still pretty creepy after all these years and the way Myers looks at the body stuck to the door is still eerie. There followed many imitators but none were as well made which no doubt explains why it's in the Library of Congress. I wouldn't say it was entirely original though because Black Christmas [1974] had come out a few years before and a weirdo stalking a woman had been done in Psycho [1960], Experiment In Terror [1962] and numerous 'Giallos' - Italian, stalk and slash, horror-thrillers such as Blood and Black Lace [1964] and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage [1969] - from the mid sixties onwards. The difference was that Myers was a force of nature, an unremorseful, indestructible, killing machine. The others mentioned were all human without the humanity, Myers was a mix of man, ghost and devil: a supernatural entity. A critique of Halloween is difficult because it's so well made. The direction is top notch as is the acting. OK, he's a criticism - the fashions are awful and PJ Soles's shoes are ridiculous. When you're reduced to commenting on the shoes, you know the film is great.The 35th anniversary blu-ray* rectifies many of the problems of the earlier release which was deemed to have the wrong colour. This has been 'colour-corrected' by cinematographer, Dean Cundy so it is much more muted appearance and the faces are more wan [to fit in with the fictional season, I guess]. The image is fairly decent given its low budget with just a few white speckles and a bit of grain to report. There's a 50 minute documentary where Curtis attends a fan convention for the benefit of an LA hospital. You have to give her some credit, she treats everyone the same even though it's obvious, there are more than a few nuts there. There is a talky commentary by Carpenter and Curtis. Curtis remembers a lot more of this film that Carpenter does. Curtis points out the camera shadows and the painted brown leaves and Carpenter points out the Steadicam [or Panaglide]. Carpenter recalls how much fun he had on this film while Jamie Lee Curtis recalls how everyone pitched in on the production. Curtis is a little irritating saying how much she is frightened by the picture and takes over large parts of the commentary. If you've heard a Carpenter commentary before, he talks about various 'shots' or 'poor man's process'. English subtitles.*sorry, I can't tell you about the Ultra HD disc cos I don't yet have a 4K HD player or TV.

The 4k disc of the movie looks great. Given the fact that it's a 40 year old low budget horror it probably couldn't look much better. It has a nice filmic look, especially in the daylight scenes. I know there has been controversy over the colour timing on various releases of the movie over the years and some have said this version looks desaturated or too cold. I thought the colours looked natural. A very pleasing transfer.

There is nothing I can say about the film which has not already been said so I will just write a few words about the disc quality.Absolutely perfect, good black levels, contrast spot on, the colour grading seems to represent Dean Cundeys vision of the film and is close to the 35th anniversary release which used digital grading tools to make Halloween look like it was Autumn, controversial as the original cinema release never looked perfect but I think if digital tools can fix old releases then why not.Film grain is also intact in this release, this means fine detail is intact and gives the movie a cinematic feel.The sound has a 7.1 mix which sounds very good, there is also a mono mix taken from this new sound mix, I would never use the mono mix when the surround is this good but it will annoy some that the original seventies mono mix is NOT included here.The Blu-ray seems to be the 35th anniversary release so you can buy a good version of the flick now and keep the UHD for when you are able to play that, the best of both worlds.A good collectors edition on UHD and i recommend it.( My review seems to be linking to the new film and also to the blu ray and not the UHD I bought )

I have the original 2007 bluray release of this and the colour timing is completely off, nothing like the original film. This 4k version is a step up in terms of texture detail and colour rendering, also highlights are really nice especially in a lot of the night scenes. Sound also comes over well. All in all the best version of this classic slasher movie bar none which breathes new life into it. Highly recommended