Source France | Publisher : Warner Bros. | Release date : 21 September 2022
Video format
2160p24 – Ratio 2.40
HDR10 / BT.2020 – HEVC encoding
Master intermediate 4K
Soundtrack
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Dolby Digital 2.0 English
Subtitles
English
French
Rated 4 out of 5
Artistic : 7 | Video : 9.5 | Audio : 8
It is brought to the attention of our dear readers that, in addition to the specified and used viewing equipment, the rendering may differ from one installation to another, whether or not it is calibrated, as well as personal preferences and expectations may influence notation. Moreover, the images in the article are not representative of the edition tested.
Test equipment and condition (Config. HP: 5.1.4)
Video broadcaster : Sony Bravia XR-65A80J (Expert HDR)
Sources : Oppo UDP-203 Audiocom Reference | Zappiti Reference
Pregnant : Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar (DTS Neural:X | Dolby Surround), SVS SB-4000
WORK - Born to be bad
Sam and his older brother are typical American teenagers with equally typical interests. But things start to change after they move with their mother to the peaceful Californian city of Santa Clara. Michael is no longer himself. And his mom won't like his new lifestyle...
Cult for many of us, this horrific ten-movie having inspired the series Buffy continues to unleash passions at 35 years of her release. A mix of fantastic gore and regressive humour Goonies (Alan and Edgar Frog are at the initiative of the most memorable scenes), this vampire movie « modernized » with the sauce 80s (clipesque staging and tubes of the Top 50) makes us fall under the cut (hair in the wind) of a marginal horde of Nosferatu look Gay-friendly. And that's precisely when he climaxes (where he plays before the hour) Mom, I missed the plane! ) between our lobbies all but romantic (the works ofAnne Rice are decidedly not for the rebels) and our mioches badasss (baberoned to Rambo) that this entertainment of the MTV era (as Sam Emerson would so well say) abandons his carelessness in a « Bloodbath » Happy.
IMAGE - At the border of kitsch
This edition includes a new HD disc (not sold per unit) from the same re-store as that used by the UHD HDR10 transfer (a 4K scan of the original negatives), and it was with the 2008 Blu-ray that I made my comparisons.
Conserving the silver grain of the 35 mm capture with a beautiful finesse, this stylized image (a typical photograph of the 1980s) that regains the stability of its frame is at all points remarkable. The definition is much more precise than in the past (cf. the precision of the background), the textures are otherwise stronger (faces, taxidermy, clothes, the decoration of vampires), the criard colorimetric palette (but more balanced today) shows reinforced primaries (reds are memorable) and a healthier carnation, the contrasts very marked by nature are better adjusted for even more sustained blacks and particularly bright whites, and the light sources (all, all the time) spread their crazy energy without restraint (lighting of the fair, neon). Flashy shit!
Death in stereo!
While the omission of the original Dolby Stereo mix is regrettable, the VO DTS-HD MA 5.1 (against Dolby TrueHD 5.1 on the previous Blu-ray) is a soundtrack with a lot of aggressiveness despite limitations due to the age of its source elements.
The dialogues are thus somewhat stifled, the rear channels are only too rarely detached from the front stage and the LFE channel lacks authority. It does not prevent that the dynamics have biting, that the effects/ambiences are delivered with great clarity and that the music (resumption of People Are Strange Doors being the heart and soul of the film) sounds like never before.
Along the way, the stereophonic VF encoded in Dolby Digital (the same track since the 1998 DVD) did not have the punch or the opening of its lossless sisterhood.
CONCLUSION - Generation 80
For his 35th birthday, the classic Vampire Joel Schumacher (Batman Forever, Batman and Robin) flaired the smell of blood emitted by one of the most beautiful 4K Ultra HD editions (even if the many bonuses are not new) concocted by Warner studio for one of its catalogue titles. More alive than ever since, he's had it!
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