Strike one: unskippable commercial for Elvira's new reality TV show starts the disc.
Strike two: this disc doesn't appear to be properly licensed in any way, shape or form, as seems to be standard operating procedure for pre-1995 Gamera movies released in region one.
Strike three: The audio and video quality is very, very poor. Except for the fact that this is encoded decently, I'd think Mill Creek or East West put this out. Clearly, a commercial VHS was used as the master, but the English audio track (which given the Japanese credits was probably grafted onto this release) is worse than the bootlegs floating around. (Ironically, one of the host clips uses part of the movie and while it's pan and scan, the image quality is greatly improved over what we're actually seeing.)
Unless you are an Elvira fan, avoid this one. If your really want to see Gamera Supermonster, may I recommend the fine release from WTF-Films? Funny how a guy with a capture card and an eye for quality can put out a better release than a major company (Shout Factory.)
(Postscript, the other Shout Factory discs I own are very well done. Don't take my opinion on this disc as a blanket dismissal of the entire company. Also, if you read any other reviews of this disc and they claim no one would put the money into a decent release of this film, don't believe it. There's an excellent legit R2 version of this, and has been for years. This disc makes Retromedia's equally bogus Gamera discs look Criterion quality by comparison.)
----------------
Now playing: Jimmy McGriff & Groove Holmes - Out Of Nowhere
via FoxyTunes)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Were the anime scenes from SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO/STAR BLAZERS and GALAXY EXPRESS 999 cut out?
-Atomic Mystery Monster
Y'know, I honestly skimmed the disc as I've seen this movie more times than any sane person should. Maybe I'll have another look at it tomorrow, but I'd imagine the scenes are in there.
Post a Comment