6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Five of Edgar Allan Poe's best-known stories are brought to vivid life in this visually stunning, heart-pounding animated anthology featuring some of the most beloved figures in horror film history.
Starring: Roger Corman, Stephen Hughes (III)Horror | 100% |
Animation | 15% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English, French, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
There’s an almost hallucinatory quality to many of the tales, extraordinary or otherwise, that flowed out of Edgar Allan Poe’s pen, a quality that was exploited rather wisely in a kind of proto-Freudian way by Roger Corman in some of his cinematic adaptations of the master of the macabre (some found in The Vincent Price Collection and The Vincent Price Collection II). That dreamlike ambience might be one reason why at least some of Poe’s stories have seemed ripe for animated treatment, as in the still well remembered 1953 cartoon version of The Tell Tale Heart, which was narrated by James Mason. Now Spanish director Raul Garcia has assembled a quintet of Poe yarns in the visually stunning Extraordinary Tales, a portmanteau of sorts which actually seems to have been crafted out of five shorts which may have been produced independently, at least as evidenced by their individual credits sequences as each saga begins (something that is at least alluded to by Garcia himself in the commentary track included on this new Blu-ray). While a really interesting variety of animation styles may be this film’s ultimate calling card, what may attract horror fans to it in the first place is its rather starry assemblage of voice talent, which includes Christopher Lee (in what was evidently one of his last roles, if not his actual last role), Julian Sands, Guillermo del Toro, Roger Corman and (courtesy of a vintage recording) Bela Lugosi.
Extraordinary Tales is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cinedigm and G Kids with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This is an
exceptionally sharp and well defined presentation, at least when taking into account the huge variances in animation styles that are on display.
A refreshing lack of undue banding helps elements like the high contrast black and white presentation in The Tell-Tale Heart really pop
with incredible immediacy, while more subtle visual delights are on hand in the water color softness of The Masque of the Red Death.
Line detail remains sharp and well defined throughout all of the film, and textures are quite inviting in the segments that resemble paper
sculpture. There's a bit of haziness in the Valdemar vignette, but otherwise this is a top tier presentation.
Note: The first five screenshots offer one sampling of each of the five stories. Screenshot 6 is from the interstitial graveyard sequences.
Screenshots 7-9 are from The Fall of the House of Usher, screenshots 10-12 are from The Tell-Tale Heart, screenshots 13 and 14
are from The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, screenshots 15 and 16 are from The Pit and the Pendulum, and screenshots 17-19
are from The Masque of the Red Death.
Extraordinary Tales' lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 doesn't really traffic in over the top sonic design gimmicks, and with most of the tales being narrated, surround activity tends to spill into discrete channels courtesy of either the scores or individual sound effects. While immersion may not be outstanding, it's at least present in all of these offerings, albeit in sometimes rather subtle, nuanced ways. The archival recording of Lugosi shows its age (and in fact Garcia in his commentary specifically states he didn't really restore it as he liked the scratchy, hissy ambience of it), but otherwise things sound clear and clean, with no problems whatsoever.
Years ago at the dawn of the "multimedia PC" age (as they were called back then), my wife bought me some kind of Edgar Allan Poe videogame where I had to discover what had happened to Lenore (Poe fans will understand that reference). The game was a bit short on story specifics but long on design ambience, and the same might be said for Extraordinary Tales. The actual stories here are given somewhat short shrift in an attempt to streamline them to their very basics. That may understandably upset some Poe purists, but for those willing to go with the flow (and/or Poe), the visual presentations here are often absolutely stunning, and should be appreciated by lovers of modern animation. Technical merits are first rate, and Extraordinary Tales comes Highly recommended.
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