Universal Halloween Starter Pack Blu-rays (Dawn
Of The Dead remake/Land Of The Dead -
Unrated/John Carpenter’s The Thing
(1982))
Picture: B Sound:
B+ Extras D/B-/C+ Films: D/B-/B
Now
issued on Blu-ray and NOT including
any of the films from the Halloween franchise
are three of Universal’s catalog Horror films that have sold and rented
well. We have previously covered all
three in other formats, including all in their now out-of-print HD-DVD
versions. You can read about all three
at these links:
Dawn Of The Dead remake HD-DVD
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5908/Dawn+Of+The+Dead+–+Unrated+Dir
Land Of The Dead Unrated DVD
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2965/Land+Of+The+Dead+-+Unrated
HD-DVD/DVD
Combo Edition
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4341/Land+Of+The+Dead+–+Unrated+Dir
John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) HD-DVD
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4489/John+Carpenter’s+The+Thing+(1982
The 1080p
digital High Definition playback is the same in all three cases, but the sound
is upgraded in all three cases from various Dolby codecs to DTS HD MA (Master
Audio lossless) 5.1 mixes. Dawn was in Dolby TrueHD on its HD-DVD
and the soundtracks are virtually the same in sound and flaws. Land
had regular DTS on its DVD side and a slightly weaker Dolby Digital Plus 5.1
mix on the HD side. The DTS HD MA is a
tad better than the DTS and more so with the Dolby Plus, but this was a problematic
sound mix to begin with and remains so.
That
leaves The Thing, which is the
oldest soundtrack here, yet has as much character as any of them, even with its
limits. I was hoping the sound would be
upgraded here and to my surprise, The
Thing may have an HD image with limits, but the DTS here far surpasses the
Dolby in all of its previous incarnations and is more impressive than I
expected. He sound is fuller, bass
richer, dialogue clearer, Morricone’s score wider and comes much closer to what
the 70mm sound would have been like than all previous editions. Fans will be very pleased.
Extras
are less here than they were on previous DVD and HD-DVD releases, but Dawn retains its commentary and
interviews as does The Thing, while Land does have the same extras as its
previous editions. The Thing has much more and Universal should have kept all the
extras from the previous edition.
- Nicholas Sheffo
