This month Universal released four of their catalog horror titles on Blu Ray, just in time for Halloween movie marathons. Army of Darkness, Shaun of the Dead and An American Werewolf in London may be the long awaited arrivals, with Van Helsing being the obligatory re-release.
We’ve been waiting to see Army of Darkness on Blu Ray since Evil Dead 2 looked so awesome. With studio production value and archival practices, Army must hold up. It mostly does.
Scenes like the opening slave gathering in the castle courtyard have perfect clarity and gritty detail. Scenes like the cemetery look pretty good too. Where it gets speckly is really dark scenes like the pit, candlelit interiors and some nighttime exteriors. The same castle courtyard at night is a tad grainy but still good for the battle sequences. Some of its rough but the action moments are clear and bright.
The old school special effects hold up. It’s cool to see all the detail in the monster in the foreground versus the second generation background footage. You see all the craftsmanship in the skeletons, the demons, the books, and the stop motion.
It’s just the theatrical cut so you can’t see the extended version in HJD but come on. We’ve seen the DVD now, so we’re over it. The S Mart epilogue of this version is brightly colored, though there’s some grain to the reshoot.
Shaun of the Dead looks remarkably like Hot Fuzz. There must be something about the film stock that Edgar Wright uses and the way he transfers it that make both films look consistent. That means it’s a heightened visual aesthetic. You might not see gritty details but it’s crisp and clear, with saturated colors.
Where Shaun of the Dead degrades is in dimly lit interiors like the pub where they take refuge and fight the awesome “Can’t Stop Me Now” battle. That gets really speckly, as there probably wasn’t much original material on the film shot in such low light. So it’s not as consistent as Hot Fuzz, but the good parts still look great.
An American Werewolf in London looks like old film. It’s all grain. You can see some crisp details within the scenery and the makeup, but it’s an old film. It’s even got all the dirt and scratches, which I would prefer to grain and speckles. Dirt and scratches are authentic to the negative, not a digital byproduct. But this Blu Ray has all three.
The colors are bright. The transformation scene is bright enough to hide a lot of the grain so you see the money shots well. The DVD was the same, struggling with the quality of the old low budget film. The HD version is more authentic to haggard old film, flaws and all.
Whatever you think of Van Helsing, you’ve got to imagine it will at least look good. The black and white prologue is promising with tons of detail, but once the film goes color it just looks like an average movie.
CGI versions of old Paris and Vatican City look gorgeous, and there are some pretty castle vistas too. Aside from establishing shots though, there’s not much to look at. There are a lot of dark rooms, caves, dead forests and it’s all kind of too busy. Cluttered electric labs are packed, but you’re not focusing on any special detail.
There’s some minor speckling, to an extent I normally wouldn’t mind, but since the visuals are dull anyway, it’s not even perfectly clear. The CGI monsters still look blurry, even Hugh Jackmans’ shirt ripping bulge. If you love Van Helsing, it looks fine, but there’s nothing to win over the nay sayers on Blu Ray.
