Neighbors Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		2.5
Audio		2.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

Neighbors Blu-ray Movie Review

Mill Creek has released Director John G. Avildsen's 'Neighbors' to Blu-ray as part of its collection featuring 'Retro VHS' slipcovers which mimic the look of old videocassette rental copies. The film was released to Blu-ray before under Sony's controversial 'Choice Collection' banner (which was a burned Manufactured on Demand disc). For this 'Retro VHS' release, Mill Creek offers a slightly downgraded video presentation compared to the Sony disc, a downgraded audio soundtrack, and no supplements (Sony's disc was similarly absent extra content). See below for fresh A/V reviews as well as a few thoughts on the slipcover, which is, of course, this release's primary selling point.

Neighbors Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mill Creek's Blu-ray presentation of Neighbors appears very similar to Sony's Choice Collection presentation but the images are not identical. Sony's disc offers a more filmic grain structure. The Mill Creek image appears flatter and smoother. Details are not as sharp, appearing to be the victim of slight smoothing. Grain is not entirely reduced on the Mill Creek disc, but there's a noticeable lack of textural firmness on this release when directly comparing the two images. The smoother textures are not entirely egregious, but the downturn is noticeable and results in a less texturally rich and filmic image. Compression artifacts often appear. Color timing appears to be the same, however, and it seems the images are sourced from the same master. Black levels are very deep but approach crush. Skin tones are slightly rosy. But the textural flatness and macroblcoking leave this image noticeably below the Sony offering. The included screenshots have been taken to closely match those from the original Sony Blu-ray review page.

Neighbors Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mill Creek's Blu-ray release of Neighbors features a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. The Sony disc offered a two-channel lossless presentation. This track delivers a serviceable listen, pushing all elements towards a front-center imaged location. Dialogue is appropriately clear and detailed and emanates from the "phantom center" location. A few ambient effects stretch to the sides, such as light insect sounds heard during a dinner scene around the 29-minute mark. This is not a substantial downgrade; the film's sound design is nothing of note and the lossy track carries it well enough. That said, the subtle improvements to dynamics and clarity the Sony track offers make it the preferable presentation.

Neighbors Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Finally, a purpose for slipcovers! So often the collectible outer shell features the exact same artwork, front, back, and side as the Blu-ray case inside, making them largely ornamental at best. Occasionally embossing/debossing work adds a little variety but this reviewer has always pitched them in the trash, partly for that reason and partly because doing so saves precious (albeit finite) shelf space, critical when one's collection is in the thousands. Mill Creek has taken a step to make slipcovers a little more meaningful with this line of "Retro VHS" slipcovers that offer a shrunken-down approximation of a vintage rental store copy and also feature a portion of a VHS tape extending from the side of the case, even if most VHS covers were open at the bottom.

For Neighbors, the cover features a bit of fake wear (creases, edge frays) and a red border around the box's edge. The box features a pair of stickers, one notifying of the film's R rating and the other advertising that the film is a Comedy (this sticker appears to have been applied more recently than the other). The front artwork is significantly different than the Blu-ray case inside, which is a much less interesting and dynamic (and darker) look, but it's nice to have two different artworks available in one package. The main title sticker on the VHS tape reveals both the film's title and some legalese, including a 1981 copyright notice. The sticker shows some handling wear, too. "Please Rewind Me!" and another sticker that is difficult to decipher given the lack of visibility are also present. Of course these are not real stickers but rather part of the print, and there's no texture to the cassette, either. Still, it's a pretty nifty visual. The rear side is a little less neat, keeping up with the vintage look at the top but showing a few necessary tech details on the bottom that correspond to the Blu-ray. The bottom side of the VHS tape is also visible. Humorously, a handful of Blu-ray disc logos appear on the front, rear, and spine to break the illusion (though not entirely); the one on the front, situated at the top, in a fairly large size, and in red coloring, is the worst offender.

What would be really cool would be if the entire box art mimicked the VHS cover and the Blu-ray artwork underneath entirely mimicked the VHS tape, which could have easily been accomplished. That would offer more of a seamless illusion of actually pulling a VHS tape out of the package rather than it simply appear printed on part of the slipcover.

Note: Photographs of several other Mill Creek 'Retro VHS' slipcovers can be found here, here, and here. Because each slipcover offers the same basic layout with only some small unique identifiers distinguishing one from another beyond cover art, photos will not be included for every release in the line. Those linked images do offer a good overview representation of what to expect form this line.

As for on-disc supplemental content, there is none. The Sony disc was similarly bare-bones. This one at least offers a top menu screen, but its only option is "Play."

Neighbors Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Neighbors is an interesting film that doesn't always hit, particularly when it comes to its cruder plot movements, but its finer character developments and performances carry it far. It's a good, unheralded sort of movie and one that's not to be missed. Mill Creek's Blu-ray is a downgrade from Sony's in terms of both video and audio presentations. Neither offers any extras. Mill Creek does sport the better packaging and a much lower price point, so fans will have to weigh the benefits of saving a few dollars and losing quality with Mill Creek or splurging on a better product from Sony that is itself problematic as a burned MOD disc.