7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 3.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.9 |
Episodes: <br> <br>1. "Cigarette Burns" (John Carpenter) <br>2. "Dreams in the Witch House" (Stuart Gordon) <br>3. "Fair-Haired Child" (William Malone)
Starring: Angus Scrimm, John DeSantis, Ethan Embry, Ezra Godden, Jay BrazeauHorror | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080i
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: LPCM 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Some films are meant to be seen.
I had never seen an episode of Showtime's
Masters of Horror before today. After three hours and three episodes, I have now
witnessed three decent, moderately scary, and ultimately forgettable episodes of the popular
television show. I am
reviewing volume II soon and I am hoping for a better experience. Included on this disc are John
Carpenter's Cigarette Burns, Stuart Gordon's Dreams in the Witch House, and
William Malone's The Fair-Haired Child. These were not the first three episodes
aired (they are actually 8, 2, and 9 respectively), but since each episode is a standalone episode, it's
not a big deal. This disc is part of the first
wave of Starz (Anchor Bay) titles to come to Blu-ray. Below is my synopsis of each episode.
Johnny's parents can't believe how messy his room is.
Starz has chosen to present Masters of Horror in 1080i, the same way the show aired on Showtime. I believe the show would have benefited from a 1080p transfer on Blu-ray because the images we get here are simply average. Cigarette Burns fared the worst. Flesh tones were on the wrong side of orange. Blooming was an issue in several scenes (as it was in The Fair-Haired Child), and a very small amount of grain was noticeable throughout. Much of the image was overly soft. Black levels were fine, however, and some of the brighter daytime scenes looked good. Skin tones fared much better in the other two episodes. The Fair-Haired Child, taking place in a mostly dark and drab basement with grays, blacks, and blues as the primary hues, looked solid enough. All three episodes were very dark in nature and they are given a passable presentation on Blu-ray, but there is certainly room for improvement should Starz ever revisit this series in the future.
Anchor Bay has included both a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack and a PCM 5.1 uncompressed track. Like the video quality, audio fared better on the final two episodes. Cigarette Burns sounded fairly drab. Low Frequency effects were clean with no distortion. Surrounds were virtually nonexistent. I also found Cody Carpenter's soundtrack to be largely hit or miss. Dreams in the Witch House sounded much better. Surrounds were active and used to great effect in several scenes. Sound moved effectively across the front of the soundstage as well. This was a very enveloping soundtrack. The Fair-Haired Child was the most average of the three tracks. It delivered crisp highs (screams sounded great), good bass and decent use of the surrounds. The best sounding part of the disc was the main menu and the title sequence at the beginning of each episode. It's a very good score and sounds great on Blu-ray.
Starz provides four audio commentary tracks on this disc, including two for Cigarette
Burns. The first is a feature commentary by director John Carpenter. His track is rather drab,
unfortunately, rarely providing meaningful insight into the production. The second track features
writers Drew McWeeny and Scott Swan. The duo was ecstatic to have worked with the legendary
Carpenter, and they had a genuinely good time making the episode and recording this track.
Dreams in the Witch House features commentary by director and writer Stuart
Gordon, actor Ezra Godden, and DVD producer Perry Martin. The director and actor talk about the
influence of Lovecraft in their work, updating the story for today's medium, and working on the set.
Director William Malone and writer Matt Greenburg appear on the track for The
Fair-Haired Child. Talk of budget restrictions and run-of the mill casting info dominate this
track.
It's rather mundane and only worth a listen if you loved this episode.
Starz has not
included any other supplements on the disc. I would not have minded previews for these or other
episodes, or even the featurettes from the standard definition DVD release.
Seeing as these three episodes were chosen to represent volume I of the Masters of Horror series on Blu-ray, I hope they are not considered the best-of-the-best that the series has to offer. While none of them were awful, I don't see myself ever going back to this title for a private screening. The presentation would have benefited form a 1080p encode and a little more cleaning up. Audio was average, and the four commentary tracks are a decent listen. Fans of the series will be pleased with this presentation, especially if they don't already have the standard definition DVDs, but I would recommend renting before making a decision to purchase.
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Dèmoni 2... l'incubo ritorna | Standard Edition
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Unrated Director's Cut
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Collector's Edition
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