Cult Films

Vinegar Syndrome, Deaf Crocodile, Imprint, Cinema Guild, and more.
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Cult Films

#1 Post by domino harvey » Tue Aug 21, 2018 9:31 pm

I didn't even know this was getting a Blu-ray release, but I Vitelloni's Blu-ray literally looks like a 360p YouTube upload

User avatar
jsteffe
Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:00 am
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: Cult Epics

#2 Post by jsteffe » Tue Aug 21, 2018 9:49 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Tue Aug 21, 2018 9:31 pm
I didn't even know this was getting a Blu-ray release, but I Vitelloni's Blu-ray literally looks like a 360p YouTube upload
Are Cult Epics and Cult Films the same company?

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Cult Epics

#3 Post by domino harvey » Tue Aug 21, 2018 9:56 pm

D'oh!

User avatar
Cremildo
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2012 8:19 pm
Location: Brazil
Contact:

Re: Cult Epics

#4 Post by Cremildo » Tue Aug 21, 2018 10:44 pm

It beggars belief. Going by the screencaps, the old Criterion DVD is noticeably better than this new Blu-ray!

User avatar
Adam X
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:04 am

Re: Cult Epics

#5 Post by Adam X » Tue Aug 21, 2018 11:14 pm

Cult Films are the UK company that released Suspiria last year.

User avatar
tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am

Re: Cult Films

#6 Post by tenia » Wed Aug 22, 2018 4:17 am

Wow, I guess I did well when I held off pre-ordering it a few days ago, remembering how much hit-and-miss Cult Films can be. :shock:
This is shockingly awful, especially for such a renowned movie. It looks like a pre-diluvian blown out over-contrasted print-sourced filtered out master. When a DVD beats your material, you should just refrain releasing it anyway.

nitin
Joined: Sat Nov 08, 2014 6:49 am

Re: Cult Films

#7 Post by nitin » Wed Aug 22, 2018 8:10 am

But how does the simultaneously released Cult Films DVD stack up?

User avatar
TMDaines
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:01 pm
Location: Stretford, Manchester

Re: Cult Films

#8 Post by TMDaines » Tue Aug 28, 2018 6:56 am

There's a reasonable 1080p WEB-DL of I vitelloni, which is currently the best way to watch it at home. Not sure of the source. US iTunes or Amazon perhaps?

bergelson
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 5:48 pm

Re: Cult Films

#9 Post by bergelson » Wed Aug 29, 2018 12:05 am

Soon to be released by Studiocanal in Germany as part of their Fellini boxset. Surely, it would be the best release of this film.

https://www.amazon.de/Federico-Fellini- ... ds=fellini

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Cult Films

#10 Post by domino harvey » Thu Sep 13, 2018 5:55 pm

The picture quality of their Juliet of the Spirits unexpectedly looks good... but they transferred it in 1080i using a PAL source, so it has 4% speed-up... on a Blu-ray. Jesus Christ

User avatar
jsteffe
Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:00 am
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: Cult Films

#11 Post by jsteffe » Thu Sep 13, 2018 6:20 pm

It looks better than their Blu of I Vitelloni, but to my eyes it looks inferior to the old Criterion DVD. The Criterion DVD of Juliet looks darker and warmer, but it also has a richer, more filmic appearance and a wider range of colors. The Cult Films Blu-ray looks relatively flat and "digital," and it looks as if it has digital noise instead of grain. If given a choice, I'd take the overall look of the Criterion DVD over that of the Cult Films Blu-ray.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Cult Films

#12 Post by domino harvey » Thu Sep 13, 2018 6:23 pm

Criterion looks yellow to me, not unlike many of their contentious transfers of recent years

User avatar
L.A.
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 7:33 am
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Re: Cult Films

#13 Post by L.A. » Thu Sep 13, 2018 6:37 pm

Is there anything worth getting from this company? :-k

nitin
Joined: Sat Nov 08, 2014 6:49 am

Re: Cult Films

#14 Post by nitin » Thu Sep 13, 2018 11:15 pm

The underlying Juliet master looks terrible, irrespective of the 1080i encoding.

LA, I believe their release of L’Innocente is actually quite decent.

User avatar
jsteffe
Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:00 am
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: Cult Films

#15 Post by jsteffe » Thu Sep 13, 2018 11:26 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Thu Sep 13, 2018 6:23 pm
Criterion looks yellow to me, not unlike many of their contentious transfers of recent years
I hear what you're saying, and it does look very yellow. Even if the Criterion DVD is arguably *too* yellow and too dark, it is not as destructive to the overall color scheme and contrast range as some of the more recent restorations from European labs that people (including me) have been complaining about. The question I still have is what the overall color scheme should look like for this particular film. It's possible that it should have a warmer overall look--or not. I imagine that there are some dye transfer prints that could serve as references.

Criterion has a streaming version of Juliet of the Spirits available on FilmStruck and Amazon. It is based on the Cinema Forever/Mediaset restoration. I am including some captures below to compare with the captures on DVD Beaver:

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

User avatar
tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am

Re: Cult Films

#16 Post by tenia » Fri Sep 14, 2018 1:50 am

It certainly seems better than I Vitelloni but I wouldnt say it looks good. As soon as you open the caps in a dedicated page to have them bigger, it shows that it hasn't many fine details. It's very disappointing.
EDIT : thanks James for the captures. It does look like they're much better than the CF disc. What a shame. Your second capture notably is quite telling : the CF disc looks like a SD upscale in comparison.
Last edited by tenia on Fri Sep 14, 2018 6:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
L.A.
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 7:33 am
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Re: Cult Films

#17 Post by L.A. » Fri Sep 14, 2018 6:01 am

nitin wrote:
Thu Sep 13, 2018 11:15 pm
LA, I believe their release of L’Innocente is actually quite decent.
Thanks for that. Amazon UK has it quite cheap at the moment. Also their next release appears to be Il Postino.

User avatar
L.A.
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 7:33 am
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Re: Cult Films

#18 Post by L.A. » Fri Oct 05, 2018 5:47 pm

L.A. wrote:
Fri Sep 14, 2018 6:01 am
Also their next release appears to be Il Postino.
Beaver.

M Sanderson
Joined: Sat Oct 22, 2016 3:43 am

Re: Cult Films

#19 Post by M Sanderson » Fri Nov 23, 2018 9:17 am

Looks like Argento’s Opera is out in January, I’m presuming from the colour corrected restoration conducted by Scorpion, and including Italian audio with English subtitles:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Opera-Special- ... ms+Blu+ray

Their release of Visconti’s L’Innocente is very good. And their Suspiria Blu ray is highly regarded.

nitin
Joined: Sat Nov 08, 2014 6:49 am

Re: Cult Films

#20 Post by nitin » Fri Nov 23, 2018 6:25 pm

Pretty much everything else from them though is terrible.

M Sanderson
Joined: Sat Oct 22, 2016 3:43 am

Re: Cult Films

#21 Post by M Sanderson » Sat Nov 24, 2018 4:01 am

Cool, yeah thy don’t seem too reliable. But the quality of their Suspiria B-R could be encouraging, signs of hope at least, for Argento’s Opera. Well, you never know.

Actually, is this a different restoration job to that done by Scorpion? The Scorpion is said to be very good yet doesn’t offer the Italian track? Frustrating. Is the future SE by Scorpion going to offer the “less terrible” Italian audio?

Didn’t know Cult Films were the art house arm of Shameless. Yes, Shameless also are very spotty.

User avatar
dwk
Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm

Re: Cult Films

#22 Post by dwk » Sat Nov 24, 2018 10:58 am

Scorpion's limited edition of Opera is going to have all three audio tracks and they are fixing the image instability.

M Sanderson
Joined: Sat Oct 22, 2016 3:43 am

Re: Cult Films

#23 Post by M Sanderson » Mon Nov 26, 2018 3:49 pm

Cool, any ideas when the release date will be?

User avatar
dwk
Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm

Re: Cult Films

#24 Post by dwk » Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:30 pm

No idea. Last word about it from Walt Olsen was that they are working on the encode, but he had major surgery a month or two back, and it has slowed Scorpion Releasing down. Rituals and Fulci's The Psychic are the next limited editions and they should be up for sale in about 2 or 3 weeks.

M Sanderson
Joined: Sat Oct 22, 2016 3:43 am

Re: Cult Films

#25 Post by M Sanderson » Thu Jan 24, 2019 2:34 pm

Only had a quick look but Opera looks very good. Got mine last Sunday, from Amazon. Detail and colour impress & the texture is very film like.

Post Reply