6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
In New York City, a psycho killer is stalking and randomly slashing and killing strippers working in various nightclubs. Matt Rossi is a former boxer trying to escape his past whom is currently employed at a talent agency which caters exotic dancers to the mafia-controlled strip clubs all over Manhattan. Matt and his business partner, Nicky, are relentlessly dogged by Al Wheeler, a persistent police detective on the case of the murdered strippers, and hoping to find something to nail both Matt and Nicky on. Matt is trying to reconcile with his former flame, Loretta, whom also works as a dancer and has a off-again, on-again drug problem. With the police constantly hounding them, and under pressure from his mob boss and other bosses to do something, Matt must somehow face his inner demons to find the killer before he strikes again.
Starring: Tom Berenger, Billy Dee Williams, Jack Scalia, Melanie Griffith, Rossano BrazziThriller | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.57:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
None
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Abel Ferrara's "Fear City" (1984) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout Factory. There are no supplemental features included with this release, but the disc contains the film's Unrated and Rated R versions. In English, without optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
One very angry man in New York City
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.57:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Abel Ferrara's Fear City arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout Factory.
Though far from flawless, the presentation is the very best I have seen for this cult film. The best news here is that there are absolutely no traces of problematic post-production tinkering (denoising, degraining, sharpening, contrast boosting, etc.). Unsurprisingly, even though occasionally there are tiny specks popping up here and there, the entire film has a strong organic look. Most close-ups convey very good depth and strong clarity (see screencapture #2), while the nighttime footage from the back alleys of New York City are not plagued by macroblocking patterns. Colors are strong and natural looking, never collapsing. There are no overwhelming artifacts or other purely transfer related anomalies to report in this review either.
Shout Factory have included the Uncut and R Rated versions of the film. The Uncut version runs at approximately 97 minutes (01:36:40), while the Rated R version runs at approximately 95 minutes (01:35:02).
The Uncut version contains various inserts that appear throughout the entire film (a provocative kiss, some extra violence, etc). However, their quality varies, most likely because they originate from a secondary source. I have included two screencaptures for you to get a basic idea what the quality of the footage is (see sceencaptures # 11 and 18). Lastly, I wasn't bothered by the framing. In my opinion, there are no serious compromises worth addressing. All in all, I think that fans of Abel Ferrara and his work will be quite pleased with the treatment Fear City has received. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. For the record, Shout Factory have not provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.
Fear City has a very good '80s soundtrack which has benefited from the lossless treatment. The sound is clear and well rounded, with some decent dynamic progressions. Obviously, the film's overall sound design is quite modest, but the important thing to note here is that there are no serious technical issues. The dialog is clean and crisp, but I would have liked to see optional English subtitles as occasionally some of the accents could be quite thick.
Most unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on this Blu-ray disc.
I think that anyone who has seen or owned Abel Ferrara's Fear City on DVD will be very pleased with this new Blu-ray release from Shout Factory. The presentation isn't flawless, but the film has a strong organic look, which is what I personally was hoping for. It would have been nice to have some supplemental features, but the old Anchor Bay DVD release also had only a theatrical trailer. RECOMMENDED.
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