7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
A showman introduces a small coastal town to a unique movie experience and capitalizes on the Cuban Missile crisis hysteria with a kitschy horror extravaganza combining film effects, stage props and actors in rubber suits in this salute to the B-movie.
Starring: John Goodman, Cathy Moriarty, Simon Fenton, Omri Katz, Kellie MartinHorror | 100% |
Coming of age | Insignificant |
Period | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
4K Ultra HD
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Joe Dante's Matinee (1993) has been written about on our site by myself and my colleague Dr. Svet Atanasov. Svet covered French label Carlotta Films' BD-50 release thirteen years ago while I reviewed Shout Select's "Collector's Edition" in 2018. To read our thoughts on the film and its Blu-ray presentations, please refer to the linked reviews above.
"Mant" and the producer/director.
Shout Select's recent release of Matinee arrives in a two-disc 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray "Collector's Edition" that comes with a slipcover for the retail
version. (My screener lacked a slipcover.) The UHD is presented in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible). Director Joe Dante supervised and approved a 4K
restoration from the original camera negative. This 4K scan served as the basis for each disc's transfer. We did not review Arrow Video UK's Blu-ray/DVD combo from 2016. I have Arrow's booklet, which states that
an HD master was provided to London-based Hollywood Classics courtesy of NBC Universal. I believe that Shout's 2018 transfer is struck from the same
master (possibly a 2K interpositive).
Before delving into the particulars of the new transfer, it is important to note first that Matinee has had at least two aspect ratios as part
of its production, exhibition in theaters, and on home video. While MCA/Universal's VHS and the CLV LaserDisc were displayed in 1.33:1, there was
another LD presented in 1.66:1. In a rectangular box on the rear of the "Letterboxed Edition" LD jacket, it says in small print that 1.66:1 is the
AR on the "original camera negatives." This signifies that Matinee was likely shot in 1.66. The text in the box also states that 1.85:1 was the AR
on the original theatrical prints. So, in other words, it was matted in that spherical ratio when projected. MCA/Universal misprints that the LD presentation
is 1.85 when in fact it is 1.66. What likely happened in theaters was that portions of the top and bottom were masked while the sides were "opened up."
I have assembled a graphical comparison showing ten screen captures from the LD and a corresponding shot from the UHD, along with five identical
frame matches from the Blu-ray towards the bottom of the Screenshots tab. While the framing differences are not overly significant in my sampling, you
will notice a bit more info at the top and bottom that the 1.66 allows. The 1.85 adds more to the sides. Note: Image Entertainment reissued the 1.66
transfer on DVD in 1998 but incorrectly stated that ratio was shown on the 35 mm theatrical prints when in fact it was 1.85.
In one of the several 2017 interviews recycled on the Blu-ray, cinematographer John Hora remembers Dante overseeing the film to video transfer shortly
after post-production was completed. So Dante was involved with the first video master for the home market back in '93 and this recent transfer, too.
Daytime scenes (both exteriors and interiors) are quite bright on the UHD as they were on the LD. For example, you can see either natural or artificial
light on Sherry's (Kellie Martin) hair while she applies Halloween decorations to a board in the school hallway (see Screenshot #s 32 and 34). There are a
few scenes on the 4K where I think it's overly bright. For instance, the scene where Stan (Omri Katz) and one of his friends, played by George Carson, are
talking in the cafeteria shows some brightness boosting and added warmth (compare #38 with #40).
Shout continues its recent outstanding track record for delivering rock-solid hues and rich color saturation. The Dolby Vision and HDR don't really begin to
"pop" until twelve minutes in when B film producer/director Lawrence Woolsey (John Goodman) and his leading lady, Ruth Corday (Cathy Moriarty), are at
a gas station outside Cocoa Beach (see screen capture #5). Clarity and contrast show a generation gap in quality between the LD and UHD. For example,
the viewer can't really read the titles on the posters in Dennis Loomis's (Jesse Lee) bedroom in LD frame grab #22. However, The Crawling Eye
and Killers from Space are considerably more visible in #23. In addition, the scene where Mrs. Loomis (Lucinda Jenney) crosses the street to get
Dennis is rendered as a proper deep focus shot in UHD frame grab #19 compared to LD frame grab #18, which makes it appear it was lensed with shallow
focus (the right half of the shot is blurrier). The 4K transfer has really only one noticeable artifact. See the fleck on the chin of a male shopper in the
middle of Screenshot #21.
In addition to a viewing of the UHD in my home theater, I also scrutinized the transfer on a 4K monitor with HDR. A filmic texture is consistently present
throughout each shot for the full runtime. The most conspicuous levels of gradient detail stand out in two scenes on the UHD. For example, in the
aforementioned scene in Dennis's bedroom where older brother Gene (Simon Fenton) enters, grain thickens, which is accented by the dim light. Ditto for
the scene where Mrs. Loomis watches a home movie (projected in 16 mm) of her husband and one of her sons. You can at least partially spot some
coarse grain in her reaction shot to the footage while Gene watches in the background (see Screenshot #6).
The feature carries average video bitrates of 82.2 Mbps on the Dolby Vision encode and HDR10 base layer. The UHD sports an overall bitrate of 95.9
Mbps. The BD-50 boasts a mean bitrate of 31002 kbps.
Screenshot #s 1-15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 28, 31, 34, 37, & 40 = Shout Select 2024 4K Ultra HD BD-100 (1.85:1) (downscaled to 1080p)
Screenshot #s 16, 19, 20, 22, 24, 26, 29, 32, 35, & 38 = MCA/Universal Home Video 1993 LaserDisc Letterboxed Edition (1.66:1)
Screenshot #s 27, 30, 33, 36, & 39 = Shout Select 2024 4K-scanned Blu-ray BD-50 (1.85:1)
For screen captures of the Carlotta Films' transfer, please click here. For my grabs of Shout's 2018 transfer, please click here.
Scream's standard twelve chapter selections are available for accessing scenes on both discs.
Scream has supplied three audio options: a new Dolby Atmos mix (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible), a previously issued DTS-HD Master 5.1 Surround mix
(3893 kbps, 24-bit), and a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo track (2002 kbps, 24-bit). The Atmos track averages a bitrate of 3898 kbps and reaches a
maximum bitrate of 5841 kbps. The Atmos mix is very good, although it doesn't deliver a lot of distinct objects in the back until the third act when
patrons gather to watch Mant! in the Strand Theater. Up until that point in the film, military helicopters and jets flying over Smathers Beach
create the most overhead sounds. Woolsey's "Rumble-Rama" produces a significant amount of bass and .LFE in the front of the sound stage.
The DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix that Shout made more than six years ago is the only 5.1 surround track on all the releases of Matinee. I discuss its sonic
properties in my prior review.
Matinee was presented with both a Dolby Digital 5.1 track (e.g., in Los Angeles area cineplexes) and a matrixed two-channel Dolby Surround
Stereo mix in various theaters throughout the US in 1993. I compared its presentation on my LaserDisc copy with the 2.0 option on the Shout discs. The
PCM Stereo mix on the LD has excellent treble and strong fidelity. Music and ambience are frequently omnipresent on both front and back speakers. Bass
is most prevalent during Rumble-Rama moments. Shout's 2.0 track sounds like it possibly underwent DRC and could be a downmix of the 5.1. Goodman's
voice in the excerpted Mant! trailer sounds muffled compared to the LD where it's pretty crisp. Music and effects only occasionally stand out on
the satellite speakers where they are audible semi-often. The LD clearly has a more robust track compared to Shout's 2.0, which sounds more
compressed.
Jerry Goldsmith's ingenious score sounds warm and sometimes dramatic on the Atmos, 5.1, and LD stereo tracks. According to John Takis in the liner
notes for Intrada's expanded soundtrack album, the original score was recorded by Bruce Botnick at The Hit Factory in London utilizing the Sony 3348
format digital recording system. Botnick made three-channel digital stereo mixes for the film.
Goldsmith re-recorded Max Steiner's "Theme from A Summer Place (1959)," which is reappropriated to underscore the boys' romantic yearnings
for Sherry. (Goldsmith also composed his own cue for her character that's stylistically patterned after Steiner's theme.) Goldsmith was relieved that he did
not have to compose special music for Mant!, which editor Marshall Harvey mentions in an archival interview. According to Takis, Dick Jacobs
made a compilation of selected excerpts from various scores to sci-fi/monster films in 1959 that Dante later interspersed into Mant!. Takis found
selections by William Lava (The Deadly Mantis), Henry Mancini (Tarantula), Hans J. Salter (Son of Dracula), and Herman Stein
(It Came From Outer Space).
Optional English SDH are available for the feature on both discs.
Shout has ported over most, but not all, of the bonus features from its 2018 CE. The most significant omission is Matinee's "companion" film, the
17-minute Mant!. Also missing are Joe Dante's introductory comments to that featurette and the full trailer for Mant!. The latter is not on
Shout's maiden Blu-ray, but is included on the Carlotta BD. (Both Mant! and its trailer originally appeared on Side Three of Matinee's
letterboxed LaserDisc in CAV format. Those two extras were not included on the film's separate 1.33:1 LD edition.) Blu-ray.com member Vic Arpeggio
asked Justin Beahm of Reverend Entertainment on his Instagram page why Mant! was excluded on Shout's new release. Beahm replied that a
"rights issue" prevented its inclusion. Furthermore, Shout's old Blu-ray had Universal's SD trailer for Matinee but that's been left off here, too.
New extras that Shout has recorded include a full-length commentary track with two film critics and interviews with two of the actors not interviewed for
the '18 CE.
DISC ONE: 4K UHD
Matinee is Joe Dante's most personal film and the best reviewed work in a storied career that's largely been underrated. Shout Select's 4K UHD/Blu- ray combo is a terrific set that's unfortunately missing Mant! and some minor extras found on other releases. Shout's 4K transfer on the UHD is a major upgrade over the HD transfer located on various Blu-rays in the 2010s. There are a couple scenes where it appears a bit too bright compared to the enclosed Blu-ray, which I will probably re-watch as well, as well as earlier releases. The presentation on the UHD is still by far the best the movie has looked since its relatively brief theatrical run. It would have been extra special had Shout also included a remaster of the 1.66:1 presentation, although that would have required an extra disc. (Shout released a number of Hammer titles in both 1.85:1 and 1.66:1 some years ago.) The new Dolby Atmos mix is quite good. Those who have speakers mounted on their ceilings toward the front of their home theaters should feel the effects of Rumble-Rama. The height channels in the back are occasionally used. I much prefer the Atmos and 5.1 tracks over Shout's 2.0, which pales in comparison to the stereo mix on the LD. The new commentary track is an engaging listen. The two recent interviews are fairly brief but still very good. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
1954
Limited Edition
1982
1988
1990
1986
2016
2013
Deformed Freaks
1997
2015
Warner Archive Collection
1951
50th Anniversary Edition
1968
1984
Special Edition
1988
Slugs, muerte viscosa
1988
1941
1990
1981
Braindead | Unrated US Cut
1992
1965
1989