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I received the limited 2-DVD set of Massacre Mafia Style direct from Jeffrey Mitchell (official website) today and I'm sorry to report the transfer looks like garbage. Apparently, a forum member over at AVManiacs received the following response from the producer of the disc, John R. Hard, about the DVD transfer's source (seen here):"We're going to put out a press release later which will answer your questions regarding the video transfer and I'm going to go on AVManiacs and answer everyone's questions but right off the bat no, the DVD was not made from VHS."
Not made from VHS? Hooray for bullshiters because if this transfer wasn't VHS-sourced, then I'm the great Liberace. Dark, muddy, and murky. Riddled with print damage and vintage '80s magnetic tape haze. I'm willing to bet it's ripped straight from a good playing copy of the American Video Gems big box VHS entitled The Executioner. The DVD isn't even flagged for progressive playback; so you get nasty line combing with any movement. Sampling the healthy amount of supplemental material proves interesting, but for the Criterion Collection-heyday price of $35--this is absolute bullshit. It looks no better than the VHS or bootleg copies of said VHS copies that have been floating around for years. I wouldn't mind if this was the only source in existence, but I highly doubt that. Even the included trailer looks vastly better and is appropriately letterboxed. Unless you're a big fan of the feature, stay away, for those who've preordered here's John Hard's blog and the film's official website's email addy is info@massacremafiastyle.com. Once you see it; you'll know what to do.
Yes, these are actual untouched and unresized DVD screenshots...
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8 comments:
Taking the cellophane off mine as I read this. I'll have my previously mentioned boot ready for comparison when the time comes. And did they really need to generically name-drop Tarantino on the back?
I noticed that Tarantino mention too, I mean seriously, I doubt he's even seen this flick.
Also enjoyed your Hack 'O Lantern entry, a Halloween trash classic.
Very disappointing news. I read that people started receiving their copies a couple of days ago, but I haven't received mine yet. Now I'm not even sure I want it. This sounds worse than the Invitation to Hell release. Why do we keep getting excited about these limited independent releases? Sigh.
Glad you enjoyed the HACK-O-LANTERN post, J. I can watch that one over and over again and not get bored. Ever.
I posted some screengrab comparisons over at The Factory, and though I haven't viewed the disc in its entirety, I'm pretty crushed.
Thanks for the comparison and mention Scandy! I hate how I can't friggin' post comments on the non-pop up box Blogger template. I've tried playing with Firefox's settings (and update the browser) and nothing seems to work.
Also like you said in your post, I don't blame the Mitchell family for releasing this, but I do blame the lying producer of the disc. Who really knows what went on behind the scenes involving the creation of this transfer. Really is disappointing A/V treatment regardless of the price...
I've been meaning to change the format for my comments, since I used to use Firefox exclusively and know how temperamental F3+ was with Blogger. Thanks for reminding me!
The most striking part of the transfer which I did not show is during the first few opening seconds before they walk into the elevator. On both copies you can see the number 1 scratched in to the print among a flurry of scratches and grain. So, if a VHS tape wasn't used for this, it would appear the same reels of film used to create that VHS long ago was, minus the "presented by Joseph R. Juliano" title screen, which was on film stock itself and not a video-generated insert.
Maybe the source was the extremely old original video master used by Video Gems for the creation of their VHS releases? I guess that could be the producer's justification for saying the DVD is "not from VHS"...
I noticed that "1" at the very start too. Thought the disc's computer-generated end credits were odd as well.
I just saw GONE WITH THE POPE last night and was *this* close to buying this DVD-- until I caught this review. I'll wait until Grindhouse puts it out. THANKS!
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