6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Four Masters of the Macabre star in this sinister and screamingly funny scare-fest! Waldo Trumbull (Vincent Price) is running his father-in-law's (Boris Karloff) funeral home business...straight into the ground! Hounded by his landlord (Basil Rathbone), Trumbull and his assistant (Peter Lorre) devise a way to make death pay: by increasing their customer base through murder and burying the secrets to their success...body by body!
Starring: Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, Joyce Jameson, Beverly PowersHorror | 100% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Jacques Tourneur's "The Comedy of Terrors" (1963) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include exclusive new audio commentary by critic Tim Lucas; archival featurette with writer Richard Matheson; and vintage trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
The undertakers
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Comedy of Terrors arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.
The release is sourced from an old and pretty rough master that was supplied by MGM. The biggest strength of this master is the lack of compromising digital adjustments. It is why while virtually all of the visuals tend to look somewhat dated, they still have quite nice organic qualities. For example, delineation and depth range from decent to good and occasionally even very good, while clarity is mostly pleasing. Plenty of the darker visuals have decent shadow definition and nuances as well. I'd say that even color balance is pretty good, though it is quite easy to see that this is an area where plenty of significant improvements can be made. (If properly restored, for instance, the entire film will look a lot lusher and more vibrant). However, grain exposure is pretty uneven, so you should expect to see plenty of mild to moderate density fluctuations. Also, there are all kinds of different nicks, blemishes, and scratches that eventually become a tad annoying. Some minor instability issues can be spotted as well. All in all, while the current master has a fine organic appearance, its age definitely shows. My score is 3.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.
On my system the lossless track sounded very nice. This does not surprise me at all as older masters that emerge from MGM's vaults typically have solid audio tracks -- simply because they were done right at the time -- so to be honest, I am unsure if there is any room for significant improvements. If I was forced to guess, I would say that at best a new remaster may introduce some minor cosmetic adjustments. Right now, clarity, balance, and stability are very good.
In soccer, but in other team sports as well, having a group of big stars playing together does not mean that you automatically have an unbeatable team. These stars must build a proper chemistry and feed off of each other's energy in order to consistently outperform their opponents. Well, believe it or not, there is a very similar problem in The Comedy of Terrors. It has an incredible cast of stars -- Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, and Basil Rathbone -- but isn't great. Why? The chemistry between the stars, the individual and group improvisations, the wit of the screenplay, and all kinds of other things are just not good enough. Yes, there are a few bits of magic here and there, but this film most definitely isn't the impressive team project that it should have been. Kino Lorber's release is sourced from an older and rather rough master that was supplied by MGM. If you need to have in your collection, my advice is to try to pick up your copy during a sale.
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